I have too many attacks and buffs and debuffs to handle

[Luier]

<p>Why oh why do i have 2 complete toolbars filled with specials and I'm only level 12????  How many different offensive buffs do i need? How many defensive? My God there is too much crap to keep up with!  I'm dead serious!  You know the graphics in this game are awesome, the character movements are great, the animations are cool, the crafting is nice, but my god there is too much crap involved with the [Removed for Content] combat! </p><p>Why do i have to upgrade my spells 9 times just to get another spell on the same timer that does more damage that I now have to upgrade 9 times???</p><p>My armor, if I dont upgrade every piece every 3 levels, I die to anything I fight.</p><p>Why are there heroic elite mobs standing right next to trash mobs?</p><p>Sorry guys but I've been trying to get into EQ2 for 2 weeks straight this time (my account is over a year old) and its the same old crap, I get to level 12 or 13 with a class and i'm just overwhelmed by the number of specials and buffs and de-buffs on my toolbars that i have sensory overload and just log out!</p><p>Somebody tell me what I'm doing wrong!</p>

[Ponos]

<p>If you don't want to micromanage as much, try rolling a tank class, like zerker or guardian.  They have a lot less to worry about than, say, mages, bards, or scouts.  You want less ultility and more melee.</p>

[LordPazuzu]

<p>I hate to tell ya this, but you'll have way more than 2 hotbars if you ever reach the upper levels of the game.</p><p> Spells and abilities upgrade to a new version in that ability line every 14 levels.  However, required armor replacements do tend to slow down to every ten levels or so once you get to 20.</p>

[Luier]

<cite>LordPazuzu wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I hate to tell ya this, but you'll have way more than 2 hotbars if you ever reach the upper levels of the game.</p><p> Spells and abilities upgrade to a new version in that ability line every 14 levels.  However, required armor replacements do tend to slow down to every ten levels or so once you get to 20.</p></blockquote>So, I'm going to be watching my toolbar and not the game?  Can't some of these specials be combined or something?  Take my 4 different offensive buffs and turn them into 1 buff that get stronger as i level my toon, how hard of a concept is that?

[Maldrick]

<p>This may seem crazy, but one thing I find that helps me get my sea legs with a new class im playing, or an old toon I havent played for ages is to always start with 4 hotbars up (standard setup for me now)....</p><p>The main hotbar, one for ALT #, one for CTL # and one not tied to keys that is activated with the mouse.  The mousable one is for buffs and things not often used that really don't need to be keyboarded.....this leaves you more room on the other 3.  When organizing my actual keys, rather than thinking of the 3 bars as 36 hotkeys, I instead mentally think of them as 12 hotkeys with 3 "layers" on each one: The main key, that key +Alt, and that key +CTL.</p><p>Not sure if this is making any sense so I will give you an example.....As an inquisitor, my main heal is a single target reactive heal.  I keep it on the #5 position on my main hotbar.  I also get a group aoe reactive heal and a single target "emergency" reactive heal that costs no power but is on a 15 min recast.  Since they are all similar spells, I put the group aoe reactive on the ALT-5 key and the emergency single on the CTL-5 key.  This way, I always know that my reactives are all on the 5 key and if i need the aoe or the emergency one, i just hit ALT or CTL.</p><p>For whatever reason, this usually allows me to get comfortable with a class a lot faster than any other way I've tried....Eventually things start getting tight and you have to start combining things on the "layers" because you outright just need the keys, but by then, if you have had a comfortable setup, everything will be or almost be 2nd nature so the newer stuff is easier to remember.</p><p>SoE is apparently aware of the button-mashing situation getting a bit out of hand at this point and is working on consolidating a lot of the spells.  The impression I got is that it will be coming pretty soon.....Look around the boards for more info on that.....In the meantime you could try making macros and at least eliminating the extra keystrokes if you didn't want to wait.</p>

[Kaberu]

I have absolutely no problem with the amount of spells and buffs on my bars.That being said, you are right... there is FAR too much. Just because I've been able to manage so far doesn't mean it's a good system. The upgrades are largely pointless. If anything, they should add effects to each replacement instead of creating various lines of identical abilities.Why does my kick have to be bought again every 14 levels? Why not just let it scale? How about as I progress from the lowly Kick up to Stomp (or whatever it upgrades to), it adds effects like an Interrupt, a knockdown, a short stun, a DoT, a chance to AOE proc, a snare, etc... We need to keep in mind that not only are all the attacks, buffs, debuffs and other special abilities and spells on the bar... but so to are the growing arsenal of clickable items, a wider array of armor and equipment which often needs to be hot-keyed to utilize in times of need, and even a couple custom emotes that help give the game atmosphere (it is suppose to be part role-playing game, isn't it?). Lowering the amount of clickable buttons does not have to mean the game will become easier (for all you WoW-a-phobes). Just go back and play some of those classic games of yesteryear (where you had a stick and at best, two buttons) and you'll understand that simplicity does not define ease. EQ2 hot bars can definitely stand to lose some weight!

[troodon]

<p>As a 70 SK I have 7 hotbars holding 68 hotkeys.  That's with all the spells, macros, and items I use regularly.  </p><p>So enjoy two hotbars while it lasts <img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/b2eb59423fbf5fa39342041237025880.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /></p>

[Seiden]

i'm on 7 as well. and if you get the right kind of UI (profit) it will all fit in nicely.

[Jrral]

Note: as you level up spells replace previous versions. You don't generally have to keep the lower-level spells that have been replaced on your hotbar, you won't need them. You can also divide them up into two general categories: ones you use in combat, and ones you use only at the start when buffing up and preparing. The first type usually go on your first 3 hotbars where they're tied to keys, the rest can go on their own hotbar that you can ignore after preparations are done.

[retro_guy]

<cite>LordPazuzu wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I hate to tell ya this, but you'll have way more than 2 hotbars if you ever reach the upper levels of the game.</p><p> Spells and abilities upgrade to a new version in that ability line every 14 levels.  However, required armor replacements do tend to slow down to every ten levels or so once you get to 20.</p></blockquote>I can confirm this - I have 10 hotbars and could do with a couple more.But only 3 of them are used in battle.What you have to do is learn each spell as you get it (usually only 1 per level, with occasionally 2) and open MORE than 2 hotbars so you can begin to sort them.I don't know your class, but learning your spells or combart arts gradully is not too difficult as you don't get them all at once. The secret is to sort them into different areas on several hotbars - you could begin with group/self buffs (e.g. those you only need to cast once after you die, and then don't need to touch again - they can be placed out of the way), attack spells need to be in a prominent position, you can sort them into dots, AOEs, etc, special spells e.g. pet cast spells, invis, and seldom used spells can be put out of the way too.Basicaly order them in the order you want to cast them - I use the top row right to left then progress to the second bar if necessary. Hotbars can be resized to be e.g. 3 across x 4 down, they don't have to be 1x12 long.Don't let the spells get away on you, every time you get a new spell, carefully read what it does, and if necessary as another player of the same class how best to use it, then place it in a appropriate area on your hotbars.Spell upgrades come every 13 levels or so, and until level 50 you'll automatically be given a apprentice I spell, wich is basically rubbish, but at low levels doesn't really need to be upgraded, but the higher quality of the spells you have the easier it will be to remain alive and the easer it will be to take down hight mobs.Upgrading of weapons and armour should be done gradually as you find better items, but at lower levels you can go 5-10 levels before upgrading.It's up to you to decide "do I group and take a safer path, and stay with lower quality spells and equipment, or do I spend time making a bit of money to get the upgrade I need to solo without getting killed all the time.To be honest however, the first 15 levels or so are very easy, it's the time to begin learning your class, and get a feel for how to kill efficiently.

[Kasar]

Not everything has to be there.. I mean infravision and the like, do you ever use it?  Yell, when /y works as well (and isn't accidentally hit)?  The nonscaling magic debuff bards get?  Set recall point?  They're just a "k" and a click or two away.  There're also macros if you want to combine two at a time (three doesn't work).  I have several for those things that I always use together. I've known people who just keep two toolbars, old EQ1 players that really resisted going to the second one.  Too much reshuffling for me though, I have five on most of my toons. A one-button buff and one-button debuff would be a bit much.  Why not just key all CA's off autoattack and add an "offensive spell" key?  Let the AI handle it, then it's just watching the computer fight itself.

[Armawk]

<cite>Luier wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Why oh why do i have 2 complete toolbars filled with specials and I'm only level 12????  How many different offensive buffs do i need? How many defensive? My God there is too much crap to keep up with!  I'm dead serious!</p></blockquote><p>Have you realised that when a new spell with the same symbol comes up it usually replaces the lower one (shares the same timer)? so that the lower one should be removed from the taskbar and the new one put in its place?</p><p>2 whole bars at 12 seems greatly excessive for any character.</p>

[Swiftshad]

<cite>Luier wrote:</cite> <blockquote><p>Why do i have to upgrade my spells 9 times just to get another spell on the same timer that does more damage that I now have to upgrade 9 times???</p><p>Somebody tell me what I'm doing wrong!</p></blockquote><p>You don't have to upgrade your spells 9 times and every 14 levels you don't get another spell on the same timer.  I'm guessing here that you are upgrading from Apprentice 1, 2, 3, 4 then Adept 1, 3 and master and that you are not removing older lower lvl spells from your hotbar.</p><p>Once you get a spell you can just go to the broker and go straight to the upgrade you want, say to an adept 1.  For lower levels I really didn't get anything above and adept 1 to be honest, for a heal or FD you might want to go straight from apprentice 1 to adept 3 if you like.  You certainly do not need to do all the upgrades in between, just to the one you want. Once you have upgraded then your apprentice 1 is overridden by the adept.  </p><p>Once you progress up 14 levels you get a new spell that does essentially the same thing (has same icon) but with more damage.  They have a different spell name but this new higher level on one REPLACES the old one so you take the old lower level one off your hotbar. </p><p>What class are you, if you're a fighter that takes direct damage then gear can be important to upgrade, if you're a mage then you need to put more in your spells and play style. </p><p>Alot of things you can take off your hotbars like gate home, intravision etc or put them on a hotbar you use the spinner to switch too so they are no so in your face.  I think coping with hotbars is all about organisation and putting things together that make sense, personally I run with 6 on my UI set up for raiding, and I switch out using spinners to the others, 1 for buffing, 1 utility, 1 miscellaneous (and 1 crafting.)  All 10 full, need more lol.</p><p>MOBS - where are you trying to solo that you're pulling heroics?  I found the caves were good at lvl 12 soloing, few quests in there too.  Not sure if you're good or evil thou but I'm sure people can sugest good solo spots.  Body pulling can be a good way to pull solos away from heroics, just edge closer to the solo mob and they usually come without the mobs around them... don't cast anything on them, just let them see you.</p>

[funkmasterflex]

some of the spells you get arent worth anything so you dont have to upgrade everything to master 1 or better.  maybe necro's are just easy but litch and lifetap and the disease aoe and the pets are mostly what you have to twink out and roll with.  buff pet, press pet attack, then nuke away.  necro is a super class if you dont want to mess with buffing or debuffing and only use a few attacks or skills. plus we can look like skeletons so who doesnt want to be one!

[Moongloom]

<p>Below level 20, many of the abilities get upgraded every 7 levels rather than 14.  </p><p>For example, just recently I just started a Dirge.  I got Singing Strike at level 1 and it got replaced by Singing Blade at level 8 and then that was replaced by Singing Thrust at level 15.  </p><p>At lower levels most classes don't have that many additional abilities to be replaced every 14 levels.  The classes are still pretty much getting their initial class abilities below 20 mostly.  Once you get above, say, level 15 then most spells revert to upgrades every 14 levels.  </p><p>The reason for the upgrades and not just scaling the abilities happens for several reasons I believe.  It is to give a market for higher level spells that might not be there otherwise.  More market allows for more interaction between players.  It also gives you a goal to shoot for.  Getting that next spell upgrade feels good to me.  Then finally, I think most MMORPG's seem to be going to that nowadays.  WoW does exactly the same thing (but not necessarily in 14 level increments.)</p>

[NiteWolfe]

 Its b/c of whines like this that we are faceing spell/ca condensing when RoK comes out. IMO its a bad idea. I personaly enjoy all my spells and ca's and count a lot of my dps from procs off using those spells and ca's. Less stuff to spam means less procs= lower dps. RoK will bring a 10 level progression in to place instead of 14. Meaning every thing you have now  will be upgraded( this is why the market for masters and ad3's is in the dirt atm. Thanks SOE for destroying the marker MONTHS in advance). As a swashy i have 1 full bar of damage attacks a full bar of debuffs and a full bar of buffs. after that its 3 to 4 bars of macros for posions/ resist gear macros. If haveing to many things to cast is a problem for you personaly maybe this game is to much for you. Someone also said that  there is to much on the hat bars and they have to spend to much time watch the hotbars and not the screen. /boggle... the hat bars are part of the screen/game! Are you so narrow sighted that if you look at your hotbars you cant seen the rest of the screen? By the time your level 70 what to cast and when to cast it should be second nature to you and as long as you dont change up placement on your bars you should be able to cast them with out having to LOOK at some thing. If your unable to do this then truely this game just maybe to much for you to handle.

[Luier]

<cite>NiteWolfe wrote:</cite><blockquote> Its b/c of whines like this that we are faceing spell/ca condensing when RoK comes out. IMO its a bad idea. I personaly enjoy all my spells and ca's and count a lot of my dps from procs off using those spells and ca's. Less stuff to spam means less procs= lower dps. RoK will bring a 10 level progression in to place instead of 14. Meaning every thing you have now  will be upgraded( this is why the market for masters and ad3's is in the dirt atm. Thanks SOE for destroying the marker MONTHS in advance). As a swashy i have 1 full bar of damage attacks a full bar of debuffs and a full bar of buffs. after that its 3 to 4 bars of macros for posions/ resist gear macros. If haveing to many things to cast is a problem for you personaly maybe this game is to much for you. Someone also said that  there is to much on the hat bars and they have to spend to much time watch the hotbars and not the screen. /boggle... the hat bars are part of the screen/game! Are you so narrow sighted that if you look at your hotbars you cant seen the rest of the screen? By the time your level 70 what to cast and when to cast it should be second nature to you and as long as you dont change up placement on your bars you should be able to cast them with out having to LOOK at some thing. If your unable to do this then truely this game just maybe to much for you to handle.</blockquote><p>How do you hit your specials without looking at them. They have refresh timers on them. Plus I use my mouse to hit my specials and my asdw keys to move. If i didnt do this I would have to use both hands just to set off specials (alt 2 no problem but then go to ctl 9 oops fat fingers).</p><p>BTW for those who asked, I play a wizzard in freeport.</p>

[NiteWolfe]

<cite>Luier wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>NiteWolfe wrote:</cite><blockquote> Its b/c of whines like this that we are faceing spell/ca condensing when RoK comes out. IMO its a bad idea. I personaly enjoy all my spells and ca's and count a lot of my dps from procs off using those spells and ca's. Less stuff to spam means less procs= lower dps. RoK will bring a 10 level progression in to place instead of 14. Meaning every thing you have now  will be upgraded( this is why the market for masters and ad3's is in the dirt atm. Thanks SOE for destroying the marker MONTHS in advance). As a swashy i have 1 full bar of damage attacks a full bar of debuffs and a full bar of buffs. after that its 3 to 4 bars of macros for posions/ resist gear macros. If haveing to many things to cast is a problem for you personaly maybe this game is to much for you. Someone also said that  there is to much on the hat bars and they have to spend to much time watch the hotbars and not the screen. /boggle... the hat bars are part of the screen/game! Are you so narrow sighted that if you look at your hotbars you cant seen the rest of the screen? By the time your level 70 what to cast and when to cast it should be second nature to you and as long as you dont change up placement on your bars you should be able to cast them with out having to LOOK at some thing. If your unable to do this then truely this game just maybe to much for you to handle.</blockquote><p>How do you hit your specials without looking at them. They have refresh timers on them. Plus I use my mouse to hit my specials and my asdw keys to move. If i didnt do this I would have to use both hands just to set off specials (alt 2 no problem but then go to ctl 9 oops fat fingers).</p><p>BTW for those who asked, I play a wizzard in freeport.</p></blockquote> Well normaly its not a issue some times i use the hotkey on my Zmerc keyboard other times i do click. Guess its simply a matter of getting used to it even when iam clicking i dont really need to look i KNOW iam clicking the right  areas. When iam using the  hotkeys my fingers just KNOW where to hit. This may be due to years of playing games like this maybe iam just conditioned to it. 5 years of daoc a pvp heavy game if you had to stop and think what to click or where to click on a hotbar you were dead. My question is since the hotbar are on the same play screen as everything else why do you have to look just at the hotbars? can you not take in the WHOLE screen at once? Meaning do you have to lose focus on the play area to see your hotbars? I play with 3 accounts 3 mice 3 keyboards and 3 moniters and seldom do i have to look at the other 2 side screens directly my  peripherial vision takes in enough to to see when things are not greyed out and then theres just the sense of timeing after a while you know the timeing by heart.Like i said thu maybe its just me i have many years experance with this kind of setup.

[beefsled]

<p>The large amount of abilities is what I love about this game's combat.</p><p>After playing SWG for about a year and only having 5 or 6 "specials" to manage I have learned to really appreciate having options.</p><p>If you feel that you have too many hotkeys to manage comfortably then don't put your buffs in the hotbar, just click them directly from your spell book.</p><p>I can't see a reason to come to the forums and complain about having too many options/abilities.</p><p>Maybe this isn't the game for you if you have to try and "get into it".</p>

[Noaani]

<cite>Luier wrote:</cite> <blockquote>How do you hit your specials without looking at them. They have refresh timers on them. Plus I use my mouse to hit my specials and my asdw keys to move. If i didnt do this I would have to use both hands just to set off specials (alt 2 no problem but then go to ctl 9 oops fat fingers). <p>BTW for those who asked, I play a wizzard in freeport.</p></blockquote><p>Thats all the info I needed.</p><p>As a level 12 wizard, this is a total list of everything that are in your spell book and should be on your hotbar:</p><p>Freezing WhorlPainful MeditationVivid SealPlasma BurstBurning RadianceTounge TwistBlazeSee InvisibilityStorm of LightningAmplifyCure ArcaneArcane BindingsArcane AugurMagi's ShieldingFire Chamber</p><p> And these are spells you have that, although in your spell book, should not be on your hotbar:</p><p>Dispel MagicBind SightCold WhorlLightning Burst</p><p>So, you should have a total of 15 spells on your hotbar (16 if you also have Call of The Overlord). Of these, only 6 spells are of any use being cast during solo combat. The other spells are either buffs with a permanant duration (cast them and then forget about them), or are spells that are only of use to you in groups.</p><p>When you start out, make sure you have put up all of your permanant duration buffs, Magi's Shielding, Amplify and Vivid Seal are the only ones you really need. Once you have these cast, put them in a place that is easy for you to reach so you can re-apply them when you die, but otherwise out of the game (I have mine on the bottom of my 4 main hotbars).</p><p>Now, once you have done that, you need to pick the spells that you will use most in combat, and place them in an easily accessable place on a hotbar, somewhere like 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 on your main hotbar (the hotbar that you can access from the keyboard without needing to press alt or ctrl). These spells are <i><b>Freezing Whorl, Plasma Burst, Blaze, Storm of Lightning, Arcane Bindings</b></i> and <i><b>Fire Chamber.</b></i></p><p>These spells are the only thing you need to think about while actually in combat, and since there is only 6 of them, it makes it a lot easier than worrying about 20 or so spells.</p><p>Set your hotbars up (indeed, set your whole UI up) in a manner that puts similar spells together, but more importantly so that YOU know exactly where every single spell is. When you get a spell that replaces an existing spell you have, remove the old spell from your hotbar and place the new spell where it was. Thus from level 3, pressing the button "2" would maybe cast the spell Fire Chamber, but then when you hit level 16, and get a spell called Flame Chamber, you would then put this spell in place of the old, so that pressing "2" would now cast Flame Chamber instead of Fire Chamber.</p><p>You need to know what each of your spells do, you need to understand that some of them are not spells to be cast during battle. You need to also understand that some of your buffs are not even desinged for you or your class (Burning Radiance shouold be put on any melee members of your group, Accord, which you get at level 18, should be cast on the tank of your group etc.). Learn the difference between spells with different coloured backgrounds (yes, the colour of the backgroud actually means something). Read the effect of each of your spells, and think to yourself when that spell would be useful to you. Once you know what each spell does, and where you have it placed on your hotbars, combat will become a lot simpler for you.</p><p>Most importantly, this game is not WoW, and one of the things that sets this game appart (at the moment at least) is the fact that we have far more options of what to cast during combat. The difference between a good player and a not so good player in this game is simply the knowledge of what to cast and when to cast it during battle. The reason the UI is as customisable as it is, is simply because it needs to be in order for us to be able to play this game in an affective manner.</p><p>I have 8 hotbars up on my screen at all times, and between my spells, macros and items to use, there is a total of 1 empty slot (level 70 raiding wizard), so having 2 hotbars is not too bad.</p>

[Tyrus Dracofire]

<p>as for Paladins i played.</p><p>they get 18 new spells for each tier in every 14th levels as they hit after 20th lvl.</p><p>same attack skill upgrades from 1stlvl, then 7thlvl, finally regular 14thlvl, 28th, 42nd, 56th, and currently at 70th.</p><p>SOE had spread out 18 spells in each tier in 14 level bracket, in some levels and you only learned 2-3 spells or few 1 spells in some levels during each 14th level groups. if you get 1 new spell when dinged, it mean that spell was pretty strong compared to cluster spells learned.</p><p>i used 3 hotbars up, when not in combat, i have e-mote hotbar and crafting hotbar.</p><p>i was so glad that i dont have to mess with resetting lower level spells, it was tedious to rotate when i mentored, but now i can use my current skills and still keep them when mentoring with "auto-reduced" skill effects without changing. it free up my other hotbars for items and gears.</p><p>not sure all classes get 18 new upgrade spells from each tiers. i dont play other class that often to be able to remember.</p>

[Vatec]

Despite some posters' opinions, I think the OP has a valid point.  Low-level players get bombarded with new spells/arts at an alarming rate.  First piece of advice:  right-click on your experience bar and select "Disable Combat Experience."  You'll still gain experience from exploration, turning in collections, and completing quests, but this should slow you down enough that you can learn your new abilities.Now for the down-side:  at level 49 I have 8 hotbars displayed at all times.  I have one vertical one with all my buffs with self-only at the top, single target in the middle, and group-only at the bottom.  This makes it quite simple to rebuff should I happen to die.  On the right side of the screen I have 3 bars, one for harvesting macros (equip shovel in slot 1, equip shears in slot 2, target node, harvest) and two for utility things like Track, Stealth, Escape, Essences, Feathers, Guides, and Hearts (and other spells on other characters, such as Revive, Rescue, Intercept, Smuggle, etc.).  On the left side I have 4 hotbars all devoted to combat.  The top one has my stances, my ranged attacks, and my blue AEs (because you =really= don't want to use a blue skill by accident in the wrong place).  The second one has things like cure potions (or actual cure spells for my priest-types), hex dolls, and ranged attacks that don't fit on the first bar.  The third bar has "alternative" arts (i.e., I have my Master Strike placed right above my regular flank attack, since it follows the same rules; I also have my Point Blank Shot right above my Cheap Shot because it has a very similar effect).  The fourth bar is the main combat bar with the Heroic Opportunity starter, follow-up, and finisher followed by all the other melee arts.And when in combat I pretty much only look at my hotbars.  I have absolutely no sense of rhythm, so I =need= to see the icons light up so I know when they're available again :^PTo those who think that you can take in the whole screen at once, more power to you.  But as for me, I tune out everything except the combat-related windows.  I completely ignore chat when I'm fighting (which I'm sure annoys some people), but I have to do that or I won't be anywhere near as efficient at causing damage.  And when you're a Ranger, the only thing you =do= is damage, so you'd better be efficient at it ;^)

[OpethPA]

<p>I never understood why people would choose to play with that many bars on the screen at one time. </p><p>When you have 8 of them up it has to be rather chaoticcluttered looking. </p><p>I play with 1 bar on the screen at a time though I use shift + 1- 9 to move among the bars. Each bar is organized logically so my first bar is my primary dps bar, second buffs/debuffs/aoe's, third misc ca's or items, 4 crafting and so on. </p><p> Of course I do not use the mouse to click on buttons but rather the corresponding number key.. </p>

[MrWolfie]

<p>I hate shifting hotbars. I like to have any button I might need, whether they're permanent buffs or combat arts or my Call home, immediately available. I use seven hotbars, before the default UI was updated I used UI mods to make the hotbars exactly how I wanted them ~ now it's easy to modify them so they're as unobtrusive as possible while still being functional.</p><p>Before I got my new monitor, I ran at 1280×1024 on my old 22" CRT, but now I'm running at 1920x1200 on my widescreen ~ it comes highly recommended!</p>

[MrWolfie]

<p>duplicate post <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[Naglfar]

<p>As a guardian on pvp server, I play with all 10 hotbars. Almost all full. An I enjoy it.</p><p>If SOE didn't nerf the leveling so much, a new player would have more time to learn his spells all all other game mechanics. Instead of nerfing the game one more time with spell consolidation, they should slower the leveling speed of the 20 first level. <img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/2786c5c8e1a8be796fb2f726cca5a0fe.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /></p>

[nia]

      It can probably seem like a bit much at first but you learn to prioritize and manage your hotbars.....Like someone said earlier it also depends on what class you play as to how many hotbars you would need..... My main is a Fury and I have 5 hotbars up but really only use 3 in combat....It also depends on your playstyle....I probably use more soloing than I do in groups or raids.....Most of the time when I am grouped the mobs die so fast I can hardly use more than 3 spells per mob anyway so it doesn't do much good to have several hotbars of combat spells....it would help also if you tell us what class your playing so that others in that class can help you out.....You also dont have to upgrade your spells constantly....Most of the time when I'd level I either bought adept 1 or App4 (with an occasional adept3/master) and that was that for that spell for 14 levels.....Like I said you find out what your class does well and you make those spells your strength.....

[Kimage]

<cite>Luier wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Why oh why do i have 2 complete toolbars filled with specials and I'm only level 12????  How many different offensive buffs do i need? How many defensive? My God there is too much crap to keep up with!  I'm dead serious!  You know the graphics in this game are awesome, the character movements are great, the animations are cool, the crafting is nice, but my god there is too much crap involved with the [I cannot control my vocabulary] combat! </p><p>Why do i have to upgrade my spells 9 times just to get another spell on the same timer that does more damage that I now have to upgrade 9 times???</p><p>My armor, if I dont upgrade every piece every 3 levels, I die to anything I fight.</p><p>Why are there heroic elite mobs standing right next to trash mobs?</p><p>Sorry guys but I've been trying to get into EQ2 for 2 weeks straight this time (my account is over a year old) and its the same old crap, I get to level 12 or 13 with a class and i'm just overwhelmed by the number of specials and buffs and de-buffs on my toolbars that i have sensory overload and just log out!</p><p>Somebody tell me what I'm doing wrong!</p></blockquote><p> ok first of all - all of your spells will be upgraded - so that debuff that you got at say lvl 2 may be replaced at lvl 10. Same icon - same  spell timer - does more debuff. Take the old one off of your spell bar. Look at the descriptions of each spell and if they do the same thing but the amount changes then take the most recent lvl one and keeep it  - dismissa ll the other ones. Also upgrade them from apprentice 1 to at least 4's and you will be more effective killing mobs. </p><p>Armor:  You shouldn't have to upgrade ever 3 lvls - some peices you will upgrade sooner than every 10 but every 10 lvls you should be replaceing your armor. At lvl 20 do the Armor Quests in your home city and you will get xp and nice armor for your 20s even some classes can wear into thier 30s. </p><p>Heroic Mobs: well it depends on where you are going. The game at the early lvls is VERY solo friendly. Mostly the dungeons are for your groups and heroic mobs. </p><p>btw - as a lvl 70 Defiler I have 9 hotbars up and just about every spell is different from eachother.  My 70 monk has 8 bars and so does my assassin. My warden is at 6 and she's in her 50s </p>

[Gutwren]

I have trouble telling if the OP is joking or just so disabled that they cannot play a game with more than 2 hotbars...