Steelseries World of Warcraft MMO Gaming Mouse [Legendary] Edition Review

WoW fans rejoice:  the Steelseries World of Warcraft MMO Gaming Mouse [Legendary] Edition is here to improve your DPS, work 20 spells simultaneously, and finally teach those rogues what it means to be done from behind.  With its sleek ergonomic design and 11 programmable buttons, it is a true tool of an <Alterac Valley> king (please replace with the battleground of your choice).

I first played World of Warcraft when it was initially released, got myself to level 60 within about a month, realized there was no end game content yet, and promptly quit.  Two years later, I decided to give it another go and realized I was the only person at level 60 without a single PVP kill.  It generated quite a few odd looks.  Needless to say, life came along and put the MMO to the sideline.

With the current attempt at the game, I decided to roll a Hunter, figuring it would work well for levelling fast.  Things have definitely changed since I first tried; I definitely don’t remember breezing through levels at the same rate.  It seems that thanks to patching and rebalancing, players can hit the level cap in a relatively short amount of time – though if you’re reading this, you probably know already.

Now, almost 7 years after its release, I’m back in the game with a new weapon at my side: The Cataclysm Mouse.  Designed to be configurable in-game or using a trusty, downloadable utility from the manufacturer, it sports a scroll wheel, a superfluous yet cool light-up palm which can be set to use one of 16.8 million different colours, and of course a multitude of buttons.  I’d highly recommend using the manufacturer’s configuration tool instead of the in-game button mapping, as you can set up macros there directly rather than limiting yourself to the standard button mappings.

The left-hand side of the mouse has 4 buttons where your thumb rests, two of which are in the standard browser forward/back buttons, and the other two are perpendicular to these.  Around the scroll wheel, you have slim buttons on either side with a third below.  The final button is on the right, positioned where your ring finger typically rests.

Each button is programmable to map either to a command bar slot, specific macro, ability, or in-game command.  This is all done through the configuration app.  If you want to change the colour of the palm light, clicking the bottom tab of the app will expand a colour selection tool consisting of a circle where you just click the desired hue.  Mouse sensitivity and standard mouse features are controlled through the left expandable tab.  All-in-all, the tool is well laid out and easy to use.

For myself, I mapped walking backwards opposite to the auto run (the browser forward/back buttons respectively) and assigned other crowd control abilities to the other buttons.  This left standard damage abilities for the 1 through 5 buttons on the keyboard within easy reach for my left hand.  My mount was then mapped to the button right under the scroll wheel, allowing for those quick snatch-and-grabs in quests where you just don’t feel like killing everything between you and the damn Thunderbrew Keg.

Overall, I found being able to map buttons in this fashion was a great benefit in levelling as well as PVP and Dungeons.  Not having to constantly find the right macro button on the keyboard during an Alterac Valley altercation was nice, as everything I’d use on a regular basis was mapped within easy shifting of my fingers.

Although a cordless version of the mouse would be a nice option , corded means you won’t have to worry about batteries running out at critical moments.  My only other issue, however, is that the mouse gets a little confused on my shiny desk surface, requiring something with a bit more matte.  Not the end of the world, but as someone who prefers not to use a mouse pad, this is irksome.  Another issue is the placement of the button south of the scroll wheel.  While the other buttons can be reached by side-shifting a finger, this one either requires pressing down with your hand or moving your whole hand away to press with a finger.  I ended up setting this to a mount macro (but that’s just me) – not something that will be used in a critical moment, but nice to have.

Overall, this is a quite powerful tool for the WoW gamer, whether they are raiding, levelling, or just resource gathering.  Having an additional 11 commands available at the tip of your fingers will give you a definite edge.

Wanderson75 gives this: 4.0 / 5.0