Cycling abilities are a pain

[(PSN)Revak29]

Abilities where you cycle through several abilities in one are kinda hard to use at least on PS4. For clarification I mean like Ivara's Quiver, Vauban's Minelayer, Titania's Tribute, and Xaku's The Lost. Just the "tap to cycle, hold to cast" thing is annoying. I would really appreciate it if we could choose just how many of the abilities we want to equip and that if you choose only one of them, it activates the ability on tap. Even a R1+L1+(triangle,square,X,O) hot key option for cycling abilities would be an improvement. You could also hot key it to if you hold R1 and press (LEFT,RIGHT,UP,DOWN) it switches to a corresponding ability (if you laid the cycles out in a t formation instead of a straight line you cycle through). 

The current way they work is just clunky and hard to use. I just never use these kinds of abilities because they aren't really fun to use and I'm sure if DE has some kind of data on what abilities are most/least used on ps4, cycling abilities would be abnormally low despite their utility. For example, Xaku's The Lost has an ability that can strip all shields and armor from enemies in a certain radius. That's a great ability that's rarely sees use. Ivara's Quiver has an ability that puts enemies to sleep in a radius and one that makes any enemy in a stationary spot turn invisible. Those are great abilities I never use. Titania's Tribute has amazing DPS, Damage Buff, Damage Mitigation, and CC all in one. That's an amazing and versatile series of abilities. Vauban's Minelayer has an ability that gives a straight damage buff, and one that makes a little autoturret that deals damage scaling with enemy level. Those are pretty great too. I have seen very few people actually use these abilities because they're so annoying to use.

Can we please get some kind of key mapping for cycling abilities and/or an equipping function for them in the arsenal to make them feel less painful to use? 

 

EDIT: apparently it is almost as annoying on PC. They have a hot key for the Cycling ability as a whole and do the whole "tap to cycle, hold to cast" thing too.

[Dauggie]

yea sometimes is pain, i keep forgetting if i have to tap or hold. then end up wasting time. its nothing major but still annoying

[taiiat]

the best idea i've seen anyone come up with (that is usable on Controllers too) is that rotating Abilities instead of using Press/Hold, you Press once and it converts all of your Ability buttons into a selection Menu. press any of the 4 Ability Buttons to swap to that Slot on that Ability.

yes, that does mean that when you 'open' that Ability that you are temporarily unable to access your other Abilities. i don't think this is a problem though, since you'd normally be instantly choosing what to rotate that Ability to rather than hanging around.
the only complication is having a way to cancel, which.... idunno i guess the Spacekid Button could be used as cancel?

[MisterWednesdayPrime]

As more controllers are adding extra paddles or other extra triggers, making "switch mode" as noted above a programmable option in the button configs would be nice... So people who wanted it could reach for it, and those new can skip having an extra button to remember.

 

[NinjaZeku]

5 hours ago, (PSN)Revak29 said:

I would really appreciate it if we could choose just how many of the abilities we want to equip

Would be neat, I'd also very much like the ability to pick the order, including which one we start the mission on (yay Venari Heal Mode).

That said, I still think those "cycles" should just be removed or at least streamlined where possible. Examples:

Xaku could split up "The Lost" over both their 2 and 3, like this:

2 - Tap for Accuse, Hold for Grasp (both are AoE enemy manipulation that add firepower to your side)
3 - Tap for Deny, Hold for Gaze (both are enemy-targeted and can remove defensive capabilities)

For Booben, something like this would allow much more fluid ability usage I think:

1 - Tether Coil / Tesla Nervos (you always charge Tesla to full anyways, the Augment working on tethered enemies seems fine)
2 - Overdriver / Vector Pad (now VP is out of the way until it's buffed / replaced lol)
3 - Flechette Orb / Orbital Strike (BTW, if used while aiming, give the OS throw a bit more oomph so it can reach further)
4 - Bastille / Vortex (same enhanced range / speed while aiming might be nice here ... or Hek, just give that to everything, actually)

Limited CC, buffs, damage, mass CC, all grouped together and overall more easily accessible, just seems so much neater.

Wisp, instead of going Hold - Tap - Hold - Tap - Hold to deploy all the Motes one after another
could have that happen a bit more smoothly, like, if you keep holding 1 for a certain amount of time (like, 0.5 seconds)
after deploying a Mote, it automatically switches to and deploys the next Mote, and repeat.

This would be especially useful / convenient for more mobile missions, i.e. casting while on the move.

Ivara I guess makes thematic sense enough, it's a quiver of trick arrows you're cycling through

... but still, further customization options of any kind would be nice.

BTW, I have similar thoughts on weapon firing modes:

Spoiler

Customization for the order, as well as method of activation, of firing modes would be great.

Let me choose in which order I cycle through my Hystrix quills, and which I start the mission with.

Let me use the Barrage mode on Zarr via Secondary Fire rather than needing to clunkily cycle through modes first.

Let me configure my Corinth Prime so it shoots and detonates Airbursts on Primary Fire, and only does "regular" shots while aiming.

Let me do stuff like putting the 3 firing modes of Tiberon Prime / Kuva Hind on Primary, Secondary, and "While Aimed" Fire.

Let console players who right now need to hold down R3 (lol wut) for the saw blade mode on Panthera finally catch a break, for Stug's sake :P

The cycle must be broken!

[(PSN)Vexx757]

I agree sometimes it can be annoying. I have been thinking about it and I think I have a solution;

This mechanic already exists (to a certain extent) on controller bindings to view and select all abilities of a warframe in one button but for an improvement, this will give you the ability for warframes that have multiple abilities in one (Vauban`s 2nd) to open up second menu. It works by you clicking or holding the ability of a warframe, then it will display another menu within it, it will show the other abilities and then you cast the ability. When click on it, it will stay open until you select your chosen ability, this will make it easier to select abilities with other abilities within it by opening it before hand and will be efficient on the move and in high-past situations instead of you having to keep pressing the ability to switch to the one you want to use.

[(PSN)thegarada]

I wish they would at least move the toggle to the hold and casting the skill to the tap. Cuz it is not big deal if you casted instead of toggled, but the other way round can be deadly. Also, toggling the skill occurs far more often then casting the skill. It makes sense the frequent use would be the tap.

[Yrkul]

6 minutes ago, (PSN)thegarada said:

I wish they would at least move the toggle to the hold and casting the skill to the tap.

There is an option for that in settings.

[(PSN)thegarada]

2 hours ago, Yrkul said:

There is an option for that in settings.

I never knew that. I assume it is under controls.

[Yrkul]

2 hours ago, (PSN)thegarada said:

I never knew that. I assume it is under controls.

I turned in on so long ago, that I can't remember where it's located. Sorry.