So what purpose does the hotbar serve in this game?

While watching the recently released video, a I was big fan of the minimalist UI. I especially like that the UI elements disappear when they aren't in use so that, while exploring, I can just enjoy this ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL world they have created for us to play in.

I fully understand that I will need health, stamina, and magicka bars in combat. I don't see why I will need a hotbar at any time though other than while slotting abilities. There are only 5 active abilities and these will be extremely easy to remember compared to the 15+ of other MMOs. More over, there are no cool downs in the game so I won't need to watch my hotbar to see when my skills are ready.

The only other use for a hot bar is to see at what distance you can fire your abilities, but I believe in ESO you can fire them at any time, even with no target. It might be a slight advantage to have a hot bar just so you don't waste the magicka on an out of range spell, but I'm fairly certain I could figure out the range on my own with a bit of practice.

So what do you think? Would turning off the hotbar disadvantage me in some way that I'm missing? Or can I safely disable it to allow me to get a better view of the world and the combat?

DISCLAIMER: This is not a complaint thread. I'm not bashing ZOS for including the hotbar and I'm not asking for it to be taken out of the game. I'm not even asking for a built in option to toggle it off. I will be able to do all of this with UI Mods. All I want is a discussion.

Well, in most MMO's you can see if you are too far away from the target for the skill to reach them.

That's one good reason to see them.

But since TESO allows UI modding, it will take no time for a mod to come out that makes it completely gone or visible when you hover your mouse over it or something...

I dont see how it would be disadvantage to just turn It off. But I dont think there will be any sort of option to turn it off. That would have to be something done by a mod.

Ya, like I said in the OP that's the only reason I can really think of. Even then though a little bit of practice should give me the skill and timing to know that on my own. I mean, I know exactly the distance I have to be at to use a shotgun in Halo 4, and I don't have a UI indicator for that.

I was mostly just wondering if there was some obvious reason that I was missing.

I'd personally feel more like I was playing a TES game without a hotbar and I would prefer to be able to see the action unhindered.

Sometimes i like to click my spells <.<

Don't think you can do that in this game since mouse-lock is always on. Its reticle driven.

What is the hotbar good for?

• First of all just to remember your skills (and the key). Especially having many alts, could make it hard, at least for some players.
• Second, some kind of availability indicator. Not just range, but the lack of enough magicka / stamina / finesse could prevent you from using the skill.
• Devs never said "there are no cooldowns" as far as I can remember. In fact in some interview Paul Sage said some skills may have cooldowns. So it's still possible. Maybe consumables are the only infight "skills" with cooldowns. At least I hope there is some mechanic that prevents you from using 60 potions in a 2 minute fight.

They have said that skills have no cooldowns, but things that you put in your quickslots (potions) do have a cooldown.

Yuppers.

I'm thinking I might play with the hotbar at first to get used to the abilities but once I have a settled character, more or less, I will disable it.

Probably an option to hide it. If not, like said above, there will be a UI mod to hide it.

I think the main thing at least for me will be able to see a visual cue if an ability is available or not. Ability's will have varying resource costs, so unless you plan to memorize not only the keybinds but how much resource each of your skills cost you will want to see when/if your ability's are available to activate.

Counter Title

"Why do we need a TES MMO"