WoW Insider QuickTake: Nostromo n52
by Jennie Lees 
Apr 20th 2006 at 8:58PM
The Nostromo n52 Speedpad was
listed by several readers as an essential WoW tool, so we're putting it
to the test. I'll be using the n52 for the next week's play, and will return with an updated take on the peripheral;
here's a quick first look at it. For some reason the n52 Speedpad seems popular with rogues; to get a feel for its functionality, in the
first day of play I've tested it with a druid performing every role from tanking to group healer as well as soloing.Setting up the n52 was easy, although substantial changes were made to its default WASD-style setup. With fifteen buttons as well as a directional pad, scroll wheel and orange thumb button, the most obvious mapping seemed to be to assign the numbers 0-9 to buttons 1-10, with the other keys reserved for shift, information panes such as map and bags, and jump.
By spending some time tinkering with both the n52 Profile Editor and WoW's keybindings, the pad was ready to prove its worth in real combat.
Initially trying it out is quite awkward, and I had to change my action bar layout (which was on two rows of six buttons previously) because of the mismatch. Fortunately, most of the time I only end up pressing a few buttons repeatedly while playing, and it was easy to keep hitting them. When healing, with the fantastic BeneCast addon, I did a lot of mouse clicking and a lot less button pressing than in other forms of combat.
Using the directional pad for movement isn't so easy, and even after a few hours' use I couldn't quite move freely with it. I tend to use both strafing and mouse movement to get around, and I haven't quite got the hang of pressing the pad instead of using WASD. It's definitely a point to persevere on, and possibly experimenting with different profiles will help me customise the n52 to work better with movement.
Overall, it was definitely quicker to use the n52 during fast-paced repetitive combat, but it requires a large investment in terms of profile and keybinding customisation. It was great while soloing, as my hands didn't have to leave the n52 and mouse at all, but once I got into an instance I found myself moving to and from the keyboard a lot to chat and emote. The pad has three configurable shift modes, meaning that I can map emotes to the various buttons and use (for example) the orange thumb button to temporarily enter 'emote mode'.
It seems the main drawback at first is simply keeping track of which button does what, as well as the various shifts. There is no workaround for the lack of chat, though clever macros could mean your most frequent sayings are but a button-press away. If you talk a lot (alongside combat) then you'll find your hands moving a lot, but after an initial outlay in configuration, the n52 brings a lot of efficiency.
Filed under: Odds and ends, Add-Ons
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Windshadow Apr 20th 2006 9:38PM
A really good post!
I wonder if this thread could develop into guides for N52 setups for the major classes and levels of play...
If you folks give a favorable report I can pick one up over the weekend... but I know from previous atempts at these sorts of things I am no good a devising key setup paterns...
oh and from reading the N52 web page I see that Mac users though they can use and program the N52 they can not use the PC key binding files and the PC can not read the Mac Keybinding files... sigh why do companys still do brain dead things like that!... so we will need to use a graphic system like your picture for each color coded shifted set or perhaps a chart that either a masterPC or mac user can use... (if you create and post the PC version I will undertake to create the Mac Keybinding file to your instructions) once one of each major char type has been developed then a pc and a mac keybinding file can be created and hosted somewhere (perhaps the site with all the mods and macros could be approached?)
Then any N52 user could just DL the type he needs for his say 30 to 40 hunter or 60 beastmaster spec hunter or 40 to 50 Warlock... etc and if an area of the keyset could be set aside for the variable craft skils then they could just be slotted in... Miner/engineer etc etc...
Could be cool project and something that WoW insider could give to the game at large... codifying and organizing all the existing WoW N52 info and cleaning it up and making it accessible all in one spot!
I am really looking forward to your full review next week Jenny! Well done!
Cheers
Windy
Bill Collins Apr 20th 2006 10:47PM
I got a Wolfclaw (http://www.wolf-claw.com) about 3 weeks ago. After a couple days getting used to it, I love it.
isobelle Apr 20th 2006 11:03PM
ugh. i just typed it up, but had a typo in my email address, and it's gone... here goes round two.
---------------
open this link in a new window >> http://agasaki.homeip.net/temp/wown52layout.jpg
my layout uses a basic WASD setup on the main keys. i can't imagine actually using that D-Pad to move around. my mainbar (the row of 1-9 buttons on the bottom of the screen) are set up in a clockwise spiral around the outer edge of my n52. it seems kinds of weird, but makes sense once you begin to use it. having the number keys on a keyboard is silly, because number 9 is so far from WASD, but in my setup, it curls around, and every number is very close to the WASD homekeys that are so important for moving around.
i use a warrior as my main, and my mainbar is mirriored across each stance... #8 is always my 'aggro grabber key'... it's taunt in defensive stance, and mocking blow in battle stance. #9 is charge and intercept depending on stance, and #6 is shield bash or pummel (my spell interrupters). #7 is revenge or overpower, actions that only 'light up' on blocks or dodges. 1 is toggle attack, and the others are things like thunderclap or rend or whatever.
my d-pad is split up between jump (bleh) and ctrl and alt. pulling 'back' on the dpad (ctrl, "towards me") puts the layout into shout mode... ctrl+5 is battle shout... ctrl+6 is demoralizing shout, ctrl+8 is the aoe taunt (#8... my taunt key). the alt key + 8, 9, or 0 switch my stances... i can mash ctrl+8, then layoff control and already have mny finger over the taunt key... i can mash ctrl+0 to go berserker and lay off to already have my finger over MS... i tried to really make it line up for situations like that, and i find that there is NO fumbling around... i know excatly where everything is, and can do anything i need to at the drop of a hat.
'west' on the dpad puts the pad into 'green shift' state, and i never use it during combat. i only use that for typed out macros... stuff like "green shift + 5" types out my password and hits enter, so i can log in with one keystroke. that doesn't get much use.
the big button below my thumb is tab, for switching targets, and the clicky little orange button is my execute button. i use the scroll wheel for a few extra buttons on my hotbars... clicking the wheel down uses my bow (only for pulling) and rolling the wheel up and down uses deathwish or cleave. i used to use the wheel to scroll my mainbar to page two or whatever... but i've since replaced that behavior with my crtl+button for shouts etc... i only really ever needed two "pages" anyway.
like i said, my main is a warrior, but this same setup works well for a rogue as well.. ctrl+ buttons activate stealth (8), evasion, sprint, etc. i still use 6 as my same 'interrupt button' (kick) etc... tyring to wrap new classes around this layout once i made it isn't that hard. i've never really played a healing class to endgame, but alt is mapped in an easy to use location, and i guess you could use the shift state to select party membersa f1-f5.
i dunno... without this thing i'm a mess... if i play on my laptop i'm manually clicking buttons with the mouse. i used to have the original n50, and got the n52 as soon as it came out. whenever i get a new game, i go straight to options, write down the key bindings, and build myself a setuop i think will work, and tweak it for the first few minutes of play until it works well, THEN i can actually begin to play. :)
isobelle Apr 20th 2006 11:12PM
ah! alt is also my 'push to talk key' in vent, so that gets a lot of use, and is a comfortable position for my thumb, so i can be talking and stgill moving around mashing stuff in the meantime.
typing chat obviously requires a brief shift of both hands to keyboard, and i hunt and peck letters like C or B to bring up character and bag pages, but overall, it's an (very big) extension of the keyboard and mouse... not a complete replacement.
Grendalsh Apr 21st 2006 1:15AM
Been using an N52 with WoW since 12/04. I use it for
all my classes, though my mains are a rogue and
Priest. Recently reviewed my setup after getting a hunter going as it was my first pet class. My apologies for the following Encyclopedia Nestromo.
The Profile editor allows for printing out a textual
chart of keybindings, so I suppose it would be
possible at a minimum to make class-specific profiles
available as .pdf's, and folks could type them back in
(how lotech)
The following is how I have my N52 setup, and it flows
like the morning dew from the lotus blossom.
D-Pad
I use this for the 'large' movements forward/back, and strafe L/R. The diagonals are for turn L/R, but I hardly ever use these. The right click on the mouse will looklock, so I steer with the mouse itself, and use the dpad for axis movement. Find this makes for exceptionally fluid movement, as the key turns are set to like 45degrees, so they make steering rather jerky. Using the diagonals on the dpad makes one-handed steering possible (i.e. while eating, phone) if clumsy. Using 2handed steering with the mouse for fine-steering and dpad for forward/strafe makes it possible to run rings around WASD players ;) Literally - strafe left while turning right and you'll run in a circle while facing the same target.
This places all movement commands on one finger (well, thumb) and frees up all the keys for actionbar commands. To paraphrase Blue Oyster Cult, "Don't fear the DPad."
Bonus - my mouse has programmable keys, and I use
these for autorun and jump. With autorun on and mouse
steering, cross-country or cross-city runs require
almost no effort.
Shifting modes
I set the three leftmost keys as Mode toggles, with a mode assigned for each of the on-screen action bars (i.e. main bar, bottom left bar, pet bar) and one for emotes. I tried using the scroll wheel as a 'cycle mode', but find having direct access to each mode better than having to cycle thru them, especially during intense action.
Having read Isobelle's use of two buttons for ctrl and shift has me thinking that setting two buttons for those wow-mod keys would free up two n52 modes.. hmmm
Keymap
Rather than trying to map the actionbuttons to the
numbered key on the N52 (i.e. actionbutton 1 = n52
button 1), remap it the way you mentally arrange your
abilities. (as Isobelle mapped them in a spiral so she knows and/or can quickly figure out where each action should be)
Example: For my priest, my actionbar has buttons 1-3
for attack spells, 4-6 for defense spells, and 7-9 for
healits. With the 3 left keys set for mode toggling, I
use the central 3x3 grid for actionbuttons 1-9. So my
attack spells are the top row, defense the middle row,
and healits the bottom row. then the two rightmost
keys for '-' and '=' for the most used abilities,
Melee attack and ranged attack (in the case of my
priest, Pain). This puts my two most used abilities
directly under my index finger. I use the thumb button
for '0'. I find this button awkward to use, so I use
it for 'auto' abilities.. in the case of my
priest, thats Wand.
Modes & Keymap
The majority of my usage is combat, so un-moded is set
for combat. WoW lets you address the left bottom bar using shifted keys (i.e. shift1 thru shift=). I have one mode set for shifted keys. The Pet bar responds to
Ctrl1 etc., so I have a mode for pets.
And lastly, a mode for emotes.
Other buttons
The orange button is perfect for Esc.
I've tried various uses for the scroll wheel (cycling
modes, cycling actionbars (poor response time on
this), but really haven't found a good use. Would love
suggestions, as I hate having unused widgets!
Macros
The Profile editor for the N52 lets you create your
own macros to assign to a button. I use this for the
emotes. Unfortunately, it's not nearly as user
friendly as the WoW macro editor, as it records key
press and release, o n e a t a t i m e. So, if you
type quickly, you'll need to edit the keystroke order.
However, /dance is quite easy to set up :)
Macros and Modes
Because the macro editor records keypress and release
separately, making macros for shift or ctrl keys will
require the following order:
Shift/Ctrl Down
(key) down
(key) up
Shift/Ctrl Up
Otherwise, the macro gets sent as "shift, (key)", and
WoW reads that as just (key).
NOTE! The N52 macro editor has it's own pause
function, allowing you to set a timelapse between
keystrokes. And since it passes the macro as straight
text, WoW wouldn't know the diff between the macro and
you typing. Theoretically, it's possible to write
multi-spell scripts. That being said, doing so pushes
the line recently set by Blizzard in the case of the
gentle that got banned for using the Logitech Macro
keyboard to spam his priest's weapons skills. I would
highly discourage doing this. Seriously, if you can't
get by with every ability you need at your left hand's
fingertips, give it up.
One GOTCHA! to keep in mind with the N52. There's the
Profile editor and the Loadout manager. The profile
editor allows you to assign the n52's keys and save,
say, a Hunter profile and a Priest profile. The Loadout
manager lets you pick which game a Loadout is associated with, assign it profiles, and save a Loadout. Don't be fooled into thinking you can save a Loadout for each profile, however. You CAN, but that's where the gotcha is: the Loadout manager will pick the first loadout for the game you are in (and yes, it does hotswap loadouts based on what program window you are in). So, if you have a Hunter and Priest loadout, and enter WoW, the Loadout Manager will autoload the Hunter profile, even if you manually select Priest (alphabetical). The workaround is to have a WoW loadout, and swap the profiles when you swap characters.
WHEW!
bitmover Apr 21st 2006 3:21AM
I can't play without an n52 anymore. I used to play a warrior and loved using simple macros for switching bars, using an item and switching back. It was great for things like pulling with my gun or using a healthpot. I also put retaliation on the giant orange "OH S***!"
http://brainwerks.net/wow/WowWarrior.zip (PC)
Now I play a shaman and there are way to many situational buttons to try to map so I just use keys 1-6 and swap spells from open bars.
D-UP: Attack
D-RIGHT: Shock
D-DOWN: Lightning Shield
D-LEFT: Windfury
05: Big Heal
06: Little Heal
Then the two secondary bottom bars have all my shocks on the left then totems arranged fire/earth/water/air. The two right bars have everything else I need and a space at the top for the totems I use the most. Seems to work pretty well but I'd love to see what other shammys use.
isobelle Apr 21st 2006 3:33AM
a few comments fro grendalsh:
scroll wheel:
as i said, i basically have the wheel set to be 3 buttons. scroll up, click it, and scroll down. i actually made the scroll up and scroll down fucntions two key macros... i opened the macro editor, did 'hold down shift, hit key 3, let go of shift'. since most of the n52's buttons are bound to one key (button 4 = Z, or whatever) you need to create very simple macros for two stroke combos. i know what you're saying with it not being responsive. it's got that click-scroll feature, which i like, but it just feels kind of lame in use. the two keys i bound to it have cooldowns, though, so it doesn't really matter... deathwish is a ten-minute cooldown, so i just roll the wheel way forward when i want to activate it (lol, i'm always thinking of me 'pushing into overdrive' as i roll the wheel forward), and if it registers that click twice, whatever... it's only going to activate once, and then start the ten minute cooldown. with cleave (rolling the wheel down, or towards me) after popping cleave, the skill cools down for 1.5 seconds, so again, i just rolll it downward and let the cleave pop. usually when i'm spamming cleave, i'm uding it one or twice, so i just park myself in a good spot and roll downward for a few seconds to let 2 or 3 cleaves fly.
macros:
yes, it is weird how they record macros, but it makes sense. if you want to type "WTFpwn" (bad example), you need to 'hold down shift, type W, T, F, let go of shift, p, w, n'... but that's the beauty, you can get as intricate as you want. what i do is hit 'start recording' and just type my macro out ridiculously slowly and carefully. then there's a button to 'select all delays' and trim them all down to a faster speed.
.02 of a second works for me, but you can go faster or slower. one trick is to save your macro, save whatever profile you're working on (to commit changes, but leave the editor open) and have a copy of notepad running too. just pop your macro, and make sure the text comes out as intended, and if not, go back and record the macro more slowly and carefully.
i used to have a macro i wrote back when i played counterstrike that was something like "b14b25b08b;b:b04" or somehting... it was like "buy an ak47, buy a desert eagle, buy primary ammo,l buy 2ndary ammo, buy armor and a helmet, buy grenades", and i could pop it at one key stroke faster than you could possibly type it. there was one map 'fy_iceworld' that was very fast paced, and i could run to the buy zone and scoop up a full inventory in about 1 second. :)
i can't imagine how you guys use the thumb dpad for moving around! i dunno... i had a nostromo back when i first played half life 1, so i'm just so used to it, it's silly... i could never crouch with my pinky on ctrl, and always have used the dpad for jump and crouch and lean in FPSes... i really like the 'phone dialing pad' system you have though for the 3 up top, 3 in the middle, and 3 down low. really makes you pick and choose 'what makes the cut' :)
isobelle Apr 21st 2006 3:43AM
bleh... my image died along with my webserver... image shack mirror FTL:
http://img93.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wown52layout5zx.jpg
jennie Apr 21st 2006 7:22AM
Thanks for the thoughts so far, guys. I will keep working at my setup - I play so many characters that I don't really have a set button layout ingame, it varies a lot, so I wanted to go with a n52 profile that would work well with all my characters. I'll return after more use with a new post on the subject; using the WASD+spiral layout does seem like it'd be more comfortable, so I'll probably try that.
J-Bob Apr 21st 2006 8:50AM
I've been using the n52 for my hunter for the last month or so and loving it.
I have the dpad set for frequent use shots (auto, arcane, serpent sting, concussive).
WASD set up in the center of the key pad.
Right most two keys for Aimed and Multi shot.
1 & 5 keys set to my melee macros (1 - auto cast AotM, melee attack; 5 - Spam for raptor, wing clip, mongoose)
Orange button - Macro for hunter's mark & pet attack
Up scroll - Macro for scatter shot and pet passive
Down scroll - Macro for feign death & party feign death warning
Click scroll - tab
Lower left button - shift
Thumb button - jump
Working great so far. I could probably optimize it better, but now that I'm in a groove it's hard to change it.
I'm going to have to try the previous poster's suggestion for a priest set-up. I think an important set in that design is the alt key for self casts.
Berylium Apr 21st 2006 12:03PM
I've used an N52 since it was introduced and I used the N50 before that. I've used the speedpads with every genre of game imaginable and on both Windows PCs and Macintosh computers. I consider them a necessity for the most enjoyable playing.
All that said, if you have to use a N52 (or N50) and you game on a Mac you should know that the speedpads *do not work* on the Intel Macs. Not only do they not work but Belkin's response to questions about possibly updated drivers is either: "There are no problems with the N52 and Intel Macs" or "Are you sure you're not using a 64-bit processor?". (Believe me, being asked that second question 10 times on the phone is truly maddening, not to mention it doesn?t make any sense.)
Mat Apr 21st 2006 12:51PM
Interesting.
While I'm not sure I'm sold on the idea of a game pad yet, I may have to try one out.
The thing that holds me back is that while the normal keyboard may not be perfectly formed for a game, I use one so much (for non gaming) that key placement is ingrained in my memory.
The idea of macros is nice though. While I was grinding my hunter to 60 it would have been nice to have a long one like this "ice trap,hunter's mark,aimed shot, 1 sec, pet attack, 1 sec, concussive shot, stam sting, arcane shot"
Man that would have made pulling a breeze.
J-Bob Apr 21st 2006 1:01PM
@ #12...
All my hunter macros are made in game. I haven't really played with the n52 macro editor, other than to script a ctr-# macro.
My favorites are the mark/pet attack macro and the spam Raptor/Wing/Mongoose macro. The last one chews through mana though, so you have to be careful with it.
I do like your idea of the trap/mark/pet attack squence.
Finnicks Daerkhiv Apr 21st 2006 4:06PM
My question is: Does it have both right and left hand editions? I dunno how comfortable I'd be using my left hand with this thing.
Erik Dasque Apr 21st 2006 4:37PM
Hey all,
I bought a n52 a few weeks ago and I love it so far. I mostly play my priest and sometime a hunter.
As you can see in http://www.generalmagic.org/gallery/index.php?album=temp&image=Nostromo1.jpg and http://www.generalmagic.org/gallery/index.php?album=temp&image=Nostromo2.jpg I have used Discord Action Bar to allow me to create a screen layout that mimics my physical key layout. The space in the center is for WASD and direction movement. I know I lose 6 keys in the process but I found that to be the best layout for me.
DAB allows me to switch pages on my Nostromo accessible bar depending on the situation. As you see from the images, my main pages are Healing and Melting Faces and DAB will automatically change from one to the other depending if my target is hostile or friendly/none.
Also, I mapped my D-PAD to actions I want to access very easily, the life savers, Desperate Prayer, Fear, Fade, Innerfire. I sometime switch those around depending on the situation. I am going to create a few more pages for that Nostromo action bar and will switch from one to others via the scroll wheel.
After a few weeks, this is my setup, it's bound to change. But at least now, except for chatting in guild channel, my hands don't leave my mouse and Nostromo. I love it.
dax Apr 21st 2006 4:47PM
I got my N52 when I started playing City of Heroes when it was released, and it moved with me over to WoW in December of 04. I have never liked the direction pad for movement at all, but I can turn side to side using the east/west buttons. So I turn the 7 and 13 into forward and back and use the direction pad for the side to side. The large orange button is jump and the south direction key switches modes on the gamepad.
I also use a g15 now, so I use modes a lot less on the gamepad. Things like emotes, Itemrack, autorun etc are on the g15. basically anything that doesn't need to be too terribly quickly accesseed, since I have to either let go of the mouse or the gamepad to access those keys. It's probably not perfect, but it's the way I've always played and it works for me. I have my talk key for vent set to the back button on my mouse. I've tried to play with just the keyboard and just can't do it.
Interesting side note, my wife tried (briefly) to play WoW with me and had a tremendous amount of trouble with movement. My sister-in-law had the same problem. Once I put my wife on the gamepad and let her move the way I did, she caught on immediately. Not saying I'm right, I just thought it was interesting.
jpc Apr 21st 2006 4:54PM
I bought one a few months ago and could not for the life of me get used to moving with the D-pad. In addition, as Jennie pointed out, it's cumbersome to have to move your hands to and from the keyboard for chat. I am always either party/guild/friend chatting all the time. Chatting with the nostromo is tough. It does make grinding mobs easy though, and after reading this, I might give it a 2nd try. I'm going to try to write in-game macros first though. In-game macros can get information for you which gives you more power. The nostromo can just mimick key-strokes but is easier to program - *alot* easier.
~jpc
Windshadow Apr 23rd 2006 8:50AM
You guys have convinced me and I have one on order from amazon but this blog thread is not exactly ideal as a way of supporting each other with clever setups and tips for using the N52 with WoW... the problem with blog threads is once they go off the front page they are all but dead as far as new activity
any one have any ideas on where we should take this?
Perhaps that web site that has all the mods and macros would let us set up an area? anyone have any contacts at
http://ui.worldofwar.net/ ?
(and of course if a place can be set up it would be big help if one of the blogers here could do a post on where we all have pitched camp)
Cheers
Windy
Grendalsh Apr 23rd 2006 10:12PM
Tried out the idea I got from Isobelle's post - set keys 01,06,11 to [shift],[ctl],[alt], respectively.
Now can access all three main action bars (main, lower left, pet) from one mode. Set the scroll wheel to Cycle Mode...
Of course, now I have to figure out what to do with the freed up modes. Looks like I'll be storing macro emotes :)