i appreciate your effort and the fact yall are trying to improve things.
The point some of us are making though is that the color coding provides no meaningful info. Its irrelevant what dept they come from.
Info that I might find relevant would be something like shared cool downs.
I guess people requested it as you have said but Ive been with this game since it was nothing but a forum and I have never once heard anyone mention a word about color coding.
I suspect the people who might have wanted this option were the ones who dont use a big tray and use the BO layout.
There are a bunch of requests in the Tribble UI thread. If the color is irrelevant, than it shouldn't matter if they are colored by department, in which case there is no real reason to revert the change.
So it's gonna stay like that...? No option to make the skill icons look the old way...?
Talk about huge disappointment.
Some people might have requested this, but in the end you've made your new UI style look hideous. What's the point of having multiple colour schemes of your brand new LCARSy UI if our skill tray is going to remain rainbow-ish anyway? The colours are so vibrant and discordant they're gonna satisfy only a few hardcore MMO players, with everyone else looking at them with disgust.
Sorry for being blunt, but as much as I've been excited for LoR two weeks ago now I see that each and every new tribble patch is introducing something I strongly dislike, with those coloured skill icons being on top of the list.
I guess until now people were looking for ways to mod the icons with colours, and now they're gonna look for ways to make them look the old way... *sigh*
I like the colored icons. But I also appreciate that STO's power icons are still pretty mono-chromatic. I like colorful item icons, but it's nice to have a simpler design for a button you'll be looking for in combat.
Take a look at my Foundry missions! Conjoined, Re-emergence, and . . .
As mentioned before instead of coloring them based on department I think they should be colored based on their cool down category. That information would be much more useful.
Another option would be to color them based on weather it increases DPS heals or buffs your self or heals or buffs others. Abilities that do more than one could even have more than one color.
Coloring them according to their department is redundant info for anyone who uses the BOff tray and the regular tray and anyone who feels they need that info can enable the BOff tray and have both sets of info.
As mentioned before instead of coloring them based on department I think they should be colored based on their cool down category. That information would be much more useful.
Another option would be to color them based on weather it increases DPS heals or buffs your self or heals or buffs others. Abilities that do more than one could even have more than one color.
Coloring them according to their department is redundant info for anyone who uses the BOff tray and the regular tray and anyone who feels they need that info can enable the BOff tray and have both sets of info.
yes exactly.... Buffs, Debuffs ect make much more sense than simply Eng, Sci, Tac.
Can anyone point to any instance where you need to know if a power/skill is Eng or Sci?
As mentioned before instead of coloring them based on department I think they should be colored based on their cool down category. That information would be much more useful.
Another option would be to color them based on weather it increases DPS heals or buffs your self or heals or buffs others. Abilities that do more than one could even have more than one color.
Coloring them according to their department is redundant info for anyone who uses the BOff tray and the regular tray and anyone who feels they need that info can enable the BOff tray and have both sets of info.
Some good points there, and that's another thing. Because how exactly does it help us to know whether a particular ability is tac, engi or sci? Abilities of all three professions work in various different ways, with tactical abilities taking effect on our weapons (rapids, scatters), our ship (APD, APO, TT), the enemy (APB), engineering abilities infuencing heals (ET, AuxSIF), buffs (EPtX), mobility (EPTE, AuxID) and offense (DEM), and science abilities having all sort of uses, including heals, buffs, debuffs, offense and such.
For example, both EPtS and TSS heal shields and increase their resistance, so what difference does it make whether their icons are yellow or blue? No, seriously, what's the point? It's the ability's function and possible shared cooldown that's important, not the colour of its department station...
There are a bunch of requests in the Tribble UI thread. If the color is irrelevant, than it shouldn't matter if they are colored by department, in which case there is no real reason to revert the change.
because it makes the UI more intrunsive. Some of us dont want our tray looking like a rainbow. It looks more Fischer-Price now than Romulan
It has also made some powers stand out more and become distacting. Ones that you might hardly use. With all the color changes to me it makes my screen seem more junky.
I don't really mind the department color coded thing, but like many others I don't see a functional point to it, seems entirely aesthetic. Though it sounds like they may take it in a functional direction in the future and for now are just skittleling the tray to get us used to it... I guess.
Has anything been said about rearranging the HUD in sector space? i.e. being able to move the Singularity thing from the middle of the screen...?
Has anything been said about the missing BOFF slots/inability to slot BOFFs...?
Has anything been said about the missing Traits for Romulan "Aliens"...?
edit: The above has basically left me no longer testing the Romulans/Romulan stuff. There was only so much to do with the Nukara Rep stuff. So it's basically a case of being left with no reason to be on Tribble.
I really like the new color coded icons. I had never thought about them or requested them, but now that I've seen them, it's like duh, where have they been? great job
Hey guys, just wanted to drop in and talk about the color-coded power icons for a second.
I went through the process of color-coding the power icons based on feedback from players when we put the new UI on tribble. Color-coded power icons was one of the features most consistently requested in these forums, and something people on the team have been asking me to do for a while as well.
There isn't going to be an option to pick between the old or new icons - either we have color coded icons or we don't. Offering a choice seems like a simple solution, but actually has a lot of implications in terms of maintaining the UI and adding new powers to it. It also requires UI programmer time to implement that would be much better spent on other things.
Ultimately, I see this as the first step in an iterative process. Power icons could convey more information than they currently do and color-coding them is just one thing I want to do. I'm hopeful that once things settle down after Legacy of Romulus we'll be able to improve them even more.
It may seem weird for STO since we've been used to monochromatic icons for a long long time, but remember that most MMOs and RPGs use color as an important clue to describe the type of power an icon represents. It's a very useful tool and I'm glad that STO's UI is now taking advantage of it.
I was skeptical at first but it does somehow give more life to the power tray, for some reason. I'd love to hear what other changes you're considering for beyond Legacy of Romulus.
Hey guys, just wanted to drop in and talk about the color-coded power icons for a second.
I went through the process of color-coding the power icons based on feedback from players when we put the new UI on tribble. Color-coded power icons was one of the features most consistently requested in these forums, and something people on the team have been asking me to do for a while as well.
There isn't going to be an option to pick between the old or new icons - either we have color coded icons or we don't. Offering a choice seems like a simple solution, but actually has a lot of implications in terms of maintaining the UI and adding new powers to it. It also requires UI programmer time to implement that would be much better spent on other things.
Ultimately, I see this as the first step in an iterative process. Power icons could convey more information than they currently do and color-coding them is just one thing I want to do. I'm hopeful that once things settle down after Legacy of Romulus we'll be able to improve them even more.
It may seem weird for STO since we've been used to monochromatic icons for a long long time, but remember that most MMOs and RPGs use color as an important clue to describe the type of power an icon represents. It's a very useful tool and I'm glad that STO's UI is now taking advantage of it.
I, for one, appreciate the effort. The moment I noticed the color scheme, I realized that they'd been colored according to department. IMO, it would make it easier for people who have a harder time organizing their trays into the most efficient means possible, by making it more clear what powers come from what BOffs, without using the BOff tray on top of the big personal tray and thus cluttering up one's screen with a multitude of trays.
Furthermore, I also see it for it is, an intermediary step into a color-scheming set up that would bring more life to the LCARS style UI than monochromatic buttons would. For Cryptic's sake, I would suggest you guys look at other MMOs, and see how they handle their hotbar buttons. In World of ********, they use a limited set of icons to delineate different abilities for different classes. However, those icons not only show a clear representation of what the ability is, but they are also color-coded based on the particular specialization of the character. For example, let's look at the Shadow Priest and the Holy/Discipline Priest abilities. There are three abilities that I can name straight away that are shared between all three specs. They are Cascade, Divine Star, and Halo. Even though these three abilities do exactly the same thing, regardless of spec, when you are in Shadowform, their respective icons change color to represent this. Halo's icon, which is essentially a quarter segment of a golden circle in Holy or Discipline spec, or out of shadowform, turns to a purple icon when Shadowform is activated.
I'm assuming that this is, ultimately, the kind of color-coding that Cryptic wants to do with STO's icons. In fact, one thing I did notice when I was testing the updates to the missions today, that, when I activated my Torpedo: High Yield I ability, the plasma torpedo icon on my weapons tray, went from the green button, to a RED button, with a changed icon, indicating that my plasma torpedo had been modified.
So, essentially, the color-coding of the icons is not only to show the department that uses that ability, but, if it modifies another system, or ability; the affected system/ability's icon, if present on the tray, changes accordingly: Not only in image, but changes to the same color of the modifying ability. IE - High Yield Torpedo, a red button, when activated, turns your monochromatic torpedo icon into a red button with a modified icon.
Again, folks, chill with the nerd raging over the change. Remember you're in beta testing. Things are subject to change....on a whim!
Some good points there, and that's another thing. Because how exactly does it help us to know whether a particular ability is tac, engi or sci? Abilities of all three professions work in various different ways, with tactical abilities taking effect on our weapons (rapids, scatters), our ship (APD, APO, TT), the enemy (APB), engineering abilities infuencing heals (ET, AuxSIF), buffs (EPtX), mobility (EPTE, AuxID) and offense (DEM), and science abilities having all sort of uses, including heals, buffs, debuffs, offense and such.
For example, both EPtS and TSS heal shields and increase their resistance, so what difference does it make whether their icons are yellow or blue? No, seriously, what's the point? It's the ability's function and possible shared cooldown that's important, not the colour of its department station...
Read what I just posted. It might make more sense then.
Hey guys, just wanted to drop in and talk about the color-coded power icons for a second.
I went through the process of color-coding the power icons based on feedback from players when we put the new UI on tribble. Color-coded power icons was one of the features most consistently requested in these forums, and something people on the team have been asking me to do for a while as well.
There isn't going to be an option to pick between the old or new icons - either we have color coded icons or we don't. Offering a choice seems like a simple solution, but actually has a lot of implications in terms of maintaining the UI and adding new powers to it. It also requires UI programmer time to implement that would be much better spent on other things.
Ultimately, I see this as the first step in an iterative process. Power icons could convey more information than they currently do and color-coding them is just one thing I want to do. I'm hopeful that once things settle down after Legacy of Romulus we'll be able to improve them even more.
It may seem weird for STO since we've been used to monochromatic icons for a long long time, but remember that most MMOs and RPGs use color as an important clue to describe the type of power an icon represents. It's a very useful tool and I'm glad that STO's UI is now taking advantage of it.
I would ask that you Que up Mine Trap with our most color blind players and watch them fail a mission that is totally color coded.
Hey guys, just wanted to drop in and talk about the color-coded power icons for a second.
I went through the process of color-coding the power icons based on feedback from players when we put the new UI on tribble. Color-coded power icons was one of the features most consistently requested in these forums, and something people on the team have been asking me to do for a while as well.
There isn't going to be an option to pick between the old or new icons - either we have color coded icons or we don't. Offering a choice seems like a simple solution, but actually has a lot of implications in terms of maintaining the UI and adding new powers to it. It also requires UI programmer time to implement that would be much better spent on other things.
Ultimately, I see this as the first step in an iterative process. Power icons could convey more information than they currently do and color-coding them is just one thing I want to do. I'm hopeful that once things settle down after Legacy of Romulus we'll be able to improve them even more.
It may seem weird for STO since we've been used to monochromatic icons for a long long time, but remember that most MMOs and RPGs use color as an important clue to describe the type of power an icon represents. It's a very useful tool and I'm glad that STO's UI is now taking advantage of it.
I get it. But you're teasing us seriously. Come on, what are some of the other upgrades you guys are thinking about?
I know, nothing would be concrete...but a taste...c'mon you know you want to.
"Rise like Lions after slumber, In unvanquishable number, Shake your chains to earth like dew, Which in sleep had fallen on you-Ye are many they are few"
I mean not to offend, but the colour blind players are most likely not in majority. (And would it not be still just be grey as before? )
This is a very nice change.
I love the new colourful UI and it works great with the Klingon classic UI on my antiproton using Fed tactical officer.
I really like this new UI, but What do purple-gold ones represent? Set items and Tactical fleet both have this, should tactical fleet not be red?
Color blind people still need to be taken into account. The solution to that isn't to take away our colors but instead to use multiple colors on the icons where at least one of those colors isn't a typical color that color blind people have trouble with.
1) I was in Sirius sector and the popup to move to the next one had a Federation bridge for my BOFF in the background.
2) The mission on Vulcan for the Romulan ambassador calls me a Starfleet officer.
Color blind people still need to be taken into account. The solution to that isn't to take away our colors but instead to use multiple colors on the icons where at least one of those colors isn't a typical color that color blind people have trouble with.
But this isn't against color blind players. The icons remain the same. They won't get the full benefit of the color scheme, but the icons will remain. In addition they're trying to remain IP consistent. I'm a little color blind myself (green and yellow tints mostly) but if the person is having difficulty with red, blue (blue-green), and yellow (gold, cadmium whatever) then the color change won't have that big an effect. It's not like the icons become invisible. Multiple colors on the icons could end up making them more complex than necessary and could aggravate other visual issues.
Now that I've said all that, aesthetically, I find the shade of blue on the science icons to be a little pale and the engineering color to be a touch overpowering. The red is fine though.
"Rise like Lions after slumber, In unvanquishable number, Shake your chains to earth like dew, Which in sleep had fallen on you-Ye are many they are few"
1) I was in Sirius sector and the popup to move to the next one had a Federation bridge for my BOFF in the background.
2) The mission on Vulcan for the Romulan ambassador calls me a Starfleet officer.
I have a good question to go along with this ^^^
Why is the romulan ambassador on vulcan dressed like a Tal'Shiar officer?
even the emblem on his chest is that of the Tal'Shiar
Something I have noticed, in my transwarp menu the transwarp to Tau Dewa has disappeared. Not been blacked out, but vanished. I have tier 1 Romulan rep and it was there a few weeks ago.
"Rise like Lions after slumber, In unvanquishable number, Shake your chains to earth like dew, Which in sleep had fallen on you-Ye are many they are few"
I like the colour coding myself, before it was frustrating that there was an ability you needed right this second, and you had to search through all one colour, now it should stand out a little better.
I could see how some people layout their bars the colouring looking like a mess, but mine are pretty good.
Comments
There are a bunch of requests in the Tribble UI thread. If the color is irrelevant, than it shouldn't matter if they are colored by department, in which case there is no real reason to revert the change.
Talk about huge disappointment.
Some people might have requested this, but in the end you've made your new UI style look hideous. What's the point of having multiple colour schemes of your brand new LCARSy UI if our skill tray is going to remain rainbow-ish anyway? The colours are so vibrant and discordant they're gonna satisfy only a few hardcore MMO players, with everyone else looking at them with disgust.
Sorry for being blunt, but as much as I've been excited for LoR two weeks ago now I see that each and every new tribble patch is introducing something I strongly dislike, with those coloured skill icons being on top of the list.
I guess until now people were looking for ways to mod the icons with colours, and now they're gonna look for ways to make them look the old way... *sigh*
For once I wish I was colourblind...
Conjoined, Re-emergence, and . . .
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Another option would be to color them based on weather it increases DPS heals or buffs your self or heals or buffs others. Abilities that do more than one could even have more than one color.
Coloring them according to their department is redundant info for anyone who uses the BOff tray and the regular tray and anyone who feels they need that info can enable the BOff tray and have both sets of info.
yes exactly.... Buffs, Debuffs ect make much more sense than simply Eng, Sci, Tac.
Can anyone point to any instance where you need to know if a power/skill is Eng or Sci?
For example, both EPtS and TSS heal shields and increase their resistance, so what difference does it make whether their icons are yellow or blue? No, seriously, what's the point? It's the ability's function and possible shared cooldown that's important, not the colour of its department station...
because it makes the UI more intrunsive. Some of us dont want our tray looking like a rainbow. It looks more Fischer-Price now than Romulan
It has also made some powers stand out more and become distacting. Ones that you might hardly use. With all the color changes to me it makes my screen seem more junky.
I see what you did there. :P
TRIBBLExxxxxxx
TRIBBLExxxxxxx
Depending on how folks have their bars laid out, they're going to have different things going on...
Has anything been said about the missing BOFF slots/inability to slot BOFFs...?
Has anything been said about the missing Traits for Romulan "Aliens"...?
edit: The above has basically left me no longer testing the Romulans/Romulan stuff. There was only so much to do with the Nukara Rep stuff. So it's basically a case of being left with no reason to be on Tribble.
I was skeptical at first but it does somehow give more life to the power tray, for some reason. I'd love to hear what other changes you're considering for beyond Legacy of Romulus.
I, for one, appreciate the effort. The moment I noticed the color scheme, I realized that they'd been colored according to department. IMO, it would make it easier for people who have a harder time organizing their trays into the most efficient means possible, by making it more clear what powers come from what BOffs, without using the BOff tray on top of the big personal tray and thus cluttering up one's screen with a multitude of trays.
Furthermore, I also see it for it is, an intermediary step into a color-scheming set up that would bring more life to the LCARS style UI than monochromatic buttons would. For Cryptic's sake, I would suggest you guys look at other MMOs, and see how they handle their hotbar buttons. In World of ********, they use a limited set of icons to delineate different abilities for different classes. However, those icons not only show a clear representation of what the ability is, but they are also color-coded based on the particular specialization of the character. For example, let's look at the Shadow Priest and the Holy/Discipline Priest abilities. There are three abilities that I can name straight away that are shared between all three specs. They are Cascade, Divine Star, and Halo. Even though these three abilities do exactly the same thing, regardless of spec, when you are in Shadowform, their respective icons change color to represent this. Halo's icon, which is essentially a quarter segment of a golden circle in Holy or Discipline spec, or out of shadowform, turns to a purple icon when Shadowform is activated.
I'm assuming that this is, ultimately, the kind of color-coding that Cryptic wants to do with STO's icons. In fact, one thing I did notice when I was testing the updates to the missions today, that, when I activated my Torpedo: High Yield I ability, the plasma torpedo icon on my weapons tray, went from the green button, to a RED button, with a changed icon, indicating that my plasma torpedo had been modified.
So, essentially, the color-coding of the icons is not only to show the department that uses that ability, but, if it modifies another system, or ability; the affected system/ability's icon, if present on the tray, changes accordingly: Not only in image, but changes to the same color of the modifying ability. IE - High Yield Torpedo, a red button, when activated, turns your monochromatic torpedo icon into a red button with a modified icon.
Again, folks, chill with the nerd raging over the change. Remember you're in beta testing. Things are subject to change....on a whim!
Read what I just posted. It might make more sense then.
I would ask that you Que up Mine Trap with our most color blind players and watch them fail a mission that is totally color coded.
This is a very nice change.
I love the new colourful UI and it works great with the Klingon classic UI on my antiproton using Fed tactical officer.
I really like this new UI, but What do purple-gold ones represent? Set items and Tactical fleet both have this, should tactical fleet not be red?
I know, nothing would be concrete...but a taste...c'mon you know you want to.
Color blind people still need to be taken into account. The solution to that isn't to take away our colors but instead to use multiple colors on the icons where at least one of those colors isn't a typical color that color blind people have trouble with.
1) I was in Sirius sector and the popup to move to the next one had a Federation bridge for my BOFF in the background.
2) The mission on Vulcan for the Romulan ambassador calls me a Starfleet officer.
But this isn't against color blind players. The icons remain the same. They won't get the full benefit of the color scheme, but the icons will remain. In addition they're trying to remain IP consistent. I'm a little color blind myself (green and yellow tints mostly) but if the person is having difficulty with red, blue (blue-green), and yellow (gold, cadmium whatever) then the color change won't have that big an effect. It's not like the icons become invisible. Multiple colors on the icons could end up making them more complex than necessary and could aggravate other visual issues.
Now that I've said all that, aesthetically, I find the shade of blue on the science icons to be a little pale and the engineering color to be a touch overpowering. The red is fine though.
I have a good question to go along with this ^^^
Why is the romulan ambassador on vulcan dressed like a Tal'Shiar officer?
even the emblem on his chest is that of the Tal'Shiar
I could see how some people layout their bars the colouring looking like a mess, but mine are pretty good.
Completed Starbase, Embassy, Mine, Spire and No Win Scenario
Nothing to do anymore.
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