Well how about instead we somehow enable combinations of keys xD. like f1 now is w—>a(your trusty baseballbat) f2 w---->b(your rediculessly powerfull ranged weapon @) and lots of other combinations for ones imagination… well all that is just an addition for the lazy folks :P.
Its already pretty easy to quickly select things from your inventory though. Id do as cherry suggested simple and quick as well.
Perhaps the F1 to F12 could also be used for the actaive abilities, that are hopefully soon to come?
Wielding weapons is not very complicated, if you always assign them the same key.
My knife is always “k” and my sewing kit is always “s”, my lighter always “x”.
How about a pre-set inventory hotkey based on item name when picked up? Say you create a rule that when you have a specific item in your inventory it is automatically given a specific hotkey? Could even go a bit further with an auto-set option. Used up the lighter set to the l key? No worries, another is already given the hotkey again.
EDIT:: For some reason I think of the autopickup rules feature when I think about this…