Your Mouse:
Most products branded as 'gaming' have pointless features that are quite frankly shit. However if you were a professional tennis player, you wouldn't turn up to Wimbledon with a piece of ham spread over some sticks. People who insist on playing hours of games a day with roller ball mice from Soviet Russia should be shot and burned. A good mouse and surface makes a massive difference to your game and how consistently you play, not to mention making it more pleasant and less frustrating when your mouse behaves erratically.
However this is not to say that the most expensive gaming mouse out there is the best. DPI is what you will find most companies advertising as the primary selling point of their mice. DPI is a complete load of bullshit and I do not understand why they think it is so important. The first thing I do when i get a new mouse with variably DPI is set it as close to 400 (standard for most general use modern mice) as possible. The reason for this is over the past few years I have often heard true or untrue that mice running at high DPIs are plagued by negative acceleration (any kind of acceleration being worse than the plague). I also see no value in having higher DPI at all except for a larger range of absolutely senseless sensitivity choices.
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| High DPI hides the fact the lachesis is utter garbage |
The next thing to talk about is polling rate. Polling rate is actually something that is noticable, it indirectly refers basically to how often your cursor updates and this equates to how smooth your mouse movement feels. The highest polling rate offered is 1000Hz and the standard/lowest is 125Hz. Now this is something I learnt a long time ago, and I can actually say that I tested this and found it to be true. For some reason whilst 1000Hz is offered it is very unstable and often the Hz will vary from movement to movement, whilst 500Hz (the next increment down) will send at 500Hz reliably regardless of the movement made. From what I have heard using 1000Hz can as a result of the aforementioned cause some degree of mouse acceleration and so I have always avoided it. However again this could be urban legend, though I see little benefit in 1000Hz over 500Hz. If you change from 500Hz to the standard 125Hz you will undoubtedly feel a difference that could again effect, even if very small, your play. I recommend a mouse that can run at 500Hz (like I said mice that can run at 1000Hz can almost always be set to 500Hz) and there is software available out there that can force polling rates on devices that are not states as 500Hz capable, although there are a few risks with such over-clocks.
Obviously your mouse should track well, this is why roller balls are the mouse equivalent of AIDS. I have always considered the tracking of mice to fall into two categories, good, and bad. If there is anything wrong with the tracking then it is a bad mouse, avoid. All other mice are good, look at their shape and a few other features (because they will probably all be 500Hz polling capable if they track well). I remember there being some debate as to which was better, laser or optical mice a while back. However from what I can tell most optical mice have now been replaced by there laser counterparts, which is annoying because they are more expensive. So sadly if your buying a new mouse you probably don't have the option any more.
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| I mainly use it for the sexy |
The most important feature when it comes to a mouse in my opinion is the shape. The mouse you choose should complement the way you use your mouse, and if you look at different people you will see everyone is almost unique (my personal grip choice is probably one of the most disgusting and extreme). My personal choice is the Razer Deathadder as it supports the side of my hand. Having a good grip on the mouse and being able to manipulate it with both your arm and wrist is important when trying to maintain solid aim so spend the time looking at mice that work with your grip. I recently saw TCM advertising that R.A.T mouse thing. That seemed to me to actually be a fantastic idea, if not done in a rather tacky fashion because it allowed you to move bits of it around to fit your personal grip. Hopefully someone will do something decent with that idea soon.
Something to mention before I do a roundup is mouse feet. Easy to over look, the mouse needs to slide reliably across your chosen surface and if your feet come off or are beginning to, buy some more!
So when looking at mice, from my point of view:
Does it track well? If yes
Can it do 500Hz polling rate? If yes
Does it support your grip style? If yes
What features am I willing to pay for.
Finally for anyone out there on a budget, you should be made aware of the Holy Grail of gaming mice, the Microsoft IntelliMouse Explorer 3.0 For a long time it was considered the best gaming mouse ever made despite never being intended for games. It tracks well, can be over clocked to 500Hz polling and is fairly universally shaped. Trade offs for this cheap gem are its a bit shit looking and wobbly and has an issue with the scroll wheel being clunky. But I used it for several months and still regard it fantastic.
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| Microsoft greatest gift to gaming |
Your Mouse Pad/Surface:
Again, people who think this doesn't make a difference are factually wrong. Not only are gaming mouse mats designed to complement tracking on optical/laser mice, they give you a reliable glide. Furthermore as I will discuss later, low sensitivities are preferential in gaming and only gaming surfaces really offer a large enough surface.I know people look at them and think '.. paying more than £10 for a mouse pad is stupid' but it's not, feeling my first ever gaming mouse on an actual gaming surface after a few months on a freebie pad was one of the best days of my life (exaggeration). A few other advantages of gaming pads, they are normally quite thick, which means getting a crumb or something under them doesn't ruin your game when you slide over it, and also they are designed not to wear away at your mouses feet. Personally I favor and recommend cloth surfaces like the ZOWIE Spawn (my pad of choice) and the QCK+/Heavy (Not the QCK because its too thin), however I know wai uses a large shard of glass but then hes a bit special.
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| Perfect glide |
Your Desk/Chair (yes i'm suggesting this effects your game):
I have no doubt I'll be called retarded for this but personally for me its a big issue. Firstly your desk needs to be big enough for you to use your mouse effectively and preferably at a low sensitivity and have your arms in comfortable places. Now this is the thing that I am OCD about, the height of my desk and the height of my chair, and more specifically the difference in height between the two. I find that if my arms don't meet the table with just wide of a right angle bend in my elbow, I don't make enough use of wide arm movements and as a result occasionally miss shots. It sounds stupid but resting too much of my arm against the desk makes me far too dependent on my wrist to aim. The first thing I do at a LAN is check position of my body to avoid this as I find it is actually a genuine problem and does contribute to inconsistency, a pillow or two solves the problem. So find what height over the desk you play best at and find some way to remember it :)
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| The primary use of pillows is of course for consistent gaming |
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