Gaming Keyboard and Mouse Questions

[amythompson172]

I was on Amazon.com looking at the Logitech gaming mice and keyboards. In particular, this keyboard:
http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-920-002232-Gaming-Keyboard-G110/dp/B002RRLQIO/ref=wl_it_dp_o_npd?ie=UTF8&coliid=I3HFPICXO2YVFH&colid=3CXCNQ4RANJ32

And this mouse:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002J9GDXI/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=emjay2d-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B002J9GDXI

I've never owned a gaming mouse or keyboard before. So I am wondering what the benefits really are in gameplay. Starting off with the mouse, I can't recall what my Microsoft laser mouse DPI is but I'm sure it's nowhere near the 5700 of the Logitech gaming mouse above. How much difference does that really make say when playing a shooter? How does it affect gameplay? Is it easier to aim quickly and accurately? Does it help you to play better? There must be some reason people like them. I'd like to understand how beneficial they are. As for all the extra buttons I don't honestly see myself using them. Do people really find all those buttons on a mouse helpful? What for? What do people activate with them?

On to the Logitech gaming keyboards. The one I linked above I think is their entry level model. I like the backlit keys feature. That is pretty cool. Some of the other stuff seems pretty useless to me personally. The defining feature of this keyboard really seems to be the macro keys. So the question is, what are they good for? I'm trying to imagine what I'd want to macro in a shooter for example. What would I want to macro playing some RPG? What would I want to macro playing World of Warcraft? Once again, people like these a lot for some reason but I am honestly clueless about what specifically it is. So please enlighten the clueless!

Thanks a lot for any feedback on this stuff. I appreciate it.

 

[catatafish]

I have that same mouse, but a few years' older model.

Here's the advantage: I program the buttons in front and behind of the wheel to do certain things.....like one button is Greater Healing, so I can click on the avatar (or mouse-over in WoW) and just push that button. I run/strafe with my keyboard, and keys 1-5 are occupied with other abilities. So that leaves me with only 5 abilities that I can easily reach. The extra buttons on the mouse give me 4 more abilities (or macros).

Same thing for keyboard, althogh I prefer the microsoft sidewinder because the macro buttons are a bit more distinct so I'm not accidentally hitting macro 1 instead of tab.

I can speak to how it will help in a shooter, other than it gives you 4 more buttons easily accessible.

Edit:
To answer your WoW question, my mage had a macro for sheep so I wouldn't have to retarget to sheep something that the dirty AoEing pally broke. I can still keep my skull targetted, and then just move my right finger up 1 mm to the mouse button and push it....macro goes to focus target, then resheeps. Then you can macro the other button to call out the dirty pally in /r chat. (can you tell I love pallies? )

There are other macros everyone should have that have a 5 minute CD for instance that gives your next cast a huge buff. Or a cast that only lasts 10 seconds (haste for instance on a trinket).....you waste a second or two of that buff by moving your mouse 6 inches across the screen, and you risk keying the wrong thing trying to stretch your hand to "shift-9" or whatever because you've just run out of convenient keys to bind.

 

[coolkev99]

Same thing for keyboard, althogh I prefer the microsoft sidewinder because the macro buttons are a bit more distinct so I'm not accidentally hitting macro 1 instead of tab.

You referring to the Sidewinder x4 ?