Why is the UI so terrible in this game?

Halsy

This is 2015, it's not like they couldn't take notes from countless other games on how not to do a UI.

For the love of all things holy, PLEASE allow me to have sticky functions when sorting things. That is to say I virtually always sort items either by price or name, and whatever I select should remain the default until I decide to change it. Everytime I open my inventory it's a mess and I have to click price or name. Just leave it sorted according the user's last selection.

And why is there no central AH? That has to be the one of the worst and most backward decisions in the history of MMOs. Not only is it a major PITA having to run around to umpteen guild vendors in hopes of finding what I need, again there's no memory or sticky functions for those searches either.

Whatever I search for should remain in the search for all vendors until I change it. It's just one more needless hassle running from vendor to vendor selecting multiple categories for items/traits/cost/levels. Huge and needless PITA.

And lastly...WHY NO NAMED SEARCHES OR EVEN SORTING ITEMS BY NAME IN GUILD VENDORS?

Really? Really?? REALLY??? So I have to - yet again - needlessly search through reams of information I don't need simply to search for a single item. If I'm looking for Warlock jewellery let me just type in the damn word! At the very least sorting items by name would help.

Honestly, this may not be the worst UI in the history of gaming but it's a very strong contender. I can't believe of all the things you've been addressing over the past year that no one has addressed this. The thing that people actually need and use most to play the game itself. This has always been Bethsoft's major weakness - I suspect it's just being cheap because they know the PC community always picks up the slack to fix these things. However people can't do that with this game - all the custom UI work I've seen tries, but it's clumsy and doesn't really work as it should - so you guys need to fix this...like yesterday.

Cuyler

Blame the small minority of extremely vocal "immersionists" in BETA that basically convinced ZOS a bare bones UI was needed.

Edit: NO GLOBAL AH....EVER!

Attorneyatlawl

Cuyler wrote: »

Blame the small minority of extremely vocal "immersionists" in BETA that basically convinced ZOS a bare bones UI was needed.

Edit: NO GLOBAL AH....EVER!

The term is not used in jest from what I have observed, either... but we are where we are now. Here are my suggestions to fix it: http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/160517/user-interface-and-quality-of-life-problems-eso-2-0-is-good-lets-make-it-better . That's the important thing going forward . Hopefully we will see some improvements outlined in a post by @ZOS_GinaBruno and co. sometime now that the console version launches are getting towards being finished up.

EDIT: I'm not in favor of a global auction house as that is a game systems concern and proposed change, not a UI issue, and personally don't want to see it due to how it would impact the economic gameplay. However, objectively, ESO's user interface is very much lacking in traditional functionality both from prior MMORPG's dating back a decade and a half, to single-player Elder Scrolls games like Morrowind which had a minimap, or Oblivion which had buff and debuff icons. Alongside many QoL (Quality of Life) changes that would make the game far more enjoyable to play, I'd say there's ample room for improvement and an overhaul here .

Psychobunni

Cuyler wrote: »

Blame the small minority of extremely vocal "immersionists" in BETA that basically convinced ZOS a bare bones UI was needed.

This I guess. I don't understand what the opposition is to any OPTIONAL UI additions. It's like screaming I don't want flowers in my yard, and everyone else on the street must follow suit.

Addons fill the gaps, the downside to that though is hoping the creator doesn't quit ESO in frustration/boredom and in some cases create a laziness on the development/bug fix front (imo).....broken bank stacking for over a year, I'm looking at you.

Araxleon

(Miss post)

Smiteye

Araxleon wrote: »

You want immersion you like the immersion we know you want the immersion your gonna sit there AND TAKE THIS *** immersion ^_^ - ZOS

Too much catering to roleplay fans, not enough catering to Roleplaying Game fans. Choice is good ZOS, please give it to us. I don't like to play the same way roleplayers do, I want to play the game and the ways it works in fighting!

Araxleon

Araxleon wrote: »

You want immersion you like the immersion we know you want the immersion your gonna sit there AND TAKE THIS immersion and Your gonna like it ^_^ - ZOS

Attorneyatlawl

Psychobunni wrote: »

Cuyler wrote: »

Blame the small minority of extremely vocal "immersionists" in BETA that basically convinced ZOS a bare bones UI was needed.

This I guess. I don't understand what the opposition is to any OPTIONAL UI additions. It's like screaming I don't want flowers in my yard, and everyone else on the street must follow suit.

Addons fill the gaps, the downside to that though is hoping the creator doesn't quit ESO in frustration/boredom and in some cases create a laziness on the development/bug fix front (imo).....broken bank stacking for over a year, I'm looking at you.

The argument, not a logical one but based on emotion, by the "immersion" advocates was that the presence of optional features to enjoy your gameplay more would enable you to "play the game wrong and not enjoy the rich Elder Scrolls lore" to paraphrase it. That is of course not true, but that was the main thrust of their campaign .

PKMN12

Attorneyatlawl wrote: »

Psychobunni wrote: »

Cuyler wrote: »

Blame the small minority of extremely vocal "immersionists" in BETA that basically convinced ZOS a bare bones UI was needed.

This I guess. I don't understand what the opposition is to any OPTIONAL UI additions. It's like screaming I don't want flowers in my yard, and everyone else on the street must follow suit.

Addons fill the gaps, the downside to that though is hoping the creator doesn't quit ESO in frustration/boredom and in some cases create a laziness on the development/bug fix front (imo).....broken bank stacking for over a year, I'm looking at you.

The argument, not a logical one but based on emotion, by the "immersion" advocates was that the presence of optional features to enjoy your gameplay more would enable you to "play the game wrong and not enjoy the rich Elder Scrolls lore" to paraphrase it. That is of course not true, but that was the main thrust of their campaign .

there was also the argument "if they are optional, everyone would be forced to use them cause they are needed", which is partially true, and also admits they were asking for a TERRIBLE UI design in the first place.

LameoveR

UI is beautiful.

Attorneyatlawl

LameoveR wrote: »

UI is beautiful.

It's pretty, but it doesn't do much and is very bulky on-screen in terms of how much space it uses.

Smiteye

LameoveR wrote: »

UI is beautiful.

No its not, it just is large and unuseful mostly.

PKMN12

LameoveR wrote: »

UI is beautiful.

no, mostly useless and empty.

Snit

Three reasons:

- Err toward Immersion over Information
- Keep it simple for consoles
- Addons will fill the gap

If you're willing to use addons, as I am, it's more of an annoyance than an actual problem.

PKMN12

Snit wrote: »

Three reasons:

- Err toward Immersion over Information
- Keep it simple for consoles
- Addons will fill the gap

If you're willing to use addons, as I am, it's more of an annoyance than an actual problem.

the need of third party add-ons for common sense things = bad game design = fact.

FF14 is for consoles and has all the things a MMO UI NEEDS To have plus more. same with FF11 and DCUO.

Attorneyatlawl

PKMN12 wrote: »

Snit wrote: »

Three reasons:

- Err toward Immersion over Information
- Keep it simple for consoles
- Addons will fill the gap

If you're willing to use addons, as I am, it's more of an annoyance than an actual problem.

the need of third party add-ons for common sense things = bad game design = fact.

FF14 is for consoles and has all the things a MMO UI NEEDS To have plus more. same with FF11 and DCUO.

Additionally, the addons aren't allowed to do a great deal of things, such as nameplates, guild tags, buff and debuff tracking (rather than artificial timers based solely upon when you pressed the button), combat logging including incoming sources of damage or buffs/debuffs, amongst other things. And arguably nameplates/guildtags, even if they were available to addons, should be one more stock option amongst many as without them you defeat half the point of having them in the first place as far as nameplates go (community, social, name recognition and a living feel to the world when you run into other players), while the rest are too vital to understanding the gameplay to solely delegate to third-party authors and hope that everyone goes to download of their own volition.

Athas24

I agree with everything the OP stated except for the auction house comment, which isn't a UI function/feature anyway. It's more of a game design/economy concept or issue.

Tandor

These things are very subjective, whether you like a UI or not depends in large part on your playstyle and gaming background, the latter being especially significant for those who believe every game should be the same.

I personally love the UI in ESO, but then I want the game to be a MMO conversion of the offline TES games rather than another WoW clone, and I am a non-competitive solo PvEer and as such neither need nor use any addons although I appreciate their availability for those who do want them. The only aspect of the UI that I would change is the radial menu for potions but I don't feel strongly enough about that to bother with an addon for it.

QuadroTony

for all author question thewre is one answer

ADDONS


for search item by name too

Gix

Cuyler wrote: »

Blame the small minority of extremely vocal "immersionists" in BETA that basically convinced ZOS a bare bones UI was needed.

Asking for a minimalistic UI is not the same as asking for a broken UI.

Psychobunni

Tandor wrote: »

These things are very subjective, whether you like a UI or not depends in large part on your playstyle and gaming background, the latter being especially significant for those who believe every game should be the same.

I personally love the UI in ESO, but then I want the game to be a MMO conversion of the offline TES games rather than another WoW clone, and I am a non-competitive solo PvEer and as such neither need nor use any addons although I appreciate their availability for those who do want them. The only aspect of the UI that I would change is the radial menu for potions but I don't feel strongly enough about that to bother with an addon for it.

I downloaded played wow for a couple hours, was un-wow'ed and uninstalled. I still think as far as an MMO, ESO's UI simply sucks. Sure, its great for the people that simply wanted a TES game to play and couldn't wait until the next solo release...but for the class game ESO is..the UI fails.

RedTalon

They didn't want to, has been stated since the start.

Why the game has ui addons, you want it to look like other mmos you download a few addons or wait for console release which has a different interference and play it there.

joshisanonymous

I love the UI. Other than some search issues and small bugs, it's exactly the kind of UI I want in an MMO.

The argument against including "all the things and stuff that all other modern MMOs have" is not that those in favor of a stripped down UI want to enforce a particular immersion game experience on other players, or some nonsense like that, but that optional UI elements that are useful become mandatory for anyone who wants to be competitive, whether they want to use them or not. For instance, you pretty much have to use Master Merchant or some equivalent if you want to play the trading game, because otherwise you won't be able to keep up with the information that others have at their disposal. Or, for combat, during beta, the API allowed addons that would display your enemy's resource pools, what abilities they were using, etc., meaning that I would be handicapped playing against players who were using these addons if I decided not to myself. Maybe even more importantly, those who were not aware of these addons would be at a disadvantage without even realizing it. And I didn't want to use these things, because the game is fully playable without any of them, and I like the stripped down look and feel.

PKMN12

joshisanonymous wrote: »

I love the UI. Other than some search issues and small bugs, it's exactly the kind of UI I want in an MMO.

The argument against including "all the things and stuff that all other modern MMOs have" is not that those in favor of a stripped down UI want to enforce a particular immersion game experience on other players, or some nonsense like that, but that optional UI elements that are useful become mandatory for anyone who wants to be competitive, whether they want to use them or not. For instance, you pretty much have to use Master Merchant or some equivalent if you want to play the trading game, because otherwise you won't be able to keep up with the information that others have at their disposal. Or, for combat, during beta, the API allowed addons that would display your enemy's resource pools, what abilities they were using, etc., meaning that I would be handicapped playing against players who were using these addons if I decided not to myself. Maybe even more importantly, those who were not aware of these addons would be at a disadvantage without even realizing it. And I didn't want to use these things, because the game is fully playable without any of them, and I like the stripped down look and feel.

except it is not fully playable because endgame is essnetially impossibly without several different addons

joshisanonymous

PKMN12 wrote: »

joshisanonymous wrote: »

I love the UI. Other than some search issues and small bugs, it's exactly the kind of UI I want in an MMO.

The argument against including "all the things and stuff that all other modern MMOs have" is not that those in favor of a stripped down UI want to enforce a particular immersion game experience on other players, or some nonsense like that, but that optional UI elements that are useful become mandatory for anyone who wants to be competitive, whether they want to use them or not. For instance, you pretty much have to use Master Merchant or some equivalent if you want to play the trading game, because otherwise you won't be able to keep up with the information that others have at their disposal. Or, for combat, during beta, the API allowed addons that would display your enemy's resource pools, what abilities they were using, etc., meaning that I would be handicapped playing against players who were using these addons if I decided not to myself. Maybe even more importantly, those who were not aware of these addons would be at a disadvantage without even realizing it. And I didn't want to use these things, because the game is fully playable without any of them, and I like the stripped down look and feel.

except it is not fully playable because endgame is essnetially impossibly without several different addons

That is complete nonsense.

Sidney

I agree the UI needs work but making threads that say it sucks or just attack it instead of requesting/suggest helpful features or changes doesn't do much good. It can matter a lot how things are worded and how they are presented. We have to remember that the developers are people too.

We all respond better with constructive criticism instead of rude attacks. They've asked us to make suggestions and requests in-game which I recommend doing (type /help or /bug, and click the proper icon for feedback, select the subject and fill out the info).

I do still think it can be helpful to make forum posts and gather information from the community to see what features or changes they may suggest or maybe they can make an even better argument. I add all of my suggestions in-game but I still do post on the forums to gather information from other players.

I would like to see some of these changes as well plus a few more which I'll add below to everyone else's desires.

What I'm gathering from this thread so far:

Add text search function in guild stores
Remember your chosen sort method in inventory/bank
Remember last search between guild vendors
Fix bank stacking ability
Add automatic stacking in bank, inventory, guild bank

Additional ideas:

Filters in the inventory UI's (such as added by Additional Filters addon) like under weapons, sorting by Two-Handed, Destruction Staves, One-Handed, etc.
Being able to have multiple interfaces open at once, such as having the chest and inventory open at once
Not being dismounted when opening the Crown Store UI

My point isn't that there should not be changes, but that if you want changes, give constructive criticism, not a tongue lashing.

PKMN12

Sidney wrote: »

My point isn't that there should not be changes, but that if you want changes, give constructive criticism, not a tongue lashing.

except constructive criticism does not work with ZOS, ever.

Moonshadow66

I refuse to read bright pink text on bright grey background.

badmojo

I'm glad the immersive minimalist UI was what they went with. The reality is that no matter what they did, people wouldn't like it and would have used addons to add or remove stuff.

No global AH tho. Never.

Sidney

Moonshadow66 wrote: »

I refuse to read bright pink text on bright grey background.

Is this better?

timidobserver

Download awesomeguildstore.