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Reader Comments (36)

Posted: Dec 27th 2010 8:25AM warpax said

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I use alot of hotbars.I am a clicker.. I like to have similar skills/spells grouped together and spaces between groups.I also do not like hotbar paging and having to flip back and forth so I keep most bars onscreen. For healing character i find it much easier to either use macros or addons like Clique otherwise without these things i wouldnt even try to heal. Addons like Autobar are a real help too.

Posted: Dec 27th 2010 8:27AM Dumac said

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As much as i need. I like to have all my abilities there, even the ones i never use, and i like to organize them into groups (buffs/heals/pots/utilities etc), and i like to keep an empty space between groups, so i end up having a lot of hotbars and a lot of blank space in them, if the game allows for it.

I keybind five or six abilities that i use the most, and click the rest.

Posted: Dec 27th 2010 12:37PM Khalus said

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@Dumac

Too true, I usually have about a dozen or as many as said MMO will allow open on my screen in various places. Mostly along the bottom or sides of the screen, but I love having far too many slots so I can have spaces between different classes of spells or abilities and what not.

Bunching everything together in one large rectangular block is horrid to me...
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Posted: Dec 27th 2010 8:35AM SgtBaker1234556 said

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I love how hotbars are the pinnacle of MMO user interface design. We take it pretty much granted that "MMO" has "hotbars", no need to think new concepts.

Posted: Dec 27th 2010 9:08AM Aganazer said

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@SgtBaker1234556

You mean new concepts like the rotating cylinder in The Chronicles of Spellborn. That worked out real well for them. :) No new concept goes unpunished in this genre!
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Posted: Dec 27th 2010 9:24AM SgtBaker1234556 said

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@Aganazer

Exactly - hotbars is what we want!
Your game is doomed if if doesn't have hotbars!
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Posted: Dec 27th 2010 10:39AM Dianoga4 said

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@Aganazer I loved the combat system and rotating cylinder in The Chronicles of Spellborn. I think a lot of people are just scared of change or too lazy now to be bothered with learning a new system. Also everyone who played Spellborn knows it was company mis-management more than anything that killed that game. It's too bad, it was a fun game. I've read around that there is a chance that it might still come back someday but so far it doesn't look promising.
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Posted: Dec 27th 2010 9:01AM Syesta said

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2, and even that is pushing it for me.

I can't stand having vast numbers of actions on the screen at the same time. I'm still very much accustomed to an FFXI/FFXIV sort of minimalism.

Posted: Dec 27th 2010 9:34AM Valius said

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I use two lines of 12 keys, so in total 24 binded keys with two binded mouse buttons and my mouse is always used for movement.

Posted: Dec 27th 2010 9:51AM PaterFrog said

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I have a total of 6 bars onscreen in WoW, but they're nice and small and out of the way since I have 36 keybinds. I almost never need to click anything. The exception being pots or targeting. Makes for fast reactions.
For movement I have the ESDF keys and the periphery is completely covered by keybinds, with modifiers and what not...

Posted: Dec 27th 2010 9:58AM The Ogre said

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Needing too many hotbars has ruined games for me before, most recently EQ2 (needing 3 bars by level 10, even with the only gaps being one space each to separate the consumables and toggles from the active skills, made it unplayable for me).

Posted: Dec 28th 2010 10:53AM drakon said

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@The Ogre

I agree completely. I am a clicker and and such when you get to the point of needing 12 hotbars, you've lost me as a subscriber. I think that's why I have enjoyed the original GW so much recently.
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Posted: Dec 27th 2010 10:07AM Barinthos said

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Depending on which character I'm on I have about 3 total bars with actual buttons in them, but to make my UI as symmetrical as possible I have 6 bars, 3 on the left and 3 on the right of my mini-map which is in the bottom middle of my screen.

Most of the bars are empty...but again, it's for symmetry more than functionality. I should probably think about changing my UI around though.

Posted: Dec 27th 2010 10:23AM Spazzinouthard said

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3 bars usually takes care of all my essentials. Though I find myself using 4 a lot as a healer.

Posted: Dec 27th 2010 10:28AM Doba said

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None. I play Eve.

Posted: Dec 27th 2010 10:54AM Sunlover said

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There does seem to be a point where you can have too many skills/abilities and the game goes from being fun and deep, to a balancing mess, a sloppy stew of action management.

Posted: Dec 27th 2010 11:23AM Phantom Slave said

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I use 4 hotbars, 1 is hidden and had keybinds to my razer naga mouse for basic functions that I repeat a lot and aren't really used for combat. I also use macros extensively with CTRL, ALT and SHIFT modifiers to keep my UI clean while still giving me access to tons of abilities.

If it wasn't for my Naga I'd probably have 6 hotbars visible so I could click all the abilities I couldn't keybind.

Posted: Dec 27th 2010 11:26AM mysecretid said

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I prefer to have as few hotbars as possible, but with many slots available (optional) on the ones I do have.

I hate screen clutter, but I hate not being able to use my abilities quickly and easily as needed.

Some MMORPGs I've played have relatively short hotbars, expecting that you'll have 4-5 + of them open. Those kinds of games quickly become the kind of cluttered mess Sunlover mentioned above, and I find myself losing interest thereafter ...

Posted: Dec 27th 2010 11:30AM Jeromai said

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3-5 hotbars is usual for me. 3 or 4 hotbars at the bottom to take care of the main skills/spells, with room for alt, ctrl, and shift modifiers. Anything in the number 7-10 area are keys I don't want to reach, so I rebind them or put stuff that can be clicked at leisure (switching to a fishing rod, etc.)

One or two more hotbars along the side or top to put other powers - temp powers, quest powers, profession buttons, hearthstones, things that get clicked once every 15-30 mins that I don't want to rummage around looking for them.

Posted: Dec 27th 2010 11:50AM Ayonyx said

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None, I prefer to memorize cooldowns and reactive abilities due to how slow traditional mmorpg combat is.

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