The future of the User interface which is currently awfull.

JD2013 · September 2014

I actually like the UI. I can see the game world without a cluster of numbers/hotkeys/map/misc information cluttering it up.

philip.ploegerb16_ESO · September 2014

To make ESO more functional, I use 44 (!) AddOns.

It'd really be very nice, if at least some of them could be included in the main UI. Warhammer also already had this, starting with no Minimap iirc. and then taking over a Minimap programmed by a player.

Things that would be high on my list:

1. Minimap (like EMM)
2. Bufftracker addon (unfortunately there's no perfect one atm., Srendarr probably being the best but not working 100% of the time)
3. Customizable Group and Raid Frames (again, no perfect AddOn atm., GG-Frames and WarLegendGroupFrame are quite good though, as is FTC)
4. Scrolling Combat Text (like FTC i. e.)
5. Bank Stacker (several possibilities, but something like "FatStacks" should also be included)
6. All Wykked's AddOns
7. Combat Log Statistics
8. ItemSaver

Tabbycat · September 2014

I believe during early alpha there were many more UI elements, although there has always been the skill bar limitation. I think there was at one time a mini-map and buff trackers and scrolling damage meters but I might be confusing that with early addons. It was then decided that the modding community should be more involved with making the UI mod-able through the use of addons much like you have mods in Skyrim. I guess ZOS felt it would appeal to Skyrim players.

However, during beta, players complained that they felt like they were being forced to use mods to remain competitive with others. Many complained that they felt mods were giving players unfair advantages over others. Some said mods would allow for cheats, hacks and botting behavior. So many resources for modding were removed. Modders cried, immersionists rejoiced and what you see is what we got.

If you don't like the current UI, use your /feedback in game. If enough people complain, perhaps ZOS will change it.

dragonhawk · September 2014

stewie_801 wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiMTVeWgrRU

Here is someones UI from FFXIV RR on a PS4. Hey look a minimap. And more than 6 abilities. Interesting that a console can support all of this.

While I do agree that even keeping the UI console friendly it could be made better, one thing should be noted about FF14 is that they have a 2.5 sec global cooldown on abilities to allow console players to do things. ESO doesn't have that so they need to have their UI different than FF14. I do agree with the OP though that the potion selection system is pathetic, and in need of a major overhaul.

Ryzium · September 2014

This whole thread is irrelevant, you can get a number of addons for PC to add almost all of these UI functions

ers101284b14_ESO · September 2014

stewie_801 wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiMTVeWgrRU

Here is someones UI from FFXIV RR on a PS4. Hey look a minimap. And more than 6 abilities. Interesting that a console can support all of this.

I'm glad ESO isn't like that. Look how cluttered it is. I know they didn't make the UI because of consoles and I'm happy they didn't make it like every other MMO's.

As far as People Wanting the Minimap I do have to agree that I like the minimap. But then again they wanted it to be more elder scrolls like. They should have put in an optional one like in Morrowind.

TehMagnus · September 2014

The point about UI additions is you can disable them at will. Best have more & please everybody than a few and have unhappy people.

zaria · September 2014

Vizier wrote: »

Thread really took a left turn. You guys can argue till your blue in the face about the catalyst and inspiration for ESO's UI. I think we can mostly agree...it needs work. The game needs some UI options, flower dial, static slot bar toggle would be a good thing IMO.

@OP The UI needs work, but your argument needs work too. You put in an extra "Q" press which isn't necessary in your description of navigating to a consumable and using it. Additionally the console port point, while probably true IMO, distracts from the question, "Is ZOS going to fix some aspects of their UI?" And while I would LOVE to have a static drag and drop consumable bar I've found that it doesn't take much effort to select a new consumable. I maintain a high mouse sensitivity though and perhaps a lesser setting would be as problematic for me as it is you.

I do like ESO's minimalist approach and allowing for addons which pretty much gives me as a player whatever I want. You'll get no arguments from me though that the UI could have been a bit better out of the box especially in the areas of inventory management and customization.

I use an mod who add a bar for the quickslot, configurable keys to select or cycle.
Yes you should be able to activate directly but that is the only downside.
And yes the circular select is an console port, or more likely from an function library for consoles. Don't see console influence other places in the interface.

Lack of search in stores is probably the same issue as no reply mail button.
That will hit console users harder than us as they have to write part of the name to reply. In short the UI misses some minor features.
Reply to mail is pure UI, grab senders name and mail header, put in send mail and Re: in front of header. Search in stores might require some more work however you can already filter a lot here.

AngryNord · September 2014

Don't worry. When the console kiddies find out that they have to pay monthly, the game will flop there big-time. So sometime in 2015, after Zenimax have been able to exclusively concentrate on the PC platform for a while, we'll have a usable Interface.

GnatB · September 2014

2 add-ons I have that I would *love* for ZOS to integrate into the actual game UI:

minimap (think I use zrMM (modified))
harvestmap

The reason I want these two particular addons integrated into the actual game is because:

1. I find them practically mandatory.
2. In harvestmaps case, ideally it would simply show nodes detected via the passives, and not simply every node I've ever found (with exception of chests). This way I'd actualy be able to turn the grass back on for a better looking game. Unfortunately, this functionality simply isn't possible via an add-on.
3. Implemented in script, as they are, they are severe resource hogs. Having them active severely degrades performance. If they were implemented "natively" they would undoubtedly have a much less severe impact on performance.
4. Danger zones could also be impemented into the minimap, to at least attempt to even the odds for first person players.

TehMagnus · September 2014

GnatB wrote: »

2 add-ons I have that I would *love* for ZOS to integrate into the actual game UI:

minimap (think I use zrMM (modified))
harvestmap

The reason I want these two particular addons integrated into the actual game is because:

1. I find them practically mandatory.
2. In harvestmaps case, ideally it would simply show nodes detected via the passives, and not simply every node I've ever found (with exception of chests). This way I'd actualy be able to turn the grass back on for a better looking game. Unfortunately, this functionality simply isn't possible via an add-on.
3. Implemented in script, as they are, they are severe resource hogs. Having them active severely degrades performance. If they were implemented "natively" they would undoubtedly have a much less severe impact on performance.
4. Danger zones could also be impemented into the minimap, to at least attempt to even the odds for first person players.

True, it would be fair for everybody to have the same ability to save the locations of harvested material.

Swampster · September 2014

I was chatting about this with someone the other day, and the best way I could describe some of the problems with ESO was.. "I seem to spend more time fighting against the software and the UI than I do the mobs in the game".

It's all well and good saying we can use add-ons, but when your 'must have' addon author ups-sticks and goes to another game, thus abandoning said addon.. and there's no suitable alternative the result is jarring!

Attorneyatlawl · September 2014

Resueht wrote: »

I actually really like the UI. I also think that many of the decisions made were aesthetic design choices and not ergonomic driven for consoles. I like not having my screen cluttered with crazy amounts of info.

The radial Q menu has given me zero trouble. I just remember what I have in what slot and can switch pretty easily. I will concede that having dedicated slots for this is easier, but I only have 5 fingers on a keyboard. I like the 5+1 skills because it forces you to make strategic decisions about your loadout.

HOWEVER, I respect that many people want their screen cluttered and can move their hand farther on a keyboard so I don't see why they can't have an option for some things, like slots for pots. I would like to draw the line on the 5+1 skills though. I feel this isn't a UI limitation but a game mechanic that should force you to make trade-offs between skills.

I agree for the most part that the UI looks pretty, but functionally it does have a large number of typical and major features outright missing or broken. At the end of the day I'd like the options to be there for myself and others that prefer them without having to maintain a starship fleet of addons that break every minipatch and depend on authors' updates with huge API limitations imposed by ZOS (case in point: buff tracking, and not being able to even tell what hit your own character in a combat log addon due to api limits, etc.).

The 5+1 skills x2 for two hotbars is a key gameplay mechanic to this game and part of what the abilities are balanced around currently. That's definitely not a UI related question, and I say this as someone who has championed a more robust UI with better feature sets available very heavily for over a year now.

THE BIG OLD OPTIONAL SETTINGS LIST TO FIX THE UI AND BRING IT UP TO PAR (all optional, all disabled/enabled on client side for any players' given preferences):

-Inventory management: text search, mark as "important" (in the same way you mark as "junk" now for some items), specific category subfilter icons (armor--->let us choose medium for example underneath, or sort by level, or item quality), a grid view for those who prefer that to a list, etc.
-Camera options for third-person mode including centering, camera height, max zoom distance, and third-person field of view (fov) settings..
-Optional nametags/guildtags (like tabard a player can choose which to display) above floating healthbar.
-Minimap.
-Combat log tab on chat box.
-Buff/debuff indicators, even category-based ones and then lifting the API restrictions for addons to give us more details/actual times instead of guessing them.
-Potion/consumable quickbar.
-Text search for guild stores + remembering last search between sessions, better category filters with icon-based gui (see the "awesomestore" addon for a great example), etc.
-Scrolling combat text.
-Numbers on healthbars, your own magicka bar, and your own stamina bar.
-Show both hotbars at one time, but still allow skill use only based upon which bar is actually active by weaponswapping exactly as it works now (aesthetic change only).
-Cast bar for yourself to see cast progress on spells with a cast timer.

We had a lot of these which were subsequently removed during beta

and the game has been worse off ever since as all were optional on a player-by-player basis, not forced on anyone. Many people enjoy a more robust UI, or want to enable 1-2 of those things but not all of them. That's great! But let US decide what we want displayed, don't force it on everyone.

TehMagnus · September 2014

Swampster wrote: »

I was chatting about this with someone the other day, and the best way I could describe some of the problems with ESO was.. "I seem to spend more time fighting against the software and the UI than I do the mobs in the game".

It's all well and good saying we can use add-ons, but when your 'must have' addon author ups-sticks and goes to another game, thus abandoning said addon.. and there's no suitable alternative the result is jarring!

Meh, as much as I dislike what they are doing with servers, I can't objectively agree with this. I remember when WOW launched, I spent more time updating it and trying to make it work than actually playing it (which is why I ended up never playing it), same with some standalone games.

ESO is ages away from being optimized but one thing we can at least give ZOS is that they made the game available to almost everybody. There where 0 login queues at launch and the game wasn't down for hours or days.

Not many games can claim as much.

Attorneyatlawl · September 2014

Tabbycat wrote: »

I believe during early alpha there were many more UI elements, although there has always been the skill bar limitation. I think there was at one time a mini-map and buff trackers and scrolling damage meters but I might be confusing that with early addons. It was then decided that the modding community should be more involved with making the UI mod-able through the use of addons much like you have mods in Skyrim. I guess ZOS felt it would appeal to Skyrim players.

However, during beta, players complained that they felt like they were being forced to use mods to remain competitive with others. Many complained that they felt mods were giving players unfair advantages over others. Some said mods would allow for cheats, hacks and botting behavior. So many resources for modding were removed. Modders cried, immersionists rejoiced and what you see is what we got.

If you don't like the current UI, use your /feedback in game. If enough people complain, perhaps ZOS will change it.

This is accurate, as far as the history goes. They slowly stripped feature after feature (did you know we had DAOC style death spam in Cyrodiil, i.e. you could have a chat tab saying "Soandso was killed by Thisguy in Faewyn's Weald" as an example, colored by which faction made the kill? even).

The problem is that when they went to change some things they went far too much in the opposite direction, going from perhaps a little too much info (seeing your enemy's remaining magicka and total pool, for example) to far too little about even your own character when using addons even, let alone the default UI which gives just this side of nothing for objective data now where you can't even see with an addon what hit your own character, or your own character's buff timers (all addons have to artificially guess, and it is often inaccurate with many other limitations imposed), amongst many other things. Not even a cast bar.

People aren't advocating requiring everyone to play with every possible UI option enabled. But they should be there for those who want them to enable on an individual basis optionally and specifically (I might want a minimap and scrolling combat text, you might want just the minimap or neither... let me enable them, and you can leave them disabled). Settings are a very standard thing in most games industry-wide and the current UI is a great disservice to the everyday gameplay and "quality of life" in-game.

Swampster wrote: »

I was chatting about this with someone the other day, and the best way I could describe some of the problems with ESO was.. "I seem to spend more time fighting against the software and the UI than I do the mobs in the game".

It's all well and good saying we can use add-ons, but when your 'must have' addon author ups-sticks and goes to another game, thus abandoning said addon.. and there's no suitable alternative the result is jarring!

QUOTED FOR TRUTH!!!!!!!!!!!! We should not have to rely on addons for basic game UI features. I honestly spend more time fighting the UI and its clunkiness from incredible lack of features (which is not minimalism, it's just lacking) than enjoying using it. The UI should let me get what I want done, show me what I want shown, and get out of my way. It shouldn't be such a bear to use, and lack so many things, that it becomes a hassle to deal with instead.

Attorneyatlawl · September 2014

magnusnet wrote: »

Swampster wrote: »

I was chatting about this with someone the other day, and the best way I could describe some of the problems with ESO was.. "I seem to spend more time fighting against the software and the UI than I do the mobs in the game".

It's all well and good saying we can use add-ons, but when your 'must have' addon author ups-sticks and goes to another game, thus abandoning said addon.. and there's no suitable alternative the result is jarring!

Meh, as much as I dislike what they are doing with servers, I can't objectively agree with this. I remember when WOW launched, I spent more time updating it and trying to make it work than actually playing it (which is why I ended up never playing it), same with some standalone games.

ESO is ages away from being optimized but one thing we can at least give ZOS is that they made the game available to almost everybody. There where 0 login queues at launch and the game wasn't down for hours or days.

Not many games can claim as much.

That really wasn't the point of the post you replied to

. He is talking about the UI and how it inhibits gameplay, not server queues and game stability.

TehMagnus · September 2014

Pretty much agree with everything u said @Attorneyatlaw .

It's 2014, there have been hundreds of MMO games to use as an example of things that work and don't work and early versions had very very nice features. Instead we get the possibility to use add-ons that half the time either don't work or loose all saved data or cause issues withing the game...

The fact they are pushing new content (as awesome as I think Arena, Serpent trial, justice system & Imperial City are) instead of fixing/adding the most basic things their UI is still a mystery to me.

TehMagnus · September 2014

Attorneyatlawl wrote: »

magnusnet wrote: »

Swampster wrote: »

I was chatting about this with someone the other day, and the best way I could describe some of the problems with ESO was.. "I seem to spend more time fighting against the software and the UI than I do the mobs in the game".

It's all well and good saying we can use add-ons, but when your 'must have' addon author ups-sticks and goes to another game, thus abandoning said addon.. and there's no suitable alternative the result is jarring!

Meh, as much as I dislike what they are doing with servers, I can't objectively agree with this. I remember when WOW launched, I spent more time updating it and trying to make it work than actually playing it (which is why I ended up never playing it), same with some standalone games.

ESO is ages away from being optimized but one thing we can at least give ZOS is that they made the game available to almost everybody. There where 0 login queues at launch and the game wasn't down for hours or days.

Not many games can claim as much.

That really wasn't the point of the post you replied to . He is talking about the UI and how it inhibits gameplay, not server queues and game stability.

True, didn't read 2nd paragraph. Can't say I agree either, I use minion to manage add-ons so it's easy to keep them updated and find plug-ins for the ones that are discontinued like ZR MInimap. Haven't had any of my addons not working (except the minimap at one point and those who where rendered useless like Bantman store filter), but I supose some other useful add-ons have been discontinued $:\$

I hope someone takes Sendarr's buff addon and fixes it for 1.4 >_<.

seneferab16_ESO · September 2014

Every time I am in a fight and try to drag a siege/camp that is located far down my list of consumables to a slot, I lose the will to play a little bit more.

If you are going to force this god awful quickslot system upon us, at least make it frikkin work in combat and not have the list constantly jump back up to the top, making me lose the item I am trying to move.

And please let me type in chat when I am operating siege.

THIS is my issue with the UI of this game. Not the fact that it is minimalistic, but that somehow someone forgot that it is possible for a UI to be user friendly, functional and minimalistic.

TehMagnus · September 2014

seneferab16_ESO wrote: »

Every time I am in a fight and try to drag a siege/camp that is located far down my list of consumables to a slot, I lose the will to play a little bit more.

If you are going to force this god awful quickslot system upon us, at least make it frikkin work in combat and not have the list constantly jump back up to the top, making me lose the item I am trying to move.

And please let me type in chat when I am operating siege.

THIS is my issue with the UI of this game. Not the fact that it is minimalistic, but that somehow someone forgot that it is possible for a UI to be user friendly, functional and minimalistic.

Ah yeah, the scroll down bug while in combat

. No talking while in siege

.

What about placing a siege weapon that neither you or anybody else can use? Happens for 30% of Meatbags & balistas I put down. Waste of AP...

Draxuul · September 2014

What about those of us who do not want more things on the UI ?

The UI in this game is one of the things i love the most . The less boxes i see on my screen and the more happy i am .

So just in case Zenimax wants to, at some point, consider changing the UI, i say , make it possible for people to customize their UI, add stuff to it if and only if they want it.

Personnaly i don't want my UI to have more stuff. I want my screen to be as empty as possible . I have never downloaded any add ons for that exact reason .

I want to see the world , not numbers.

Draxuul

MornaBaine · September 2014

magnusnet wrote: »

- Slotable "Consumables". Changing potions in the midle of the fight is not only time consuming but it's also not ergonomic at all. One is forced to keep pushing Q, then move the mouse in the right direction, then release Q then, at last, press Q again to use the potion (if you're still alive).

-0

THIS ALONE drives me completely mad! For me, it makes potions completely worthless and I'm reduced to just slotting health pots and being done with it. And I hear the exact same complaint from nearly all my guildies. Make a bar for potions, add a mini map up on the upper right corner that shows my position, and CENTER MY CHARACTER AND TARGETING and I will play this game forever. Honestly, I very nearly quit early on because I hate the current format so much.

Draxuul · September 2014

dragonhawk wrote: »

stewie_801 wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiMTVeWgrRU

Here is someones UI from FFXIV RR on a PS4. Hey look a minimap. And more than 6 abilities. Interesting that a console can support all of this.

While I do agree that even keeping the UI console friendly it could be made better, one thing should be noted about FF14 is that they have a 2.5 sec global cooldown on abilities to allow console players to do things. ESO doesn't have that so they need to have their UI different than FF14. I do agree with the OP though that the potion selection system is pathetic, and in need of a major overhaul.

When you say in need of a major overhaul , it makes it sound like you think you can speak for everyone .

Just add the words :" in my opinion " next time please.

I don't want the UI to change because in my opinion it's fine as it is .

So please don't expect everyone to agree when you're posting feedback about a certain thing.

There are a lot of people who are unhappy with the game as it currently is and are posting here on the forums demanding overhauls for a whole bunch of things but it seems to never cross their minds that there are some of us in here who just like the game the way it is and are not so welcoming to the idea of a overhaul of any kind.

Draxuul

Talrenos · September 2014

magnusnet wrote: »

Question: Is ZOS planing to improve the User Interface and

I'll stop you right there. ANSWER: NO. There interface is perfect, why change it? At least the DEV that thought it up thinks its Perfect. No matter how much you make a good argument for change, or how well thought out your ideas are, unless a dev thinks it up, it will never see the light of day.

seneferab16_ESO · September 2014

Draxuul wrote: »

What about those of us who do not want more things on the UI ?

The UI in this game is one of the things i love the most . The less boxes i see on my screen and the more happy i am .

So just in case Zenimax wants to, at some point, consider changing the UI, i say , make it possible for people to customize their UI, add stuff to it if and only if they want it.

Personnaly i don't want my UI to have more stuff. I want my screen to be as empty as possible . I have never downloaded any add ons for that exact reason .

I want to see the world , not numbers.

Draxuul

Isn't this discussion mostly about the interactive part of the UI rather than the visional one?
Example: When you open your bags, would you not like to have an easier way to organise things, as seen in this image:

Tell me how this is making you sad and breaking immersion? Small things like this is what most people seem to be asking for. Small, tiny things, easy to implement in a nice and ESO style fashion. Something that would make a lot of people spend less time clicking around; ie become less frustrated. Not adding fifty bars in various screaming colors and other clutter.
That is for addons.

Core UI functionality is not.

Edit:
I'd like to add that I am all for options, and it would be great if ESO could adopt some of the most popular addons and give people the option to have them disabled/enabled. More options are always better than no options.

Attorneyatlawl · September 2014

Draxuul wrote: »

What about those of us who do not want more things on the UI ?

The UI in this game is one of the things i love the most . The less boxes i see on my screen and the more happy i am .

So just in case Zenimax wants to, at some point, consider changing the UI, i say , make it possible for people to customize their UI, add stuff to it if and only if they want it.

Personnaly i don't want my UI to have more stuff. I want my screen to be as empty as possible . I have never downloaded any add ons for that exact reason .

I want to see the world , not numbers.

Draxuul

That's why everyone is suggesting optional additions, not forcing you to use them

. Just extra settings.

Attorneyatlawl · September 2014

Talrenos wrote: »

magnusnet wrote: »

Question: Is ZOS planing to improve the User Interface and

I'll stop you right there. ANSWER: NO. There interface is perfect, why change it? At least the DEV that thought it up thinks its Perfect. No matter how much you make a good argument for change, or how well thought out your ideas are, unless a dev thinks it up, it will never see the light of day.

Well, they should reconsider seeing as how they've had numerous feedback threads detailing what's wrong, unintuitive, and lacking with the interface for a year or more now and there's clearly some level of real demand for the UI to be improved, fixed up, and have more features added as optional settings.

Hopefully they will listen

at this point, now that the game launch is behind us.

Draxuul · September 2014

As long as any of the changes made are optional , i don't have an issue with it .

Attorneyatlawl · September 2014

Draxuul wrote: »

As long as any of the changes made are optional , i don't have an issue with it .

That is 100% reasonable. Cheers.

TehMagnus · September 2014

I'm sure it will come, it has to come, especially before console launch if they don't want that to also be a fiasco.

Hope we won't have to wait that long to get actually something done on the PC side, it only reinforces the feeling that PC version is just a large scale paying Beta test for consoles where they hope to make big bucks....