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Summary: I'd like the ability to queue up a single action to happen when next possible.
There's an old programming saying: the only valid numbers are zero, one, and infinity. At the moment, we're allowed to queue zero actions. This is an understandable design decision, in that if actions could just be stacked up for future execution a single macro could automate a whole battle. However, I think that there's a middle ground - instead of a zero- or infinite-length queue, allow a one-length queue.
Here's how I see this working: if, when a button is activated via keypress or mouse click, the action on that button is not usable (because of cooldown, another spell in the middle of casting, etc.) it'll enter a 'queued' state and be activated as soon as it is usable. In addition, if another action was queued, the new action will replace it in the queue.
This sounds somewhat complex, but from a user's POV it's quite simple - at any point in combat there's a "currently happening" action and an optional "queued" action.
Given that queueing an action, like activating one, should only be doable via user input, and that the queue would only be length-1, this doesn't make bot-creation possible. However, it does make the game more friendly to the casual gamer by reducing (somewhat) the "twitch factor" of combat.
A simple use case:
In groups, especially in instances, a priest will be constantly watching the health bars of their comrades. A good priest will be planning in advance: "I'm currently healing X, but Y just pulled those two mobs off the tank, so they'll be needing health soon." Having the 1-action queue available would let the priest set the needed heal for Y to happen and free their attention to watch for further threats.
A more complex use case:
Druids have a common tactic of fighting in a feral form and switching out to caster form to heal as needed. The "Swiftshifting" talent supports this playstyle by reducing the mana cost of a shapeshift if it's done within 6 seconds of a prior shift. The (relatively short) time limit places a large emphasis on shifting *immediately* after the heal finishes. In a tough fight, the mana conserved by shifting in that window can end up saving the druid's life. The current UI situation gives two options: repeatedly hit the shift button while the heal's casting (bleh), or watch the casting bar, the swiftshift timer, and the global cooldown spinner intently, making it harder to keep watch on the actual fight. Again, the difficulty disappears completely with an action queue - the shapeshift can be queued while healing and the game will take care of executing it.
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