I really thought I was going to like the new Icons with todays patch, but...
Not So Much.
To my eyes anyway, they just don't seem distinctive enough.
Everything seems to blend together now when I look at my Ships Character Screen and especially my Inventory.
(my screen resolution is 1920x1080)
Would it be possible to have a thicker colored outline on the Icons to represent the different Depts.?
(instead of the color being part of the background)
The artwork is pretty and I'm sure a lot of work went into creating them, but it has created a mishmash of colors that are difficult to distinguish when they sit together.
(and I'm not even color-blind, I can't imagine whet it must look like to someone with that problem)
STO Member since February 2009. I Was A Trekkie Before It Was Cool ... Sept. 8th, 1966 ... Not To Mention Before Most Folks Around Here Were Born! Forever a STO Veteran-Minion
?The icons have been updated for all passive science, tactical and engineering consoles
So my big question is why are you changing the Icons on all theses Equips? I only hope you didn't change the description's/wording around on them.
consoles are awful. can hardly tell them apart now.
i'm baffled that they made it to holodeck. how did no one not notice how bad this was?!?!
I wouldn't call them 'bad', I just think they are too similar when grouped together.
As I said above, a more distinct box outline would help alleviate that problem.
STO Member since February 2009. I Was A Trekkie Before It Was Cool ... Sept. 8th, 1966 ... Not To Mention Before Most Folks Around Here Were Born! Forever a STO Veteran-Minion
Well a defo thumbs down from me. I really can't understand why they changed it to be honest? It's a shame you don't get the option to customize the way you want it all laid out. Plus there's far more importent stuff that needs to be corrected before this!!! Come on Cryptic I'm sure there will be more haters than lovers.
Atm it's just confusing and once getting used to it won't be a prob anymore for sure... but I still wonder why changing something which already worked before.
This was a waste of resources that could have been spent developing new content. At best it was fixing a problem that didn't exist. At worse the new icons are actually more homogenous looking than the old ones. This kind of change makes me wonder the direction Cryptic is heading in.
having just logged in to this new patch. I can see an instant fail in my inventory. some of the armour consoles now look almost identical. to me they used to be distinctively different. now they are close to identical, can hardly tell them apart. to me that's an epic fail!
I've now seen more consoles now. who on earth thought this was good idea? making them all look the same ?? I can only imagine a colour blind person or any one with sight difficulties having a total nightmare now.
^^^ 100% exactly what he said. They all look the SAME. Why on earth would anyone think that this is a good idea is beyond me. The old art wasn't broke so why waste time and resources on replacing it. Time would have been better spent fixing the tons of other artwork and costume bugs you already have in the game. I can live with some of them, but the armor, alloy and hull plating are too similar.
Why on earth would they waste time changing icons when there are so many bugs that need to be addressed. I know cryptic have never been any good at prioritising but this is just a waste of time.
Also...where as before i could just look in my inventory and know exactly what i have.....now i have to mouse over everything.........way to go Cryptic!!
colored backgrounds seem intuitive. yellow for engineering, blue for science, red for tactical. easy to recognize..... look good, and a nice refreshing change-up !
and... I 'read' the descriptions anyway before making decisions on using items, how do you all determine stat numbers from the color of an icon anyway ?????
_______________________
---- FIRE EVERYTHING ! ----
colored backgrounds seem intuitive. yellow for engineering, blue for science, red for tactical. easy to recognize..... look good, and a nice refreshing change-up !
and... I 'read' the descriptions anyway before making decisions on using items, how do you all determine stat numbers from the color of an icon anyway ?????
I think you missed my point. I know the stats of my consoles and its not hard to work out that a purple MKXII gives you more than a blue MK XI.....my point was that i now need to mouse over to identify them...(not having a pop at you bud)
LOL it's cool. I can take a joke about it, hell I make fun of myself about it now and then. It also gets me out of having to answer questions like "What color do you think looks better on me?" Hell if I know, I can't tell the difference. :P
And believe it or not, you aren't entirely off base. One of the things I love about manga (of which my avatar comes from one) is that the vast, vast majority of it is in gray scale. I don't have to deal with pesky color issues there haha.
Anyways time to log in and see how this business works now.
Nice new artwork for consoles 'icons'. Given that it's taken me two years to memorize all the old ones, the new art is frustrating to say the least.
(insert joke referencing my age)
Do they look similar to the old icons - no. Missed opportunity there to transition your players and build confidence for the user.
Updating the artwork was part of your production schedule, and YES I understand the difference between bug fixes and producing artwork. Many players chatting right now don't.
Another missed opportunity: Hey guys - we're running a contest for user-design icons for our consoles. Community feedback, votes and best of all - an updated game where the players feel invested in its success.
So what happened?
In marketing parlance it's called LGIP or 'looks good in plastic'. People who work closely on projects often get myopic; and the urge to change and update go hand in hand with 'we want to make it better'. Visual changes, if nothing else seem to make executives happy. If it looks old, put a new cover on it. In this case, remove artwork we 'get' and add cartoonish, garish artwork from World of ********.
Ok, that was perhaps harsh. But I have avoided the 'Lipstick on a....'. We're all thinking it.
You've done great work in the past - the reskin was awesome. LoR is awesome.
But it's a shame you've lost another opportunity to make an already great game better.
Took a look at them in game and the hull plating, alloy, and torpedo consoles all look the same to me. I can't tell the difference between the types at a glance anymore. Guess I'll be relying on tool tips from now on.
Why on earth would they waste time changing icons when there are so many bugs that need to be addressed. I know cryptic have never been any good at prioritising but this is just a waste of time.
Also...where as before i could just look in my inventory and know exactly what i have.....now i have to mouse over everything.........way to go Cryptic!!
I absolutely agree.
In the same patch notes they say: Known Issue:
Occasionally, the bridge officer stations will be missing when viewing them on Gateway.
Something that has been broken for some time now, is happening very frequently, impacts the game negatively (boff powers disappear from action bar as well) doesn't get fixed asap nor do small items like incorrect labels ( [Disruptor Dual Cannons Mk VII [Acc]x2] give to a Polaron Mk XI[CrtD] wep)
Comments
Not So Much.
To my eyes anyway, they just don't seem distinctive enough.
Everything seems to blend together now when I look at my Ships Character Screen and especially my Inventory.
(my screen resolution is 1920x1080)
Would it be possible to have a thicker colored outline on the Icons to represent the different Depts.?
(instead of the color being part of the background)
The artwork is pretty and I'm sure a lot of work went into creating them, but it has created a mishmash of colors that are difficult to distinguish when they sit together.
(and I'm not even color-blind, I can't imagine whet it must look like to someone with that problem)
I Was A Trekkie Before It Was Cool ... Sept. 8th, 1966 ... Not To Mention Before Most Folks Around Here Were Born!
Forever a STO Veteran-Minion
So my big question is why are you changing the Icons on all theses Equips? I only hope you didn't change the description's/wording around on them.
Hence, "Icon Update".
i'm baffled that they made it to holodeck. how did no one not notice how bad this was?!?!
I wouldn't call them 'bad', I just think they are too similar when grouped together.
As I said above, a more distinct box outline would help alleviate that problem.
I Was A Trekkie Before It Was Cool ... Sept. 8th, 1966 ... Not To Mention Before Most Folks Around Here Were Born!
Forever a STO Veteran-Minion
basically they have not been an improvement. they was better before this revamp. they was more distinctive. you easily knew what you was looking at.
However, they are also not practical at all, as you have to look at the tooltip to tell them apart.
To me, this qualifies as an art department fail.
.
---- FIRE EVERYTHING ! ----
Atm it's just confusing and once getting used to it won't be a prob anymore for sure... but I still wonder why changing something which already worked before.
This is what I was about to write
Well, I just so happen to be and I'm kind of afraid to log into the game and find out lol. Eh, I'll get around to it later and see how it goes lol.
Mine Trap Supporter
so that explains the avatar color....
JK...that was uncalled for
(slinks off in shame)
---- FIRE EVERYTHING ! ----
Bad for people with bad eyes or problems to identify colors.
Is there nothin else to do in that game as changing working things?
The icons look like something a three year old has done,,,,,or maybe they did,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Couldn't agree more with this. Q&A fail much? You have to be able to tell the consoles apart and this isn't helping anybody.
^^^ 100% exactly what he said. They all look the SAME. Why on earth would anyone think that this is a good idea is beyond me. The old art wasn't broke so why waste time and resources on replacing it. Time would have been better spent fixing the tons of other artwork and costume bugs you already have in the game. I can live with some of them, but the armor, alloy and hull plating are too similar.
Also...where as before i could just look in my inventory and know exactly what i have.....now i have to mouse over everything.........way to go Cryptic!!
colored backgrounds seem intuitive. yellow for engineering, blue for science, red for tactical. easy to recognize..... look good, and a nice refreshing change-up !
and... I 'read' the descriptions anyway before making decisions on using items, how do you all determine stat numbers from the color of an icon anyway ?????
---- FIRE EVERYTHING ! ----
Agreed.
That said, now that they've gone and done this, they should update all the other item icons too. :P
Infinite possibilities have implications that could not be completely understood if you turned this entire universe into a giant supercomputer.
I think you missed my point. I know the stats of my consoles and its not hard to work out that a purple MKXII gives you more than a blue MK XI.....my point was that i now need to mouse over to identify them...(not having a pop at you bud)
I guess i will have to get used to them!
only the passive consoles got the color change Einstein.... :rolleyes:
---- FIRE EVERYTHING ! ----
LOL it's cool. I can take a joke about it, hell I make fun of myself about it now and then. It also gets me out of having to answer questions like "What color do you think looks better on me?" Hell if I know, I can't tell the difference. :P
And believe it or not, you aren't entirely off base. One of the things I love about manga (of which my avatar comes from one) is that the vast, vast majority of it is in gray scale. I don't have to deal with pesky color issues there haha.
Anyways time to log in and see how this business works now.
Mine Trap Supporter
A so everything purple is purple and every thing that is not purple is yellow blue or red,,,mmmm,,,
Nice new artwork for consoles 'icons'. Given that it's taken me two years to memorize all the old ones, the new art is frustrating to say the least.
(insert joke referencing my age)
Do they look similar to the old icons - no. Missed opportunity there to transition your players and build confidence for the user.
Updating the artwork was part of your production schedule, and YES I understand the difference between bug fixes and producing artwork. Many players chatting right now don't.
Another missed opportunity: Hey guys - we're running a contest for user-design icons for our consoles. Community feedback, votes and best of all - an updated game where the players feel invested in its success.
So what happened?
In marketing parlance it's called LGIP or 'looks good in plastic'. People who work closely on projects often get myopic; and the urge to change and update go hand in hand with 'we want to make it better'. Visual changes, if nothing else seem to make executives happy. If it looks old, put a new cover on it. In this case, remove artwork we 'get' and add cartoonish, garish artwork from World of ********.
Ok, that was perhaps harsh. But I have avoided the 'Lipstick on a....'. We're all thinking it.
You've done great work in the past - the reskin was awesome. LoR is awesome.
But it's a shame you've lost another opportunity to make an already great game better.
See you in Seattle
My Two Bits
Admiral Thrax
Mine Trap Supporter
In the same patch notes they say:
Known Issue:
Occasionally, the bridge officer stations will be missing when viewing them on Gateway.
Something that has been broken for some time now, is happening very frequently, impacts the game negatively (boff powers disappear from action bar as well) doesn't get fixed asap nor do small items like incorrect labels ( [Disruptor Dual Cannons Mk VII [Acc]x2] give to a Polaron Mk XI[CrtD] wep)