Tactics Discussion -- Hotbars and Screen Management

Inventory Window :http://www.eq2interface.com/downloads/fileinfo.php?id=4066
Profit-Ui : http://www.eq2interface.com/downloads/fileinfo.php?id=3948

My layout nothing special just a few changes...

After looking at these posts I have a question for people that use both hands on the keyboard at all times. How in the world do you kite and move around in a fight? I can see that hitting keys can be faster than mousing and clicking on hotkeys so I've tried setting up my hotkeys in a way that would work for keyboard use but I just couldn't do it. On my preist and mage it's not a big deal because they aren't constantly moving during a fight so my left hand can easily go from QWEASD position to ~12345 postion and back, but with my dirge I'm always running backwards after Verlian's and jumping over the mob for a Dull Blade etc. I just couldn't get accustomed to fighting without being able to zoom out and turn to look around with the mouse.

I'll put up a screenshot, but I'm only level 29:

The most common hotkeys are at the very center and I very rarely have to move more than a few steps away from the center. The [Ctrl =] button is a Lucky Break - Autoattack off - Cheap Shot macro. The [Ctrl -] button is a Dull Blade - Thuri's Doleful Thrust macro. The [Ctrl 7] button is all the master strikes in a macro and the recast timer shows up at button [1] although I may move that closer to keep from confusing myself.... The 5th hotbar in the right corner has my cure potions, buff potions ,and totems and the important "Undress!" macro. Oh, and I just realized I could mention that the yellow tint is the "out of range" color.

It's really good to see how others set up their screen because it has me thinking about ways to improve my setup.


Othesus - Dirge - Lucan DLere
Vaspar - Fury - Lucan DLere
Message Edited by xOnaton1 on 03-28-200612:05 PM

For me, I just hate the mouse. My husband has been trying to get for to look with the mouse literally for years, but I just cant do it. I dunno, maybe its just practice, but I dont have a problem staying at the back with just awsd, but I also dotn strafe, and I dont kite. Got enough of kiting with my druid in eq1


Here is a recent screenie of my layout..relying i can get the image to show up


Message Edited by Icarii_Raven`Lyon on 03-27-200605:04 PM

Sorry for all the edits, seems I just cant decide what I want to say
Message Edited by Icarii_Raven`Lyon on 03-27-200605:07 PM
Message Edited by Icarii_Raven`Lyon on 03-27-200605:08 PM

A little Variation to Laff's Alt by Perdition (or something like that)

Just an idea for you guys who have all you Master Strikes on you Hotbars you can save yourself a lil room by putting them into a macro...
: ;useability Djinn Master's Sinister Strike;useability Giant Master's Sinister Strike
: ;useability Skeleton Master's Sinister Strike;useability Gnoll Master's Sinister Strike
: ;useability Golem Master's Sinister Strike;useability Nightblood Master's Sinister Strike

This is an example... i keep this hotkey and one of the actual Master strikes next to it so i know when it is up

Just thought i would save ya some room on you hotbars...

I also put Discante and Daro's in a hot key, since i usually cast both off the start, and Another good one is CoB then Oration of Sacrifice, since you stifled anyways it gives you some extra DPS output while you heal...


Message Edited by SourChikn on 03-30-200607:52 AM

Yeah.. I've seen that macro.. was going to put it up until I saw someone say that it had been nerfed wher eyou can only do 3 abilities per macro? I'll have to get that checked up on
and as far as the CoB and OoS macro I can see how it would work but you then cant see the timer for CoB... VERY nice idea though when I hit 65 I'll be on it like white on rice!

I run four lines across the bottom of my screen, with the chat window very transparent, then statistics I need in the upper right corner leaving
my screen as free of clutter as possible. On the right lower side I have my buffs, stuns, and screams, above that my chat,
then in the middle any group lists, then on the top I have my level status and opponent status.
On the left bottom I have my attacks and armor debuffs, then my dir and time, and top I have the quest helper.
This I find leaves the screen open and clear for anything from ts to fighting I am doing.

I use Thor and am a self confessed info freak, I love clutter so long as I know where the clutter lies :smileyvery-happy:

Great idea about the macro, that will save me some room (even if it is just 3 and i have to have 2 vs 6 bottuns). And for you clickers tht don't understand us keyboard freaks- for me I have no problem moving around soloing close up since I use my numpad for most of my buttons making it easy to move with one hand while spamming CAs and Screams with the other. As for kiting I don't do it much but when I have I usually just scrolled way out and ran back and forth getting wacked when I passed the mob, but no biggie really (that's what LTs are for). If i kited more often (don't see much of a point to it) I would probably do more clicking since any time other than fighting I'm fully committed to my mouse and all it has to offer me.

[Edited for redundency]
Message Edited by jadsded on 04-13-2006 11:30 PM

I would be interested in seeing how some of you organize your bars with a full raid window.

I use the prophit ui, took me awhile to get it setup just right. It probably looks all spread out in the fullscreen picture, but that's cause I rarely play in fullscreen. I've got it set up to go from full screen to half screen so I can box my fury in another window. Though I suppose if you're using the same computer it's not really 2 "boxing". Here they are full screen and half screen. (the raid window, unshown, goes vertically down the left hand side of the screen.)




And half screen



I love chaos, so long as I know where to find the spell it doesn't really have to be all organized for me to be happy.

Kahna...

That's COOL.

Use Profit with macros for CoB, Fear, Evac etc (the usual ones).

First let me say i play on a pvp server thats why i have this set up. Anway...

I have all our songs 1-6. In pvp i go down this line immediatly. Then follow up with a bow root or fear.

All my melee skills are on Alt 1-5. In those rare cases i do go into melee these are easily hit.

Scream of death is my F key

Stealth is my E key.

My AoE DD is Q

My single target DD is Tab

And my Ranged autoattack is ` (tilde)

Then i got the buff bar at the bottom, and my utility bar in the middle of my screen which has clickies and fear.

Just an FYI.

I see a lot of people having their mastery attacks next to eachother. You can cram all 7 mastery strikes on 2 buttons. It would go like this.

Macro: Let's name it Sinister Strikes!
1st line - : ; useab Goblin Sinister Strike ; useab Shadowman
2nd line - : ; useab <mastery strike name> ; useab <mastery strike name>
3rd line - : ; useab <mastery strike name> ; useab <mastery strike name>

This would go as the 1st button.

The second button would have a sinister strike that's left and that isn't used as often as the other ones - this one is mainly to regulate how much time you have left till recast.

Warning: Sometimes you won't be able to cast it right away and the macro will say illegal target. To counter this just press the button in quick succession (multiple times) until it trigers. Usually 2-3 presses does the trick.

Bar 1 = attacks + bladedance
Bar 2 = buffs
Bar 3 = debuffs + rezz / heal / shard
Bar 4 = less used attacks (ranged/stealth, shocker, shield macro is the master strikes), and "get away stuff"
Message Edited by wyoung on 09-11-2006 09:29 AM

Im a troubador but our forum is not soo active. I run a 19" widescreen LCD at 1440 x 900, and use the default UI, I made the borders of spell bars and group window un transparent soo you can see them but they are normally fully invisible and appear only on mouse over.

Nice, but what I really meant was the "raid" window with 24 people .. looking for ideas with that.

Well mine fits quite well horizontal just underneath where my maintained spell bar is on the top.