AH Changes... why?

[esheep]

Anyone have any insight as to why the Auction House interface is being changed? I didn't notice anything that was 'added' just re-arranged everything...

Kind of disappointed if the change was just for the sake of change, the AH was fine on live as far as I am concerned.



Again, not a fan, hopefully the redesign is for a reason, something I hadn't noticed, etc...

The chat window re-shaping was nice though!

[Diyon]

Well the "Match Phrase" box is new. Not sure if the "Buyout Only" is off the top of my head.

[muny21]

Hopefully they had the ability to search for items that have guild slots on them. Tired of looking through 20 plus pages at every item to see if it has one or not.

Make it happen devs.

[FranOhmsford]

It's showing Plat values at the bottom of the page.

It does say Bank however - Hoping this is Inventory myself.

Pretty certain that's new.

[esheep]

Well the "Match Phrase" box is new. Not sure if the "Buyout Only" is off the top of my head.

Nope, "Match Phrase" as a checkbox exists on live, left side, between level range and search text.

It's showing Plat values at the bottom of the page.

Nope, bottom right of current AH interface shows inventory wealth as well... calling it "bank" is new, but likely mislabeled.



Here is a shot of the AH on live for comparison...

[Diyon]

Nope, "Match Phrase" as a checkbox exists on live, left side, between level range and search text.

Oops, guess I just never use it.

[esheep]

Oops, guess I just never use it.

I never have either, seems overly redundant unless it does something other than I expect... I expect it has to do with searching by text string, honestly text string has always been enough, I never understood the need for the match phrase....

[My2Cents]

Haven't checked it on Lamma, from these screen shots it looks like it provides a wider space for the category descriptions. They probably intended to make better use of "horizontal space".

If the search box can't go on the left I'd prefer it on the bottom rather than the top. I always find it uncomfortable to have to look up to the top of the screen to do anything more than select tabs or categories. I'd rather it be on the bottom than the top if it can't fit on the left, say, just above the bidding options.

One could make the case that putting the bidding options just below/up against the page selection makes things "look" more uniform, but separating the bidding section from the page scroll options with a "search section" might also make visual sense.

[Therrias]

"Match phrase" is useful when your looking for a specific ability, but your search items are coming up in the wrong way.

For example: If for some reason you wanted to search for a +5 strength item...you could type in "ogre power +5." But mostly what you would get for results would be a different number strength enhancement with a skill boost +5 like "ogre power +1 gloves of sustenance +5."

[Brennie]

I never have either, seems overly redundant unless it does something other than I expect... I expect it has to do with searching by text string, honestly text string has always been enough, I never understood the need for the match phrase....

its actually pretty useful in a few situations. For instance, if you're looking for a "magi" item, if you just input "magi", you'll get a lot of returns for Magical Beast bane. With match phrase, you can just add a space to the end of "magi" and you'll only get "of the magi" items. It is for things like this, where words can be parts of other words, or which the order of words is important (e.g if searching for "greater poison" you might get "greater something-or-other weapon of poison" without match phrase on). Its not always useful, but when it is useful, it is very useful.

Personally, i don't see any reason to change the auction house, unless it is to allow players to search item *descriptions*, so that it becomes a lot easier to find guild slot items, "hidden effect" items, and of course to quickly narrow down the bajillion Thaumalogicalitis staves to just ones with a specific type of spellpower you're after (or a specific combo)

[Saravis]

Nothing new, unnecessary UI changes have been a practice of Turbine lately.

I never have either, seems overly redundant unless it does something other than I expect... I expect it has to do with searching by text string, honestly text string has always been enough, I never understood the need for the match phrase....

Example of usefulness: Try doing a search for a "radiant lore" item and see how much junk you have to wade through.

[esheep]

Haven't checked it on Lamma, from these screen shots it looks like it provides a wider space for the category descriptions. They probably intended to make better use of "horizontal space".

It occurred to me that this could be the result of the "What resolution to you play at" let's talk thread from a while back, but with no mention in the release notes, my guess is it could be anything.

[Memnir]

I'm not on Llama to try it out personally - but it seems like all good changes to me. Looks a bit cleaner and easier to use, and if the AH really is hooked into the shared bank now - I consider that to be a freakin' awesome change.

[cdbd3rd]

A functionality LOTRO has that has been absent here is drag/drop an item into the search field.
Have they added that, by chance, with the new design?

[Fixitosis]

Can you search for items with guild slots yet?

[arkonas]

that actually looks a lot better. As for the bank for anyone who might not understand why that is there is do. it shows you how much money your holding on to. so maybe it could be possible you can also use the money from the bank without going to the bank to pull it out did anyone try that function? its actually a really nice option so think about it. even if you can do that. it still shows how much so you can afford an item.

[Fefnir_2011]

It's more aesthetically pleasing, and it's using the space it takes up more effectively. Not a bad change overall.

[MsEricka]

One bad thing I see is that the "buy out" button is way too close to the "next page" button. There's going to be all sorts of complaints that people are buying stuff by accident.

Save yourselves the complaints and fix it quick. Yes I know it's the users making the mistakes, but users need to be saved from themselves.

[LrdSlvrhnd]

One bad thing I see is that the "buy out" button is way too close to the "next page" button. There's going to be all sorts of complaints that people are buying stuff by accident.

Save yourselves the complaints and fix it quick. Yes I know it's the users making the mistakes, but users need to be saved from themselves.

And there's a "Are you sure?" popup when you click "buyout." If they still purchase it... that's on them. But yeah, they could move the item cost under one of the page buttons and center the Bid/Buyout buttons.

I'd love to be able to look for guild slots and also have named items with searched effects show up ('Move silently" includes Cloak of Shadows, for instance). I suspect neither of those actually happened, and it's simply a change for the sake of change.

[esheep]

and if the AH really is hooked into the shared bank now - I consider that to be a freakin' awesome change.

that actually looks a lot better. As for the bank for anyone who might not understand why that is there is do. it shows you how much money your holding on to. so maybe it could be possible you can also use the money from the bank without going to the bank to pull it out did anyone try that function? its actually a really nice option so think about it. even if you can do that. it still shows how much so you can afford an item.

I already mentioned that the wealth there was character wealth not bank wealth... not really understanding how tying in the shared bank would get you much though? (with regards to the notion of calling it "Bank" I had said it was likely 'mislabeled' ... because they probably couldn't come up with a better word for it -- so let me be more clear, that was the amount of plat on that toon at the time)

It's more aesthetically pleasing, and it's using the space it takes up more effectively. Not a bad change overall.

I disagree, maybe because it's not finished... obviously needs an art pass or something.... I just can't get past the freakishly large tabs on the left -- maybe if the ui were more finished and the tabs didn't seem like they needlessly added 20% to the width of it all. As for the size, eyeballing it to me seems like the two footprints are similar in total amount of screen real estate, the newer one might be preferable if you are running at a lower resolution.

Again, I'd like to know why it is important to change the layout of the AH? Is there new functionality coming?