19 replies to this topic

[Onlystolen]

The Smurfy mechlab promised to bring forth a new era into MWO is still MIA. Those who will address the button to which you cannot do anything but look at your mech will be asked to not reply

[Thorn Hallis]

I'm not missing it.

[Bigbacon]

huh?

[Lukoi Banacek]

I think he is talking about a Smurfy-like functionality being introduced to the actual ingame mechlab which has yet to materialize.

[xeromynd]

Did you honestly expect it in this patch? Paul/Russ have mentioned nothing of the sort for this patch when they announced what WOULD be coming today.

Edited by xeromynd, 02 July 2014 - 10:20 AM.

[Bigbacon]

guess I am one of the few that don't have a problem with the current setup.

[smokefield]

maybe you are one of the few not using smurfy..so you wouldnt know...

[Dymlos2003]

Still easy to use this UI.

[KAT Ayanami]

Dymlos2003, on 02 July 2014 - 10:53 AM, said:

Still easy to use this UI.

But it takes forever to get anything done.

[Dymlos2003]

KAT Ayanami, on 02 July 2014 - 12:17 PM, said:

But it takes forever to get anything done.

takes a few seconds to do anything

[627]

Dymlos2003, on 02 July 2014 - 12:19 PM, said:

takes a few seconds to do anything

Only because it works doesn't mean it is a user friendly and economic design.

[Madw0lf]

Dymlos2003, on 02 July 2014 - 12:19 PM, said:

takes a few seconds to do anything

Admittedly the "details" button did speed things up, I never had any problem with it. And its not like its that different frombtje 1.5 version

[Dymlos2003]

627, on 02 July 2014 - 12:22 PM, said:

Only because it works doesn't mean it is a user friendly and economic design.

It's easy to figure out but does need some work to fix the kinks. But the people who say that it is impossible to do anything. I have no idea how they graduated school.

Madw0lf, on 02 July 2014 - 12:23 PM, said:

Admittedly the "details" button did speed things up, I never had any problem with it. And its not like its that different frombtje 1.5 version

EXACTLY! It's not! It is missing some of the details but it is pretty much the same damn thing except flipped horizontally.

[Tezcatli]

The Smurfy Functionality would make it easier on new and returning players. Smurphy's lab is easy to learn and use by comparison. We don't need a hundred of the same picture to distinguish engines and weapons.

If I had to choose between CW and Smurfy's lab. I'd take CW coming sooner. But that's because I'm already used to the current mechlab. But smurfy's update could improve the new player experience. And would certainly make changing load outs faster.

[DemonRaziel]

It's been a while since I've seen a really dedicated white-knighting, so it's really great to see there are still people defending things as poorly implemented as UI2.0.

With that off the chest, let's cheer about the good changes to front end this patch has brought us for a while before we get back to well deserved bitching about the lack of Smurfy-tool and overall cumbersomeness of the whole interface.

Quote

Improved "sorting" of the Owned filter in MechLab
Sort by weight, then alphabetical if same weight
Heroes and Champions no longer at the top of the list

This is pure gold right there, followed by the change for turret icons and (hopefully, if I understand the patch notes correctly) a fix for the in game messaging, so that half of my messages doesn't get lost in limbo.

[Funky Bacon]

The UI is still really poor in usability and lacks ergonomic design. Just because we have gotten used to it, doesn't mean it is a good design.

Everything is too spread out, the item list takes up way more space than it needs to do, important mech info is missing, using dropdown menus to navigate your mech is a horrible design choice, no usable/clickable paperdoll for better navigation, mech navigation menus and the active section layout is on the opposite sides of the screen, no exit button exists, social windows block all usage and navigation of the UI behind it, mech spinning doesn't have a counter, options menu is a chore to navigate, no real mech sorting exists, the actual shop has less functionality and information than what selecting buyable mechs in the MechLab gives you, etc etc......

Yeah it works, but it is faaaaaar from what any self respecting game designer would call "finished".

[Funkadelic Mayhem]

I cant stand the smurfy lab.

Edited by Funkadelic Mayhem, 02 July 2014 - 01:05 PM.

[Gralzeim]

Everything that Funky Bacon said, plus the font doesn't scale well with monitors using resolutions higher than 1024x768 (which is what the UI was designed for, from what I've heard), and the font has terrible kerning in general (all the letters are the same width and height, and are all-caps, which reduces readability. You can still read it, but given how the human brain processes written words, it's nowhere near as efficient to read as it could be).

Edited by Gralzeim, 02 July 2014 - 02:29 PM.

[Roland]

Dymlos2003, on 02 July 2014 - 12:19 PM, said:

takes a few seconds to do anything

Unfortunately, it breaks actual tasks into a dozen different "anything" interactions, so that you can't actually accomplish any common task in only a few seconds.

[Madw0lf]

Maybe its just me, maybe I'm just so used to having to adapt to other people's ideas of "good" so I can use any piece of software or equipment ( seriously, I've been repairing the same pair of headphones for ten years because they're the best I ever found, and they were like 20 bucks....) But the current mechlab and UI in general don't bother me at all, I have zero problems working in it, and never have.