Age of Conan Zboard Keyset: Gimmick or Gold?

[B. de la Durantaye]

Ideazon, makers of the Zboard gaming keyboard, sent us a Zboard and Age of Conan keyset to try out. We put the limited edition keyset to the test with a week of playing Age of Conan. Can this keyboard and keyset hold up to a MMOG players needs? Find out in our Age of Conan Zboard Keyset review.

[Kralle]

I prefer my G15 (old style with 18G caps and blue backlight) in combination with a Fang ...even if the Fang profiler software is buggy like a goldseller...it is easier and less of a strain on my hands.

Usability is first priority, if I look at the good/bad sides of a Zboard....the Zboard usability seems very inferior to my current setup...but overall good article.

[Bloodyconfused]

Surprisingly I actually won the second prize in that Z-board TTH contest so once mine arrives I will try it out and give my own opinion.

[Supernaut834]

Looks to me like i'd be spending my money on the ring really. I can see how it would be relatively useful for a beginner to MMOs but i'm perfectly happy to stick with my crappy and neat microsoft keyboard :P

[Blackmyst]

I was going to buy a keyboard...until I found out I shouldn't have bought the "game" .

[Suijin]

From what I read on their forums only the basic standard keyset works with vista 64 bit. Why I haven't installed it yet on my computer. I guess I'll just have to return it since it doesn't look like it ever will work and as you say it looks only relevant to a beginner to the game anyway.

[tormented]

I found it to be neither gimmick nor gold. Just a loss of money on my part. I too was excited, thinking I was going to get something other than a programmable keyboard with pictures. But that’s what I got, kind of. I paid the 20 bucks for the AOC board, only to find out I also needed the tray to put it in. No I didn’t see that it was not included, or that I couldn’t play the game without it. I had the keys to AOC for 20 and 14 in shipping charges.

I still wanted to try it so I sent for the $50 Zboard, and paid another 16 in shipping. I had some difficulty with the install but ultimately got it to work. I CRIED! Not only could I have done this with my own keyboard and key mapping, the keys are plastic and clacky.....

So $100 later I have put my keyboard back in place and have the AOC/Zboard, all back in the box and HOPE to recoup some of my money, because all of the time I spent on this is ...... gone!

Oh what a waste of my time this was …

Suzie

[raiderg]

With a little work you can program the zboard to do the key strings needed for the combos. That alone makes it worth it to me... especially once you are talking combos that have 5 follow up keys to exicute!

No More! just 1 key and watch the blood splatter fly!

You use the zboard 'engine' program to program the 4-0 keys to do the combos. just put the actual combos in the ALT+# slots, then in the 'engine' program edit the 4-0 slots to call up the right set of keystrokes, ALT+4,ALT+2 for example...

I love the thing even though you have to exit the game and update the key programing when you get a new or higher ranked combo.

I am considering redoing it by sacrificing my 'emote' keys to use them as the auto-combo keys just so I can have 12 set up instead of just 7.