PTS Update 46 - Feedback Thread for UI Modernization

tomofhyrule · April 29

Maxxermax wrote: »

They also seem to want to introduce new animations for weapon swinging, which also looks terrible compared to the live server.
The character now always looks forward while swinging the weapon(s) instead of turning his head to the side, which looks very unnatural.
You can't even really see the arm movements anymore.

The animations at least have been given an explanation in the 11.0.0 patch notes

As part of our ongoing efforts to modernize ESO and improve performance, we revamped player combat to use an additive animation system. Basically, this removes a lot of redundant animation info, creating smaller file sizes that use less memory and drive space. This will allow us to create future content that loads quicker and allows more animations to be played at once, even on computers with modest specs.

For this task, the animation visuals are virtually indistinguishable from the existing game. The exception are light and heavy melee weapon attacks, which received some minor updates.

First thing worth mentioning, there were no gameplay changes to light attack weaving or animation cancelling. It still works exactly as it has before. However, light attack animations now strike the target much quicker. This doesn't prevent you from weaving the next attack, but it tries to get to the point of impact quicker, to better match what is happening on the server and give you more accurate visual feedback.

Second, apart from the faster light attacks mentioned above, striking a target with a melee weapon should remain unchanged. However, missing a target with your melee weapon no longer makes you lose your footing and focus on the enemy. This is just a visual change, but it will hopefully make player characters look more skilled when they swing a weapon at nothing (often one of the first things players do).

They've said before that they were basically at the animation cap relative to how much they could add in, so this does make it sound like they're trying to reduce some of that space so that new animations can be added in the future.
(and I'm praying with every last hope I have that the new animations are needed for an upcoming new Class and not just more silliness for Crown Crates)

As for the UI, all we got was "The keyboard UI has received an overhaul to the look and feel of all elements and menus. The goal is to provide an updated, modern experience. Note that general functionality has not been changed."
I would have liked a bit more of an explanation as to why this was necessary, considering the game didn't really need an "updated, modern experience," particularly one for which most of the feedback is decidedly negative.

But like most things in ESO, we know that the train's not stopping or changing course once it's on PTS. This UI will go live as is, and we'll just have to learn to deal with it... which may or may not involve finally getting a UI addon.

I'm calling it now: within an hour or so of U46 going live on June 2, someone will post a thread in General saying "is there a bug? My UI looks really flat..." and we can all be like "nope! That's intended!" and link back to this thread and prove that we all gave 5+ pages of feedback that was filed in the same place as the Templar spear model.

Xarc · April 29

sorry @zos, we love ESO but new UI is horrible.

Please add the option to choose to play with new or OLD (actual one) UI.

art1ink · April 29

@ZOS_Kevin With the release of the Gold Road expansion and now the PTS Seasons of the Worm Cult (Part 1) I have noticed that some zones have issues with texture names, while other texture names have retained the naming structure.
I have listed below the zones where incorrect/missing textures have been noticed.

(West Weald)
Haldain Lumber Camp (Delve)
Art/maps/westweald/u42_base_haldain_0.dds

Nonungalo (Delve)
Art/maps/westweald/u42_base_nonungalo_0.dds

Fort Colovia (Delve)
Art/maps/westweald/u42_base_towerbelli_0.dds

The Scholarium
Art/maps/westweald/u42_base_sc_library_0.dds
Art/maps/westweald/u42_base_sc_library_wing1_0.dds
Art/maps/westweald/u42_base_sc_library_wing2_0.dds
Art/maps/westweald/u42_base_sc_library_wing3_0.dds
Art/maps/westweald/u42_base_sc_library_wing4_0.dds

(Seasons of the Worm Cult)
Vale of Revelry (Delve) - Solstice
Art/maps/solstice/u46_base_SanguineHDLV_0.dds

Tainted Leel (Delve) - Solstice
Art/maps/solstice/u46_base_lostvillage_0.dds

Shor`s Stand - Solstice
Art/maps/solstice/u46_base_shoresstand_0.dds

Deetra Grotto (Public Dungeon)
Art/maps/solstice/u46_base_interior_cotp_0.dds
Art/maps/solstice/u46_base_cotp_0.dds

Danikat · April 29

Syldras wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

Once a player has a forum account, they have it. They can stop playing the game but still continue to post on the forums indefinitely.

But what for? Honestly, if I stopped playing a game I could imagine much more interesting things than staying in its forum and complaining.

And the other thing I wrote is still true: Someone who just wants to cause trouble certainly won't write long, detailed, and thoughtful posts. Many posters in this thread have written in very much detail why they dislike the new design, what they like better about the old one, or what they, in general, imagine as a fitting UI for a fantasy game. Whether one agrees with everything is another story, but I think there are many interesting insights in this thread, that the devs could very much profit from.

I got a forum account as part of participating in the betas and stuck around afterwards even though I didn't buy the game. I didn't keep complaining though, I started one topic called "Should I be able to post here?" which finally got my account locked. But even after that I kept checking the forum because I thought the game was ok but not worth paying full price and a subscription to play (partially because so much beta feedback was ignored) and I kept hoping I'd see something which convinced me it was worth it.

Instead I got increasingly plausible rumours and then confirmation - long before it was announced in the wider media - that they were dropping the mandatory subscription fee and I bought a (discounted) copy of the game immediately and timed activating my account so my free month would end the day it switched over to buy-to-play.

I could see some people who quit later on being in a similar position - they like the game except for certain things about it, or think it's close but not quite good enough to be worth the time an MMO demands, so they're using the forum to get more comprehensive updates than the marketing materials give, to see if it's worth coming back.

But I suspect they're a relatively small number of people on the forum, especially out of those who actually post.

I get that if one person keeps on (and on and on) insisting they'll only come back if ZOS add spaceships or whatever it's not worth their time to listen to that person. But when it's a topic like this where almost all (possibly all?) the feedback has been varying degrees of negative, and about something relatively minor which is not going to hurt ZOS if they delay or cancel it, it wouldn't make sense to ignore all of us because there might be someone in the mix who isn't active enough to meet their standards.

Maxxermax · April 30

As part of our ongoing efforts to modernize ESO and improve performance, we revamped player combat to use an additive animation system. Basically, this removes a lot of redundant animation info, creating smaller file sizes that use less memory and drive space. This will allow us to create future content that loads quicker and allows more animations to be played at once, even on computers with modest specs.

What is a "additive animation system"? Buzzword bingo?

For this task, the animation visuals are virtually indistinguishable from the existing game. The exception are light and heavy melee weapon attacks, which received some minor updates.

First thing worth mentioning, there were no gameplay changes to light attack weaving or animation cancelling. It still works exactly as it has before. However, light attack animations now strike the target much quicker. This doesn't prevent you from weaving the next attack, but it tries to get to the point of impact quicker, to better match what is happening on the server and give you more accurate visual feedback.

Second, apart from the faster light attacks mentioned above, striking a target with a melee weapon should remain unchanged. However, missing a target with your melee weapon no longer makes you lose your footing and focus on the enemy. This is just a visual change, but it will hopefully make player characters look more skilled when they swing a weapon at nothing (often one of the first things players do).

Wait what, they think that looks better?
https://youtu.be/TqNOH0yRCJw

Also, it was that "missing a target" animation that told me, well, how should I say, that I missed the target, duh.

Aha, yeah, yeah, you know what? I'm completely fed up.
The new animations look terrible. They're kind of choppy and angular, lacking in impact and unnatural.
I could literally cry right now. To me, it looks like they're trying to break the game with all their might.

Elvenheart · April 30

I just watched the video comparison in the post above and the PTS version looks like they are bugged.

Estin · April 30

Maxxermax wrote: »

As part of our ongoing efforts to modernize ESO and improve performance, we revamped player combat to use an additive animation system. Basically, this removes a lot of redundant animation info, creating smaller file sizes that use less memory and drive space. This will allow us to create future content that loads quicker and allows more animations to be played at once, even on computers with modest specs.

What is a "additive animation system"? Buzzword bingo?

For this task, the animation visuals are virtually indistinguishable from the existing game. The exception are light and heavy melee weapon attacks, which received some minor updates.

First thing worth mentioning, there were no gameplay changes to light attack weaving or animation cancelling. It still works exactly as it has before. However, light attack animations now strike the target much quicker. This doesn't prevent you from weaving the next attack, but it tries to get to the point of impact quicker, to better match what is happening on the server and give you more accurate visual feedback.

Second, apart from the faster light attacks mentioned above, striking a target with a melee weapon should remain unchanged. However, missing a target with your melee weapon no longer makes you lose your footing and focus on the enemy. This is just a visual change, but it will hopefully make player characters look more skilled when they swing a weapon at nothing (often one of the first things players do).

Wait what, they think that looks better?
https://youtu.be/TqNOH0yRCJw

Also, it was that "missing a target" animation that told me, well, how do I say I missed the target, duh.

Aha, yeah, yeah, you know what? I'm completely fed up.
The new animations look terrible. They're kind of choppy and angular, lacking in impact and unnatural.
I could literally cry right now. To me, it looks like they're trying to break the game with all their might.

I would guess this is in response to new player feedback that combat feels floaty, as in the animations don't match up with the impact sounds, and the general animation looking like you're not hitting something solid. Honestly, this isn't the case in my experience. I think it stems from their reasoning of players swinging at nothing as the first thing they do.

Here's a comparison when you're hitting something

https://youtu.be/DSUe4zUW-FY?si=8zRC66DD1e9M2t1j

Honestly, for Light Attacks, it doesn't look good. On Live, you have follow through, with a lot more flair added to it. It makes the transitions a lot more fluid. On PTS, the follow through and flair are all but removed, and it looks very stiff and jittery, as if the game is lagging. They say it should be unchanged, but it's a huge noticeable difference.

Heavy attacks I'll admit look a bit better when hitting something. It may be due to the speed, but there does seem to be more weight put into the attack.

When it comes for missing targets (Hitting nothing), losing your footing is more realistic. There's something called follow through, and when you commit to an attack with a sword, you put your weight behind it and follow through with the motion. Upon missing, you should be losing your footing because you hit nothing despite expecting to. Stopping mid attack with all your weight behind it is pretty amateurish looking rather than skillful because it shows you don't know how to properly handle a weapon. The problem with ZOS's attempt is that it's too stiff, especially with its transitions

Elsonso · April 30

Maxxermax wrote: »

On the podcast with Rich Lambert and Matt Firor, I heard that they don't listen to forum comments much because it's difficult to distinguish between real players and just haters.
They want feedback from people who actually play the game.
So, the question is, have you also submitted your concerns as a ticket in-game?

I have not because I don't play on PC enough to really warrant keeping PTS installed.

daim · April 30

Maxxermax wrote: »

As part of our ongoing efforts to modernize ESO and improve performance, we revamped player combat to use an additive animation system. Basically, this removes a lot of redundant animation info, creating smaller file sizes that use less memory and drive space. This will allow us to create future content that loads quicker and allows more animations to be played at once, even on computers with modest specs.

What is a "additive animation system"? Buzzword bingo?

For this task, the animation visuals are virtually indistinguishable from the existing game. The exception are light and heavy melee weapon attacks, which received some minor updates.

First thing worth mentioning, there were no gameplay changes to light attack weaving or animation cancelling. It still works exactly as it has before. However, light attack animations now strike the target much quicker. This doesn't prevent you from weaving the next attack, but it tries to get to the point of impact quicker, to better match what is happening on the server and give you more accurate visual feedback.

Second, apart from the faster light attacks mentioned above, striking a target with a melee weapon should remain unchanged. However, missing a target with your melee weapon no longer makes you lose your footing and focus on the enemy. This is just a visual change, but it will hopefully make player characters look more skilled when they swing a weapon at nothing (often one of the first things players do).

Wait what, they think that looks better?
https://youtu.be/TqNOH0yRCJw

Also, it was that "missing a target" animation that told me, well, how should I say, that I missed the target, duh.

Aha, yeah, yeah, you know what? I'm completely fed up.
The new animations look terrible. They're kind of choppy and angular, lacking in impact and unnatural.
I could literally cry right now. To me, it looks like they're trying to break the game with all their might.

WTH you gotta be kidding me 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Silaf · April 30

I fear we will need to make an addon to revert this change and keep the old UI

Rkindaleft · April 30

Maxxermax wrote: »

On the podcast with Rich Lambert and Matt Firor, I heard that they don't listen to forum comments much because it's difficult to distinguish between real players and just haters.
They want feedback from people who actually play the game.
So, the question is, have you also submitted your concerns as a ticket in-game?

I feel like this is just silly because you literally need to have a game account to even access the forums, so the feedback here is more likely to actually be relevant instead of people providing feedback on like Twitter or Reddit where anyone can do it (not to mention people who want to give feedback who don't use socials.)

This might be anecdotal, but I for one have submitted like 10 tickets in game about the Lady Thorn circle bug (and Rich literally confirmed the bug exists on a live stream ages ago) and it still hasn't been fixed in game and it's existed for like 4 years so I don't know if it's much better than just bug reporting elsewhere.

As for the UI stuff, I'm just going to say it looks bad and it's a massive downgrade from live.

SilverBride · April 30

Rkindaleft wrote: »

Maxxermax wrote: »

On the podcast with Rich Lambert and Matt Firor, I heard that they don't listen to forum comments much because it's difficult to distinguish between real players and just haters.
They want feedback from people who actually play the game.
So, the question is, have you also submitted your concerns as a ticket in-game?

I feel like this is just silly because you literally need to have a game account to even access the forums, so the feedback here is more likely to actually be relevant instead of people providing feedback on like Twitter or Reddit where anyone can do it (not to mention people who want to give feedback who don't use socials.)

Posters only need to have a game account to access the forums. They don't have to be actively playing.

I've seen many posts stating they haven't played in years but they are still here posting.

icapital · April 30

Estin wrote: »

Maxxermax wrote: »

As part of our ongoing efforts to modernize ESO and improve performance, we revamped player combat to use an additive animation system. Basically, this removes a lot of redundant animation info, creating smaller file sizes that use less memory and drive space. This will allow us to create future content that loads quicker and allows more animations to be played at once, even on computers with modest specs.

What is a "additive animation system"? Buzzword bingo?

For this task, the animation visuals are virtually indistinguishable from the existing game. The exception are light and heavy melee weapon attacks, which received some minor updates.

First thing worth mentioning, there were no gameplay changes to light attack weaving or animation cancelling. It still works exactly as it has before. However, light attack animations now strike the target much quicker. This doesn't prevent you from weaving the next attack, but it tries to get to the point of impact quicker, to better match what is happening on the server and give you more accurate visual feedback.

Second, apart from the faster light attacks mentioned above, striking a target with a melee weapon should remain unchanged. However, missing a target with your melee weapon no longer makes you lose your footing and focus on the enemy. This is just a visual change, but it will hopefully make player characters look more skilled when they swing a weapon at nothing (often one of the first things players do).

Wait what, they think that looks better?
https://youtu.be/TqNOH0yRCJw

Also, it was that "missing a target" animation that told me, well, how do I say I missed the target, duh.

Aha, yeah, yeah, you know what? I'm completely fed up.
The new animations look terrible. They're kind of choppy and angular, lacking in impact and unnatural.
I could literally cry right now. To me, it looks like they're trying to break the game with all their might.

I would guess this is in response to new player feedback that combat feels floaty, as in the animations don't match up with the impact sounds, and the general animation looking like you're not hitting something solid. Honestly, this isn't the case in my experience. I think it stems from their reasoning of players swinging at nothing as the first thing they do.

Here's a comparison when you're hitting something

https://youtu.be/DSUe4zUW-FY?si=8zRC66DD1e9M2t1j

Honestly, for Light Attacks, it doesn't look good. On Live, you have follow through, with a lot more flair added to it. It makes the transitions a lot more fluid. On PTS, the follow through and flair are all but removed, and it looks very stiff and jittery, as if the game is lagging. They say it should be unchanged, but it's a huge noticeable difference.

Heavy attacks I'll admit look a bit better when hitting something. It may be due to the speed, but there does seem to be more weight put into the attack.

When it comes for missing targets (Hitting nothing), losing your footing is more realistic. There's something called follow through, and when you commit to an attack with a sword, you put your weight behind it and follow through with the motion. Upon missing, you should be losing your footing because you hit nothing despite expecting to. Stopping mid attack with all your weight behind it is pretty amateurish looking rather than skillful because it shows you don't know how to properly handle a weapon. The problem with ZOS's attempt is that it's too stiff, especially with its transitions

going to be honest with you hero, those both look bad.

Tariq9898 · May 1

I’m completely new to this topic so I’m not sure if this has been mentioned before.

That said, I’m curious to see if ZOS (or an addon for pc AND consoles) could make it to where every time you talk to a character, the screen doesn’t cut. Rather, it does a slight zoom in. The subtitles and dialogue options will just appear at the bottom of the screen.

For me, this makes the questing and storytelling experience more immersive and less jarring.

Similar to Elden Ring.

icapital · May 3

Silaf wrote: »

I fear we will need to make an addon to revert this change and keep the old UI

hopefully someone is on it already and making it, cus if I wanted to use ELVUI i'd go back to WoW.

licenturion · May 5

Three things:
- The dynamic 3D login screen for gamepad UI is a very nice upgrade.
- I like that the upgrade section in collections is upgraded into categories. It would be nice if the passives that the companion keepsakes give you are added to the tooltips as well because they have an actual gameplay effect. Bizarre it is just flavour text now but not the effects. The only way to find out what the passive do is to google the achievement. Even the system mail that you get from your companion when you unlock it does not include the effect.
- The progression and resource bars still have a vastly different style. The progression bars from the skill lines are way more readable than the flat resource bars.

Danikat · May 6

I logged into the PTS again today, for the first time in a while, and I noticed the UI had recieved some updates. Does that mean it actually is unfinished, rather than just looking unfinished?

For example the XP bar looks more 3 dimensional, whereas the attribute bars and the target health bar still have the terrible flat one colour effect. The skill icons also seem to be back to normal (although the PTS has switched from NA to EU so I'm also using different skills and haven't checked all the icons). I also noticed some (but not all) the menus now have borders instead of just a hard edge.

I still don't like it and prefer the current version which IMO looks much more appropriate for a fantasy game, but at least it looks intentional rather than looking like something an inexperienced addon author pulled together because they don't have any experience making UI art or the right tools.

If there are more corrections coming it would be helpful to have some idea of what the final version will look like.

icapital · May 6

Danikat wrote: »

I logged into the PTS again today, for the first time in a while, and I noticed the UI had recieved some updates. Does that mean it actually is unfinished, rather than just looking unfinished?

For example the XP bar looks more 3 dimensional, whereas the attribute bars and the target health bar still have the terrible flat one colour effect. The skill icons also seem to be back to normal (although the PTS has switched from NA to EU so I'm also using different skills and haven't checked all the icons). I also noticed some (but not all) the menus now have borders instead of just a hard edge.

I still don't like it and prefer the current version which IMO looks much more appropriate for a fantasy game, but at least it looks intentional rather than looking like something an inexperienced addon author pulled together because they don't have any experience making UI art or the right tools.

If there are more corrections coming it would be helpful to have some idea of what the final version will look like.

would be helpful if you shared pictures...

PrinceShroob · May 7

I dislike the new gamepad login screen intro. It requires additional time to buffer the rendering, and frankly, I think it's less aesthetically pleasing than the previous login splash screens.

Maitsukas · May 7

PrinceShroob wrote: »

I dislike the new gamepad login screen intro. It requires additional time to buffer the rendering, and frankly, I think it's less aesthetically pleasing than the previous login splash screens.

It really appears to be a copy of the Character Selection background, making the loading screens feel completely unnecessary (especially on slower devices/HDDs). Having an option for choosing the Login Screen backgrounds (from the Chapter-specific ones since Morrowind to the Aurbis currently on LIVE) is a better choice in my opinion.

PrinceShroob · May 8

Maitsukas wrote: »

PrinceShroob wrote: »

I dislike the new gamepad login screen intro. It requires additional time to buffer the rendering, and frankly, I think it's less aesthetically pleasing than the previous login splash screens.

It really appears to be a copy of the Character Selection background, making the loading screens feel completely unnecessary (especially on slower devices/HDDs). Having an option for choosing the Login Screen backgrounds (from the Chapter-specific ones since Morrowind to the Aurbis currently on LIVE) is a better choice in my opinion.

I just really don't see the point of making you sit for an extra ten seconds or so so you can watch a panorama on a screen you normally spend five seconds on while you type in your password.

Elsonso · May 8

Danikat wrote: »

If there are more corrections coming it would be helpful to have some idea of what the final version will look like.

Honestly? My guess is that they will continue to create the "final version" every few patches and updates for the next couple of years. They keep referring to the "new UI style", which implies that they have some sort of master plan. I think they will incrementally move towards that plan asymptotically, never quite reaching it, but getting closer with each attempt.

tomofhyrule · May 8

Here's a few pics from the new PTS version

I will - begrudgingly - admit that it doesn't make me want to retch anymore. I still prefer the Live version, but at least this looks more deliberate.

I would be interested to see what the Group UI looks like now, because that was definitely unfinished before.

...and again, this is starting to echo a lot of the concerns raised in the Subclassing feedback thread that Matt's letter said that the intention of the new scheme was "[f]reeing up the dev team from needing to adhere to a strict annual cycle means we will be able to have teams launch content when it is ready throughout the year and not work to a date." And yet, everything this patch looks like it's being rushed out to meet a deadline whether it's finished or not. I'll leave the Subclassing feedback for that thread, but even with the UI, we can see that it was pushed out on PTS in an obviously unfinished state, and even the difference between what we had in week 1 versus now at week 4 is significant.
So... if the goal is to not rush things, why was this new 'improved' UI pushed out before it was ready? It's also still got the old-style icons, so it's still not even done yet. Was this really something that couldn't have waited to release until U47 when it was actually finished?

Syldras · May 8

I still don't think it looks good to have a sharp line on the left and right and that fade-out effect on the top and bottom.

Then again, I generally have no idea why they thought a change was necessary, as it looked absolutely fine - and still better than the new design - before.

Maxxermax · May 8

From what I read in the patch notes, the icons above the windows and at the top of the screen are also supposed to be "polished."

DerAlleinTiger · May 10

Gave it a couple weeks to see how this would play out and... yeah, still hate it, still astonished - even after 10 years - at how embarrassingly little communication there is for the PTS forum. I could understand maybe avoiding player-made threads since those can easily balloon with every little thing, but what is the point if you aren't even going to bother with "official" feedback threads? For a UI update, of all things.

I don't blame the community people either, of course. They can't pass along responses to us if they don't get any to pass along. 10 - more like 11 - years playing the game without a break and I'm still just amazed by it. Not surprised, but amazed.

Here's hoping there's a mod to revert it all back to how it is right now on live. I'll need to see if I can find a PNG of the original game icon, too, and replace that as well. It just looked so much nicer, more professional - in the sense of looking like a game with a proper big budget.

icapital · May 11

Xarc wrote: »

sorry @zos, we love ESO but new UI is horrible.

Please add the option to choose to play with new or OLD (actual one) UI.

no need to apologize, the new UI looks awful.

PrinceShroob · May 12

I'm disappointed, but not, perhaps, surprised that 11.0.4 walked back the animation changes but not the near-universally-reviled UI change.

I understand that there's limitations to how much can be fit in the game, particularly when considering older consoles, and the developers don't want to leave those customers in the dirt. But at a certain point, it's like those gummy bears that're sugar free but give you diarrhea--what you're gaining is a lot less than you're giving up.

Ragnarok0130 · May 12

SilverBride wrote: »

Syldras wrote: »

Maxxermax wrote: »

On the podcast with Rich Lambert and Matt Firor, I heard that they don't listen to forum comments much because it's difficult to distinguish between real players and just haters.
They want feedback from people who actually play the game.

I think it's very obvious if someone is just hating on things or whether someone gives detailed thoughtful feedback.

Also, can't you only register a forum account if they've approved your apply beforehand anyway?

Once a player has a forum account, they have it. They can stop playing the game but still continue to post on the forums indefinitely.

No longer playing doesn't mean that the player doesn't have valid feedback that might make him and others return to the game. It's blatantly obvious if someone is just throwing out negativity and being contrarian 100% of the time versus someone who gives dispassionate and honest feedback with facts, data, and perhaps suggestions rather than "OMG this sucks!" over and over again.

I'm frankly surprised that ZoS hasn't canned these forums since it's obvious they don't use it as a source for player and PTS feedback. FO76 got rid of their forums a couple of years ago and moved it to their unusable discord.

Ragnarok0130 · May 12

Danikat wrote: »

Syldras wrote: »

SilverBride wrote: »

Once a player has a forum account, they have it. They can stop playing the game but still continue to post on the forums indefinitely.

But what for? Honestly, if I stopped playing a game I could imagine much more interesting things than staying in its forum and complaining.

And the other thing I wrote is still true: Someone who just wants to cause trouble certainly won't write long, detailed, and thoughtful posts. Many posters in this thread have written in very much detail why they dislike the new design, what they like better about the old one, or what they, in general, imagine as a fitting UI for a fantasy game. Whether one agrees with everything is another story, but I think there are many interesting insights in this thread, that the devs could very much profit from.

I got a forum account as part of participating in the betas and stuck around afterwards even though I didn't buy the game. I didn't keep complaining though, I started one topic called "Should I be able to post here?"

I got my account during the closed Beta as well but I did preorder and kept playing. ZoS could handle forum access they way SWTOR does which is in order to post on the forums you need an active sub. SWTOR is F2P and no longer buy to play but at this point but the monetization is comparable with ZoS' being more egregious. I wouldn't be in favor of the forum access change but if it became problematic down the road there is a solution that could work.