Posted 05 February 2014 - 04:20 PM
I'm not going to read through super-long thread to see if these things have been brought up already. I'm not even hopeful any of them will be addressed ever. Anyway, onto the problems with UI 2.0. The many, many problems.
1.) Too many clicks for everything. This is simply poor design; needed information is hidden behind menus and submenus and subsubmenus. This is the key flaw right now. Most of the other points in this list will address specific places where there's a glut of clicking and places that it could be easily cut out.
2.) Inventory menu only shows un-equipped items. This was a major issue with the old UI and has only been exacerbated by 2.0. In the old UI, checking for an un-equipped item (such as a weapon) involved clicking on a mech with appropriate hardpoint (I used my Founder's Atlas for this purpose since it has all 3 hardpoint types), clicking "modify" then clicking the correct location. This has been improved by 2.0's listing of all unequipped items! However, that list of all unequipped items is still three clicks away from the MechLab, which is where you need that information. More importantly, that list does NOT include equipped items. In the old UI, checking if you had a given (non-cockpit) item equipped meant clicking on each mech in order until you found it listed under "weapons" "equipment" or "modules." Now, in order to check a mech for weapons, you have to mouse over each mech in turn. Not much different than before. HOWEVER, checking for ENGINES or MODULES or COCKPIT ITEMS (you know, those really expensive things that many many players shuffle between mechs), involves clicking "configure" then "loadout"/"modules"/"cockpit" then "back" then "back." Four clicks. Per mech you need to check. An improved way to handle this is to utilize the existing screen that lists all owned items -- and make it list ALL OWNED ITEMS, including installed ones. Installed items, of course, would be denoted as such with a clear label of which mech they're installed on. Perhaps also a "remove" button, to quickly remove an item from a mech so you can install it elsewhere. The "remove" button is not particularly important, however. The most important aspect would be an easy way to view all installed items.
3.) The inventory menu's "save" button reads "checkout" even when no C-bills or MC are being spent. IMO, "checkout" has such a strong real-world money-spending connotation to it, it should only be used when MC -- real money -- is being spent. If the button were to change description and color based on the changes being made, that would actually be a huge improvement. "Return to Lab" (grey) -- no changes. "Save" (green) -- changes only involving owned items. "Confirm" (orange) -- purchasing items with C-Bills. "Checkout" (red) -- purchasing items with MC.
4.) As of now, the only way to go back within the menu structure is to click, well, back. This can be a PITA especially given that the back button is relatively small. There's an easy fix, however. Add a keyboard or mouse command that will always go back. Common commands for this include right-clicking (anywhere), or pressing escape, shift, or tab. This would even partially alleviate problem 2.
5.) The pop-up mech specs menu has a lot of less-useful information and neglects a lot of useful information. Things like "installed modules" or "Engine size/type" are left out, while torso twist information is left in. (For the record, I'd like all that information to be in there. But if I had to pick one, I'd take module and engine info over twist any day).
6.) Speaking of that pop-up menu...
6a.) It only pops up when you mouse-and-hold. I'd like a place to click where it'd stay open. Maybe even add some further tooltips onto that menu. I thought that the little triangle in the corner was the button to make that menu pop up for a little bit.
6b.) If you click the mech (like anyone would do if they want to select it), the menu wont pop up unless you mouse off the mech and back onto it. Fix.
6c.) The point of having the menu be a pop-up is so that it doesn't always conceal the pretty picture of the mech. Well, if you've got it popped up on a mech in the rightmost column, you can sometimes jerk your mouse over to the menu area quickly and the menu stays popped up. Relatively minor. Still, fix.
7.) Remove trial mechs from the "owned" filter. Add them to a separate "trial" filter. When I click on "owned," I want to see only the mechs I OWN. (If you REALLY MUST, add another filter called "pilotable" that lists trial and owned mechs)
8.) I don't see why you didn't bother to just fully integrate the statistics and code-redemption functions into the client.
9.) The "select mech" button just takes you to the MechLab tab. Well, there's a different button that does the exact same thing like an inch away (depending on screen size). Instead, why not make it show a list of all mechs ready to drop? That is to say all mechs (trial and owned) that have an engine and 10 heat sinks installed. That'd be nice for players with mechs that they don't want to sell but also have no plans to pilot.
10.) On the skills menu...
10a.) No XP functions are available if you don't currently own a mech of a given variant. For example, I have Awesomes mastered but only own one. Therefore, I must have some XP and skills on at least two other Awesomes. I cannot see which skills the unowned mechs do and do not have, nor can I exchange XP to GXP on those sold mechs. This may be intentional... but I disagree with it.
10b.) The ribbon-and-emblem system is confusing. The ribbon reads the tier they're currently working on, not the best tier they've completed. In fact, get rid of the emblem entirely and leave only the ribbon. Just shift it a tier. If a mech has yet to finish the basic tier, make it grey and read "amateur" or "novice." Then blue and "basic" for a mech that's finished the basic tier but not the elite tier, et cetera et cetera. Unless there's something I don't understand about the ribbon-and-emblem system, doing it my way only increases clarity and sacrifices no information.
10bsub1.) Wow, I am really nesting now. I'm looking at the information I have and wonder if I might actually understand the ribbon-and-emblem system. Does the ribbon read the highest tier a mech CAN reach? That's really really unclear.
11.) This is really minor but I just noticed it: The Hunchback visibly jiggles a little tiny bit at the waist when you select it in MechLab. As if it were shifting a little bit. I can only see it on the Hunchback, and with all Hunchback variants. Maybe it's spawn point is a tiny bit off from it's resting point?
12.) Pretty up the weapon damage graphs. This is an art thing, but they look really jarring and engineer-y right now. Don't actually obfuscate any information but... make em pretty.
13.) THIS IS MUCH HIGHER PRIORITY THAN THE NUMBER IMPLIES. I just didn't want to re-number anything to include this where it should be. Anyway, the complete lack of mech-wide information when in MechLab. I mean, when would I ever want to know little details like "which guns are currently installed" or "how many bullets I have." As it stands I would never recommend that someone design a mech in that lab. It is only suitable for copying a design over from elsewhere, like smurfy-net. I mean, did someone from smurfy-net bribe the design team to force people to use their mechlab? I'm kidding but seriously, guys. Come on. Pretty basic stuff we're talking about now.
As a whole, this new UI is substandard. I wasn't around for the public test weekends, so I didn't have first-hand experience of this, but there is no way the community would have thumbs-upped this after the public tests, so I can only assume the design team said "eh, whatever, just ship it anyway."
Anyway, the UI is too onerous for me to enjoy much, so I'm probably not gonna stick around long. Maybe pop back in after a patch or two. See if even one of these problems has been fixed.
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