Update 9: Suitable UI, PLEASE!!!

[Hordo]

I've seen a fair few UIs in my time playing MMOs including watching how EQ 1 developed and expanded on since its release.

many of the OPs suggestions are not UI based but he holds a valid point - the existing UI is just not user friendly enough. if it was we wouldnt have the "some like, some hate" threads like this.

A UI needs to be self explanitary and pleasing to the eye. update 7 did some eye candy work with a few minor tweeks to show hidden features (such as the helm toggle) but the UI still needs alot more work.

some suggestions I have stem from my old games...

Chat Windows...

- ability to set font type and font size per window.
- ability to set message filters and "Hit Modes". (Hit modes is a feature of EQ 1 where you can specify if combat data displays full combat message, number only, number and target only, hit/miss only etc.
- use traditional window layout. The visible, removed border, invisible button is next to useless. I personally would prefer a minimize, maximise, closed window. this would allow you to stack all windows in a line. currently when you make a window invisible its still there and can block mouse clicks.

Mouse Pointer...

sizable, customisable. the standard mouse pointer on a large full res monitor can become lost too easliy.

Hotbars...
small and large versions please. I like to prioritise my hotbars and some i like to operate through mouse click instead of keyboard shortcut. larger buttons would help with the mouseclick. The larger buttons would also help with personallized keyboard shortcuts. I use a logitech G11 keyboard and have set the memory keys (G1 to 18) to unusual key combinations like Ctrl+alt+2 unfortunately on screen the button displays the Ctrl+alt+2 which obscures the icon in the hotbar almost completely. a simple clean solution would be to set personal display to match the key.
layout adjustment per hotbar. 1x10 is fine but I use the numeric keypad for my quick cast and a 3x3 hotbar onscreen would be ideal. im sure some people would like to have 2x5 or 4x2 as well.

Health/Spell Points/Ki...

Bigger, Bolder, More versatile! Theres lots of changes that can be done here, I would like to see a diablo style split on hp and sp into draining orbs. I would like to see numbers and percentages also. color changing bars would also be a great boon as the change often draws your eye (a mod on EQ1 i use to use had a flashing skull that would appear below 25% health) Hotkey binding within these for potions and spells would be a nice touch too. On size I have seen UIs that have your health run the length of the screen, some people like that so the option would be nice.

Party Window...
make it sizeable. this is the only improvement i can think of - clerics often like a larger party window to track health levels. fighters often prefer not to see it clutter there window. two extremes that people often cannot come to a compromise on - i think the party window is ideal size atm.

Dedicated Spell Hotbar...
Without a doubt this is the most useful addition for a caster. it would be nice to see casting timers and other info like DCs and SP costs at a quick glance.

Inventory...
More glamorous. the inventory is functional but very old. this is the 21st Century and im sure adding 3d paper dolls, 3d rendered equipment, and the like is not beyond the realms of possibility.

The Rest...
get them to work 100%. Many of the menus have niggling glitches such as the feat and spell pane not scrolling properly however they currently all serve the purpose they are required too so need little tinkering beyond the cosmetic.


General UI additions...
Save/Export. I have a general layout but when i create a new character i often have to spend 30 minutes rebuilding the UI as I like it. if i could save my UI layout and export it into a new character that would be wonderful. It would also help with saves on a different scale. I occationally play at work and my work PC uses a different resolution often forcing the hotbars to overlap. if i could load a preset UI layout this would save alot of irritation.

location store. many of the windows open in default locations such as the ingredients bags. It would be nice if they remembered where they where last so the next time you open them you dont have to move windows already open to see them.

relativity. finally many of the windows have fixed sizes such as the bank/character/inventory/store windows. however when all are open there just isnt enough room onscreen to see them all - a general overhaul would see the windows resized so they didnt impede on the screen so greatly. a better result would be if they docked into each other creating a unified UI window.

I like the specificity of this list. Some things I don't worry about, but much of it would be a hoot to have. +1

[Jacket]

I can't believe not one person mentioned changing the party view to some how note that wizards were in a pale master form.

/follow.. bad

Macros are bad because as soon as you add functionality then someone will add an auto healer or something else that breaks the dynamic.

I'd like to see them change the examine option to be useful for examining a character with a lot of buffs and work out the buff display on screen some how as well.

[Yukitiger2]

I haven't read the whole thread so forgive me if it this was mentioned.

What I'd really love to see added is chat time stamps. I could not live without time stamps in EQ2. You go AFK for a bit, someone sends you a tell, you come back and you have to guess how long ago it was sent. Time stamp it, and you can see at a very quick glance.

The ability to disable what chat something comes from, like I don't want to see (general):, (guild):, (party):. I have that colour coded, I already know where it's comimg from and it's just clutter.

The ability to colour code different parts of combat in chat, if I miss on a swing, I want to see that as dark red, if I hit, I want it to be regular red, if I critical, I want it to be violet. I want to see heals as green etc. etc. It's easier to track and find that one line I'm interested in, like what I need to roll to hit.

The ability to have different aspects of combat related chat like heals, hits, save rolls etc. in seperate tabs.

Macros: I'd seriously like to see chat macros. Like TRAP! at a push of one button instead of going into chat mode, typing TRAP! hitting enter and by the time I'm done typing, someone has already triggered it and perhaps died. Or Palemaster on! for the wizards that are too lazy and self absorbed to announce it to the party's healer.

Resizable hotbars, 5x2 hotbars, 3x3 hotbars.

Seperate buff window for buffs I myself cast to track timers easier. Or just have a yellow hue around the ones you have cast. And make the buff bar MOVABLE.

The ability to switch to changable health bars for group and self. Health bar's colour changes according to how much hp you have. Green for >74%, yellow for >49%, orange for >24%, red for 24%-1%.

Just a number on each party member in the party window that coresponds to the F key. Six members is no problem, but raids are a different matter and sometimes I'm left guessing in the heat of battle. I usually guess right, but not always.

And a nicer target window... Don't have anything specific for this, but I just don't like the current one very much. It's just too big for how little info there is on it even in no avatar displaying mode.

Oh, and a complete map of the zones upon completing explorer. All the time.

EDIT:

Guild window. The ability to type short notes under/next to your name for messages to members, like MIA until such and such date. Officer notes that only officers/leaders can see. Also, customisable rank names and at least one more rank for new recruits if the guild wishes to evaluate members before promotion.

In-game guild recruitment bulletin board where guilds can advertise themselves. One in Harbour, one in Marketplace. Leave the LFM guild recruitment off the LFM window.

[quijenoth]

just a small addition i thought of thats similar to macros but not so powerful.

The ability to define simple text announcements to the party that can be bound to hotkeys. common uses would be /p "Trap!" for rogues to stop people walking into danger or /p gather for when casters want to redo buffs.

I agree full macros can break the game more than adding simple functionality but a simple short text hotkey would go along way to improving my gaming experience.

[Hordo]

just a small addition i thought of thats similar to macros but not so powerful.

The ability to define simple text announcements to the party that can be bound to hotkeys. common uses would be /p "Trap!" for rogues to stop people walking into danger or /p gather for when casters want to redo buffs.

I agree full macros can break the game more than adding simple functionality but a simple short text hotkey would go along way to improving my gaming experience.

Why don't you try the /alias command programming so that you can make all sorts of complex statements into one quick command entry if you want?

[skyjuice]

The ddo interface is cumbersome at best, this was my first impression when first introduced to it.

Have played many RPGs (Diablo series, Baldur's Gate Series, IWD series and NWN series) and all of them have great UI.

I think what is missing is that all these icons are missing sounds. I am so spoilt by what was -supposely- the standard that when i heard a 'click' sound on the ddo interface that i realize how much those little things mean to immersion.

Turbine attempting to update the UI a few updates ago is a thumbs up in the right direction tho.

Come to think of it, the UI is a little similiar to neverwinternights 1, except reduce to microscopic level.

[VonAlmerth]

It would be nice to be able to individually set the transparency of your hotbars, so that less used bars could be made near-transparent and maybe even lose transparency when you hovered over them. But I'd hardly ask for that over druids, savants and titans, oh my.

[Monkeytoe]

I'd like for the examine window to be scrollable so that when I'm looking for that joke someone wrote in their bio, I can actually find it instead of just seeing a hundred lines of ship buffs. Or so that I can read the entire description of that mad l33t green-steel khopesh.

1) scrollable examine window.

I noticed that when I'm running a character that uses UMD, there's a message describing whatever restricted items have just been equipped. I like that and wish it was a general feature of equipping items rather than a feature of using UMD.

2) short description message upon equipping an item.

I'd like an indication of where on my screen a speaking character is located. The stat-bars turn green to indicate that a player is speaking. It is a well known fact however, that only clerics know how to find stat bars, much less associate the name on the bar with the name over one particular character's head out of the six or twelve in motion. Its also well known that even some clerics find the process challenging. I'm not gonna say any names here. When someone says "Haste on me!" I'd like to know exactly and immediately where on my screen that character is. When someone says "Monkeytoe, you zerging fool! I can't target you!" I'd like to be able to pick that person's character out of the tangle of names, guild names and TR wings zipping around the mess of firewalls, acid fogs and dancing balls and get right back to where said person might be able to save my foolish, zerging tail from imminent destruction.

3) names over the character's heads turn green when the player speaks just like the names on the stat bars do.

[picaisfun]

So you can play this game with a gamepad, keyboard and mouse if you like. Sometimes in quests I find that I can no longer access my inventory, hotbar or loot chests (by clicking on items in chest) after or just before named bosses in certain quests with the mouse. Logging off and on fixes this. Improve this.

[pwentt]

I know how taboo it is to bring up wow here but if its one thing Blizzard does correctly is polish and that is severely lacking in DDO on the UI front. Also, it's very close minded to think the DDO developers haven't looked at how the macro feactures and LUI scripting works in WoW, not looking at features of a game as popular as WoW is would be just terrible development.

For one thing WoW has a working macro function without allowing things like healbots. The coding for all of this is open source to mod developers its not like the devs don't have access or couldn't figure it out for another this is what programmers are hired for.

As for the /follow command. Pikers exist already and will continue to exist the addition of a follow command wouldn't change that dynamic in any real way. The functionality already exists in the form of hirelings.

There are tons of other things that could be mentioned and many of the other posters have, but the thing a lot of the nay sayers need to keep in mind is Turbine is in the business to make money and having a user interface that is easy to navigate is a corner stone of good software development and only serves to retain customers.

[marshm1972]

I agree that the entire UI could use a refresh To be frank, the are much worse games with better interfaces. The thing is DDO is hardly a new MMO, so I wonder how easy upgrading the UI could be. It might not be easy easy as it seems.

One thing I really dislike is the chat. Its confusing, overly complex and not at all user friendly. I have gotten used to it but I still dont like it and wouldn't whine about a redesign.

[Shenlung-Mahathi]

Didn't know about the right click list thing for the chat pane, but then after testing it, I discovered a great example of how the UI could just be cleaned up a bit in a lot of areas. When choosing which chats to receive, I had to right click and go through the menus each time to check or uncheck multiple things, when a sysmple matter of making it stay open while you're choosing from the lists until you're done (as indicated by closing the window, or moving the mouse out of the menu) would make it feel more thought out and completed.

/signed

A better macro system than alias. Something that you can associate with actions and throw on the action bar. For example: A rogue leads a party into a seemingly harmless corridor. The rogue spots a trap and taps a key. To his party he does some emote, instantly begins searching for the trap, while saying to the party 'TRAP!"
Another useful example: A wizard has 3 melee ranged spells (chill touch, shocking grasp, etc), 2 CC spells, and 4 ranged AOE spells prepared and on his action bars. Instead of filling up 9 slots on his action bar, he fills up 3; one for the melee spells, another for the CC spells, and a third for the AOEs. By using a combination of 2 or 3 modifier keys that apply to the same action bar button, the wizard accesses all of his plethora of spells on one action bar. No need to clutter up the screen with 20 different action bars.

/definitely signed, typing locks out all command abilities while you are trying to alert your party to the impending doom they are blindly walking into.

EDIT: Reading what Hordo said....Alias command is a good start, being able to tie the "/p Trap!" to a /search function is just one more small step. limit the number of functions, so you can only do 3 or 4 on any given hotkey, and it makes it really difficult to "break" the game. One-click buffs, anyone?

You need to explore the shortcut options more and invest in a keybaoard that has macro capabilities. While I have a High res screen and dont mind the 15+ hotbars, I now plenty of people that play with 1-3 Hotbars up and even use game controllers rather than keyboard/mouse and do just fine in game.

That's all nice for your friends, but that is not what he wants. I personally agree with him, having expandable hotbars(such as the wizard macro idea[click the hotbarslot you want and it expands out to show the things you have "stacked" there...at least, that's how I picture it...think Diablo II potion belt]) would be an awesome thing to have, and save people like myself from having to dig through a slew of hotbars to find what I need. Granted, I usually keep myself to 4 hotbars, and even those are not heavily utilized, that is primarily because I do not use a good portion of my skills because navigating to them through the hotbars is a mind-numbing task with the current setup.

As long as guilds have been around, the /guild commands have been bugged and don't work properly. These are commands beyond what you find in the guild tab of the social pane. type "/guild help" in game to see a list of commands that would be wonderful if they worked correctly, and even BETTER if they could be selected and modified through a menu based interface instead of text based only.

usage: /guild < create | disband | recruit | accept | decline | quit | expel | promote | demote | motd | successor | resign | rename | createrank | removerank | changeranklevel | changerankname | ranks >

Each update I check to see if these work at all. Each update I am sadly disappointed Mostly the ones I would use are | promote | demote | createrank | removerank | changeranklevel | changerankname | ranks |

Seriously, a visual output for this information would be sweet.

/Seriously signed x1,000,000
I'm not an officer in my guild, but the ability to make ranks and give them permissions accordingly would allow people to setup an army, or make a wizards guild, and then keep with the RP aspects, or even just allow you to give someone "trial" access to a guild, without giving them the ability to rob the guild coffers blind...yet still help the low-levels in the guild who have proven themselves.

2. sort out the buff bar so you can see all your buffs
3. sort out the examine window so you can scroll through buffs
4. Have buffs you cast on a party member show up under their health/SP/Ki bar with a 'clock face' type display (like cooldowns) so you can see when they're about to run out for recasts
5. Have debuffs from monsters show up in a similar way to assist with healing/support
8. The option - only the option mind you - for you, client side, to turn on speech bubbles. some people hate this, some people love it, I don't see why an option would be such a bad thing provided it defaults to 'off'
12. Sort the chat system out so that when you are selecting incoming and outgoing channels you don't have to right click>incoming>individual channel each time, and you can just keep ticking things on and off the list till you signal you're done by clicking elsewhere in the UI. Current system is annoying when you've got a new toon.

/signed again

I know, this is just signs on others idea, but they laid out all the ideas I had and then some...why should I put them out in my own words and call them my own?

[Jacoby]

I really love this game, but the more and more I play it, the more and more I become aggravated at how inferior and sub-par the user interface is. The whole time I'm thinking to myself 'If I knew enough about coding and programming (which I don't), all it would take me to come up with a UI that would maybe not rival WoW's, but at least not look like 2nd rate work in comparison, would be a month, maybe two, of dedicated and undivided work!'
So, in the spirit of the season, I would like to put forth my Festivult wish list to DDO as follows:

Dear DDO development team:
All I want for Update 9 is a much MUCH better user interface. That's it. I don't want more adventure packs, world events, cosmetic items, or any other random bug fixes. I wish for weeks of work on the part of the development team dedicated exclusively to the task of presenting a beautiful, intuitive, customizable user interface for the next major update of Dungeons & Dragons: Online.
In my eyes, any content that shows up in update 9 or any other subsequent update before a revamped and remarkable user interface, will be seen as laziness and neglect towards the loyal player base.

Thank you.


Now, I don't know how best to get the development team's attention, but I really hope others out there ( I know you're there) share my wish and voice it enough for our plea to be heard.

Uhmmm...

Dear DDO all I want is more content! The UI is just fine being as far removed from WoW as possible!

lol

Thanks You!

[Aliss7]

I'm gonna limit myself to one UI faux pas here:

1. When I bring up a window (be it the map/inventory/social/etc...), it should be in the _foreground_... in front of _all_ UI elements.

[Jenkins77]

I know how taboo it is to bring up wow here but if its one thing Blizzard does correctly is polish [...]

I'm here because I'm sick of WoW (and I simply love DDO's combat!), but I have to admit that the one thing Blizzard does right is that they constantly refine their UI. I'd love to see the same dedication from Turbine.

I don't care about macros, I think that (although it would make my casters more powerful) incorporating metamagic feats into single spells would defeat the mechanic, and /follow isn't really a concern. What I really want is a modern, customizable (NOT the same as skinnable) interface.

Some of you old-timers and only-play-DDO folks are probably wondering what I mean. Here are a few examples...

- The auction house UI needs to be burned to the ground and rebuilt from scratch
- The LFG interface looks like a programmer's mock-up before it's been passed to a designer (everything's there, looks like poo)
- The party and raid bars need a ton of functionality... status effects, out of range fading

I'll have to agree with the earlier poster who asked for a whole update dedicated to UI improvements. The UI is horribly dated for such a great game.

[payne500]

target of target displayed would be nice as well as the current status effects with buffs/debuffs
or just add scrolling bar in the examine window
also add scrolling bars to some greensteel items that u cant fully read without the option unchecked.


and yes we should be able to inspect equiped items, maybe build a complete new "examine" window to make it real.

[Truga]

I suspect as blind as the AI for such a command would be, it would still work better than what a lot of the players manage.

You, sir, win the thread.

Also, macros would indeed win. Hit 1 key: extend off -> GH, resist, blur entire party -> extend on.