SteelSeries World of WarCraft MMO Gaming Mouse Review

SteelSeries World of Warcraft MMO Gaming Mouse

SteelSeries has worked cooperatively with Blizzard Entertainment to craft a mouse specifically designed for their game of over 11 million active players. Heck, I’m one of them. I’ve been playing WoW off and on since its closed beta back in August of 2004, so it is with great enthusiasm that I receive and review SteelSeries’ World of Warcraft MMO Gaming Mouse.

I admit that my first impressions of the WoW mouse were tainted as I felt SteelSeries was simply trying to capitalize on the World of Warcraft franchise. It was only after I rid myself any bias that I was able to comprehend and appreciate what the WoW mouse was truly capable of.

Introduction

So many times throughout my journeys across Azeroth I’ve had to make tough decisions. Decisions that you don’t necessarily WANT to make but are FORCED to make because there is only so much you can do with your GUI.

Besides my Cold Blood being macro’d into my Eviscerate, I have so many pertinent skills besides my combat skills (Mutilate, Fan of Knives, Slice and Dice, Eviscerate, Gouge, Stealth) that I cannot have access to them all without taking my hand off my WASD keys. Blind, Vanish, Sprint, Evasion, Cloak of Shadows, Kick – many of these abilities require immediate reactions to what you see on screen. A spell being cast can be avoided entirely by Kick if you’re close enough or Cloak of Shadows if you’re farther away. If you’re one on one in a battleground or arena and another enemy shows up, an immediate Blind will keep the playing field even to give you enough time to finish off your current target before vanishing to get the jump on the second player. Or, if you’re in combat and you don’t Vanish quickly enough some Warlock has already got 2 DOTs on you before you can pop Cloak of Shadows – wasting your Vanish cooldown and leaving you completely vulnerable.

All of these situations and many others are what the World of Warcraft MMO Gaming Mouse was designed for. The way I see it, my left hand on the keyboard has quick access to nearly 16 keys (apart from the WASD+QE keys) without taking my hands off the movement keys. Those numbers can be doubled or tripled with the use of the Ctrl+ and Alt+ key bindings. My mouse hand? It’s limited to usually 6 or 7 buttons with a typical mouse or maybe 9-10 with a gaming mouse. The WoW mouse helps to even that playing field by allowing players to bind as many keys to their mouse as they do their keyboard. By so doing, you now can have instant access to many more, if not all, the skills and abilities you want, giving you that competitive edge. And all of this is done through an intuitive and comprehensive software application.

First Impressions

Once out of its sophisticated packaging, the mouse looks and feels very large. The brushed aluminum is sexy and the intricate designs on the flat black thumb rests add to its aesthetics. The cord is wrapped in nylon to keep it friction-free and the mouse illuminates a yellow-orange glow from underneath the brushed aluminum body – very cool. After placing my hand over the mouse and locating its 15 buttons I notice that it provides a very high arch, bringing my wrist off the desk. The buttons click softly, however some were awkward to reach and use, specifically the two buttons on the right side of the mouse. Also, the 4-way button located on the thumb is right where it should be but the forward and back buttons were relocated to be slightly higher and more toward the front of the mouse. Ultimately, you’ll have to make your own call whether or not this is a deal-breaker, but as for me, I pressed on.

While the form factor of the mouse appears to be ambidextrous due to the dual “thumb rests”, the WoW mouse is actually designed for use in the right-hand. The button placement affirms this as the thumb alone has access to 6 of the mouse’s 15 buttons. The mouse is very lightweight considering its size and glides smoothly across a hard, flat surface using the large Teflon feet on the bottom.

I first attached the mouse to my USB 1.1 port on the rear of my Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard and found that Windows 7 recognized the device was plugged in but did not allow me to move my cursor nor did it illuminate the mouse. Knowing the power limitations of USB 1.1, I plugged the WoW mouse into a USB 2.0 port on the back of my tower and all was well.

Software

Mustering all my strength, I forced myself to load the software before staring up WoW. I was able to easily locate the most recent version of the software at SteelSeries.com so I downloaded and installed that instead of the software included in the packaging. Upon loading the software, I was able to import my characters from the World of Warcraft Armory and save the settings for up to 10 profiles. This makes organizing and managing your macros extremely easy – especially for those like me with multiple characters.

The primary buttons default to what you’d expect them to be but you’ll likely want to spend a little time customizing the buttons you’re unfamiliar with, specifically the 4-sided thumb button, the 4 buttons surrounding the mouse wheel and the rocker button (2 buttons) on the mouse’s right side. You may even go so far as to create two profiles for the same character based on what you’re doing. I first set up my Rogue’s PvP profile and went back later and was able to add a PvE/Raiding profile.

The software provides an easy and intuitive system to modify the functions of buttons, adjust your DPI settings, change click & scroll speeds, view a list of available in-game commands and even customize the color, pulsation and intensity of the glowing lights on the mouse itself – wow (pun intended). Within about 5 minutes I was all configured and ready to go. I loaded up World of Warcraft and logged in.

With a forthcoming software patch it appears that you will be able to upload and store your profiles on a SteelSeries server and have the ability to view and share profiles with others. Would you like to see how the SteelSeries staff configures their mouse? How about other WoW Mouse owners?

UPDATE: SteelSeries has since informed us that as of patch 3.2.2, you can now customize all 15 programmable buttons from within World of Warcraft. You simply need to check the box labeled “Detect World of Warcraft Gaming Mouse” in the “Mouse” options under the “Interface” game menu. After which, the game will recognize each of the 15 buttons and allow you to bind in-game macros, skills and abilities directly to these keys in the Key Bindings interface.

Summary

After my time with SteelSeries’ World of Warcraft MMO Gaming Mouse, it is clear to me that its developers have a real passion for the game. They saw some pitfalls within the game client and instead of just dealing with them like the rest of us, they sought to eliminate them by turning an ordinary input device into a precision tool allowing you to craft a more rewarding and fun gaming experience.

While I’m certain that a decent portion of the $99.99 price tag will be going to Blizzard Entertainment for licensing fees, this mouse is no gimmick. It legitimately addresses a concern that more and more World of Warcraft players are experiencing and offers a solution. Unfortunately, those who purchase the World of Warcraft MMO Gaming Mouse are likely competitive players already, so this mouse is essentially making the hardcore even more hardcore. WTB Resilience. /cry

BONUS: For a limited time, Best Buy is offering the WoW MMO Gaming Mouse for only $69.99.

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