My World of Warcraft Devices

Working in libraries, using a computer frequently, as well as recently taking up knitting, I live in constant fear of getting a RSI. The slightest twinge in my wrist and I begin to envision all manner of horrors.It didn't help that one of my lecturers during my library studies course had previously suffered from severe Carpal Tunnel, mostly caused by her work in libraries, which took her out of work for 5 years .I have never seen an entire class of people look so horrified.

When I started raiding a lot more frequently I found that within an hour or two of playing, I started getting pain in my mouse-hand wrist. While it went away when I stopped using it for short periods of time, I knew I shouldn't really push my luck, even if it was only while using the computer long term, so I started researching things I could do to help reduce my discomfort. After some searching I came across Trackballs. Trackballs are a type of mouse which allow you to control the cursor using a ball located on the top of the device instead of moving the mouse itself to control it. My mind made up, I brought myself my first trackball mouse, the Logitech Trackman Marble.

TADA!

 

Not the most attractive device out there, but it did reduce my wrist pain to nothing. 

However, after so many years of using a regular mouse, learning to use a trackball requires... patience. Trying to learn to use it while playing Warcraft, was... interesting to say the least.

One of my biggest problems with using the trackball was the lack of accuracy and precision. To move the cursor over the whole screen easily (without having the constantly scroll), I had to really boost the speed and travel distance of the cursor in the settings, which meant having to learn how to pull off fast scrolls and sudden stops. In Warcraft, keybinding has never been one of my strong points, so my main action buttons (attacks) are bound as standard (numbers 1-0) and all other buttons I used, I would click with the mouse, as a result my reaction time took a bit of a hit for a while while I adjusted to the new mouse.

Another problem I had was the reduction in buttons, I had previously used a standard logitech "gaming" mouse, so I found myself missing a few buttons that I took for granted. Missing a scroll button was the most noticeable. You don't realise how much you miss a scroll button until you don't have one. I never knew how much I zoomed until I had to rebind it to my keyboard.

One of major in-game issues I had with the trackball I discovered when taming new pets. When it comes to rare spawn pets, I get pretty worked up while taming them, to the point where I get the "taming shakes." This was never too much of an issue until I got the trackball and I discovered that it is extraordinarily difficult to use a trackball when your hands won't stop shaking. This was evident during my attempt to tame Ban'thalos, a hard enough tame, without the added stress of not being able to physically use my mouse to click on anything. I would up having to move all my needed buttons - mount/dismount, arcane shot, disengage, and my tame macro, in order along my main action buttons just so I could select what I needed it, when I needed it. Instead of dragging half my buttons around my UI, or missing entirely. I managed the tame in the end, but the next time I tamed a rare-spawn I had to do my best to suppress my shakes until after I finished the tame (It still took me two tries to click the right buttons - bwargh)

While I adapted to using the trackball soon enough, I found myself still lacking slightly when it came to on the spot in-game reactions. To compensate I got my next piece of technology. The Logitech G13 Gameboard.

With this I began playing around with keybinding a bit more. Moving my main action buttons, along with most of my short cooldown abilities and frequently used abilities to the gameboard. The gameboard is a really nifty little device which is fully customisable with a variety of profiles which you can set yourself. I use it for playing both Warcraft and Skyrim. I will admit that I do not use it to its full capabilities. I tend to only use it on my main when I am raiding and the buttons are not bound as elegantly as they could be (my Skyrim controls are set up nicer and I get awfully confused when switching between the two profiles/games) I am hoping with Mists I will be able to train myself to use it full time and rebind my Warcraft controls a little better so I can have both my action buttons and my movements all on the board. (At the moment I have abilities and strafe on the board, and all movements with the mouse)

With this and the trackball I improved my in game-performance and reduced my wrist pain considerably. It was a bit of a learning curve adjusting to both of them, but I find I can't play to my full capabilities without them anymore.

I also found that once you use a trackball as your primary mouse, going back to regular computer mice is weird. I've spent a lot of time at work running my fingers/thumb over the top of a mouse and wondering why the cursor doesn't move. XD  

I would definitely recommend a trackball to anybody who notices that they get wrist pain/twinges when using a computer long term, and are looking for a simple preventative solution for gaming or otherwise. While you do lose a little bit of control, adjusting doesn't take too long if you put in the time and the difference it made physically was really noticeable. For me the trackball/gameboard combo works well for my playstyle, but having said that if you use a full gaming mouse, the trackball would probably be a massive downgrade.

I recently got a new trackball with a slightly different design from the original, looking and and acting more like a regular mouse.(The Logitech Trackman M570) It also has more buttons! Including a scroll and an extra button on top which I now have my random mount button bound to (which is very nice let me tell you, before the patch I was able to do all my archaeology using only my mouse).

New trackball, now with 100% more scroll button then the last one.

Its also wireless, which is awesome for using my computer from my armchair - all I have to move around is my screen! Of course, I had to learn how to use a trackball all over again, which has caused no short amount of cries of frustration, but we'll get there in the end. I just have to keep reminding myself that I've done it before, surely I can do it again.

And I wrote all that effectively just the share the story about how difficult it was to attempt taming rare-spawns with a trackball mouse - Boy am I good at much to much detail for very little reason :)

Happy Hunting!