24 replies to this topic

[juxstapo]

(This was previously "small ui 2.0 suggestions", but it's kinduv grown).
If I've listed something here that someone else has a post about somewhere, message me and I'll give credit and link to the original post.
[Approval, agreements, and +1's will be listed by screenname in brackets after suggestion]

1. When in the Mechlab after a match, your selection should snap to the machine you are currently using, instead of having to wade through the menu to find it.
[Saxie, stjobe]

2. Option to toggle list or icon mode for engines / components. And definitely have engine weights listed in an easy to read manner.. (ExZomb thinks so too)
[Saxie, Pwnocchio]


3. Option to turn off menu sounds.
[Saxie]

1.2.3. Essentially every good idea I thought I had had was already suggested by ExplodedZombie. Great minds lot a think.

4. Engine and module indicators on mechbay pictures: Demonstration and poll here.

5. As suggested by Krex , change "checkout" to "save".
[Reno Blade]

6. As suggested by Raeven , being able to group heroes and champions with their respective chassis, instead of clumped at the top of the mechbay, would be great.

7. Smurfy mockups by MoonUnitBeta, and Saxie.
[Jaranath]

10. Need an option to adjust mouseover display time.

11. Current loadout info needs to be more accessible and concise.
[Reno Blade, Pwnocchio]

12. As suggested by CapperDeluxe , much needed modifications to the "diamond display" for each mech.

13. As suggested by Deathlike , excellent option addition to prevent accidental use of GXP.

14. As suggested by MnDragon , (and many other folks) , having the option to pull parts from other mechs when building a chassis would be a big help.
[Saxie]

15. As suggested by Shepherd , information on mechs you'd like to purchase in the store and ammo per ton figures are lacking.
[Ascheriit Davion]

16. pbiggz very erudite suggestions for mechlab modifications with illustrations!

17 As suggested by FactorlanP , adding skill tree buttons to mechlab icons.
[stjobe]

17.5 suggested by somenothing, skill tree nav modifications.

18. As suggested by Reno Blade, Option to resize list window and icons.

19. As suggested by gavilatius, a "strip all" button.

20. Suggested by Pwnocchio, Auto Rebuy consumables, Game mode filtering (without the extra checkbox clicks)

21. Mockup by Dymlos2003 of mouse over info chart adding current engine and heatsinks.

22. I'm quite certain this is on the way, but just for thoroughness we'd like to be able to view a mech before we buy it. Throw it up in that big pretty mech view we have now.

23. Let us paint a mech before we buy it. See how our Merc Corp parade colors look on that expensive Atlas before shelling out the money. In fact you can just append the MC cost of the paint onto the "checkout" (shudder) report.

PGI, I've griped just as much as everyone else at one time or another. But... as you no doubt surmised from my account's history, I do love this game.

Good Job PGI.

Edited by juxstapo, 07 February 2014 - 10:31 PM.

[FactorlanP]

There is an official Feedback thread about UI2.0 in the Patch Feedback area of the forum. You might want to copy and paste this into that thread. Better chance of somebody from PGI reading it.

[juxstapo]

Well bargained and done. Thanks Factor

[FactorlanP]

Happy to help...

Cheers!

[ApolloKaras]

This is an excellent break down of everything that was offered! Thanks for getting all of the community idea's out there!

I'll throw one more out there too http://www.qqmercs.com/?p=3707, I don't know if Homeless Bill put this one up in another thread or not. If He did I couldn't find it.

juxstapo, on 05 February 2014 - 07:34 PM, said:

(This was previously "small ui 2.0 suggestions", but it's kinduv grown).
If I've listed something here that someone else has a post about somewhere, message me and I'll give credit and link to the original post.

1. When in the Mechlab after a match, your selection should snap to the machine you are currently using, instead of having to wade through the menu to find it.

2. Option to toggle list or icon mode for engines. And definitely have engine weights listed in an easy to read manner.. (ExZomb thinks so too)

3. Option to turn off menu sounds.

Agree with all of the above. I was noticing this when I had to re-equip my modules from drop to drop, and having to go back in, select the mech and modifying... ugh...


I would probably even add the 'unified inventory'. No matter what engine you have, it would be available for all mechs. Then again that might eliminate a Cbill sink for PGI and reduce the need of Premium time. I'm still torn about that one. Same with modules.


Thanks for the support Juxstapo and getting all these ideas out there

[Reno Blade]

I Agree to all 17 points above. Very good list of suggestions!

I hope it's ok, if I reply here with some ideas.

It should not matter if you are in the store, mechlab, or skill trees: there should always be the same kind of "save" menu and buttons.
If you want to unlock 5 mech skills, you should be able to select them and then click save, get ONE confirmation with the costs and then are done with it. (like in the mechlab "checkout")

Same goes for displaying information. There should be (at least the option) to display mech stats and equipped engines/modules/weapons anywhere in the game. Mechlab, store, inventory (don't want to sell a mech with modules, right?).
Not to forget the actuall customization of the mech in the mechlab shows less than the mouse-over hover popup information of the mechbay.
Same goes for equipment. Engines don't show tonnage and don't have mouse over popups.

There should be the option to resize the list windows. If I want to see only 3 rows instead of 8 of mechs/engines/weapons...
And the ability to resize icons and text to have a minimum of a list-view (like in the skill tree mech selection and inventory) and a maximum of 1 huge icon with full detail information.

Talking about information and size: the mechlab has too many menues for sections and component types nested.
If you could have a filter (like smurfy checkboxes) to display what you need and then only need to select the section of the mech, you would save 2-4 clicks for customizing EACH SECTION (removing the need to click on engine/energy/missile/ammo/equipment submenues for each section).

And one more thing:
The social pane needs to be asynchronous, so the whole client is not locking up and windows telling me the application may have hang up.

Edited by Reno Blade, 06 February 2014 - 03:44 AM.

[stjobe]

Now that we have such a nice view of our 'mech, it seems it should be the centre of UI interaction; I mean if I see a 'mech on the right side and click e.g. "Pilot Skills" - why not take me directly to the pilot skills for *that 'mech*? Why present the big list of all existing 'mechs (even ones I don't own)?

To put it another way: The UI should presume that the 'mech currently displayed is the one I want to work on and not have me start all over from some top level hierarchy.

I should of course be able to get to that top level, but as a default I think it's better if the currently displayed 'mech is assumed to be the selected one.

[CrashieJ]

"Strip all" button

that is all I need

[Pwnocchio]

Here are a list of suggestions I've come up with to improve UI 2.0. Most of my changes focus on improving efficiency by reducing the number of clicks UI 2.0 requires players to make to do anything.

To be frank, the number of clicks is actively impeding my enjoyment of the game.

AUTO REBUY CONSUMABLES
Problem: Right now it takes 7 extra clicks of the mouse between battles to refill consumables used in previous battles. This increases gaming time wasted on logistics and decreases fun. It also decreases the number of consumables used by the community due to 'effort'.

Change: Add 'Automatically Rebuy Consumables' option in the Modules screen. This will increase value to customers and profits for PGI (gold consumables use will increase) and get players back in the wait queu more quickly.


GAME MODE FILTERING
Problem: The new implimentation of UI 2.0 requires every player (or group leader) to hit 'Play Now' and then manually select which game mode they wish to play (All/Assault/Conquest/Skirmish). This implimentation needlessly adds more clicking and delay between games. It also needlessly segments the player wait queus.

Change: Add a button located adjacent to the 'Play Now' button that will open a small check box menu titles 'Preferred Game Modes'. Place check box options below for each game mode available and let the user check as many as they want. 'Default' is to have all selected. If they uncheck a game mode type, do not place them or their group (if they are the group leader) into wait queus associated that game type. This change will reduce needless clicking (which is omnipresent in UI 2.0) and increase the average number of players available in each queu reducing the wait time for match maker.


STREAMLINE BETWEEN-MATCH CONFIGURATION
Problem: There is simply too much clicking required to do anything to your mech between games.

Change: Add a 'Configure Mech' button into whichever post-game screen players are returned.


IMPROVE MECH-HANGER SORTING (In addition to suggestions already mentioned)
Problem: Current auto-sorting by UI2.0 makes mech hanger a mess.

Change: In addition to suggestion above simply allow users to left click --> drag mechs to the desired location. This singular feature will let users set up their hangers however they want.

[Ascheriit Davion]

The mech info and loadout is somewhat missing from the mech store. I can't see what mech has. Maybe its one of those need hot fix problem.

[Jaranath]

I find your ideas intriguing and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter and/or natural medicine scam.

Seriously: YES, pretty much ALL this. And while I agree others are also very high priorities (particularly 1-3), I think I most want to see the Smurfy-ish interface. I have no idea what legalistic hoops may need to be jumped through, or not, to do that. And I don't care. Whoever honestly thought it would NOT be a good idea to see the entire mech's critical slots and loadout at a glance, with the ability to manipulate it's load out from that view, needs to actually spend a few hours building mechs in MWO and then in Smurfy. If this was about protecting views of the art, I agree with others: Function wins out over that bigtime. We'll still get the pretty views in camo spec and home screens (and I honestly LIKE the new, better views...just not enough to put up with this functionally restricted one-component-at-a-time interface).

I also agree: Genuinely good job, PGI. But there are some huge flaws here, and if nothing else I quite seriously request you have some key staff spend a few hours comparatively building mechs in your system and Smurfy's.

(Oh yeah...and some of these key navigational buttons like "checkout" should be much, much bigger and more visible.)

[Clydewinder]

Weapons should be color-coded in inventory. Lasers could be shown by beam color, i.e. large in blue, medium in green, etc. Same with engines, STD should be one color and XL should be another to make finding them faster. The inventory pages are just a wall of static right now.

I agree with the initial suggestions. My biggest beef is that, after a round, if you want to make any kind of alteration to your mech no matter how small, you have to go back through the menus and re-select your mech even though the image of it is shown on the right side.

I like the "stats" display that shows the torso and arm twist data, but it's missing the mech loadout information that the old UI had readily available - engine size and type, loadout, and location of weapons in loadout. Yes I know about the "hover your mouse" bit but the old way was better and faster.

[AlmightyAeng]

How about we use some of that empty real-estate space on the home page? Give us the ability to mark mechs as 'favorites' and let us place pictures of them all along the bottom and/or right hand side of the screen. To allow us to EASILY SELECT THEM.

This, working in conjunction with St. Jobe's idea of 'if it's selected let me go straight to IT'S loadout screen, would alleviate a lot of my frustration...since right now the additional 4 clicks for every function is annoying as all getout.

[MoonUnitBeta]

Excellent list!
Thanks for doing this, really neat to see so many good and useful suggestions.

[Corvus Antaka]

didnt see this listed - bring back the sell button and unify the inventory. let me sell from mechlab. or at least let me pull up the stats of the item i want to sell.

the on-hover info panels should lock and stick "on-click-lock-selection" very annoying to have to hover always. allow interaction with info panels maybe?

let us rotate our mech on the home screen and zoom in/out.

windowed mode for mechlab & communications.

let us communicate while in mechlab, stop locking the screen. add a lower panel to the screen where chat boxes can be locked in without locking us out of everything else.

[Redlor Fidelious]

Still wading through all the suggestion topics there are a few items I have not seen mentioned (yet).

1) option to disable the interface bleeps and bloops. It gets maddening after a bit.

2) As it stands I have to dive into the skills tab, then select a chassis type before I can be aware of the current XP I have available on a chassis. I propose the following:

2a) In the "current battlemech" box at the bottom left of the screen, how about a display of xp available on the chassis.

2b) if not in the current battlemech info, then display this data in the chassis preview area while selecting a mech. There seems to be plenty of room to add the one line to the stats (or next to the stats)

3) loadout section of quick view should include modules and engine. (and cockpit items would be nice)


4) give us back a ready list. While viewing group social panel, allow us to change our mech via a dropdown.

5) "check out" button needs to be renamed something besides "check out".

6) I would rather see buttons for owned equipment be blue (similar to the mech selection screen). As a coloblind individual this would easily help me to identify items I have vs. items I dont have.

7) no sorting options for cockpit options. default view has owned stuff mixed in with unowned stuff.

[Prezimonto]

This thread needs a sticky as long as it's going to be updated.

[TercieI]

stjobe, on 06 February 2014 - 03:25 AM, said:

Now that we have such a nice view of our 'mech, it seems it should be the centre of UI interaction; I mean if I see a 'mech on the right side and click e.g. "Pilot Skills" - why not take me directly to the pilot skills for *that 'mech*? Why present the big list of all existing 'mechs (even ones I don't own)?

To put it another way: The UI should presume that the 'mech currently displayed is the one I want to work on and not have me start all over from some top level hierarchy.

I should of course be able to get to that top level, but as a default I think it's better if the currently displayed 'mech is assumed to be the selected one.

1000 times this. This bugged me in 1.5 and has only gotten worse.

@jux:
Great stuff, Mr. XO. Sorry it made you late for drops last night, but your time spent here was definitely not wasted.

[Muzakman]

Hopefully what I have to say hasn't already been beaten to death.

I've noticed this since early public tests of UI 2.0 and if there was a single thing, just one factor that is responsible for user frustration with the interface, it would be the change in layout from standard Latin reading order (top-left to bottom-right) to a flow going from middle-top to middle-bottom, with contextual data presented to either side.

Users (or at least myself) expect to start their workflows at the top-left of the screen and raster across, then down as part of scanning the page. At the same time, Fitts' law of UX design states that the time it takes to move a pointing device (e.g. mouse) to a target (e.g. a button) is a function of the distance to the target and the size of the button.

Combine those two, and it seems very simple why the "checkout" (horribly labeled button, the CTA here should be "Save") button is in probably the worst spot it could to be discoverable. Because the "action" takes place 1000's of pixels away (a long time ago, natch), users have to make quite large mouse movements to position the cursor. This means bigger, less precise movements. After arriving at the desired UI element, users must then switch from coarse, big movements to small, precise movements in order to arrive at the correct element before clicking it.

Generally speaking, users have been trained over the years to expect buttons that "do something" to appear *after* the contextual content.

Horse -> Cart


So when the user starts top-left and works their way down the screen, instead of being able to address the information presented in a familiar fashion, (LTR -native speakers at least being all I can speak for since I don't know any Cantonese or similar) they are forced to "re-index" their mental simulation of the process. This leads to frustration since there is there is a failed expectation on the part of the user when their mental models fail to match reality. I'd be interested to hear feedback from native speakers of such languages to know if I'm suffering from observational bias or if there's something to this.

All of the rest of the issues presented are absolutely valid, but I think they would be far less jarring and irritating to users if it were not for the flow change.

[juxstapo]

Whoa! Been working out of town. Back now, babysitting my wee ones, but when they get to sleep I'll get back to work on the compilation. Thanks for the inputs all!