I think it’s pretty cool when a game designer hooks up with a hardware designer to create a device whose sole purpose is a single game. Blizzard and SteelSeries have gotten together to create a mouse dedicated for MMORPGs, namely World of Warcraft. But what could a simple mouse offer the hardcore WoW gamer? Not a damned thing. Good thing this is no ordinary mouse. It’s a button-hoarding monster that holds nothing back when it comes to options. It even has a useless flashing light inside. Read on, my friends. It only gets better…
Co-designed specifically for World of Warcraft® by Blizzard Entertainment and SteelSeries, the World of Warcraft MMO Gaming Mouse is fully scalable to meet the requirements of even the most discerning World of Warcraft gamer and delivers:
- Incredible customization with 15 programmable buttons, advanced macro creation, and 10 profiles each with unique illumination scheme
- Superior performance, comfort and control for in-game dominance
- An amazing experience for World of Warcraft gamers of all levels and play styles
Easy to use, drag and drop software allows you to:
- Program all 15 buttons with over 130 preset game commands
- Create custom macros (supports in-game macros)
- Develop up to 10 profiles, each with a unique illumination scheme
- Choose from 16 million colors, all with 4 levels of intensity and pulsation
Software Specifications
- World of Warcraft® branded GUI
- Assign World of Warcraft® commands
- Develop custom macros (up to 160 characters)
- Adjust DPI and standard mouse settings
- Adjust illumination color, effects, and intensity
- Independently adjust x and y-axis sensitivity
- Real-time profile switching
- Import and export profiles
Technical Specifications
- Max. resolution: 3200 DPI
- Max. acceleration: 20 g
- Max. speed: 65 inches/second
- Max. USB report rate: 1000 hz / 1ms
- USB data format: 16-bit
- USB interface: Full speed
- Sleep mode: Disabled (Always On)
System Requirements
- Windows Vista™, Windows® XP, or Windows® 2000
- 100 MB Free Hard Drive Space
- 128 MB RAM
- Available USB port
The first thing I always start with is what comes in the box. And in special cases such as this one, I comment on the box itself. The art department over at Blizzard (who I assume designed this box) definitely didn’t take the day off when it came to adding their touch to this. It looks exactly like one of the many chests found in-game, and opens like one too. Once inside, we find the mouse itself, along with an exclusive WoW TCG game card, a gold inlay coupon for a buy one – get one free tshirt offer, and a book on your mouse. You know what I didn’t find in the box? The damned software that goes with it. You have to go online and download it. Really? Is it that much more cost effective to just throw in an effin’ disc? You cheap sons of —-
Look at all the goodies you get. Ooh! a special WoW TCG card!
But I’m getting off subject. The subject is the mouse itself. The thing is beautiful, to say the least. While many out there will probably flame me for saying as such, they obviously don’t appreciate how WoW this thing really looks. While it’s made out of plastic, it so resembles brushed steel that I had trouble at first believing that it wasn’t metal. The fifteen (yeah, fifteen) programmable buttons located all over this thing have a gunmetal look to them, the look that a brand new polished blade should have. The body has been etched with the Warcraft logo in a lighter silver just behind the left button on the first of what appears to be dragonscale style plates that make up the rest of the body. The black rubber thumbrests are “engraved” with what looks like Elven art.
Macros (the other kind of macro) of the WoW mouse
The underside of the mouse consists of the the biggest mouse skates I’ve ever seen. Seriously, this thing is meant to slide. I find it somewhat intersting that they chose to use such large skates for this mouse, it being as light as it is, and wonder where I will be able to find more should these wear out in the future. Then comes the USB cord that is protruding from the front of the mouse. In classic SteelSeries style, it has been braided with nylon from end to end. I think this adds that much more style to the mouse itself, rather than taking attention away from it like it does on some other SS mice. The last detail I feel the need to comment on is the lighting. It’s a completely useless feature, but at the same time it is what people want. Blizzard knows how to cash in on a good thing, and lights are it. But it’s what can be done with these that make them special.
To get to the subject of the lights, first we have to go through the subject of software. The driver pack that it takes to use this mouse to its full potential wasn’t even included in the box. I guess they figured if you were buying the mouse to play the game, you could cruise on over to the SteelSeries website and download it from them. Saves them the cost of a disc, I guess. I downloaded the software and installed it. Once I had it up and running, I began to get excited. This could be the most simplified profiling software ever made for a mouse as complicated as this one appeared to be.
I’ll begin with the Mouse Properties menu. If you click on the tab on the left side of the application, it will slide out and allow you to configure this sucker all day long. Double-click speed, scroll speed, sensitivity, DPI… it’s a one stop configure shop. And down at the bottom is where we get to the goodies on that pretty glow coming from inside the mouse. With the drop-down color menu you can change the color to damned near any color conceivable. I’ve never seen an option like this on any peripheral. As useless as this light is, it’s unbelievably awesome what you can do with it. You can program the brightness of the color, how fast it pulses (if at all), and have it match the color of anything on your desk. That’s just sick.
Main menu and mouse properties screens
The last tab, on the left called Button Assignments, is where all the commands are that are programmed to the mouse buttons. Each profile can use this tab to adjust commands, DPI, and custom macros that you make up yourself. Want to program that button to cast Arcane Brilliance on yourself? Do it. It’s just like being in the game and programming them to your keyboard. Only it’s on your mouse. It’s a freaking artillary of buttons ready to do your bidding. The main menu of the application shows a picture of the mouse, then a picture of each button in their corresponding directions. There is a button you can click (which is named for each of these mouse buttons) to adjust the properties of it. If you click one of them, the Button Assignments tab rolls out and you can select what you want it to do. And you can completely customize this mouse for ten different profiles. Don’t like what you did to all the buttons, or find that the original setup was what you want instead? They put a “Restore Defaults” button right in the corner.
Button Assignment and Illumination Screens
You can also input your character information for each profile and the software will look it up, displaying the character name, level, class, and server it is on. No way you can confuse what each profile is for now. That being said, I guess this is as good a time as any to test it in the game. I’m excited to see how much easier it’s going to be to control my Warlock with all these buttons. On a side note, the software for this mouse is not available for Mac OS, only Windows. Sorry Mac users. Another thing to blog about, I guess.
I immediately ran into a problem with Macros. I’m not that big a fan of macros, even if they are one of the best things in the game. My criticism for using them is how much I hate programming them to different keys. And this software made it that much more irritating to me. I use a macro that casts Immolate, then Incinerate with the same button when Alt is held. It looks like this:
#showtooltip /cast [modifier:alt] Incinerate; Immolate
The problem is that when you input macro information, it records EVERY single key stroke. This is supposed to simulate the input delays that are used in WoW. Not only that, but it doesn’t support Copy or Paste. So how exactly am I supposed to input some of my macros? Damn you, Blizzard. Or SteelSeries.
So I set a couple of macros to summon my Voidwalker. I typed in my information, watching as every single thing I hit showed up in the box. The best part? Each time I screwed up I had to start from the beginning because Backspace showed up as a keystroke too. When I finally got my all my keys programmed, which took quite a while seeing as I have a tendency to let my fingers get away from me, I logged into Warcraft to check out my handywork. The macros worked, but everything I typed in showed up in the text box at the bottom of the chat screen. Sort of retarded, if you ask me, but whatever. It got the job done. I suppose with plenty of time on your hands you could tweak your macros to go unnoticed in this software.
However, key programming to the mouse was flawless, as was the performance of the mouse in the game. The response time was beautiful at 1200 dpi, and I found the numerous amount of buttons very handy when it came time to battle in the Arena. I’m sure this is the long way around, but I created macros in the game and assigned them to keys on the keyboard, then used the software to assign those keyboard keys to the mouse. That way I had all my Fire and Shadow spells at the tips of my fingers. Casting a curse was as simple as moving a finger to the proper button instead of having to search for an icon on the screen or looking down at the keyboard.
I did find the buttons next to the scroll wheel a little in-the-way, making me have to spread my fingers out farther to stay on the left and right standard clicks. I got used to this after a while, but I think that simply doing away with those two buttons or moving them would have been an improvement. And then there was the light inside the mouse. I have to admit that even as weird as it is having a glowing mouse sitting there, it kind of grew on me after a while. So I set it to glow blue like my Razer Lycossa to have a more matched set.
Now for a few things outside of Warcraft. While browsing webpages with this mouse, you have to be careful. One wrong button can send you to another page, the bottom of the page, or to a whole different website. I found this out the hard way. While playing other games that I frequent, I didn’t have much trouble not hitting most of the buttons, aside from those two on either side of the scroll wheel. Other than that, the fact that the software is a pain with macros and you have to download it, I don’t have any complaints about this mouse. It’s very adjustable, it looks damned good, and fits the hand beautifully. The ridges where the “plates” space out allow for extra cooling underhand, so no sweaty palms. Well, I guess that kind of depends on what sites you frequent.
To conclude, I am very happy with this mouse. Even though I had my arguments over the useability with the software, I am sure that improvements will come with updates. I am sure that with some popular profiling software this mouse could be used in many gaming enviornments, but for now I would say that it’s natural habitat is Warcraft. And that is where it belongs.
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