by Zeh Mon May 19, 2008 9:52 pmOriginal n52
I don't know if anyone else around here has one, but the Belkin nostromo n52 works great with AoC. I bought one a few years back when i broke my mouse wrist so i could continue to game, and now there's a new version, the nostromo n52te, since I'm not sure the original is still available.
Anyways, the main issue i had with AoC during open beta was my own inability to quickly access my main combos and spells using the hotbar 123 keys, since those are occupied by attack keys. I heard someone talking in OB chat, and the nostromo was mentioned. Immediatly I go, hey, wtf zeh, why don't you get that old piece of shit out and see what it can do? I dig frantically through my back room, and finally find the bugger.
The night before early access (not the poem,) I started up the nostromo macro software. I think about how the game played in OB, and I come up with two different configurations. Note the thumbpad on both the above controllers? Well this is the primary advantage the nostromo has over a regular keyboard, and in AoC there are two valid ways to use this.
A. Attacks. Forward for forward attack, left for left attack, right for right attack and back for active block.
B. Movement. Pretty self explanatory.
I programmed both in anticipation of launch.
For the attack setup, I had the arrow keys bound to WASD, Q and E bound as themselves, the keys on the left and right sides of the center as combos, the spacebar as alt and the bottom row as sprint, jump, and 13 and 14 as buffs (I'm a HoX.) The thumbpad was bound to attacks and block as described above.
For the Movement setup, the Thumbpad was bound to WASD, space to alt. I bound the three keys on the leftmost of the top row as attack (f/l/r,) the key below the forward attack as block, to the left and right of that, Q and E. The bottomleftmost two keys are sprint and jump, and the remaining keys can be bound to a total of 6 diffent combos/spells, alot like in the attack configuration.
Game Day: I wait impatiently for the game to launch. Entering the game, I try the attack configuration first. It's easy to get used to, but it proved to be as clumsy as the original setup as it was hard for me to reach the combo keys, and if I did, I often messed up on the directional inputs on the thumbpad. It proved to be alot worse then a keyboard throughout the first half of the beach intro.
I alt-tab and switch to movement. Using the thumbpad to move is weird. Bizarre, in fact, especially at first. But once I could maneuver my character into combat, having four fingers to manipulate attacks, combos and whatnot proved ridiculously invaluable.
I found myself almost never using the mouse to initiate combos, and only rarely missing the key presses. I had dramatically improved my combat abilities in a matter of minutes, and soon found myself taking on nearly twice as many enemies as I was capable of before. This may sound like some sort of crazy miracle, but honest to god, the N52 was made for AoC.
Now I'm hitting level 17, and movement is really quite natural, in fact it's alot more natural then my old WASD setup. In groups, the HoX dominates, and I dominate my HoX incredibly well with my N52. The Alt key on the space bar becomes invaluable for buffs and whatnot, and my orange key remains unbound until a later date. I might use it for shield manipulation. I also have not bound the mouse wheel on the controller.
Anyways, go get your hands on some nostromos, Hammerfist. We will dominate Dagoth through use of this wonderful gaming tool.
If anyone with a nostromo N52 (the original) wants to try out my setup, shoot me a PM with your email address and I'll send the file to you.
Everyone else, with your G15's and whatnot, you're missing out. Go buy a Nostromo, after getting used to it, you'll see a huge improvement in your gaming skills.
The Original can be found here:
http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-F8GFPC100-Nostromo-Speedpad-n52/dp/B0000DC643
Wheras the TE (tournement edition) can be found here:
http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-n52te-Tournament-Edition-SpeedPad/dp/B000WMEHYG/ref=dp_ob_title
The TE is sexier, and much cheaper as it is still in production. However, if you can get your hands on a classic N52, the software is better, and the spacebar key is alot better.
Servers are supposed to come back up in 9 minutes, I think I'll hop on vent. Happy gaming.
I don't know if anyone else around here has one, but the Belkin nostromo n52 works great with AoC. I bought one a few years back when i broke my mouse wrist so i could continue to game, and now there's a new version, the nostromo n52te, since I'm not sure the original is still available.
n52te
Anyways, the main issue i had with AoC during open beta was my own inability to quickly access my main combos and spells using the hotbar 123 keys, since those are occupied by attack keys. I heard someone talking in OB chat, and the nostromo was mentioned. Immediatly I go, hey, wtf zeh, why don't you get that old piece of shit out and see what it can do? I dig frantically through my back room, and finally find the bugger.
The night before early access (not the poem,) I started up the nostromo macro software. I think about how the game played in OB, and I come up with two different configurations. Note the thumbpad on both the above controllers? Well this is the primary advantage the nostromo has over a regular keyboard, and in AoC there are two valid ways to use this.
A. Attacks. Forward for forward attack, left for left attack, right for right attack and back for active block.
B. Movement. Pretty self explanatory.
I programmed both in anticipation of launch.
For the attack setup, I had the arrow keys bound to WASD, Q and E bound as themselves, the keys on the left and right sides of the center as combos, the spacebar as alt and the bottom row as sprint, jump, and 13 and 14 as buffs (I'm a HoX.) The thumbpad was bound to attacks and block as described above.
For the Movement setup, the Thumbpad was bound to WASD, space to alt. I bound the three keys on the leftmost of the top row as attack (f/l/r,) the key below the forward attack as block, to the left and right of that, Q and E. The bottomleftmost two keys are sprint and jump, and the remaining keys can be bound to a total of 6 diffent combos/spells, alot like in the attack configuration.
Game Day: I wait impatiently for the game to launch. Entering the game, I try the attack configuration first. It's easy to get used to, but it proved to be as clumsy as the original setup as it was hard for me to reach the combo keys, and if I did, I often messed up on the directional inputs on the thumbpad. It proved to be alot worse then a keyboard throughout the first half of the beach intro.
I alt-tab and switch to movement. Using the thumbpad to move is weird. Bizarre, in fact, especially at first. But once I could maneuver my character into combat, having four fingers to manipulate attacks, combos and whatnot proved ridiculously invaluable.
I found myself almost never using the mouse to initiate combos, and only rarely missing the key presses. I had dramatically improved my combat abilities in a matter of minutes, and soon found myself taking on nearly twice as many enemies as I was capable of before. This may sound like some sort of crazy miracle, but honest to god, the N52 was made for AoC.
Now I'm hitting level 17, and movement is really quite natural, in fact it's alot more natural then my old WASD setup. In groups, the HoX dominates, and I dominate my HoX incredibly well with my N52. The Alt key on the space bar becomes invaluable for buffs and whatnot, and my orange key remains unbound until a later date. I might use it for shield manipulation. I also have not bound the mouse wheel on the controller.
Anyways, go get your hands on some nostromos, Hammerfist. We will dominate Dagoth through use of this wonderful gaming tool.
If anyone with a nostromo N52 (the original) wants to try out my setup, shoot me a PM with your email address and I'll send the file to you.
Everyone else, with your G15's and whatnot, you're missing out. Go buy a Nostromo, after getting used to it, you'll see a huge improvement in your gaming skills.
The Original can be found here:
http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-F8GFPC100-Nostromo-Speedpad-n52/dp/B0000DC643
Wheras the TE (tournement edition) can be found here:
http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-n52te-Tournament-Edition-SpeedPad/dp/B000WMEHYG/ref=dp_ob_title
The TE is sexier, and much cheaper as it is still in production. However, if you can get your hands on a classic N52, the software is better, and the spacebar key is alot better.
Servers are supposed to come back up in 9 minutes, I think I'll hop on vent. Happy gaming.
