Combat Tactic Hotkeys

When I run my gunman pvp load I use 4 different hotbars; same for my upgrade master load; and 3 hot bars for my MA load. So would binding the combat tactics to a key help? yes! That might cut down the number of hotbars I use from 4 to uh umm 2!

I dont put buffs like kung fu grandmaster on my hotbar...nor evade combat. I do put hyper speed up there just because I like to have it turned off in IL. (alot of the time I dont even load hyper speed or hyper jump tho) I do not macro my buffs simply because that would take up another hotbar space.

On kind of a side note...I wish the number pad worked with the hot bar the same way the numbers accross the top of the key board do. I think that would make the whole game much more comfortable to play sort to speak.

• Type 1 responses are  those who ignore the spirit of the original post and respond with what we already know.  The whole point here is NOT to use key bindings 1-5, because they take up hotbar space.  If you can't understand that then this thread is not for you.

• Type 2 responses are those who are just happy to have more hotbar than we did in CR 1.  I kind of understand these responses, but they too miss the point.  The only reason we could get by with one hotbar in CR 1 was because of the relative simplicity of the system compared to CR 2.  CR 1 was filled with "win-buttons".  Every loadout had them, some more than others.  With the right clothes, every loadout was as simple as using 3-6 moves in succession, and cleaning up with a Power Shot to regain IS as your rinse and repeat.  CR 2 added a new level of tactical use to the abilities.  Now a well-built loadout must use as close as possible to all of it's abilities to be truly successful.  Finding room to have all of your various abilities (read: tactical options) available is the new problem.  We got an extra hotbar in CR 2 because it never would have worked with one.  They gave us 10 more spaces to work with, I just don't feel good about giving half of them up for something we never had to use hotbar space for before.

• Type 3 responses share their personal secrets for saving hotbar space.  These responses are wonderfully community-minded and probably help many others, but they don't satisfy me.  I know all of the tricks for saving space.  I use the most efficient techniques of only putting what I absolutely need in my hotbar, everything else, including tactic-switching, I do through the Action Panel.  I know it works - if it didn't, the game would be unplayable.  My point is simply that having the additional option of binding the tactics to keys would make the gameplay infinitely more enjoyable for me, and obviously I am not alone in that.  After all, we're all here to have fun, and if we can pinpoint something that will make x% of us happier without sacrificing anything for anyone else, I think it's a no-brainer that we should do it.

• Type 4 responses want bindable tactics and won't shut up until they get them.  That's me.  Who else is type 4?
  

Wendigo wrote:

I'm glad this thread was necro'd, but I still don't understand some of the responses I get on this issue.

• Type 1 responses are  those who ignore the spirit of the original post and respond with what we already know.  The whole point here is NOT to use key bindings 1-5, because they take up hotbar space.  If you can't understand that then this thread is not for you.

• Type 2 responses are those who are just happy to have more hotbar than we did in CR 1.  I kind of understand these responses, but they too miss the point.  The only reason we could get by with one hotbar in CR 1 was because of the relative simplicity of the system compared to CR 2.  CR 1 was filled with "win-buttons".  Every loadout had them, some more than others.  With the right clothes, every loadout was as simple as using 3-6 moves in succession, and cleaning up with a Power Shot to regain IS as your rinse and repeat.  CR 2 added a new level of tactical use to the abilities.  Now a well-built loadout must use as close as possible to all of it's abilities to be truly successful.  Finding room to have all of your various abilities (read: tactical options) available is the new problem.  We got an extra hotbar in CR 2 because it never would have worked with one.  They gave us 10 more spaces to work with, I just don't feel good about giving half of them up for something we never had to use hotbar space for before.

• Type 3 responses share their personal secrets for saving hotbar space.  These responses are wonderfully community-minded and probably help many others, but they don't satisfy me.  I know all of the tricks for saving space.  I use the most efficient techniques of only putting what I absolutely need in my hotbar, everything else, including tactic-switching, I do through the Action Panel.  I know it works - if it didn't, the game would be unplayable.  My point is simply that having the additional option of binding the tactics to keys would make the gameplay infinitely more enjoyable for me, and obviously I am not alone in that.  After all, we're all here to have fun, and if we can pinpoint something that will make x% of us happier without sacrificing anything for anyone else, I think it's a no-brainer that we should do it.

I hope you guys are happy now, you made me break out the bullet points.  For the sake of updating the rest of you, I didn't just twiddle my thumbs on this thing, I actually asked Rarebit about it, but his response was less than enthusiastic.  Find it here about halfway down.

I still want this, and the Devs have shown a pretty good track record of paying attention to what we want, so if you want it too, make some noise here, and maybe we'll get it in the next uber-hotfix.  Type 1, 2, and 3s:  I love you, but don't bother responding unless you want to lend support.

• Type 4 responses want bindable tactics and won't shut up until they get them.  That's me.  Who else is type 4?
  

To me this just says if you disagree with what I say don't post, which is not the point of a forum, Forums are to discuss the topic of the post. I have a right therefore to post what I want to say as long as it conforms to the standard guidelines and rules set by the administrators of the forums. Meaning if I want to disagree with your posts I will go ahead and disagree. I put my point up, if you can knock it down with a counter arguement, if possible I'll make that counter arguement Null. Thats the way it's supposed to happen, you have no right to say that this thread isn't for you, if you post a thread there is probably going to be people who disagree with what you say.

I'm sorry if you feel that I trampled on your forum rights, that was not my intention.  Naturally you can disagree with anything you want, but there is really nothing for you to disagree with here.  I made this thread to talk about a feature that I want to see in game, and see if others share that view.  If you don't want that feature, fine, but please stop trying to convince us that we don't want it.

Onto the actual discussion. Currently there is very few builds that actually require more than 10 hotbar spaces, Hacker builds usually need 2 hotbars, occasional Rifleman and sometimes a knifer build but other than that most builds do not, why? because most attacks are obsolete by the time you've gotten to a higher level. As it stands I find it much easier to just switch the top hotbar to the hotbar that I need when the eventuality arises which I can easily switch back to when I hit shift + 1.

I'm pleased that you are comfortable with the current control scheme and have found methods that work for you.  Other people however have expressed dissatisfaction, and this thread is merely for the purpose of finding out how many of those people there are.  Sharing with us what works for you is a nice gesture, but you need to remember that we all have different styles, and the technique that works wonders for you may be unthinkable to someone else.  You can't tell anyone how to play their game.

In the case of actually implementing them, states are actually abilities now. They operate under a different system to the old system, which is why the devs were not "Particularly excited" about doing because the base functionality was removed when CR2 was implemented. Translation for simpletons (or the less technically minded to be politically correct) is that it could be difficult, especially since they know so little about the system as it happens anyway. If it does get implemented I would prefer it if the keys were either set-able or if they can't, I'd want it set to the F keys since I don't want them to get in the way of my combat style.

It may take some time to figure out how to change this, I'm totally aware of that.  The whole reason I made this thread and the reason I've jumped back in it is to find out if enough other people feel the same way as I do to get the Devs to put in the time to make this change.  After Rarebit's response in the "Ask A Dev" thread, I let it go because the thread went quiet, and no one seemed to care anymore.  One day I turn around, and my post is back on top of the Development Roundtable.  The fact that this thread was resurrected independent of my influence shows me that this is an issue I am far from alone on, so I'm back to lead the charge.  I understand that it may not be the easiest or most exciting project the Devs have in front of them, but I want the people who care about this to stand up and be counted so that the Devs will see that this is indeed a worthy expenditure of their time.

The last sentence in your quoted paragraph above tells me that the heart of your resistance on this issue is that you are afraid that any change to the interface is going to "get in the way of [your] combat style".  As a fellow player, let me assure you that changing the current interface is not the goal at all, rather enhancing it with an added control option.  The focal word there being option:  I want the tactics to be hotkey bindable, meaning that you can assign them to keys if you like.  If not, things will be exactly the same as they are now.  No one wants to take away your style, so please stop playing devil's advocate in this thread.  You have every right in the world to post, but the way you are doing it now is simply not constructive towards the goals of this thread.

Tytanya_MxO wrote:

If there's some crippling reason why the arrow keys cant be used why not bind to Ctrl+arrow keys or shift or some other alternative, it seems a fairly basic issue and hotbar space is really too much of a premium to be wasting on the tactics.

Actually it isn't, as I stated before, the tactics are no longer "Tactics" Per say, they now operate under the abilities. To be able to assign keys for the tactics, it would require adding in the functionality of abilities connecting to hotkeys, something we don't have at the moment except for the hotbar yet, thats a completely different system.