What Is So Bad About the UI?

[UA_Wookie]

I pleaded and begged many times in beta for the ability to have the actual health/action numbers show up on the bars. I'm now thrilled to have those numbers show up. But who's genius idea was it to make those numbers the SAME colors as the bar? Anyone at Bioware ever heard of contrast?

 

WTB common sense please.

[Nytak]

Personally, I like the UI, but it's a little big, especially when you're playing on a 27" monitor. All they need to do for me is give me a little scaling slider so I can make the whole UI about 1/2 the size it is now.

[ApesAmongUs]

This is just too amusing. It seems like all of these issues are first-world problems that people don't want to work around.

This is a forum for discussing this game. If you come here to discuss real world problems then you are at the wrong place.

 

To complain about people discussing trivial things at a place that exists solely to discuss trivial things is stupid.

[Gehoornde]

Didn"t read the OP but I agree that the game is indeed a failure. UI is terribad.

[supertomato]

It's all I want...is there an option in game to save key bindings profile across all your characters? If it isn't already an option, is there a way around it? Like copy/pasting a file? Something? I've several characters in many realms, all of which are low levels, I'd spend 15/20 minutes working on keybinds, trying to remember how I configured it on my other characters. Changing the keybind from the default is also unnecessarilly cumbersome. I like that they separated each category, ie, targetting, quickslot, etc, but once you're in there, you have to make at least 3 keypresses per keybind to change it, and when you have to do it for the nth time, well, I think I have carpal tunnel on my mouse hand.

 

I also hate that if you wish to expand your companion's action bar, it would take up either one of the other 3 bars, which is big waste of precious real estate.

 

Mods and macros would be great, but without those, I'd settle for the option to save my key bindings profiles across all characters which btw, is part of the basic WOW UI.

 

To all haters and rabid fans who can't accept any criticism about their beloved MMO, I love this game, I'm not hardcore, nor am I an expert, but this game is in its infancy and to claim that it is already perfect and doesn't need improvement, would be bad for this game and for MMORPGs in general -- we need for SWTOR to be a success, so Blizzard would have to step up if they are to compete, which would hopefully also make WoW better, I also still play WoW, and I still love it. If Blizzard has real competition, gamers win.

 

PS: Reposted from Mods and macros thread.

PPS: What's with the trees...image stuttering?

[Abaia]

I can't stand the fact that I can only ever have 2 windows open at a time and I can't move or re-size any of them. Want to compare a quest reward to the modifications on an item you have equipped? O I'm sorry, that requires opening your character sheet, then opening the modifications window which then closes your quest window which means you have to close your character sheet to reopen the quest window but now your stuck at 2 windows which means you can't compare the modifications on the quest rewards to the modifications on your gear without either a good memory or a pen and paper.

 

The UI is horrible IMO. I love the game, but I do get frustrated more than I should with the UI.

 

Yeah, the 2-window-max thing is probably what bothers me the most. Plus the windows open in predefined spots in the order they're opened so depending on what I'm doing, sometimes my inventory's here and sometimes it's over here instead. Oh, and open the map while you're doing anything? Your other windows close. The map doesn't appear on top of them, it closes them.

 

Four quickslots might be enough, but why can't we place them all at the bottom? Side slots are cute and all, but they're only good for non-essential stuff. Also, I like to use empty slots as visual cues between different types of skills (direct attacks, cc, aoes, heals, etc.). Two bars doesn't give enough room for that.

 

All in all, this UI is worse than the one in Oblivion.

[beanzapper]

In the middle of doing something in your inventory/GTN/whatever. Crew skill finishes. Proceed to rage.

 

(One of my biggest complaints anyway. That and the overlap of the quest tracker and the right toolbar)

 

And when doing the voidstar the minimap covers up some of your skills. ><

[daemian]

This is just too amusing. It seems like all of these issues are first-world problems that people don't want to work around.

 

That must be the absolute WORST feeling in the world when your WINDOW ACTUALLY CLOSES when you open another one? Wow that must take you at LEAST 1 whole second to do whatever you need to do in that window before you open the other one again. I feel really bad for you man, I'm sorry to hear that.

 

Like I said, bugs and things that TRULY affect your gameplay (like people losing health and the frames not showing it) are really the only things that matter. The rest are just things that just don't "feel" right and the people that "don't like this bar here" and "that button there" are just spoiled as hell and don't want to adjust to a new game.

 

I think it is so funny how people complain about other games being WoW clones, but then whenever the game does something that is actually DIFFERENT than WoW, the moan and complain about it. What do you want? A game that is a clone of WoW, or a game that gives you a fresh experience? Because I am starting to think that people don't really know what they want these days.

 

It has nothing to do with WoW, I don't even play that game. Neither is it a simple matter of adjusting to something new. It's just a question of adding more functionality and usefulness. Over long periods of playing, small inconveniences become tedious and eventually annoying. Small changes could go a long way to alleviating that.

 

For me, that means being able to have all the windows I need open at the same time, and not automatically closing, being able to resize the font and windows, and being able to reposition things where they work best for me. Right now its functionality is limited, and it takes up way too much real estate on my screen, everything is unnecessarily huge, to the point where they overlap.

 

Example: while I'm crafting/RE'ing and auctioning, why do I have to constantly open and close windows every few seconds because I can only see any 2 at a given time?

 

Here's an example of a UI I consider extremely functional:

http://blog.weflyspitfires.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/eve_online_ui.jpg

 

Sure, these are minor issues compared to anything that makes the game unbalanced or unplayable, but making the primary means of interacting with the game a great experience should also rank fairly high as a priority. I love this game, but that doesn't mean there isn't room for improvement.

 

If people have good ideas on how to improve it, there's no reason to sit quietly and just live with it the way it is.

Edited January 9, 2012 by daemian

[Rinkitink]

It doesn't have to be 'bad', but it's impossible to design a single UI that will make everyone happy. Hence addons.

 

On that note, there aren't enough quickslot bars.

 

 

I also hate having everything at the bottom of the screen. I want chat at the bottom, mini map at the top. For that matter, I'd just like to be able to adjust where they are, period. I can only move the chat window.

Edited January 9, 2012 by Rinkitink

[oflow]

1. it cant be resized.

 

2. the windows dont tile. So you cant have more than two windows open, if you do it closes the others.

 

3. When a crew mission completes the crew window pops open closing all your other windows.

 

4. No target of target frame. bad for healers and tanks.

 

5. The debuffs are tiny and you can barely see them.

 

6. parts of the UI overlap each other. The tooltip box is huge and covers the quest tracker.

 

7. The quest tracker wont stay closed it reopens when you zone into a different area.

 

8. The Ops frames arent accurate and dont show healthbars correctly.

 

9. The menu bar at the top of the screen blocks my view of the sky and should be moveable.

 

10. The map window is cumbersome and not user-friendly. Even with the opacity option its awkward to have the map open and move at the same time. Map window needs to be resizeable.

 

11. It doesnt have enough action bars. There needs to be a third action bar in the center.

 

12. The targetting is terrible. Its actually possible to target something behind you by accident.

 

13. Theres no combat log. I dont really care about having damage meters, but actually having a combat log would be nice to actually know whats going on and how abilities effect other abilities.

 

14. No macros

 

15. The target cast bar is so small you cant tell what they are casting for interrupt purposes.

 

I can understand them not wanting to have mods/addons. If thats the case they need to use a more robust default UI like the one Rift has:

 

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sun2SCeSgvc/TV1_Hl5m7qI/AAAAAAAAAFo/jOosKETLlL8/s1600/RIFT+UI.png

 

All components scaleable/moveable.

Edited January 10, 2012 by oflow

[Vydor_HC]

My issues are:

 

- the number of quick bars

- the static placement of the quick bars

- displaying bad or no data in the screens

- some bars overlapping others

- ability state not always correct

[Zapranoth]

Sure, the UI is usable as is, but there's tons of room for improvement. I would prefer that they just start by ironing out some of the maddening bugs... such as the focus target setup.

 

Focus target works great for healers once you get it set up, however, you end up resetting it after virtually every cut scene (and when do you get into some of your toughest fights?). I typically have my companion set up as the focus, and there are times when I have to dismiss and resummon the companion befor I can set up the focus target again. Further, if you have the focus key held down at the moment your enemy is casting, you do not see his cast bar to interrupt.

 

Anyway... it's a young game and I'm sure we'll see improvements as things get prioritized. It's certainly not stopping me from playing a great game

[Mathafern]

My main issue, the one I'll actually cuss at the screen about:

 

ALWAYS THE WRONG WINDOW CLOSES!

 

When the game chooses between two windows I have up, and closes one, it always always always closes the wrong window.

 

I'd also love a 3rd central hotbar. But in general the thing I'd like most is that if I open a window, it stays open till I tell it to close. No more searching deeply on the broker using a really bad search GUI and having the results shut down because a mission completed.

 

I really love so much about this game. I think an amazing job was done with storyline, and 1/2 man content (which is not typical for MMOs). But the window GUI logic is beyond belief to me.

 

I'm at the bank, I have the bank and inventory open, I transfer a mission disco, to read it I have to close the bank- but when I do so my inventory also closes. CUT IT OUT!

 

I'm reading the map, figuring out where to go next, and a mission comes back OH GOOD LORD.

 

Trivial stuff, but seriously, did no one think about these things during development?

[Terans]

I know that this forum is filled with a lot of unneeded whining, but the UI is legitimately lacking in some areas.

 

Consider that the Scoundrel and Operative healing mechanics are based around tracking a buff on each party member, and 2 more on yourself. Now look at the default party window. The buff icons are about 4 pixels on a side, and it's really not possible to tell what is what at a reasonable resolution.

 

So yeah. Some UI changes would be appreciated, just from a quality of life perspective.

 

This. I play a smuggler and it's painful trying to heal with this UI.

 

We also need target of target and mouse over casting.

[ajjw]

Let's look at the main HUD for example: Clicky.

 

Highlighted here in red is useless artwork that does not need to be there: Clicky.

And now in green are the useful parts of the HUD: Clicky.

Here are both the green and red parts together for comparison: Clicky.

 

Now, the total area of the combined red and green parts is 161,125 px squared, of which only 76,226 px squared are actually useful. In other words approximately 52.7% of the bottom centre HUD is completely useless artwork.

 

Now, the above comparison did not take into account the Buffs/Debuffs frame because I wanted to discuss that particular widget here in more detail. Currently there are multiple specs in the game that rely on efficient use of proccs in order to maximise their output (for example, Madness Sorcerers / Balance Sages). In this case, the procc is Wrath | Presence of Mind, which has a 30% chance to make your next cast time nuke fire instantly and deal +20% more damage.

 

When levelling up, it's very easy to spot these proccs because you'll only have 1-2 other Buffs (ie, spotting the Wrath | PoM icon is trivial). Unfortunately this is not the case while in an endgame PvE / PvP scenario, where you will have many more active Buffs. A Sorc / Sage needs to consume this procc before an overlap can occur (ie, the skill proccs again and you effectively lose the first), but this now requires you to stare at this tiny section of the UI instead of enjoying the actual fights / not standing in fire.

 

This also applies to Debuffs on your Target. Spotting which Affliction DoT is yours is trivial while levelling solo or completing small flashpoints, but becomes exponentially more annoying as you move on to 8m / 16m operations. Playing a Madness Sorc / Balance Sage optimally becomes a a chore as you stare at these tiny icons rather than enjoying the actual encounters. Not good.

 

At this point I'm gonna link you an annotated picture of my WoW UI from back in June/July before I quit: Clicky.

 

Now, I've only annotated certain parts, and I want you to read this part carefully: The parts of that screencap that I've annotated are ONLY showing information that is also displayed in the current SW:TOR UI.

 

The reason I say this is because I want you to ignore the Boss Timers, Recount, Threat Meter etc. We're not discussing those here. We're discussing how the SW:TOR doesn't present its information in an efficient manner.

 

So in the picture you can see I've moved and resized various elements depending on their importance.

 

For example, I don't care about my Buffs that last 60mins, so they've been moved to the top corner of my screen out of the way. I also don't care about the majority of my abilities, so they've been scaled down and put in another corner.

 

I do, however, care about MY debuffs on the Target, so those have been filtered and scaled up. I also wanna see the Target's Buffs for if they go Immune, or if they gain something that means I must stop attacking that Target, etc.

 

Debuffs cast on me are important, so they've been moved to the centre of the screen and scaled up to be massive. This way I can react much more efficiently to certain mechanics. In the encounter I screencapped, there is a Debuff that is placed on you which will explode and do massive AoE damage once it expires. Being able to easily and clearly see the remaining duration of this Debuff is vital.

 

And, most importantly, I can see my important Buffs and Proccs near the centre of my screen, and thus can react accordingly and maximise my DPS.

 

I want you to notice one thing: All information has been scaled and relocated according to its importance. There is no useless artwork here: Health/Energy bars use up most of their parent Unit Frames, Action Buttons have no pointless gaps between them and are perfectly square, etc.

 

With the screencapped UI, I could watch the fights. My spell priorities were second nature and so I could literally just enjoy an encounter with only the occasional quick glance away from the action being needed. Throughout Tier11 and the start of Tier12 (before I quit the game), I was ranked globally in the Top10 for Demonology Warlocks on almost every single Heroic encounter, with multiple Top3 parses. And let me tell you, I spent the majority of my time watching the actual encounter, not staring at tiny little Buff Icons and whatnot.

 

TLDR: The current SW:TOR does not present information in an efficient manner and actually requires you to spend a ludicrous amount of your time staring at tiny Buff/Debuff icons instead of enjoying the encounter at hand.

Edited January 9, 2012 by ajjw

[Nepumuk]

The user interface currently presents information vital to my role as healer in a non ergonomic way. As result it draws too much attention away from the world.

[DarthMondo]

Small cast bars,no target of target,need 3 bars at bottom of screen so i can watch cooldowns etc.

No ui scaling, ui bugs all the time resulting in me hitting ctrl and u,u more times than i hit my attack moves.

Ui needs a massive overhaul atm.

Edited January 9, 2012 by DarthMondo

[Dianoia]

1) It needs to be re-sizable

 

2) We need to be able to move everything.

 

3) There needs to be more action bars. And see 1 & 2.

 

4) The "filler" blue graphics need to be removable.

 

5) Give us the ability to see our target's target.

 

6) Allow us to remove/add things at our will. E.g. - Legacy XP bar, Map, Social Info, etc.

 

Anything else anyone can think of?

 

EDIT:

 

7) Ability to see target's casting bar in their frame. See 1 & 2.

Edited January 9, 2012 by Dianoia

[xNonphixionx]

In all honesty, the default UI is pretty much exactly how i would have it lol. The only different is that I would like 3 hotbars along the bottom not 2. But the positioning of everything is perfect and what I like. The only thing I would like to move around freely is the group health bars. I tend to prefer my chat box in the bottom left of the screen and that's where the health bars are. So every time i group i need to move the chat box. This can be fixed by using raid frames but I much prefer the normal frames.

 

People from WOW are just used to having their entire screen covered with UI. Everything from dps meters, threat meters, healing bots, combat logs etc. I always wondered why people play games like that. Like their entire screen covered in User Interface with a little box in the middle that's the actual game.

 

As another poster said...The WORSTE thing about the current UI is how you can only have 2 windows open at once. It's very frustrating when you are shopping on the GTN and your crafting missions complete and close it out on you.

 

To me, this could be solved by just making the crafting finish and add the "pending" in the top right corner as if you didnt claim it yet. Just do that and have the text pop up saying it's done and i'd be golden.

[RichLather]

People like there UI customized the way they want. They are paying 15 bucks a month and deserve to be able to do so. Its pretty simple huh?

Also just to name one bad thing about it as a healer, trying to see or identify dispellable debuffs with the current raid UI is an absolute nightmare, the UI is poorly designed in other ways aswell.

Edited January 9, 2012 by RichLather

[Marlaine]

I can't view the recipes I already have at the same time as the market, because opening the recipe inventory involves first going through the "N" crew screen - and having more than 2 screens open would mean that the dark side wins.

 

Workaround for this. Open N for your companions, at the top are your skills and each have an icon, drag the icon to an action bar. Now you can access your profession without going through the companion window.

 

Sadly, though, sometimes the shortcut icon disappears, and you have to rinse and repeat the process above.

[Folgrin]

Only issues I have is that it keep freezing not letting click anything. So I have to reset it. Very frustrating in pvp.

[Knyghtprowler]

So because you are happy with the simple UI we are given in this game, we the "others" should just swallow it and put our heads down?

 

We require more, which in turn adds to our enjoyment. Just because you are happy with it, doesn't mean it's right or how it should stay.

 

I am in favor of a default UI that is fully customizable in the game, that way people like me can customize it to the moon, and people like you can just keep it default and be happy.

[Smartpatrol]

A lot but to name a few.

 

<snip>

It's easily the least customizable UI in an MMO I've ever seen. Games that were developed nearly a decade ago had more customizable UI's from the start. EQ2 and WOW to name two of them.

 

I agree completely! its not about add-ons its about a basic usage. To name a few:

 

• Movable windows
  
• more than 2 windows open at a time
  
• ability to compare installed equipment mods to ones on the GTM
  
• More hotbars/moveable hotbars
  

 

These are basic modern (MMO's of the last 6+ years) MMO UI features which leads me to believe that the devs have never played another MMO in the lives. Should have done their research.

[fruitofvictory]

The UI isn't great. It is functional but could use some improvements.

 

There are also numerous other small problems with the game.

 

With that said, people tend to overblow and dramatize their issues online, because no one can hold them accountable.

 

The only -real- serious problem with this game is the FPS issues that anyone, regardless of hardware, can be affected by.

 

Everything else is small potatoes and do not detract from this being an excellent product.