Mechanical Keyboard for World of Warcraft

[Modi]

I've been a long time lurker on these forums for a while and would like to add yet another can you make a recommendation for me post. I've most of my PC gaming since the late 90's on a Microsoft Natural Elite ergonomic keyboard.  When I would wear out the keys on a board, I'd simply purchase a new one, but those days are over. The keyboard quality for the MS Natural Elite has gone down quite a bit and is no longer a viable option for me at least for gaming.

World of Warcraft is the game I play the most. Currently I'm using a Steelseries Merc Steath to game on. I don't care for the game pad portion of the keyboard for WoW and am using the keyboard portion of the board. I like the quality but the board is a bit cramped for my liking. It took a while to get comfortable on a standard keyboard compared to my ergonomic one, but I'm used to it now.

I have a better chance at winning the lottery than see Microsoft release a mechanical version of the MS Natural Elite so in lieu of that, I've been reading a lot about what type of standard mechanical keyboard to purchase. I think I'm gonna steer clear of the Razer Black Widow due to what I read about Razer's quality issues.

Right now I'm leaning toward the Das Model S Professional keyboard. Debating between the Professional and the Silent models. So my question for the geekhack community is: Which Cherry switch is better (blues or browns) for Wow? I'd like to have a good keyboard for spamming fireballs and then moving using scorch in WoW on my mage.

Would anyone else have another recommendation other than the Das Model S?

Thanks in advance!

[bugfix]

The Das is definitely a good choice, if you're in the US and a student, they will give you a discount btw.

Whether the blues or browns are better for WoW I cannot tell, I personally think it comes down to whether or not you like the clicking sound.

[Grimey]

I play WoW, but in any elite capacity.  Starting Rift today if I ever get passed the queue though.  

I use my filco tenkeless cherry blue and razer naga to game with.  This probably throws a wrench in my answering your question as I don't use much of the keyboard, WASD and modifiers are used in combination with the array of mouse buttons.  

I do like my cherry blues for gaming.  I have never used a linear cherry switch, but my cherry blues work perfectly for everything I do.  

With the provided info, I can't really recommend or detour you from anything you mentioned other than cherry blues are fine for WoW from my perspective.

[SirDrexl]

I'm not sure if it's clear on the first page of their site, but "Professional" refers to the keys having inscriptions (as opposed to blank keys), with "Silent" obviously being the brown switches.  So you can get a Professional Silent keyboard which has both inscriptions on the keys and brown switches.

The browns generally are recommended over the blues for games due to double tapping being easier for some people, but it's mainly personal preference.

[Bern]

Yes, in WoW you have a tendency to hit the same button a bunch of times.

[canon.tk]

I play a lot of WoW and I would highly recommend cherry black switches.  Doing a rotation and holding the keys down for movement is so much better on blacks.  I use cherry blues at work and I just can't see playing games like WoW on them.  SC2 would be ok, but blacks are just smooth heaven.  

I also used a cherry brown keyboard (filco) for a few days playing wow and it was nice too.

IMO Blacks > Brown > Blue.

My cherry black keyboard is a full size Filco and the cherry blue is a Blackwidow Ultimate.

[ricercar]

Doubletap works better without Cherry blues. Just sayin'...

[bxt]

Doubletap works better without Cherry blues. Just sayin'...

Thats what I been thinking. People on some boards would try convince me otherwsie tho'.

As for me, I use cherry mx blacks, it is fine for any kind of games (i mostly play WoW and SC2)

[Modi]

Good information for me to read so far and I definitely appreciate the input from the community. Sounds like for some of you it is personal preferance, but I think I'll discount the Cherry Blue switches.

[Modi]

I play a lot of WoW and I would highly recommend cherry black switches.  Doing a rotation and holding the keys down for movement is so much better on blacks.  I use cherry blues at work and I just can't see playing games like WoW on them.  SC2 would be ok, but blacks are just smooth heaven.  

I also used a cherry brown keyboard (filco) for a few days playing wow and it was nice too.

IMO Blacks > Brown > Blue.

My cherry black keyboard is a full size Filco and the cherry blue is a Blackwidow Ultimate.

That reminds me....I looked at a Thermaltake Meka G1 at my local Microcenter back in January and it had Cherry Black switches. I had the customer service rep take it out of the box so I could inspect it. That board  seemed quite nice, but I was not keen on paying the $140 for a keyboard that did not have the full N rollover. No clue why Thermaltake would give advertising the "military grade cable" for the USB connector so much priority in their packaging. I haven't seen too much discussion on geekhack about the board. I know that Thermaltake's stuff can be acceptable or not worth the money depending on what the hardware is.

[KikassAssassin]

I don't have any experience with the Cherry Blues, but I love playing WoW on my Filco with Browns. When I'm spamming a key, I can feel the tactile point where the key actuates, and hover my finger right over that point and spam the key quickly without bottoming out or lifting the key all the way up, which makes for pretty much totally silent key spamming once I got the hang of it (though typing normally is still pretty noisy, with clacks when the key bottoms out and at the top of the key throw if it's released quickly).

[Mr. Perfect]

I don't have any experience with the Cherry Blues, but I love playing WoW on my Filco with Browns. When I'm spamming a key, I can feel the tactile point where the key actuates, and hover my finger right over that point and spam the key quickly without bottoming out or lifting the key all the way up, which makes for pretty much totally silent key spamming once I got the hang of it (though typing normally is still pretty noisy, with clacks when the key bottoms out and at the top of the key throw if it's released quickly).

I noticed the same thing. Tactile switches let you hover on the activation point, so if that's your play style you'll want browns or clears.

[canon.tk]

Probably the best part of Black switches for me is when using WASD+QE for moving and strafing.  The stronger spring allows me to just hold the key down without bottoming.  It's hard to describe the feeling.  

The other odd thing is that I even like typing on Blacks more than I do Blues.  My Filco with Blacks was the best thing I bought all of last year and I bought an Intel X25-M 120 gig SSD (which I also highly recommend).

Just don't fall for a Deck.  I know people really like them and say they have awesome build quality, I just don't see it.

If the Steelseries 6gv2 had an ANSI layout (hate the large enter keys) I recommend that.

Otherwise wait and see what happens with Filco and/or Leopold.

[canon.tk]

I noticed the same thing. Tactile switches let you hover on the activation point, so if that's your play style you'll want browns or clears.

I can do the same with blacks.  Only problem I have with blacks is when I'm typing sometimes I bounce a little at the activation point and type a letter twice.

[runeazn]

the NEW FILCO RED CHERRY MX
get that one
it is same as black switch but with less actuation force,
so you wont get gamer fatigue as fast as with blacks

[sadbox]

I play WoW just fine with Blues =)
Honestly, the GCD will make riding an actuation point pretty useless.

If you like clicks (I do!) get some blues, if you don't get some browns. Not too long ago there was some guy who tried playing WoW with blacks and ended up hating it. I can imagine how they'd not exactly be enjoyable if you're holding down shift with your pinky and trying to spam your number keys.

[Modi]

I've been reading about the Celeritas from Zowie. It seems like its available from newegg too. Is this just as good as Das for build & quality?

[nocturn4l3030]

coming from a rubber dome the browns were quite light for my taste..but you can get used to that in a few days. the tactile bump is really hard to tell...just think of them as linear tbh

the blues are light but the tactileness made it feel more heavy and were more pleasurable for me

i did wow arena at a pretty high lvl on both and theyre both fine...u can do wow with blues ...i found no disadvantage from playing on them.  make your decision based on a noise/click factor imo

i never tried blacks

clears to me are jus too heavy of a switch..i dont reccomend them to anyone really

i prefer to arena on my topre..and blues are my coding driver.

[bakageta]

Cherry Browns are ALWAYS the safest choice.  Just not the most exciting for some people.

This, for sure. When it doubt, get browns, they're the safest choice. Personally, I love typing on blues, but when it comes to gaming (mostly WoW, DCUO, and Stepmania for me), I far prefer browns. I say get browns, and in a few months if you're still curious about blues, look for an affordable used board.

[British]

Honestly, the GCD will make riding an actuation point pretty useless.

QFT.

I've been using blacks a while back, and having sensitive muscles/fingers/whatnot, it took its toll.

I'm on browns since a few monthes, and it's much better for me.

Regarding blues, I've never tried them, but the browns are already too noisy for me (I do bottom-out).

[Lanx]

if you play wow or any mmo i would NOT recommend a clicky switch. Pretty sure if you play a mmo or most any online game your using voicechat/ventrillo. Clicky switches will resonate as your talking to your team mates. I know i used to press maybe 5 buttons a second or something, idk, but you'd make your whole team/guild hate you or they'd just mute/ignore you.

heck i personally use browns, but browns might even be too noise depending on your mic.

[bakageta]

Oh c'mon, everyone's had that tank that you can hear spamming keys every time they start talking...

[sadbox]

if you play wow or any mmo i would NOT recommend a clicky switch. Pretty sure if you play a mmo or most any online game your using voicechat/ventrillo. Clicky switches will resonate as your talking to your team mates. I know i used to press maybe 5 buttons a second or something, idk, but you'd make your whole team/guild hate you or they'd just mute/ignore you.

heck i personally use browns, but browns might even be too noise depending on your mic.

I don't really have that problem unless I'm using a desk mic. Nor do I have trouble typing and talking for my job =)

Honestly, If you like clicks you should get clicky keys. Bollocks to everyone else.

[Phaedrus2129]

If you use a lot of macros, try a Cherry MX8000 series board (G80-8200, G80-8113, etc.). This 8200 has more macro keys than I know what to do with. And they usually have MX browns.

[sadbox]

QFT.

I've been using blacks a while back, and having sensitive muscles/fingers/whatnot, it took its toll.

I'm on browns since a few monthes, and it's much better for me.

Regarding blues, I've never tried them, but the browns are already too noisy for me (I do bottom-out).

To be clear, outside of special defensive abilities in the game (all of which you can use at most once per minute) you can only use an ability once per second at the most. Riding the actuation point might matter some in FPS games and the like, but it is still pretty pointless in WoW.

[British]

Was that comment for me, or was it some out-of-context quoting ?

[whiteweazel21]

I did not play WoW for very long, not my taste, but I did play lots of mmorpgs. To me it would seem that more important than the type of switch, would be the macro functionality and extra keys to bind for based on my limited experience. If you have 30 spells, you want to be able to cast them on the fly rather than having to shift or alt to different skill bars.


I would suggest this:
http://www.roccat.org/Products/Gaming-Keyboards/ROCCAT-Valo/


While I never tried this keyboard, and it is rubber dome, it seems to be a perfect keyboard for a game that requires lots on macros. You can set macros to automatically say, press shift 4, press spell/skill #4, and then shift 1 back to your main skill bar. I don't know how well the keyboard macro system is, but you can always use third party application and make good use of the extra keys.

[British]

I guess I must be one of a kind, as I never saw the point in all those "macro" keyboards.
Regarding WoW, its macro system is good enough, and I also have multiple keybindings on most keys.
Also, if there's a need to issue some macro that is not doable within a game, there's always AHK.