Too many abilities for Combat

[bdatt]

I think there is a perfect number of abilities and it's pretty balanced across the damage disciplines I've played (I haven't played all of them). I'm able to use the same keybind strategy for all I've played:

 

1) auto attack

2-7,9) core rotation

8) primary AOE (unique from those in core rotation)

10) movement (force speed, leap, roll etc.)

11) DCD

12) DCD

Q) Interrupt

E) OCD

R) Adrenal

T) Threat drop

G) Utility (DCD, OCD)

H) Med pack

Shift Q) CC break

Shift E) Hard stun

Shift R) Energy/force regen

Shift T) Utility (off taunt for example)

Shift G) DCD (lowest priority DCD)

Shift H) Utility (sometimes DCD, energy management, etc.)

 

There are other abilities that are very situational in group content PVE and I think this is a good thing. And some disciplines like infiltration shadow have multiple keybinds where there is no ability. Like soft stuns, non-rotational damage abilities, backup AOE abilities, guard... that I put as shift+1-12 but that bar is never filled even halfway and is ignored most of the time.

 

Edit: after writing this I can see if a new player auto-boosts to 60/65 and doesn't' go the slow-tutorial route that this could be pretty overwhelming.

Edited March 15, 2017 by bdatt

[americanaussie]

Attack, heal, zoom, knife?

 

I think the skills we have are PERFECT! I'd hate to see one less because I use every single one of mine at certain times. I can't imagine PvP without my knockback to save my healer, or my stun to give my teammate time to cap, or my interrupt to stop a single attack/heal...we have a lot of skills, I agree...but I use every single one of them in PvP. Fewer skills would not make the game better at all.

 

My mara, operative,and sent would love no more healer knovkbacks....The better to stab you my dear

 

But yeah they do all serve a purpose. I concur.

[ivanhedgehog]

But the combat is a nonstop ability usage until whatever in combat is dead. Doesnt make any sense, even if there was just two abilites, you'd still be mashing two buttons nonstop. This post sounds like laziness to me, another give me something for nothing mentality.

 

I enjoy the fight on my Jugg Veng, using all the abilities and the animations they give.

 

the op is a console gamer, they cant handle more than a handful of abilities.

[Elessara]

thats true op.

 

No, it's not true.

[Edyn]

the op is a console gamer, they cant handle more than a handful of abilities.

 

Controllers feel psychically inhibiting in these types of games in that the number of keystrokes vs. button presses just can't compete with each other. Keep in mind that this is just my personal opinion, as this is coming from a person who's an original online PC gamer who's tried to play FPS's on console... and then walked away thinking that every console gamer out there is playing with some type of self-inflicted handicap.

 

Seriously, though. For me, the more abilities in an MMO, the beeter. I love options. Just because I have 25 abilities, that doesn't mean I have to use all 25. I mean, I can if I want to: I read the ability descriptions, learn what they mean, and then understand how to apply them in combat.... and I love doing that. Even if I didn't love doing that, I'm certain that I could play SWTOR and roll with five or six abilities that I feel comfortable with and still roflstomp the game (story-wise) all the way to 70.

[Reeny]

Having multiple abilities that essentially perform the same function doesnt make it "more fun".

Pressing 1,2,3,4,5,6,1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4,5,6 over and over again isnt really fun.

 

Not sure why some people equate pressing more buttons = more fun.

 

When abilities are condensed, u have more time to actually see the combat and move around, rather than stand there and press buttons.

[Kaldron_Fell]

Don't worry, you don't actually have to press any buttons during combat.

 

Just stand aside and let your overpowered companion do the job. If you want to look like you're doing your part, spam basic attacks. You'll be fine.

 

Just don't ever queue up for group content if you don't want to learn your rotation properly, please

[mmmbuddah]

Lolwut? This game has cut down the amount of abilities over the years. Any less and it would be skyrim, and that is boring AF.

[mmmbuddah]

Having multiple abilities that essentially perform the same function doesnt make it "more fun".

Pressing 1,2,3,4,5,6,1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4,5,6 over and over again isnt really fun.

 

Not sure why some people equate pressing more buttons = more fun.

 

When abilities are condensed, u have more time to actually see the combat and move around, rather than stand there and press buttons.

 

I can move around just fine and attack. Its called an mmo mouse, if you dont have one while playing an mmo, you should really consider it.

[MultiRoxor]

Yea i think the same. I use like 5 to 7 abilities and this is enough for me. The rest is ussles or very situational. I would need 2 more hands to use all of that abilities, but it isn't much of a problem because you just have to use some of them that you think are the best and important and don't care about the rest.

[Halinalle]

Yea i think the same. I use like 5 to 7 abilities and this is enough for me. The rest is ussles or very situational. I would need 2 more hands to use all of that abilities, but it isn't much of a problem because you just have to use some of them that you think are the best and important and don't care about the rest.

 

???

 

§ (or tilde or whatever is on left side of "1" button), 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Q, E, R, T, F, G, X, V

Alt+1, Alt+2, Alt+3, Alt+4

Alt+Q, Alt+W, Alt+E, Alt+A, Alt+S, Alt+D

Shift+Q, Shift+W, Shift+E, Shift+A, Shift+S, Shift+D

 

That's 30. You only need one hand (two if you map some of them to mouse buttons if you have MMO/MOBA mouse). That's not even all you can do. You can go even further from WASD keys: H, B, Y, 6, or start using CTRL as modifier, etc. Those are just the ones that are comfortable for me.

 

I can move around just fine and attack. Its called an mmo mouse, if you dont have one while playing an mmo, you should really consider it.

 

You don't even need MMO mouse for that. All you need is mouse with two side buttons for strafe left/right. By default, you run forward if you press left and right mouse button down.

Edited March 16, 2017 by Halinalle

[Kingsbount]

Playing my Jedi Shadow and Sith Warrior and there are way too many abilities now.

Several of which kind of overlap each other.

 

The sheer number of abilities really distract from the core combat.

 

SWTOR should really trim down and combine the abilities.

Let people enjoy the combat rather than mash buttons nonstop.

 

Press X to win

 

/facepalm

[SomeJagoff]

Playing my Jedi Shadow and Sith Warrior and there are way too many abilities now.

Several of which kind of overlap each other.

 

The sheer number of abilities really distract from the core combat.

 

SWTOR should really trim down and combine the abilities.

Let people enjoy the combat rather than mash buttons nonstop.

 

Rage Juggernaut/Fury Marauder are definitely bloated specs, but those are the only 2 specs for the warrior class that really seem overly bloated, to me at least. This is largely because they created another ability to do the exact same thing as force sweep, but single target instead of aoe (due to the pvp complaints people had about the spec in the 2.x era). Returning the damage to the aoe and removing the single target ability entirely would help greatly with bloat for that spec, especially now that nearly every class has a 30% AOE DR utility to spec into.

 

I'm not seeing the same bloat for Infiltration Shadow/Serenity Shadow, however, as both specs lost 3 base class abilities (telekinetic throw/mind crush/phase walk) in the last major update.

[Spoonwithyou]

Playing my Jedi Shadow and Sith Warrior and there are way too many abilities now.

Several of which kind of overlap each other.

 

The sheer number of abilities really distract from the core combat.

 

SWTOR should really trim down and combine the abilities.

Let people enjoy the combat rather than mash buttons nonstop.

 

gonna report this post since this is basically the samething, report this post hes just a troll complaining about the game please remove this post.

Edited March 16, 2017 by Spoonwithyou

[Ralei]

I want more abilities. I want 12 different animations for each ability I have now so I choose how my character moves. Like dancing. It would be cool if they all had different colored force/lightning effects so I could put on a rainbow light show or choose them depending on my mood and what goes with my outfit. It would be easy to use as I'd arrange them all on my keyboard according to color and style. I am kidding. Am I kidding?

[kodrac]

Having multiple abilities that essentially perform the same function doesnt make it "more fun".

Pressing 1,2,3,4,5,6,1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4,5,6 over and over again isnt really fun.

 

Not sure why some people equate pressing more buttons = more fun.

 

When abilities are condensed, u have more time to actually see the combat and move around, rather than stand there and press buttons.

 

Why are you standing there? Quit mouse clicking your abilities. Use the mouse to move and the keyboard hotkeys for abilities.

[SithKoriandr]

I never saw a problem with trimming down abilities, in fact, that's what all the guides try to do. Most damage possible, preferably with the least amount of skills possible.

 

The only problem with that, is then everyone is attacking the same. Personally, I'd rather they make it so dps skills may be trimmed down, but people can switch which around skills, without there being one set best practice.

 

Even if that means, just making multiple animations that people can choose to use, so they don't all look to be attacking the same way.

[jedip_enguin]

To borrow a Meme from Dark Souls...

 

Git gud.

Edited March 16, 2017 by jedip_enguin

[Darqu]

lol

If you think SWTOR has a large number of abilities you should check this out:

http://imgur.com/a/6BTpy

[Eli_Porter]

@that screenshot

 

Now I get why players are so angry at SWtOR's endgame issues. They really don't wanna go back to WoW.

[Darqu]

@that screenshot

 

Now I get why players are so angry at SWtOR's endgame issues. They really don't wanna go back to WoW.

 

It's an Everquest 2 screenshot.

WoW is pretty much trimmed down now when it comes to number of abilities or skill trees or.. anything. Never really liked it and blame it for the downfall of the genre, or rather the greedy corps.

If EQ2 wasn't on milking/maintenance ultragrind mode I honestly wouldn't be here.

Hate what they've done to it.

I loved having many abilities (and different, unique ones) that were not on a global cooldown timer and its distinct class design.

Worst example of a bad global cooldown implementation is Rift.

111112311111

ESO with its 2x5 abilities where you pick which 5 you use also works for them but I find it a bit lacking, since you have all those... lists of different weapon abilities but effectively you have to remain "in class" for most efficiency.

[CrazyCT]

Probably off topic, but I loved the Warden character they introduced into LotRO, where basically you have 3 skills (Spear, Fist and Shield), and you build up combo's before attacking. Depending on how you built the combo, it would do different things. You start off with simple 2-step "gambits", which give a minor defensive boost, minor heal or attack, up to the (just a little OP) 5-step gambit which can give things like big DoTs or an AoE health leech.

 

It's a tough class to learn because you have to learn all the combos, and if you make one hit out of turn it can totally feck up your rotation, but it's an amazingly fun class to play (if a little OP - don't know about now, but you used to be able to solo some 6-man dungeons)

[kodrac]

If EQ2 wasn't on milking/maintenance ultragrind mode I honestly wouldn't be here.

 

So you jumped from the frying pan into the fire?

[mmmbuddah]

???

 

§ (or tilde or whatever is on left side of "1" button), 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Q, E, R, T, F, G, X, V

Alt+1, Alt+2, Alt+3, Alt+4

Alt+Q, Alt+W, Alt+E, Alt+A, Alt+S, Alt+D

Shift+Q, Shift+W, Shift+E, Shift+A, Shift+S, Shift+D

 

That's 30. You only need one hand (two if you map some of them to mouse buttons if you have MMO/MOBA mouse). That's not even all you can do. You can go even further from WASD keys: H, B, Y, 6, or start using CTRL as modifier, etc. Those are just the ones that are comfortable for me.

 

 

 

You don't even need MMO mouse for that. All you need is mouse with two side buttons for strafe left/right. By default, you run forward if you press left and right mouse button down.

 

That would drive me crazy. I just use the directional buttons, and literally just use my thumb for combat. Have 12 buttons on my mouse, and use the buttons by themself, buttons + shift, buttons + ctrl, buttons + alt. Works beautifully.

 

As for the guy saying the abilities are situational. Clearly you never played pvp or ops or flashpoints.....

[Psylentdeath]

I love all the abilities. I wish there were more. I use every single one too. Not in a big rotation of corse. I have main attacks but the side abilities are the ones that make the difference in skilled players. And yes there is alot. Im not disputing that. However, thats why it takes me weeks to master a toon. I need to grow and learn the abilities and all the little tricks that can be done with them. It pays off in pvp bigtime.