Sadly, I believe you are correct. I want to hope it was some EA Sales Manager that forced this onto Bioware and that's why they couldn't listen to player feedback. Because if Bioware simply ignored player feedback because they didn't want to listen to it, that would be really bad...

This, this question is what someone from the dev team needs to answer, because they have seriously put a dent into the trust players have in the dev team. They kept asking for feedback on the PTS forums and subsequently just ignored it completely. Why?

As I stated in other posts within this thread, I have already done the content time and time again. And I will keep doing the class stories time and time again until they shut down the servers for good in (hopefully) the very distant future. As such, it would merely be a Quality of Life improvement if in some cases, we could skip the class stories to the newer story content, but still have access to the class titles. If you have done the content before, then there is no reason why you couldn't retrieve the class titles from the Legacy system. There is no reasonable argument against it and there is no reason to be against it. If you don't want to make use of the feature, then you don't have to, you could ignore such a feature in the Legacy system if you wanted to. And the fact others would be able to retrieve the class titles through a Legacy unlock (under the condition they had completed the respective class story at least once before) has absolutely no impact on you. If this feature would not influence you in any way, why would you be against it? Huh, I had absolutely no idea! That is indeed a very nice title and I can imagine it would be easy to miss if you don't pick the correct option. A Legacy unlock system would indeed enable players to still get access to it, even if they chose a different dialogue option. Especially if they played both the Trooper class story and chapter 11 of KotFE.

It would be indeed more graceful for the team to admit to their mistake, apologise for completely sideswiping any player feedback that had been given about this "feature" on the PTS forums and restore the previous social UI frame.

The Friends counter in your new, terribly and poorly designed social UI frame is still bugged. When I logged in several times across multiple characters yesterday, it always showed 0 Friends were online. But when I clicked the Friends tab and opened it, it showed for example 23 people online. Only then did the counter in the new social UI (a redesign no one asked for, mind you) update accordingly. Working as intended? I think not.

The QA testing is indeed a major issue in yesterday's patch. So many new issues and bugs have been introduced that could have easily been identified and mended... If they had not chosen to waste time and resources on a UI frame rework that needed no rework nor was it something anyone, anywhere had asked for.

Absolutely agreed. It was a complete waste of development time and resources that could have instead been spent on fixing parts of the game that have needed fixing for years, in some cases. But nooo... we need to seem more of the Cartel Market in yet another UI. Because surely that will fix the game Bioware, you dropped the ball on this one. Big time.

If this is you conclusion, then you still continue to fail to understand what this is about. And because of the UI bar redesign they failed to deliver quality content yesterday. The patch is full of bugs and issues, the new items from the Cartel Market are filled with bugs. Instead of devoting their limited resources and development time on QA testing, they had spent it on a useless redesign of the social UI bar that no one had asked for in the first place. It was an subject that needed no fixing, that needed no redesign. This is where you are completely and utterly wrong. Do you know how many things in SWTOR need fixing? How many aspects and features of the game are riddled with bugs? Because the development team - which as you yourself said is limited - spent time on redesigning that social UI bar, that was time and resources they could have spent on fixing things that players have actually been begging the devteam to fix for years. Now take that into consideration and tell me the UI frame rework has no impact on the gameplay, when countless of bugs and issues continue to exist that literally disable some players from playing an aspect of the game. Not to mention all the new bugs and issues that yesterday's patch introduced because of poor QA testing. You admit it yourself, other issues in the game need more attention. And yet the development team chose to waste time and resources on a UI frame rework that was completely and utterly unnecessary and unwarranted. No one was asking for it, no one needed it. So yes, this needs to be highlighted, the dev team needs to receive criticism for this major lapse of insight in what the game needs and what not. Because they have spent precious development time on a completely unnecessary change, which could have instead been spent on actually fixing things that need time and attention and in some cases have been needing it for years.

This, this is the main issue with the redesign of the UI bar. It was literally not necessary and needed absolutely no development time spent on it. It was perfectly fine the way it was and instead, they could have devoted that precious development time that is now wasted on something no one likes, on bugfixes, QA testing of their patch or on things that players have actually been asking for, for years. They just needed to take a look at the Suggestion Box to find things that players actually want to see in the game. No one in there was asking for a social UI bar redesign that shoves the Cartel Market even more in our faces. The new UI bar is poorly designed, yes. But it's exactly as you say, DarkTergon, they could have spent all the time and resources they put into that redesign, into actually doing something useful within the game.

Thank you for all the effort! At least you have shown to be capable of putting in time and attention into something someone has requested, in stark contrast to Bioware, who spent precious development time on redesigning a social UI bar that needed absolutely no redesigning and literally no one ever asked for (I hope my annoyance with Bioware atm in audible in my writing). Just imagine if Bioware could have spent all that development time they put into redesigning that social UI bar, into figuring out how to fix the coding of the character creation system... something people have been actually requesting for yours... just imagine if Bioware listened to what players were asking for... Sigh.

Sure, that sounds plausible. But evidently this is something no one in the game appreciates or wants, so they need to shove that feedback down the throat of whoever ordered them to implement it and either restore the old social UI or fix it immediately so that it will fit in with the rest of the UI design and be editable in the Interface Editor. If someone wants to disable this UI bar, they should be able to, whether it contains Cartel Market stuff or not.

You know, they could have had more time for QA testing regarding this patch... IF THEY HAD NOT SPENT PRECIOUS DEVELOPMENT TIME ON A USELESS SOCIAL UI REDESIGN THAT NO ONE HAD ASKED FOR IN THE FIRST PLACE. That capslock is intended for the devs who hopefully read these forums and scratch themselves behind the ear. Because by the Stars have they dropped the ball on this one. All that time that went into redesigning an element of the UI that needed no redesign on the first place and yet the new patch is full with bugs and issues. The devs need to come to these forums and apologise for their lack of insight regarding this UI change. They need to apologise for not listening to the players on the PTS forums and immediately revert to the old UI bar. On top of that, they need to get their act together and release a hotfix for all the bugs that they introduced with yesterday's patch. Because this is just ludicrous. And that is coming from someone who has frequently been called a Bioware White Knight.

You can move it around by clicking on the blue area at the edges of the bar, but otherwise you can't disable it, no. Probably that was the intentional design choice of some marketing specialist who had the "brilliant" idea of shoving the Cartel Market even more into people's faces.

I completely agree with everything you said. I miss the old UI so much, especially because it simply looked nice and absolutely needed no update or fixing. It was fine the way it was and why they suddenly chose to devote precious development time on redesigning something that needed no redesigning, is beyond me. Besides, the Friends tab counter in the UI bar is still bugged. It isn't showing the true number of Friends online until you open up the Friends tab yourself, then it will update. But working as intended? I think not. The new social UI is a giant flop. They need to revert to the old social UI bar and come onto these forums and apologise for not listening to player feedback from the PTS. Because their current behaviour just damages the game and the trust players have towards the devs.

If they did a once-a-day popup I wouldn't have said a single word. I'd just acknowledge its existence in my head and then move on merrily with my day. But this is a permanent UI feature that is terribly and poorly designed and clashes with the rest of the UI screen. It didn't need fixing, it was fine the way it was. And if they implemented this change because of the Friends list bug, well, tough luck, because the bug is still there. Whenever I get online the bar shows 0 Friends online, but when I opened the Friends tab it showed 23 people were online. And then the number in the UI bar updated to 23 as well, but it is still bugged.

You don't seem to understand the issue. The poorly designed bar itself was probably not the reason why they wanted to leave or quit the game. The fact that the design choice was receiving overwhelmingly negative feedback on the PTS forums and players were telling Bioware not to implement it, yet then they chose to completely ignore any feedback given on the PTS forums and treat the players as if they didn't mattered, that probably was the final drop that pushed the player to leave. Because if you open up a PTS and want feedback, then you should treat it seriously. In this case, Bioware dropped the ball and went ahead with their own thing, completely ignoring player feedback regarding the development choice. Does Bioware have the right to ignore player feedback? Absolutely, they can ignore anything we say here on these forums. Will that behaviour damage the game and push away players? Absolutely. I don't know what Bioware was thinking by ignoring all the player feedback from the PTS forums, but the dropped the ball big time with this update. A response from the devs with an explanation or apology is more than warranted.

Nope. If you had known me, you would have known I have been a huge supporter of this game and have been frequently called a White Knight on these forums. I am always ready to praise Bioware for their work and devotion to SWTOR, but I will also give criticism when it is due. In this case, the new social UI is terribly poorly designed. It deserves criticism even from the people who are normally ready to praise Bioware and the game in the blink of an eye. I am not bored with this game and never will be, not until they shut down the servers for good in (hopefully) the very distant future. I will be there crying my eyes out when it happens. But this development choice deserves to be criticized. Because precious development time was spent on something that was unnecessary and not asked for. There is a boatload of issues that need fixing in this game as well as things that players have been asking for, for years. And yet they chose to spend precious development time on a feature no one had asked for and that fails to deliver in every way possible. The Friends counter is still bugged. Whenever I come online it shows 0 friends online but when I click the Friends tab, it appears 23 people are online and then the Friends number in the bar will update. Working as intended? I think not. Yes, you can move it. You just need to click the blue edges of the bar and then you can yeet it anywhere you want. I did so and put it back where the original social UI was placed but... it just looks plain ugly that way. But I don't know where else to put it so, hopefully they'll restore the old UI bar soon enough. But yes, I have actually moved the UI bar on all my characters by clicking on the blue area of the bar (for example next to the triangle to unfold it) and then I could move it around. But you have to have that "Enable Secondary Window" thingy enabled in Interface Editor.

Since this was also their answer for why there are no new customization options for the Twi'lek, I bet that you're right. The new social UI is horrendous. They need to put the old UI bar in, ASAP.

You have named the reason for why there is a public outcry against the new UI bar yourself. Instead of all the development time that went into the designing and developing of the new social UI bar - which was a change no one was asking for anyway - they could have spent that time on literally anything else, like doing QA before releasing today's patch. Because the new UI bar was unnecessary and not wanted in the first place. All the time they spent developing it was absolutely wasted. Yet that time, that precious development time, could have been put into fixing all the bugs and issues in this patch. That's part of the reason why there is a public outcry against the UI change.

Normally, I also have a "I am rolling my eyes right now" kind of attitude at quitting posts, but this time I fully understand it. There are so many areas of this game that need attention, from requests players have actually made for years to glaring bugfixes. Yet what did the dev team decide to do? They spent precious development time on designing and developing a new social UI that no one asked for, in which the Cartel Market is shoved even more into the player's face. It's just utterly disappointing. I love this game to much to seriously consider quitting or unsubbing, but I am really deeply disappointed in Bioware right now. I guess I'll be skipping buying new Cartel Coins for a long while.

I definitely won't be buying more from the CM because of the new Social UI. Heck, I am even keeping it purposefully folded up the entire time. So many things that need attention in this game and yet... the devs chose to spend time developing a new social UI that no one likes... sigh

Because that rectangle probably consumed a lot of development time that should have been devoted to developing and producing content that players have actually been requesting, for years. This rectangle is something no one had asked for.

Dev 1: "We need to introduce new features and elements into the game that players will like. Anyone have any good ideas?" Dev 2: "Oh, how about we take a look in the Suggestion Box on the forums? Players seem to be requesting a lot of interesting and cool things in there!" Dev 1: "Nah, the Suggestion Box is just for show, so players think we actually look in there for ideas. It's just so they think their suggestions actually reach us." Dev 3: "How about we make a post on social media, a sort of poll? We could post it on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram like we did with the Lana vs Vette and Acina vs Vowrawn posts!" Dev 1: "Lol, asking the players what they want? What kind of outlandish idea is that..." Dev 4: "Oh, I know! No one, absolutely no one has been asking for the Social UI to be completely changed and redesigned into a bar that totally doesn't fit in with the rest of the UI screen, can't be edited in the Interface Editor and really throws the CM in the player's face. Like, absolutely no one on the forums or social media has asked for that. Let's do that!" Dev 1: "OMG that's brilliant! We're doing this!" --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bioware, you dropped the ball big time on this one. People have been asking for the hood toggle, soloable alternatives for the Seeker Droid and Macrobinocular missions, new appearance customization options for the Twi'lek, countless of bugfixes and QoL improvements... and yet you chose to spend precious development time on a feature that literally no one, anywhere had asked for? Disappointing.

I believe this picture sums it up, alright. Seriously, it is a huge disappointment that the development team was not listening to the feedback people were giving about the new social UI. They should have listened to what players actually were saying. Also, it is just a huge disappointment they chose to devote development to this, especially since this was something no player was asking for. And the things that players are actually requesting? Like the hood toggle, new appearance customization options for the Twi'lek, or soloable Seeker Droid and Macrobinocular missions and so on and so forth? All those things are seemingly being ignored... Revert to the old Social UI! The new UI is horrendous and is not going to work.

Or we should just go back to the old UI design. That one was perfectly fine, I have no idea why they felt the need to change it. The new design is just horrendous.