#Azeron keypad update#
The G13 itself is a device stuck in its time of 2009, with nary an update over its 11 year production run save for packaging branding from Logitech.
#Azeron keypad full#
The Nostromo from Razer had less, and both the Naga and the G600 had buttons too small for someone with my thumb size – I could use them well enough (the G600 better than the Naga due to the ridges on the buttons making them easily distinguishable without looking) but they meant either committing to full mouse movement and a weird mouse grip that doesn’t work for me (I tend to be a mouse-palmer) or using my keyboard for some movement in an uncomfortable long-term formation.
The G13 was the winner in 2009 for me because it has 24 main buttons in a simple arrangement, neatly complimenting two full action bars worth of hotkeys in most MMO UIs. Any good MMO gamepad puts 1-2 hotbars worth of buttons in easy reach, makes strafing easier, and enables me to simply settle in, rest my arm, and enjoy my MMOs for as long as I’d like. Why do I like the MMO gamepad concept so much? Well, simply put, it’s this – I have all the telltale symptoms of carpal tunnel onset in my left wrist, such that using a keyboard for gaming in the claw-shape that takes often isn’t something I can do for the amount of time I enjoy playing MMO’s for.
Friends have received most of my old ones, as they all still work albeit with small issues – sticking joysticks (later production runs seem to have a bit of extra friction on a side of the joystick) have been pretty common and even with full disassembly and maintenance, they always eventually start sticking again. I’ve owned 4 of them over the years, most recently buying one in summer 2018 when I built the foundation of my current PC. Moreso than any other PC control investment I’ve made – using Xbox controllers wirelessly, mechanical keyboards, gaming mice – the G13 was my favorite, most-recommended piece of hardware. Logitech made the G13 for nearly 11 years, and from sometime near its 2009 launch until two weeks ago, it was my MMO accessory of choice. Sure, I imagine there are more overall MMO players spread thinner across more games now, but the market for MMO peripherals has never really bounced back.
The problem ended up being that a lot of these devices came out at the apex of the WoW craze, in mid-to-late Wrath of the Lich King, and they were a growth market…for about two years. There were then MMO gaming mice – the Razer Naga and the Logitech G600, both of which I tried, and I owned two G600’s at one point in 2012/2013. Those hopes were high in 2009 when Logitech released the first G13s to retail, alongside the old Razer Nostromo, which was from a different company that Razer either bought or bought the rights to, I believe. MMO controllers seemed like they could be the next big growth market in PC peripherals.