Active Skill Slots / Limitations

crescentdusk1

Hey all, sorry for asking this as I'm sure it's been spammed up from the games origins but as I haven't been around for all too long I'd just like to check for opinions.

(info piece, can be skipped for question below)
I started roughly... 2~ weeks ago and have been playing a crit build Cleric(GS 10.5k). I'm one of those players that really enjoys just playing my one character and doing everything with it. I absolutely love being able to save lives and potions but I often find that my fun factor substantially decreases when doing any of the actual challenging content.

Generic PvE is the only environment in which I can have 2 non healing skills on my bar be they CC/Dmg/Debuff I get freedom. The heals however in this game even with lots of power and crit are still fairly weak compared to the expected content. This causes me to typically have Astral Shield, Healing Word, and 1 other slot available for w/e I need at the time. Daily is limited to Hallowed Ground or w/e the temp hp one is at all times for dungeon running.

I don't mind that the healing is a bit of a tedious task but the fact that I can have next to no fun or additional contribution in runs is rather irritating. Due to this games lack of ability to stack heals as well, I find I have plenty of time to track people down and still end up waiting for something to do(As I'm used to faster paced "action" MMO games). (Auto attack is not a "fun" game play aspect)

(End of Info Piece)

(Question for all)

Do you feel that 3 Active skills is too hindering? Is 3 just right for you?
While I enjoy the reasonable simplicity for physical key memory, I think that 4~5 skill slots would be much more sufficient for having a little play diversity and increase the fun factor quite a bit. Being required to fill such a limited spot all the time is somewhat disheartening especially when it's for the more interesting content (I don't PvP). Isn't the primary purpose to have some fun in the game and not just fill a secondary demeaning job?



Edit:join date is wayyyy off sorry if it's disconcerting. I've been on PwE since.. the vanilla version of PWI and Cryptic's Champions Online.

halrloprillalar

3 might be too few, but I can see a trend with increasing number of skills into... your standard WoW type 50 action bar setup which, honestly, was a pain in the neck. Just learn when to use yours, get enough recovery, and don't waste cooldowns.

Having only 3 (considering the 'skill tree' which is quite modest, and not that diverse) really defines a certain play style, allowing you to counter and play around it. It's an 'action' game, after all.

crescentdusk1

Well I appreciate the response all the same ^^. And yea I do see that as an issue because typically adding like that just becomes a trend for solving problems.

The last "action" game I played had 10 original slots per bar but with free form projectile aiming like an fps. The 20 total was a bit much depending on how quick you needed to be but I still feel that a 4~5 lock on this one would really increase the fun value without becoming massively game breaking. Especially so for players in support roles. If the skills (cleric wise) were more like Champions, the healing skills would also do x dmg to enemies within the radius as well which would partially negate some of the feel of needing more active skill slots to contribute.

pers3phone

I preferred WoW's "50" (you would not use so many by far in any given fight) buttons. It was a bit of an art to bind all efficiently and my mage's DPS was pretty dependent on how good were my binds.

It won't fit on Neverwinter tho'. Imagine a 6 spell rotation from a CW: stun, debuff, stun, debuff, stun, debuff, Ice Knife.

Maybe another slot would be nice but the entire game balance would need reworking.

mconosrep

pers3phone wrote: »

I preferred WoW's "50" (you would not use so many by far in any given fight) buttons. It was a bit of an art to bind all efficiently and my mage's DPS was pretty dependent on how good were my binds.

It won't fit on Neverwinter tho'. Imagine a 6 spell rotation from a CW: stun, debuff, stun, debuff, stun, debuff, Ice Knife.

Maybe another slot would be nice but the entire game balance would need reworking.

Played DDO and on my Wizard I think I had 6 bars of 10 abilities and spells of which 24 were on hotkeys. Was very fun, but if I stopped playing for a few days (or played more than one character) it got really confusing.....

pers3phone

mconosrep wrote: »

Played DDO and on my Wizard I think I had 6 bars of 10 abilities and spells of which 24 were on hotkeys. Was very fun, but if I stopped playing for a few days (or played more than one character) it got really confusing.....

Well after you play a few months it's easy. This is not a question is the "more spells" system is better, I personally think it is, it makes up for more complex and strategic fights.

It's a question with NWO itself, because it would need a huge undertaking rebalancing everything even for a single additional spell.

lobo0084

I understand why those MMO's use so many options. But for NWO, one of it's differences which appeal the most to me is the simplicity. I'm a hardcore EvE Online player (which doesn't use skillbars at all), and have played MMO's since Ultima Online was PvP only. Skillbars have seen so many versions and renditions, and WoW brought about a genre standard that made a name for itself.

But NWO is different, and I like that. More skills, even to 4 or 5, isn't necessary in my opinion. Quick, fast, and in a hurry.

I *would* like to see the ability to rotate skill selection. No more active abilities than we currently have, but the ability to rotate the whole bar (all active powers and items, including mount and artifact layout) would be a great addition in my opinion. I often have different powers that have different situations (solo pve layout, dungeon add layout, dungeon boss tank layout, arena pvp layout, GG pvp layout, etc).

There would be cooldown limitations, of course, and you would still have to invest the points in that particular ability. But it would allow us to do what we can already do, and what many of us already do, just a tad bit quicker.

crescentdusk1

lobo0084 wrote: »

I understand why those MMO's use so many options. But for NWO, one of it's differences which appeal the most to me is the simplicity. I'm a hardcore EvE Online player (which doesn't use skillbars at all), and have played MMO's since Ultima Online was PvP only. Skillbars have seen so many versions and renditions, and WoW brought about a genre standard that made a name for itself.

But NWO is different, and I like that. More skills, even to 4 or 5, isn't necessary in my opinion. Quick, fast, and in a hurry.

I *would* like to see the ability to rotate skill selection. No more active abilities than we currently have, but the ability to rotate the whole bar (all active powers and items, including mount and artifact layout) would be a great addition in my opinion. I often have different powers that have different situations (solo pve layout, dungeon add layout, dungeon boss tank layout, arena pvp layout, GG pvp layout, etc).

There would be cooldown limitations, of course, and you would still have to invest the points in that particular ability. But it would allow us to do what we can already do, and what many of us already do, just a tad bit quicker.

The option to rotate with a cooldown off the side for a global bar change would also be quite nice, I could make do with that as well. I think you've got a really good idea on that one. I already open my char window and hot slot skills as we run the dungeons but it's certainly not the easiest thing to do. Being able to do a rotate for situation would be good and still impose the 3 active limitations.

lucidproph3cy

I would love preload change outs which would be awesome for quick switching which would then make all encounter go on cool down so you have to be careful when you do it, but anymore than three skills I think people's life expectancy in pvp will fall greatly. I also like the management of three because each encounter is vital and a timely dodge can mean everything and you can't be ready for everything.. But I am just imagining a tr with impact, itc, lashing, dazing stike or smoke, just going to town on a wizard have fun with that. Or a gwf with frontline, takedown, indom, restoring, roar have fun with that train. Or a healing dps cleric that can't be killed. Pvp is already imbalanced enough hate to see them add more encounters in to make it worse.

crescentdusk1

Yes unfortunately adding even 1 additional slot does cause for additional balancing as Persephone stated above.

The real sad part here is that unfortunately I'm entirely PvE ist so I always prefer to get enjoyment from what the meat of the game is for me. PvP will always take massive rebalancing from month to month because of complaints etc so it tends to slip my mind often unfortunately that PvP also takes a large hit.


Buuuutttttt.... I still stand by it that 3 feels just a tad few for PvE purposes and I find my self often waiting on all cooldowns burning auto attacks/astral seal in because the combat is just a bit shy of being really action-esque. It's more like Champions Online 2 now with new Neverwinter Mod for flavor.


Edit: and yes general consensus up to this post is now that instead of additional slots, there should be the opt to swap active skill load outs with a cooldown that blankets all skills regardless of whether or not they are changed out.

lucidproph3cy

I will have to agree with crescentdusk1. Adding some more skills for pve only would be nice especially for the unending trash fights and ad fests they like to make dungeons. If they locked the bar to three in pvp but added two to the bar for pve making a total of five I think that would give players more flexibility with skills as well as make some dungeons faster which would be a huge plus.