Mouse that can take a beating

I don't know about taking a beating, but I've had a Microsoft IntelliMouse last for many years at work, and both a G5 and a Roccat Kone have been fine at home.

The extra buttons in games makes for a smoother experience, IMHO, for common weapons, reloading the runestorm weapons, and so forth.

Skold said:

i went thru 2 51os and 3 518s in 4 years.

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I blame user error.

Grobut said:

Actually, it does make a difference, in some games more than others admittedly, in a clouse quarters twitch shooter overall accuracy is seldomly all that important, but if you play something like say.. Red Orchestra, a good mouse with high DPI can make all the difference when trying to shoot than Kraut 500 meters away with your non-scoped rifle.

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I know that for me I never really went anywhere with UT99/UT2k3 until I got that MX500. The superior tracking definitely makes a difference. I've never found a use for any of the other functions these mice usually have though.

TWD said:

I know that for me I never really went anywhere with UT99/UT2k3 until I got that MX500. The superior tracking definitely makes a difference. I've never found a use for any of the other functions these mice usually have though.

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I'm certainly not saying that high DPI is meaningless in a game like UT, its allways good to have, full stop, my point was merely that the difference is more obvious in some games than it is in others, like say.. you could play Bioshock with a cheapo 400 DPI mouse and not have any problems gunning down the baddies, but if you joined a game of Red Orchestra playing against people with good mice, you would quickly find yourself wondering "how the hell can thease guys kill me at thease long ranges so quickly, when i can't aim for ****!", that's a game where the difference is really obvious.

As for not finding a use for the function keys, i'm guessing you haven't played a lot of games that require tons of keybinds just to play then? because that's where they come into their own right, and really helps ease the burden, games like the STALKER series or Opperation Flashpoint for instance, here they are really, really helpfull.

I've got a G7 and another one which I can't remember what it's called. The G7 is still going I only switched to this other one because I won it was was fed up of always switching the USB adapter with my Mac.

The extra functions these mice offer are definitely worth the money, for me.
For one, thumb buttons and the G5's side-scroll wheel are very convenient when just surfing the net or browsing through folders on your computer.
Second, I had all weapons minus Shock, Bio and Link set to mouse buttons when I still played 2k4/UT3. Definitely makes for faster switching, and in Warsow it was absolutely critical (Letting go of movement buttons in that game = death or horrible trickjump fail)

G5 is a good mouse, I've owned the old version and played on the new one, but be very wary if you're a lowsens player. It skips like mad a high speeds. (The newer model on a Qck+ starts skipping at roughly half my 'flick' speed.

Still recommend the Deathadder though, as long as you have relatively big hands and/or like to palm grip your mouse.
If you clawgrip your mouse, you'd better have pretty sizable hands. Then again, I switched from claw to palm when I got my G5, so nothing is impossible.

Sir_Brizz said:

No, we all got used to having multiple KEYBOARD binds. I have since used the thumb buttons on my mouse for a few things, but for example, side scrolling on the mouse is useless in games for me.

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Eh, personally, i find there's only so many keyboard binds that are practical in any kind of combat, there's only so many keys around the WASD keys that you can reach.

So lets say you need the following:

Shoot.
Aim.
Movement (4 keys required).
Leaning (2 keys required).
Reload.
Change ammo type.
Jump.
Crouch.
Sprint.
Go Prone.
Next Weapon.
Previous weapon.
Choose a specific weapon (between 5 or 10 keys required).
Weapon special function.
Throw grenade.
Stop bleeding.
Administer healthkit.
Change fiering mode.

And thats just the stuff you need for combat and movement, we can toss in many more for inventory, giving orders, checking up on your current objectives, showing the map, all that stuff you may not need right at your fingertips.

If you've got a game like that, it sure feels nice to have 5 (or more) handy buttons and a scrollwheel on your mouse, instead of just 3 and a scrollwheel, it makes your keybinds less of a clusterf***

I'm also a fan of the extra buttons on my mouse. I'm not going to reach for binds across the keyboard when I have my right hand doing nothing but left/right click.

xMurphyx said:

More dpi can definitely make a difference in pixel-hunting games like RO. With 400 dpi if you want to aim for a certain pixel you always snap over it by a pixel or two and you have to move the mouse a few times moving the cursor away and back to the target until you find a position where that pixel you want to shoot is on your targeting grid, so to speak. With the 1600 dpi my razer has this has never been a problem. Maybe 800 would work already, I don't know, but 400 has definitely plenty room for improvement.

Good games that require loads of buttons allow you to use shift, alt and ctrl modifiers. See Freespace 2 as an example. The game is a pure button-hell, but it's surprisingly bearable because you can use button combinations. ArmA does this well too and it even allows double-press and hold binds. More games should do that.
Until they do I agree, having some extra buttons can really be handy. As long as they are actually more comfortable to use than borderline reachable keyboard keys - because the razer one's are not. Except maybe the front one on the left side, but I would still rather reach over to "g" or even "h" before I bind something to it.

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Personal preference, I guess. The only button I clearly remember not ever using in game is the G5's "DPI up" button. It's tiny and located above the scroll wheel. DA's side buttons can be reached just fine, and it's one of the few mice where I actually use the scroll click.

Then again, I'm used to having hotkeys like I and A on the same unit (Protoss Carrier from SC1) and spamming them like mad.

I guess there's a reason some people have switched to ESDF from WASD to free up more usable buttons on the keyboard though.

Also, I'm guessing stuff like hold buttons and shift/control/alt modifiers wouldn't really be ideal for something like UT, Quake or Warsow - the prime games I use these hotkeys for. Too slow and cumbersome when compared to a simple Mouse4/5 or scroll up/down.

DarQraven said:

I guess there's a reason some people have switched to ESDF from WASD to free up more usable buttons on the keyboard though.

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I was using TFGH before WASD was cool.

Sir_Brizz said:

No, we all got used to having multiple KEYBOARD binds. I have since used the thumb buttons on my mouse for a few things, but for example, side scrolling on the mouse is useless in games for me.

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You can map stuff to it.

For example I have
shock sniper on mousehweel up/down
link/stinger on side scroll
avril on wheel press
rox/flak on thumb buttons
and hammer enf and bio are on 1-3 keys which is directly above wasd so easily reachable.

I like to bind nearly all my weapons. If you play games like Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory, you'll quickly surround the WASD area with weapons and items. Doesn't help when you want other things like lean, use, sprint and stuff also near your WASD.

Sir_Brizz said:

And, frankly, most games have WASD and about 4 other keys that you need. Let's be realistic. Even MW2 doesn't have enough keybinds that you NEED to use mouse buttons (though I do always try to put melee on one of the mouse buttons). I men, let's look at your list...

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MW2 is hardly demanding in the key/button/function department, which is why i never mentioned it, i mentioned games like Stalker and Opperation Flashpoint, games that actually do have a ton of buttons.

Just playing Stalker:CoP (which is not the most key heavy game i can think of if im honest, Ofp or Arma probably take the cake), i was very happy to have my Mouse 4 and 5 buttons, without thouse, i could not have had all the keys that i might need in a hurry within easy reach, i'd be out two keys that would have to be placed in less ideal locations (something that would require me moving my hand away from WASD), but since i had them, it was never a problem, and i had all the essentials at my fingertips.

And thats what it's about, i could still play Stalker:CoP without thouse 2 extra mouse buttons, yes, my keyboard has 108 keys so it's not like it would have been impossible to find a place for it all, but it let me have all essentials at my fingertips, nomatter what the situation, and that's quite an advantage, one i shoulden't have to explain..

But ok, lets just look at this game and what it has, and my keybinds for it (there's some duals in there, sepperated by "/"s, and atleast one key specific for the 108-key keyboard layout (the "½" key, it's just above TAB and infront of 1)):

Move forward. (W)
Move back. (S)
Move left. (A)
Move right. (D)
Lean left. (Q)
Lean right. (E)
Sprint. (L-Shift)
Jump. (Space)
Crouch. (L-Ctrl)
Low Crouch. (L-ALT)
Fire. (Mouse 1)
Aim. (Mouse 2)
Next weapon. (Mwheel up)
Previous weapon. (Mwheel down)
Reload. (R)
Use. (F)
Change ammotype. (Y)
Change firemode up. (Mouse 4)
Change firemode down. (unbound)
Activate grenadelauncher. (Mouse 5)
Bring up detector. (Z)
Stop bleeding. (F1 / C)
Use health. (F2 / X)
Use Antirad. (F3 / ½)
Use food item. (F4 / V)
Open inventory. (Mouse 3)
Open PDA. (P)
Weapon 1. (1)
Weapon 2. (2)
Weapon 3. (3)
Weapon 4. (4)
Weapon 5. (5)
Weapon 6. (6)
Use shoulderlight. (Capslock)
Use Nightvision. (TAB)
Quicksave. (F5)
Quickload. (F6)
Pause. (Pause)
Exit to menu. (Esc)

Now that's 37 buttons right there (ignoring all MP specific keys, am i forgetting any?), 36 of which you will need (you can do without "Change firemode down", just having one of the two will work).

Hopefully, the point should make itself by now.. yes, having 2 extra buttons on the mouse for all of this is very practical, you're not using your righthand thumb for anything otherwise, but if you've got them, that thumb can control 2 of thease functions, which is two more functions freed up that can then be placed within easy reach of your left hand "WASD zone" (yay i made up a word! i think..), infact only "Open PDA", "Exit to menu", "Pause", "Quickload" and "Quicksave" are out of my reach with this setup, and they are all unessential in combat, i wont be reaching for them unless i have the time.

getting to your desired weapon with the press of a button is so much more convenient than scrolling and maybe not scrolling far enough or too far. Especially in games like UT.

Not sure about durability but I find this mouse rather cool sounding/looking at least. Decent specs also.
http://cyborggaming.com/prod/rat9.htm

Really I am just trying to get alot of people to buy it so it'll come to a retail store near me and I can get some hands action. Oh yeah.

Jacks:SmirkingRevenge said:

extra buttons won't make you better at games.

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I'm still depressed that it's so hard to find a mouse with three thumb buttons like the MX1000 had. In the Jedi Knight games I had Force Push bound to the front button, Force Choke to the middle button and Force Pull to the back button. That was fun.

Sir_Brizz said:

but for example, side scrolling on the mouse is useless in games for me.

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I reconfigured that to switch between different DPI settings.


I absolutely want more buttons than I have right now.