First thing's first. This is a real, honest-to-goodness review of a piece of hardware I bought. Razer didn't send me a freebie, and I'm not just saying this based on the pictures I've seen of it. I've owned a Razer Naga for a week now, and it's been the best week of my WoW existence (at least in terms of interface).
I've tried a LOT of different kinds of control tools for playing WoW. I took a Nostromo n52 for a spin that lasted a few days (it was pretty cool, but I couldn't get it to consistently go forward - backward - left - right using the thumbpad, I kept going diagonally and there was no tactile feedback, which was a dealbreaker). I've been using a logitech mx-518 (and a third-party mouse driver because Logitech stupidly doesn't have a mac driver for this one mouse), which I also really like. I mapped the six extra mouse buttons on the mx-518 (forward, back, page up, page down, scroll-wheel-click, and the random extra button) to game commands, giving me six buttons I can press with my hands on the mouse. Useful for /cast [target=mouseover] macros, especially for healers. But I'm ditching the 518 for a Naga, and the Naga even has a mac driver.
The basics of the Naga are straightforward - it's a decently ergonomic (right handed only, alas) mouse with some fancy-shmancy infrared laser (so you can blind yourself without noticing, since it's invisible) and a neat blue glow. It is a wired mouse, which I prefer - I still get noticeable lag no matter what kind of wireless mouse I use. It's got a scroll wheel (but no tilt-wheel which I again applaud, I detest tilt-wheel mice) and a forward-back button that is actually kind of hard to press (my one complaint is that I can't hit the back button with any finger in my normal hand configuration).
What's special about the naga? It has 12 more buttons.
Twelve.
Twelve frakkin' buttons. It's like they took your entire numberpad and taped it to the side of the mouse. It's EXACTLY like that.
This means that you can play the game using your left hand for movement and some buttons, and keep your right hand on the mouse at all times, for speedy turning, easy targeting, and so on. It means I don't need to have a keybind for /startattack, because I can just right-click on people now.
After a week of use, I can say that the keypad is precisely right. The mouse comes with some sticky rubber "trainers", little nubs you can put on some of your buttons. I put one on 5 and one on 11. I can very easily use 1-3 and 4-6 without thinking about it, that's where I put all my combat maneuvers on my characters (that's not a change from where I put stuff when I used a regular keyboard, even). 7-9 are a little harder to get to, but they're not too bad. 10-12 *are* something of a challenge to press, I have to consciously think about pressing those buttons. Then again, they're buttons I don't press all that often anyway (curse of elements, evasion, etc), so maybe if I had to use them a lot, I'd get better at it.
At $80 for the mouse, it's a little on the pricey end, but that's about what you'd spend for a fancy mouse anyway (a mx 518 will set you back $40, for example).
It's totally worth getting. Give it a week and acclimate to it, and you'll never need to take your hands off the mouse ever again. I'd even suggest it to Phil - just because you use a laptop doesn't mean you can't mouse also. Although I'm not sure I'd want to do anything requiring precision whilst treadmilling.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
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7 comments:
The fact that I do not own a mouse is not a result of my using a laptop, rather it is a result of my using a lapdesk that doesn't have any room for a mouse.
Besides, I have 59 keybinds already. I don't even have that many things to bind!
Sounds like a hell of a mouse, though. I'm surprised those little chicklet keys are so usable, I had my doubts at first glance.
That's a lot of keybinds. I have about that many buttons, but only.. umm.. 37 actual binds (number pad 1-12, shift + number pad 1-12, and QATG, shift-QATG, np-., shift np-., and `) The naga lets me put the number-pad binds on the mouse, and bind forward/back/wheelclick to three other essential buttons (as well as shifted buckies on those buttons, which I tend to use for quest items while I'm soloing). So, 43 total binds. Wow, adds up fast.
I freely admit that having mouseover macros at my disposal would be a way to improve my play, and that using a mouse regularly and properly would correct my AoE targeting deficiency and vehicle combat woes, but alas, the thought has never occurred to me to go buy a wider lapdesk. Perhaps I should?
N just don't know if I could ever get used to left-hand drive, though, it'd be like moving to England or something.
I would. Having a mouse, even a little one (as long as it actually has buttons, I hate playing WoW with the mighty mouse), makes life a LOT easier. When you're flying around, looking for groundspawns (say), you can just click left+right buttons and your character goes forward in the direction you point. Move the mouse and you fly in another direction, even up/down. It makes 3d navigation a lot easier. Similarly for vehicle combat, I'd hate having to actually use the elevate/depress buttons on a turret, I just aim by right-clicking and dragging the reticle around.
Other than that, the mouse is roughly optional. Up until I got the Naga, I only used the mouse for those navigation tasks, mainly. I would use both hands on the keyboard during combat.
So - it's definitely a quality of life improvement for flying, swimming and vehicles to have a wider lapdesk.
I can recommend the MX-518 if you're looking at mice, it's a very decent mouse for $40. Just download USBOverdrive and it works fine on a Mac. Of course, the Naga's better. :P
PVP would train you on using the mouse near exclusively. I can't begin to tell you how bad I would get owned when I was first starting this game because I didn't have my hand on the mouse (or the inverse, because I clicked my abilties).
ok, i own the razer naga as well. and after the 2.0 driver update, as of a few days ago.. heres what you have the capability of doing
every button.. EVEN LEFT AND RIGHT CLICK, can be assiged seperate roles (as in not just left click, etc), as well as each button can be assigned a macro. each of the 12 on the side can be assigned macros, hotkey bindings, anything you want now.. anything at all.. i use mine for wasd movement in fps's because not only is this mouse a mmo dream come TRUE.. the accuracy WILL MAKE YOU BETTER IN YOUR FPS GAMES! the buttons aren't big, feel right to the touch, and only require a few days to get used to.. the mouse is a hybrid, it can be used as a palm mouse, OR a fingertip mouse.. not many hybrid mice around btw.. additionally it just... FEELS RIGHT in your hand, like it was meant to go there.. and the buttons scream to you.. use me.. cmon! get imba, you know you wanna.. touch me..... its kinda freaky at first.. its so easy to use.. lol the left and right lick FEEL perfect, and you can click from anywhere at all.. top of the mouse, bottom of the mouse, you never feel like you dont know which is left or right. couple this keyboard with the logitech g11.. and if you are a healer like me.. you'll be a threat to any mmo, multi tasking like it was always meant to be! if you're wondering how big the left keys are, they are the size of the end of your pinky.. small huh? its easy to use the buttons with the botton of your thumb too, in case you're used to a mouse with a 'analog stick' style stick on it. razer updates the drivers every month, and its obvious they love this mouse as much as we do :)
Yeah, the new 2.0 driver is pretty sexy. I'm told that you can make mouse-driver-level macros (keystroke sequences programmed into the mouse, like the g11 keyboard) with it also.
The only problem is that the 2.0 driver is currently only for Windows. So I'm stuck with the mac driver for now. Such is life.
I still love my Naga, it's the best mouse ever for playing WoW. I've gotten really used to the 12-button pad on the side, and can press any button with ease. My right hand never leaves the mouse anymore.
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