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April 3 Update - Discussion

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Thu, 04/04/2013 - 16:54
#401
Scootsy's picture
Scootsy
@Batabii What if someone in

@Batabii What if someone in your party could use it more than you? What if you're farming heat and want to die faster? What if you'd rather sacrifice extra empty pips so you don't get health on the prize wheel? Don't be so ignorant, this is an actual problem.

Thu, 04/04/2013 - 16:57
#402
Bzzts
.

@Batabii I can see you don't give heat often. And going on your logic about the vitas, you're saying that a player with 2 penta heart pendants + 15 vita would not ever, think to drop his vita to help a person with no health trinkets and no vita. And to the third sentence, I have been on SL runs with no vita up until someone with heart pendants DROPPED one for me before boss (sometimes you're unlucky).

Seeing how much health you have is now HARDER than it was. We have one long health bar which is virtually impossible to count quickly in comparison to the 2 health bars we had before (one on the left showing up to 20 health, one at the bottom compressing 5 at a time.) So we not only have it harder to see our health, we see it in a less convenient place (rather than just looking an inch below your char, you have to look in the top left, completely away from combat getting ourselves killed =/= CE revs =/= money grab).

The perspective on new vials is wrong. I don't particularly care that they're vulgar, but they look even WORSE than throwing 2d icons. They aren't even in the right perspective on the ground to look like they're ACTUALLY on the ground. They dun goofed - again.

They have, in this update, completely gone against the good logic they had behind the old UI.

Point 1: Party leader used to be the top knight on the left, but this is no longer the case, as you are always top.
Point 2: Health was at the bottom for reasons stated above.
Point 3: The compressed health at the bottom also took less room and was simple enough to LEARN. (yes, you have to use your brain sometimes)
Point 4: Vials were at the top of the screen as it is easier to drag down that up (looking to the top of your screen = you can still see the stuff below, but not vice versa).
Point 5: The energy icon was a tank of energy as it refilled, a nice feature to the game.
Point 6: The buttons to do things were all arranged neatly at the top of your screen (once you'd left the ready room) to prevent CLUTTER. This is a big point; was easier to access things and easier to see the buttons, now there are tabs EVERYWHERE.
Point 7: Current weapon icon no longer exists on screen, and weapon wheel is in an inappropriate place (distracting/ CLUTTER).

Even more but I'm too tired.

Meretif's UI mockups look brilliant, wish they existed ;(.

Thu, 04/04/2013 - 17:13
#403
Jacobey's picture
Jacobey
@ Zopyros

Nice.

You know... in hindsight... OOO could have actually ran a "design a new interface" for our 2nd Birthday event, given us context for what they wanted, had the community vote on favorites and give the winner something cool as a prize.

That would have channeled so much of the current "energy" in a positive direction and gotten the community on board with what was going on.

Ah, hindsight.

Thu, 04/04/2013 - 17:53
#404
Halapenoz's picture
Halapenoz
NEW UI

its hard to see players names/health/portraits in the ATH because of the chat.

Also hard to see if a party member has died....

Thu, 04/04/2013 - 17:56
#405
Thuq's picture
Thuq
I agree so much with

I agree so much with Zopyros-Ils' older, longer post so much. It's exactly everything I was thinking about this new UI.
Personally though, the new UI is really troublesome towards my eyes. It's hard to actually focus on gameplay with everything clogging up my screen. I can't even depend looking at the left corner anymore in PvP because all I see is those big portraits in the way. Or the top... I really also can't properly and quickly keep count of my CR and CE/ME because I have to rely on opening up the inventory tab just to see it all the way on the bottom and so tiny in size.

Nothing was wrong with the old UI, seriously. If you needed to add so much you should've done it as Zopyros-Ils' remake. I love that remake so much and it alone was so simple to make it was done by one PERSON pretty quickly... And it looks so much more unique and professional in SK's sense. This new UI probably took awhile of planning and several game designers. In my opinion you all failed. It looks so overdone and unnecessary. I don't like the "shininess" one bit and it just clashes so much with everything. It's so big and bulky and I just... it's COLORING, the "shiny"... I cannot get over it. It's the ugliest thing I've ever seen. fgfdsgg; @n@;;
The only things that are actually an add on to the UI is the monsters HP, the shield's power limit, a little bit more detailed of a map, a zoom button (only usable in Haven), and being able to go back to the Ready room. Everything else isn't "new". It's a hideous redesign imo.
This is all you really needed to add... Not try to keep us busy ranting, whining, and trying to get comfortable/adjust to the new UI while we still wait for new content. You released the UI way too early, only giving us a day on the test server to try it out... You wanted feedback and I feel you didn't even listen to it or ignored the people that disliked it opinions. Again though, you guys just kind of do what you want it seems.
I can't assume though that you don't read or accept our opinions and take them to heart, but it really seems like you've been doing what you wanted. But it's only been a day or so since the new UI's been released. I REALLY pray and hope you at least give those who don't like the new UI an option to revert to the older one, with the actual new additions that you added. (HP bar for shield, monsters, zoom, going to ready room) Please though, your old style of things were so unique and modern/simple. I loved it so much. It felt very professional and easy to use. It was my eye candy.
This new style really clashes... Especially the vials/caps. Don't even get me started on those.
Just speaking my mind too but, I feel like I'm going to become really distant with this game if this new UI stays. It really just wants me to quit this game and that's really sad. It upsets me a lot, because I love this game. It means a lot to me sentimentally (not gonna get into why). I just hate to see it go down this path. ; ;

tl;dr OOO pls gib option 2 hav old UI

Thu, 04/04/2013 - 18:01
#406
Klipik's picture
Klipik

I have illustrated my main gripe with the new UI. None of the spliced images were rescaled. All images taken with a screenshot of the game running at 1920x1200.

Thu, 04/04/2013 - 18:32
#407
Ltmauve
Some good, some bad

Well, I'm going to post my own thoughts here, even though there are repeats.

Bad stuff:
Giant portrait of doom. Seriously, why do we need a giant portrait of ourselves? Totally unnessary and eats up space. Could you shrink it back down to the size of the icons in the old UI party list.

New party list: Okay except for having that percentage bar instead of pips. Using the red/silver/gold pips would work great with the old system.

Constant display of rank: Yeah, because I really need to know my rank all the time. It's not that important. Also, why does it have to flash up when I mouse over myself? Also, can you make it so mousing over ourselves in combat no longer shows our own name and guild?

Elevator screen: What. Why did you decide this needed to be changed? This is just tacky, having that picture of ourselves show up in that dramatic pose. Sheesh.

Loss of energy display: It's nice to just be able to check it instead of having to pull up the inventory. Just saying.

The entire look change: Did you have to change almost everything in the UI, adding bevels and flashy stuff and all. I know that you are going to change the game, but you should keep some contiunity. You just changed everything. I liked how SK had this unique interface that was flat, and now it looks sooooooo generic.

That shield/healthbar gimmick: Distracting. Adds nothing. I know I have my shield on. Thanks. Reducing the health bar height by about a third and keeping the shield the same and then having them not switch would be nice.

New healthbar: Could you add some markings every 5 pips so that way we don't have to count all those bars? Aside from that, fine.

Chat: Could you have it drop down when you hide the buttons?

Vials: Not distinctive enough - I couldn't tell the difference between freeze and sleep, and they all look the same when you have your HUD locked. Stop darkening them when we lock the screen. Also, they don't fit the SK style, not even the new one.

Good stuff:
Enemy hp: very nice to know how many hits I need to take down a vilewood so I don't get stuck in a combo

Minimap: I like how I can see enemies on it now. I don't need to stare at it, but it'll tell me how long I have to wait for something to reach me.

Shield bar: aside from the size-shifting, nice to know how many hits my shield will take like that. I noticed that the color didn't change that much while the health was high, so it's nice EXCEPT FOR THE SIZE-SHIFTING

Thu, 04/04/2013 - 18:40
#408
Shelif
UI

New UI is very bad
Shield bar is too big and Health at the top messes me up personally
Energy and crowns need displayed on your general screen so we dont have to open our menu every lift
New vial look very bad the actualy potion like look does not fit only thing I liked is vials are actually vials and not potions
Color names will be missed made haven cooler
Ease of advance on the lift don't bring up a new window just fit that advance window like how the old up and down buttons were
Weapon wheel alright

Thu, 04/04/2013 - 19:25
#409
Amaki's picture
Amaki
Uh ...

Wow. That's a lot of rage. I think Eurydice deserves a commendation just for managing to read though all this. Not to say people don't have the right to express disappointment with the change, but I certainly wouldn't want to read this thread in one sitting.

Anyway ... I have one major complaint with the new UI, and that regards the Targeting UI. Currently it only works with monsters you're using AA on. Those of us who have AA off, either because we use slow weapons such as Divine Avenger or for other reasons, rarely get to see this moderately interesting feature. I don't suppose it could be changed to show the data of the last monster you attacked? It would be appreciated.

Also, according to said UI, Lord Vanaduke is fiend-type. What?

Thu, 04/04/2013 - 19:42
#410
Eltia's picture
Eltia
Cooperstown, ND

You can activate Targeting UI when you toggle AA (you can set a key binding in Controls). Yes, Vanaduke is a Fiend that deals elemental damage with no weakness.

Thu, 04/04/2013 - 19:52
#411
Amaki's picture
Amaki
Yes.

It's bound to Shift last I checked, and I use it more often since I switched to Glacius, but it would still be nice to have a persistent feature. And I was under the impression Vanaduke wasn't anything. Given his resistances change between stages (he takes regular damage from Shadow in Stage 1 but is totally immune in Stage 5) I'm surprised he was classified under the normal tables. Maybe it's a relic of some previous development stage?

Also if that's where you live I can't help but pity you.

Thu, 04/04/2013 - 19:56
#412
Riexon's picture
Riexon
couple things...

One thing that i don't like is that you have to press the inventory button to see your energy.
two, same up there but with crowns.
three, in lockdown, the chat blocks the usernames of your party members.
four, the shaking of the screen when you get hit is a tad bit annoying,
five, could you please make health capsules look like remedy capsules but just recolored?

thanks for reading fellow spiral knights!

Thu, 04/04/2013 - 20:33
#413
Breaker-Xd's picture
Breaker-Xd
No, really

Back for one last thing, just because it came up on my Tumblr Dash.

To Firestorm with this new UI. Someone on Tumblr did the whole thing 90 times better, using the old one as a template.

Back to my week of not playing with this shipwreck.

EDIT: Zopy did it. Here's your credit brah

Thu, 04/04/2013 - 20:34
#414
Sroell's picture
Sroell
New UI is different, not necessarily bad.

In general:
1. I'd like to be able to make my portrait in the top left a bit smaller, it just seems so large. Could just take some getting used to, though. (I get that y'all are going for symmetry with it and the map, but still...)
2. Do we really need to see our health/shield health while in Haven? Is there some sneak attack coming or something?
3. I do NOT like everyone's names being white. So much white in Haven! TOO much white! o_O
4. I like the new mini-map, but why not make our arrow/dots match our colors?
5. It's nice being able to see all the NPCs' names and occupations. (Hector in Moorcroft isn't showing anything, though!)
EDIT: 6. Really, you don't have to label all the alchemy machines and arsenal stations. I know what they are. That's, like, the third you learn when you start the game!
--
In the Clockworks:
1. It's harder to figure out who the party leader is. Kind of nitpicky, but it's something I'd like to be able to tell at a glance. I know it's whoever's at the top of the list, but now our characters are ALWAYS at the top- even if we're not the party leader. I don't really know how to fix that, though.
2. The weapon wheel freaked me out a little bit at first (I kept thinking I was being attacked from the right!), but I like it alright.
3. We can't see everyone's full name! Some of them are too long, so they get cut off, and that is extremely irritating.
4. I like that the shield health bar gets larger when the shield is active, though it could be shorter.
5. The sleep vial and the freeze vial are /really/ close in color. Maybe make the freeze one more purple or the sleep ones blue/green-er.
6. I like the display of the party members in the elevators (the poses make me laugh), but the new buttons and such for them are kind of awkward.
7. I like the new party member portraits more than the old ones- they're a lot easier to read.
8. The half-pip for the health indicator is kind of weird vertical. I think it should be changed back to horizontal.

--

For the most part I like the new UI. It's not as cartoony as the old one, and I think that's what's people mean when they say that the new look doesn't match the "style" of SK. SK is pretty... cute/simple/cartoony/whatever, and the new UI just seems... More geared towards gamers specifically than to a more general everyone, if that makes sense.

Really, my main problem with it is that WE CAN'T SEE OUR ENERGY ANYMORE. Pleasepleaseplease I beg you, bring it back! I need to see how much I have left! I run on mist, so when I'm down in the Clockworks, I really need to be able to see how much I have left. Having to open up the inventory, as fast as it can be, is still jarring. If I'm dead, I want to know how much I have left. (Should I rev myself or wait for a party member?) (Crap, we all died- how much CE do I have to donate?) Or if there's one of those 3-energy box gates or one of those mech-knight things (I can't for the life of me remember what they're called...), do I have enough energy? (Yes, I know that generally the 3-energy gates aren't worth it, but if I'm just playing for fun, why not?) One last elevator to go for the boss, do I have enough energy to tab my teammate that just ran out?

Thu, 04/04/2013 - 20:36
#415
Mrtortoise

(This is Vifig, logging in with my non-steam account).

Here are some of my thoughts. It's long.

- A visible character portrait
This seems useless and takes up too much space. I wouldn't mind a small one, but when playing on a small screen, it's a lot bigger than necessary. I kind of liked how I could only see a big portrait style image of myself when I was in conversation with NPCs- it made the conversations more personal and special. But now I can see it whenever... much more often than not.

- A new way of viewing health: health pips now change from red to silver and finally gold as more health is accrued. Additionally, a percentage health display is present.
I haven't actually seen the color change, because I've only played the Caketastrophe mission, and don't get enough health for it to overflow from red. And I haven't at all noticed a percentage health display... Oops! My complaint about the health bar is its location. It's not easily accessible to my eyes when I'm playing, which means that I'm having a harder time monitoring my health. I don't know if this is just a problem for me, but I don't think so. The focal point is where my knight is, which is always in the center, and so the health should be centered. I prefer at the bottom of the screen because the bottom-center feels closer to my knight than top-center. The health bar may be bigger now, but I can't see it as well.

- A shield power meter under health
I was worried that the shield bubble color was going to be replaced for this, but both of them are there. I think this could be useful for people who rather a more concrete way of thinking of things than colors, and as long as both systems are there, it's cool with me. It just... should be moved to the bottom of the screen, same as health. And unless we're going to be invaded soon, there shouldn't be health or shield meters while we're in Haven. If I have a more powerful shield equipped in Haven, the shield bar annoyingly reaches halfway across my screen (I play at 1024x768). Coupled with the new pop-up text that shows when you're near something you can interact with, the top of my screen feels unorganized and cluttered. While I'm on that note, the menus all now pull from the very top of the screen. I think they should be given back the little bit of breathing room they had before. Again, unbalanced feeling.

- A weapon selection 'wheel' that allows you to see the name and icon of your weapons
This hasn't bothered me yet in practice, but again, I've only played Caketastrophe. I kind of like it, but maybe it could be changed to just icons and no text? Or maybe the option to toggle it off or toggle just the text off? And again, the concerns about the difficulty to see which of your weapons are cursed: it would be nice to have the icon for what we currently have equipped back.

- A much more detailed mini map, featuring enemy locations, NPCs and more
The map is cool. I haven't played with other people yet, but I read others say that we can't see what direction our party members are facing- I think that would be a cool feature.

- A new Targeting UI that displays information about whatever you are targeting. For monsters this includes health, attack types and weaknesses. Handy!
I don't know if this is in the same thing, but I don't like how the Auction House and Alchemy Machines are targeted whenever I'm around them now. It... makes the game feel like a standard MMO, like a lot of these changes do. I liked Spiral Knights because it was special, but it feels like you guys are moving away from that.

- An Activities Panel that contains all the various activities that you can perform in a given zone
This seems... dumb... And whenever I switch places, it un-minimizes itself. I feel like this assumes that players don't have any clue what they're doing, but players can very quickly figure out what they're doing in this game, and having to ask other people is one of the ways new players make friends.

- A zoom button that allows you to zoom in when in Haven
THIS IS AMAZING, the best part of the update for sure. Maybe the only really good part. Please add the option to the Guild Halls! I haven't decided if it's something I would want in the Clockworks or not, since it would change the feel of the game. But definitely guild halls. Please.

- A general layer of shininess across all the other interfaces
Looks gaudy, and everything is boxy and horrible. Maybe it wouldn't be horrible if we'd started out with it, but why did you make it worse? I have loved SK because whenever I logged on, the look of the game instantly drew me in. The ready room really added to that. But this new UI doesn't have the same effect. The boxes are too harsh, the shine too much. It has the opposite effect. It doesn't make me excited for my upcoming session of gameplay. Also, I think this is a good place for me to talk about my other opinions concerning the organization of the new UI. I do not like the menus at the bottoms, but I guess I could get used to them. I do think they were better at the top, because they built-in the breathing space I referred to earlier. The thing is, now that they're at the bottom, even when minimized they're obtrusive, because the chat box now is floating in the middle of the screen. This is a bigger problem on smaller screens. Also, I hate that I can't see my energy at a glance anymore. The old view was reminiscent of what I imagined to be a bio-mech's visual display. Now, it looks boxy and shiny like the rest of things. Not to mention the fact that they're hidden away in the arsenal. Now, I don't mind CE and crowns being hidden away in the arsenal, though it's less convenient, but I feel like mist should always be visible. I did see Nick's comment explaining why this decision was made, but it's not like mist ever goes over 100. Would it be so bad to just have a mist bar at the bottom right of the screen? If I keep my arsenal open to just to watch it, it takes up 1/4 of my screen and I can't properly enjoy the new beautiful zoom-in view.

- Vials and Capsule pickups have had their icons updated.
By themselves, not horrible, but they don't match anything anymore. Kind of like the new UI. But they don't even match that. Also, I would like these back at the top.

- A player's rank will now be shown with their name above their heads.
Seems useless and causes unnecessary clutter, but the hide option makes it okay. This is another thing that I think makes the game feel like just another game instead of something special.

- Items will now show a message when they cannot be picked up.
Have yet to see this in action, but the old Inventory Full message was obtrusive and repetitive.

- Player names are now white, green if a guildmate and blue if a friend. This color scheme is also used on the mini map.
This... is another thing that makes the game so much less unique. But if that's what you want... I really liked names in personal colors. Now that personal colors are only on rank badges, it makes for a lot of clashing. If you insist on making friend names blue and same-guild name green, please deepen the tones. Right now, having the blue and green next to each other and a non-matching personal colored rank badge... feels like looking at a powerpoint with a lime green background and bright red text. A no-no! I think this subconsciously discourages friend-making. Everyone is a faceless stranger.

- Vitapods can no longer be dropped, only replaced by superior versions.
So now I can't share Vitapods with my party members that have less health. This is particularly bothersome because most of the time I'm playing with people I would want to give the better Vitapods to, because they haven't progressed as far gear-wise. Another anti-social move on your part.

- Devilite difficulty has been balanced, including reducing their attack range and dodge frequency.
Haven't actually played it, but I'm cool with this. I may change my mind if I go play it and they're absolute pushovers.

My opinions started out much more vehemently, but you have my husband to thank for their tempering. I hope you will actually take our feedback into consideration. This is not just a wall of hate, it's a wall of suggestions and real feelings towards what I've experienced with the new UI. I feel like this game is slipping away from me. I know I'll never be able to find anything just like it: I'm very picky when it comes to games. Spiral Knights from the beginning successfully blended my need for adorable and hack-and-slash, and never felt like a standard MMO. Now it's moving away from that, and I find myself quite unenthusiastic about the game.

Thu, 04/04/2013 - 20:39
#416
Reqy
Not sure if it will be buried

Not sure if it will be buried and i maybe beating on a dead horse into but I've noticed a big drop in frame rates myself as well as hearing it from some of my friends who have outdated computers. There are some who say it's actually improved their fps but seems to be only a few of them. My drivers are all updated and i noticed the dropoff the minute i stepped into the game as well as browsing through the AH. Is the new UI really that stressful on less powerful computers or is there another new thing that's causing it. It's nice to have a new look but it seems a bit overboard if we have to upgrade our computers to keep up with the patches. I feel it might be even more taxing when it gets busier with battle sprites coming around.

Being only able to run at low graphics and 1080x640 smoothly, it feels as if i can see even less of what's going on my screen than the previous update even with the hide features.

The weapon scroll pop-up could definitely be optional to have or at the very least, be placed in a position that's not covering up the field. The pop-up completely covers up an enemy at my resolution and have no clue how to react to it.

The picture of your knight seems to be over the top and again covering up a good chunk of the field as well as the new placement of the chat window.

The new user interface as a whole just feels intrusive. I feel I know almost exactly what is going on with my surroundings and don't need a pop-up to tell me. I can figure out if my inventory is full, what a claypot is, what weapon I am using. It's definitely a nice for newer players but without the option of being able to turn off many of these pop-ups just makes it a bit annoying for veteran players.

Some things I do like are the enemy health bars and the shield gauge. They've definitely been helpful for me. I hope for a toggle button in the future for health bars.

I can adapt to most of these new features sans weapon pop-up and guild chat if the game didn't have a drop in frame rates. If it's just me, then feel free to throw some suggestions on how to make it smooth like it was pre-patch.

Thu, 04/04/2013 - 21:11
#417
Eurydice's picture
Eurydice
Community Manager
Whew! Just made it through to

Whew! Just made it through to this point--slow going because I was hand tallying feature mentions.

Many, many thanks to those of you who were concise yet specific in your feedback. It's a hard balance to strike, but when it happens it makes it so much easier to process. Bonus points for bullet points.

If you post your feedback after my post here, don't worry; I'll be back to read more.

Thu, 04/04/2013 - 21:12
#418
Caralantha
A multitude of issues

I've recieved an email saying the oversized picture will not be adjusted for a few weeks.
Energy and crowns need displays. No compromises on this.
I just had the game crash on me twice while trying to do a JK run. The game just totally flips out.
The new HP display may help with personal health, but it now hinders party health reading.
I feel like this new HUD wasn't beta tested at all, nor was the new implementation of enemy read-outs tested out for computation time. The read outs are nice, but cause the game to lag more frequently and/or more heavily for alot of people.
I also find the NPC labels helpful, since I heard the names used to reference people, but never knew who they went with.

Caralantha

Thu, 04/04/2013 - 22:46
#419
Deliciousbread's picture
Deliciousbread
Innovation!

Short Version:
Yay Spiral Knights, good game! UI not so hot. Need crowns and energy back. Progress screen at elevator tripy. Collapsable menus are good. Party invitations easy to miss. Portrait creepy and unnecessarily large. New Health Meter cool, but wrong place. Shield meter distracting, but useful. Teammate icons need longer name boxes and more conspicuous death of teammate notifications. Weapon Wheel broken and bad. New Vials don't really match art style and are a little hard to discern between sleep and freeze. Enemy Health Bars very good. Mini Map, nicely improved. Bring back personal colors for names. Skip to Bottom Line near bottom.

Long Version:
There is a saying that people only speak up when they want to complain that something is wrong. I would be a perfect example of this, but I feel very bad saying that so I will follow it with a few things I probably should have said over the past two years.

I started playing Spiral Knights about a month after its release and loved it, instantly. I've come to adore the cartoony knights and monsters, the colorful landscapes and inhabitants, and the pleasantly smooth mechanics. I've enjoyed experiencing the various events throughout the year, watching the story grow and take greater shape, and see new additions to armor, weapons, enemies, and levels. A few of my guild mates and I even created new characters just to be able to experience the revamped rescue camp and early story. I was delightfully surprised to come back from a short break from the game (darn life getting in the way) to find the ranking system and missions added, and proceeded to play them through as quickly as I could. I was fortunate enough to have a friend gift me Operation Crimson Hammer and after playing it would recommend it to anyone and probably would have gifted it to a friend had they all not already picked it up before I could. I have quietly enjoyed everything that this game has become... until now sadly.

The new UI has... issues, which I strongly feel need to be addressed.

To start off, first and foremost, I'd like to be able to see my energy and crowns at all times. I've read that this change may have come about because it was supposed to refocus players into thinking less about money and energy and more about rank, story, and progress, but the problem with that is that the two are intertwined. To rise in rank and progress, a knight must craft better gear for themselves, but to do so requires a combination of both crowns and energy. To even play through the story and earn rank requires energy and rewards crowns, they are tied together in order to progress, crowns and energy being the ones that change more often even and should be shown at the forefront. It also makes it harder for people to throw money at you since it is more of a maze to get to the energy market.

Speaking of progress, the progress screen is very nice and flashy with the action posed knights from your party, however it confuses me a little. I don't understand why the knights are running off to the right when they are supposed to be going down an elevator. Unless they are doing laps in the elevator, which I am not opposed to, physical fitness is very important for knights, it just seems a little cramped. Having the knights running off the side of the screen interferes visually with where knights are supposed to be heading spatially, and is made worse by the reversed orientation of the proceed and return to Haven buttons. It now appears to be very easy to mix up heading down the elevator and heading up to Haven buttons with how close they are and how they appear to be upside down. Again adjacent to the knights that are heading in neither of these directions.

Now to pick a direction, lets follow the knights right to the activities menu. The activities menu is pretty good, it compacts the three menus that used to appear at the top of the screen as well as adds shortcuts to the guildhall or to and from haven which can be very handy in order to avoid town square beggars. It is also able to be minimized, which is especially handy to clear the screen of some of the clutter this intrusive UI brings in. The one small issue for myself was the party invitations while minimized; they become increasingly hard to notice. I had been in a party where we invited a fellow guild member to join us and about two minutes after we had sent the invite he asked us why we hadn't invited him already. The invite was received and completely missed since it is only clearly visible for half a second before it slinks off screen. It is a minor inconvenience that just slows down game play where before it was very hard to miss.

Moving on to address the elephant on screen, and by that I mean the ginormous portrait of myself creepily staring at me non-stop in the corner of my screen. It is quite unnecessary and only adds further to the clutter. If I am so vain as to want to look at my character, he is already on screen, or I can view a more detailed portrait on the character screen where it belongs.

The Health Meter. I thought I was going to like this one, I really did, at least until I died. It was when I fell to the ground for the first time in the classic death spiral and dropped basket of heat (very good animation btw, always have liked it) that I realized how little I noticed the health meter at all; neither did my teammates apparently either since they were dropping like flies compared to our usual nightly runs. It looks nice, it seems more functional, but it is sadly out of place. It is also strange that the vitapod is separate from it, seeing as how the two are tied.

The Shield Meter. Also a pleasant thought, it is nice to be able to see shield health without pulling up my shield, at least until I saw that it took up far more room than it needed and moved as I pulled up my shield. I quickly found myself in a bullet hell area and found it incredibly distracting to see a large pulsating bar in the upper left corner as I repeatedly raised and lowered my shield in order to block and dodge effectively. Like the health bar revamp, it is a nice idea, but poorly implemented to the point of it being a distraction to gameplay. Speaking of the health bar, maybe the shield bar being so distracting is the reason I lost track of my health? The two don't seem to work well as they stand now and should be moved and at least the shield bar needs to be shrunk to a standard size and counted as a percentage of health.

Teammates Icons. Teammates health also became much harder to keep track of. The one size bar for all is much less noticeable than the old pip bars were. I found myself having to be told that everyone else was dead and I should try to stay alive when they were just off the side of my screen. The larger portraits of your traveling companions are nice, but I now find myself missing the change when they die, which was very visible. I do find it strange though that you increased the size of their picture, but cut the space for a name, which is arguably more important when keeping track of people and making new friends since appearances can change while names do not. It makes it feel as if the game is trying to keep you at arms length from the people you are playing with.

The Weapon Wheel. Broken, breaks up gameplay, blocks view, distracting, confusing, unnecessary. Sorry but this one is just one big mess that needs to take a hike... off a bridge preferably... a very high bridge.

The New Vials. Nice to see new art, but it is a bit difficult to tell the freeze and sleep potions apart. The art style itself doesn't seem to fit with the rest of the game's visuals either; instead of the now classic cartoony style, it is modernly realistic, if that is a term; if not, I'm making it a term, it sounds cool. These are not exactly worse than the old ones, though a bit less discernible, but aren't great themselves. Maybe some three dimensional defining characteristics and graphics to make them more discernible?

Enemy Health Bars. At first I thought they were kind of unnecessary at this point since I know exactly how many swings or shots or bombs it takes to kill most any given enemy, then I ran into a healer. Now I think they are very, very helpful. Well done. I do find myself focusing more on the health bar then the actual monster now, but I think that is just something to get used to.

The Mini Map. Got no complaints here, looks great to me, glad to see escaping enemies on the map, and zoom is... amusing. I miss the colors, but that is a different issue.

The Colors. Why take the colors away? I miss the colors, Haven always looked so vibrant and vivid, now the parts of it that aren't hidden by the cluttered intrusive UI and the creepy, giant portrait are more bland than before. The area in front of the auction house, which used to look like a high spirited gay rights parade (all for it, Whoo!) now is a giant mass of white lettering, bigger than it used to be thanks to the rank addition (not necessarily bad, quite possibly good, makes finding someone who is doing the same rank missions easier, but made the visual transition worse), that even nearly blocks out the knights themselves. If we are trying to find guild members, we go to a guild hall or the social menu, same for friends, colors are a form of self-expression and it is horrible to see that stifled in this game that has so many expression options with so many different armors, costumes, and accessories.

The Bottom Line. The UI brings some good new ideas to the table, but at the cost of ousting too many of the old mechanics that were more practical to be called a real step forward. It feels rushed with lots of bugs (I submitted two reports in about the first 5 minutes and realize I still need to send 2 more), and feels like it is innovation for the sake of innovation, not necessity or convenience as it should be. Please see the Jimqusition.

While I still think this is a great game and am excited to see more of the mysteries of the clockworks, I do wish to see the new UI amended in a number of ways. Keep up the good work and Happy Anniversary.
-DeliciousBread

P.S.- Almost forgot, and I think I speak for my whole guild when I say this, some may say that nerfing the devilites took out the last challenge of the game, I say screw those bastards, they were tough. Maybe now the nightmares will come less frequently, thank you, thank you very much good sirs!

Thu, 04/04/2013 - 21:48
#420
Thinslayer's picture
Thinslayer
Thx Eury!

Thanks for letting us know that you're reading it, Eury. I knew someone was, but I know that not everyone was as convinced as I was.

I don't want to add to your workload, but...you may want to watch out for multiple posts by the same poster, if you're not already doing so. I was considering creating a modified tally of features I liked and disliked, which alerted me to the possible problem.

Thu, 04/04/2013 - 22:04
#421
Asthix's picture
Asthix
!

- "Advance Now!" I have the opposite of fun when I click this button.
- I can't put a vial in an empty spot. I should be able to put a vial on what number I want without having to go into the options menu and change the hotkey.

Thu, 04/04/2013 - 22:07
#422
Klipik's picture
Klipik
Now I feel like concice-ing my post because Eury said so

Good:

-Asthetic of buttons/menus
-Sliding menus
-monsters on minimap
-Particle effects/hit markers
-Reason to go in the arcade
-ZOOM :D

Good and Bad:

• Monster HP bars - Good for teamwork, slightly hard to read, may be slightly bugged when they get low.

• Player HP bar - Red/Silver/Gold looks nice. Needs to be grouped in fives again so it can be more easily counted. Also, this.

• Devilite changes - the range decrease was unneeded. The dodging frequency decrease was welcome, but overdone. Dodging constantly around in a circle was a tad excessive, but reducing it this much makes them too easy. Increase it a little bit.

Bad:

• Party HP bars - impossible to tell who has the most/least total HP, or exactly how much HP they have left. Detrimental to teamwork.

• Vitapods - no reason to disable dropping. Can't help out lower-geared players by giving them the biggest vita. Again, detrimental to teamwork.

• Weapon Switching - pop up icons are annoying, distracting, and in the way of an important part of the screen.

• Screen Shake - all bad. Distracting, jarring, can cause lag, adds nothing positive.

• Hidden currency - Once again, no reason. Having currency displayed most likely does not expect a player's perception of the game negatively.

Things to add:

• Locking the HUD should retract all retractable menus.

• GUI should be resizeable or should auto resize with resolution.

• family-specifically colored monster dots on minimap - not a huge or particularly urgent change.

• options to:
-disable new weapon switching popup thingy
-disable screen shake

Things to change:

• Re-enable name colors in haven, possibly as an option.

• Re-enable dropping Vitapods.

•Move HP bar to a more visible location.

• divide HP bar back into easily countable increments

• decrease clutter/improve appearance of rank above player name

• make the enemy info available without turning on auto target.

• Add zoom to the clockworks too :D

Bugs:

-the "max health!" Message floats up for everyone when a party member with full HP steps over a heart, even if you got it already. Not sure if this is a bug, but if not it should be an instances thing.
-Friends have reported that joining parties on elevators was not fixed. UPDATE: I have now experienced this firsthand, will post evidence in the bug report forum later.

Thu, 04/04/2013 - 22:12
#423
Zopyros-Il's picture
Zopyros-Il
Beep Boop

Cheers to Eury for putting up with all of us right now. You're a wonderful soul for looking through and actually reading through all of our rants.

Despite all the rage that's going around, I have to admit I'm kind of proud of all the people who have posted. There's actually some thought put into a lot of these posts, so hopefully the OOO crew can get to something that we can all agree on.
So if I can make one suggestion, as well as the simple tally, would it be possible to bring some of the better posts to Nick's and the others' attention? The ones that really illustrate best what people are feeling?
Best example I can think of is Klipik's post where he illustrates a significant problem with the new UI.

Oh, and I apologize for putting you and the rest of the forum mods through all of our bitterness here. You guys are doing a really great job at keeping things under control. /highfive

Fri, 04/05/2013 - 14:12
#424
Klipik's picture
Klipik

Also as an afterthought, keeping the "fluff" out of posts will speed up the Eury-reads-all-the-posts-and-forwards-info-to-the-devs process, which means we get possible fixes sooner.

And a message to OOO: Assuming there is going to be a fix, do not rush the fix. The only thing worse than releasing an unfinished update is hurrying out an unfinished fix. Take your time, make sure everything works. Maybe even roll back the update (.0001% chance but w/e) and try again, getting actual testing information from testers before releasing to the general playerbase. Testers are testers to test things that need testing. Use them.

Thu, 04/04/2013 - 22:39
#425
Eltia's picture
Eltia
Cooperstown, ND

Rush the fix if you know exactly what is wrong (we have provided enough clues to you already; it's the field of vision).

If the fix cannot be rushed, rollback to old UI for now, then take your sweet time to polish that new UI. Much appreciated, and I think I speak for many, many people on this.

Thu, 04/04/2013 - 22:45
#426
Poopsie's picture
Poopsie
...

one thing that irks me...
windows 8 logo from glossy -> matte
youtube logo from glossy -> matte

spiral knights from matte -> glossy. why? q__q

Thu, 04/04/2013 - 22:54
#427
Asthix's picture
Asthix
!

- All monster icons disappear from the minimap if you turn monster health bars off. Lame!!

Thu, 04/04/2013 - 23:43
#428
Acck's picture
Acck
Oh, and........

Anybody else have to squint to see how many vials they have?

Thu, 04/04/2013 - 23:56
#429
Ryukusu-Luminarius's picture
Ryukusu-Luminarius
thanks for updating UI! I

thanks for updating UI!
I think I like almost all of your hard work.
Also I wanna give thanks for reducing devilite's difficulty.
I always hated them, because I couldn't finish them without been dead(if there are too much of them) and I can't never figure their behavior, so with lags I always been killed. Althought I didn't see their changed form, I give special thanks to all your team.

There are much angry knights, 'cos of vial's sprites. I can say I only don't like health tablet and status flask. But thats not so bad.

I have very awful bug: if I go north-west, then turn to west and try to shoot, hangun shoots north-west or south-west, but not to west or to target.

Also when I complete mission, I need to choose close button, the advance button not working.

To improve UI more I suggest to add some animations, e.g. when you complete mission, you could see waves animation instead of just static waves.
And to add different loading backgrounds(specially for haven).

Well, once again thanks for your hard work. I think that would be even better.

Fri, 04/05/2013 - 00:23
#430
Hemsy-Mule's picture
Hemsy-Mule
Thank You Eurydice

Even if I feel our opinion has been taken seriously a tad late, now I know someone is really listening to us.
( can't wait for those Bullet bonus points ;p )

So thank you Eurydice, now I know you are an invaluable part of this game :3

Henceforth kindly waiting for a fix, Hemsy. (>")> <3

Fri, 04/05/2013 - 00:51
#431
Late-Night's picture
Late-Night
New interface

The new interface is sucks !!! It takes half the screen even if every things is hidden ! You need always to hide and unhide tabs for navigation ! I can't see nothing through those ugly tabs, it's so annoying, the old was much better and convenient. I can tell you that this is the worst update EVER !!!

Fri, 04/05/2013 - 01:48
#432
Fropps's picture
Fropps
As for aesthetics, this is

As for aesthetics, this is what goes,
I like the new heat meter, and the new "POW" effects that you're using when we hit monsters, but that's it, I'm not even going to mention the rest of the bad stuff because I've already said it, that and the rest of this thread has said it.

Fri, 04/05/2013 - 02:26
#433
Darkrose-Dx
My screen is filled with UI

I never thought the UI update can be this bad... but well, I still except some parts of it. But.. it might be too big for my screen.

..If they had the option to revert back to the old UI, I'll be happy to hear that.

Fri, 04/05/2013 - 02:45
#434
Gravelord-Caste's picture
Gravelord-Caste
/reply Fropps

Blocks and pickups -crowns, heat and vials- sometimes floated above the ground but still acted like they were on the ground, this did not occur with the old UI and was obviously not intentional.

This doesn't have anything to do with the UI; It happened to me a few times before this update, but it affected enemies instead of blocks (And then, only the Liches and Grimalkins).

Fri, 04/05/2013 - 05:37
#435
Deathwlsh
Graphics, UI and more.

The vials look like you went back-in-time to something you had in alpha it looks like [scrap] to be frank. They are hard to know what you are picking up without looking at the name. Go back the the ones you had they looked professional.

There are sill loads of glitches in the game, when i stoped playing back in 2012 I had no problems, something you did made my 7850 or the software you coded to have huge graphics glitches.

I would like to see my energy and crown at all times under the map or where it was in the top right.

The elevator when you are going to haven should say continue not advance on when you are at the end of a mission. However it was better how it was in the past.

Everything else you made updates to seem fine for now.

Fri, 04/05/2013 - 05:46
#436
Dmatter's picture
Dmatter
Guys, everything your talking

Guys, everything your talking about is NOT the most worrisome to me. What IS is that you CAN'T DROP THINGS WHILE DEAD NOW. Please fix this now.

Fri, 04/05/2013 - 05:47
#437
Zeddy's picture
Zeddy

I have an idea for the vials and pills. You can't carry more than three of these things, so why not visually represent the amount you're carrying by showing 1-3 vials stacked on top of eachother? The little numbers indicating the amount, both the old and new ones, were pretty hard to read off in a hurry.

Fri, 04/05/2013 - 06:11
#438
Tutajkk's picture
Tutajkk
Really, please do something with this UI

It's just harder to concentrate, less information given for no reason. I didn't even notice my teammate died because of it, and then I died too, and I was the one to blame. I'm really thinking about quitting the game until you give back the basic functions which was there for 2 years, because it's really frustrating right now.

Fri, 04/05/2013 - 09:05
#439
Dutch-Oven's picture
Dutch-Oven
---

I made a thread in the testing forum with a couple gripes I had but here's another one for good measure with added gripeyness!

- Weapon switching is too obtrusive in its current position. Also current weapon no longer displayed which was useful. Move it or change it, don't keep it there please.

- Health and shield bar was better off at bottom of screen. Much harder to check health when fighting now.

- Shield bar is too big, looks ugly (make it thinner and not a big solid blue bar). Doesn't need to resize when shield is used.

- Vitapods should be droppable.

- Usables look worse than before (except when thrown. Before I didn't like that we threw a circular graphic, just like gear appears as a circular graphic in arsenal and on ground but has an actual model when used.)

- Enemy health bar looks crude, although handy. Could be thinner. White border is ugly.

- The name color change is not necessary. You can differentiate friends and guildmates through other means. (eg. a simple icon next to their name)

- The new UI looks rough. Lots of aliased corners, sharp edges and badly matched embellishments. No spirals either! Needs more spirals. :)

Lockdown problems:
- Knight portrait too big. Team member display needs downsizing to take up less screen space. When teammates use their special it moves the display which is bad design. A full 6 person team reaches below and under the chat area on my 1400x900 screen.

- Harder to tell when teammates are dead and what class they are.

- Screen shake when hit is disturbing. Needs removing. There are other effects that could be used instead.

- Player names don't fit in their boxes. Smaller text, tighter typeface or rearrange the display.

- Player health bars are not as useful as the old pips. Can't tell how much total hp anyone has. We need a health bar that shows players total amount of health as well as complete range ie. will show that they have 40 health points and that they have lost 3 bars.

~~~

There's probably more that I just can't think of right now. I wont bother mentioning new features that haven't been added yet although I can think of a bunch of things that need to be added to make the redesign better than the old one. (chat options, hide UI elements etc). There are also still a wealth of bugs and weird game behaviours that need to be addressed if this game is going to improve at all.

So there we go, there are some good things about the new content, but they're overshadowed by the not so good.

Fri, 04/05/2013 - 06:27
#440
Filexis's picture
Filexis
So many posts

Yet nothing done? I ain't much surprised considering nothing was done before. Don't worry guys, this thread will stay active, people will post on it, 90% will want to kill the UI, but that 10% that like the UI will keep it alive cause [scrap] logic and nothing will be done what so ever. So much potential was lost in this game after a year after its release.

Fri, 04/05/2013 - 06:35
#441
Mayhawk
Minimap

I have found no uses for the minimap, it have less sight than my screen, ennemies displayed on the minimap are displayed in my screen. Im sorry to say it should get removed.

Fri, 04/05/2013 - 06:53
#442
Glittertind

Since my first post, that has undoubtedly drowned in the sea of flames of this thread long ago, I've had a couple of more thoughts.

While getting new features such as monster healthbar (still think we'd be better off without it, but that's beside the point), we've also lost some pretty basic things. In my first post, I posted my notes from the first hours of using it, I had then gone through a Firestorm Citadel run, slouched about in Haven, messed around in some guildhalls and ran some clockwork levels with party for cakes.

All in all I must say I find it weird when I think about how much we've actually lost. Things that were completely basic before and almost taken for granted (for me at least). I mean, come on, centralized healthbar? Moving pills/vials around in the slots (that aren't filled with something already)? Dropping vitapods? Usernames above our heads that was coloured with our personal colour, the colour we chose because we wanted THAT colour, and not just a generic boring white colour? User interface that actually makes sense? (No, I wouldn't say that hiding CE/CR counter makes sense, even though we were given a "reason" by Nick himself, I refuse to acknowledge that response as a proper reason.)

We had all that, and it didn't even need an upgrade/update/downgrade! (In my opinion.)

We could also see when a party member was dead- remember that skull that would appear where the players health was? Now there is no identication that the player is dead other than the fact that the healthbar is empty. The skull would also be picked up by my peripheral vision, but now I have no such thing to react to.

We also can't see when a player is low on energy or when a player is tabbed.

By updating/upgrading the UI, Three Rings practically removed all this in an irresponsibly swift manner, and if the reason is as bad the reason Nick gave for removing the CE/CR counters, I'm going to have to run home to mommy and cry in her skirt. Boo hoo.

Also, I generally miss the sleek-looking UI, now it is just giving me a sad. Along with the sad white names, and the sad, sad fact that I probably won't see Haven as colourful, and the UI as sleek again.

And just to repeat more of what has been said already: If it ain't freaking broken, don't. Freaking. Touch it.

... There are things in this game that is broken, but it sure as hell was not the user interface.

Fri, 04/05/2013 - 06:53
#443
Blandaxt's picture
Blandaxt
So far..

So far i everything else about the UI is godd besides:

- not being able to toggle off the monsters health bars.

- not being able to drop vitapods.

- not being able to toggle our rank title next to our name

Some things you could add that would greatly help is:

- an indicator that will tell me when one of my teamates have already been revived

- an indicator that shows that one or all of my teamates have already taken a heart

Fri, 04/05/2013 - 07:05
#444
Eltia's picture
Eltia
Cooperstown, ND

You can toggle monster's health bars in Options > Game Play.

You can toggle rank title display in Options > Chat. Note: I think Rank Display should be something like Inspection toggle. You control what information you want to reveal, not a filter that some strangers can arbitrary toggle on / off without your consensual. Right now, that rank display is the biggest beggar magnet, even worse than that social hub.

I also found it annoying that you can't tell immediately who is down. People actually have to call out for help because with that tiny health bars, even on 1080p, it's hard to tell if it is at 0% or 1%.

Fri, 04/05/2013 - 07:31
#445
Jandelilah's picture
Jandelilah
I don't mind change but...

I REALLY miss
-my health bar and status effects being at the bottom *middle* of the screen. If my status effects must be moved from the bottom of the screen I'd rather see it still stay in the *middle* of the screen, like above my knight with my name, or next to the new "weapon wheel," the status could appear above my knight for a moment and vanish like the "weapon wheel" rather than in the upper left of the screen where I cannot readily see it. I've died several times needlessly because i couldn't tell my status. One could argue I just need to "get used to it", but I've given it a couple days and I still think it is in a very inconvenient place.
-being able to know who is party leader
-being able to tell who needs to be revved (as opposed to them having just low health)
-being able to drop a vitapod

I kind of miss
-being able to tell if someone is waiting at an elevator
-being able to see a party member's full health (or at least their first 20 pips of health as before)
-vials being at the top of the screen because the bottom is harder to click in-game

I wish while adding features you added
-being able to tell if someone is disconnected without having to run over and look at the knight. Add a notice to the knight's party icon.

Sadly, there isn't really anything I like about the new UI. I've given it a couple of days to test it out and I just want the old UI back. I do like the new look of the menus, their new locations on the screen, and the "advance now" party look is neat, but those are cosmetic whereas the things i described above are real losses to my enjoyment of the game.

Fri, 04/05/2013 - 07:33
#446
Rahul-Ahl
Not gonna read the 400+

Not gonna read the 400+ replies made so far, but this UI is a big disappointment.

Everything is all over the place.

Cant see the Energy easily anymore. Why would you remove that from where it was? Energy is something that we need to keep an eye on all the time.

Cant drop health capsules, etc when dead.

The health bars on the enemies suck for gunners. They only show up when I`m next to them, and for gunners like me, that does not happen.
So effectively, the one good change from this UI and I cant even make use of that because I`m just too far from the monsters. Anyone on screen should have a HP bar. Simple as that.

And aesthetically, the old UI was heaps better. Nice and bright, compared to dull and dark with overuse of 3d effects.

Sorry to say, but I was a lot disappointed in this. It could have been a nice thing, but instead its something that making everyone complain.
I would suggest returning it to its old UI and possibly incorporate the new additions into that.

Fri, 04/05/2013 - 07:38
#447
Zainj's picture
Zainj
BAD BAD BAD BAD

I hate the new UI change it back to the normal one plz it too hard to play LD with the new one everyone allways looks below for health and up for the attribute but now we have to look in the top left !!!!! we are not used to it will never get used to for me i cant even play this game with the new UI and this will force me to quit the game i love :(

Fri, 04/05/2013 - 07:46
#448
Eurydice's picture
Eurydice
Community Manager
Thinslayer wrote: > I don't

Thinslayer wrote:
> I don't want to add to your workload, but...you may want to watch out for multiple posts by the same poster, if you're not already doing so. I was considering creating a modified tally of features I liked and disliked, which alerted me to the possible problem.

Yep, I'm already accounting for that. Good times!

Fri, 04/05/2013 - 09:20
#449
Shidara's picture
Shidara
Final thoughts

So, I've had some more time to assess what I truly think of the UI overhaul and these are my final thoughts. I apologize in advance for any repetition that may occur from my last post.

Character portrait
Definitely more exciting than the flat profile headshot, and also displays any accessories you have on your gear. However, the fact that it does not scale with different resolution settings result in it taking up a good portion of the screen on lower resolutions, especially with the health meter. Prestige badge and numerical rank seems like tack-on information that isn't really needed, but they don't impose any negative effects either so they are fine.
There seems to be a problem where accessories occasionally do not appear in the character portrait.

Health meter
I like the idea of a percentage indicator in addition to the health meter itself. It does, however, take up a lot of space on lower resolutions and this is something I feel should also scale with screen resolution. Another thing that I dislike about it is the fact that once you surpass 30 max HP, there is no visual indicator of how far the silver/gold layer extends.
For instance, if I have 42 max HP I would like to see that my silver layer extends up to the 12th health pip. For this I propose the addition of a silver/gold frame around the red/silver pips if my maximum HP extends to that point. In my example, were I to have 35/42 HP, pips 1 through 5 would be silver-coated, whilst pips 6 through 12 are red with a silver frame. That way, I know at a glance that my maximum HP extends to the 12th pip on my health meter.
Likewise, if in the future I were to have a max HP of 75 (as an example) and had 35/75 HP, pips 1 through 5 would be silver-coated with a gold frame, pips 6 through 15 are red with a gold frame, and pips 16 through 30 are red with a silver frame.

Could also do with an additional health bar closer to the character, one similar to that of the monster's overhead health meters, as gazing towards the upper left corner to look at your health is very distracting on higher resolutions. Klipik's picture illustrates this perfectly.

As far as party members' health meters are concerned, I would like a numerical or otherwise visual indicator of how much max HP they have to better judge how capable they are of taking hits and who I should give priority for vitapods to.
04/05/2013 - 9:20 edit: I also feel that party members' information should be squeezed closer together so they don't stretch as far.

Shield meter
The shield meter is nice, but after such a long time without it, feels like an afterthought. It does, however, allow you to better gauge how many hits it is capable of taking before it breaks, and from what durability it had left could allow one to determine how much damage one would take from a blow that breaks the shield. A percentage indicator could be a nice addition for it.

Weapon wheel
Functional, but awkwardly placed. Having it directly next to your character creates a blindspot which makes incoming attacks from that angle extremely dangerous and difficult to defend against. It would also feel more natural to have it below your character as opposed to the side. There is one more detail where if you have only two weapons equipped the other will show up on both sides, essentially showing the same weapon twice.

Mini map
The new mini map is pretty neat, and feels like a compass. Not something I particularly mind. Being able to spot enemies that are out of my field of view is pretty nice, especially when seeking out enemies that I need to defeat in order to progress further should they go hiding. (Which weakened gremlins tend to do.) It's easier to spot friends and guildies in Havens now, making frantic searches to find them no longer necessary, and having a proper button makes it clearer to players that you can manually select Havens to jump to at will. All good points.

Targetting UI
A nifty little detail. Not overly necessary, but it shows you the basic information you need to know about any one enemy; what damage type they inflict and what they are weak to.

Activities panel
A basic menu with actions/menus you can open, and you can even hide it if you don't want to see it. Bit of an annoyance that it won't stay hidden when you change instances though, so you have to hide it over and over again. It's also nice to have an option to return to Ready Room for those that desire.

Zoom button
Zoom~
No practical use, but changing your perspective in Haven is kinda neat. Hoping to see more of these in the future.

Shiny
Shiiiinyyy...~

Other things
Something I find needs an urgent fix is how we cannot arrange pickups as we please. Most of us have very specific vial/capsule layouts, and being unable to place them where we want to is a big problem - I've found myself pressing 4 instinctively to heal only to find that it does nothing because my health capsule was stuck in slot 1. Presently, the only way to arrange your vial belt is to switch around vials that you are already carrying, meaning that if I want to place my health capsule in slot 4, I need to collect another three vials.

On the subject of vials, I really do appreciate the new look. Finally it feels like I'm actually throwing a physical object at them, rather than a badge with the item drawn on it.

Being unable to drop vitapods is another thing I don't necessarily agree with. With the new placement being further down my screen I am now much less likely to accidentally remove it, if that was the idea, but when I pick up a vitapod I had been meaning to save for a party member then I would like to be able to drop it for them. They might need it more than I do.

I don't really mind the white player names too much, it's not like their characters lost their colours. It also makes it easier to spot friends and guildies amongst crowds when they are colour-coded, though it would be nice to be able to customize what colours they are assigned.

Devilites should now be more in line with the other monsters, which is a good thing as it makes the overall difficulty more consistent.
As was said, veterans are having a harder time finding a challenge in the Clockworks, but I trust that future updates will counteract this.

04/05/2013 - 9:20 edit:Crowns and energy should be made visible again, simply because it's much more convenient that way. Having an option to hide it again could also be made.

Fri, 04/05/2013 - 08:33
#450
Feyi-Feyi's picture
Feyi-Feyi
Second post

First things first: Thank you Eury (and other GMs) for going through all of this.

If you are indeed reading this, I will do my best to write it down in a way that is actually helpful.

My biggest gripes with the new UI can be summed up in two categories:

Distractions: A good UI shouldn't be noticed imo.

The weapon switching wheel is more obtrusive than the previous version at the bottom of the screen. I like to have a clear field of vision center of screen.
Healthbar was better positioned at the bottom too: you're already looking at it if you look at your character. I don't look at the top left next to the humongous portrait of myself usually.
The shaky effect when hit is yet another distraction.
Furthermore: LD is damaged now. The UI takes up more screen estate and lags. Bars were a better way to see teammate's health, as they were EXACT.
I hide the UI as much as possible: alas, I have to open it again for every action (trade request, mail,..) Pop ups at the side of your screen would be nice.

Look: The textures seem like they're made by a 3 year old in photoshop. Also: the colors..

Generally I feel the new UI doesn't fit the SK style you have established in the whole game.
A flat design suited the cartoonish style the game has. It was charming, and I never heard someone complain.
It is very shiny, with oversaturated colors.

I'm not afraid of change, I have come to like enemy health bars. I LOVE the posing of your knight at the end of a stratum.
It's just that add-ons to the existing UI may have been better.

This is of course all my opinion, but seemingly a lot of people share it partly.

Feyi

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