Poll: What do you think about the new changes made to global cooldown UI in 1.1.2?

[bandraoi]

All this cosmetic crap to cover up ability delay and missions like defend the shipment are still broken 2 months since launch and they have essentially fixed only a handfull of problems..sigh.

[tcalusine]

I voted "Terrible". I'm not going to be dramatic and say I have some nausia from it or anything, I just dislike it tecnically. For reasons already mentioned i'm sure, GDC flash, darkening, the ability to see if a skill will be available after GDC is gone?

 

I think I remember the 1st iteration being preferable. The second I was just getting used to before the third now. Maybe some combo between what worked in the 1st and 2nd would work best for me.

[Duffz]

The poll is to cement the feeling of the forum community. Stephen already acknowledged that the UI will be changed. There is absolutely no justification for ridicule. Voice your displeasure in a mature, adult way, and provide a possible solution.

 

The Problem is that some people can't play due to headaches or feel that the new GCD animation ruined their gameplay experience. Telling us that the UI will be changed isn't enough. We need a constructive feedback about what will be changed and when we can expect a patch. But you're right, there is no justification for ridicule.

 

BTW, does writing in yellow and playing sheriff make you feel special?

Edited February 8, 2012 by Duffz

[Shizzaster]

remember the addon omni cc from wow? make it like that with little numbers counting down id love that

[gryhmr]

The major fact is: The change makes people sick as well as work horrifically for people it doesn't. they are taking down servers tonight but its to fix a problem in Ilum which is already a worthless zone without kills counting. Meanwhile people like me cant play at all until they do something but I guess that isn't a priority.

[JohnnyLuck]

The constant flashing of the toolbars gives me a headache. I would be nice to have the old toolbar back or at least be able to toggle off the flashing.

[Frigidman]

I think this was a ploy to get more people using the PTS, since I can assure you, the next patch they push to PTS that incorporates any UI changes, is going to have a LOT more players diving onto it to see if they screwed up again, so to warn them earlier.

 

PvP updates won't save a game.

 

Fixing the WALL (which is called a UI) between the user, and all the glories a game could have including pvp stuff™, will. If you are fighting a dysfunctional UI, who cares what lay beyond it?

 

Fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals.

[IanSmith]

My biggest problem with the new cooldown UI is that when I pop an ability, everything else kind of . . . I guess "whites out" is the best way to describe it, which makes it very difficult for me to see what's getting ready to come off of cooldown until just before the GCD is up. I think it's more of an annoyance than anything else, but I'd like to be able to plan what my next ability is going to be more than .5 seconds before I'm going to need to press the button.

 

Edit: Naroga's post upthread (which appears to have been repeatedly quoted) gives a perfect description of this.

Edited February 8, 2012 by IanSmith

[aethyrium]

It feels like a programmer messed up his inheritance models somewhere in relation to cooldowns. The new system works fantastic for abilities on cooldown, but the problem is that now the gcd is being treated the same as an ability cooldown, causing all abilities to undergo the darkening, wipe, flash animation.

 

If it was working as intended, the gcd animation would be unobtrusive like before, and the abilities on cooldown would have the new animation. I think that was the original intention. Inheritance can be easy to fudge like that when you're new to coding.

 

But at the end of the day, if it isn't broke, don't fix it. The old visual aspect was perfect outside of needing some numbers for the cooldowns. Go play WoW with the omnicc counter mod and you'll never go back to vanilla. Same situation here. we need un-intrusive animations with real info backing them up.

 

Minimize distraction and maximize (only) vital info

[Hermanlee]

remember the addon omni cc from wow? make it like that with little numbers counting down id love that

 

This! For the love of god this!

[Kaphik]

There's a lot of misplaced anger and frustration here in this thread, and others on this topic. I am personally happy that BioWare created this poll and how very much aware they are of the community's feelings. This is a very, very good direction to be headed in.

[avinknight]

Since you asked, here ya go:

 

WoW got it right. Just do it like they do. Most of your player base come from there anyway. Its a standard enough feature and swtor doesnt have any mitigating circumstances that make that impossible. Why rock the boat?

 

My $0.02.

[Inspirator]

I selected good because it's an improvement over the prior effect which was an improvement over the previous. However, it still needs improvement because it's too hard to pick up sometimes that some skills which are on global cooldown will be able to be used when it goes off.

 

The best result for me of is that I never once tried to use a skill which was still on global cooldown with the change, but at the expense that I wasn't always as ready to attempt to use some skills that met their specific conditions when they came off the global.

 

Before trying it yesterday I was worried that it was going to be a problem because I generally hate flashing lights in games, but this didn't bother and I wouldn't even consider it flashing since it was just a grey to light shift. I think maybe some players must have a much higher screen contrast and bloom setting than I do, or I don't get what's causing their issue. Except for those with medical issues, and I should never have to sacrifice what's best because of their issue when an option can be added to accomodate their specific needs.

 

Finally, some have suggested a countdown timer on each skill on cooldown and this would be very annoying unless it was quite small and nondistinct.

 

Keep up the improvements...your heading in the right direction.

[Akkela]

I do understand, and I'm sure I'd be rather upset that a game I enjoy playing suddenly physically effected me in a negative way. Just give a detailed explanation of what happened, a possible solution to the problem, and then let others do the same. That's really the most productive way of getting this handled as quickly as possible.

 

^I agree with this. Productive feedback is the key.

 

 

As to what I voted. I like it.

I'm not getting sick from the 'flashes,' and I can clearly see if something is still on cooldown. It works for me.

 

Now I can understand others may have issues with it, but I am confident that Bioware is working on it (hence this thread). I saw someone mention different formats to show cooldowns that can be turned on and off from the preference menu (such as number count down over the abilities on cooldown, or turn off the UI bar flashes, or deeper shade of grey for abilities on cooldown). I like this suggestion and while it will not make everyone happy, it will give people an option to customize it a little to their preference.

[gryhmr]

yeah its probably the worst handling of a game breaking issue in mmo history. i knew EA would be horrible customer support but i did not think in a million years they would see people getting ill off a product and shrug it off as ********.

[GamewizX]

Oh I'm sure the Bioware devs won't have their feelings hurt. It's clear they don't read the forums anyways! *rimshot*

 

See? The rimshot makes all the difference.

 

 

The Problem is that some people can't play due to headaches or feel that the new GCD animation ruined their gameplay experience. Telling us that the UI will be changed isn't enough. We need a constructive feedback about what will be changed and when we can expect a patch. But you're right, there is no justification for ridicule.

 

BTW, does writing in yellow and playing sheriff make you feel special?

 

I agree that a post is necessary of what will be changed and when. They aren't going to withhold that information just because they like to make their customers mad. Once they have that information available, they'll provide it.

 

And I've been posting in yellow since I first joined the forums back in 2009. That's not changing anytime soon.

[MasterDarkHero]

Jedi Sentinel here, I have trouble telling if something is off cool down AND that I have enough focus for it during the GCD.

 

You could possibly make the top of the ability (above the GCD line) brighter or even normal shade when I have enough focus for it.

[Ellotheth]

My opinion has already been articulated:

 

Two: Using ANY ability causes all of your abilities to go grey and they don't fade back in until after the Global Cooldown is up. This is a huge problem when you're a class that spams abilities every second, such as a Jedi Sentinel. Basically, the abilities never light back up and are in a constant state of fading grey and flashing. Because of this, you can't tell what abilities are ready, whether or not you're in range, or if you have enough resources to use the ability.

 

3. Skills should remain lit in some way if they are available for use despite the GCD being in effect. While you may argue that one should know one's "rotation" or "priority", there are times during encounters where that rotation is going to be of lesser importance than movement and be disrupted.

Essentially, I need to see the differences among:

• An ability that is on a long cooldown
  
• An ability that is on the GCD but will be available when the GCD completes
  
• An ability that is on any cooldown and will not be available when the cooldown completes (due to resource requirements, range requirements, etc.)
  

Edited February 8, 2012 by Ellotheth

[equeslux]

This has probably been addressed but the flashing? Really bad. In fact worse than bad horrendous, even egregious. Take it away before those of us with mild epilespy die of unnecessary seizures. Take it away NOW!!!

[Keta]

I agree that a post is necessary of what will be changed and when. They aren't going to withhold that information just because they like to make their customers mad. Once they have that information available, they'll provide it.

 

I think you're a tad optimistic about their communications in this area. They have said they're going to change it. What they haven't acknowledged on these forums is that they're changing things for those of us who cannot play the game due to their UI change. For all we know all they're doing is addressing the problem that some folks are having with telling which abilities are going to be available when the GCD is up and nothing else. Am I a pessimist? Apparently in this case I am, but then again, they've earned it. A bit more communication would have gone a long ways.

 

Oh as for the colour of you posts... just tell people you're not posting in yellow, you're posting in Golden Rod. Let them prove otherwise.

[Blasphemerr]

This should be an in-game poll. Forum posters are inherently the complaining sect of your game and such all results are skewed toward their opinions.

[Shivetya]

why don't you guys just admit your failures and go copy WOW please.

 

Damn, I am so tired of a UI that is pure trash being passed off to paying customers.

[HKtheindomitable]

Statement: I don't mind it. I liked the first one better, but I'm starting to get used to this one. If BioWare would get more feedback on the PTS forum, they would be able to deploy these things better. Most don't realize this and rage quit.

[Necothefreeko]

I dislike the new UI a lot.

 

There are two main problems:

 

One: The Global Cooldown causes ALL abilities to flash when it's up. This means all of your bars will flash white every 1.5 seconds.

 

Two: Using ANY ability causes all of your abilities to go grey and they don't fade back in until after the Global Cooldown is up. This is a huge problem when you're a class that spams abilities every second, such as a Jedi Sentinel. Basically, the abilities never light back up and are in a constant state of fading grey and flashing. Because of this, you can't tell what abilities are ready, whether or not you're in range, or if you have enough resources to use the ability.

 

I play a Sentinel and it is almost impossible to determine when abilities are off cooldown. During my hardmode raid last night, my entire UI was constantly greyed out or flashing, which made it impossible to determine which abilities could be activated.

 

I could not monitor Merciless Slash, Cauterize, Overload Saber and Zealous Strike properly. I basically had to guess when each was ready to use. The other raiding Sentinel in my guild was having the same issues.

 

And don't get me started on the flashing every 1.5 seconds...

 

 

 

So yeah this guy is 100% right!!! It's the same for Warriors too!! Now I am a huge fanboy of this game, like huge, but the fact that the devs released a "fix" for a very minor issue that made it so that all of my abilities look unavailable all of the time has me a bit worried. I love the game, but I do expect a bit better from maintenance. Did anyone look at this before it was released?

 

 

Off topic, but CAN WE PLEASE HAVE MACROS SINCE YOU GAVE US 9000 ABILITIES TO USE!!!!!!

 

Sincerest regards,

 

Necodemus

Edited February 8, 2012 by Necothefreeko

[vincent-]

You guys really need to look at going with a circle timer the vertical timer is just awful. Just as importantly the box needs a color on it to indicate it's locked out like being red or something.