Noob mouse question

How do I eliminate pixel skipping? Is there a way to go about figuring out the best DPI and sensitivity settings?

 

Pixel skipping occurs when you use too low of a DPI for a given sensitivity. As long as you have at least the minimum useful DPI for your preferred sensitivity, you'll be fine.

About how many inches (or centimeters) do you move your mouse to rotate 360 degrees in-game? If you give me that information, I can tell you what sort of DPI you'll need to have one-to-one pixel tracking without skipping. Higher sensitivity (i.e. fewer in/cm per 360 degree rotation) will require more DPI than lower sensitivity.

Of course, if you do have the right DPI, then you may also have skipping because of a poor mouse surface or dirty sensor.

 

Makes sure that in Windows the sensitivity is set right in the middle and that acceleration is disabled. After that, crank the in game sensitivity down all the way and adjust your DPI to get the kind of sensitivity you want in the game.

 

Part of the problem is the surface that I'm using right now (I play most of my games sitting in a leather armchair using the armrest for my mouse), but I'm planning on setting up my desk with a nice mousepad.

I'm really lazy when it comes to optimal gaming arrangements (I played WoW for years clicking with a touchpad, went through 3 palmrest assemblies on my M1530 due to worn touchpad button springs).

 

Well there's your problem...you're not going to get good tracking on a leather armrest with any mouse.

Get a good mousepad like a SteelSeries QcK or Razer Goliathus, and lay it out on a nice flat desk. If you don't use a desk, get a hard metal or plastic mousepad; it'll give you a consistent flat surface anywhere you use it.