12 replies to this topic

[Mechteric]

With the release of UI2.0 when you highlight a mech a popup appears showing lots of information about the mech, such as loadout, pitch/yaw angles, and other various useful graphs and charts.


diamond diagram

However, this is one diagram I feel is not telling the correct story about the mech. In the diamond shaped diagram which currently shows (1) Armor Distribution, (2) Firepower, (3) Tonnage, and (4) Heat Management. I have some issues with this diagram because I don't think its displaying the information in a way that is relative to other mechs, nor in a way which is useful to new players, which is pretty important in this kind of diagram. For instance, other games will show the maximum amount if that object has the maximum amount amongst all other objects in that category. But in this diagram its only within its own chassis.

1. Armor: rather than be the distributed armor amount compared with the max armor for that mech, its should be the armor of that mech compared with the maximum armor for any mech. So a Jenner would only be at best 30ish percent on the armor compared with 100% on a fully armored Atlas.

2. Firepower: The maximum listed firepower is 250. This will confuse any new player who doesn't understand that a firepower of 40 can actually be good. At the very least set the maximum at 100, and if anyone goes over 100 good for them, their mech will suck because it will likely be too slow and too lowly armored to be any good.

3. Tonnage: This should be out of 100. It is confusing to show every mech as the best in tonnage.

4. Heat Management: This is fine!


I would propose that one category is missing, and this diagram should be a pentagon instead of a diamond:

5. SPEED: This would properly show that an Atlas has horrid speed compared with the maximum of the current speed ceiling of 170ish kph.



I think when you put all of these together you'd get a diagram that properly shows the various aspects of each mech as can be compared to other mechs (which is how this type of diagram is supposed to work).

[venomman2]

I can certainly agree with your suggestion but it's also worth mentioning that this diamond diagram is simply a more compact representation of the UI 1.0 bar graphs.

What would probably work best is to have 4 tiers of upper limits; 1 for each weight class. Adding speed to the chart would be a fantastic idea. So what we would end up with is something like this;

Lights
Armor Distribution: x/238
Firepower: x/60
Heat Management: x/2
Tonnage: X/35
Speed: X/275

Mediums
Armor Distribution: x/370
Firepower: x/100
Heat Management: x/2
Tonnage: X/55
Speed: X/230

etc.

[Bhael Fire]

CapperDeluxe, on 04 February 2014 - 03:48 PM, said:

With the release of UI2.0 when you highlight a mech a popup appears showing lots of information about the mech, such as loadout, pitch/yaw angles, and other various useful graphs and charts.

Yeah it shows lots of specialized and/or non-essential info, but it removed the basic and pertinent info like hardpoint locations and number of heat sinks, jump jets, etc.

Honestly, stuff like pitch/yaw and acceleration speed is secondary info that you want to examine once you already know the important/basic stuff about the mech.

In UI 1.5, you could roll over the hardpoints and it would tell you where they were on the mech. This is absolutely crucial functionality that needs to be put in ASAP.

The next few weeks are going to be rough, flying blind in this new UI until they get more usability and functionality in it.

[Bagheera]

Yeah, I agree with this.

It is odd for the firepower side of the diamond to be the same metric for all mechs, while the other 3 sides are measured per chassis or weight. I'm not sure how useful the tonnage side really is anyway. There are better ways to tell if you filled your tonnage, and knowing that my Hunchie is 50/100 possible tons is not really something players don't already know.

I appreciate that they are trying to graphically represent mech stats in some fashion, but the idea could use some fine tuning.

Bhael Fire, on 04 February 2014 - 06:01 PM, said:

Yeah it shows lots of specialized and/or non-essential info, but it removed the basic and pertinent info like hardpoint locations and number of heat sinks, jump jets, etc.

Well, while some info is harder to find for sure; other info that previously was never available in the client is nicely presented in some places. Like the mech stats from hovering over a mech where you can finally see things like pitch/yaw and the like.

[Bhael Fire]

Bagheera, on 04 February 2014 - 06:07 PM, said:

Well, while some info is harder to find for sure; other info that previously was never available in the client is nicely presented in some places. Like the mech stats from hovering over a mech where you can finally see things like pitch/yaw and the like.

I was specifically talking about the stats on the pop-up window when you hover over a mech.

Yes, as I mentioned, pitch/yaw info is nice, but there's no way to tell where the mech's hardpoints are located or how many heatsinks /jumps jets, etc. it has at a glance. This info is much more pertinent and relevant than the advanced "mech quirk" info.

The pop up window should have all the most important and basic info present first...then a separate sub-window for more obscure advanced details like pitch/yaw, acceleration, etc.

Most players want the most relevant and important info first, then the secondary info — not the secondary info listed first and then being forced to dig around to find the basic info. It's counter-intuitive.

Edited by Bhael Fire, 04 February 2014 - 06:20 PM.

[juxstapo]

Totally agreed, the diamond thing seems to be there just to look "neat" and "complicated".

Linking to yer thread Capper.

[juxstapo]

Oh, please come give me some input on this work in progress Cap.

[Bagheera]

Bhael Fire, on 04 February 2014 - 06:20 PM, said:

I was specifically talking about the stats on the pop-up window when you hover over a mech.

Fair enough, I was trying to be positive about a part of the UI change that I think is big improvement. Honestly, if they just added hardpoint info to that tool-tip with all the detailed info I'd be stoked. The more info I can get without digging through sub-screens the better.

I'm reserving final judgement though since they have already announced and teased the mechlab redesign. Hopefully that will address some of these issues.

[Bhael Fire]

Bagheera, on 06 February 2014 - 06:51 AM, said:

I'm reserving final judgement though since they have already announced and teased the mechlab redesign. Hopefully that will address some of these issues.

Same here. As I've mentioned before I'm extremely happy that the new UI is finally here. I'm just really frustrated with the mechlab right now and I'm really looking forward to the usability updates coming down the pipe.

Ideally, I'd love to have the most important info (i.e. the same info we had available in UI 1.5 and the info we have with Smurfy) readily available at a glance in UI 2.0. Most of the info is scattered about the screen in an inefficient way and is hard to read. It would be nice to get all this info in a centralized area and make it easier to read quickly.

I just find it odd that the least important info (i.e. mech quirks) is the easiest to glean right now.

[Jae Hyun Nakamura]

Can somebody explain to me, why Tonnage is shown on this diagram? and why it's not related to 100t? Every 'mech you Play will have a 100% (or min 99.7% if you stuck with Ferro) on the Tonnage.

[AdamBaines]

CapperDeluxe, on 04 February 2014 - 03:48 PM, said:

However, this is one diagram I feel is not telling the correct story about the mech. In the diamond shaped diagram which currently shows (1) Armor Distribution, (2) Firepower, (3) Tonnage, and (4) Heat Management.

I agree with Capper on the graph and that it could present info in a better way.
Right on Capper. I agree 100% with the issue you outline and like the proposal of change.

venomman2, on 04 February 2014 - 05:41 PM, said:

What would probably work best is to have 4 tiers of upper limits; 1 for each weight class. Adding speed to the chart would be a fantastic idea. So what we would end up with is something like this;

Lights
Armor Distribution: x/238
Firepower: x/60
Heat Management: x/2
Tonnage: X/35
Speed: X/275

Mediums
Armor Distribution: x/370
Firepower: x/100
Heat Management: x/2
Tonnage: X/55
Speed: X/230

etc.

I like the Tier/Weight Class info to be the base of what the upper end is as outlined by Venoman2. Right on guys. I like this constructive feedback and can get on board with this!

Edited by AdamBaines, 10 February 2014 - 04:11 AM.

[Mechteric]

Jae Hyun Nakamura, on 10 February 2014 - 03:59 AM, said:

Can somebody explain to me, why Tonnage is shown on this diagram? and why it's not related to 100t? Every 'mech you Play will have a 100% (or min 99.7% if you stuck with Ferro) on the Tonnage.

Exactly my reason for this suggestion thread, the number are relative only within that mech, which renders them pointless since this kind of diagram is meant to show how it relates to other mechs.

[Myc]

In my opinion, the firepower rating should be in DPS, or DPS, per heat. My Cataphract 4X with 2 ac2s and 2 ac5s has a firepower of 14, yet can outgun most LRM boats with a firepower of 60-90.

Tonnage is silly, since it just tells you if you didn't use all of your weight. There is no reason not to, as far as I know.