So I'm guessing a large number of TOR players have never played MMO's before, or have very little experience playing them, myself being one of them. After watching a couple of user-uploaded gameplay videos on YouTube, I've realised that my play style is pretty much mashing whichever ability cools down first, leading to an untold number of deaths because I use only the ones mapped from 1 to "=" on the keyboard :xp:

After talking to a couple of friends of mine who are dedicated WoW players, they recommended that I get a bunch of gaming hardware like they have so that I can map more abilities: mice, keyboards, gamepads, etc.

So my question to the experienced MMO-ers is: does having dedicated gaming hardware really make a big difference? If so, what sort of set up would you recommend to a noob like myself?

Unless you are planning on joining a hardcore raiding guild and taking up running Operations as a full-time job, I wouldn't bother. In any event, you'd be better off learning the optimum way to employ your skills. Fancy hardware by itself isn't going to make you play better.