Do I really have to drag skills down into the hotbar every time I switch roles?

[--Ramzes--]

I'm hoping that it's a feature that I just haven't discovered yet, so help me out!

 

I'm primarily a healer but I sometimes need to DPS. OK, no problem. Just switch roles between (Sage) Seer/Balance.

 

Here's the issue: As far as I can tell, every time I switch roles, I have to manually setup my skills on the hotbar every time. This means not only having to do this annoying process but I have to remember how I usually set it up...which candidly, requires me to save a photo of each hotbar setup on my phone and use it every time.

 

This simply does not make sense. I've never seen a game that doesn't allow you to be able to have saved hotbars/skills for each or something like this. The default hotbar that rotates between #1 and #4 - I've tried saving my healing layout on #1 and then the DPS layout on #4. But when I switch roles, it wipes out what I had just set.

 

And I also checked with the UI - if you switch saved interfaces, that only impacts the UI elements (where things are on the screen) - it has nothing to do with skills on hotbars.

 

Help!

Edited June 27, 2019 by --Ramzes--

[The_Wulff]

You are correct. There is no way to save the skills that are specific to the discipline you are not playing and it removes the abilities that you don't have making you add them back as you swap roles. SWTOR was not set up to have people re-spec for each activity. It is however set up to allow you as a subscriber to have one of each advanced class and even most roles before you need to pay for an extra character slot. I know it is frustrating but with it only taking 12 hours of game play to level to 70 it won't take long to have your dps and healer sages set up.

[--Ramzes--]

Fair enough. I hate DPS anyways. I'm 246-248 geared, just returning from a break. I only need to do a DPS so I can plow through the storyline crap and unlock Ossus.

[Pirana]

Fair enough. I hate DPS anyways. I'm 246-248 geared, just returning from a break. I only need to do a DPS so I can plow through the storyline crap and unlock Ossus.

 

Once you hit level 70, head to your ship and use the terminal, you can bypass all the story line and start the pre-reqs for Ossus. It also opens up everything prior to Ossus, Yavin, Rishi and the rest. Once I ran through the story line once, it was enough for me. Using that terminal on your ship is a major short cut. Keep in mind though, the game will decide for you in regards to your companions, etc., if you choose this route.

 

Edited June 28, 2019 by Pirana

[--Ramzes--]

I am level 70. I hit lvl 70 years ago. I'm a founder LOL. I'm wearing 248 armor, aka a couple tiers from max.

 

Thank you all for the responses. I believe my question was answered.

[SteveTheCynic]

I hit lvl 70 years ago. I'm a founder LOL

There's no real relation between these two concepts. I hit level 70 years ago, but I'm not a founder, while a founder who got to level 35, say, then dropped the game until recently would still be only level 35.

[lightSaberAddiCt]

It helps if you save a control scheme in your preferences/hotkeys. It isn't perfect, but it keeps your main skills present, so you have less abilities to move around.

[foxmob]

You are correct. There is no way to save the skills that are specific to the discipline you are not playing and it removes the abilities that you don't have making you add them back as you swap roles. SWTOR was not set up to have people re-spec for each activity. It is however set up to allow you as a subscriber to have one of each advanced class and even most roles before you need to pay for an extra character slot. I know it is frustrating but with it only taking 12 hours of game play to level to 70 it won't take long to have your dps and healer sages set up.

 

You cannot trade almost the entire left side of your character sheet, and you have to grind obscure rep such as Gree in order to trade other slots. that's almost 8 years of this. 6.0 promises legacy everything. we'll see. but using 3 toons for 3 roles is a lot more grinding for gear not just the lighting quick leveling. normally, one uses multiple toons to funnel gear to ONE toon.

[denavin]

Create a standard skill layout for your quick-bars that is what I do. Have your primary attack skill, DOT's, Heals, Crowd Control ... ect. all in the same locations. That way the only thing you will have to replace is the skills that change for the different disciplines. Which is about 6 or so skills and always put those skills in the same slots in your layout.

 

I do this for all my characters no matter what the class is. All classes have similar skills that you can place in the same quick-bar slots. That way no matter what character I play, all I have to remember is what Class I am playing and not where all my keys are for every character because they are all laid out the same way.

[JediQuaker]

I'm primarily a healer but I sometimes need to DPS. OK, no problem. Just switch roles between (Sage) Seer/Balance.

If you only sometimes need to DPS, the simplest solution might be to setup an extra skillbar or two for DPS. I have my main skills set up on 3 skillbars. I have 3 others that mostly contain medpacks, speeders, regen toys, pets, etc. I'm sure I could find enough slots in there to make an alternate skillbar. (I have a Sage that is basically setup like that, except it's mainly DPS plus heals.)

It may take some extra time to get used to using a different skillbar.

Keep in mind that skillbars can be re-positioned and changed in shape. Each skillbar has 12 slots which can be set to 1x12, 2x6, 3x4, etc and positioned where convenient.

[Sinhammer]

Once you hit level 70, head to your ship and use the terminal, you can bypass all the story line and start the pre-reqs for Ossus. It also opens up everything prior to Ossus, Yavin, Rishi and the rest. Once I ran through the story line once, it was enough for me. Using that terminal on your ship is a major short cut. Keep in mind though, the game will decide for you in regards to your companions, etc., if you choose this route.

 

 

Do NOT follow this instruction unless you have studied up on the matter and are prepared for unintended consequences. There's even been a more up-to-date thread recently on the subject here:

 

https://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=958655

[Rolodome]

Yeah, it's terrible lack of basic QoL. I pretty much never switch roles for this reason. That and role switching in the field costing credits to unlock per character. Maximum silliness.

 

People having an easier time switching roles would probably help with things like queues. I know I'd do support roles more often if it wasn't such a pain to switch. Partly I do DPS on most chars because otherwise, I'm worse in solo content like the pre-50 heroics (especially if healer). That and gear loadout are sorely needed (I think gear loadout was mentioned vaguely in the AMA, unless I'm remembering wrong). Don't remember any mention of this shiz though.

[SteveTheCynic]

If you only sometimes need to DPS, the simplest solution might be to setup an extra skillbar or two for DPS. I have my main skills set up on 3 skillbars. I have 3 others that mostly contain medpacks, speeders, regen toys, pets, etc. I'm sure I could find enough slots in there to make an alternate skillbar. (I have a Sage that is basically setup like that, except it's mainly DPS plus heals.)

It may take some extra time to get used to using a different skillbar.

Keep in mind that skillbars can be re-positioned and changed in shape. Each skillbar has 12 slots which can be set to 1x12, 2x6, 3x4, etc and positioned where convenient.

That won't actually help, since the problem is that the bars get wiped clean and re-populated with the new ability list when you respec(1), in a specific order that almost certainly is a long way from optimal.

 

(1) By field respec *or* by visiting the Mentor on the Fleet.

[Sinhammer]

That won't actually help, since the problem is that the bars get wiped clean and re-populated with the new ability list when you respec(1), in a specific order that almost certainly is a long way from optimal.

 

(1) By field respec *or* by visiting the Mentor on the Fleet.

 

Maybe a dumb compromise (and question) but--can't this be alleviated by rearranging your quickbars so that QB1 is off to the side somewhere? Ability population goes from 1-6 right? If you use QBs 3-6 in your "main" bar placements and put the first two off to the side somewhere, when you swap roles won't your new abilities just show up off to the side somewhere so that you can easily nab them?

 

Before someone says it--yes, I know you don't get as many bars as f2p and preferred.

[LD_Little_Dragon]

Maybe a dumb compromise (and question) when you swap roles won't your new abilities just show up off to the side somewhere so that you can easily nab them?

I switch roles regularly between heal/dps on scoundrel and tank/dps on shadow. How easy it is depends a lot on your quickbar setup and how many abilites you actively use. When you switch roles you lose the abilities on one spec and the new ones generally just replace them on the quickbar; so it's a matter of learning what needs to be moved where.

 

I have 3 active quickbars, and use the buried ones for things like mounts/quicktravel/ect that aren't actively used in combat. It takes about 30s to 1 minute to respec/regear.

 

It is still a huge pita having to remember what goes where especially since mirror class abilities/utilities have different names/locations/icons.

 

I think players have been asking for quickbar setups for specs to be remembered for years. I'm not sure why it's harder to code than keybinding setups are.

[SteveTheCynic]

I think players have been asking for quickbar setups for specs to be remembered for years. I'm not sure why it's harder to code than keybinding setups are.

*Probably* because build-template loading is class-sensitive, while keybinding files are not.

[JediQuaker]

That won't actually help, since the problem is that the bars get wiped clean and re-populated with the new ability list when you respec(1), in a specific order that almost certainly is a long way from optimal..

That's IF you bother to respec. If you (for example) mostly heal, but want to DPS for PvE (dailies, etc) or veteran flashpoints, you can simply use the DPS skills without re-spec'ing. I know it's not optimal, but optimal may not be what's needed in most cases.

If you want "optimal", perhaps what was suggested earlier is really the best method. That is, instead of having 1 character that you re-spec, simply have 2 identical (or not) characters - one set up as heal, one set up as DPS**.

 

(I actually have this. I have one male Sage that is configured as a DPS and one female Sage that is a healer. However, since my Guild is dead, I mostly just PUG as a DPS Gunslinger. )

 

** Yes, I know sometimes you may want to switch roles after you join a group etc. In that case you may want to simply tell the group that you want to change and to invite your other character. I'm talking "workaround" here, not ideal.

[OlBuzzard]

If I may add to this..

 

If you are looking at multiple skills or applications I simply change the name of the UI at the top .. and save as " a different name" .. and if needed "a different name 2 ".

 

At that point you can reassign you "favorite" hot keys as needed from different character to whatever suits your style.

 

Yes that would mean that you will need to change to which ever UI you need per application.. but it certainly does simplify matters a lot .

 

Just a thought. I'm not even certain if this is what you were looking for ... but maybe it might help.

[Benirons]

All abilities get put/relevant abilities get replaced by the better version automatically on ur bars, so long as there is space.

 

They r always a mess though and u have to rearrange ur abilities after a respec every single time. Pretty big buggmer, this game does not even know what QoL is tbh.

[denavin]

Come on now it's only about 6 skills that you have to replace... How Hard is that for you to do. It takes about 10 seconds. Are you really that weak that you can't remember the location of 6 icons? I'm 65 years old and I can remember where they go. Qol has nothing to do with it. It really is something that is not game breaking or hard to do in a few seconds. Are you people really that helpless? Edited June 30, 2019 by denavin

[Rolodome]

Come on now it's only about 6 skills that you have to replace... How Hard is that for you to do. It takes about 10 seconds. Are you really that weak that you can't remember the location of 6 icons? I'm 65 years old and I can remember where they go. Qol has nothing to do with it. It really is something that is not game breaking or hard to do in a few seconds. Are you people really that helpless?

Don't be a dick.

[SteveTheCynic]

Maybe a dumb compromise (and question) but--can't this be alleviated by rearranging your quickbars so that QB1 is off to the side somewhere? Ability population goes from 1-6 right? If you use QBs 3-6 in your "main" bar placements and put the first two off to the side somewhere, when you swap roles won't your new abilities just show up off to the side somewhere so that you can easily nab them?

No, because the problem is not the question of "where do I nab these things from?" but rather "why do I have to re-nab them every time I re-spec?" or "why doesn't the game remember where I had them the last time I was in spec X?".

[Joonbeams]

Come on now it's only about 6 skills that you have to replace... How Hard is that for you to do. It takes about 10 seconds. Are you really that weak that you can't remember the location of 6 icons? I'm 65 years old and I can remember where they go. Qol has nothing to do with it. It really is something that is not game breaking or hard to do in a few seconds. Are you people really that helpless?

 

Was all this really necessary? Tone it down. OP even acknowledged this was QoL. Is it really hard to jump on speeder and travel places? No. But unlimited quick travel is nice. Is it really hard to manually change the look of your toon when you want? No. But outfit designer is nice. How about saving default layouts? Or keybind settings? The nature of QoL changes is that they remove tedium more than make things hard/easy. I believe many players would welcome this change....

[LD_Little_Dragon]

Come on now it's only about 6 skills that you have to replace... How Hard is that for you to do. It takes about 10 seconds. Are you really that weak that you can't remember the location of 6 icons? I'm 65 years old and I can remember where they go. Qol has nothing to do with it. It really is something that is not game breaking or hard to do in a few seconds. Are you people really that helpless?

 

There is no reason to be so hostile.

 

I don't need quicktravel points to be automatically added to the map (remember when you had to click the terminal to activiate it?) but it is a very nice quality-of-life thing to have.

 

You also don't seem to know what switching between roles properly requires. It takes more than 10s to switch roles, unless you are not customizing your quickbar/keybind setup for proper rotations.

 

It's far more than 6 skills you have to move around, unless you're only switching from a dps spec to another dps spec. Different specs have different ability priorities which means even shared skills usually end up being shifted around on the quickbars.