I don't have the G13 but I do have the Belkin Nostromo (which is very close to the Razer Nostromo... the Razer product is a refined version of the Belkin they bought.) And I really don't like the concept for an MMO.

 

It's fine in games where you're just gaming and shooting stuff I suppose, but this is a social game that has no built-in voice options. Which means in order to be even slightly social you need the full keyboard so you can type at people. Which means there's no point in shifting your hand back and forth to a pad uncomfortably placed on the side of the keyboard, when the keyboard itself is more convenient.

 

The Razer Naga mouse makes a lot more sense for an MMO, in my opinion. That leaves you the full keyboard and gets you a ton of mappable and macroable buttons on the mouse itself.

 

I'd even take a Logitech G15 keyboard or a Razer Anansi with their dedicated macro buttons over a G13 for an MMO - for any FPS player, using WASD and a mouse is the only way to game anyway, can't beat the precision, and getting extra macro keys for heals for instance would be great.

 

Personally I make do with a regular mouse and my regular ergonomic keyboard; I just create my few macros the "hard way", with Autohotkey and running the game windowed and use keys on the keyboard not being used for other things for those.

This is just silly. You have to pull your hand off the mouse to type just as much as you would have to pull it off the G13.

I find the best way to 'move' is to combine mouse-look and movement with the G13 joystick, the same way you would use the mouse with asdw. Use the mouse to toggle strafing and quick looks, use the G15 to maintain movement when the mouse is needed for other things.

I've been using a G13 for a few years now, first in AoC to improve my mobility while casting / blocking, then in WoW as I went back for a fix of their latest junk. I simply wouldn't want to play an MMO without it now, or in fact any game.

 

The joystick is mapped to WASD so I can fire off any of the 22 main keys without stopping circle strafing. If you choose to map abilities here instead you're going to lose use of four of your buttons or have to keyboard turn with your right hand, and both are not ideal.

 

G1-G22 are mapped to my most commonly used abilities - with the most needed sitting on G3-G5/G10-G12/G16-G18. The stretch keys (ones I need to reach for) get lesser abilities or ones on long CDs, like temporary buffs. G20-G22 often have stance changes or in SWTOR medpacks, stims, etc. G23 and G24 are unmapped currently becuase I have to be stationary to use them. I might map the after death buff sequence to one of them.

 

In games like WoW I mapped a completely different set of keys for situational use - like having to drive a vehicle - or gathering resources which had me mounting and flying up a lot (none of which is useful in general play)

 

Now those who are level 30 or higher no doubt have more than 22 abilities which they would like to key activate - I personally have about 42. To get them all mapped I have my mouse 5 key mapped to my alt key forming a shifted key when used at the same time as the G13.

 

e.g. G10/G11/G12 are mapped to '1', '2', and '3' so I can make conversation choices without moving my hand. Alt 2 is mapped to my ability to remove DoTs, so in PVP all I need to do is hold down my mouse key and press G11 - and DoTs be gone!

 

With the addition of alt modifiers (or ctrl if you like) on the mouse I can easily access 44 keys - which is enough for my gameplay style - all while maintaining a good circle strafe.

 

Once you're used to it, the G13 is a significant advantage.

I'm curious how you are doing this mapping of abilities, are you putting them in hotkeys first and then mapping the hotkey to the key on the pad? I just bought this and want to learn how to map it out, near as I can figure I'm gonna have to spend an hour mapping them to keyboard keys first and then using the gampad as a shortcut to those keys, rather than just assigning abilities directly.

If that's how it works I'm gonna have a long day tomorrow figuring and planning it out. But it will surely be worth it when I can lay out rotations faster than the point and click method I've been using.

Thanks in advance for the info.

G13 in one hand, Razer Naga in the other. I don't touch my keyboard unless it's to type a message.

Keyboards aren't designed for playing games, really (in fact, they aren't really even designed for typing; not kidding, look it up). I've got no idea why people remain so attached to them for that purpose.

My hands are too damn big to use one- even for typing. I've got to twist and contort my fingers around in really painful ways to reach all the keys. Now the G13 was actually designed with a human hand- playing games- in mind.

So yeah, I totally rock that thing.

G13 in one hand, Razer Naga in the other. I don't touch my keyboard unless it's to type a message.

 

Keyboards aren't designed for playing games, really (in fact, they aren't really even designed for typing; not kidding, look it up). I've got no idea why people remain so attached to them for that purpose.

 

My hands are too damn big to use one- even for typing. I've got to twist and contort my fingers around in really painful ways to reach all the keys. Now the G13 was actually designed with a human hand- playing games- in mind.

 

So yeah, I totally rock that thing.

I just got this so I realize I have to retrain muscle memory and whatnot to be able to use it, but I don't even want to start that till I have things programmed the way I want it so I can get used to it the way I intend to use it.

Having said that I like keyboards for typing, as such I've only used my mouse to play SWTOR till now, yes, that trackball jumping from one on screen button to the next is clunky hence the upgrade to the gamepad.

Once I finally have it programmed and have a week to get used to it I expect my game experience will increase 10 fold. Just wish there was an easy way to program this thing. *sigh*

I just got this so I realize I have to retrain muscle memory and whatnot to be able to use it, but I don't even want to start that till I have things programmed the way I want it so I can get used to it the way I intend to use it.

 

Having said that I like keyboards for typing, as such I've only used my mouse to play SWTOR till now, yes, that trackball jumping from one on screen button to the next is clunky hence the upgrade to the gamepad.

 

Once I finally have it programmed and have a week to get used to it I expect my game experience will increase 10 fold. Just wish there was an easy way to program this thing. *sigh*

It takes some experimenting, yeah- and no small amount of retraining that 'kinetic memory'. It's like learning to drive standard- sooner or later, you stop thinking about what gear you're in and where you're putting it, you just do. That kinetic memory becomes so strong that you find yourself doing it even when you're driving an automatic.

Generally speaking I set up a synchronicity between the keys and my action bars that places as many of my commonly used abilities directly under where my fingers- by default- tend to rest. This rule-by-proximity approach usually gives me a layout that works for me.

It takes some experimenting, yeah- and no small amount of retraining that 'kinetic memory'. It's like learning to drive standard- sooner or later, you stop thinking about what gear you're in and where you're putting it, you just do. That kinetic memory becomes so strong that you find yourself doing it even when you're driving an automatic.

 

Generally speaking I set up a synchronicity between the keys and my action bars that places as many of my commonly used abilities directly under where my fingers- by default- tend to rest. This rule-by-proximity approach usually gives me a layout that works for me.

Have you ever used the quick macro option to program in several moves at once.... like a rotation for a single mob? Supposedly the macro can be set to record your natural pauses in hitting the keys, I'm asking because I'm curious if it works or if it can get caught up in internet lag and then your rotation is messed up.

Have you ever used the quick macro option to program in several moves at once.... like a rotation for a single mob? Supposedly the macro can be set to record your natural pauses in hitting the keys, I'm asking because I'm curious if it works or if it can get caught up in internet lag and then your rotation is messed up.

I've never really gotten quite so complex where I'm macro'ing for movement- that I typically handle with a combination of the thumbstick on the g13 (for direction) and my mouse (for steering).

I actually used to be very good with a trackball. I could free-spin the ball to make snap-turns that were pretty damn accurate. Strangely, no one makes a gaming trackball with extra buttons like the Naga. I'd buy that product in a heartbeat.

But to more directly answer your question, yes the macro editor can be tuned to record pauses between keys.

Settings>Quick Macros> Record pauses

That would make the macro recorder do this by default. I believe there's also an instance-specific option on each macro recording window you open.

I've never really gotten quite so complex where I'm macro'ing for movement- that I typically handle with a combination of the thumbstick on the g13 (for direction) and my mouse (for steering).

 

I actually used to be very good with a trackball. I could free-spin the ball to make snap-turns that were pretty damn accurate. Strangely, no one makes a gaming trackball with extra buttons like the Naga. I'd buy that product in a heartbeat.

 

But to more directly answer your question, yes the macro editor can be tuned to record pauses between keys.

 

Settings>Quick Macros> Record pauses

 

That would make the macro recorder do this by default. I believe there's also an instance-specific option on each macro recording window you open.

Thanks for the info, yeah I can't live without my trackball, I use the forward webpage key to autorun/speeder movement the back to select next target and then the mouse pointer to click on attacks and buffs and everything, and that spinning move is indeed awesome.