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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsSteelseries WoW mouse not so wow-worthy?
by Zach Yonzon 
Jan 17th 2009 at 2:00PM
How has your experience with the Steelseries mouse been? Are you one of the lucky Europeans who won one in Blizzard's Holiday giveaway or managed to snag one of these lately? There aren't too many reviews over the web by players who actually play World of Warcraft, so it's interesting to see if Richie's is an isolated case (although a couple of posters on his blog concur with his findings). The mouse doesn't have a driver for the Mac, and Steelseries doesn't seem to be producing one soon, so I haven't popped out the $99.99 (or more expensive 89.99 EUR) for it. After reading Richie's review -- or rant, rather -- I'm not certain I still want to, either.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Hardware
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 4)
Eversor Jan 17th 2009 5:00PM
I have an Acme mouse. Works excellent for more than a year now, and before had a mouse of some unknown origin. Had no problems with it whatsoever for over 3 years. Probably just lucky, but hey.
Iztli Jan 17th 2009 5:15PM
I finally had my G-5 mouse die a few months ago so I called up Logitech and they said they would replace it, but no longer had the G-5 available, so they sent me a new G-9 instead. I took one look at it and laughed because it was hideous. I was going to take it back and grab something from Razor, but it was late and I decided to open it up and play around with it. I wouldn't give it back for anything now. Between the weight, and the width it feels great, and the responsiveness is awesome.
Aquanda Jan 17th 2009 5:37PM
I bought this mouse and will not use it. The buttons 'stick' just like the review states which makes my 'Clique' healing style completely ineffective. After a few days I switched back to my Logitech G5.
Hoops Jan 17th 2009 6:15PM
MX518 is what im using, its never let me down. Great built quality, the shape fits my hand perfectly. It feels really balanced, plus the two buttons on the side to keybind use.
I was slightly tempted to get this wow mouse, but now i wont even bother.
The Observer Jan 17th 2009 6:16PM
Excellent photoshop job.
Veras Gunn Jan 17th 2009 6:40PM
I bought one a few weeks ago. After watching the little demo I had become quite enamored with it. Originally I was skeptical, 15 buttons seemed like a lot, and I honestly didn't see where they went on the mouse. The promise of Mac support only helped fuel that want. The overall look of the mouse was a factor too.
It took a week or so of searching but an EBgames near me finally got them in so I picked it up. The mouse didn't, and still doesn't yet, support my Mac mini out of the box, so I did a little google search for something that'd help the wait. Found a program called ControllerMate. Took a few minutes to figure out how to get it to work, but once I did everything was working perfectly. I've been using it for about a week now with no problems other than controllermate occasionally stop working.
I do have a few qualms. The mouse doesn't seem to actually be covered in steel, rather plastic that looks like steel. It doesn't feel like steel, doesn't have the cold touch when you use it for the first time in a day like you'd expect. Both a good and bad thing I suppose, but I feel a bit cheated out of that. It's also very light, which might not necessarily be a bad thing, however I've grown very used to heavy mice over there after using first the Logitech MX1000 for several years, then a Lemon of a MXRevolution, and finally a Logitech G9 with all of the weights in it. It took a while to get used to the very light weight, but it's perfectly fine now. The actual shape of the mouse is a little strange, especially after so many years of using Logitech's Ergonomically designed mice. Again, takes some getting used to, but works after a while. The main problem I have is with two of the buttons on it, the ones on the right side of it. They're small, and pushed towards the very front of the mouse. They're not particularly easy to get to, so I don't use them often. Had they been pushed back closer to your hand they'd be perfectly placed and would likely be used all of the times.
All of that being said, I do quite like the mouse. It took a day of getting used to, but the buttons are really quite nice once you've got them set up, and it just looks damn awesome.
robster1225 Jan 21st 2009 12:37PM
I have been using this mouse, on a MAC for a month now, and I absolutely love it. I use ControllerMate's software, it's recently been updated to support the WoW Mouse. It even allows you to adjust the color and all that. Butl, I don't understand some of the criticism, this mouse feels very solid and well made to me. Much better than the Razer Deathadder that I was using. To bad these aren't in stores, cause i'd recommend everyone trying it for themselves, and not listening to these reviews.
FantomRedux Jan 17th 2009 8:18PM
I myself have a Trust GM-4200 Mouse and a wireless Trust Keyboard. Both work excellently. The mouse only set me back £10, and has never failed me. The side buttons rest nicely under my thumb, the buttons feel nice under my fingers, and the whole thing is incredibly well put together and the rubberised shell of the mouse feels really nice in my hand. I rarely, if ever, use the DPI changer on the mouse though, as it makes my mouse zoom across my screen faster than I'd like, as in the whole screen in about an inch, not ideal for WoW really :P.
mr.gerbz Jan 17th 2009 8:24PM
I had the mouse for a short while as well (came out December 31st, returned it January the 2nd).
It did indeed feel cheap, and I had the exact same problem as the guy who sent a review in, with the sticky buttons (which was the main reason I returned it). Also, the mouse is WAY too bulky, doesn't feel good in your hand at all.
Some buttons are also placed horribly, and it's macros are something you could put on any mouse. Example:
One button is assigned to stop all combat. Instead of it doing so invisibly, you actually see /stopcasting and /stopattack being written...
I tell you, it's not worth its money. It really does feel like a mouse which costs only €20,-. The reason it's so expensive is mainly due to the lights (which add nothing useful), and the steelseries and WoW name.
I won't be rebuying it. I'll be sticking to logitech mouses again.
Craig Jan 18th 2009 5:50PM
Had one for a couple of days and so far (touch wood) it hasn't fallen to bits or buttons sticking yet, but i have had a few issues with the software.
I created a load of macros to assign to the buttons and created different profiles for each of my chars, it forgets them when you turn off the PC regardless if you save or not which is a ball breaker.
KuroZero Jan 17th 2009 10:04PM
Sorry for the long post, but if you've been thinking about this mouse..PLEASE READ!
I've had this mouse for about a month now and would like to share my input. After reading all the reviews online, I was reasonably excited to get this mouse. I had one pre orderd at my local GameStop and was there first thing that day to get it. My first impressions were not that great. It does feel very light and cheap but after a day or so of using it, I no longer noticed. I've spent hours trying to get a set up that feels natural with my play style.
I agree with the review at ign.com. They mentioned how there is a lot of trial and error and I fully support that. What I've found works the best is having similar buttons for each character profile.
Right now, each of my alts has a different profile. Those "hard to reach" buttons on the right side simply scroll through the profiles I have set up. The colored lights on the mouse match the class color of the profile I'm currently using. I use the two buttons next to the main right and left click buttons as quick reaction buttons that I don't normally have on my first few numbers on the actionbar (taunt for warriors and hammer of wrath for pallies.) Mouse button 4 and 5 are where you would expect them to be - on the left side. I use the "d pad" for other class specific items (shapeshifting on my druid.)
On the other hand, I too had the problem with a "sticky" right mouse button. I stopped using the mouse for a little over a week until I got a response back from Steel Series. "Lift the left & right click mouse button up with your finger nail
after half an inch until you hear a snap, then let go."
I did that and it seems to help temporarily which is great because I'm beginning to rely on the extra mouse buttons quite a bit. I've gotten into the habit of "snapping" the right click button whenever I have downtime and I've never had a problem since.
I went back to my GameStop to see if I could get a replacement. They told me they received an email saying that there was a known issue with the mice. They were told the future shipments wouldn't have the same problem and to replace the defective ones. Unfortunately, they aren't expecting anymore for several weeks.
Sorry for the long post. To wrap things up I would recommend reading the review at gear.ign.com. They had the closest experience to what I had. Oh...and don't use it for the macros, just set everything up to key presses and use an addon like Bartender4 to keybind all of your buttons.
Good luck!
Jack Kelly Jan 17th 2009 11:28PM
DO NOT go buy one. If you really want one, I suggest waiting for generation 2 or three (if there is one). Maye they'll fix the damn thing.
I saw them at Blizzcon also and was "meh" but my wife ended up getting one for me for X-mas anyway.
What a piece of garbage. I had the stuck mouse1 button issue also. Once I'd press it down, it wouldn't come back up unless I psycally lifted it up with my fingernail.
The fix they told me didn't fix anything so I just asked to RMA it back to them. They told me it was a "known issue" so I assume they've gotten a ton of complaints.
The build is terrible. It's a giant plastic mess. The mouse 4 and 5 buttons wouldn't bind to anything. In game, the buttons were all bound to things you don't really need them to access quickly on a mouse but trying to re-bind them seemed to screw other things up.
The software is horrible. I could not copy and paste my pre-made macros into their macro-maker as it wants to record every single keypress (so trying CTRL-V would not work and right click and paste wont either).
I tried to make a forum post on the regular WoW forums about some of these issues but it got deleted by a mod. It wasn't even a flamefest. Seems Blizzard doesn't want legitimate criticism.
I wish they'd partnered with Logitech. I've always had great stuff from them.
I'll never buy anything else from Steelseries again.
KuroZero Jan 17th 2009 11:51PM
They did fix the problem with the mouse 4 and 5 buttons with new drivers. That sucks about the forum post.
sgeek Jan 17th 2009 10:13PM
Lots of similar problems are being reported on this mouse, it's everywhere on the forums and reviews.
I've been using a Razer Deathadder - and it kicks ass. Awesome build quality. There's a great review on Wowhead on Razer gear a couple of weeks back. There's a Mac version of the mouse but I'm not sure how different it is from the PC (looks exactly the same).
sgeek Jan 17th 2009 10:15PM
OK - found the Razer review: http://www.wowhead.com/?blog=61162
Richie Jan 17th 2009 10:21PM
Just waiting to hear back from them about a refund...
Cheers for the shout out again guys.
Dan Latham Jan 18th 2009 2:21AM
The exact same thing happened to me. They told me to snap the mouse buttons but then they started sticking. After waiting 2 weeks to get an RMA I gave up and demanded my money back.
Tregan Jan 18th 2009 4:42AM
Bought one 2 days ago, and I think it's pretty cool. However, the buttons do stick after a while, which made me actually oil the mouse (lol!), and well now the buttons don't get stuck anymore :P
Remapping the buttons isn't a problem for me btw, works perfectly
Kanzaki Jan 18th 2009 5:03AM
Well I must preface this by saying that I have used every product marketed at gamers on this planet. OK kidding lol but I have used several Logitech mice, several Microsoft mice and now this Steel Series one.
I am sorry some people are saying that they hate to hear bad things being said about this product. But they blew it. I don't know if Steel Series rushed it out, if it had to do with their acquisition of Ideazon, or they don't know how to make a mouse (I love their mouse pads fyi lol).
I FINALLY got my mouse after waiting since the release of Wrath (originally when they said it would be out). I was excited. All the buttons were about to make using a mouse to play WoW an absolute joy. It was lighter than I was used to but also had a bigger foot print. I finally got it home and got it all hooked up, downloaded the program to make it work, messed around with the keys and got it setup pretty close to where I wanted it. Before I launched the game I messed around with the 8 bajillion colors I could make the lights (yay for pretty peripherals). So I loved the way it felt. I loved the buttons. I loved the DPI.
I loved everything...Except my left button made a squeaking sound. It was rubbing against the button right next to it. Well it wasn't too bad I thought I could live with it. I was wrong. So that said the squeaking was not the only problem. The mouse lagged a little and skipped across the screen occasionally.
Finally, when I would watch a movie it would sometimes just stop working all together (I know that is not really an issue with WoW but contrary to popular belief WoW is not the only thing I use my computer for). I would have WMP at full screen to watch whatever. Then when my program was over I would have to hit esc to get WMP out of full-screen mode and the mouse would just be "dead." I would have to unplug it and plug it back in to work.
So that is about that. Sorry for the wall of text. It is early and I am tired. I ended up returning the mouse today and going back with my Logitech G9. I might end up going with that G9 upgrade (i.e. higher DPI) that comes out in a couple months but I probably won't be buying another Steel Series mouse unless I hear A LOT of reports that the problems with this mouse have been fixed. I hope my comments have helped to make the decision to buy this mouse for some people a little easier and better informed. I will check back on the comments if anyone else has any questions.
Keene Jan 18th 2009 6:22AM
I bought one and gave it a try. What a disappointment. The article comments about sticky buttons and poor button placement are true. Not only do the buttons stick, but they squeak. I ran into some conflicts and lock ups with the driver too. I'm really surprised Blizzard lent their name to such a piece of junk.