Hotkey layouts

[mjdoom]

Hello all,

As I was posting my reply in the screenshot thread I realized that I hadn't cropped any of the images I had and had forgotten about using alt-z to take my screenshots. It got me to thinking though about hotbar layouts. Mine was very much influenced in the beginning by some of Dyntheos' ideas in this thread. I think it would be interesting to see what hotbar layouts other people have. I've thought about rearranging mine a little bit and I'd also be interested in seeing what some people have for classes other than a priest for when I start playing my alts a bit more.

In order to keep post sizes down I'm going to just link to one of my pictures here so people can load pictures for only the classes they want to look at. This one is for a priest.

- mjdoom

[Treesh]

I keep things simple. The skills most frequently used take up the 1-4 keys on the bars. Skills I want to be able to hit in an emergency are 5 and 6. Buffs or other skills that are only cast periodically, but are ones I may need to cast in a fight are on 7 through =. When the first hotbar fills up, number 6 is the next one that gets filled with combat skills because I can hit the number 6 easily enough to switch quickly. I don't use macros, I don't use UI mods. For my healing classes, the heals go on 6, 5, and 4 in order from quickest cast to slowest cast. Thrown weapons or wands or simple shots from bows/guns always go on the 2 key. Don't ask me why, that's where it ended up on some character and that's where I got used to it being so that's where it is for everybody. =)

[Bobman]

I wondered if there was anybody else out there who used the default UI, glad to see I'm not alone :)


The first thing I did was remap the hotbar 1 key to f1, hotbar 2 to f2, ect. This was the biggest single change. This allows you to go to any hotbar you want with just 1 push. The second hotkey change was the key combination for pet control. I think the default is Ctrl + 1 through 9, I changed it to Alt + 1 through 9. The only 2 hotkeys I really use with my pet is the "attack" or "follow" commands, most of my pet spells work fine as autocasts, or I click them with the mouse.

As for skill bars, I tried to set them up in terms of what tree they were, and then made minor changes from there. My first bar started with direct damage spells, but I added death coil and a healthstone, simply because I have that bar open most of the time and so they are quick to get to in an emergency. Second bar has curses, but also has some buffs (underwater breathing, demon armor, shadow ward). I've got a bar set up for pet summon, and then my last bar. I think of it as a "sit down" bar. It has all my food, tradeskills, and healthstone/soulstone summons.


What spells you put on what bars is really just a matter of personal opinion, though. My little brother set up his bars for his priest by what role he is playing. He started with 1 bar for soloing and 1 for parties. The big thing to remember is to find something you're comfortable with. Put your skills together so they make sense to you.

[Cryptic]

I too switched my action bars to single function hotkeys.

(I'm a rogue, so keep that in mind and change to suit)

I've prioritized mine in order of use.

F1 is exploration / solo - attacks, stealth activation, mount, bandage, evasion, vanish, sprint etc.

F2 is stealth - sap, pick pocket, cheap shot, etc.

F3 is crafting and "slow" activities - cooking, smelting, mining, finding minerals, lock picking, poisons etc.

F4 is PvP - standard F1 setup with a few crucial keys changed for nasty abilities needed in sudden PvP - kick, blind, distract, expose armor etc.

F5 is macro experimentation for now. Effective ones may be moved.

I have 56 hotkeys in all. Playing a crafting solo rogue who stealths and PvPs when needed is tricky. Hopefully that's not a record! :rolleyes:

[DarkCrown]

I set my skill bars up by function: I have a bar for soloing, a bar for healing (my current main char is a Druid) , and a bar with sundry utility spells which I rarely use in combat. I have the bars hot-keyed to '[', ']' and ';', which aren't used anywhere else in the default UI.

Notice that for a Druid the main bar changes when you shift forms. There is an alternative main bar for both cat and bear form. This works great if I'm using the main (soloing) bar. If the healing bar is up and I shift forms, I have to remember to bring up the main bar in order to access the appropriate skills for that form. This has caught me several times in the heat of battle, and gotten me killed at least once.


I also find that using Alt-1 through Alt-0 to cast buffs and heals on oneself is faster in battle than first targeting yourself and then casting.

[Treesh]

I also find that using Alt-1 through Alt-0 to cast buffs and heals on oneself is faster in battle than first targeting yourself and then casting.
[right][snapback]66347[/snapback][/right]

I never actually target the person I'm healing, whether it's myself or someone else. I do it all by portrait. If I use dispel magic, that's different because it can affect either an enemy or a friendly and if I want to cast it on a friendly I must target the friendly, but that's about the only exception to not targeting friendlies for casting purposes. Even buffs are done by portrait rather than actually targeting the person. It's just so much easier that way.

[Icebird]

I'm using the GypsyMod UI. This is probably the clearest screenshot I have

GypsyMod UI in action

Some of the key features:

- Double row of hotbar icons. I use keypresses for the bottom row (1 through =) and manually click on the icons for the top row.

- Big icons for buffs and debuffs below the minimap. Not only do you know exactly what is cast on you, but how much longer it will last. Hovering over the icons displays the effect.

- Health, mana and XP all expressed as numbers

What you can't see:

- GypsyMod's "Page on press" feature. Instead of the default system for swapping hotbars you can turn on "page on press". When you press a key, it switches to the second sets of toolbars. When you release the key it snaps back. I found with the shift-switching that I would swap hotbars in battle then forget to switch back. "Why am I not casting anything?"

I've reconfigured my icon placement a bit as I've added new skills. For instance the five toolbar slots above the bags on the second row don't change, so I stuck my "talk" macros there (voice emotes for /helpme, /heal, /incoming and /oom).

On the main toolbar the bottom row contains all my "combat" spells, while the top row contains curses and less used spells (as well as bandages). I've kept some slots free for grouping and to add icons on a situational basis.

The second toolbar contains the skills I'll use between battles: pet summoning, healthstone and soulstone creation, unending breath, plus all my trade skill triggers. Working well so far.

I'll have to make a screenshot of my current set-up sometime.

Chris

[vor_lord]

I never actually target the person I'm healing, whether it's myself or someone else.  I do it all by portrait. 
[right][snapback]66349[/snapback][/right]

I hate doing this in battle when you have an enemy targeted and you want to heal yourself. If you're playing a priest you might have another party member targeted anyway so it wouldn't help in this situation, but when soloing I imagine this is as obnoxious for the priest as it is for my paladin.

With self cast you don't lose the target on the enemy. I'm considering stripping down my UI mods (full cosmos has some obnoxious bugs for me lately) but I think I have to keep the smart self-cast mod. I agree though, for healing party members the portraits are much less error prone. Then there is the problem of targeting your party member's pet...

I like the GypsyMod look -- just need to be able to add more (or bigger) bars, self cast, and map notes. I think those pieces should all standalone--just have to see if Gypsy will give me more bars than that (or what there is available for standalone sidebars for example).

[WarLocke]

With self cast you don't lose the target on the enemy.  I'm considering stripping down my UI mods (full cosmos has some obnoxious bugs for me lately) but I think I have to keep the smart self-cast mod.  I agree though, for healing party members the portraits are much less error prone.  Then there is the problem of targeting your party member's pet...
[right][snapback]66357[/snapback][/right]

Telo has a new version of his SelfCast addon linked from the official forums - I find it to be great. The new version lets you toggle smart selfcasting on and off, as well as alt-selfcasting (which is on by default, but I would prefer to use Alt-# as hotkey commands).

[Treesh]

I hate doing this in battle when you have an enemy targeted and you want to heal yourself.  If you're playing a priest you might have another party member targeted anyway so it wouldn't help in this situation, but when soloing I imagine this is as obnoxious for the priest as it is for my paladin.

With self cast you don't lose the target on the enemy.  I'm considering stripping down my UI mods (full cosmos has some obnoxious bugs for me lately) but I think I have to keep the smart self-cast mod.  I agree though, for healing party members the portraits are much less error prone.  Then there is the problem of targeting your party member's pet...

[right][snapback]66357[/snapback][/right]

I don't lose target even when I'm healing myself in combat by using the portraits. You hit 6 (or whatever key your heal spell is on) and then click the portrait of whoever, including yourself, that you want to heal. You never lose your combat target this way. And don't target the party pets - hit the 'v' key (with Enable Pet Nameplate checked in the Interface Options) and heal the same way as with the portraits, but use the green pet bar instead. I still don't ever lose my combat target this way. I guess I just don't understand what is so special about the self-cast mods out there. I've never felt a need for them.

[vor_lord]

I don't lose target even when I'm healing myself in combat by using the portraits.  You hit 6 (or whatever key your heal spell is on) and then click the portrait of whoever, including yourself, that you want to heal.  You never lose your combat target this way.  And don't target the party pets - hit the 'v' key (with Enable Pet Nameplate checked in the Interface Options) and heal the same way as with the portraits, but use the green pet bar instead.  I still don't ever lose my combat target this way.  I guess I just don't understand what is so special about the self-cast mods out there.  I've never felt a need for them.
[right][snapback]66362[/snapback][/right]

I see--I think I'm hardwired to have something targeted _before_ casting a spell, so this didn't even occur to me :blush: Now I have to think about if this habit is hurting me somehow in other places.

I guess the benefit, then, is not needing to click anything at all to self cast.

With respect to using 'v' for pet targeting, I've tried that, but it still requires that I have the pet in my field of view. As a secondary tank/secondary healer that still is not so convenient (although better than having to target the pet for sure).

[Treesh]

With respect to using 'v' for pet targeting, I've tried that, but it still requires that I have the pet in my field of view.  As a secondary tank/secondary healer that still is not so convenient (although better than having to target the pet for sure).
[right][snapback]66364[/snapback][/right]

Yeah, that is the drawback of it, but until Blizzard actually get off their duffs and add in the pet bars to the group, this is some kind of a workaround at least since I don't want to deal with UI mods. It's not the best, but it is something at least. :) I have to use it a lot with my shaman that runs with GG's hunter. We're all basically secondary tanks so the pet is only slightly less crucial to keep alive than a player. Since I'm a shaman, I'm up there beating on things right next to the pet anyway so it's not too bad to keep him in sight for that specific character. ;)

[Kevin]

We're all basically secondary tanks so the pet is only slightly less crucial to keep alive than a player.  Since I'm a shaman, I'm up there beating on things right next to the pet anyway so it's not too bad to keep him in sight for that specific character. ;)
[right][snapback]66366[/snapback][/right]

Except when I send him off to get aggro from some ranged bugger or something. But I can at least keep him alive until you can find him again. :)

[Ruvanal]

Then there is the problem of targeting your party member's pet...
[right][snapback]66357[/snapback][/right]

While Treesh may not like to bother with any mods on the game; there are now two mods that adress this situation from differnt angles.
PartyPets
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.a...tmp=1#post35872

CT_PetHealth1.1
http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.a...tmp=1#post36690

Both are still undergoing various aspects of development, so quality of performance may not be at the highest. Currently neither has been tested in actual play by myself.

[Icebird]

You may not be aware of this, but you can use macros to target specific players eg

/target Magyar
/cast DemonArmor(Rank 2)

You can use this syntax to create some self-healing macros that I believe wont interfere with any targeting you already have.

Similarly, if there one person doing all the pulling in your group you can create a /assist PaulThePuller macro to target thge monster he's pulling in one step (instead of targeting a party member via Function key or mouse, then hitting "F").

If you start getting into macros however, you'll need a UI that gives you more toolbars than the default interface.

Var_Lord: I don't think GypsyMod adds extra toolbars like some other UI mods, but you might be able to get some standalone sidebar mods to work with it. I think MapNotes would work as well. The appeal of GypsyMod was that it was didn't come with all the extra baggae of Cosmos.

Chris

[Professor Frink]

Then there is the problem of targeting your party member's pet...
[right][snapback]66357[/snapback][/right]

By default F1-F5 target party members (F1 is you), and either double pressing or shift-Fx targets the pet (so F2 F2 targets the other guy's pet)

-- frink

[vor_lord]

By default F1-F5 target party members (F1 is you), and either double pressing or shift-Fx targets the pet (so F2 F2 targets the other guy's pet)

-- frink
[right][snapback]66410[/snapback][/right]

In combination with a 'target last enemy' command this could be very useful. Is there such a thing? I suppose an intelligent script could easily keep a stack of targets...

[vor_lord]

Var_Lord: I don't think GypsyMod adds extra toolbars like some other UI mods, but you might be able to get some standalone sidebar mods to work with it. I think MapNotes would work as well. The appeal of GypsyMod was that it was didn't come with all the extra baggae of Cosmos.

Chris
[right][snapback]66404[/snapback][/right]

I tried it out last night, and installed a couple other standalones. I need to figure out how the Gypsy concept of changing the locations worked. I don't like the default relative positioning of the party, character, and target frames. I can move them together, but I probably have some doc reading to do.

I may end up picking and choosing my mods. Telo's mods are nice but I had some weird problems with the sidebar getting picked up and having no way to set it down...

[Treesh]

In combination with a 'target last enemy' command this could be very useful.  Is there such a thing?  I suppose an intelligent script could easily keep a stack of targets...
[right][snapback]66424[/snapback][/right]

The 'G' key is the default key to go back to the last targeted enemy after targeting a friendly.

[vor_lord]

The 'G' key is the default key to go back to the last targeted enemy after targeting a friendly.
[right][snapback]66426[/snapback][/right]

Very nice, that's what I needed. I suppose now that I've played the game for a while I should go back into the key bindings screen and see what all is available :)