Healing Peripherals

While this works all well and good, I highly suggest upgrading.

Good peripherals can really aid in the job of keeping people alive. Personally, I just don't like the feel of a standard 3 button mouse and a basic keyboard. I have small hands, so it's just not realistic for me to be able to reach my "9" and "0" keys while still being able to use "WASD" to move. Plus, as a healer you are most likely using either mouseovers, or click bindings. Both of these methods of healing can be greatly enhanced by getting some better peripherals. Depending on how much you want to spend, there's several options available.



Mice

If you take nothing else from this post, do yourself a favor and invest in a gaming mouse with some extra buttons. You won't regret it. Especially if you use mouse click bindings, a few extra buttons go a long way. I've used 4 or 5 different mice, but my best experiences have been with Razer.

Razer DeathAdder

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• Have I used it: Yes
• Cost: $60 from Razer's site, though you can find it on sale elsewhere sometimes.
• # of buttons: 5. The two extra are on the left side. A left handed version is also available.
• Link to product: Razer's Site

This was the first gaming mouse I ever bought, and I loved it. It was incredibly comfortable, it fit my hand like a glove. Only having two extra buttons was simple to get used to, and they were placed in a good spot on the mouse. Razer also includes drivers to change keybinds very easily. The sensitivity on this thing was a little high for me, and it's one of the least sensitive models they sell. However, that is also easily changed through the drivers, and you can even save profiles if more than one person uses it and likes it on different settings. I used it for over two years before it finally gave out on me, the scroll wheel stopped being able to differentiate between up and down scrolls. As far as price goes, it's a good investment, although I'd check local stores such as Best Buy, or Fry's Electronics (if you're lucky enough to have one nearby) for sales.

Razer Naga

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• Have I used it: No
• Cost: $80
• # of buttons: A whopping 17, on the left side.
• Link to product: Razer's Site

I haven't used this one first hand, but I've heard good things from friends and guildies. As with any Razer mouse, you'll get comfort and high sensitivity out of it. This mouse used to be only mappable via the number keys or number pad, but it looks as though a recent driver update changed that. It now has full remapping capability. This thing was made for MMOs. While it has too many buttons for my personal taste, if you're looking for an all in one keybinding machine, this will do it.

Razer Mamba

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• Have I used it: No, price tag is too steep. But there's some serious "want" coming from me here.
• Cost: $130
• # of buttons: 7, extra are on the left side.
  
• Link to product: Razer's Site

This thing is awesome. It's both wired and wireless, and it's rechargeable. The extra buttons are all easy to reach, and it's got a comfortable design as well as incredible mapping and sensitivity options via the Razer drivers. The drawback here is the pricetag. But, if you're looking for a good wireless mouse, this will do it.

Razer Lachesis

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• Have I used it: Yes, it's my current mouse.
  
• Cost: $80 (I caught it on sale for $30 at Fry's, picked up two at the time)
• # of buttons: 9. Two on left, two on right, two in middle.
• Link to product: Razer's Site

I'll be honest here, this isn't my favorite mouse. I liked the DeathAdder better. It is an ambidextrous mouse so it's not as comfortable ad the right handed Razers. The extra buttons are great, but I really don't use the two on the right. They're a little difficult to hit, and I've had problems with them bugging out, so I turned them off. It also took me awhile to figure out how to bind the extra buttons (If you are having trouble with it too, post in the comments or e-mail me and I'll whip up a quick video to show you the ropes.)  But, for the price I paid, this thing is still a damn good mouse, and the four extra buttons I do use all work fantastically. It's got a good warranty though and it does what I need for a good price. If you can catch this thing on sale, it's worth it. I wouldn't pay $80 for it though.

Other Mice

There's some other mice out there, but I'm not going to lie, I'm a Razer fanboy. They've served me well, and the warranties are solid. However, Steelseries and Logitech also make some great gaming mice and might be a little cheaper. It's worth looking around first. I highly suggest getting a 5 button mouse at the very least if you use click bindings. You won't regret it, and once you get a gaming mouse you won't want to go back.

Keyboards and USB Keyboard Extensions

If mouseovers are more your thing, or if you want easier bindings, a better keyboard is also a good investment. I've used quite a few, and while most are made for FPS games, they're usually simple to configure, often it's just plug in and go, or they include drivers.


USB Number Pad

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• Have I used it: Yes
• Cost: Varies, I've seen these anywhere from $5-$30. Shop around.
• Link: Targus Numeric Keypad At Staples (At the time of posting, this one's on sale. These things are easy to find and super cheap.)

Back when I used mouseovers, I used one of these in conjunction with my keyboard. I kept it on the left side of my keyboard and bound the keys to various things. It was just easier to reach than the standard numpad on the right side. It's super easy to bind since it is just a number pad, but the flexibility of it being on a usb instead of attached to the board is pretty nice. It's a cheap solution for the budget conscious healer.

Z-Board

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• Have I used it: Yes
• Cost: $60 for the WoW keyset one.
• Link: WOTLK Zboard Keyset at Newegg

Haven't used this for WoW, but I did use it in some other MMO's. The Zboard is kind of nice because of the ability to pull the keyset off and replace it, and there's a couple that are specifically built for WoW. This can free up a few bindings for you.

Logitech G13

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• Have I used it: No
• Cost: $67 at Newegg
  
• Link: G13 at Newegg

This is the little sister of the G15. It's basically just a pad of extra buttons that connects via USB. I had a friend who recommended this for mouseover healing. It's got the screen that the G15 has, a thumbstick for movement, and supposedly has in-box WoW support. Having not used it myself though, I can't say much about it. There are a large number of similar products out there from other companies. A little web browsing will show you more if this is something that interests you.


Wolf King Warrior

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• Have I used it: Yes, current favorite extension.
• Cost: $55 at Amazon
  
• Link: Warrior on Amazon

I scored this bad boy for $20 at Fry's a couple years ago. It still works fantastically. However, I had a really hard time finding a link to it, so it might be tough to get one, especially for a reasonable price. $55 seems a bit steep. Anyways, it's basically what you see there. Just a round keyboard with ~55 buttons on it. If you bind something here, it binds on your regular keyboard too. The advantage is that those of us with smaller hands can reach all the F keys, shift and ctrl, and 0-9 without taking out hands off of "WASD". I just bound WoW's menus, like the character screen, to number pad values instead of keys to free up B, C, O, etc for bindings. I originally bought this for Age of Conan because I had a hard time reaching buttons for combos, and started using it in WoW shortly thereafter. The learning curve on it only takes a day or so, and it's really portable due to small size so you don't have to leave it behind when you play elsewhere. It fit in my laptop bag.

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Basically, you're looking to free up more slots for binding. My current set up is a Razer Lachesis with a Wolf King Warrior and a standard HP keyboard, and it's fantastic. Easy to use, fairly cheap, and it'll last. It's well worth the investment to make things a little easier and streamline your healing. If you've got a favorite peripheral, post it in the comments!

/bubblehearth