Like many people, I was extremely bored with WoW and decided to come play this game instead. One of my chief problems was that WoW seemed to just make rotations more complex every expansion, as opposed to introducing interesting new mechanics. Many of the specs became an irritating logistical nightmare, and began to feel more like a flight simulator than a game. So, I came here hoping for something different...

...and it's worse. Every class I have played is insanely overburdened with a pile of abilities that are really purposeless except to introduce complexity for complexity's sake. For example, numerous classes have abilities that are just stronger versions of existing abilities except on a cooldown. That's not a fun or interesting mechanic. With the exception of the brilliant cover system, the majority of each class' core combat mechanics revolve around a series of flavor-less cooldowns and procs.

I've seen some people suggest a Rift-like macro system to solve this problem, but that seems like a lazy solution. A system that allows you to effectively ignore many of your abilities is awkward when you can simply solve the problem by getting rid of the offending abilities.

None of this is a complaint about difficulty. I don't think it's terribly difficult to keep track of all these cooldowns and procs... but that doesn't mean it's fun. Staring at my action bars isn't fun, but that's what I find myself doing the higher my level. I've got this beautiful game in front of me, and I'm staring at icons. Unfortunately, I don't know if I can justify continuing my subscription if this isn't fixed very soon, which is a shame, because I love everything else about this game.

i noticed this as well, i have to have many more keybindings than i ever have

im kinda indifferent about it though, it's annoying, but it does kinda separate the men from the boys

im definitely glaring at my cooldowns/ability bar a lot more than i have in any other game.

which is funny with how much this game tries to prize it's 'realistic combat', when no one even knows what's going on above the bottom 20% of their screen

Find 5-8 that you cannot live without and nix the rest from yer toolbar.

I agree with this post. As a level 28 Jedi shadow I already have like 30 abilities. It is so ridiculous. I had to go buy a Razer Naga mouse in a desperate attempt to avoid becoming a clicker. As I am not even 30 yet, I dread all of the abilities I have yet to learn.

At 30 you have about all of the abilities you will get. maybe 2-4 more tops. The rest will just be buying more powerful versions of what you have now.

GW2 will be out in 8 months more than likely. End of summer I would bet.

The devs at Arenanet are addressing this issue in GW2. Your toon has 10 abilities 5 of which are tied to weapons that you can switch in combat making the grand total 15 abilities. (the Elementalist will have 25 since they can switch to 4 attunments in combat

After getting into League of Legends this year really deep pvp can come about with as little as 6 spells.

I agree that these mmo's just try to fill up leveling space with new abilities.

I have 8 buttons on my mouse. I like all my targeted abilities to be mapped to my mouse buttons.

8's not enough to do that, so I agree.

It's only a few abilities, though.... like you said, the ones that duplicate existing abilities and are on a different cooldown timer.

But, whatever... it's a minor annoyance. No UI is going to be perfect for anyone unless we can each fully customize it for ourselves anyway.

*Blink* Wait... that's an odd complaint...

I think this game has a nice number of abilties, and all of them are different. Go play EQ2 and THEN come back here and complain, because this is nothing.

Am I the only one who likes having lots of abilities?

I really do. I'd be happy if they gave me more abilities, honestly. The most boring classes to me in WoW were the ones that required very few keybinds. I unsubscribed when they started dumbing down my warrior. For me, it's not the number of abilities, it's the action bars that get to me. I hate vertical bars. Give me 4 bars (maybe 5, for the companion) at the bottom center, let me scale them down a bit, and I'll be pretty happy. Happier, at least.

GW2 will be out in 8 months more than likely. End of summer I would bet.

 

The devs at Arenanet are addressing this issue in GW2. Your toon has 10 abilities 5 of which are tied to weapons that you can switch in combat making the grand total 15 abilities. (the Elementalist will have 25 since they can switch to 4 attunments in combat

 

After getting into League of Legends this year really deep pvp can come about with as little as 6 spells.

 

I agree that these mmo's just try to fill up leveling space with new abilities.

Actually it is utility.

They complain that the Sorc is OP. Most say because they can do too much. Healing, interupt, AoE, stun, snare, root, DoT, shield, run, KD... It is options. Compared to the Warrior with much less. They do not like the limited bar a warrior gets...

No one says you have to use them all. pick 5-8 and go with that. No one makes you use the option. It is just there if you want to.

Am I the only one who likes having lots of abilities?

 

I really do. I'd be happy if they gave me more abilities, honestly. The most boring classes to me in WoW were the ones that required very few keybinds. For me, it's not the number of abilities, it's the action bars that get to me. I hate vertical bars. Give me 4 (maybe 5, for the companion) bars at the bottom center, let me scale them down a bit, and I'll be pretty happy. Happier, at least.

I think it's a balancing act. For example, I always played a Demo Lock, which is an extremely hotkey intensive class, and I loved it. However, this is just ridiculously over the top, because it isn't just a lot of situational abilities; it's a lot of core abilities that are clearly built to be part of your regular combat.

Actually it is utility.

 

 

They complain that the Sorc is OP. Most say because they can do too much. Healing, interupt, AoE, stun, snare, root, DoT, shield, run, KD... It is options. Compared to the Warrior with much less. They do not like the limited bar a warrior gets...

 

No one says you have to use them all. pick 5-8 and go with that. No one makes you use the option. It is just there if you want to.

I don't think that's a realistic solution. In reality, if I do that, I may be personally having more fun to a certain extent, but I will easily be outperformed in the extreme by someone tunnelvisioning this bars.

Trust me, I've looked really hard at the abilities I have to figure out if any can go, and while I could certainly remove a few, this problem is AFTER I did that.

Use the shift key method.

Put 6 abilities on 1-6. Then put 6 abilities on Shift+1-6. Map the Shift key to a button on the mouse. You have just doubled your realestate on the keyboard. Go one more and use CNTRL+1-6, mapping the cntrl key to a second mouse button.

Now you have 18 keys all at the fingertips.

Use the shift key method.

 

 

Put 6 abilities on 1-6. Then put 6 abilities on Shift+1-6. Map the Shift key to a button on the mouse. You have just doubled your realestate on the keyboard. Go one more and use CNTRL+1-6, mapping the cntrl key to a second mouse button.

 

Now you have 18 keys all at the fingertips.

I already do that. My complaint isn't that I *can't* hit the buttons; it's that it isn't fun to keep track of this many abilities. In order to effectively use them all, I have to constantly stare at my bars due to the sheer number of cooldowns and procs.

Am I the only one who likes having lots of abilities?

The problem, in my opinion, is not so much the number of abilities, but that the clumsy UI makes it really hard to use them all effectively.

I totally forgot about macros, does this game allow you to create custom macros?

Most game pads and many gaming mice and keyboards have macro programs built in. If yer into this there is not much that they can do about it. Unless you are using macros to bot. Hell, even the TOR endorsed mouse comes with a macro program built straight into the hardware.

I already do that. My complaint isn't that I *can't* hit the buttons; it's that it isn't fun to keep track of this many abilities. In order to effectively use them all, I have to constantly stare at my bars due to the sheer number of cooldowns and procs.

Hmmm.. not much you can do about that aside from making it all vanilla and trading option for more rails.

Like many people, I was extremely bored with WoW and decided to come play this game instead. One of my chief problems was that WoW seemed to just make rotations more complex every expansion, as opposed to introducing interesting new mechanics. Many of the specs became an irritating logistical nightmare, and began to feel more like a flight simulator than a game. So, I came here hoping for something different...

 

...and it's worse. Every class I have played is insanely overburdened with a pile of abilities that are really purposeless except to introduce complexity for complexity's sake. For example, numerous classes have abilities that are just stronger versions of existing abilities except on a cooldown. That's not a fun or interesting mechanic. With the exception of the brilliant cover system, the majority of each class' core combat mechanics revolve around a series of flavor-less cooldowns and procs.

 

I've seen some people suggest a Rift-like macro system to solve this problem, but that seems like a lazy solution. A system that allows you to effectively ignore many of your abilities is awkward when you can simply solve the problem by getting rid of the offending abilities.

 

None of this is a complaint about difficulty. I don't think it's terribly difficult to keep track of all these cooldowns and procs... but that doesn't mean it's fun. Staring at my action bars isn't fun, but that's what I find myself doing the higher my level. I've got this beautiful game in front of me, and I'm staring at icons. Unfortunately, I don't know if I can justify continuing my subscription if this isn't fixed very soon, which is a shame, because I love everything else about this game.

I like hitting more than three buttons (which is what WoW is often about these days). I also enjoy hitting them more than once a fight.

Hmmm.. not much you can do about that aside from making it all vanilla and trading option for more rails.

This really doesn't have anything to do with the number of options or being on rails. THose are just totally different topics.

I think it's not only the number of abilities, but that there doesn't seem to always be enough distinction between them and so sometimes it's hard for a more casual player to figure out what one to use.

For example, my lvl 13 Trooper has 3 ranged AoE atacks (Mortar Volley, Hail of Bolts, Sticky Grenade), 1 close AoE attack (Pulse Cannon), a single target attack with an AoE splash (Explosive Round), and a ranged AoE hold (Cryo Grenade). Is it really necessary to have that many? Especially at level 13?

Now, a player who spends some time experimenting and doing research can tell you specifically when to use each one. Strong target surrounded by weak ones use this. Use this other one unless it's on cooldown, in which case use this different one. Etc. But still, it seems like a ton of bloat.