Its hard to believe how far I’ve come in just a year - if you had told me one year ago that I’d be playing World of Warcraft on the PC, and that I’d actually enjoy it so much that I considered buying hardware specific for it, I’d have called you insane. Yet here I am with a giant glowing World of Warcraft gaming mouse in my hand.
The World of Warcraft Cataclysm MMO Gaming Mouse is a product from Steelseries specifically designed while Warcraft gamers in mind. While its still a mouse at its core, its the extra bells and whistle that make this a unique tool in your MMO bag. This is an officially license product with Blizzard and because of it, there’s quite a bit of tight integration with WoW itself.
Out of the box, setup was straight forward and required only a small download to set up the profile software. This software allows you to customize the 14 buttons to your liking and then store that info on the mouse itself allowing you to bring it with you to any PC of your choosing. The other half of this formula is actually WoW itself, which requires an in game option to be enabled to detect the mouse. Once complete you’re able to quest and raid away.
The mouse itself is a pretty massive piece of hardware, definitely the biggest mouse I’ve used in quite some time. I have fairly big hands, but I can see people with smaller hands being made uncomfortable using it for extended periods. The 14 buttons are split up in different locales: 5 on the left, 8 on the top, and 1 on the right side.
There’s definitely a learning curve as to what buttons are where, especially after you try to migrate from you usual keyboard shortcuts to the mouse buttons. In the heat of battle I found my hands were still trained to reach for some keyboard keys, so it was kind of a mix and match of methods. Once you get the hang of it though, I felt I was able to quickly cast groups of skills, and do it faster and more effeciently than when I had to cycle through keyboard commands. I even attached some finishing attacks like Hammer of Judgement for my Paladin to one of the top buttons and it just felt more satisfying to pull off. Try running you Orc peon!
One of the most attractive features of the mouse, the bling factor so to speak, is the ability to customize the color in which it pulses as. The mouse lights up with a gentle breathing colored glow in between what looks like armor plating. Out of the box its a red (for the Horde!) - though I changed mine to be a blue (to match my keyboard). According to Steel Series you can choose any of 16 million color combinations for the mouse all set through the software. The mouse also supports macros, either via its software of using WoW’s macro language in game.
I tried using the mouse in some non WoW applications - games like Bulletstorm and Left 4 Dead 2 had no problems recognizing the extra buttons and i was able to map many more actions to the mouse than I normally would. The mouse felt a bit clumsy though in first person shooters, while it worked, it just never quite felt as good as I would have liked. Using the mouse for every day use like browsing the web - it was more than adequate and its over sized nature almost made my hand “relax” on it.
With a $99 asking price, the World of Warcraft: Cataclysm MMO Gaming Mouse isn’t a cheap investment. While I found it adequate enough for general purpose, there’s a definite plasticy feel to it which could be a turn off for some people. For die hard Warcraft fans though, the mouse is a slick tool to add to their arsenal. Its integration with WoW, profile flexibility, and overall cool factor are top notch.
The Good:
Excellent integration into WoW
Stores up to 10 character profiles
Works with other games as well
Aesthetically pleasing and customizable
The Bad:
- Feels a bit cheap
- Some button placement causes accidental clicks
- On the larger size for a mouse
This review unit of the mouse was provided by Steel Series for evaluation. Was used over a 3 week period in World of Warcraft and other various computer activities.