cakeastrophe: until it's an event it's fine.
UI: already discussed enough.
bunch of re-skins: had enough, thank you.
player names: this removed a lot of originality to this game. every single MMO has that. please. let us choose. I want more colors.
player rank: useless. if you are a noob, you can be a noob vanguard.
vitapods no drop: this was bad. I used not to be a jerk. now I have to. why?
devilite difficulty nerfed: I wanted to smash the screen with my head for that. you can't do that. every person with a pulsar line will destroy them now. if you nerf their dodge, they are dead.
I now agree with klip. before anything else now, balance what we have. please. I beg of you. I don't want to haunt you for life and after death. I have other people to haunt.

EDIT: tried out.
put the energy below the shield meter. I don't care if it's cluttered. I don't want it in the inventory. it's the most important thing in the game.
also, I would bet that everyone knows where are they pointing their nose. I would have agreed if it happened with every party member (not in haven, because it's pointless there, nor in LD, at least not with the enemy). removing the circles only on your character is useless. you need to know where your party members are facing. you know where you are.
@everyone: get used to shortcut, because it will be a pain.

I've made this list of movies to watch while I wait for this update to download. Afterwards I'll be raging since there are no special boxes obtainable with a CE purchase. What a way to ruin my experience of this long anticipated release.

Why exactly did you guys need to change the hud? The other one was already good and "if it ain't broke don't fix it", haven't you guys learned it from the RSS already? Plus, monsters on map and hp bars aside it's more like a downgrade than an up.
On another note, congratulations nerfing the only challenge that remained on the game. Now we can play it knowing that we can run around the clockworks without the fear of seeing some real challenge. YAY!

When I am standing around in haven- or mid run- I like to keep careful track of my currency. I use the energy bar to answer fundamental questions like "can I adventure now?" and "will I be able to afford this thing that I am about to walk through three haven loading screens to reach?".

In other words, when a number is extremely important to every action a player is likely to take, it's good UI to show it at all times. Whether or not showing that number makes us think that currency is important is not the issue- because it is, and making it harder to see those numbers won't change that fact. If we instead argue that rank = progress... well, that's primarily limited by crafting.

I could understand hiding the meters if the UI rework had been aimed at streamlining things to reduce clutter, but quite the opposite: the new UI has more bevels, more.... stuff (a health bar in haven?!), and less contrast. I have a lot more trouble reading things with all the 2004-style chrome surfaces.

It took me 30 seconds to spot a party invite amidst the clutter, and why I would need a giant portrait of myself AND my avatar? Beyond me. It looks especially inconsistent when I join a party (my giant portrait above a comrade's tiny head). Not being able to drop a vitapod is a loss of functionality.

I wouldn't throw out the changes altogether, of course: the minimap is improved (ish), the boss health bar might be useful, and I can actually read the names of players while they're moving. Those are genuinely positive things... but the UI is still a work in progress, and I'm not impressed with the decision to rush it out after only 12 hours of beta testing. I genuinely feel that it needed more time for feedback and polish.

The problem is they always rush. Always.

Be afraid, be very afraid

I'm surprised at the loss of dropping vitapods. It was a pretty useful ability when running the clockworks and a knight with weaker gear joined or a knight with the wrong equipment for the map.

I wonder if there was a particular reason for this change?

Also surprised about the Devilite nerf. Devilites, bomb/shield/mortar gremlins, and greivers were some of the hardest monsters that I've had to fight. It was wonderful, when I finally got the gear, tactical skills, and learned to use the terrain well enough to usually win those fights. I hope the nerf of the devilites isn't too extreme and they do still offer a challenge.

*gulpsnoisily*

@ Everyone who's saying to remove stuff: No. Add options to turn certain elements of the UI off and let people who want certain information keep it.

Also, @ "If it isn't broke, don't fix it." If we followed that logic, we'd still be stuck in the 1900's.

Ever heard of something called less is more.

I don't think they have the screen is taken up by a lot of things that where there before but now take up a lot more room and give the whole view point a more cheep look. Not to mention if you want to see important things like how much energy you have or crowns you now have to open inventory.

All the names of players are all the same colour and look really bland and uninteresting in white.

Is there really any point in Haven to show your health and shield stats, apart from take up more space.

You have to squint at the mini map now to see where players are, why?

There is only one monster in spiral knights you have to worry about and that is the devilite now that is over, nice going you took the only challenge for advanced players and players that knew what they were doing out of the game. That should lead to more long term losses in players as they become more hesitant about playing because there is no challenge. If you are going to keep this new development then please get rid of it for T3 players at least.

I don't like the health bar on top of the monsters that should be an option you should be able to adjust in settings on or off. I just makes the adventure you are on all that less real of you get me.

The vita problem about not being able to drop them, just want to know what the admins think they have actually gained for not allowing it. Over the amount of complains they are now receiving, was it worth it, I think not.

Is there really any need for a big picture of myself in the left corner of the screen I can see what I look in the middle of the screen just fine thanks.

It is also now much harder to gauge just how many hit points players in our team have left in the clock works when they get hit.

When you change weapons it is nice to see a really distracting image in the middle go the screen in the middle of combat, showing what weapon you have now chosen.

Spiral knights main problem has always been trying to keep the longer playing players from leaving they do this by trying to update the game etc. but to little success. I can assure that this new update has not improved their chances most likely the opposite in fact I say this as a 1year + player. I am sure I will find even more things that I disagree with tomorrow when I have a full amount of energy.

I don't post much at all but when I saw this update (no downgrade) I felt I had to say something. I have to say something or the game I find so appealing will be lost forever and a cheep looking knock off one will be in its place.

I personally like the UI over the old one. The left side of the screen isn't as crowded anymore and there's more open space while depth diving.
The chat scroll bar is awesome.
Being able to see your teammates' actual health bar is nice.
The more accurate health pips are cool, and so is the % health next to the bar.
The minimap is more compact and the red dots can help scope out those enemies that seem to be hiding.
Removing CR and CE from the active battle display has helped keep the UI more compact, which I find nice.
Being able to hide certain elements to make it more compact is nice.
Colors and shading pop out now. It's nice.
The flash of bad, neutral, or good damage to enemies is neat.

What I don't like:
Pills and caps are on the bottom. I'd like the health and shield bar to be down there.
I don't want that portrait of my knight. Leave the left side for my teammates. I can see my own health.
The health bars make damage numbers redundant.
The messages that pop up when inventory is full, health is full, or I'm holding a superior vitapod is plain dumb. I can tell just by something not being picked up that these things have happened.
Some of the UI elements are not in intuitive places, which requires re-learning. I expected this, though.

Seriously, scrapping the new UI is just plain dumb. It can be improved, and options can be added in to accommodate those that don't like certain elements.

Is it just me, or has it been at 76% for at least an hour.

:/

New UI is "mostly fine". Display of mist / CE needs to be able to be persistent and unobtrusive. And where is the "charge weapon" bar that I asked for? That would be 20 times more useful than the shield bar!

@Sinkai,
You can toggle off monsters' health bars. Check options.

Guys, the new UI has only been on the test server for ~24 hours and the live server for less than 4 hours. If you're saying that OOO isn't going to change anything about it and that they don't care about our feedback, you're making a hella big assumption

Kalaina-Elderfall:

I'm usually disgruntled by the generally bad updates OOO continuously puts out, but I don't threaten to quit a game I love over it. This time, they've sucked every last ounce of charm and usability out of the game, and I don't think it's going to be playable anymore. This isn't "you'll get used to it"; it defies everything I've ever known or heard about good UI design. It's ugly, cluttered, and difficult to perform basic tasks and get information at a glance. And if the UI itself isn't quitworthy, it's the straw that broke the camel's back after a year and a half of development that's been shamelessly targeted toward getting more money out of people who aren't me.

Apparently they don't value my money, so they've lost a paying customer. Unless some drastic improvements are made within the next week, I'm done with the game. And seeing as how much I love this game (or rather, what it used to be), I find this very, very sad.

Incoherrant:

http://24.media.tumblr.com/541d9070807b75d4ddf4dd1d2aa3d1a9/tumblr_mkp8n...

although I'll probably visit it still because the monsters are still cute but oh god all the awful

Yaboydwayne:

You are not alone brother. Every single long term veteran in my guild feels this way.

Spaznig:

Yeah you're not alone. We're already planning on selling all our stuff and move out of this game.

Happy?

I'm usually disgruntled by the generally bad updates OOO continuously puts out, but I don't threaten to quit a game I love over it. This time, they've sucked every last ounce of charm and usability out of the game, and I don't think it's going to be playable anymore. This isn't "you'll get used to it"; it defies everything I've ever known or heard about good UI design. It's ugly, cluttered, and difficult to perform basic tasks and get information at a glance. And if the UI itself isn't quitworthy, it's the straw that broke the camel's back after a year and a half of development that's been shamelessly targeted toward getting more money out of people who aren't me.

Apparently they don't value my money, so they've lost a paying customer. Unless some drastic improvements are made within the next week, I'm done with the game. And seeing as how much I love this game (or rather, what it used to be), I find this very, very sad.

[xposted from locked thread]

Not meant to be an overdramatic thread, just putting down some thoughts.

I've been playing since beta. I used to be the kind of player that would pretty regularly put down 10/20 bucks into this game pretty frequently. I've had a constantly running elevator pass for the last couple of months, and before this UI change I had no real intention of not getting a new pass at the end of the month.

Yeah, not so much anymore.

The new UI is just so unabashedly unusable. I can't actively see what amount of crown I'm grinding for for that next item during dungeoneering without going into my inventory. The haven AH mass is now a sea of grey. I have to click two menus to do just about anything UI-related. The gradients over everything are more distracting than they are shiny.

You don't need a shield-health bar when the shield color works just as well, except more inherently intuitive. Why is your health in the top left, when literally no other action game ever has one there [see: any fps ever]? Why is it so visually distracting when I hit an enemy with effective damage?

I am not giving the devs any more money. Not when they put out 'content' like this.

This is possibly my favorite update ever on Spiral Knights. The new UI is gorgeous, I feel like I'm playing one of these top grade MMORPG's.
I can't wait for my eyes to get used to the new layout.

So generally I have been complaining about new UI for several days now, but since many believed that I don't have a right to complain because it's a WIP screenshot, I'll let myself rant now after I've done T2 recipe run and Cakestrophe daily mission (5 levels total).

-- Major things I don't like --

1. So basically the new UI design looks cheap and ugly - search my recent posts for details, examples and elaborate explanation on that issue. Bevelled frames, shadows dropped everywhere, crystal buttons. Blah.

2. Gargantuan shield health bar in the middle of my screen. Horrible looking, distracting as hell. Constant flashing and swapping size with Health bar doesn't help on that issue really. I understand the reason this bar was introduced and it was cool idea but idea's execution is far from perfection.

3. Gargantuan portrait. What for?!

4. Pop ups whenever you're near mineral deposit or golden key. Very distracting. What is the purpose of those anyway?!

6. Gargantuan weapon wheel. Distracting and useless.

7. Flashes whenever you hit monster. They're really disturbing. You can't see what's going on behind them.

8. Red marks on targetted mob. White looks a way more decent. Those red ones are ugly and awkward. SK used to have such good design.

-- Things I find well done --

1. Ability to toggle off mobs' health bars. Two thumbs up! Customisation is a good thing. Those health bar may be useful for new players or in case of bosses so it's nice to have them as optional feature. It's good that players like me can toggle them off easily.

2. Popping up energy whenever you're close to mecha-knight/energy gate or at elevators. I'm still not convinced that removing energy/crowns from main HUD was a good thing, but since you made that choice it's nice to have them provided when really needed.

3. Hiding menus. Convenient.

4. New unbreakable blocks. Shiny - that's fine example of makeover I support. I like changes - but only good ones.

This is really weird....I think the Devs need a vacation. They can't focus...

EDIT: Anyone starting to think it's funny how calm and focused Eurydice is sounding? Either she is seriously for or against this. You see, if there are enough dislikes in this thread maybe she's hoping the devs will notice? I wonder how much sway she has over the managers...

Oh well...I'll keep on supporting my guild, but otherwise Idk if I'm too interested in playing like I have been before. While it's still playable, it suddenly feels like beta now.

I've had many failed updates with Steam, and the one time it doesn't fail, it gets stuck for hours on 72%,73%,82%,83%,84% and 97% (its still stuck at 97 atm). I have to leave my PC on while I sleep.

• HAPPY ANNIVERSARY SPIRAL KNIGHTS!
  Spiral Knights is celebrating its second anniversary with a special event! Join in on the fun now through April 16, 2013!
  Yay! Candy, cakes, and lolipops! Caketastrophe back again. Parties, cakes, prize boxes, hats, accessories, bla, bla, bla... Spiral Knights give each other pats on their backs and Biscotti messes it up again. Not entirely unexpected.
• UI Overhaul
  As part of our second anniversary celebration, we're rolling out a new UI for Spiral Knights! The new UI contains a number of improvements and an easier to understand layout.
  Alright. It was coming sooner or later. Not entirely necessary (really though, aren't there more important things that need to be looked at and fixed?) however and, naturally, I personally prefer the original one, but I suppose we should be grateful that the Spiral Order has actually been making technological advances and are willing to share them. Still, I can't help but feel that a lot of this information is unnecessary, ugly, and well... things are just too easy now (perhaps balanced by the cluttered messiness)...
• Other Changes
  - Monster and player damage flash effects have been revamped for better clarity in combat.
  - Vials and Capsule pickups have had their icons updated.
  - Items will now show a message when they cannot be picked up.
  Ok. Other changes. Comes with the UI update I suppose.
• - Art for unbreakable blocks in the Clockworks has been updated.
  ... No comment...
• - A player's rank will now be shown with their name above their heads.
  - Player names are now white, green if a guildmate and blue if a friend. This color scheme is also used on the mini map.
  Right. Almost entirely unnecessary. I actually find myself disagreeing with the implementation of this.
• - Vitapods can no longer be dropped, only replaced by superior versions
  ... What? Why? Again, entirely unnecessary. Was dropping Vitapods broken? Overpowered? A problem in any conceivable way? A result of the UI change?
  Now we can’t throw ‘em away to keep from getting unneeded hearts at the Prize Wheel or give ourselves a slightly greater challenge. Now we can’t give party members a boost when leaving a party at the elevators. Now we can’t be plain kind and generous to other party members when maybe we can manage without them. We’re not discouraging kindness and generosity here, are we? Well?
  Very much disagree with this actual mechanic changing implementation.
• - Devilite difficulty has been balanced, including reducing their attack range and dodge frequency.
  Yup. Way too easy now.
• Bugfixes
  - Dusky Long Feather added to the Iron Lockbox drop table
  Bugfix good. Should really be "bugfix" (singular), no? Perhaps not…

Seriously. Give us some more toggles for your fancy, new UI. Better yet, don’t make it your “special” standard issue junk and give us the option to switch back to the Classic and leave the Vitapods and Devilites out of this.

-Windsickle

Was actually going to create new topic when saw Eurydice go: "NOPE" so was like: "Ok... I'll just put this here."

http://spiralsnipes.tumblr.com/post/47054286870
This update will take some getting used to, but for the most part I like it.

- CE and Crowns should be always visible.

- There should be a toggle to prevent showing player ranks above their heads.

- I have no idea who the party leader is in any given party, there needs to be a small symbol to indicate that.

- I really need to see my shield health in Lockdown, and the new shield indicator makes that more difficult. Could it be reverted back to the old system for Lockdown only?

- I like the new effects when you hit something, but it’s extremely distracting in Lockdown. It’s harder to tell when you have invincibility frames up or not, and that can make a huge difference. Should be turned off / toggleable in lockdown.

- The new vial/vitapod icons no longer match the armour icons and that makes me sad.