PTS Update 46 - Feedback Thread for UI Modernization

ZOS_Kevin · April 14

This is the official feedback thread for UI Modernization. Specific feedback that the team is looking for includes the following:

Do you have any general feedback on the UI updates for PC?
Any issues with broken, missing, outdated, or generally weird looking art assets
- Known Issue- Tab menu icons are still using old assets

noblecron · April 14

No bugs that I noticed but I do hope there's an option to rever the UI as it's not my favorite look

Djennku · April 14

I absolutely dispise the new ui. It looks like what bandits or one of those UI addons changes stuff to. I very much prefer the aesthetic of the old ESO ui has been for 10+ years. It feels natural to the game, and this updated version looks like they changed it to a windows office pro ui vs something that looks and feel natural to the game.

It doesn't feel or even look right in the game. It feels like a downgrade vs a refresh, and I have to say that if I had a choice or the power to vote on this change, I'd vote to revert it back immediately.

Maitsukas · April 14

The flat modern UI isn't appealing to me, as the fine details get lost. It is feeling somewhat similar to the Gamepad UI in my opinion now.

Hope there is an option to choose the UI style in the future without having to use add-ons.

Soarora · April 14

I don't like the new UI. It's sleek and modern which is great for people who like that kind of thing, but it feels jarring and out of place in a fantasy game, especially an elder scrolls game. I actually thought I had bandits on that I needed to turn off only to find out that it was just the base UI. Grittiness doesn't equate to low-quality, especially when its in-line with the aesthetic of the product. It feels like having a gauntlet themed mouse (think Baldur's Gate 3) for a fantasy game and then suddenly making it a regular mouse again.

Aside from personal preference, when you have a companion out and the group menu appears, there's a black box behind the health bar. It looks like it's a bug due to how large and dark the rectangle is.

DerAlleinTiger · April 14

The new UI looks like an alpha build of the game. Please don't do this, or make it 100% optional. I know the UI/UX team is allergic to the word, but please make an exception for this. This is truly, extremely unappealing. The current UI is already clean and has personality and style to boot! I wouldn't call it 'streamlined,' but I don't want it to be! I like the little bits of styling and designs that are reminiscent of Skyrim. I like the resource bars having some depth and not just being flat colors.

The new UI looks like if you tried to import the Microsoft Teams UI into the game. It's just not right or attractive to look at. Make it an accessibility feature or just... something that doesn't force it on all of us. I'm begging you guys at this point to just make something optional for once. I never asked for the map changes, and I already had to find an add-on to change it back since there was no toggle in the settings for some reason. I absolutely did not and never will ask for these UI changes either.

With any luck, someone will make an add-on to change it all back ASAP. Though I am perhaps fruitlessly hoping - with the very last scraps of hope I have left - that it won't be necessary and this will - ideally - have an option to not "update" (emphasis on the quotation marks) and keep the current UI or barring that just get scrapped entirely.

Syldras · April 14

Only seen screenshots so far (still unsure if I want to deinstall something else to be able to install pts...) but from what I've seen I also dislike it.

I'm not sure if I'm in a minority with that opinion, but I play fantasy games because I enjoy a "historical" setting. While playing, I want to delve into that atmosphere, and factors like music and visuals, also the UI, are part of that. A modern looking UI is absolutely not what I want to see. You wouldn't use a "handwritten medieval script on parchment look" for the UI of a futuristic sci-fi game, so why this?

coop500 · April 14

New UI is awful, please revert or provide an option to revert.

FabresFour · April 14

Is that black retangle in the group names is a bug? Because honestly, it's REALLY UGLY. The rest of the interface is pretty okay—I mean, it’s not really my style, but it has its appeal. But that group with a black bar on the screen really clutters the interface a lot.

freespirit · April 14

I must admit this was the one thing in the stream that immediately worried me!

I don't currently use PTS but from the few comments already I am now even more worried......

Imo it wasn't broken(I like the old UI) and didn't need fixing!!

Ezhh · April 15

Not keen. I've intentionally avoided addons that give the UI this kind of look because I don't like it.

licenturion · April 15

I don’t mind the new flat style UI. But currently it feels very half baked.

Some things are flat, others things are still 3D. The new flat style also doesn’t really work with the old icons. This looks and feels more like a basic v0.1 of a possible revision, but needs a lot of work to be attractive and cohesive.

The ‘show on map’ is also very sloppy dumped like that in the journal/quest log. I am all for a fresh coat of paint when it is an improvement, but so far it really is not.

jcaceresw · April 15

Really ugly. I prefer the old one.

Deimus · April 15

One thing I'd love to see with UI changes is the option to have the skill icons on my bar match the chosen Skill Style icons. If you could pass that to the team I'm sure many players would be very appreciative.

Jestir · April 15

I absolutely love the new ui style outside of the black box around the group but it needs to be consistent throughout the whole UI for it to work

PrinceShroob · April 15

It looks like all you did was force the edges of menus to be opaque instead of translucent. It's ugly and doesn't suit the game. Back to the drawing board, like the rest of this update.

Syldras · April 15

The biggest question to me is: Why? There are so many things that could be improved, bugs to be fixed, reasonable quality of life suggestions are made on this forum regularly, but instead we get this change, something that I've never seen people asking for. I can't imagine that it's a factor that helps in gaining new players either. Nobody will think "Wow! This game's UI looks like it's the UI of an office app! I need to play it!". Of course ZOS can do with their game what ever they want, it's theirs after all. But I fail to comprehend these priorities.

ceruulean · April 15

Some of it is alright, like the HP and resource bars.

The plus and minus buttons on the Champion Point Screen are really hard to see for me. They blend in like mush.

tomofhyrule · April 15

PLEASE give us the choice to go back to the old version. That one fit with the world, and this one... looks like a sterile modern thing. I cannot overstate how much I hate the flattened version instead of the 3D one.

IncultaWolf · April 15

tomofhyrule wrote: »

PLEASE give us the choice to go back to the old version. That one fit with the world, and this one... looks like a sterile modern thing. I cannot overstate how much I hate the flattened version instead of the 3D one.

I also prefer the old one

Freelancer_ESO · April 15

I'm not a fan of the UI changes I find that the UI elements tend to stand out a bit more from the rest of the world which puts a damper on my immersion. Maybe I'll be used to it in a week or so but, at the present I really wish I could revert it.

Elvenheart · April 15

I hate the flat look of the resources bars now, and the black box underneath the companion.

silky_soft · April 15

It's not very elder scrollsy. Looks like I'm at work.

CyberDiva · April 15

The new UI transparency is giving me severe eye strain when trying to read the text. The transparent backgrounds seem to hate me and are triggering migraines thanks to the eye strain. Please give me an option to TURN OFF the transparency.

As a design element, the new UI is.... Boring. Dull. Flat. It has no Umph. No personality. Nothing that makes you say "WOW! Nice look and feel!"

akredon_ESO · April 15

I appreciate all the work that went into the new UI, However i feel like it misses the mark of putting you into the game. I feel like the UI should be reflective to the game, It should have some soul and match the art style of ESO. To me it looks way to modern looking. Maybe make the UI match more of a Oblivion or a Parchment vibe with a subtle Overtone to make it more elder scrolls/fantasy is what I would suggest.

R3animate · April 15

I don't mind the overall look of the new UI, you've done a good job in cleaning up some of the old textures for the health/resource bars and the general look of the skill UI feels fine.

The unit frames for group/companions need to have the background removed. It looks VERY out of place and feels janky. Use drop shadows on the font and put a small border around the health bar, the background looks so out of place. If you want to go the extra mile? Let us right click on group unit frames and leave group.

Ragnarok0130 · April 15

Was it really necessary when we already have Addons to do the same thing? It seems your team’s time could have been better utilized elsewhere. My recommendation is if you offer a new UI you must maintain the old UI for the players who like the traditional UI. It’s pretty scummy to take a core aspect of the game’s identity like the UI after a decade and not allow players who like the current UI to keep it.

Maxxermax · April 15

I already thought the font was too plain for a fantasy game. And now the menu elements and health bars are way too 'clean'. The guards' health bars (the golden ones) look like the final render layer was simply left out. They’ve lost all their intricate details.

What’s next? Will the music just be squeaks and hums? Will the characters be reduced to flat shapes and textures, like in Minecraft? ... After all, that game sold pretty well too.

Please excuse the somewhat salty undertone.

BretonMage · April 15

I don't think it looks modernised, I think it looks amateurish. Please give us the option to keep the original style.

Xarc · April 15

Could we have the possibility to keep the old ui ?
should be optional

WhiteCoatSyndrome · April 15

+1 not keen overall. I do appreciate that we get icons for ‘you haven’t learned this yet’ now but the icons themselves feel like they’re from an addon and the flat health and resource bars are distracting.