Heya guys!!  WHAT IS THIS SLEEK PIECE OF GAMING PWNAGE!?!?  Glad you asked!!  This my friends is the Nostromor N52 TE (Tournament Edition) gamepad.  You can search around the web and find someplace else to buy it possibly cheaper, but I always recommend getting it here at Newegg.

Recently a reader asked about my keybindings, which was a very good question.  If you think about it, we have so many abilities at our disposal that it’s nearly impossible to quickly click on any ability at demand.  It’s hard.  And if you are keyboard turning (arrows) without using your mouse, you are WRONG.  End of story.  And especially coming from a Shaman…you think we have too much to click on…good lord totems take up so many buttons…

So how does this piece of gadgetry work?  That’s the wonderful thing about it.  You can program it to work any number of ways!!  It has three colors, as you can see the blue LCD light lit up already on the pic.  Depending on which color you are in determines what each button will do.  So in essence every key can be one of 3 different keys on your keyboard.

Me personally, I use the thumb button to switch colors.  Blue is the base, so if I press any of the keypad buttons it fires of 1 to = on my main bar.  Thumb Directional Control Back swaps the buttons to my second action bar.  And Thumb Directional Control Up swaps the buttons to my third action bar.  Also the Thumb Button is my spacebar key, or Jump.  Meanwhile my right hand is holding on to the mouse at all times.  I *NEVER* touch my keyboard ever.  If I have to type, then I touch it.  If I am fighting, the keyboard does not exist to me.

Uhm here is a pic of my setup:

This is the only pic I have of my computer atm, so you’ll have to make due with checking out my ex at the same time.  If you look between her face and arm, there is a keypad there.  That is the N52 TE above.  Basically that keyboard in the center is there for basic control of the computer and so I can type to people.

With the N52 TE you can do anything really.  I personally have it tied into 3 action bars and my push to talk key for ventrilo.  How you use it is up to you.  A buddy of mine who played a Frost mage had his strafe keys also bound into it so he could AoE grind mobs without ever having to turn his back to a mob.  By strafing everywhere he went, he could never be dazed.  It was weird watching someone always run sideways, but it’s incredibly effective when you think about it.  I just don’t have the patience to learn that skill however, heh.

If you want to improve your gameplay, this is the thing to buy.  It will do more for you than a stick of RAM, a new video card, etc.  Now don’t get me wrong, it is *not* easy to learn.  You have to train yourself to use keys you have never used before.  The first 1-2 weeks is pure hell.  You will want to throw the damn thing out of the window.  But if you practice and give it time, in the end your reaction time will be better than it has ever been and you will be a far better player.

My buddy Diremudflap, funniest gnome warlock I’ve ever met in my life, and co-GM of Category 5 turned me on to this baby.  Generally speaking, if he tells me about a new mod or piece of tech I perk up and listen now.  Hasn’t lead me wrong yet, and I wouldn’t do the same to you.  It took him months to convince me to go buy something that I refuse to even play WoW with without it.  Go get one.  It’ll be the best investment into WoW you’ve ever made.

Tags: Questions