1175 replies to this topic

[AntharPrime]

So... Any word on when we can see the XP earned from trial mech like in UI1.5? I built up XP on about half a dozen trial mechs and my next mech purchase is being held up by not having this info.

[Sudden]

please take a look at mech warrior 4 mechlab. tho microsoft completely ***** the mech game. they did get 2 things right,
no 1 was the mech lab [ui 2]
no 2 was the keybord controls. controls for the mouse and keybord you almost got
but the mech lab still sucks.
please take a look at mech warrior 4 mech lab

[Zog]

I did post earlier in the thread, some time ago.

The UI continues to enrage me, I won't use it. I will run my Jenner for a few matches, then, when I would normally switch to another mech - I just log out. There has been a preponderance of great suggestions in this thread, some from interface developers. We want you to succeed. We want to enjoy your game. We cannot.

Edited by Zog, 06 March 2014 - 05:58 AM.

[Av4tar]

UI 2.0 is 0/10.

The old UI is more comfortable and easier to use. The UI 2. is just a click-mania.
I wish there is an option to select between UI 1 and 2.

[SirDubba]

From the latest Ask The Dev

Quote

Another question that was brought up was the feedback that the community has given us… now one of the most touchy points on the forums I’ve seen is the lack of the “smurfy” layout. What’s going to be happening is that this layout is going to become a display version only first, right, with the layout that you can see in front of you right now. You can see that all of the key elements of smurfy is there. We are going to be making that interactive as soon as we can, right after we get it out to you in display form first to make sure all of the information’s there. We understand fully that this is a view that’s needed for the advanced player of MechWarrior. It’s coming. We’re also going to be looking into adding features basically at every step of the new patches coming up, like I said- it’s going to be constant release updates of UI2.0. It’s not perfect right now, we know that… we’ve mentioned that to you, the players, and we’ll make sure that we’re addressing the key missing important units as we can.

I was hoping this wouldn't be the "finished" layout, but I still wonder, what takes it so long? Wrong beer label?

[Swift Hatchet]

*venting online*

I'm not one to flame you guys (PGI) for everything you do, there are many things you guys do fairly well on the technical side of things. But at this point in the game, I'm done spending money supporting a group of devs that show little to no respect for their own player base. The apparent lack of talent and ability to think things through is staggering. Not to mention all the 'wow' moments relating to 'management' and 'communications', or the overreaching money grabbing ploys that infest everything in the game.

How anyone that considers themselves 'professional developers' could equate UI2.0 to being successful, or a technical achievement is beyond me. It is fail from the point that more clicking is involved to accomplish most things. That is UI fail 101, for almost ANYTHING!

I also can't imagine, even with all the technical tidbits needed for UI's, thousands of definitions, proper scaling and whatnot (admittedly it can be complicated).., that you guys spent a year or better working on this. That is either another lie, or there is a high degree of incompetence on the technical level somewhere in the mix.

What gets me more than anything though, is your lack of response/acknowledgement to the players. Ok fine, screw you too PGI. You can take my money without saying anything, I can also keep my money for you not saying anything.

Your PR skills are on par with spider hitboxes. Which is a joke, and not the funny 'haha' kind. More like the sad pathetic, couldn't find my head because my arse is in the way kind of joke. I honestly don't think you guys could punch your way out of a PR paper bag with an Atlas. Just my opinion though.

Keeping my money for a while (again..). If this UI persists without major improvements, I'll probably just stop playing like others. It really is frustrating on so many levels. At some point the stupidity starts to make the player feel stupid for participating. I've personally had to move that line a couple times now.

And to think ... 'I payed for this'. Probably the wrong perspective to have I suppose ... I mean I've only spent a few hundred dollars on this title, only played slightly more than 6,000 rounds. I probably shouldn't be concerned about the future of the title or anything. And most certainly shouldn't have any feelings related to 'investment' and supporting PGI. Because my spending money on things like an oscillating fan surely isn't about trying to support PGI.



edit: grammatical

Edited by SwiftHatchet, 06 March 2014 - 10:04 AM.

[AntharPrime]

SirDubba, on 06 March 2014 - 09:22 AM, said:

From the latest Ask The Dev



I was hoping this wouldn't be the "finished" layout, but I still wonder, what takes it so long? Wrong beer label?

From what you quoted, It looks like they are going to put in the Smufy style as a display only but we won't be able to customize mechs with it. So How are we going to customize mechs when this gets put in?

[Deathlike]

AntharPrime, on 06 March 2014 - 11:44 AM, said:

From what you quoted, It looks like they are going to put in the Smufy style as a display only but we won't be able to customize mechs with it. So How are we going to customize mechs when this gets put in?

At this point, getting an overview loadout screen is better than what we have now... nada or missing info (like DHS count, engine installed, and critical slots left).

[SirDubba]

Deathlike, on 06 March 2014 - 12:13 PM, said:

At this point, getting an overview loadout screen is better than what we have now... nada or missing info (like DHS count, engine installed, and critical slots left).

True, I really hate it when I have to cut down drinking just to be able to concentrate on the 'Mech I'm building.

[Fatbat]

I need to pile in and say that, whatever intern you gave the UI job to, don't hire them on full time. They don't know the first thing about user interface design.

It's so bad, the worst I have seen for as long as I can remember, that it's almost beyond words.

[DAEDALOS513]

Gamgan, on 05 March 2014 - 06:25 AM, said:

Since the patch where UI.2 came out something changed and I could no longer log in. Yesterdays patch fixed that after a month or so of not being able to place due to crash to desktop right after logging in. So yesterday was the first time I had a chance to see UI.2 for the first time.
I honestly do not think my post will be read by any one in the feedback or development team but on the off chance here are my initial thoughts.

In the US Military rules and instructions are written with a 6th grader level of english to ensure comprehension, Instructions and user level manuals are very simple and easy to understand. This UI.2 seems way to complex for what it needs to be.

At a glance:
Old UI- I could see my Mechs load out, engine, modules, and weight at one glance
New UI - I have to click several times to search additional screens to check each of these things individually. Its confusing to find.

When I am prepping for a 12 man or even a 4 man and my unit says, Hey bring a light with ECM or switch to a light with Streaks, it was a very simple process switching engines, Open mech #1 to configure, remove engine, save. Open mech #2 install engine, save. Click ready.
I tried doing that last nigth and it was a much longer process, it was hard to see what my mechs had, and finding the engine from this HUGE grid list of engines I didn't own was to messy and cluttered. A drop down menu like the first UI was much simpler.

Organizing mechs
Old UI - We could not organize mechs or rename them
New UI - We can click weight groups an rename mechs but cant organize them like I want.

I thought we would have the ability to Set up groups, my main mechs, my support mechs, my unused no engine scrapped mechs ect. I really do not like being shown trail mechs or additional mechs to buy when I ask only to be shown what I already have. I purchased Legendary Founder, and Overlord plus Saber Pack, now really considering Clan, Do I also need to be shoved these unwanted trail mechs in my list when I feel like I already have spent enough money on a game that I was unable to play for over a month due to crashes ?


My over all impression is that this UI was made way to complicated unnecessarily. Its cool to see weapon arches and speed and graphs and all that techy looking stuff but its not useful as say seeing engine, speed, weight, weapons and loadout plus modules. Leave that cool option in for Min-maxers but have that in mechlab under an analysis screen or something. Most of us don't need it.
The Old UI was simple, a few changes to it would have made it great. The ability to rename our mechs, allow us to organize our mechs either by tonnage or by letting us move them around to our preference. Getting ready now is way more complicated then before, with a simple button on top now I have to search several screens to get ready. Also the font is way to small.


Im sure this is all the same stuff others have said but like I said, I just saw my UI.2 last night for the first time. Hope PGI lets us know what they plan on doing with it.

Did you try running the repairtool during the time you couldn't log in? The new patch probably fixed what the repairtool would have..

I had the same prob, kept crashing to desktop, and it fixed it for me...

[Uncleclint]

The only bad thing I can say about the old UI, call it 1.0 or 1.5 whatever... you couldn´t sort your mechs by weight, name or anything, couldn´t rearrange the order they were displayed at and that´s basically all that had to be fixed to create an easier mechlab environment.

The new UI gives you a nice but unfortunately useless mouseover pic once you hover your mouse over a mech from the list that is shown (btw, the display doesn´t look very nice in lower screen resolutions and i would seriously love the option to select different resolutions for mechlab and game, since i got a rather old GPU. I tried higher resolutions so the mechlab looked a lot better, but i couldn´t play the game any longer and had to switch after it started every time).
The information in the display-window is, as i already mentioned useless or in other words utter cr@p! I dont need to know the exact firing angles in a huge graphical display, i dont need that diamond graph that is desperately trying to give me information about how maxed out my mech is (speaking of it... 250dmg as maximum? are you kidding me?) and the least bit of information i need to know is a diagram that shows me at what speed my mech is accelerating and/or slowing down how fast. All of the lower two thirds in this window is secondary information that isn´t relevant for building/equipping/considering to buy mechs.
Some of the primary information that I consider essential is missing completely:
-There is no way you can ever see how many free slots your mech has left, not even during modification in mechlab.
- I can´t see the equipped engine in that mech, i am only given the max engine that it can equip.
- I can see the hardpoints and equipped weapons of the mech but i cannot see where they are located on that mech.
- Jump Jets - can´t see how many i can equip, only how far the mech can jump.

Maybe there is a way to gather all of that information, but i haven´t found it yet and it shouldn´t be that difficult (if ever possible).

I tried to remove 2 gauss rifles from one of my Cataphracts yesterday and mount some other weapons instead, a very easy action and it would´ve taken me around 2-3 minutes to come up with another useful comfig for that mech with the old UI - the new U(nfriendly)I(nterfarce) kept taking bits and pieces of my sanity while i desperately tried to load in other weapons. 20 minutes and loads of blood, sweat and tears later i finally managed to come up with a new configuration that i totally didn´t like after testing it for a few rounds BUT i didn´t dare to get back to that nightmarrish mechlab again, so glad i got enough mechs with working loadouts that i can play now without ever having to visit the lab again.

I thought about buying a new mech about an hour ago. First problem - I had forgotten there was an option to view all mechs and the ones that were in your possession and it took me 10 minutes to remember i had turned off the "purchasable mechs" view and to find it again. Well, it might´ve been the lack of coffee i suffered from - i wouldn´t say that was too hard to manage, just a matter of getting used to the new UI... but then i tried to buy me a new Battlemaster.
Suffice to say i gave up on that project after not getting any information about the weapon locations/ engine rating/ available free spaces. I know now how far they can turn and how high they can shoot but to be honest, i couldn´t care less. I don´t want to use another site (smurfys) to gather all the information that the game itself should give me at first glance.

And yes i too consider the new UI a mouseclick-marathon of the worst kind.


Design team should really pick up a Battletech record sheet just for once, to see how it can be done and yes i am aware that there are changes planned to feature a more smurfy like display in the future (and most likely in a galaxy far away?), but seriously... i got to ask this... who came up with this Useless Interface in the first place and what drugs was he/she/it using to get there? I seriously can´t just ask what were you thinking anymore, not when i am looking at that mess of an interface.

Sorry, again PGI. I am so trying to give you more positive feedback whenever possible, but you´re not making this any easier for me.

[Reno Blade]

There are so many people having problems with the mechlab, but it's not that hard, really.
Ofc I also await the changes like smurfy overview and stuff, but some sound like they need 2hours in the mechlab...

The biggest issue/question I have is, why the redundant views are all different, but never complete.

The Skills show a list of mechs grouped by chassis that can be opened/closed.
- Missing mouse over for mech infos
- Missing info about how much skills you unlocked on that variant without opening it

Mechbay shows a huge icon-list -
- Missing the ability to group and open/close such groups (like in the skill tree)
- Missing the ability to only show a list (like the Inventory)

Inventory shows a list
- Missing the ability to group (like the skill tree)
- Missing the ability to show icons (like the mech bay)

Store shows icons
- Missing the mouse over (like inventory and Mechbay)
- Missing the ability to group (like the skill tree)

And the little box on the left lower corner only showing MC/CB/XP/Mechbays/whatever in their current screen, but not in the others.
It would still be usefull to know how much XP/unlocks your currently selected mech has, or how much CBills you got to think about how much more you need for more mechs (when you are skilling them up in the skill tree) without the need to go back to other screens.

[skud789]

I have to thank you for this new UI PGI. Its great, I think it has just saved my relationship.

I now get in from work and clean the house, take the dog for a walk, or go for a run. What I don't do anymore is turn on the computer to play your game! Its not rage quitting, I fully intend on starting to play again if/when the mech lab works, and I download the new patches every time just to see if its finally fixed.

At the minute it's so bad I really would rather clean the toilet than build a new mech, change a config,or even bother swapping an engine over to one ready and waiting.

[Exarch Levin]

I just tweaked my ECM spider's loadout, my first foray into using the UI 2.0 mechlab, and it was a traumatic experience.

[DAEDALOS513]

Really? Really PGI? You really need to inform me that my skill has been "Successfully" unlocked, FORCING me to click 'OK' that I have acknowledged the successful unlock of my skill? The lack of common sense throughout this UI is dumbfounding! Is the design team fresh out of college with no experience whatsoever??! Or are you using free interns to do all the work? I'm starting to get carpal tunnel with all the mouse movement and clicking that is required to do ANYTHING in this UI 2.doh.

[Icemantas]

hello,
ithink that

new interface is really

good and easy

not

to use

also

continue reading? [OK][cancel]

you sure? [OK][cancel]

you have selected to continue reading [OK]

thankyou for listening

[RolfS]

Terrible UI much worse than pen and paper. Games don't need to be some advanced super calulating portfolio managment application but they need to at least display some reasonable information. My feedback use the original battletech formating i.e

1. The overview of mechs should be identical to the technical readout format from 3025 technical readout.

2. the overview should be visible when you click configure on your mech

3. when clicking configure on a mech the exact format (or close thereof) to the mech record sheet should bhe displayed

4. the record sheet should be clickable to configure the mech. I.e click the mech and then what mech part to install not the reversed order as used in current UI,

5. When listing mech parts displat a single part as text only and with some useful abbreviated stats to go with the part.

6. include some of the text from the tecnical readouts somewhere in the UI.

7. mech view should not show mech variants. The view should be split in mech and then variant not all mechs at the same time.

8. less clicking alot less clicking.

9. get rid of all the fancy useless stats in the GUI

10. fix the physics to make it human possibly to build a good mech without smurfys mech builder (like double heat sink to cool double heat and not cool square heat). i.e simplify and get rid of all arbitary rules not visible in the UI design window..

[StealthCrusader]

My personal two bits on the UI (at least the two major issues I think most can agree).

1. Buying new mechs no longer shows weapon loadout locations and detailed information. This makes things a pain in the @## and forces someone to get creative and look outside the game to find the info you want.

2. The Group/Friends communication and Group interface is way to suttle and easy to ignore.

[BloodyDziq]

1. the main view in the Mechlab should be some kind of Mech selection of available mechs.
2. when I have a mech selected in the main view window I should be able to go straight to Loudout, Moduls, Camospec etc., and NOT the long way around by clicking: Select Mech -> Cofigure -> Loudout
3. in mech selection view all loudout (with modules) should be shown when selecting a mech. Info like torso twist, arm range, weapon range and damage decay should be shown in some other detail window (or on mouse hover)
4. in inventory all parts should be shown, not just ones that are not on a mech, these that are on a mech should have that info (like: 300XL - total: 5 - not used: 4 - used: 1 in: FLAME)
5. mech skills - to make it look consistent mech skills should open in a dropdown matter under a mech, just like the list on mech chassis under mech type

Edited by Seraphims Blood, 11 March 2014 - 03:46 AM.