Suggestion on how to fix the new UI bars

[Yazston_the_Invoker]

IMO this would be almost perfect...something definitely SHOULD be done, and this is a perfectly viable suggestion.

/signed

[Rodasch]

There are already quite many threads about new UI and mostly about the group health bars being illegible. I think the goal of including numbers to the bars is worthy, but how it was done just does not work.

-the names cannot be read
-the most important info (color bars) are covered with numbers which cannot be evaluated juts by a glance
-the color bars are narrower than before (= less accuracy)
-the whole layout takes more space vertically

Anyone can see the problems in this picture below, at left side.
On the right side is a suggestion on how to fix it.

-put names back to the bars
-make bars taller (the space between bars can be reclaimed) and keep the original width
-add ONLY the current number on the bar with a color that does not distract seeing the bar, but can be read if one needs the info. The max number is irrelevant info. It can be seen when the bars are full. That should be enough.
-make the number move along with the decreasing bar so that the missing health or mana, the black area, is clearly visible.

+1 and signed.

This is a much more elegant and practical UI option than the currently implemented one, without deviating too far from the intent behind the changes made (as I understand them). I would be much happier with this than what is currently in place

[I_Bob]

Agreed!
Don't need to see pet's health.
Don't need to see any Ki.
Don't need to see icons.
As a healer, would love to have F1-F12 in the icon circle - great idea!
Would still prefer the older UI.

[moorewr]

+1 to the OP's suggestions.

Turbine, make the changes he suggests, or failing that, please , put it back the way it used to be.

I find the visual clutter very difficult when raid healing. What was a large bar is now a mass of lines and numbers. I know the change lead to a death or two in last night's Lord of Blades..

[ssgcmwatson]

Its funny. I look at some of the designs Turbine does for the game and I wonder if anyone with an engineering background is making any decisions.

An engineer would want something that is simple (less moving parts) to accomplish the goal while being somewhat elegant. Instead with the new group UI we get something barely usable, that goes beyond what is needed, hogs up the screen, and is overly complex.

Devs think simple like the OP's suggestion.

Hehehe... we had a phrase for this back in my Army days when something that worked just fine got mucked up by some REMF somewhere

/signed and +1 to the OP

[Chaos000]

I would be much happier with this ui

[SisAmethyst]

...

Definitely second that, even if the space between them will still be a bit bigger due to the HP bar of the pet. But to be honest, I don't really care about the Pets HP bar of someone else and the own pets HP bar could just be shown as the 7th/13th bar.

[Flavilandile]

Definitely second that, even if the space between them will still be a bit bigger due to the HP bar of the pet. But to be honest, I don't really care about the Pets HP bar of someone else and the own pets HP bar could just be shown as the 7th/13th bar.

They can mitigate the space ( and even get rid of it ) by splitting the HP bar of the arty in half, like they did with the SP/Ki bar, in two, the top for the arty himself, the bottom for the pet. The problem is going to be with the numbers... But it is already present in the SP/Ki bar.

[MadFloyd]

Read by a dev LOUD AND CLEAR. :-)

Thanks for the very constructive feedback. We're on it!

[ArkoHighStar]

Read by a dev LOUD AND CLEAR. :-)

Thanks for the very constructive feedback. We're on it!

thanks Mad that's all we were asking for

[Bob_The_Terrible]

I vote for your second iteration.... Awesome.

[stainer]

Read by a dev LOUD AND CLEAR. :-)

Thanks for the very constructive feedback. We're on it!

FlimsyFirewood just moved to number 2 on my favorite Dev list.

All hail the new number 1!

[PNellesen]

Read by a dev LOUD AND CLEAR. :-)

Thanks for the very constructive feedback. We're on it!

Thank you for the response. I primarily play Clerics, and I was having serious difficulty adjusting to the new UI (as opposed to the old one, which took very little time at all to set up in a way I was comfortable with when I first started playing the game)

[SisAmethyst]

They can mitigate the space ( and even get rid of it ) by splitting the HP bar of the arty in half, like they did with the SP/Ki bar, in two, the top for the arty himself, the bottom for the pet. The problem is going to be with the numbers... But it is already present in the SP/Ki bar.

Sure that, but as said in an other thread the pet and the space for its bars are the least of my issues. Even not the numbers itself but the fact that:

1. There is no background on the new bars, so in case you play in an environment with shades of red you can't make out the current health bar as a red on a red background, well is just red.

2. The size of the bars, which may be fine for lower resolutions but the issue gets worse the higher the resolution is.

3. And last but not least the Voice chat doesn't highlight the bar anymore in green, so if someone said 'can I have buff X please', it is nearly impossible to make out who that 'I' is.

However to split the HP bar of a Artificer is as well a bit tricky as the pet may not be at the same place as the PC and with splitted in half make it again difficult to make out the current health and as a healer the PC bar is more important then the bar of the pet.

Also the little bar of the pet is used to target the pet which isn't available then anymore.

[Faent]

Read by a dev LOUD AND CLEAR. :-)

Thanks for the very constructive feedback. We're on it!

Thank god. I'm currently refusing to play my FvS if she's going to have to do any serious healing, because I don't want to go blind squinting at the invisible HP bars. Glad to hear this is going to change!

[Cam_Neely]

Read by a dev LOUD AND CLEAR. :-)

Thanks for the very constructive feedback. We're on it!

While what is suggested in this thread is better then what was implemented, you could use very little dev time and put it BACK HOW IT WAS! Drop Artis pets from the UI for now until you get a decent fix.

[Autolycus]

Read by a dev LOUD AND CLEAR. :-)

Thanks for the very constructive feedback. We're on it!

I thank you, my Cleric thanks you! I look forward to being able to fight and cast again while being able to keep an eye on health bars without having to stare at them.

While you're fixing it, please keep in mind that we don't all have perfect eyesight. Some of us are older, wear glasses, and don't need anymore eyestrain. While you're at it, a scalable UI would be very nice.

[Bodic]

Read by a dev LOUD AND CLEAR. :-)

Thanks for the very constructive feedback. We're on it!

Just take a quick poll on Pet bars.

I am thinking most dont care about another players pet health as unless they can repair they can do nothing.

[Glenalth]

I like the second, and a pet bar could probably be jammed in there without increasing the spacing more than a few pixels. They're not important now, but who knows what the future will bring.


On top of that, some extra customization options would be nice.
UI toggles to change the number in the bar between just current HP, just max HP, current/max, or disabled.
Add options for the text color/size/font for both the character names and the numbers.

[Glenalth]

Just take a quick poll on Pet bars.

I am thinking most dont care about another players pet health as unless they can repair they can do nothing.

It should be a toggle.