Dev Discussion Episode 40: Midscreen Messaging Improvements

Hello everyone! With the Episode 40 update, we've included some adjustments to some of the messaging HUD elements. Among these include:

• Some element art for important system and content messages
• Repositioned some of the midscreen elements
• A new element in the lower right-hand corner for less important messages and notifications

As you experience these, please feel free to leave your comments and questions in this thread! As always we appreciate your feedback!

The received items UI covers the second row of text of selected missions.

Yeah I like the fact it's off to the right and slides away, it's kind of cool, but it's positioned poorly and overlaps the journal entry information, perhaps you could move the journal entry text somewhere else to avoid this.

Perhaps also make the text for the "loot" a bit smaller as well?

TBH despite the fact I like the midscreen messaging as well when say a boss is doing something, I find it to be a bit big, is it possible to also make that a bit smaller?

I'd like to say that the mid-screen popups during fights are great. It's giving people more awareness within game, which benefits everyone.

Midscreen Messaging

"In this update, we worked clear some of the messaging noise from the center of the screen. Messages that display in the center of the screen have been reformatted to be more apparent.

We also added a new Notifications Update section in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. This will include messages like loot, quest updates, and various other information that used to be presented in the middle of the screen. We also moved some messages to the chat box."

I don't think this is working the way you wanted it to, because when loot is dropping, all the texts and items mix up with the objectives/missions that are usually in that right bottom corner. I know you might have thought of it as the better option, but it isn't.

Another thing is while doing open world missions, we're now getting constant updates of killing adds or clicking on cogs, which also appear in the bottom right corner.

Even in alerts and raids, we always have the bottom right texts such as: "Defeat Queen Diana" and when loot drops (for example nth metal) during the fight, it's quite annoying to look at it, as it's way too messy at times.

I don't think anybody complained about it before, it was already good enough and I'm wondering if we could have the loot appear in the middle again?

Thanks for reading.

I really like the move to get messaging out of the center of the screen during combat.

• Maybe make the feed area a tightly defined area that begins under the objectives area scrolling off the bottom of our screens, OR above the objectives area but instead of scrolling off the screen (and through the objectives) like it does, it would end at the top of the objectives area.
• Additionally, suggest tightening the leading (space between the lines) of the feed based on the icons height. The item names aren't needed to be that large and readable (even on a TV) because the icon is already there to communicate that information and players can see the item names in their inventory later. So, you could drop the font size 2-4 sizes no problem. It'll also help with longer item names like this time capsule running up too much real estate. Ideally the font size of a 2 line item wouldn't exceed more than half the height of the icon.

I like the new messaging simply because of a weird glitch that affects one of my characters and only one of my characters. Every time I switch armoury I’m told I’ve learned a bunch of abilities even though I have said abilities unlocked on all armouries. Nice to have all that out of the way.

I think the journal and quest tracker should just be moved to underneath the mini map.

I like it, but as others have mentioned and shown it does overlap the mission/journal text and the text/icons could be made smaller as well.

One thing I do not like that is related to the HUD but not related to this specifically, is the collection notifications. I often purchase a lot of collections off the broker on my alts and the notification pop up makes it really difficult to see the broker so I can purchase more. So I usually have to wait until they go away, which can take a while if you purchase a bunch of collections.

It's not a huge issue, but moving it so that we can continue to see the broker would help out greatly in that situation.

I have a curious question, do you increase your screen scale? Because I tested this out and noticed that when you have "Screen Scale" reduced all the way down it doesn't do this anymore.

Personally I play with my Screen Scale all the way at max, it's just a preference and I'm not sure Carp has given any consideration here to the way these notifications scale with that feature, when you have screen scaling set at maximum it starts to overlap as you've shown.

See above.

As people point out, it's a nice change, but it overlaps mission as well as the spacing between them are just too much. Tighten up the lines, I think it will fix both problems.

Hello Carp,

Not sure where to mention this but I've noticed the map UI no longer shows group members anymore. Not sure if this is intended or it will be added with the phase shift UI update. The radar seems to be working fine at the moment, it is just the full map while grouped in any current map/instance. Just bringing it up in case this was an unintended change. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely: Brav

I play with the scale at minimum because it helps me to watch the group's health when healing, and I suffer the overlapping. What is the resolution of your screen?

This overhaul was long overdue. I know someone had mentioned making the messaging smaller; I disagree. Having an option to change the size would be fine, but you’ve done something incredible for new players. Messaging in combat is so much clearer now, and with so many new players jumping in with flashpoint, messaging for blocks and lunges are invaluable.

One recommendation unrelated to this messaging system though: better messaging on stats. Similar to the artifact window’s dialog boxes, the stats page in your inventory should clearly define what each stat is. I know you can click for a drop down description, but I don’t believe many new players are exploring there inventory tabs for this information. Particularly I’ve seen many CR skip toons that have healer and controller artifacts equipped. I know that some players experiment with crazy set ups, but these players are very clearly new and uninformed. I would hate for newbies to dump time and money into an artifact they can’t use. Maybe artifacts should be locked role-specific? Separate topic altogether, but I believe players should be welcomed to by dialogs informing them about which stats are good for which roles upon opening the stats tab for the first time. Increase font and bold/yellow text when referencing certain roles ex. CONTROLLER Role.

Thank you

Oh actually tbh I was playing in window mode on a pc, so the res is probably something funky.

edit - the monitor is 1080, the res in game is reporting as 1797x1011

Well, I found the less important messages distracting in that position; it is even more distracting when grouped with other players and a team mate happens to be in that lower right hand corner with messages happening at the same time. The open world defeat updates are even worse, as those notifications look like spam because they scroll up so fast. Some notifications are being repeated, as in the prom box drops and time capsule drops. Those notifications already pop up in the upper part of the screen, so I do not think we need to see it in the lower right hand corner of the screen as well.

Suggestion: Please consider providing an option to change the way those lower right hand corner notifications work, such as how many we see, and the timing of those notifications and choose which ones we want to see. For example, I would only have collections, in game currency drops and mission objectives show up there and I would time them to be 3 seconds apart. That way, the messages can be "read" for that part of the screen and it wont be distracting as it currently is.

Note: I play this game on the PS4.