Why haven't these problems been addressed sooner? We heard very early on with Yoshi-P's first few roadmaps they would be revamping the action bar, UI, and class-change menus with the hope the core functionality would be brought up to speed with superior implementations in just about any MMO or even single player RPG. Now two major patches released or roadmapped and still nothing about this? Very disappointed.
To recap the main gripes I have with current implementation, and echoed by just about everyone I've spoken to or read comments from on the topic of UI/action bar:
1) Actions & Traits menu settings do not save or remember history when changing classes. This means users are constantly fumbling with a very slow and clunky UI when performing very simple core aspects of the game like switching classes. This is particularly frustrating when you swap from a higher class to a lower class, then back to the higher class as actions and traits will be bumped from your bars and you once again have to fumble around to try and remember what was switched. Macros help this situation somewhat, but I currently use 3 out of 5 macro pallettes solely for swapping out actions. This could all be solved by simply allowing users to save and set "Presets" or "Profiles" for action bar and traits settings on a per-class basis. Population of actions and traits should be instantaneous, not the current slow/clunky implementation.
2) Drag and Drop UI/Action bar. Action Bar and Abilitys should be accessible without having to interface the Main Menu overlay so that you can drag and drop or even click and cycle through abilities directly in the main UI. For example, if you could bring up actions with a single button like the new Config menu, then allow Abilities to be directly selectable with the Action Bar, this would cut out the need for having to bother with the Action/Traits Menu for changing abilities on the action bar.
3) Visibility of multiple Action Bars #1-3. Even if the other action bars aren't directly selectable when not in focus, displaying them in some kind of graphical representation allows users to keep track of vital recast timers. Implementation could be like a 3D wheel where the two non-focused bars are de-emphasized in the background.
4) Macro speed for changing gear and abilities/traits. This is still unacceptably slow, yet still no comment about this ever. Very discouraging.
Every time I see SE wasting time with non-essential changes and fixes like hiding main hand weapons/tools???? and /targetmode ABCDEFGH, but neglecting core issues like the ones above, it really makes me wonder where they are placing their priorities.
Stop breaking core functionality that people actually enjoy, fixing things no one care about, and please start addressing the main problems that have been around since Day 1. Thanks.