One thing I noticed with my Filcos is that the keys I use the most WASD, QE, 12345, etc... don't get shiny like the other ones. Maybe it's the way we hit the keys that cause it to wear faster. Like the bottom row on my boards start to shine more that the other because I slide my fingers down on top of the caps as I type. Where 1,2,3,4, etc don't wear as fast because when I'm playing WoW and doing my rotations I'm pressing straight down and not sliding my fingers.