I thought when I saw this post you may have brought it up because of the post Nelson made about Brass-Knuckles. Like Molt said that post is somewhat relevant to this but still a little different.
I had a lot of ideas flowing through my mind from that post about brass knuckles regarding hot bar related items, but didn’t want to get to off topic and change its direction.
Being a fan of DayZ something I have always enjoyed was the pistol holsters, allowing players to have there primary and secondary on there backs, and have a holstered pistol to draw quickly and save inventory space. From personal experience I have been saved from it as the pistol from the holster draws faster than long rifles. I was walked up on a dude who tried to kill me and I was able to pull on him and kill him with the pistol where my rifle would have gotten me killed.
I always think of things like this when playing Unturned, regarding weapons like pistols. I would personally carry an ace on me if I had a holster that saved inventory space and offered a quick draw third weaponry slot, rather than casting it aside when I get better gun. And not to say the ace is bad, its actually great but I would take most smg’s over it. Also how bad ass would be to have a chest holster or belt holster sporting an ace.
But to get more in line with your original idea of hot bars. I think something similar to 3.0 would do with some minor tweaking. Especially with the feature already in the beta where guns in your back pack show visually on the outside of your pack. Maybe those two guns/melee weapons will be our Primary/Secondary? Leaving primaries/secondary’s to the only weapons’ hot keyable unless having gear like a sheath, sling, or holster. But items would need lootable or maybe craftable items to access quick access like ammo vests for mags, and satchels for food, medicine, or binoculars. Other wise you would have to dig it our of your inventory interface.
I feel like a lot of players in the survivor community enjoy kitting out there player, and would love to see things like additional holsters or knife sheath holsters to be extra efficient in survival.
(hot keyable camp axe for quick access if primary and secondary slot is taken.)
I would LOVE to have utility items like this save space in my inventory and give quick access to axes, meds, and food/drink. You can see in the picture that dude has a canteen or thermos and a satchel. I could see the satchel holding food and meds. In 3.0 I don’t even carry a canteen with me cause it fills up a 2x2 slot in my inventory. But if I looted a sling or some kind of belt thing, I could attach it on my person saving inventory space and looking fashionable will doing it.
One of my favorite small features in U2 already is the physics of the backpack and the guns that hang on the side. Looks like I am wearing a back pack and those items are really moving. Would Absolutely go berserk to see things like holster, quivers, canteens, and satchels dangling of our character, looking like a real survivor. I think this discussion goes a lot deeper than just combat weapons but should also include survivor items like thermos, cooking pots, and knives.
And as a side note obviously there would some implementations to make sure people could abuse the system and carry 45 things on slings, your character will only have so much room for accessories. I think the weight system will help balance that a little, slowing pack rats. As well I don’t think people should be overly concerned with how it only affects PvP. Seems AI combat will be more of a focus in U2 compared to 3.0 so getting the upper hand with quick accessible items would be cool in our progression against PvE.
A lot of people seemed to overconcerned with niche scenarios where players could abuse systems. And where features need to be refined to reduce a abuse, we need to remember the game is suppose to be fun and not everything revolves around Pvp as U2 is a world of PvP and PvE.
(Yes I know this image is really old and from one of the first devlogs)
This always got me excited seeing the the sling option for something like a quiver or canteen.