I've been looking into the Belkin n52te - Built For Speed. Built to Dominate. Built to Destroy. for arena's specifically. However I dont see how you could possibly fit all your key bindings onto that if you're not using your keyboard. Any use one and can explain to me how it works?

It has different state shifts, you use a modifier key to access the other states.

Yep, I use the thumbpad for movement and have 2 sets of 3x5 bars on my UI which correspond to 2 different keystates. Left is shadow and I hit the thumb pad to swap over to swap over to mostly holy spells. I don't imagine you need much more than that but the n52te handles 3 keystates (old n52 handled 4) if you need them.

Here's a screenshot, albeit it fairly old by now.
http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/7991/ui23vp2.jpg

Rather than use state shifting (which isn't reflected on your UI) why not use button paging? All the good actionbar mods (bartender3, bongos, etc) will actually show the button page changes on the UI and you get to have all 36 or 48 buttons under the fingers of your left hand, resting on the Nostromo.

Seems like the state shifting is best used in games that don't have good UI features; World of Warcraft has those.

Its the same net effect, the only difference is that using paging will reflect on the UI if you have your bars showing. State shifting is just taking care of the paging on the hardware end without reflecting your bars. Since a lot of people (on this forum at least) play with most of their bars hidden anyways, it doesn't matter which method you use.

I agree completely.

The blue state light is *very* bright and annoying - I'm probably going to put some tape over it. The new configuation software is not very intuitive. For example, you can no longer just press a button on the n52te and have it light up in the software. I haven't used the new one enough to know if I like the different key travel/feel or not. For anyone on the fence about buying a Nostromo I'd say you're better off picking up the old model for under $30 rather than $60+ for the n52te.

Ha, yeah. Already have. I changed my primary keystate to Red since it wasn't as blindingly bright as blue, but finally just gave up and covered the LED's with a Post It.

While the UI features are great, it hasn't always been as flexible as it is today -- which you mention just above this post. I remember spending a good amount of time trying to set this up initially w/ Flexbar before giving up and using the two on-screen states that I do today. I've used the same setup since the olden days. That reflects inflexibility on my part, but I highly doubt it waste any more time than toggling bars and is in no way comparable to keyboard turning or cts casting.

What's more it's rare that I need to use the second keystate. My priest's holy spells are really only accessed in those "oh shit" situations. On other characters the second state is usually set up for seldom-used spells or clickies. For instance, on my paladin the second keystate is for blessings or things like righteous fury (I'm holy, by the way) or turn undead. My rogue has a lot of trinket abilities and seldom used finishers on the second keystate, etc (and my primary keystate does shift depending on if I'm stealthed as well)

[e] noted that he did mention older UI options. Also, the old N52 did have a State X while held option. I forget the exact term but I think it was called something like a shift as opposed to a toggle. I haven't tried it with the N52TE yet, but I have swapped back and forth between the two methods in the past. This can still be done w/o the hardware state swapping though w/ newer UI options.

That does sound better though the term can't be correct; the "shift state" in my N52 software appears to advance the state to the next color, rather than shift-while-held between 0 and state-N. It's good to know that's available, maybe I just never found it when I played with it.

I'd still maintain that it's better to see the buttons perform that same shift in-game. Sure, we don't need to look at them to remember which one to press, but it is a visual cue to notify the user that what's happening and that the user didn't miss his modifier key (or accidentally hold his modifier key too long).

Shifting keybinds at the hardware level still just doesn't seem right for action-buttons. For other non-visual bindings, I'd totally use that; perhaps for the buttons/controls outside the "block of twelve just like my action-bar" area.

As it is now, the performance still appears to be best with the d-pad mapped to movement, most of the keys mapped to action-bar numbers, and spare keys mapped to other niceties (tab, shift, ctrl, etc).

The Logitech LX710 wireless set
i have a G5, but i didnt use it since i bought my 32" LCD

I just splurged on a Logitech MX Revolution mouse and I'm loving it, especially after getting UberOptions.

So I'm a huge trackball geek. I mean I LOVE them over a regular mouse. For the longest time I used the Logitech Trackman and adored it. Recently I decided to upgrade to their 5 button trackball. Sure the ball was now moved by my middle and ring finger but how bad could it be? Pretty bad. I'm just not as accurate with it. Coupled with its huge size and my tiny tiny hand it makes for a less thrilling experience then the old Trackman.

I'm curious if anyone knows of an obscure brand that has a thumb trackball with four or more buttons?

Part of me is also curious to try a gaming mouse. Nearly every computer I've had for the last 12 years has been a laptop, and this means I'm just much more accustomed to a trackpad/ball. The mice I've used have all been pretty big and mildly responsive or too small and mildly responsive (bundled Kensington wireless optical mice and every terrible version of the Apple mouse). Have I just been using the wrong mice? Is there some small and responsive mouse that will give me the control and number of buttons I desire?

[quote=clairecakes;668827]I'm curious if anyone knows of an obscure brand that has a thumb trackball with four or more buttons?Part of me is also curious to try a gaming mouse. Nearly every computer I've had for the last 12 years has been a laptop, and this means I'm just much more accusto

I haven't been able to find a good thumb trackball since the Logitech's either.

More than likely, yes, you've been using the wrong ones. You might want to try one of the nice, new laptop mice, such as the Logitech VR Revolution (I believe that's what its called - they come in full size and laptop size). I loved mine before going over to the MX Revolution.

My current mouse has more then enough buttons for my tastes. a forward/back button close to your thumb and the middle button provide me with 6 keys that i can bind to whatever, and they are. Add to that 6 more possible keys from the app select and dpi (up/down) buttons.

--------mx518--------

--------mx518--------

Almost all modern mice seem to have at least this amount of buttons or more, so looking around SHOULD come up with one, although i admit looking for a trackball mouse is difficult since the audience for such mice is incredibly small :S

I'll searcha bit more later when i have time and maybe I'll see something you've missed, clairecakes.

Logitech is the way to go for gaming mice usually, their selection of 'normal' mice is huge and all are very good. there should be one, laptop or normal, to suite your needs.

Nope. Nobody seems to make the damned things with five buttons since Microsoft stopped making their thumb trackball model. I'm clinging to my old Microsoft trackball until it dies under pressure, at which point I guess I'll buy another one at a substantial markup from EBay.

I just did another search and found this: TrackballWorld TB520 Desktop Trackball, USB but I'm not that excited by it.

I wanted to share something - i use the scroll on my G5 logitech mouse for 4 bindings at the moment :
scroll down - counterspell my focus
scroll up - set up focus/sheep focus if i have one
Alt+scroll down - icy veins
Alt+scroll up - clear focus
I was thinking of Ctrl + scrolls or pushing the scroll but i didnt find it realy easy for me to use.
Keep in mind that scroll binds require a macro or a cooldown ability , otherwise youl'l end up tryng to spamcasting with the scrolling action.

As a HID, the old Belkin keypads are basically small keyboards, but the original software should be pretty straightforward, assuming they packaged Mac OS software as they have with previous devices. If you want a more complicated and more powerful setup, there's always ControllerMate. It looks like he's still working on the n52te, but he's extremely responsive.

I'm sending mine back after only using it for a few days. My hand just doesn't fit the device very well. I have to twist my hand at an unnatural angle to actually use the D-pad in a controllable manner. If I don't twist my hand to the side, I can't really control which direction I'm pushing the D-pad and things get a little crazy. All in all I think I just don't have the correct hand size for the device even after changing the positioning of the wrist pad.

All that excitement, gone.

Yeah, I took that random hunk of round plastic off mine as soon as I got it too. Sorry to hear that, Malan, but not surprised. The n52te doesn't really feel like an upgrade and, as much as I'd like to kid myself, isn't worth the pricetag.


On another note, I picked up a new keyboard:
iOne Scorpius M10

Not a gamer keyboard but I thought this might appeal to any Model M users out there. It has a loud click and satisfying keystroke. If anyone out there likes the feel of the Das Keyboard, likes printed keys, and can do without scooped home keys, this keyboard uses the same keyswitches (cherry blues) and, while it has a little bit of horizontal play in the keys, is pretty solid at half the price.

I have used the same mouse/keyboard/headphones for over a year and love all 3.

Razer Copperhead:







of course my trusty G15






Medusa gamer pro 5.1:






The mouse is small and light, and fits my twitch gaming style, G15 of course is trusty and i love the key bindings i can use on it. The headphones I have to say are my favorite, the sound quality is great, and it still allows me to hear someone knocking on my door. They also don't squeeze to my head as some do. you can find a review here .


This is how i got mine when i bought them (hand wrapped in a bow):

Keyboard: Macally icekey (White)


Mouse: Logitech G5


Have Ventrilo button bound to the south thumb button, and I have a button on my UI (that I change depending on what I'm doing) bound to the other thumb key.

http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/6695/setup1xv3.jpg
I really like the Logitech Elite keyboard, had like 3 of em G11 and 15 look so bulky and full of useless buttons. Bought DeathAdder a few weeks ago and I really love it coz I had MS IME 3.0 few years back (too bad I somehow lost it :[)