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Looking to replace my Fang Gamepad
I currently use a Fang gamepad from Ideazon (before they were Steelseries) and it is showing signs of wear. I am looking for a replacement device, but I'm not very confident any of the options on the market will satisfy my gaming needs.
I like the ability to easily and accurately press 29 buttons, plus WASD on my Fang. The large amount of buttons makes it efficient for MMO gaming where a high amount of abilities are used in addition to movement controls. The layout and contour of the buttons helps with distinguishing different buttons by touch.
I'm looking at keypads like the Nostromo, Orbweaver, and G13, and they have far fewer buttons, plus the layout and contour only emulate a standard keyboard instead of attempting to optimize for efficient gaming. I'm also unsure of the ability to use the directional pad for movement. I would prefer to use the directional pad, as WASD eats up a lot of buttons on those keypads, but a lot of people say it doesn't work well.
Does anyone have experience using the directional pads for movement on popular gaming keypads? Did it just take some time to learn, or could you never get it to work for you for various reasons?
Comments
The only reliable options to move your character are WASD or an actual D-Pad from a console controllerr. All those thumb button sticks / pads you find on PC gamepads, don't work for moving a character. They work for playing Tetris, but not for moving a character in a 3D world. So it's best to just assign those joysticks to simple functions instead, and map WASD to your gamepad's regular buttons(which is already the case for G13).
A G13 + G600 gives me far far more buttons than I will ever need in any game, and logitech allows you to macro every key. I don't think there is a better MMO set-up than that.
I haven't tried those Razer gamepads, the reliability of razer mice has been abysmal for me, so I never tried their gamepads. I'm happy with Logitech, the G13 could do with mechanical switches instead of mushy keys, but other than that it's really reliable and the software is super easy to use, it integrates with the mouse software, so it's all one single UI.
I own Razer products,don't like them at all,had nothing but problems with them.I have always liked Logitech the best.
I thin k it is sad that so many games auto configure their games for WASD play,i can see why people would want to use gamepads and reconfigure WASD.Me i prefer to use mouse keyboard and if they game is too cumbersome and forced WASD,then i just don't play it.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
I have tried many brands, I have 2 dead Roccat mice, a dead Razer mouse, a dead Mionix mouse. Roccat especially has terrible reliability, both my mice died within a month. None of my Logitech products have failed on me, and the software is far better than the competition.
Razer is good when it comes to advertising, Logitech doesn't have fancy advertising or fancy sponsoring, but their products actually work.
I have Logitech products and I don't care about the UI. It isn't a selling point because I'm not looking at it in-game.
I'm looking for something that can compete with the efficient layout of my Fang. I can deal with losing a few buttons, but the G13 doesn't look like a good choice, given you have 18 buttons after losing the 4 movement keys, and the layout is just a standard keyboard. If it had another row or two of buttons above the WASD, that might put it back in my list, but someone thought they had enough.
If I can't use the thumb-control for movement on whatever gaming keypad I get (for whatever reason) then I think it should just have buttons in that spot and not a useless directional stick. I'm not convinced so far that the thumb control can't be used for movement, though. People use console thumbsticks for movement. I think it might just take some learning and adjusting to make it work. I had to learn and adjust to my Fang, but it was worth it for the efficiency advantage.
You seem to have already made up your mind I think. Well, I can't help you with that, I have never seen a thumbstick that is reliable for movement. D-pads on consoles gamepads work, but they are not very reliable in MMO either, and they are angled completely different.
The G13 logitech joystick is not good for movement with your thumb, if that's what you're looking for, then avoid it, it's not the point of the device.
Hope you find something that works.
If the placement of the d-pad is bad for average hands, or if the responsiveness is off, that is just bad product design. That doesn't mean a thumb d-pad would never work well for those who take the time to get used to it.
After reading more on the internet, I think I'm just going to have to take the plunge and try one. The Orbweaver has mechanical switches and some modding tutorials make it look easy enough to alter the thumb stick. I have a few ideas for possible modding of it, but I'll have to try using the thumb pad for movement before I decide if I need to mod it or not.
One person on another forum described the Orbweaver's d-pad as hard to get used to, but good when you finally do get used to it.
I have tried, and own, the G13, Wolfking Warrior, and a Nostromo when it was a Belkin product, as well as after Razer got it.
Didn't like the Nostromo much at all. Orbweaver looks to be more or less a mechanical, thinner version of it. If I'm not mistaken, it has a directional pad rather than true analog stick. Both had very stiff directional pads as well. I've also not had much luck with Razer products lasting.
WolfKing Warrior is decent. Probably easiest to emulate the Fang on. Plug and play with no software so you have to configure all keys in each game with no profiler.
G13 is probably the ultimate successor for me. Easy to configure and set up wasd movement, but I can't emulate the layout for the Fang/Merc well enough yet to make the jump. Too lazy to remap just to relearn a new config, no matter how similar. The analog stick is not directly in line with the pad. Just a few degrees off to the left. I'm sure there are some ergonomics studies behind that, but it feels odd and takes getting accustomed to.
Also, there is a Cyber Snipa pad that has a very similar layout to the Fang. The number buttons are all one row though and it feels a little cheaper.
Funny that they discontinued both models as I've used other SteelSeries products and would never bother paying for them. These though, there are no alternatives. Not that I've looked or tried... O.o
Good luck with whatever you decide