My latest dumb idea

[Derakon]

The biggest problem I have with removing commands is that it interferes with my keymaps. On my warriors I often have keymaps for three rods, two staves, and possibly a scroll or two, not to mention my ammo -- for casters of course almost every spellbook gets its own "@m4" or whatever.

If we had some simple hotkey setup though, then this wouldn't be necessary -- binding ! to "use Staff of Detect Evil" instead of "(use staff) (inscribed with @u0)" and letting the game track what kind of item I want to use would be nice.

[d_m]

Originally Posted by Derakon

If we had some simple hotkey setup though, then this wouldn't be necessary -- binding ! to "use Staff of Detect Evil" instead of "(use staff) (inscribed with @u0)" and letting the game track what kind of item I want to use would be nice.

I think in the long run we have to move in this direction.

While the current macro system is pretty powerful it's a bit arcane and hard to conceptualize as compared to what many other games do. I'm not saying macros would necessarily be removed, but I think a more basic hotkeys approach is essential.

EDIT: I should add that for V4 at least the hope is that a lot of the essential "detection macros" will be reduced, resulting in fewer "press X not to die" situations needing such macros.

[Derakon]

I wasn't trying to suggest that the keymap system should go away, rather that much of what is currently done by keymaps could be done more easily and intuitively (and therefore usefully to new players) with a standard hotkey system.

[LostTemplar]

This is close to how things are implemented currently in FA: There are all old commands still, but there is also extended "use inventory" command, that allows player to select item first, and gives a pop-up menu of what to do with this item e.g. {drop, throw, aim, squelch} for a wand.

So, general "FA already have this." comment.