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Zboard: Guild Wars Factions Limited Edition |
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Written by FrostByghte
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ZBoard Guild Wars
Factions Limited Edition
What kind of gamer are you? Are you a hardcore
power leveling freak of nature that dominates all in your path, or are
you a casual gamer that kicks back and likes to grab an hour or two
here and there? Strangely enough, if your answer is yes to
either
of these have I got a deal for you. It's time to
improve your game play, make things easier, and live the rich life and
the product that will help you accomplish this is ZBoard "The Ultimate
Gaming Keyboard" from Ideazon.
Specifically for our review the Guildwars
Factions Limited Edition board and keyset.
My
first impression of this keyboard was a good one.
Upon
opening up the package you will be presented
with the base , the normal keyset, and the FPS keyset.
The
Limited Edition Keyset will be separately packaged. Right
from
the start I thought the feel of the keyboard was good. With
the
standard keyset in place, the entire keyboard has a very good quality
feel to it. Looking the keyboard over you will notice several
keys on the top of the board, 9 of which are programmable..
On
back of the board there are two USB ports so that you can plug in
additional devices.
Installation is very easy, simply insert
the install
CD and follow the instructions. The only pain involved with
the
installation process is a spontaneous restart that allows no
intervention. Once the finish button is clicked your system
is
going to restart no matter what. I tested this on two
separate
WinXP systems with the same result. Also after restart, the
Quick
Start Guide will fire up and ONLY the guide will start. You
will
be stuck looking at the guide and the rest of the desktop
will
not load until you close the Quick Start Guide. Obviously
this is
just a one time occurrence, but I found the automatic restart
completely
annoying and the Quick Start Guides behavior a bit bothersome as well.
Both minor issues though. When the software is finally loaded
the
Zboard icon
will show in the toolbar and it will attempt connection to the
Internet. I assume the initial connection is to check on
updates.
Once the board is plugged
in the recognition is instant. The software will
then popup and show you the Keyset
Setup
screen. Here you may update your keyset from the net, look at
some
nice tips and yet again access the 'Quick Start Guide'. All
in
all the software is very straightforward and easy to use. The
primary settings can be found by right clicking on the Zboard Traytool
and accessing the Settings selection. This will give you
access
to the programmable keys and keyset configuration. Everything
you
need can be found quickly and easily. Really the only thing I
was
disappointed by was the fact that only 9 keys total are programmable,
but with the added keysets this might not be a big issue.
The Zboard changes in a
snap. One second it is
a standard keyboard, the next it is a custom FPS board, and then BOOM
it becomes your built in quick reference for everything Guild Wars.
I swapped out the keysets many many times, the only issue I
ran
into when switching between keysets was that occasionally the rubber
stoppers that the keys push against would become stuck. This
was
mainly from me handling the board with no keyset attached, and it will
not pose a problem if you simply move from one keyset to another.
The keys feel GOOD. I really
like the feel of the
keyboard and typing on it is a real pleasure. The keys feel
firm
with some spring to them and there is an audible sound as you
type. I guess you
could equate typing on this board to running with a good pair
of
tennis shoes vs some old worn out ones you have laying around. The main
issue I had with typing on the keyboard is the space bar. The
space bar is actually in two parts because of a hinge that is
positioned
there. This did not take too long to get used to though and I
found myself flying through my typing and actually wanting to type
more just because I enjoy the feel. Those of you are good
typist
and spend a lot of time on the PC will appreciate the feel of the board.
The standard keyset is just
that, a standard
keyboard layout that you will find on most any board you purchase.
You still have access to the top buttons, but I found I did
not
use them that often. The only thing that did not strike me as
quality about the keyset are the stickers that rest between
the
top number row and the function keys. These look cheap and I
thought they took away from the quality of the keyset.
SNAP roughly 2 seconds later I'm flying
through BF2
with the FPS keyset. The one that comes with the Zboard is
basically a generic everything keyboard that can suit a wide range of
FPS titles, and other games. The primary controls rest to the
left of
the keyboard as you can see from the shots. The keys take
over
the standard QWEASD control setup. The keys are rounded and
some
are oversized so that they are easier to hit in the middle of action.
The main thing I did not like about the FPS set is the layout
of
the standard keys. I found I couldn't type one legible line
of
text in game and I quickly reverted to a standard setup.
Perhaps
with practice I would work with this, but it was not that enjoyable to
use so I put it down.
SNAP now the meat of this
package is the Guild Wars
Factions keyset. I can already tell you, if you are new to GW
this keyset is a MUST. For the new user you have everything
accessible. The Factions keyset is like a Rosetta Stone for
Guild Wars. You can quickly pull up much needed information
without looking at a quick reference guide. This keyset also
keeps a standard keyboard feel and all you really end up sacrificing is
the number pad. It is very easy to type on and communicate in
game, you can rip through your inventory, bring up party information,
character information, friends list and more. Where the
number
pad is generally located you can find some great controls for
targeting.and that is what I found the most useful. You can
move
between targets seamlessly, as well as call targets. You can
also
find some direction keys here, but I'm a stickler for the QWE ASD setup
so I didn't find that a lot of use. Every key is labeled and
easy
to see what it does, the top function keys serve a dual function and
you can use these to access your weapon sets quickly or hit the EMOTES
button and turn yourself into a laughing, dancing socialite.
For
old hands and long term gamers it does take some getting used to, and I
did not like the FPS set much but I really did not focus on
trying
to
use it.
If you have problems changing controls or adapting to new
configurations, this might not be for you. The redeeming
quality
is the feel of the board and if you are specifically interested in the
Guild Wars Factions keyset there is not as much change to get familiar
with. You would be hard pressed to find a better
feeling keyboard for this price and with this type of
expandability. With the ability
to switch out keysets and purchase sets for other games as well as
business products likes MS Office, it really makes this
keyboard a
good buy and a welcome edition to any
gamer. For new
players the choice is even more simple. It both reduces the
learning curve of the games controls considerably and adds long term
benefit as you became more familiar over time.
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