What ten active ability slots?

JeroenB

I've been playing this game for almost a year now, but after reading the recent "Update 35 Preview—Combat Changes" post I feel like I have missed or misunderstood some important functionality:

With 10 total active ability slots at your disposal [...]

What ten ability slots?? I am only familiar with slots 1-5 + R?

The only related thing I can think of is the weapon set toggle for different types of combat situations, which includes a distinct ability set to go with the different weapon set. That functionality however matches neither the intent nor the behaviour described in the official combat post.

Presumably there is something really obvious that I have continuously overlooked for some reason... could someone clarify?

kringled_1

They mean ability slots 1-5 on both front and back bars.

Nestor

Actually, you have 12 Active slots.

5 skills plus ultimate. On two bars.

exeeter702

2 action bars my guy....

JeroenB

Thanks to those who took the time to respond, though regrettably the consistent, definitive nature of the answers leaves me feeling increasingly stupid...

Apparently everybody else clearly sees two action bars, but the only thing I see in-game in the Skills UI is one single 1-5+R bar, configurable for each of the primary and backup weapon sets, and I cannot figure out how to access a second bar.

DarcyMardin

JeroenB wrote: »

Thanks to those who took the time to respond, though regrettably the consistent, definitive nature of the answers leaves me feeling increasingly stupid...

Apparently everybody else clearly sees two action bars, but the only thing I see in-game in the Skills UI is one single 1-5+R bar, configurable for each of the primary and backup weapon sets, and I cannot figure out how to access a second bar.

I don’t know how long you’ve been playing, but in case you’re new, at level 15 you get a second bar, and you can switch weapons and use another 6 skills (five regular skills and an ultimate).

fizl101

JeroenB wrote: »

Thanks to those who took the time to respond, though regrettably the consistent, definitive nature of the answers leaves me feeling increasingly stupid...

Apparently everybody else clearly sees two action bars, but the only thing I see in-game in the Skills UI is one single 1-5+R bar, configurable for each of the primary and backup weapon sets, and I cannot figure out how to access a second bar.

The backup weapon set skills is the second bar. I'm not sure how you weapon swap on pc, but on playstation you press left on the d pad to swap to your back bar and again to go to your front bar

JanTanhide

On PC iirc the tilde key is the default key to swap bars. You can go to Settings/Controls and rebind it to whatever you want including a mouse button.

I use a Logitech G502 Mouse and have rebound the swap bar key to one of my mouse buttons.

Also, suggest that if you haven't done so to go into Settings (can't remember exactly where since I'm not in game) and turn it on so your Ability or Skill bars are always on. Otherwise they only appear during Combat. Also, turn on your Attribute bars to always show or always on.

Good luck!

danno8

DarcyMardin wrote: »

JeroenB wrote: »

Thanks to those who took the time to respond, though regrettably the consistent, definitive nature of the answers leaves me feeling increasingly stupid...

Apparently everybody else clearly sees two action bars, but the only thing I see in-game in the Skills UI is one single 1-5+R bar, configurable for each of the primary and backup weapon sets, and I cannot figure out how to access a second bar.

I don’t know how long you’ve been playing, but in case you’re new, at level 15 you get a second bar, and you can switch weapons and use another 6 skills (five regular skills and an ultimate).

He said nearly a year.

ZoS, seriously, the game needs some kind of tutorial. Look to FF14 if you need inspiration.

jaws343

danno8 wrote: »

DarcyMardin wrote: »

JeroenB wrote: »

Thanks to those who took the time to respond, though regrettably the consistent, definitive nature of the answers leaves me feeling increasingly stupid...

Apparently everybody else clearly sees two action bars, but the only thing I see in-game in the Skills UI is one single 1-5+R bar, configurable for each of the primary and backup weapon sets, and I cannot figure out how to access a second bar.

I don’t know how long you’ve been playing, but in case you’re new, at level 15 you get a second bar, and you can switch weapons and use another 6 skills (five regular skills and an ultimate).

He said nearly a year.

ZoS, seriously, the game needs some kind of tutorial. Look to FF14 if you need inspiration.

The game gives you a pop up, on every character, once you hit level 15 and can start utilizing the back bar. Pretty in your face notification.

danno8

jaws343 wrote: »

danno8 wrote: »

DarcyMardin wrote: »

JeroenB wrote: »

Thanks to those who took the time to respond, though regrettably the consistent, definitive nature of the answers leaves me feeling increasingly stupid...

Apparently everybody else clearly sees two action bars, but the only thing I see in-game in the Skills UI is one single 1-5+R bar, configurable for each of the primary and backup weapon sets, and I cannot figure out how to access a second bar.

I don’t know how long you’ve been playing, but in case you’re new, at level 15 you get a second bar, and you can switch weapons and use another 6 skills (five regular skills and an ultimate).

He said nearly a year.

ZoS, seriously, the game needs some kind of tutorial. Look to FF14 if you need inspiration.

The game gives you a pop up, on every character, once you hit level 15 and can start utilizing the back bar. Pretty in your face notification.

I know. But this person missed it and that was it. If there was a tutorial that taught people how to weave, bar swap, stay out of red, taunt, heal and all the other things that are helpful to know about combat in general, well, I don't see how that would be a bad thing.

jaws343

danno8 wrote: »

jaws343 wrote: »

danno8 wrote: »

DarcyMardin wrote: »

JeroenB wrote: »

Thanks to those who took the time to respond, though regrettably the consistent, definitive nature of the answers leaves me feeling increasingly stupid...

Apparently everybody else clearly sees two action bars, but the only thing I see in-game in the Skills UI is one single 1-5+R bar, configurable for each of the primary and backup weapon sets, and I cannot figure out how to access a second bar.

I don’t know how long you’ve been playing, but in case you’re new, at level 15 you get a second bar, and you can switch weapons and use another 6 skills (five regular skills and an ultimate).

He said nearly a year.

ZoS, seriously, the game needs some kind of tutorial. Look to FF14 if you need inspiration.

The game gives you a pop up, on every character, once you hit level 15 and can start utilizing the back bar. Pretty in your face notification.

I know. But this person missed it and that was it. If there was a tutorial that taught people how to weave, bar swap, stay out of red, taunt, heal and all the other things that are helpful to know about combat in general, well, I don't see how that would be a bad thing.

I don't think tutorials are nearly as impactful as everyone wants to think they are.

The current tutorial explains how and when to interrupt enemies and still, players do not perform interrupts on world bosses.

Tutorials will never make up for lack of attention from a player.

kringled_1

JeroenB wrote: »

Thanks to those who took the time to respond, though regrettably the consistent, definitive nature of the answers leaves me feeling increasingly stupid...

Apparently everybody else clearly sees two action bars, but the only thing I see in-game in the Skills UI is one single 1-5+R bar, configurable for each of the primary and backup weapon sets, and I cannot figure out how to access a second bar.

I think the disconnect is that almost everyone else thinks of the backup weapon as just a second set of skills, and both bars are used in most encounters except maybe very short fights with low health trash mobs. Your phrasing in the opening post makes me think that your approach is one might take in a different game, where one uses a primary weapon and a backup is there only for situations not covered by the primary, for example in a shooter game using a long range rifle as the primary with a pistol backup.

p00tx

jaws343 wrote: »

danno8 wrote: »

jaws343 wrote: »

danno8 wrote: »

DarcyMardin wrote: »

JeroenB wrote: »

Thanks to those who took the time to respond, though regrettably the consistent, definitive nature of the answers leaves me feeling increasingly stupid...

Apparently everybody else clearly sees two action bars, but the only thing I see in-game in the Skills UI is one single 1-5+R bar, configurable for each of the primary and backup weapon sets, and I cannot figure out how to access a second bar.

I don’t know how long you’ve been playing, but in case you’re new, at level 15 you get a second bar, and you can switch weapons and use another 6 skills (five regular skills and an ultimate).

He said nearly a year.

ZoS, seriously, the game needs some kind of tutorial. Look to FF14 if you need inspiration.

The game gives you a pop up, on every character, once you hit level 15 and can start utilizing the back bar. Pretty in your face notification.

I know. But this person missed it and that was it. If there was a tutorial that taught people how to weave, bar swap, stay out of red, taunt, heal and all the other things that are helpful to know about combat in general, well, I don't see how that would be a bad thing.

I don't think tutorials are nearly as impactful as everyone wants to think they are.

The current tutorial explains how and when to interrupt enemies and still, players do not perform interrupts on world bosses.

Tutorials will never make up for lack of attention from a player.

I have to disagree. If you've ever played Dark Souls, the tutorial is everything, and you CANNOT advance until you pass the tutorial portion. It's hugely important to the gameplay because the combat on that game is simplistic, but unique and the fights are difficult. The no advancing part might be a little much for this particular game, but maybe incentivize it with a nice juicy little gift box for when you complete it, like an account bound small house and a 3 mil target dummy and a crafting station for your home on the first character you complete it on, and then give them endeavor points or something for each subsequent character they complete it on to incentivize repetition (which is great for learning). Make the quest an auto start process that begins once they're level 15 (so bar swapping can be part of the tutorial) and no longer in an instanced part of the game. Make the tutorial a revisitable instance with more optional tutorial categories that can be explored. You could even create an assistant that can be placed in a home that serves as a sort of "gate" to the tutorial instance.

JeroenB

Wow, a lot of responses suddenly, thanks all.

To be clear, I am already aware of what the game calls the "Toggles between your Primary and Backup Weapon Sets" functionality, including its associated action bar swap. (I mentioned it in each of my posts!) However, as kringled_1 guessed, I have always interpreted that particular description at face value. So, understanding the developer intent for that feature as swapping between different weapons sets and abilities for different types of encounters (e.g. groups of mobs vs. single-target), or at most different stages of an encounter (e.g. from bow to daggers as mobs close in).

If someone had told me that players had figured out how to use this feature in an unforseen way to gain an advantage within encounters, I would not have been surprised. Following all your responses I now understand that the developers actually consider toggling between weapon sets continuously during an encounter to be normal, expected behaviour, despite the espoused intent from the description. (Think about it for a moment -- how on earth can a combatant swapping out their entire weapon set without interruption every five seconds be considered "normal" behaviour?? Even dropping your pollaxe and drawing your sword would interrupt combat activity, and there's no realistic way to recover your pollaxe from the ground during combat without exposing yourself to great risk.)

In other words, in this case the problem isn't not knowing the existence of the feature, but misunderstanding what the developers expect you to use it for.

Regarding tutorials: Elder Scrolls tutorials are always mostly 'in-character', and I suspect properly explaining many mechanics would require more extensive out-of-character explanations. But tutorials are not the only available form of information exchange. That combat change post also mentions "weaving", and that the developers consider this important to a player's enjoyment of the game, and that they see the general lack of understanding of "weaving" as a problem. As far as I can tell, there is not a single article in the Guides section on the website that covers combat at all, let alone this "weaving". So they'd rather re-work the entire combat system than sit down and write an official explanation of something they actively want their players to know...