ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

This would be an entirely new command and not required in any way for those who like the interface as it is now. The goal is to reduce the number of keystrokes it takes to hit a monster with a targeted ability.

How it works:

1) Hit the sticky targeting command, let's say the * key.

2) Select a tile or monster and press enter, just as targeting works now.

3) That target will now be used by anything you cast that requires a target, eliminating the need for further keystrokes (including ENTER) after hitting an ability's hotkey.

4) Remove the sticky target by hitting * and then escape... or by killing whatever was sticky targeted.

This would not save players any keystrokes on lone, weak monsters. But for big packs of monsters, you could, for example, sticky target a monster in the back of the pack and blast away with single keystrokes. It would also be very nice for long boss fights. Now that binding abilities to mouse buttons is possible (and getting even better next patch), mouse users can also make great use of sticky targeting.

Let's hear other suggestions for streamlining ToME's interface!
For example, work is currently being done on a very nice one: allowing melee-range abilities to be cast by simply typing the direction instead of using the usual targeting mode.

IIRC someone already mentioned this somewhere, but it would be very helpful to have a Repeat command, I think under ToME2 it was hotkeyed to 'n'.

I like the targeting you propose, and I think you could also get a fixed tooltip of your sticky'd target (maybe even a history of actions against the target?, although it might be a bit too much).

And what about multiple targets? I understand that most of the times you don't really face too many strong foes at once, but it might be helpful for some specific fights.
It would work the same as you mentioned before, but instead of enter you'd strike a number, and after each skill activation you can manually choose target or press the number of the target.

Anyways, I really dig this idea.

Why not do one better and have the sticky targeting key automatically select the nearest target? The player could then target manually from there if desired.

Great idea. Hitting enter all the time or moving my hands off the keyboard to left click when playing an archer hurts my hands after awhile.

This, or something like this, would be nice. One of the primary reasons I don't play much shoot-prime ranged characters (archers, slingers, bow wardens) is because it takes at-least two keypresses to do anything, not just use talents, so I end up banging on shoot's hotkey and enter like a deranged three year old at a piano. This inevitably ends up with me lapsing in attention until either everything's dead or I'm mostly dead, which is somewhat annoying.

Since targeting already auto-aims at the previous target, it would seem that taking a keypress out of the equation would result in a fairly massive amount of button-mashing reduction -- something nearing 50%! That's pretty huge.

As to the original, another key (perhaps -, or something along those lines; near the sticky-target key, in any case) could be used to temporarily free the targeting reticle, for when you want to spit out a piercing arrow or flameshock or something.

Another method, that would not slow down changing your target, while still speeding up skill use, would be to press the skill hotkey a second time to confirm, instead of enter. eg. press 1, 1, to shoot at your target. No fewer button presses, but still faster.