first of all this game is great.

and you know what, i'm fine not being able to block with magic in a hand and a sword in the other. that's fine. that makes sense. but my conceptually simple workaround has been thwarted by the hotkey system itself! on consoles, if you select a spell as one of your two hotkeys, when you hit that hotkey again (which would unequip anything else) it just equips that spell in your other hand too, unequipping whatever was there!

i don't know if this is something that could be adjusted, but maaan oh man i wish it would. i know its cool to dual-cast, but if a sword is coming down on me, i just want to be able to put the fire away for a second and block that ish, even if it's weak. the weakness is fine, i understand the concept of balance. i just want to be able to unequip. it would make being a battlemage a little more bearable, with less pausing and menu scrolling.

seems like this is a drop in the ocean for folks with gripes about the magic/melee combat style. anyone else know what i'm talking about?

Uh don't hit the hokey for the spell you have equipped?

sorry, i guess i didn't make it clear, that if i was able to unequip the spell with a hotkey, then i'd be able to block with the one-handed sword as a regular part of combat. it would just be a quick (left d-pad) then (l-trigger) motion, rather than needing to pull up a menu to unequip and block. is that a little clearer?

Yes, it's absolutely irritating. For one, it boggles the mind why we're suddenly unable to block at all when wielding something else with the left hand - I'd be fine if blocking became less effective, since you use your sword one-handed and also don't have a shield equipped. No key for blocking except right mouse button? Seriously?

Then there's the favourite/hotkey system, which never does what you want it to do. It's especially fun when you get a spell stuck on your right hand and you can only equip something else by drawing a weapon first and unequipping it again. I'm pretty sure this is the worst control/UI design I've ever seen in a modern game. Hell, most games from the 90s have superior controls.

This is somewhat embarrassing, but i still haven't figured out how to assign a hot key. It didn't see it in a cursory look at the docs and none of the *cough* intuitive *cough* methods appear to be the trick. I've survived this long without hotkeys mainly due to having a straightforward melee build with the first character, but it's wearing thin. If anyone would like to laugh at me, i'd appreciate if they did it while telling me the go. PC btw.

First, favorite the items you want hotkeyed. Then bring up the favorites menu. put your cursor over the item you want hotkeyed and press (may have to hold for a second) the key you want assigned 1-8) The number should appear next to the item in the favorites menu.

To the OP, I agree completely. That was one of the several things I find annoying in an otherwise great game. It's a minor thing, but still irritating. You could try hotkeying a shield and quickly equip/unequip it, but still kind of a pain in the behind.

Go into the Magic menus and select as a favourite any spell that you would like to assign to a hot key. Exit the Magic menu and pull up the quick menu, then locate the favoured spell(s) and hover over them with the mouse, then simultaneously select the desired hot key. You should be good to go after that. It is in the manual by the way -- the bottom of page 7 but it's both an inaccurate and terrible description.

To the OP: It's awful, I agree but it's the same for everyone at least

:ninja: ed

It's tiring to switch from 1 spell to another especially if it's not hotkeyed. I just wish that they'd include the letters in the keyboard for hotkeys to make it more easier. I have more than 20 favorites and only 9 can be hotkeyed. If you're problem is switching to a shield to block, mine is to switch in using a "Greater Ward" spell coz it's not hotkeyed. :confused:

Ah, favourites. Thanks guys.

I'm luckily using one handed, shield and destruction spells, so I have my main destruction spell as 1 and my shield as 2. So when I want to switch out of destruction I tap 2 and when I want destruction again I tap 1. What you could do is hotkey a shield even if you don't use it, and double tap it. That way you go back to just a one handed weapon again. But then, it would be more effective to just use the shield for blocking.