[dev1123] - Can we have all 3 Action Bars showing up at once?

It'll definitely free the "up" and "down" keys for another use in the targeting system and relieve a lot of the targeting issues.

In one of the recent Letters or in the patch notes, it was said they are working on that.

I really don't want this unless they can make the bars smaller..I don't want this. There's enough crap cluttering up the screen as it is...we don't need more.

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Originally Posted by Dubont

I really don't want this unless they can make the bars smaller..I don't want this. There's enough crap cluttering up the screen as it is...we don't need more.

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That's why it would be optional. Some people may want to see all their bars at once. Some may not.

I, for one, would like the option to be able to display all three bars (or just one or just two), change the orientation (horizontal or vertical), and adjust the scale (make them larger or smaller).

Switching between action bars right now is awkward, and in the heat of battle it can cause disaster.

go back to menu style

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Originally Posted by Amage

go back to menu style

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I like this idea

If they go back to Menu Style , everything will be Macros as FFXI.... 3 Bars and freedom of customization its a must ^^

Suggestion about dev1123

Please, i want to see myself on party list!

I would like this a lot. I know in other games what I've liked to do is put my faster and more common skills on the main numbered bar, and then use the mouse to activate slower or less common ones. Being able to use keys and the mouse at once makes everything much more efficient for me.

Another suggestion I would like though is to add keyboard binding options for rotating the action bars. As it is, using the arrow keys is horribly clunky, because sometimes the action bar is active and sometimes it isn't. I have, on several occasions, let people die because I hit the arrow key to switch to the bar containing a healing spell but the action bar wasn't active so I switched targets instead. If I could set the rotation to, say, - and =, I would have no issues with this whatsoever.

Playing other MMO's I would like to have all 3 showing as well, I like it where I can see all so I can see the recast timers at once. I already know this will be optional where you can use it the way it is now + for those like us we can make it show all 3.

Wonder which key they planning to use to switch between bars, other games I played normally have CTRL++key or CTRL+-key or CTRL+(action/macro line#) maybe just up and down like we have now but changing focus?? I guess that works. Wonder if you can rotate the bars horizontal/vertical...

you know menu style could work as well if they wanted to whatever action/spell you chose just shows up in menu style in classic Final Fantasy RPG looks, might be something people want. (just saying)

I also hope they prioritize showing all actions at once. Changing between sets of 10 is too cumbersome.

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Originally Posted by Amage

go back to menu style

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IF ONLY ;_;

I wish :[

They are obviously going to, not only they said they are but the revamp of the action bar (visually show recast) points to it. Also there is mention of lessening dependence on the chat log, which is severely increased by having to rely on macros to make up for the missing action bar slots.

I hope we get completely free key mapping, actions on 1-0, F1-F12 and camera on arrows «YES PLEASE!»

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Originally Posted by kwestro

It'll definitely free the "up" and "down" keys for another use in the targeting system and relieve a lot of the targeting issues.

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I guess one long bar would make it so you don't have to go up or down....
But for controller or even keyboard people... wont that end up being more button presses and more time getting to each action?

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Originally Posted by Butterbur

I also hope they prioritize showing all actions at once. Changing between sets of 10 is too cumbersome.

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I don't know that cumbersome is the right word. At any point... there are always 4 actions that are one button press away from the action the cursor is on... Left, right, up and down...
One long action bar changes that... and in essence, increases the amount of time needed for everyone except people using a mouse

I'm all for "Option" of 3 action bars on your screen, its very cumbersome in its current state (playing keyboard/mouse setup). Would be easy to have it listed under configuration so you can switchout whatever you like, im capped on macro's (that are in my reach on the keys) and have started to overlap macro's that dont conflict each other due to your current class.

Would Really REALLY like to see the option of being able to "Mark" an add like you could in lev quests, while your in a say dungeon or any party for that matter, however setup differently as that system just required more and more macros to use efficiently. WoW had great "Marking" abilities and could hotkey the "Signs" to any Key...Hotkeys.. More Hotkey Options preeeaassee!! and Thank you =)

Yes~ Gimme dat! I would like to see all actions on screen

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Originally Posted by Amage

go back to menu style

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no thanks we are in 2011 not 1986 ok?
this is mmorpg and menu style is obsolet and slow

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Originally Posted by Raistlin

Suggestion about dev1123

Please, i want to see myself on party list!

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Yes please! I was just about to start a new thread about this, but will hold off for now since it was brought up here.

I seriously can't see anything wrong about this, but... I just find it useless.
I mean, what's the use? I'm imaging this as a clusterf*ck of interactive materials appearing at the bottom when you engage a monster. Like

|OOOOOOOOOO |OOOOOOOOOO |OOOOOOOOOO
\------------------ \----------------- \-----------------

or

|OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
\----------------------------------------------------

Ok, it frees Up and Down, but a keyboard+mouse user would go 0-9 in the binding, and then? Mouse clicking? Arrow sliding?
Since CTRL and ALT are used for Macros, it'll not be possible to go CTRL/ALT+#.

Nothing wrong with it. I just... can't see it.

make it customizable! everyone happy

I dont understand any of you.
I have no problem useing my arrow keys for ability choise.
w and s for forward back.
a and d for camera left and right.
and numpad 8 and 2 for camera up and down.
I use numpad del to take out weapon, numpad 3 to lock on, numpad 0 to change targets, and enter to use ability.

The keyboard is programable enough for you to make your own key config to your liking.

even if we had all 30 abilitys on screen at once, you would still be useing the arrow keys to find the ability u want to use.
unless your dependant on mouse.

I do not... i repeat.. do Not want to see all 30 actions on my screen... then i will feel overcumbered.
I dont want to be crowded with abilities on my screen.

Every player players differant, so the only solution is to make the UI customizable. Makes everyone happy.

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Originally Posted by LuciBlack

I dont understand any of you.
I have no problem useing my arrow keys for ability choise.
w and s for forward back.
a and d for camera left and right.
and numpad 8 and 2 for camera up and down.
I use numpad del to take out weapon, numpad 3 to lock on, numpad 0 to change targets, and enter to use ability.

The keyboard is programable enough for you to make your own key config to your liking.

even if we had all 30 abilitys on screen at once, you would still be useing the arrow keys to find the ability u want to use.
unless your dependant on mouse.

I do not... i repeat.. do Not want to see all 30 actions on my screen... then i will feel overcumbered.
I dont want to be crowded with abilities on my screen.

Every player players differant, so the only solution is to make the UI customizable. Makes everyone happy.

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You obviously don't understand because you use only the keyboard. You also wouldn't notice if you used just a gamepad. This is a keyboard+mouse issue.

When you play like this, your left hand is on the left side of the keyboard, and your right hand is on the mouse (assuming you're right-handed anyway). That means the arrow keys on the keyboard are out of the way of either hand - you have to move one or the other to change bars. Additionally, if you're clicking on action buttons instead of just using the number keys, you now have to do two things instead of one to activate an ability.

Moreover, because the arrow keys are used for more than one thing and there currently is no key binding option for changing action bars, anytime you click somewhere else (rotate the camera, change targets, click party names, use a menu) it takes the focus off the action bar and now your arrow keys don't switch action bars at all. Like I already posted, this means party members dying because their healer on keyboard+mouse couldn't get to the right bar when they needed to a lot of the time.

They want to make all input methods viable in this game (hence the update in 1.18a that will increase visibility for gamepad players and keyboard players who don't use the number shortcuts) and this is something that needs a couple adjustments for one of those three methods.

Obviously some people don't want to display all three (or more possibly in the future) action bars, but no one in this thread wants them to be on for everyone all the time. They just want the option to do so.

cant they make other optional ui for action bar? instead of 1 x 9 grid I'd like to have 3 x 3 grid and add these functionality:
- "~" key to switch bar on keyboard or other key
-auto run key on controller serve as change action bar also or other button

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Originally Posted by LuciBlack

I dont understand any of you.
I have no problem useing my arrow keys for ability choise.
w and s for forward back.
a and d for camera left and right.
and numpad 8 and 2 for camera up and down.
I use numpad del to take out weapon, numpad 3 to lock on, numpad 0 to change targets, and enter to use ability.

The keyboard is programable enough for you to make your own key config to your liking.

even if we had all 30 abilitys on screen at once, you would still be useing the arrow keys to find the ability u want to use.
unless your dependant on mouse.

I do not... i repeat.. do Not want to see all 30 actions on my screen... then i will feel overcumbered.
I dont want to be crowded with abilities on my screen.

Every player players differant, so the only solution is to make the UI customizable. Makes everyone happy.

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yes i agree. no two people play the same. however that is why most of us want these optional.
the ability to move , shrink, stretch add or subtract action bars or even none at all if that how you like it.
most mmo's nowdays have fully customizable ui. and some go as far as having to letting out side programers
make there own.

im not telling anyone how to play. everyone should be able to enjoy it how ever they like.
all im asking for is options.
i really do like what SE is trying to do. but its not quite there yet.

Please add an option to use Rift interface. Kthxbye.

If they removed the dumb action description and replaced the silly shaped action bar with a straight 10x2 or 12x2 bar it would take less screen space than it does now. You can't even drag the actions to the bottom of the screen at the moment because that would hide a portion of the stupid blue spike on the left side and OMG that would be terrible for gameplay!

I play at 1280x720/768 so my screen doesn't exactly have a massive amount of space, but I would totally go with displaying 2 bars. It would free up like half of my macro space.
As for displaying all 3 bars, I dont need that. Currently I just have gathering stuff and a couple macro skills on there that I don't activate alone.

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Originally Posted by Ilean

If they removed the dumb action description and replaced the silly shaped action bar with a straight 10x2 or 12x2 bar it would take less screen space than it does now. You can't even drag the actions to the bottom of the screen at the moment because that would hide a portion of the stupid blue spike on the left side and OMG that would be terrible for gameplay!

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Yes, Please! I don't need to read a big ol' description of the abilities that i'm using in the heat of battle -- abilities that i've used hundreds of times and know what they do. It would make lots of room for an optional 3x action bar. It would also be great to have optional sizes for the action bar.

On a side note, how about drag and drop ability setting? It's like a damn puzzle trying to move abilities around. I guess these are all part of the major issue of UI clunkyness.

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Originally Posted by Tsukino

You obviously don't understand because you use only the keyboard. You also wouldn't notice if you used just a gamepad. This is a keyboard+mouse issue.

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Exactly, and it's sooo annoying. I can barely click on that tiny arrow to scroll up and down. Why can't the mouse wheel scroll up and down as soon as the arrow floats over the ability bar? Displaying 3 rows at once sounds good, too, but it'll probably be too big.

Edit: Can I have a toggle of the ability description? I think I finally know what my abilities do. Moreover, I can barely see my PC behind that wall of text. I'm sure most Lalafells have the same problem.

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Originally Posted by Payadopa

Edit: Can I have a toggle of the ability description? I think I finally know what my abilities do. Moreover, I can barely see my PC behind that wall of text. I'm sure most Lalafells have the same problem.

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I mentioned this quickly before, but with the default widget layout when playing in 720p (which I'm guessing is what the PS3 version will display in) the pop-up text on abilities blocks where your target's HP and status effects are displayed. I would also like the ability to turn this off, or reduce it to displaying the ability name without the description.

I vote a yes for the option of displaying all 3 action bars, and for drag/dropping abilities, and for options for reducing ability descriptions and/or options for removing them.
I understand that SE has to keep in mind that people will be playing in 3 different ways, but you simply cannot be everything to everyone. You can't have everything you can do on a keyboard also available on a gamepad (without having to access a main menu option), and I think gamepad players realize this. SE should just give options where they can, and if they can't fit them on a gamepad, oh well, that's the trade-off.
And btw: I play on a gamepad.

Having the ability to customize your action bars just the way you want to will be incredible. I enjoyed the macro system on FFXI, but my game also ran very smoothly. Not to mention, I didn't know any other way to play. I have played other MMO's and have found ways that work better for me. Doesn't help that my computer doesn't run FFXIV as smoothly as I would like.

Since the devs haven't had the chance to respond to this yet, I'll do it for them lol


"Greetings kwestro!

Thank you for taking the time for this post. We would like to inform you that the concept of this feature has indeed been addressed, and will be implemented along with the 1.19 patch. Please look forward to this in the near future, and happy hunting in Eorzea!

Regards,
The Dev Team"

Not bad, huh? :P

How about just having the action bar on the screen at all times instead of popping up and down constantly, so annoying

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Originally Posted by Amage

go back to menu style

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^ This. Or as long as I can turn it off, main reason I hate generic MMOs -- I don't need 3-10 rows cluttering my view when I can simply open a menu or hit a macro.

Not sure how some people are having issues with room on there screen. Have you tried different resolutions from the ffxiv config file? I play @ 1920x1080 (Hmm might be 1920x1200?) and have loads of room on a 29" monitor, you should be able to get ample amount of room on a 22" or larger screen. Hope this was helpful to those of you with bunched up UI's.

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Originally Posted by Jennestia

^ This. Or as long as I can turn it off, main reason I hate generic MMOs

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lul as usual with the xi loonies

I don't want them to put all three bars on the screen at once until they fix the key bindings feature to let you bind/unbind anything you want. I am not a clicker, and my hands are too small to use modifier keys + 6-0.

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Originally Posted by Chain

How about just having the action bar on the screen at all times instead of popping up and down constantly, so annoying

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I think you can do this under the Menu config

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Originally Posted by Tsukino

...... I would like though is to add keyboard binding options for rotating the action bars. As it is, using the arrow keys is horribly clunky, because sometimes the action bar is active and sometimes it isn't. I have, on several occasions, let people die because I hit the arrow key to switch to the bar containing a healing spell but the action bar wasn't active so I switched targets instead. If I could set the rotation to, say, - and =, I would have no issues with this whatsoever.

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Nice idea.

Or

We have three bars display on the screen. We press

(1) to (0) to initiate actions in first bar

(-)(1) to (-)(0) to initiate actions in second bar

(=)(1) to (=)(0) to initiate actions in third bar

without the need to rotate at all.

EDIT:
Or simply leave it as it is - One bar but have it auto-rotate itself based on which action we press. For eg: pressing (-)(5) will trigger action no5 in second bar then auto-rotate to second bar.

Make the bars toggleable like our Chat windows, so that we would have option to display more than one bar if we choose to.