Controllers, Keyboards, Mice, etc.

[Moonface]

What is your favourite controller/keyboard/mouse/etc. for gaming? Is there a particular one that comes in different colours that you have favourites for or wish a colour existed for it? Have you seen some new controller colours get announced, such as the new DualShock 4 colours that inspired me to make this thread?

Out of the new DS4 colours, Purple Haze is the only one I really want to get. Worst one is the camo one, but I don't think camo looks good on most things except an army uniform.

[Kazan X. Lemuris]

As far as mice go (as a fairly casual PC gamer; mostly old-school FPS like Quake and UT and some League of Legends on the side) I never found a better mouse for me than the Sidewinder X3. It wasn't loaded with a fuckton of macro buttons, and it was the right size for me to use without suffering any real discomfort. I currently use a Havit Pro [string of random numbers] and it's fine, but the shape isn't exactly ergonomic. But since I don't play for srs it's not a problem.

Keyboard... I exclusively use laptops so I don't have much leeway.

I don't overly care about the colours and such of a controller, since that doesn't affect how I play. I might pick up a shinier controller if I get the opportunity to (my PS4's right stick has been chewed slightly by my cat in the past) but not until I seriously need it.

[Moonface]

The best thing about coloured controllers nowadays is it's easier for me to know what ones I charged recently. If all my DS4 controllers were black, I'd be constantly struggling to remember what ones I remembered to charge up.

[Dragon Lord]

I'm giving some series consideration to those new DS4 controllers, despite the fact that I already own seven or eight of them right now. I like the Rose Gold and absolutely love the Titanium Blue. The Electric Purple is also really good looking. I'm usually not the biggest fan of purple (I don't dislike it, but I prefer many other colors), but it just looks really good.

At the absolute very least I will be adding Titanium Blue to my collection, though knowing me and my love of throwing money away on things I really don't need, but really want, I'm going to end up with the Rose Gold and Purple as well.

[Moonface]

So this subject came up briefly during our Phasmophobia session this morning, and I felt like it was a good thing to ask everyone else who wasn't part of that and I think those who were involved could potentially have more they want to add or say on this:

Do you prefer keyboards with loud keys, or quieter keys?

As satisfying as I find keyboards with louder clacky keys, I'd only probably want to have a keyboard like that exclusively for gaming since I wouldn't be pushing keys constantly like I would when typing. If I was doing a lot of typing on such a keyboard it might start to grate on me, but it might not since I used to do all my high school homework on a typewriter.
I also just have a general preference for quieter keyboards since every laptop in existence comes with a quiet one because they just have to due to the limited vertical space available to be fitting in any fat clicky clacky keys.

[ShiraNoMai]

After owning a clacky keyboard (cherry blues) as my first mechanical, I can definitely say I prefer much quieter ones. I more care about the actual performance of the keys rather than the sound it creates, but if the sound it creates overstays its welcome (i.e. sharing a room with someone trying to sleep) then that keyboard is not worth it lol

[Moonface]

After owning a clacky keyboard (cherry blues) as my first mechanical, I can definitely say I prefer much quieter ones. I more care about the actual performance of the keys rather than the sound it creates, but if the sound it creates overstays its welcome (i.e. sharing a room with someone trying to sleep) then that keyboard is not worth it lol

I've never really used a keyboard that I've noticed the performance of since I've almost exclusively used laptops, which don't tend to really have a lot of differences in how the keys feel when pressed I find. What sort of performance options are there for keyboards and what differences does it produce in usage?

[Mr EliteL]

I don't really have a favourite kind of...any of them. Well, I prefer an actual mouse to a touchpad, but as I've been using my newer laptop more which I have not set up with a mouse, plus when I didn't have a mouse on my old laptop I'm still fine using a touchpad. I'm not like desperate to change to a mouse. I suppose keyboards that have colour lights underneath them/around them can look cool and dazzling, but again I'm not going out of my way to get anything with that feature. Quieter keyboards I prefer, well ones that don't make too much clacky noise anyway.

Controllers, official controllers tend to be the best, so whatever official standard issues I'm happy with, plus colours. Black is fine, nothing wrong with it. Blue and Red are great, although it took me a while to actually get a Red controller and have three now, two I don't even use (my PS4 and Mario Switch Pro Controller).

[Dragon Lord]

Haven't posted in here in a long while, so I think it's due for an update!

So, the DualSense (PS5 controller) has become by far my favorite controller ever. It just feels so good to hold, and the adaptive triggers are a lot more interesting than I thought they'd be. It's just a shame that so few games actually make use of them right now.

I've also gotten a gaming PC since the last time I posted in here, as most here know, so I can also add keyboard and mouse onto my favorite controller types. I still think I slightly prefer using a controller more than kb/m, but using kb/m has proven to be a lot more enjoyable than I thought it would be. It did take a bit of time to get used to, having been strictly a console gamer for the first 32 years of my life, but I adapted to it a lot faster than I expected, and it's been fun to switch between playing Genshin on controller and on kb/m. II haven't played any games that truly benefit more from kb/m yet, but I'm thinking of picking up Skyrim on Steam soon here just to be able to enjoy that game to the fullest with kb/m. I'd also love to get some co-op games in L4D or L4D2 going at some point, so I can experience a shooter with kb/m as well.

As for what type of keyboard I prefer, I kind of like them all, really. The current keyboard I have now is nice, as it has a nice sound when typing, but isn't too loud. Though I will admit that super "clacky" keyboard are satisfying to listen to as well. I'm not expert on the different switches yet, so I can't really name which ones sound like what, but I kind of just like them all. They all have their own satisfying qualities about them.

[Moonface]

I don't really have a favourite kind of...any of them. Well, I prefer an actual mouse to a touchpad, but as I've been using my newer laptop more which I have not set up with a mouse, plus when I didn't have a mouse on my old laptop I'm still fine using a touchpad. I'm not like desperate to change to a mouse.

Anyone who can play a game heavily with a touchpad instead of a mouse is both a lunatic and a complete legend for being able to play a game with a touchpad. I've even tried once to play Minecraft with a touchpad and I couldn't do it. XD

So, the DualSense (PS5 controller) has become by far my favorite controller ever. It just feels so good to hold, and the adaptive triggers are a lot more interesting than I thought they'd be. It's just a shame that so few games actually make use of them right now.

Yeah, I don't really know what Sony can do to improve the shape of the controller at this point. I think they might have hit the same "wall" that Microsoft have where the controller shape doesn't need much further adjustment, if any, and it just comes down to improving the functionality of it.

I'd also love to get some co-op games in L4D or L4D2 going at some point, so I can experience a shooter with kb/m as well.

I have L4D2 already installed so I'm ready to play that at any time with you and anyone else who would want to play with me. If by chance someone here somehow doesn't own a Left 4 Dead game (I feel like it's a rite of passage for any Steam account owner to have one of them in their library) then don't bother with L4D1 because all of the content is in the sequel anyway. I think the only difference between the two is physics related rather than content so I don't think you miss out on anything by just getting the sequel. If people are interested maybe we should make a thread for the games so that we can discuss and share things like custom maps that we could play, since there's a lot of them and it adds a lot more life to the game once you do all the regular levels.


Also, since mice came up and I don't think I've mentioned what one I use, my current mouse is a Logitech G502 Hero. I haven't actually tried to assign any of the extra buttons on it to any of my games and should probably look into doing that because right now I'm basically using a gaming mouse but without making use of any of the extra buttons and features for my games.

[Dragon Lord]

I also use the Logitech G502 Hero. It's an amazing mouse and I'm glad that I listened to the extremely high reviews of it and decided to get it (especially since it was only $40 at the time). I also have a Razer DeathAdder V2 Pro wireless mouse (this is the one I got for my PC originally, before deciding to try out the G502). Since I've taken such a liking to the Logitech mouse, my Razer mouse has been regulated to being used on my tablet, haha.

I have my eye on the Razer Viper Ultimate V2 though. Reviews on it are outstanding so far, but the $140 price tag has me a little on the fence. I might wait to see if it goes on sale any time this year for a nice discount and then pick it up to try it out. Maybe during the holidays or something.

[Moonface]

I also use the Logitech G502 Hero. It's an amazing mouse and I'm glad that I listened to the extremely high reviews of it and decided to get it (especially since it was only $40 at the time).

I was curious about a couple of buttons on mine and saw the website is selling it for $50 right now, which is $30 in savings. I also saw they have a special edition of the mouse themed after some character from LoL, and while I don't care for that game the mouse does look nice: https://www.logitechg.com/en-us/products...ming-mouse
It makes me with Logitech offered more customization for their mice outside of the RGB colors (which I didn't know I could change until now either but I still need to look into how to do it), since the plain black feels a bit plain after seeing that LoL variant. XD

I wish the website told me what the button on top of the mouse beneath the scroll wheel lock button does too. I can't figure out what it does at all and haven't found a place telling me yet.

[Moonface]

@Dragon Lord: Just saw your post in the PS5 thread mentioning you got a new keyboard for $200 and was curious what one it was. Kinda hoping I didn't forget/miss a post you made elsewhere on the board that already mentioned it.

[Dragon Lord]

Nah, I didn't make any other posts about it. The keyboard I'm buying is the Wooting 2 HE full keyboard. I've watched a lot of reviews about the keyboard and it has a lot of interesting features. It'd take a while to list everything, so I'll just link you to the page that talks about all of the features of the board. 

There really isn't anything wrong with my current keyboard, so this is just purely because I've become extremely interested in this keyboard from all of the reviews I've watched and all of the features that it has that could potentially make it a really fun keyboard to have. While I don't play shooters, and those are the types of games that would really benefit from this keyboard, I still think it'd be fun to play around with it and see what it's like.

My only minor complaint with the keyboard is that it lacks any media keys for easy muting/volume reducing, but I think I can live without those. It also doesn't have any extra keys like my current one (six keys on the left side), which I don't use anyways, so the Wooting Two HE should be a little smaller than my current board, which will actually be good because my current one barely fits on my desk (though that's more of a problem that I need to upgrade to a wider desk). 

Worst case scenario, if I don't end up liking the Wooting Two HE enough compared to my current board, I have 30 days to return it for a full refund (minus cost of shipping it back). Sadly I will have to wait a couple of months, as demand for the Wooting keyboards is high and they constantly sell out. This keyboard released back at the end of 2021 and they still have to do batches of pre-orders because the stock can't keep up with the demand for them. So hopefully that's a good sign, haha. The batch that my pre-order is in will be releasing in March.

[Moonface]

My only minor complaint with the keyboard is that it lacks any media keys for easy muting/volume reducing, but I think I can live without those. It also doesn't have any extra keys like my current one (six keys on the left side), which I don't use anyways, so the Wooting Two HE should be a little smaller than my current board, which will actually be good because my current one barely fits on my desk (though that's more of a problem that I need to upgrade to a wider desk).

Looking at the page you linked to it looks like you can program some of the keys with whatever functions you want, and in their example they have media keys on the six buttons above the arrow keys. Or are you not interested in having media keys that way?

It definitely looks like a nice keyboard though and I can see how demand for it is so high. $200 doesn't sound bad either for everything you get and I feel like most other high-end keyboards probably aren't much lower in price and I bet some of those don't even offer everything this one does.