Suggestion on how to fix the new UI bars

[Antheal]

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.

I play a Healer and I approve of this message.

+1

[Droogald]

Tnx for all the comments, I hope the devs have also at least considered the possibilities.

I did not even realise that the empty spaces were reserved for pets' health bars... Why on earth would anyone care about someone elses pet???? I see such reservation as complete waste of space and if there ever were 12 people and 12 pets in some raid all the bars would be a huge mess.

Please, separate the pet health bar completely from the group bars! The best solution would be to make it a separate bar or include it in the large personal bar.

[Qindark]

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.

/signed and +1

My only suggestion: in the 2nd iteration, change the numbers to white. (See the post about color blind people)

edit: may need a little more space between for pet HP

Edit 2: What's a monk's ki bar gonna look like?

[~Getdown]

Yes, this would be a great improvent. The new U.I. is terrible. I hope they adopt this fix it would be much better than the current srceen hogging blunder they have.

[whitehawk74]

+1 to you. I love it.
1 change I would make would be to have the last 6 names in a raid moved under the top 6, but with a small space. As a healer I need to know what is F1-F6 and F7-F12.
I like how you didnt include the health bar for pets. I am not interested and dont need to know a pets health.

[DarkThoughts]

+1 to you. I love it.
1 change I would make would be to have the last 6 names in a raid moved under the top 6, but with a small space. As a healer I need to know what is F1-F6 and F7-F12.
I like how you didnt include the health bar for pets. I am not interested and dont need to know a pets health.

As a healer, I would like to see an F1 - F12 listed within the class icon images somewhere near the bottom of the circle. For that matter, fill the circle with the F1 - F12 and have the class icon in the background for all I care.

I also don't care about pets and have no plans of healing them. If the owner can't keep them alive, they shouldn't have them.

[Truga]

OK, here's my idea:

Remove the bars completely. Instead, add gushing blood, severed limbs and spilling guts as a visual cue to how healthy/wounded a person is.

Would make the game harder, but also better!

[rokes]

Looks much better than how it is now. Good suggestion


/signed

[DakFrost]

Turbine, hire this man! Or at least pay him a consulting fee!

Great job.

+1

[TheGish]

Another suggestion: Remove Ki from party members. Nobody cares how much Ki Monks have other than the Monk, and he has his own bar for that.

[katz]

/signed

i was just coming here to suggest something surprisingly similar. perhaps i'll add my thoughts soon. but for now, this is a great idea.

+1 to the OP

[Monkey_Archer]

Amazing work OP. +1.

This is a great idea, and really well done! Your visual aid is acttually incredibly helpful to your presentation. I hope this gets looked at!

I have only 2 concerns:

1) I'm a wee bit color blind, and already have some trouble seeing your new health numbers. Of course, if turbine were to adopt this, they could change the colors around, so that's pretty much a non issue.

2) I don't believe max health/mana is irrelevant. Seeing 68 health at roughly 2/3 of the bar requires a bit of mental gymantics for a healer who wants to use the optinal spell. Seeing 68/102 however lets the healer immediatly know "Ah ha, Need a little over 30 points of healing... why waste a Cure critical where a cure moderate will do?". Likewise, although this is far less common of an issue, with teammates handing out Divine Vitality to casters. A bluebar at 9/10ths with 36 SP on it might look worthy of a DV. However, seeing that it is actually 36/40 means the cleric should probably hold back on that DV til a few more points are spent!

1) Personally I like that the red/blue numbers dont stand out from, or interfere with the hp/sp bars, but I agree if its a usability issue the ability to change the colour should definitely be included

2) This should probably also be a toggled feature... just have 3 check boxes: 1 for current value, one for max value, one for percentage value.

[sebastianosmith]

Droogald - Bravo (or brava if that be the case)! You design is clean, simple and most of all usable. Well done.

Looking at the further suggestions to date, many have suggested removing various other bars for ki, pets and whatnot. I feel that removing them totally would hinder party leaders to an extent. Knowing that your atry's pets are about to deactivate with a glance can be useful. Seeing a monk with full ki not throwing elemental strikes and finishers might be impetus for a conversation. Completely removing that information lessens certain opportunities.

[smatt]

Bravo for trying to help fix this mess..

I must say one thing though.. There no need for them to even use any part of the new UI at all.... The could simply insert the SP/HP numbers over the old party UI, leaving the individual UI exactly as it was before.

Your's is clearly much better than what we have now, but still not nearly as clean and easy to read as what we had before. Short and fat isn't better than thinner and longer...

[FeralKittie]

Well done. You've retained the new look, which I like, and effectively addressed the weak points. I do agree with others, though, that the max number can be useful, for the reasons they've given.

I like how you've tightened the whole thing up; the fact that the U11 UI has smaller bars yet takes up more space overall is what I like least about it. I agree that the pet bars don't really need to be there. Not only is it irrelevant to the rest of the party, but it's not particularly useful to the artificer as the bar is too tiny and lacks numbers.

Nice, constructive suggestion Droogald.

Edit:

Looking at the further suggestions to date, many have suggested removing various other bars for ki, pets and whatnot. I feel that removing them totally would hinder party leaders to an extent. Knowing that your atry's pets are about to deactivate with a glance can be useful. Seeing a monk with full ki not throwing elemental strikes and finishers might be impetus for a conversation. Completely removing that information lessens certain opportunities.

Hmm, good point. So long as it can be done and still reduce/tighten up the screen space of the party UI, I'd be happy.

[Bargol]

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.

[Edyit76]

please for the love of all thats good and holy change this terrible UI to either something like what is suggested here or just give back the old UI.

[DragonMageT]

Awesome job! +1

Monk's KI, don't care about it, let that bar show up under their vitals bar.
Pets - We don't have summons that appear in the party UI, so keep the Artificers pets off the party UI.

If you are going to give Artificer's pet screen time, my Barbarian demands that Rocky gets equal screen time.
Equal and fair heal time for all pets, I say.

[Asmodeus451]

/signed

the new UI doesnt bother me so much (who cares if you cant read the names, i can see wat class you are and how much of your red bar is left) but this does legitimately look better

[Cirlandir]

Bravo for trying to help fix this mess..

I must say one thing though.. There no need for them to even use any part of the new UI at all.... The could simply insert the SP/HP numbers over the old party UI, leaving the individual UI exactly as it was before.

Your's is clearly much better than what we have now, but still not nearly as clean and easy to read as what we had before. Short and fat isn't better than thinner and longer...

I dare say smatt hit the nail on the head! My thanks to the op as well for his efforts though.

So if they are making space for summons, does that mean Coyles life bar will appear now?