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Some classes in DnD get access to a LOT of spells. Especially classes like Wizards who can prepare many spells, and also cast spells at different levels.
Even with my hot bar fully extended, my Cleric is already filling the bars up, if I want to have access to all my spells. If I want to access some potions and scrolls too, it gets crowded.

One of the first things I did with my caster was to press the little "tab" that shows my spell slots, assuming it would open up a list of all my spells for that level. Or change my hot bar to that level.
I noticed that for "Throw" and "Dip" this is handled as a pop up menu.

My suggestion is to make spells also part of pop up menus. That way my hot bar can be "the things I use all the time" and the pop up could be all the spells I have access too.
Similarly I think Scrolls, Potions, arrows and Class Actions also could have their own pop up menus. I think I would use these things more if I remembered I had them, but I tend not to put them on my Hot Bar, so they just gather dust in my inventory.


Having the "multiple hot bar" System is okay, but it demands a lot of management. Especially for items, during multi player we'd often grab items from a players inventory, which would remove it from their hot bar.

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Not really sure what you have in mind but I'm totally with you about the hotbar management.

It's actually very very boring and we have to spend way too much time to manage them.
They definitely need to work on that and something like a popup / Pillars of Eternity / Baldur's Gate things should work well.


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Originally Posted by Maximuuus
Not really sure what you have in mind but I'm totally with you about the hotbar management.

It's actually very very boring and we have to spend way too much time to manage them.
They definitely need to work on that and something like a popup / Pillars of Eternity / Baldur's Gate things should work well.



What I had in mind was something akin to the Throw ability button, or when you use the Hex spell. Just click the button and the available spells/items show up. One button per available spell level, and one for scrolls, potions, arrows, etc.
Make it similar to the buttons on the left side of the character portrait.
Having some quick access buttons is nice though, as there are some spells/items you use a lot, after all.

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Originally Posted by Aurgelmir
Originally Posted by Maximuuus
Not really sure what you have in mind but I'm totally with you about the hotbar management.

It's actually very very boring and we have to spend way too much time to manage them.
They definitely need to work on that and something like a popup / Pillars of Eternity / Baldur's Gate things should work well.



What I had in mind was something akin to the Throw ability button, or when you use the Hex spell. Just click the button and the available spells/items show up. One button per available spell level, and one for scrolls, potions, arrows, etc.
Make it similar to the buttons on the left side of the character portrait.
Having some quick access buttons is nice though, as there are some spells/items you use a lot, after all.


That's a valid option.
It's a +1


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That's a great feedback. PoE2 had a neat system where you select a spell level and then you select from the known list of spells. Considering the variety of spells and items and other things that we can place on the hotbar, the management is a mess and I'm running out of space very early on.

Why not steal from a good system? Select a slot for cast, then the appropriate spells will show up alongside with "upgraded" spells (i.e. Magic Missiles in 2nd level slot). Cantrips can be it's own menu and then we're left with some form of scroll and backpack menu. Yes it would require 2 clicks but organisation is much more important imo.

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Originally Posted by Ursus007
That's a great feedback. PoE2 had a neat system where you select a spell level and then you select from the known list of spells. Considering the variety of spells and items and other things that we can place on the hotbar, the management is a mess and I'm running out of space very early on.

Why not steal from a good system? Select a slot for cast, then the appropriate spells will show up alongside with "upgraded" spells (i.e. Magic Missiles in 2nd level slot). Cantrips can be it's own menu and then we're left with some form of scroll and backpack menu. Yes it would require 2 clicks but organisation is much more important imo.


And as I pointed out, they already have this on things like Thrown items, Hex, etc.
Besides having a small hot bar for your most used spells would reduce the number of clicks.

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Originally Posted by Ursus007
That's a great feedback. PoE2 had a neat system where you select a spell level and then you select from the known list of spells. Considering the variety of spells and items and other things that we can place on the hotbar, the management is a mess and I'm running out of space very early on.

Why not steal from a good system? Select a slot for cast, then the appropriate spells will show up alongside with "upgraded" spells (i.e. Magic Missiles in 2nd level slot). Cantrips can be it's own menu and then we're left with some form of scroll and backpack menu. Yes it would require 2 clicks but organisation is much more important imo.


I think this would be great. They could even add a customizable favorites button that you can mark spells from your book to be condensed into the button.


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Originally Posted by Aurgelmir
Originally Posted by Maximuuus
Not really sure what you have in mind but I'm totally with you about the hotbar management.

It's actually very very boring and we have to spend way too much time to manage them.
They definitely need to work on that and something like a popup / Pillars of Eternity / Baldur's Gate things should work well.



What I had in mind was something akin to the Throw ability button, or when you use the Hex spell. Just click the button and the available spells/items show up. One button per available spell level, and one for scrolls, potions, arrows, etc.
Make it similar to the buttons on the left side of the character portrait.
Having some quick access buttons is nice though, as there are some spells/items you use a lot, after all.


That would just be perfect! Pls Larian pick this up! Also a hotkey for split from group/add to group!

+1!



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So..how the heck do you "manage" the hotbar. I can't figure out how to get the things i want on the first two (i.e. visible) bars.

Any help appreciated.

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Originally Posted by Newtinmpls
So..how the heck do you "manage" the hotbar. I can't figure out how to get the things i want on the first two (i.e. visible) bars.

Any help appreciated.


First off, check if the tiny lock on the upper right side of the hotbar is opened or closed. To manage the hotbar, open the lock.
Now you can drag out everything you don't want on this page of the hotbar (clic and hold while pulling it out, somewhere up, I suggest).
You can now access your spells screen (I think K is the key to access it). Pull down any (prepared) spell you want in your hotbar, to the slot it is supposed to be pictured in.

For items, I'm not an expert, because I just ignore them (please don't throw tomatoes - or worse - at me). I do know that they vanish from your hotbar if they are no longer in the inventory of the character (for example, if you sent it to another character). Similarly, I think they are automatically added once in your characters possession. I assume you can open your inventory and pull down items you want in your hotbar, too. But I'd have to try this myself before I can say for sure.

Is this comprehensible? Let me know on which part I'm not clear enough!

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They definitely need to work on hotbars there, the spells bloat is a valid thing.

I certainly would like several options:

- the current one (for those who may like it),
- the spell rank -> spell selection one where you click let's say "II" on bar and see all your memorized spells of appropriate power level
- the spell -> spell rank selection, reverse of above click on spell icon, then select rank at which you want to cast it

Also would like an option to not remove automatically from bar spells that are currently temporarily unavailable, as in not memorized. You might have flipped memorization for a day for some reason, but would want to return to your default preferred setup next day.


Additionally:

- Various recast as bonus action spells create their own copies of the spell now, further cluttering bars and often going all over the place depending on where you had that free bar slot at the moment. Do we even need it that way? Just let us recast base spell as usual. Talking Hex/Hunter's Mark/Speak with the Dead

- Allow more hotbars rows and make UI flexible - as in can move bars wherever we want. If someone wants a 12x15 hotbar or some such in the middle of a screen, let them have it. /shrug As a matter of fact, introduce multiple hotbars - side ones and so on that you can add as option if you so desire.


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The hot bar is a mess, I agree. Especially for spell casters.

When selecting a spell, the combat is paused and I don't need to look at the screen, so I don't care how much the hot bar expands or pops up to make it easier to use. It's silly to lock it down to that one small area of the screen.

Slightly OT, but I wish some of the spell icons were more distinct. Some of them are hard to tell apart because the icon and background behind it are almost the same color, without enough contrast to see the icon at the tiny scale they're shown in the hot bar.

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Originally Posted by Frumpkis

Slightly OT, but I wish some of the spell icons were more distinct. Some of them are hard to tell apart because the icon and background behind it are almost the same color, without enough contrast to see the icon at the tiny scale they're shown in the hot bar.


I haven't had that issue myself with spells, but scrolls. Some times I think I have a scroll of mage armor, but it was something else etc.



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