Are keyboard macro keys useful?

[Durah]

Hey everyone,

I'm curious to see what people think about macro keys on keyboards. Do you have additional keys on your keyboard? Do you use them? If yes, for what?

 

I'm considering buying either Ducky Premier or Logitech G710+(or similar, possibly CM Storm Trigger). I know Ducky is probably higher quality but I don't really know how useful the macro keys would be.

I play some  MMOs for which they would be great but what else are they useful for? Which keyboard do you think I should get?
 

Thanks!

[ologiic]

I bought the g510 thinking it would be cool. I never use the macro keys to be honest. I do however use the buttons programmable on my mouse.

[SkilledRebuilds]

Corsair K50

Has 18 G-keys & 3 profiles to use.

I'm currently always using 3 G-keys at some point when Gaming.

 

Recording on - G15

Recording off - G18

MSI OSD Blocking hotkey - G16

 

Good for things like Dead Island..

Esp the bug for selling nails for boosted XP mission in the church.

Hit F, then Enter, Hit F, then Enter (macro that and watch it go flying so fast)

[Natiliox]

I've owned the G110 with macro's thinkin i would constantly use them. I configured them once used it for 2 weeks then never touched them again. Now i use a Corsair k70 that suits me much better.

[vlado88]

I have steelseries apex raw. Before getting the keyboard I though all the macro keys will be very useful for gaming, but I only used them once for a MMO that I don't play anymore. I don't even have the software installed anymore.

 

Guess that is very personal and depends what games are you playing, personally I'd get the ducky.

[Durah]

Thanks for the replies.

 

 

I have steelseries apex raw. Before getting the keyboard I though all the macro keys will be very useful for gaming, but I only used them once for a MMO that I don't play anymore. I don't even have the software installed anymore.

 

Guess that is very personal and depends what games are you playing, personally I'd get the ducky.

 

I play WoW but I'm not getting the keyboard solely for gaming - that would be stupid. I'm just interested to hear what kind of uses people have for the macro keys. That'd help me decide.

 

Somewhat off-topic: I'm upgrading most of my peripherals so I'm getting new headphones/headset and a mouse because my MX518 is close to 7 years old.  Do you think I'd be better off with a mouse that has additional macro keys and the Ducky?. Which mouses would you recommend(G600 seems quite good and not too pricey)?

Also, which headphones/headsets do you recommend(under 100$ or so)? Preferably headphones, I rarely use a mic and can get it separately if I happen to need one.

[ologiic]

Thanks for the replies.

 

 

 

I play WoW but I'm not getting the keyboard solely for gaming - that would be stupid. I'm just interested to hear what kind of uses people have for the macro keys. That'd help me decide.

 

Somewhat off-topic: I'm upgrading most of my peripherals so I'm getting new headphones/headset and a mouse because my MX518 is close to 7 years old.  Do you think I'd be better off with a mouse that has additional macro keys and the Ducky?. Which mouses would you recommend(G600 seems quite good and not too pricey)?

Also, which headphones/headsets do you recommend(under 100$ or so)? Preferably headphones, I rarely use a mic and can get it separately if I happen to need one.

I got the g602 mouse it's great. Think you can have macros with it I forget but you can program the keys.

[Charger]

I have never really used macros other then maybe 1 or 2 times. Even being able to fully edit every key on my keyboard I dont even do that

[olbaze]

I don't have any. I've had keyboards that had some, but I have never used them for anything. In fact, when I bought my current keyboard (SteelSeries 6Gv2), one of the criteria I set was "no macro keys".

 

For me personally, I find the placement of macro keys to be bad. If they're off to the left side of the keyboard, that means shifting my entire hand off the WASD cluster, which makes them slow and clunky to use. Placement above the F keys is even worse, as that often ends with pressing the f-keys instead.

 

And generally I don't like the idea of macro keys because getting used to using them means you're stuck with muscle memory that might not be met by more than that single model of keyboard. And with a mechanical gaming-branded keyboard, they are most likely going to end up out of production before you need  a new one, so once it does break you're out of luck.

[Durah]

Thanks for the answers, everyone.

 

I think I'm going to buy something without the macro keys. I've changed my mind about the Ducky, though, I'm not sure if I can justify spending that much on a keyboard. Possibly considering something cheaper(or should I buy the Ducky after all?).

[Octavialicious]

I'd say no, if you want macros I would get a MMO mouse. I only use two buttons on my G600 for gaming, the rest I use for other things
 

Thanks for the answers, everyone.

 

I think I'm going to buy something without the macro keys. I've changed my mind about the Ducky, though, I'm not sure if I can justify spending that much on a keyboard. Possibly considering something cheaper(or should I buy the Ducky after all?).

 

Cooler Master has great keyboards for the price, so unless you want fancy lighting effects they should be just fine

[iTzPrime]

I actually only need 2 of the macro keys. One to mute my microphone and one to mute my headphones in Teamspeak. I don't need them for anything else

[EmeraldFlame]

I play WoW but I'm not getting the keyboard solely for gaming - that would be stupid. I'm just interested to hear what kind of uses people have for the macro keys. That'd help me decide.

 

I have a Logitech keyboard with 12 macro keys, and I also use to play WoW really heavily in a 25M raid all through Cata as a warlock, and having the macro keys was honestly a life saver. I had a ton of things macro'd, at the time a Warlocks rotation was absolutely freaking nuts, plus there was soul burn that was an insta-cast with no cool down that would change the effect of some other spells. So I had a bunch of keys that were Soul Burn+Some other spell just to save myself a key press.

Since I stopped playing WoW, I barely if ever use them. I have 1 macro set up for minecraft servers that are running Essentials that I call my 'OH S***' key that teleports me (on servers that support it) to my house conveniently in a pool of water. Fall in lava, tap the key, and everything is still ok haha

[Durah]

Is there any software for fast macro recording? That's one feature I'd love to have even if I'm not going to get a keyboard without it.

 

Also, does anyone have Func KB-460? It's on sale and very cheap currently, 72 euros for one with Cherry MX Blues. That's only half of the price of Ducky Premier.

[XinwxHleak]

I have a Logitech G510 (3 profile, 18 G-Keys) and I use a lot of them.

 

Profile 1

G1-6 is some random stuff for some random games, and a double click button.

G7-12 for mouse functions, I've had my mouses mess up too many times to not be paranoid and have these. I can't have it control the movement, but Windows has a thing where you can make the numpad arrows move the cursor, so I activate that when I need to.

G13-18 for web browsing. In order, Ctrl+F5, (I actually don't use G14...), Ctrl+W, Ctrl+PgUp, Ctrl+PgDn, Ctrl+Shift+T.

 

Profile 2

G1-12 A bunch of text entering for when I was running a minecraft server and had to make a bunch of similar signs. Still useful whenever I play minecraft with my friends.

G16 autoclick left mouse button

G17 autoclick right mouse button

 

Profile 3

G1-12 Email usernames and @whatever.whatever to make logging in if Chrome doesn't remember or something and registering easier.
G13-18 media keys - next, prev, vol up, vol dn, play/pause, mute.

 

I use most of these often, so for myself, it is useful. Certainly an enabler for my laziness, and it's wonderful.