To Add-on or Not to Add-on, is there even a question?

I’m a bit fired up about this topic so please excuse me if the tone is a bit rant-ish, I tried to keep it informative, maybe even inspirational. Thanks to Phaelia (My Hero) for helping me to solidify my arguments.

Last night I was running ZA (my favorite instance, NOT) and I started noticing that although there were three healers I was the only one casting heals on anyone besides the tanks, funny that doesn’t seem right. Druids aren’t exactly efficient raid healers. So nonchalantly and surprisingly friendly(for me) I ask the Paladin which add-ons he uses. “None, I don’t need them to heal.” WHAT!?!

“Really?” I say “I find that they help me quite a bit.” To which he replies “That’s cause you’re a N00b!” hmmm. At this point (third boss in ZA) in the raid I am doubling his healing done with 44% to his 22%, and doing it with less over-healing and less gear and I’m the noob. The Priest chimes in at this point to say that he doesn’t use any add-ons besides the guild required, Omen, and DBM. I’m befuddled. I’m out healing the Priest by 12% (he’s at 32% if you’re not good at math). Curious I check the Priest’s gear to see what he’s wearing to try to determine if he’s working to his potential or not and he’s in a mix of T5 and T6 and being out-healed by a Druid in T4 and welfare epics. So healing to his potential? No!

It’s sad to me that there are still people out there who WASTE their gear by not providing themselves with all the information that Blizzard has made available to them. They are at least as gimped as a raider who decides not to enchant, and sockets with green gems because they want to save money, Or who doesn’t use consumables because they don’t see a difference in their damage.

My New N52te

I just got a new N52te Speedpad I loved my old N52 Speedpad so much that when my puppy Scout chewed through the wires of my N52 I was afraid that without it I would not be able to play. I loved my N52 so much I that a gave several to my friends for Christmas. I would have happily bought another of the Original N52 Speedpads but alas they don’t make them anymore. So I had no choice but to upgrade.

The N52 and its successor the N52te are made by Belkin who partnered with Razer for this recent upgrade. The price tag for the speed pad is high at $69.99 MSRP, I think I paid $39.99 for the old one. While I don’t think the changes from the original justify that much of an increase it does offer some new features: back lit keys (pretty but not necessary), a thumb stick on the D-Pad (I find it clumsy and will probably remove it), and new software.

The software is where the N52te really stands out, where the previous software used two programs, an Editor and a Profile Manager, this one is integrated so there is no more saving a configuration then switching between programs to load the configuration while trying to configure your buttons.

The old N52 had four button states available: Regular, Red, Blue and Green where the new one has only three Blue, Red and Green. The programming for switching between modes was different with the original version as well. With the original the Red State Toggle, for example, was a literal on/off switch push it once for Red State, push again to turn Red State off. With the tournament edition the only way to turn Red State off is to turn Blue or Green State on.

Even with the handful of unnecessary changes and the increased price I am quite pleased with the Updated Version. The buttons are smoother and easier to press (especially the thumb trigger) and the improved software means that setting up new configurations is a snap.