Weapon Set Switching via Hotkeys, and Customizable Hotbar ( Quickslots, Dual Wielding Swap Issue )
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I would like to see a weapon switching hotkey in the UI, similar to how Icewind Dale 2 did it, where you can have different sets of weapons / shields and easily swap between them without having to enter your inventory (via right clicking your weapon hotkey).
With BG1's inventory / UI setup, you couldn't have a Bow equipped and also be able to switch to a one-hand weapon and a shield without entering the inventory screen manually and switching them on. I believe this was an issue in BG2 as well ( with dual wielding, where you couldn't swap to two handed weapon, bow, or shield ). I'd like to be able to have my fighter equipped with a blunt weapon, slashing weapon, bow, and sword + shield on different hotkeys, or my thief equipped with a bow and sword + shield.
Also, if possible, the ability to change your hotkey setup on the hotbar would be great. Again something similar to Icewind Dale 2 could be implemented, where you right click the icon and it scrolls through different actions that you can change your icon to.
Not that I'm an Icewind Dale 2 UI lover ( I hated the way they organized the spells into sets based on Class, Specialization, Race, etc, and you had to select through 1-2 groups before seeing your spells), but these are just good ideas I think that can easily translate. Taking a look at the current UI screenshot, it seems like there's a lot of empty space in the Hotbar. If you could fill those up with quickcast spells / special abilites, that would be helpful.
I understand that the BG1 UI may be hard to work with since it gave quickcast spells based on what class / dual class you were.
With BG1's inventory / UI setup, you couldn't have a Bow equipped and also be able to switch to a one-hand weapon and a shield without entering the inventory screen manually and switching them on. I believe this was an issue in BG2 as well ( with dual wielding, where you couldn't swap to two handed weapon, bow, or shield ). I'd like to be able to have my fighter equipped with a blunt weapon, slashing weapon, bow, and sword + shield on different hotkeys, or my thief equipped with a bow and sword + shield.
Also, if possible, the ability to change your hotkey setup on the hotbar would be great. Again something similar to Icewind Dale 2 could be implemented, where you right click the icon and it scrolls through different actions that you can change your icon to.
Not that I'm an Icewind Dale 2 UI lover ( I hated the way they organized the spells into sets based on Class, Specialization, Race, etc, and you had to select through 1-2 groups before seeing your spells), but these are just good ideas I think that can easily translate. Taking a look at the current UI screenshot, it seems like there's a lot of empty space in the Hotbar. If you could fill those up with quickcast spells / special abilites, that would be helpful.
I understand that the BG1 UI may be hard to work with since it gave quickcast spells based on what class / dual class you were.
Post edited by Jalily on
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Comments
Having the ability to switch from bow to sword and shield without the mini inventory in-game the BG series seem to have would be awesome.
Hell yessir.
Customizable hot bar is also being considered.
Great to hear. That was one of my main peeves about the UI in BG1 and BG2, no way to have two handed weapon + sword/shield swap.
The inability to quickslot dual weapons or weapon + shield is really a big deal for certain characters.
Rangers has two free points in dual wielding, but my rangers always use two-handed weapons or a single one handed weapon simply because I can't bother to pause the game, enter the inventory and rearrange my weapons every time I switch between melee and ranged combat (since bows and crossbows are two handed).
I realize that if this isn't allready in, it most likely can't be put in before release. I don't think it's unreasonable to patch it in post launch though? This would really increase my enjoyment of playing archer characters specifically.
Has anyone heard anything about this request before or responses from the devs I would be interested to hear
Let's hope we get it in a patch at some point..
The limitations of the Infinity Engine and the UI probably prevented them from allowing you to swap the way you suggested. I do think though that not being able to equip a 2 handed weapon while using your offhand, is very annoying. At least IWD2 came up with some type of solution.
In this example, a fighter has a long sword in slot 1, a bastard sword in slot 2, a 2-handed sword in slot 3, a bow in slot 4 and a short sword in the off-hand. If you equip the long sword, you automatically equip the short sword. If you equip the bastard sword, you only equip the single weapon. If you equip the bow, you equip only the bow. When you switch back to the long sword you also equip the short sword.
This would allow fighters to have dual wield (or weapon and shield), a 2-handed weapon, single weapon and ranged weapon that you can flip between, creating a form of weapon sets.
Even for classes with only two weapon slots you could equip a single weapon (or weapon and shield) plus a ranged, and have the benefit of the quick set.
So, for example, if you have a fighter using a shield, and you want to exchange weapons for a two handed weapon, you have to manually equip those in the inventory.
Original Post - http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/4446/weapon-set-switching-via-hotkeys-and-customizable-hotbar-quickslots-dual-wielding-swap-issue
Having purchased BG:EE for iPad, it is incredibly frustrating not being able to do this. For ranged characters, it makes perfect sense to have a bow equipped in the first weapon slot, a backup melee weapon in the second weapon slot, and a shield in the offhand that can be equipped when using the backup weapon. Another example is characters who use two-handed sword AND duel one-hander setups (two-hander 1st slot, one-hander 2nd slot and offhand slot).
I'm allowed to switch my weapons/shields at anytime in the character screen anyway, so implementing this won't break any rules. However, it will save time/frustration having to go to the inventory every single time you would like to switch weapon sets. As is, the quick weapon slots are essentially useless.
Nevertheless...definitely a desirable feature! Thanks for the response.
Or am I better off sticking to darts / slings/ throwing axes / throwing daggers if I want to switch between ranged and dual wielding without opening my inventory every time?
My idea is to have the off-hand item only apply if the main-hand is 1 handed. So say if you make a 2 handed weapon your active weapon the off-hand item would gray out until you switched back to a 1 handed.
I think this idea would remove the idea that weapon sets are the "only way" and not change the UI at all.
I would even be cool with a 1 round delay in changing between the two systems. I just don't want to do it manually. I remember why I never used ranged on a non two hander character now. Thanks.