We know that, so far, racial abilites (berserk, flame cloak, animal companion, etc.) are spells that one must place in ones hands before casting them by pressing the respective bumpers. I think this is silly, though easily remedied. It seems very weird indeed that one must cast a spell to bring out something that has been inherent to him since birth. If I were an orc, I think if I wanted to go berserk I would simply do it. In conclusion, I think that these racial abilites should be mapped to the same button as the dragons shouts (R3 on the PS3, and there would be no shout, by the way, it would just be activated). This would greatly aid the feeling that it is just comming from one's inner power, as oposed to a textbook spell.

What say you?

They already are mapped to the shout button.

Don't worry.

I've heard otherwise. If its true what you say, they have modified it since PAX. They must be quick.

We already know the shout button is also for racial powers. This was already confirmed by a dev, clearing up confusion that was spawned by a confused previewer who had said otherwise.

How do you know shouts will use the R3 button? They're listed in the magic menu of the UI along with all the regular spells.

Edit: disregard this, just remembered that he never equips shouts to a hand when he casts them in the gameplay videos.

I prefer race abilities to be of the "always on" type rather than user activated. It would much better fit the fact you are born with those abilities.

Examples:

1) Woodelf, animal friendship that strengthens with level. Animals IA does from been less likely to attack you to actively aiding you at 50 level.

2) Khajiit, night eye that does not need to be activated. Progressively see better in darkness as level increases until night is almost as clear as day. Small bonus damage at night.

3) Argonian, breath under water. Progressively been able to regenerate health, magicka and stamina faster if fully submerged.

4) Dunmer, guardian spirit. If health drops to zero from an attack, instead of dying, automatically summons a spirit that pushes you away and take the damage instead. Spirit fights until it or enemy is defeated. Your health is reduced to one so immediate healing is advised as this effect only happens once a day.

5) Breton, +1% resist magic per level until 50 level.

6) Nord, +1% resist frost per level until 50 level. +0.5% dr per level until 50 level.

7) Imperial, natural charm. NPC disposition increases twice as fast and decreases half as slowly.

8) Altmer, each stats point spend in magicka increases magicka pool by 1.5 instead of 1.

9) Orc, berserk. Every attack done to you has chance to boost attack damage by 5 and DR by 3 for 3 secs. Stacks up to 10 times. Chance to activate is from 1% to 50% at 50 level.

10) Redguard, adrenaline. Every attack you do has chance to boost attack speed by 10% for 3 secs. Stacks up to 10 times. Chance to activate is from 1% to 50% at 50 level.

They already are mapped to the shout button.

actuallyhaving them shout to activate their abilities wouldnt be a bad idea.

redguard "you'll never catch me"

nord "gimme a beer"

khajit "purrrrrr"

orc *just stares at you confused"

breton "where is harry potter?

altmer "kiss my ass"

argonian *chews a piece of lettuce*

imperial "have i got a deal for you today"

bosmer "can i have some candy mister?"

dunmer "svck it n'wha, [censored] fecher"

I have always believed that racial skills should be passive. Having to activate night eyes is just silly.