« Time, Time, Time! | Main | Guide To Knights of Ebon Blade Exalted Status »

Tools To Up Your Game!

Bastosa\'s RigWhile browsing around the new Project Lore forums (you do know about the forums, right!?) I came across a great thread about your WoW set ups. The thread is "Lets see those setups!" Taking a look through the pics got me thinking about how much your gaming “gear” can affect your performace.

When I started playing WoW I had an incredibly basic set up. Just my iMac with the stock Apple keyboard and mouse. I have never been much of a PC gamer, always favoring consoles. That all changed of course when I found WoW, and over the course of the last couple years I have made some purchases that really made my experience much better.

Strangely enough my first purchase was a second monitor. I run lots of other applications along side WoW. At any given time I usually have Ventrilo, iTunes, my web browser, and from time to time movies going at the same time. While I used to be tabbing out every few minutes to check something, change a song, or see who hopped into my vent channel, I found that having a second moniotor opened up my whole world! I can now keep tabs on all that stuff, without having to break away for a second. It is partuculaly useful when researching achievement strats, or keeping an eye on the vent channel to see who exactly is talking. I would have to say this is the single biggest upgrade I have made to my WoW experience.

Second thing I got was a new mouse. While the stock Apple mouse got the job done, it really left something to be desired. The vast majority of my movement in game is done with the mouse, and investing in a gaming mouse made all the difference for me! The one I use is the Logitech G5, but I’m sure any specific gaming mouse is a huge upgrade over any stock mouse. I love mine because it offers very precise tracking, on-the-fly adjustable tracking speed, lots of additional buttons, as well as adjustable weight. The extra buttons alone made this worth the purchase. I am now able to bind vent to my mouse, which freed up some spots on my keyboard for more important things.

Last but certainly not least I bought a gaming pad. There are a few of these available, and the one I am using is the Belkin n52te. This awesome upgrade allows you to put all your keyboard bindings on a single pad that is designed to make things as easy to get to as possible. While it definitely took some getting used to, after about 2 weeks I have no idea how I ever played without it! It makes such a difference in the control that I have.

How about you guys? Are you using anything to up your game? I’d love to hear if there is anything out there for me to discover, or if you get along fine on a 12" laptop! Also, don't forget to post your set up in the forums, I would love to see more of what you guys are working with!

Reader Comments (44)

Wow... i thought i was doing pretty well gaming wise just using a mac. Most of my friends are trying to play on crappy computers that shut down about once an hour. I really don't know why everyone needs to have a second computer. I find it simple enough to make WoW a small screen and have itunes and vent around it to easily check. Im thinking about maybe getting that new mouse blizzard designed or a gaming pad soon.

March 17, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterJosh

Dell XPS 410 - Dual 8800GTX's, (waiting on 9800 upgrade).
Dell Stock Keyboard
G5 Mouse - max 36 grams, high sensitivity
Altec Lansing Headset
32" Vizio LCD TV

Big Screen actually doesn't strain my eyes like my laptop, makes raiding long hours that much easier. Keyboard works perfectly, eevn for a stock one. Headset was $17, works perfectly, mic sounds good. I may opt for a gaming Keyboard, but still pondering.

March 17, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterThorrhan

Q6600, 8 gigs ram, dual 9600GT sli, dual 22", Nostromo n52, Razor Lacheis Mouse.

March 17, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterDuncan

Has no1 heard of a little ting called Windowed Mode? C'mon ppl, u dont need to buy another monitor.

March 17, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterJesus

Tsk, y'all call yerselves gamers.

Tricked out laptop ... take it with me to work!

March 17, 2009 | Unregistered Commenterscaresome

i'm using a 16" Acer laptop, with 4 gigs of ram and a 2ghz dual core processor >.<.. ordinary mouse from microsoft, that i bought a few years back with a nice mousepad.. and then theres my headset with an awfully curly wire ;D

March 17, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterGerandor

I use a 360 controller to play, with the help of http://code.google.com/p/wow360/

Works great, I like it way better than the keyboard and mouse. It lets me get away from my screen and relax a bit more when playing.

March 17, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterGoobaroo

My set up SUCKS...

March 17, 2009 | Unregistered Commentervagner

HP Pavillion Elite
9600 GTX Graphics Card
1 Terabyte Hard Drive space
6 GB of RAM
22" Widescreen Flat Panel Monitor

March 17, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterKrowtz

I am playing on a nearly 3 year old first generation macbook with 1.66 ghz core duo processor, 512 mb memory and a 64 mb integrated grafics card ... and *drumroll* ...
Wow plays fine, getting about 25 fps, down to about 15 in raids and in dalaran, not that shabby for an integrated card.
I am thinking of getting myself an upgrade, thinking about the macbook pro 15 inch, or maybe the imac, hm, possibilities, atleast it's not as many as on "the other side".

March 17, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterMoo

Manufacturer: INTEL

Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q6700 @ 2.66GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.7GHz

Memory: 4GB RAM

Hard Drive: 1 TB Total

Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GT

Monitor: LG L226WTQ 22" LCD

Sound Card: Speakers/HP (IDT High Definition Audio CODEC)

Speakers/Headphones: Logitech Z4's / Logitech Xtreme Gaming

Keyboard: Generic USB Keyboard

Mouse: Logitech MX510

Mouse Surface: Razor eXactMat

Operating System: Windows Vista™ Home Premium Service Pack 1

Motherboard: Intel® Desktop Board DG33TL

Computer Case: Thermaltake Tsunami Dream

March 17, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterÆtreyu

Well...just using my work/university Acer Aspire 4702Z, and hoping that I found a better job very soon, so I can buy a decent PC again...

March 17, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterBelias

I'm using the 3D monitor "iz3d", a IBM laptop xD and a razer mouse and a logitech keyboard.

3D rock.!

March 18, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterMalde

Mine: Laptop: Inspiron 9300 2g mem 256 Nvidia Geforce Go, Thumball mouse. Using the Mod CTView really allows me to see what I need to see quickly and still allow me to enjoy the great WoW graphics.

Wifes: Custom Desktop: Main improvement was the Zboard, Laser Mouse and 2 19" Widescreen monitors. She is running CT Viewport across the two monitors. So the graphics are on her left monitor and her bags all open on the right monitor. It also allows Recount, Omen, Carbonite, and the chat logs to be on the right monitor and not in the middle of the action. I tried to get her to use DHUD2 but she wasn't a fan.

March 18, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterAlondor

I use a(n):

Compaq MV720 monitor
w/built in mic

HP Pavillion a6600f PC
w/ basic keyboard and mouse

and I do just fine
=)

March 22, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterHasoondi

I have a Belkin game pad, Razor Mouse, and g15 keyboard. Use the belkin for my main abilities, and the g15's extra keys for healing, or whatever my current class needs.

April 4, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterLane068

Hey Bastosa. I just bought the n52te game pad and am trying to get it running on my Mac OSX 10.5.6 but I can't seem to get it working. It says its not connected. Do you have any idea what the issue might be?

May 14, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterZelnaaru

19 inch hd
2 gb
invidia 9600
vista 64 bit
2 dul 3.00
intel dg33tl mb
1 tb hd
17 inch lcd

June 3, 2009 | Unregistered Commentertecnom

After reading this blog, I imediately went to best buy and picked up my brand new "Belkin n52te".
after about 45 seconds of playing (after getting it all set up and programed, as well as key bindings set) I fell in love with it.
With my standard keyboard, I had access to almost all of my skills, spread across the top of the keyboard. I tank, and so the problem came when I would be gathering agro, and lose one. my hand is over the 2-5 keys (1 being charge, of course), but taunt was CLEAR over on 0. an improvement over it not being bound to a key at all.
Now, not saying that it took a lot of energy, but I actually had to look down and find zero, during which time, the mob gets a critical hit and finishes the unfortunate mage off, or even (epic fail) the healer.
Now, I have EVERY skill availible to me, even the ones that I don't use often, and all right under my fingertips.

Get it.
play it.
love it!

July 14, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterMatt

PostPost a New Comment

Enter your information below to add a new comment.

My response is on my own website »
Author Email (optional):
Author URL (optional):
Post:
 
Some HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>