I used a joystick as well. The big advantage is I could control all 6DOF simultaneously without moving my fingers. Players who couldn't do that were definitely at a disadvantage when things got really chaotic as the automatic roll feature didn't work particularly well. You could do a 6D circle strafe vs them and tuck into a blind spot where they couldn't get back on aim to you without adjusting roll with a little pause/hitch in their movement.

I used the hat to switch weapons and such.

My friend used roughly the same idea with a trackball, which was probably even better.