With a statement like the perfect gaming mouse for Guild Wars 2, the stakes immediately become higher than normal. But, it is a statement that I am proud to say and after a large amount of time researching the game, I can say with surety that anyone who uses it will be getting the most out of the game. And being a gamer, I found this particular mouse (after a bit of adjusting) has done nothing but improve my performance. And because of the layout of the mouse, I did not have to even rebind any of the keys on my key board. As such, Razer produced a mouse called the Naga which is by far the best mouse I have ever used.
Now, I do not own a high end gaming rig. What I do play my games on is a 2 year old Toshiba laptop that I adore. I also have a new Macbook Pro that I got for attending my school. I do have it in the works to get a high end gaming desktop, but until I have the funds to do so, it will have to wait. I also do not know everything there is about computers and do not profess to be a computer aficionado. So take that as you will. But from someone who is gearing up for competitive PvP in guild wars 2, any little bit helps.
Now, Guild Wars 2 has a very basic set up of of 10 skills, the first five skills are based on your weapon selection (or elemental attunement) and the second 5 are your healing skill, utility skills and elite skills. Outside of those 10 buttons on your UI, there are no other skills available to you characters. You control your character’s movements using the mouse and your typical WASD controls and then there are a few other buttons available to you like your evade buttons and the other various UI buttons to control things like quest logs, character sheets, traits and so on. The last bit is that there are the f1-f4 buttons that are linked to weapon changes, attunement swaps and other trigger abilities (so don’t hold alt when swapping weapons).
The first bit I look for in a mouse is if it is corded. In the world where wireless is taking over, cordless key boards and mice are becoming more and more rare. There is a good reason for this, why deal with cords and cables when you can avoid them all together? I know as an Audio Engineer that if I could do my job without cables, I would. But there is currently no way to do it, despite there actually being some resources that are completely wireless. The problem with wireless gear is that it fails. One random incident or a slight problem with the circuitry on the receiver can break the connection and cause lapses between the device and what you are using it with. That singular problem has been the defining factor to why I always end up replacing the mice with another one. It actually got to a point where I stopped using mice all together and focused on the trackpad on my lap top (and nobody should ever get good with a trackpad).
The thing about cords is the only problems they have is when the cord itself is damaged. So, owners of cats might stop using them all together, but for someone who understands that cats are the pure reincarnation of satan, I know better than to own one. A trackpad will never fail you unless the computer becomes damaged; a corded mouse will never fail you unless the cord becomes damaged; a wireless mouse can fail you for a number of reasons, be it battery issue, a problem with the integrity of the receiver, cell phone signals, microwave signals, and the list goes on. Just like in pro audio, in pro gaming, any reason to fail is a reason to not use a particular piece of gear. By avoiding the potential cause of failures, pro engineers and pro gamers significantly lower their risk of losing signal or losing a match. Because of this reason, I choose to avoid wireless mice like a plague. All they have done for me is fail me when I needed them. During my Burning Crusade days, I was using a Logitec wireless mouse. And while I did really like that mouse (it fit my hand very well), the fact that it would occasionally drop signal caused me to lose arena matches. Logitec always provides high quality goods, so I have no question about their corded gear. But with a possible chance of failure caused me to change the way I approach searching for a new mouse.
The Razer Naga is a corded mouse. This is just the first qualification for why this mouse is possibly the best gaming mouse of all time. But being a corded mouse is far from the only reason. Gaming mice are always corded because they are preferred. But what makes the Naga a great mouse is the features it comes with. Razer is a brand that makes very high quality gaming equipment. My first encounter with the Naga was at a friends house who was using it. The first thing that caught my eye was the number pad on the side. My initial thinking was this is a coolest mouse ever, and with a number pad on the side, and the most useful mouse. It is very common these days for mice to come with extra buttons. But the Naga has a full 1-12 number pad on the side. So if I had not said it enough, there is a full number pad on the side! So with a full blown number pad on the side, the Razer Naga is by far one of the most efficient mouses out there. By having those buttons available right at the touch of your thumb, you can quickly react faster and reduce the amount of time you spend with your directional hand keying in different commands. With this mouse, I don’t have to rely on using the number keys on my keyboard, thus allowing me to key turn to my hearts content.
Now, the mouse does take some getting used too. When I first started to use the mouse, my thumb wanted to click with my other two fingers set on right and left click. This is probably because I developed the unfortunate habit of grasping my mice with an iron fist in hopes that it doesn’t run away. But after a couple of days retraining myself to have an independent thumb, the mouse works fluidly and my overall performance has improved greatly. Training the thumb to act independently was a tad bit painful as I tried to greatest to will it to work, but all of a couple of days is what it took for it to get comfortable. In RIFT, I have two sections, 1-9 and shift 1-9, that my abilities are bound too. So the only things in which I have to do is hold a shift key to use my abilities and find the right key (which at this point is all memory).
With Guild Wars 2 only having 10 buttons on the action bar, the Naga is a perfect fit. Each of the buttons is toggled via 1-10 on the key board and since the number pad goes up to 12, you have 2 more buttons available on the mouse for whatever you please. By not having to press the numbers on your keyboard to access your abilities, your movement hand can now focus on more important tasks like toggling between weapons and evading attacks. By freeing up so much on your movement hand, you can now speed up your performance by moving most of the tasks from the movement hand to your mouse hand. There might even be a possibility of switching your utility, elite and healing skills with some kind of modifier key to even further allowing you to switch between all of your skills on the fly and becoming even more unpredictable, giving you that much more of a competitive edge. However, without any further knowledge of this, the ability to switch skills using a modifier key is purely speculation. But having that option would be immensely amazing.
So, in conclusion, a number pad on the side to free up use on your movement hand, corded so you don’t have to worry about connection drop outs and being a purely smooth mouse with better optical resolution. The Razer Naga is truly an outstanding specimen of true gaming technology. Best part is if you can afford the $80 to buy one, its yours! In all actuality, it is a tad bit of a steep price for a mouse, but with how well set up it is, the price is totally worth it in the long run. Below are two links that I found, you can actually get the special edition one from best buy for $70 rather than the $80. Once having that mouse though, I could never go back to any other mouse. For me, it is the perfect fit, and for Guild Wars 2, it is also the perfect mouse. So if you are looking at getting a new mouse, this is recommendation.
The Feral Engineer 
I was thinking of buying one for GW2 also, nice to hear some reassurance. Have to agree about the wireless, quality wise wired is still to go.
Yes! I’ve been eyeing this mouse for Guild Wars 2 as well, and now I’m totally getting it. I haven’t had a corded mouse in years, so I’m hoping I’ll get used to it after a while.
It really is a great mouse. I noticed that once I started using it, I stopped key board turning. I think I also failed to mention that there are two additional buttons by the left mouse click. No joke, my set up is 11-12 those two buttons for my f1-f4 keys and then 1-10 as my bar skills. No need to randomly bind anything else for me.
Imagine the POSSIBILITIES for Guild Wars 2 with that mouse. OMG. It’s going to be so great!
Last year I bought Razer naga just for this game. 4 month ago I had to replace my Naga because it’s somewhat broken or rather having some issues. Right now my replaced naga is nearly broken again due to my hardcore gaming with Battlefield 3 and some RTS such as HON. Good thing is that GW2 beta is coming next month ( March 2012). If Naga breaks again….. nah, I’ll buy another one I wont give up on the game I’ve been waiting for 5 years.