Stop Respec From Reshuffling Tray Icons

[Tailcoat]

I find it frustrating that respeccing a character shuffles around all my carefully organized power and macro icons. I don't know about other players, but I have a lot of macro icons, which makes it take a while to reorganize. It'd be wonderful if the icons would just stay where they are. Any deleted powers could just disappear, and any new ones could appear in the nearest empty slot.

[Bartacus]

i don't know how hard this would be but i love the idea

[BrandX]

I too, love this idea.

[Alchemystic]

We're now able to lock our power trays to stop powers from shuffling around, so I'm surprised this still happens during a respec.

 

Yeah, this seems like the next logical step, so I'm all for it!

[GraspingVileTerror]

If locking the Power buttons in the Tray during Respec is not an option, I resubmit:

https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/14927-save-and-load-command-for-power-tray-configuration/

 

Alternatively, Cooldown Timers in Pop-Trays would also address this in an indirect way.

[TheZag]

I have several characters in need of a respec now that they are 50 but i just dont because of this.   I like to battle enemies,  not play find all my abilities and remove 30 temp powers from my tray.

[Shenanigunner]

It is a huge PITA to rebuild your trays after a respec. But I'd bet, on hazy info, that it's a much bigger task to fix it than it might seem. There would have to be a step during which (1) your alt has no powers but (2) somehow those power icons remain locked in place. That's almost certainly a block of new code, shoehorned into a metal-level process.

 

But, yeah, it'd be nice. Maybe an option to save and load trays would be a workable alternative?

[RageusQuitus2]

8 hours ago, TheZag said:

have several characters in need of a respec now that they are 50 but i just dont because of this.   I like to battle enemies,  not play find all my abilities and remove 30 temp powers from my tray.

This!  Agreed.  Respecs are a pita.

[TraumaTrain]

It is an inconvenience to be sure. What helps me is to grab my phone and take a picture of the trays before the respec so that I have my own guide to rebuild the trays after.

 

I'm all for an in-game solution as well.

 

 

Edited June 2, 2021 by TraumaTrain

[Grouchybeast]

On 6/1/2021 at 2:33 PM, TheZag said:

I have several characters in need of a respec now that they are 50 but i just dont because of this.   I like to battle enemies,  not play find all my abilities and remove 30 temp powers from my tray.

While you still have to add the powers back, /cleartray will save the pain of deleting the apparently 238572361 temp powers that all my characters seem to pick up without my noticing..

[krj12]

I would definitely like it if this could be implemented.

 

[Tailcoat]

On 6/1/2021 at 8:39 AM, GraspingVileTerror said:

If locking the Power buttons in the Tray during Respec is not an option, I resubmit:

https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/14927-save-and-load-command-for-power-tray-configuration/

 

Alternatively, Cooldown Timers in Pop-Trays would also address this in an indirect way.

 

That's a good idea.

 

As far as cooldown timers, you mean for when you've used a power and can't use it again right away? I'm not sure how that'd help the reshuffle problem, and they already have a number display for that. Under options, you can change whether the cooldown timer appears in the middle or elsewhere over the power icon. 

[EmperorSteele]

I think he meant the ability to lock trays and powers in place so you don't accidentally switch tray numbers or drag a power out of place, and if that could be implemented for respecs.

 

The big problem I see, like @Shenanigunner said, is that you lose all your powers, and are re-granted them as you select them. How is the game supposed to order your powers if you decide to, say, forgo your entire secondary in lieu of pool powers and switch everything around?

 

It would probably be easier to implement an optional slots-only respec that skips the first step(s) and lets you keep your current powers so you can just reassign slots and enhancements. This might help some folks who are happy with their powers, but not their slotting, but are worried about all the power rearranging they'd have to do afterwards just to swap 2 or 3 slots.

[GraspingVileTerror]

When I said "Pop-Trays," @Tailcoat, I was refering to Pop-Menus specifically for Powers, like Trays.  They're a wonderful new'ish feature that allows players to make their own custom UI elements, and the new'ish Fast Travel "Power" is actually one of these (popmenu FastTravel, see here:  https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/23372-focused-feedback-travel-updates-base-teleportation-long-range-teleporter-accolade-special-tp-powers/page/24/?tab=comments#comment-284179 ).

If the Devs are able to get the Icons in these Pop-Trays to display those same cooldown timers that we have in the existing Trays, we would be able to bypass our Respec problem but just writing Pop-Trays that wouldn't be changed due to Respec.

Even better than that, we would be able to share our Pop-Trays with other players, or create contextual Pop-Trays for things like Temporary Pet Summon Powers.  I mean, technically, we already can . . . but not having the cooldowns makes them annoying to use effectively.

[Nerio72]

I don't Respec a lot, but when I do I take screenshots of my enh setup to make it easier, maybe the same would help for you. I think that your idea would be great but not sure how easy it would be at this point. Maybe they could make it where respecs leave macros where they are, that might be easier.

[srmalloy]

22 hours ago, EmperorSteele said:

The big problem I see, like @Shenanigunner said, is that you lose all your powers, and are re-granted them as you select them. How is the game supposed to order your powers if you decide to, say, forgo your entire secondary in lieu of pool powers and switch everything around?

As I see it, the problem isn't so much that your trays are emptied, then refilled with the powers you choose, so much as the game clears your trays, dumps in all of your temporary and prestige powers, then all of your primary/secondary chosen powers as blocks by powerset. If the respec added powers to your trays as you picked them, then added inherent powers like Rest and Sprint, then macros, then prestige powers, and temporary powers last, it would likely result in a much smaller amount of "where did that power wind up?" searching afterwards, even if it didn't address the overall problem completely.

[Col. Kernel]

On 6/1/2021 at 2:46 PM, Shenanigunner said:

It is a huge PITA to rebuild your trays after a respec. But I'd bet, on hazy info, that it's a much bigger task to fix it than it might seem. There would have to be a step during which (1) your alt has no powers but (2) somehow those power icons remain locked in place. That's almost certainly a block of new code, shoehorned into a metal-level process.

 

But, yeah, it'd be nice. Maybe an option to save and load trays would be a workable alternative?

 

Oh, I Like that idea!  Save and load powertrays would resolve the goulash you get back from the respec!

[Shenanigunner]

Well, remember too that /cleartray is your friend here. Instead of a mad jumble of powers and macros clogging the trays, you can clear them all out and pull down from the Powers tray in a sensible fashion. (Note, too, that Powers can be resized to show nearly all your powers in one view.)

 

/cleartray does NOT delete macros.

[PeregrineFalcon]

I do respecs all of the time, and I also have a lot of macros on some characters.

• Plan your build.
• Screenshot your power trays.
• Respec.
• /cleartray.
• Use the screenshot to quickly organize your macros.
• Place your powers. Use the screenshot to help if necessary.

I do this all the time. Total elapsed time less than 1/2 hour.

[KauaiJim]

On 6/1/2021 at 5:39 AM, GraspingVileTerror said:

If locking the Power buttons in the Tray during Respec is not an option, I resubmit:

https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/14927-save-and-load-command-for-power-tray-configuration/

 

Alternatively, Cooldown Timers in Pop-Trays would also address this in an indirect way.

 

I really like this idea.  I don't do too many respecs per character, however when you are an altoholic even one or two respecs per characters adds up and this would be very nice.

 

Also, sometimes I take a photo of my layout before a respec but more often I forget to do so.  Something like the OP request or (insert latest unique name here)VileTerror's suggestion would be very helpful to me as even though I have an overarching theme or systems to my button layout, sometimes on some toons or certain builds I have things changed specifically for the way I play THAT toon.  In other words, my layouts, while beginning as mostly a generic pattern will eventually be tweaked to work perfectly for me for that build.  If I fail to take the photo, then when I do the manual replacing of each power, I am often back to my generic layout and have to re-learn my tweaks for that build and adjust as I play.  Would be nice to not have to reinvent the wheel each time...

 

All in all I think this would be a great QoL addition if it could be done.  👍

Edited June 7, 2021 by KauaiJim

[srmalloy]

1 hour ago, KauaiJim said:

Also, sometimes I take a photo of my layout before a respec but more often I forget to do so. 

Using the Snipping Tool to snapshot my trays -- well, at least the first three; trays 4 and 5 are stock positioning for all characters, so I don't have to think about them -- is the first thing that I do before I do any respec.

[Grouchybeast]

On 6/3/2021 at 6:48 PM, EmperorSteele said:

The big problem I see, like @Shenanigunner said, is that you lose all your powers, and are re-granted them as you select them. How is the game supposed to order your powers if you decide to, say, forgo your entire secondary in lieu of pool powers and switch everything around?

It could start by simply replacing any powers you keep in the same slots, and removing icons for powers you haven't taken.  Any new powers can be placed in the tray later by the players.  That would be vast;ly better than the current situation.  At worst, the player might decide to /cleartray and start from scratch, which is no different to now, except that now everyone has to do it instead of only some people.

 

We know the game already keeps the information during the entire respec process, because it can be cancelled right at the end and the trays are restored,

[Shenanigunner]

23 hours ago, Grouchybeast said:

We know the game already keeps the information during the entire respec process, because it can be cancelled right at the end and the trays are restored,

 

Ah... good point. Maybe there are hooks to lock powers in place during the process, then.

[Arbegla]

On 6/7/2021 at 12:16 PM, PeregrineFalcon said:

I do respecs all of the time, and I also have a lot of macros on some characters.

• Plan your build.
• Screenshot your power trays.
• Respec.
• /cleartray.
• Use the screenshot to quickly organize your macros.
• Place your powers. Use the screenshot to help if necessary.

I do this all the time. Total elapsed time less than 1/2 hour.

 

I do this too. Screenshots and /cleartray are amazing.

Edited June 10, 2021 by Arbegla

[Tailcoat]

On 6/3/2021 at 8:09 PM, GraspingVileTerror said:

When I said "Pop-Trays," @Tailcoat, I was refering to Pop-Menus specifically for Powers, like Trays.  They're a wonderful new'ish feature that allows players to make their own custom UI elements, and the new'ish Fast Travel "Power" is actually one of these (popmenu FastTravel, see here:  https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/23372-focused-feedback-travel-updates-base-teleportation-long-range-teleporter-accolade-special-tp-powers/page/24/?tab=comments#comment-284179 ).

If the Devs are able to get the Icons in these Pop-Trays to display those same cooldown timers that we have in the existing Trays, we would be able to bypass our Respec problem but just writing Pop-Trays that wouldn't be changed due to Respec.

Even better than that, we would be able to share our Pop-Trays with other players, or create contextual Pop-Trays for things like Temporary Pet Summon Powers.  I mean, technically, we already can . . . but not having the cooldowns makes them annoying to use effectively.

 

Is a pop-tray like using an image macro for a power, but it pulls up a pop menu when clicked? I've used a pop menu but haven't heard of pop-trays and would like to know more, if there's information. I noticed lack of cooldown timers being a problem when I tried to replace my powers with identical image macros that automatically cast the power at my target.

Edited June 11, 2021 by Tailcoat