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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: Do you own any WoW peripherals?
by Josh Rose 
Sep 24th 2010 at 8:00AM
One of my friends struck it rich at a really young age. He grew up fairly poor and suddenly came into a large amount of money, and he now spends it on infinite amounts of frivolous items. He actually owns a Slap Chop, George Foreman Grill and some ShamWoWs. He also buys many of the WoW peripherals. Not only did he buy the sparkle pony and about every pet that WoW has put out, he also buys the actual gaming items. He has the Tap Chat, the wireless WoW headset, even the Wrath keyboard and Blizzard MMO gaming mouse.
Personally, the only peripheral I've bought from Blizzard is an authenticator, which netted me the cute little core hound pet. However, the sense of security that my seven 80s won't be cleaned out while my account is used to spam trade for some gold selling site is the real reason I picked it up. I have a Logitech mouse and headset -- nothing super fancy, but they work just fine for me, and I paid less than one piece's worth of the Blizzard direct WoW paraphernalia. My girlfriend was going to buy me the WoW headset for my birthday, but I told her to save her money and get me a game card, as opposed to dropping over $100 on a headset. I told her if I were going to spend that kind of money on something for my computer, it would be to update pieces of the hardware, like a better graphics card or a new processor.
In the end, the decision whether or not to buy something comes down to the consumer, so I leave it to you, the WoW gaming public: Do you own any of the gaming peripherals for WoW? If so, do they actually help make you a better player? If you feel they actually aid your gaming experience, can you provide some examples or testimonials as to why?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 5 of 6)
Alexandre Sep 24th 2010 10:11AM
I bought myself a fatal1ty headset for raiding , best money I've spent , I also got a sparkle poney ( it's kinda usefull to have on alts) 2 authenticators and several Mouses (I burn through the two side buttons really fast as I have auto run and jump bounded to it on any char but beacon and holy shield on my pally 's healbot.
Greenjojo Sep 24th 2010 10:11AM
I don't own any of the officially licensed WoW peripherals, however I do have a Razer Lycosa and Naga. It was hard for me to let go of my G5(best. mouse. ever.), but I am so glad I finally did. I was afraid the Naga wouldn't fit my hand, or i'd mash multiple buttons on the keypad. That is not the case, it's a nice fit and very easy to use. Now I have enough buttons to keybind my keybinds! More buttons + more smash = more DPS!! I bought the Lycosa simply for the awesome backlighting...although its macro abilities are also pretty awesome. Although I will likely replace it with Razer's new BlackWidow when it launches.
Audio wise I just use a Plantronics .Audio 365. It gets the job done and sounds amazing while doing it.
I also have an authenticator, all of the pets(well not the plushies), and of course a sparkle pony.
JasonTerminator Sep 24th 2010 10:23AM
The only licensed WoW accessory I have is the wired headset, which is great, but I sometimes wish I spent the extra cash to get the wireless one. I used to use a Zboard with WoW keysets, I have both vanilla and BC, but I've since stopped using it and don't have the Wrath keyset.
The other accessories I use are:
Razer Deathadder mouse, which I might switch to a Naga in December. Razer Tarantula keyboard, which is nice, but I almost never use the macro keys. I'll probably replace this with either a Razer Blackwidow Ultimate or a Steelseries 7g, because I want a mechanical keyboard.
I have an iPhone so no keyfob authenticator here!
Amaxe Sep 24th 2010 10:28AM
Got the authenticator, and once I bought the Pandaren pet, though I regret the latter since I don't like the RMT idea, even if Blizz (so far) hasn't made the items too advantageous.
I race changed my level 80 DK from human to gnome to take advantage of the +15 Engineering.
That's about it though
Serynda Sep 24th 2010 10:38AM
My favourite two peripherals would have to be the authenticator and my Logitech G5 mouse. I have the Naga sitting in the bottom of my desk drawer, but my brain functions better with the G5. Tanking, healing, dps, the G5 is great! In fact, I have two G5s, one for both computers (mine and my husband's).
I also have a sparkle pony, which is awesome for my seemingly endless stream of alts (and for my DK. It's her permanent mount.), and my husband got the plushy Wind Rider Cub and the griffon for me for my birthday. I would love to have a pink Mulgore strider plushy one day, if they ever came out with one. :)
I bought my husband a personalized hoodie with his char name/class/guild/yada on it. I'd actually love one of those new fancy class shirts or hoodies, if they would let you center the damned picture in the middle. :(
Anyway. Good morning, breakfast topic peoples, but it's time to go farm some more emblems for my newest 80, and my plushy wind rider cub looks on from the desk :)
Emrys Sep 24th 2010 10:40AM
I have the authenticator and received the wind ryder cub as a birthday present. I mostly have Logitech G-series equipement; the g9 mouse, the g35 headset, and the g15 keyboard. There is more to my life than WoW so I don't see the need to buy all the WoW stuff.
Spriestess Sep 24th 2010 10:42AM
I have an authenticator, I think it's absolutely worth the money just to have the piece of mind of having one. I also have a G15 keyboard and love it. However, I did pick up a Steelseries WoW mouse and it was trash. It was clunky broke within 6 months. I switched to a Razer mouse instead and it's worked like a dream.
RetPallyJil Sep 24th 2010 10:51AM
I have the glowy headset. It's fantastic!
Katialis Sep 24th 2010 11:08AM
I've got a g15 keyboard which I like for the backlit keys. I also bought the footpetal. I'm a raid leader and it is awesome to be able to give directions on vent without giving up use of one of my hands
Noyou Sep 24th 2010 11:12AM
Nope. And I dislike the fact that I feel I have to go out and spend a boatload of money to be competitive at PvP. From having a top of the line gaming rig, accessories, and keybinding everything. I'll probably cave in at some point and get a decent mouse. For now I will just enjoy a smug grin whenever I actually take down a similarly geared 80 knowing I KB turned and clicked them to death. Ha :)
Xarthan Sep 24th 2010 11:26AM
I wear WoW underwear when I'm raiding.
Butts Sep 24th 2010 11:30AM
I have a lich king mouse pad and authenticator. My mouse is a logitech MX revolution and I don't think I could play without it.
Speaking of peripherals, I currently use Logitech ClearChat Wireless USB Headset, but after about an hour of raiding it makes my ears sore, not to mention the sound on one side keeps cutting out.
Can anyone recommend the best headset?
Xarthan Sep 24th 2010 4:08PM
I'm a fan of the Astro A30s
Grendalsh Sep 24th 2010 11:30AM
I treated myself to the Creative WoW wireless headset. I finally wanted to get a wireless gaming headset for a couple of reasons, and had been saving for some time, when the WoW headset hit the market. Over all, I'm extremely happy with them; very comfortable, the audio is sweet, and the 3d sounspace is awesome. As a bonus, no more wires!
The only other gaming peripheral I have is the Belkin Nostromo n52te gamepad. Not WoW specific, but it's sooooo much better than a gaming keyboard.
Otherwise, I'm a Blizzard/Warcraft junkie, with more books, guides, toys, etc than any sane person should have... but the baby manticore plushy is so cute!!
Runningcow Sep 24th 2010 11:39AM
I have the Naga as well. Best purchase I've made as a hunter. EASILY ramped up my DPS by several hundred. Don't care for it as much on my fury warrior (not well suited to rolling face) but it works great on my holy priest. Combine the Naga with my old school G15, and I have way too many buttons.
sithpa_c Sep 24th 2010 11:45AM
I own the authenticator am am very pleased with it but purchased the tap chat foot pedal but have discovered I cannot get it to work without the headset. I bit sneaky on blizzards part unless I am just doing something wrong. Everytime I tap it it closes my window and opens the task manager. I cannot seem to fix it without the program that comes with the headset. Any ideas?
Spark Sep 24th 2010 12:02PM
Maybe I'm too cynical. Any time I see a piece of gear that's got a game franchise emblazoned on it, I immediately ignore it. It takes a lot of good reviews for me to even look at it a second time. It's like they're trying too hard to sell the device by latching on to a popular tittle. The only reason I'd accept a WoW logo on one of these devices is if the function of the device was WoW-centric which usually isn't the case.
I have a hardware Authenticator. I ordered it before I got an Android based phone. And even though I downloaded an Authenticator app to toy around with it, I still use the hardware token. Dedicated hardware is the best option from a security perspective. I don't know if I trust the build quality enough to keep it on my keychain (in comparison, RSA's tokens are very rugged - albeit much, much more expensive). I'm considering getting some little velcro dots and sticking my Authenticator token on my case or monitor bezel.
mrdragonfell Sep 24th 2010 12:25PM
The nagga when added too the nostromo2 tournament edition is probably the most powerful peripheral setup on the market. The N52TE is on back orders that range from 3-6 mo but if your lucky your local Best Buy might have 1 in stock.
I honestly couldn't imagine my nagga without the N52TE but lets face the fact that with 3000 dpi the nagga is one of the most accurate gaming mouses on the market and at 80 bucks US from best buy is also the most affordable in its class offering more features and better software than mouses that cost more than double that.
Here is a link to the N52TE http://www.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=393402
I have seen it for as low as 50 dollars US and if your going to go drop 80 bucks on a mouse I would definitly add this to your shopping cart as well.
hermes42 Sep 24th 2010 12:37PM
The Naga Razer redefined gaming in wow for me. I love to heal, specifically raid heal and 25 man raids if given the choice (There is little in gaming more gratifying than keeping 25 people alive in the middle of chaos and carnage). I use my keyboard for moving my toons and shift/ctrl clicking to reuse the same buttons for other spells (between ctrl/shift/alt you have a total of 48 buttons within reach of your thumb). Combine the buttons with roll-over heal macros with Grid (I use Grid2 because it fits what I like better), and you have the best structure for healing that I have found. If I can be stationary, I can pretty much heal a 25 man raid with my right hand alone.
It has also helped my dps considerably, more difficult to learn for dps, but once you get the hang of it, you are crushing it. The $80 is worth the price for a device that can have such an impact on a game that you may play for multiple years (i have used it on Dragon Age Origins and a few RTS games as well and it rocks equally).
Dreyja Sep 24th 2010 1:22PM
I would move like a zombie without my Logitech G13 and I'm in love my my Naga, though I'm still working on how to use it as efficiently as possible. :)