[Discussion about the new UI]

frankieraye wrote: »

It's a matter of opinion, and I happen to like the new font. Also, we both play the game.

I realize that there are a few problems with it, most notably the size of the text in many of the in-game menus, but overall I think it's a step in the right direction.

Also, I realize that those chat-category tags are completely unnecessary to PWI veterans, but I think they're pretty helpful to new players. They do take up a fair amount of horizontal space, though, I'll admit.

You got it guys? GM likes the new font and we are moving to the right direction. Wish to you all a supersized monitors and large resolutions. And no need to say that someone cares what we want.. So sad..

i do not however see any reason to freak out on frankie, she has no direct line to the devs to say "hey fix this before we have a riot on our hands" or anything, her job is to moderate the forums, and occasionally pop in-game and moderate there, i think about the best she can do for us from here is shoot en email to a different department, which i'm sure has already been done, and await any form of response if any.. i've worked for years in tehnical support departments for various companies, including online chat support, we had no control what so ever over what the actual technicians did, we just passed on a message to a long que.. I agree the changes suck, especially the genie page glitches, but its not like the game is totally unplayable, just looks like it was coded by a first-year html programmer that hasnt learned the difference between heading1 and heading4..

frankieraye wrote: »

It's a matter of opinion, and I happen to like the new font. Also, we both play the game.

I realize that there are a few problems with it, most notably the size of the text in many of the in-game menus, but overall I think it's a step in the right direction.

Also, I realize that those chat-category tags are completely unnecessary to PWI veterans, but I think they're pretty helpful to new players. They do take up a fair amount of horizontal space, though, I'll admit.

When I first played PWI, one of the many things I loved about the game was the UI. It was so easy to read, didn't interfere with the game and didn't make you have to stop focusing on what you're doing in game to be able to decipher the chat. I think it's actually the only UI I've really, really liked in any game I've played.

When JD was released, I downloaded it just to see how it was. Think I lasted a day or two there. Putting aside the actual content of the game, the chat on JD seemed all over the place to me. It was messy, unnecessarily cluttered and harder to get the hang of. It also seemed too...cartoony, which to me implied the game was intended for a younger audience.

I don't see the chat tags being helpful to newer players unless they're expected to not actually play the game to see how different things work. They clutter up the chat box, giving you less space for actual, you know, chatting. If there was any confusion about what the chat channels were, you could pass your cursor over the channel icons to see the names or select from the list to the left of the chat box. It's something you get used to really quickly, just by playing the game.

If the character names weren't changed to that beige colour, the tags wouldn't be necessary. Those who are saying they were tired of trying to figure out whether someone was pretending to chat as someone else - it's always been a simple thing to pass your cursor over the name in chat and if it isn't clickable, know that the person above has typed it. Actually my faction and friends have had a lot of good-natured fun with that in the past and I'm sad to see that go.

The previous UI was user-friendly and simple without being in-your-face, distracting and bugged. I can't say that about the new one.

After all the opinions already posted, I just...don't know what to say...except that I guess this post will be falling on deaf ears.

frankieraye wrote: »

It's a matter of opinion, and I happen to like the new font. Also, we both play the game.

I realize that there are a few problems with it, most notably the size of the text in many of the in-game menus, but overall I think it's a step in the right direction.

Also, I realize that those chat-category tags are completely unnecessary to PWI veterans, but I think they're pretty helpful to new players. They do take up a fair amount of horizontal space, though, I'll admit.

New players aren't stupid. When they type in normal chat, they say "Oh look it's grey". When they type in guild chat, they say "Oh look it's blue". When they type in squad chat, they say "Oh look it's green". When they see a system message they say "Oh look it's red". That naturally leaves by elimination, yellow to be world chats.

It's not rocket science. We're not 4 year olds playing a game. What was the age requirement for your game again? Like 16? 18? People can learn through positive and negative reinforcement by that age. Most people have the cognitive abilities to discern which chat is which within the first half an hour of their play.

Simply observed, was there ever any complaints about newbies not knowing which chat is which? I've never observed any thread or suggestion like that here in one year of playing. I don't know about tickets, but I'd wager, if not none, then at least very very minimal.

Chat tags are just complete and utter overkill. User interfaces are supposed to be simple and elegant. You have eliminated that.

The only thing I'd say that was a step in the right direction was the item-linking. Props on that. Everything else, in my opinion, was atrocious. Very unprofessional.

Check out the 37 pages of opinions. Check out the tickets you recently got. You might be surprised that while it's a "matter of opinion", very few people share the same opinion as you do.

edit: Someone suggested that the chat system was entirely lifted off BOI and implemented here without change. If this is correct, I'm at a loss for words. And of course, I can expect you to say it wasn't Frankie, but there's enough skepticism circulating to keep me in reality.

Brishi - Dreamweaver wrote: »

+ mirages price have crash , before patch they cost 15-18k on dw, now people sell them for 12-10k lol

On Sanct mirages have been 11k for quite a long already. You can set up a shop buying mirages for 10.4k and people actually sell those to you.

Ahmra - Raging Tide wrote: »

filter circumvention of the highest order - frankieraye

And still no answer on what is being done about oversize fonts, broken UI windows etc. etc. etc.

b:shutupb:shutupb:shutupb:shutup

frankieraye wrote: »

It's a matter of opinion, and I happen to like the new font. Also, we both play the game.

No offense, you may be a GM but I don't think your one vote offsets the growing majority and if you think it does thats pretty chauvinistic of you.

SgtSIaughter - Heavens Tear wrote: »

No offense, you may be a GM but I don't think your one vote offsets the growing majority and if you think it does thats pretty chauvinistic of you.

Dev: I don't think adding the labels is such a good idea.
Project Manager: ADD IT NAO!

Yukkuri - Heavens Tear wrote: »

Again, if you guys at the company want to keep the tags, simply make them an option. This way we can all be happy... I think.

TBH I think all the font changes that they've made should be optional. Some people like the new fonts however I can't even play now because they give me migranes and I have to set my resolution so high just to make them readable that I can't see anything else.

frankieraye wrote: »

It's a matter of opinion, and I happen to like the new font.

ah, so you're one of those untrustworthy so-and-so's who claim to like Comic Sans, i see. b:scorn

I hate it. We are back to the old PW text that didn't fit in the areas that its supposed to, its waaay too large on some things, and too kiddish.

Plus, the chat... WORST IDEA EVER! I completely despise the new chat box.

EDIT: Would be nice to be able to customize the UI ourselves, like sliders for font size, and a couple choices of font. Also, be able to move the mini map, character picture, quest log tracking, party members, and chat box around so that we can put them where ever we want. (include a slider to scale the size of the entire UI also, so that if you want you can make everything larger or smaller)

Until now I refrained from posting since everyone seemed to be saying what I was thinking. But then I thought, what if it takes 40 pages of irate users before they change anything?

Seriously. The large print is painful; harder to read because it doesn't even fit in the windows and overlaps. "Auction Item Sold" has just become "Auction Item" in the mailbox now... this doesn't seem to have been planned very well. I could probably play the game without my contacts for some things now.

I accidentally got a large-print version of a book out of the library once. Tried to read it because I didn't want to go all the way back and get the right one... but I couldn't handle it. This is no different. If *you* guys like it so much, then just give us the option to change it back if we want to.

And the chat tags. I guess... the game has been playing for this long but you have decided we are too stupid to decipher chat now? When I first started (as someone previously posted) my biggest problem was how to post in various chats, not what they meant. All these labels do is take up unnecessary space.

What it comes down to is this: if you like the changes so much just give us options to TURN THEM OFF. Then everyone is happy.

I do have to say though - thanks for the linking system. Very nice.

tidesuxbadly wrote: »

That can't be possibly Right..... The Text is so Big that It looks like a mistake of programing and it does even more because it GOES OUT OF THE BOXES that are there to 'hold' it INSIDE so it even looks like a programing work of Noobies not of pros like it is right now ... so it's not just a a matter of cosmetics or opinions like you say..

Yeah all it really does is make the game look and feel really crappy and low quality. ijs

frankieraye wrote: »

It's a matter of opinion, and I happen to like the new font. Also, we both play the game.

I realize that there are a few problems with it, most notably the size of the text in many of the in-game menus, but overall I think it's a step in the right direction.

Also, I realize that those chat-category tags are completely unnecessary to PWI veterans, but I think they're pretty helpful to new players. They do take up a fair amount of horizontal space, though, I'll admit.

I was a new player once.. To be completely honest, as soon as I looked at the chat box and scrolled over the names of the channels, clicked on them and saw what showed up in them, I got it. Its not that hard. And PW was literally my very first MMO ever. We're not that dumb. The only thing I didn't get at that time was that you needed a tele to talk in the world chat. But I figured that out when I hit level 10, though I still didn't realize what teles were at the time. Color coding is perfectly fine for nooblings, as I prove myself. I'm not exactly the brightest crayon in the box but I got it. b:bye

OneHottShot - Heavens Tear wrote: »

I agree, I love the new update. It needs tweaking but its great! I even like the tags. Not everyone is going to agree with everyone else. You can't always please the masses. Overall, I think it was a very nice update and I'm pleased. Other than the fact it did mess up a few things (which always happens) its one of the best updates in awhile.

People forget, we didn't ask for hyper stones, new fashion or other new things we continue to get but no one complains about that really. A month from now we'll all be adjusted and it will be no big deal.. except of course the things that they messed up like the genie energy bar and the text. They fix that and its great!

Look around. How many people actually like the tags? I count one...two. You and frankie. In relation to those who hate it, the amount that actually likes it is so miniscule, it shouldn't even be a debate.

If PWI was smart, they'd know what to fix in the next patch.

Also, yes, they did mess up a few things. HOWEVER, this should not happen. Patches are supposed to be tested before they're released. We should not be making making threads about new bugs every time a patch is released. Granted we're all humans and make mistakes, it shouldn't be a norm for bug-riddled patches to be released. The sheer ugliness of the UI is a testament to a lack of quality control on PWI's part.