Activated abilities and spells - some thoughts on how to make them more accessable in battle

HorseWithNoName

Some time ago, I started a discussion saying that some activatable abilities (AA) do not need to be AAs (like self-targeted buffs on infantery (melee)lords or Arcane Conduit). My reasoning was that AAs, given how they work, should only be AAs if the human input makes a big difference as supposed to it just being a passive as managing activatable abilities take attention away from the battle (even if only little). This is also why I think AAs should not be on units that are expected to be brought in numbers (for example I think it would have been better not to give Wardancers AAs).
Going from the premise to minimize management time for AAs, I would like to discuss the following suggestion:
I think it would be a good idea to have spells (and possibly AAs) always present on the battle UI. If a spell/AA is selected, the corresponding unit would be automatically selected. If too many (more than 6) AAs or spells are brought, either a system like for Manfred or ,imo much better, a selection of the player-selected most important spells/AAs would be displayed (important low cooldown spells/AAs like Invocation).
Such a system would bring two advantages: Firstly, it would save the action to select the unit which you want to cast a spell or use an ability with (admittedly not a big advantage but could add up over a battle). Secondly, you would have a much easier time to oversee your important cooldowns, not forgetting about spells/AAs or selecting the unit when the spell/ability is not yet off cooldown. Yes, this would only be a minor quality of life change but, at least as far as I can tell, also not too difficult to implement.

Thoughts?

Urgat

I'd like for a right click on the spell/ablity icon to activate an autocast controlled by the AI, so you can turn it on and off depending on the situation.

HorseWithNoName

I don't think the AI is at a point where you can entrust it with automatically selecting the right spells (if more than one is on autocast), choosing the right targets or waiting for the right moment for a spell or ability in most cases. For those abilities where choosing target and moment is not a (big) concern, sure, that could work as well.

Urgat

Better for it to use it ineffectively than for me to forget to use it altogether (which happens all the time), to be quite frank. I prefer to direct my army than to tell every single guy when he has to breathe.

HorseWithNoName

True, happens too often for me as well, but I still think it is better to minimize the micromanagement of abilities and spells (only have them on very few units, always have them visible on the UI and only having them at all if the effect demands nontrivial decisionmaking) so that the player can better cope with them. Having spells and abilities cast for you on some targets kind of defeats the purpose of having them in the first place imo.

KGpoopy

So spells on the battle UI. These spells are registered to units already. You activate the spell in battle and the corresponding unit does it's thing.

Doesn't really sound much more convenient than what we have now. Select unit, select spell, and cast it. Simple.
Play in slow motion and familiarize yourself with the UI in battle. You can group unit(s), which will allow you to press a hotkey, and then you can cast your spell and whatever an AA is.

HorseWithNoName

The advantages would be, as I said:
1. You don't have to select the unit, selecting the spell would do that automatically
2. Much more importantly, you could see your cooldowns at all times so forgetting about a spell would not happen that often

It seems like an easy to implement change that is strictly better than the current system, so why not put it in the game?

An AA is a activatable ability (ability with a cooldown, as opposed to a passive ability) as I said in my opening post.

doclumbago#6250

I´m Ok with the current level of micro-management
having all magic spells in a unit-independent deck would be a nice idea.

Does anyone know Warlord Batlecry II ? It was a bit like Warcraft.
Had a great automatic mode for units (Stand Guard, Protect another unit etc.)
Worked great for it´s Wizards

dge1

Off topic personal comments deleted.