Combo Consolidation: How long before we see it in PVE?

[Ferth]

waste of development time better spent elsewhere. they either do it or they don't.

That also seems like a strawman argument. They spent a lot of time implementing these new job specific UI elements and those seem to be optional, too.

[Nyarlha]

During the livestream, in the middle of showing off the combos for PVP (around 1:03:20) Yoshida says some things about PVE which sounded like pretty ambiguous.

I can only hope they include it.

[kikix12]

1) Either they do it or not is ridiculous argument. Doing it optional will cater to both kind of players, while doing it one way or another will cater to one or the other. And the difference between optional and mandatory is hardly anything as far as developer costs go.
2) Removing path separation is oversimplifying things...and for no reason at all. There is little issue with there being a button for "secondary option" that will change to the second path of whatever was the skill you used. At that point, neither the length of the chains nor the amount of divergence points would matter, just that at every point there is only option A and option B. This way, there is zero need to redevelop and balance skills (which, unlike UI elements like this, WOULD take a lot of time and effort), while the end result is the same...Minimum buttons for the same level of complexity.

[Zigabar]

I like it. I hope we do see it in PVE eventually.

[LaylaTsarra]

I would love to see it. I think it would make playing with a controller that much more rewarding. I personally feel PC players have an edge over those who use controllers given the way they access they hotbar actions.

[AlphaDragoon]

The problem with PvE is they have combos that have different enders so combo consolidation wouldn't work so well. Allthough it would be a nice feature especially if you play with a controller.

In the video, didn't it show multiple "combo" buttons for different strings? For example on a NIN, you have one button for the Spinning Edge > Gust Slash > Dancing Edge combo, then one for the Spinning Edge > Shadow Fang, and so on. That would already open up two free spots as NIN basic combos are six total skills, making them combo buttons even separated like that would make it only four.

Spinning > Gust > Dancing
Spinning > Gust > Aeolian
Spinning > Gust > Armor
Spinning > Shadow

That's not even counting if they were to add a single separate button press to change the combo mid string (like in Aion). You could cut the whole thing down then to one slot for combos. I would definitely like to see this added for PvE.

[Nyarlha]

It's not even that complicated. In the PVP UI you see the combo and the associated skill, so they'd just need to add the possibility to customize the combo buttons.
Say you customize Combo 1 as Skill 1 Skill 2 Skill 3, and Combo 2 as Skill 2 Skill 4 Skill 5.
Let's say you cast skill 1, you have both Combo 1 and Combo 2 highlighted, and you can split into one or the other.
Tada, one button for each combo while keeping the choice and reactivity.

[Ashiee]

Now that they have shown they are able to set it up in PVP, I would love for it to be added in PVE as long as you can do some customization to it.

Controller probs - button bloat is a thing. ATM, I have it set so 24 action are easily accessible at all times. an additional 16 can be accessed fairly easily by hitting r1, but honestly I don't like to tab over ever because it just feels clunky and it makes gameplay less fun. Giving people the option to do some type of combo consolidation would really help with this. On Dragoon I could use it to consolidate True Vorpal and Full Thrust in one button, Impulse Disembowel and Chaos on another, that frees up 4 slots... and 4 slots is huge. I have Elusive Jump, Second Wind, Keen Flurry and Blood Bath on the second tab of 16, and honestly I don’t use them nearly as much as I should or like to just simply because it’s clunky and it breaks my flow having to tab over to it. Combo Consolidation would give more options at least. I don’t know exactly how many buttons there will be for 4.0, but it’s always something that is in the back of my mind.

I would love for this to be added as an option for PVE in the game, but at the same time I would want it to be customizable. Because of how Wheeling Thrust/ Fang and Claw work, I would like those abilities to be separate buttons. Some people I bet, would want to put it as part of their Combo Consolidation with The Full Thrust combo and the Chaos Thrust Combo. I’m sure other people would have other ideas on how to chain their combo abilities.

[SendohJin]

That also seems like a strawman argument. They spent a lot of time implementing these new job specific UI elements and those seem to be optional, too.

actually you are right. i hadn't considered how easy or trivial it would be to not use it if they made it.

[Coldbrand]

They should make it so the game is a video you just watch instead.