Imo, hotkeys can certainly be brought back alongside a skill bar. For example, players could have 1-2 of their skill slots (of their choice) that they could set hotkeys to. Each of the hotkey-able skill slot could have up to 3 skills set as a hotkey.
Then again, this mostly work if Diablo 4 has a large number of skills in the first place.
Sometimes these forums have me thinking I’m an oddball (I’m probably am honestly), as I enjoyed both Diablo 2 and 3 greatly (despite their major differences from one another), and still play both of them even to this day.
I am defending d2 in almost every discussion here
But skill selection is just clunky to play
You gotta admit it and no modern game will ever return to that system
I’m not ignoring anything, but half of your point in this thread is just you crying about Diablo 3 when I already said I don’t care how Diablo 3 did things nor am I suggesting that they copy it exactly.
You need to understand there is a difference between a hotbar in general, and specifically how Diablo 3 implemented it.
Give me some reasons that do not include:
Simply stating your preference
Talking about Diablo 3
I don’t know how many times I have to say I’m not here to argue in favour of Diablo 3 before you grasp that concept. Diablo 3 was not a good game and I have no real interest in suggesting that Blizzard use it as a blueprint for Diablo 4.
Hotbars in general however, are still better than Diablo 2’s skill system by virtue of being faster and smoother gameplay when attempting to use a larger number of skills, regardless of cooldowns or not.
As for your example, I can do what you did with 5 clicks in 4 button presses. Possibly 3 if the hotbar is designed right.
Personally I just enjoy the convenience of hotkeying the skill and having it go to right click. It’s really convenient that I can hold right click to run forward and wack things or hold right click and aim while I cycle skills.
It’s a subjective matter, but the above is an objective advantage imo. I just don’t think spamming skills by holding down keyboard buttons while you’re also trying to move and use pots is optimal, w/ D2 controls though I can swap skills while doing those things and be ready to spam rclick the skill.
I’ve reiterated my points 3-4 times (spammability and convenience) which you don’t appear to agree with so the points appear to be invalid points when you read them. Sorry, that’s all I’ve got.
I don’t give a care about D3 either, would appreciate you not crying about me assuming that D3 controls are controls that they are considering. I’m just explaining why D2 controls are better for arpgs than D3 like controls (which imo is what we are most likely to see along with the dodge button they’ve been showing off).
To me, there’s no reason to need to push 2 buttons in a secuence in order to perform a skill. Pure clunkyness especially when you need to spam different skills in the middle of the battle. It’s a setup that collides with fast reactions and reflexes. Can it be done? Yes. Is it clunky? Also yes.
Even the default buttons for switching the skills (function buttons) are very uncomfortable ones.
Hehe. It is your most compelling argument in the sense that it shows what this really is about
You realize you can rebind all these buttons to your mouse if you don’t want to use your keyboard? (Not all to right click of course). It is certainly doable to play D3 without ever using the keyboard to cast anything. Not necessarily a good idea though.
In any case, Blizzard should just add an optional key binding setup for simulating D2. You click your skill buttons, and that skill is moved to the right click button. Let’s do it!
I can’t imagine many people would use it, but that doesn’t really matter. Shouldn’t be that difficult to code either.
I play D2 a lot, even today, and I don’t remember the last time I ran D3. However I must say, D3 controls are much more superior, I really love D3 skills bar and hate D2 system. Also, I never see anyone using more than a couple of skills in D2 (usually it is just 1) no matter what people keep saying about “10 skills builds” etc.
Hotkey F2: Teleport (if using enigma/if not then charge)
Hotkey F3: Holy Shield
Hotkey F4: Fanaticism
Hotkey F5: Conviction
Hotkey F6: Salvation
Hotkey F7: Charge (if not using enigma, then Resist Lightning)
Hotkey F8: Resist Lightning
Hotkey F9: Resist Cold
Hotkey F11: Battle Command (via cta runeword)
Hotkey F12: Battle Orders (via cta runeword)
Lightning ES sorc:
LMB:
Hotkey A: Lightning
Hotkey S: Charge Bolt
Hotkey D: Chain Lightning
RMB:
Hotkey F1: Townportal
Hotkey F2: Unsummon
Hotkey F3: Teleport
Hotkey F4: Energy Shield
Hotkey F5: Frozen Armor
Hotkey F6: Telekinesis
Hotkey F7: Thunderstorm
Hotkey F11: Battle Command (via cta runeword)
Hotkey F12: Battle Orders (via cta runeword)
Just only a few of the builds I had used during my time of playing Diablo 2. And I can definitely say that I wasn’t the only one who did this, because most folks who I battled against in pvp alternative between their skills rather quickly as well; for example a hybrid assassin could go from casting mind blast, to using teleport, then whirlwind, and traps (repeatedly by the way) in less than five seconds (something that’s not possible to do without using hotkeys).
Of course, I’m not saying that everyone used hotkeys or used more than 1-2 skills for their builds; only saying that there was a decent number of people who utilized the hotkeys in Diablo 2 to great effect.
They can be used to great effect but at the end of the day when you’re reaching up to F12 in your keybind it’s just not as quick as a hotbar.
but the OP is one of those people who seems determined to be upset if Diablo 4 treats Diablo 2 as anything except gospel to be copied in every single way. It sounds like Diablo 4 just isn’t the game for them, because it was never going to be that.
