Update to the Perfectweb Crafting Planner

[jjflanigan]

I've completed my changes to the logic and some of the UI feedback pieces on my crafting planner. I've had a few people "beta test" it for me and they haven't found any issues with the crafting process on it now going in either direction.

Before I move this up to the primary location, I was hoping to get a little more feedback from a larger base. If any of you would be willing to try it out for me and let me know if it works better / makes more sense, I would greatly appreciate it.

Things changed

1. Updated filter logic to correctly filter upwards and downwards (i.e. if you select a tier 1 first or a Tier 3 bonus effect first)
2. Adjusted UI to inactivate drop downs while data is populating to prevent invalid builds
3. Adjusted feedback for required selections
4. Adjusted text output for clarity
5. Converted to ASPX to try to solve the delay issues
6. Added color coding of the tier 3 shards to clearly delineate which effect will be on the item
7. Adjusted logic for tier 3 shards to try to block all possible invalid builds

New Beta Planner URL

Again, any and all feedback (both positive or negative) would be appreciated.

[blitzschlag]

thx for your work mate.

really appreciated

+1

edit: that beeing said i have the impression that its really gone slow. this could be my connection or your logics
when i choose an item it takes 5 seconds till i can use the tier 1 drop down menu
if i choose tier 1 + tier 2 it takes about 5 seconds till the tier 2 bonus effect is shown and tier 3 drop down is usable. same for tier 3 bonus.

could be my connection though

[Rawum]

I have always liked the layout and simplicity of your planner.

For the new version i am also noticing a delay with some of the fields being populated. It doesn't happen every time but is fairly common. The delay seems to be more prevalent when choosing options out of order than when selecting options from top to bottom. I'll test it out more as i do some crafting.

The reset button does not reset the Tier 3 second shard data. I have noticed this in previous versions as well.

[jjflanigan]

I switched it over to a different DB server to help the logic changes and that DB server appears to be the one having major issues right now. If it doesn't clear up soon, I'll try to move it back to the original DB server.

Not your connection though, it's a problem on my hosting side, sadly.

[blitzschlag]

I switched it over to a different DB server to help the logic changes and that DB server appears to be the one having major issues right now. If it doesn't clear up soon, I'll try to move it back to the original DB server.

Not your connection though, it's a problem on my hosting side, sadly.

fair enough. its no issue anyway. you host it for the community for free. hats off mate...

and i use the planner for 2 years now

[Spisey]

+1 for all your hard work!

There are many here that use the original religiously. I know I am very grateful!

bah out of rep. be back later for that!

[Thriand]

Thanks for the update, this has always been my favorite planner.

[Racalin]

Thanks for updating.

Have always enjoyed using this planner!!!

As said when choosin out of order there are delays, but looks good over all!

[Asketes]

awesome!

I'm loading up the link as soon as I finish this post. I use that on a daily basis!

Nice to meet the maker

Cheers

-Perma

[Asketes]

Looking fantabulous otherwise.

Definitely notice a slight lag, but as you're stated, it's not on your end.

I was just fooling around; I didn't realize you could fit heal 30% on LSII weapon.

d'oh!

[Thriand]

I was just fooling around; I didn't realize you could fit heal 30% on LSII weapon.

You can't, the air takes dominace over the positive, the new version doesn't seem to be taking into account the order of the elements for dual shards like the old version did

[Lorien_the_First_One]

I find the 3rd tier selection a little complicated for a new person. The two key problems being:

1) They can select a special T3 dual tier effect without selecting 2 shards. There should be a warning in the output that the rescipe is incomplete
2) It makes it look like they will get the impact of both T3 shards

[jjflanigan]

You can't, the air takes dominace over the positive, the new version doesn't seem to be taking into account the order of the elements for dual shards like the old version did

Can you show me how that's happening, I just tried it with the Air as the first shard and the second and every time in the instructions I get:

Make 1 Double Imbued Shard of Supreme Power ( Aspect of Lightning II / 15% Electrical Absorption ) by combining
Large Energy Cell, 1 30% Healing Amplification - Positive/Opposition/Material Imbued Shard of Supreme Power, and 1 15% Electrical Absorption - Air/Opposition/Material Imbued Shard of Supreme Power
Upgrade your +5 Green Steel Bastard Sword (2d8) by combining
Tier 2 upgraded +5 Green Steel Bastard Sword (2d8), Large Energy Cell, and Double Imbued Shard of Supreme Power ( Aspect of Lightning II / 15% Electrical Absorption )

Which is showing the Air taking dominance.

[jjflanigan]

I find the 3rd tier selection a little complicated for a new person. The two key problems being:

1) They can select a special T3 dual tier effect without selecting 2 shards. There should be a warning in the output that the rescipe is incomplete
2) It makes it look like they will get the impact of both T3 shards

For #1, I have the red text that shows up above the buttons if you don't have a completed item, should it be somewhere else?

If you have a Tier 3 bonus effect but don't have a tier 3 shard you get "You must select a Tier 3 Effect", if you don't have the second shard filled in it gives you "You must select a Tier 3 Second Shard". Those messages should be there any time that a bonus effect is selected that requires the other shards to be filled in.


For #2, I display that down in the instructions portion -- "Make 1 Double Imbued Shard of Supreme Power ( Aspect of Lightning II / Superior Magnetism VI )" where it calls out the effect that you'll actually receive.


I'm completely open to suggestions to make that more clear to people.


*EDIT*

I've added some timing debug info down at the bottom of the screen, if people get really long times and could let me know the first item that has a high number, it will help me narrow down if the issue is with the DB or somewhere else.

Thanks for the feedback so far!

[Asketes]

You can't, the air takes dominace over the positive, the new version doesn't seem to be taking into account the order of the elements for dual shards like the old version did

That's what I thought, but I wasn't going to question the planner.

Sheesh. Got my hopes up.

Good catch haha

[Thriand]

Can you show me how that's happening, I just tried it with the Air as the first shard and the second and every time in the instructions I get:



Which is showing the Air taking dominance.

Sorry what I meant is in your old planner, for something such as lightning strike when one element is dominant over the other, You would only allow them to chose a dominant effect for the first shard, and a recessive effect for the second shard so that the user knew that the "tier 3 effect" they chose would be what they got.

[jjflanigan]

Sorry what I meant is in your old planner, for something such as lightning strike when one element is dominant over the other, You would only allow them to chose a dominant effect for the first shard, and a recessive effect for the second shard so that the user knew that the "tier 3 effect" they chose would be what they got.

Ahhh, I see what you are saying. I added the explanation of dominance in the hover tooltip that shows up from the question mark and updated the instructions to show the breakdown. I was concerned about forcing people to select the shards based on dominance order (i.e. Why do I have to make Air for my first tier 3 shard, I already have a positive shard crafted!).

I can see about adjusting it so that when it gets to that point the item displayed in the dropdown won't display the effect details if you won't be getting it at the end (i.e. instead of "30% Healing Amplification - Positive/Opposition/Material", it would just show "Positive/Opposition/Material" if you selected the Tier 3 bonus effect for Aspect of Lightning).

Or I could make it highlight the line that has the effect you will be getting at the end.

Or I could do something completely different that I haven't mentioned here if someone has an idea

You guys let me know what would make it the most clear and user friendly for ya.

[jjflanigan]

I've made some adjustments to how my calls are handled to the database, and hopefully that will help to resolve the response issues that were cropping up before.


*EDIT*


GAH!!! I'm getting 16+ seconds just on it opening a connection to the database now *sigh*, time to scream at my host.

[jjflanigan]

Alright, after some tug and pull I believe I have everything sorted out with the hosting provider so it shouldn't have the load time issues any more.


I'm going to leave it in the "new" section for a bit longer and then, if I don't hear about any issues with it, I'll move it over to the main page.


I'm still open to any suggestions anyone might have to improve the user friendliness and first time usability of the page.

As always, thanks for your time.

[jjflanigan]

Alright, after fighting with my hosting provider for an extended period of time, it seems that the issues causing the lag and unresponsive behaviour were tied to my using php on a Windows IIS server.

I've recoded my data load page into C# and I've not been able to reproduce the extremely long delays that were happening before (i.e. you make a drop down selection and it takes 10+ seconds for them to become enabled again).

I've also cleaned up the logic per several comments I received so there should, hopefully, no longer be the errors with being able to generate invalid items.

I'm going to leave this at the "new" sub-directory for a couple weeks to make sure no one sees any other errors (and to make sure it doesn't start getting the slow load times now that it is ASPX), after which time this will be replacing the standard crafting planner.

Thank you all.

-J