Let me explain a bit about reaction settings and combat flow, because this can really make or break your multiplayer experience. Having everything set to "ask" mode means everyone gets those little pop-up decisions during combat, which naturally makes things take longer (this happens because each player needs to manually confirm or deny their reactions).

The good thing is you've got options to fine-tune this. From my experience, setting routine reactions like attack of opportunity to automatic while keeping manual control over game-changers like counterspell works really well. Think of it like driving a car - you don't want to manually confirm every small turn, but you definitely want control over those important decisions (interesting note: this approach becomes even more valuable in larger parties).

You might want to consider reserving your "ask" mode for those truly critical moments, especially when spell slots or special resources are on the line. This creates a nice balance between keeping the game moving and maintaining tactical control. Players who've been at it for a while often develop a sense for which reactions deserve that extra attention (and those recent patches have made the whole system work more smoothly, particularly with Shield and Uncanny Dodge timing).