New UI suggestions

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by Corwyhn Lionheart, Jan 7, 2023.

  1. Corwyhn Lionheart Guild Leader, Lions of the Heart

    I seem to recall reading that Daybreak are working on a new UI or UI upgrade. At this point DB may have a lot of their design plans locked in but just in case they don't......

    One thing I would like to see if slightly wider resizing borders. With a 4k display (at least for me) it takes a lot of effort to resize windows because the window edge where the resize becomes available is very thin.

    Being able to save font sizes over 5 in windows so that you don't have to set it each time you log in would be nice also (but I bet that's already in the new design)
  2. Fanra https://everquest.fanra.info

    Number One request: All text in the chat window should be able to be right clicked and then it shows which filter category the text belongs to so you can then move that type of chat to the chat window of your choice (or mark as Hide in Options).
    • A way to not close a chat window if you accidentally hit the X in the corner. It was not fun when I did this, I had to create a new window, and then try to remember all the filters that went to that window.
    • Options > Chat should let you Show/Hide every category
    • More categories of chat, so you can fine tune what you see and what you don't.
    Wdor, Brontus, Joules_Bianchi and 4 others like this.
  3. Xianzu_Monk_Tunare Augur

    Number Two Request: Change the Item Display Windows to be more like the original UI style but with tabs instead of this hardcoded crap.

    The current Item display window is all over the place for size. If you are trying to compare modern armor pieces, then you can end up with the Item display windows taking up 1/2 of your screen if you are using a monitor for which the current UI is intended. Now this may be less of an issue if you are using 1080p, 1440p, or larger monitors, but even then the size differences are insane, especially when the majority of the information could be placed in a much smaller space if not for everything that is hardcoded into the window.
    Corwyhn Lionheart likes this.
  4. Strawberry Augur

    If you are going to make a new UI. Look at WoW.

    Regardless of what you think of WoW as a game, the WoW UI is fantastic.

    -The whole WoW UI can be scaled with one slider.

    -All WoW abilities have a proper colored icon assigned to it by default.

    -If you hover over abilities, you can clearly see what it is called and what it does.

    -You can clearly see the timer of an ability in WoW. In EQ if you assign a colored icon to an action, it is really hard to see the timer.

    -WoW has a clear visual map and minimap with markers. Hello EQ, can we finally get maps.

    -You can actually read the text on the WoW map because it's big. You need a magnifying glass to read text on EQ maps.

    -the XP bar is within the UI, you don't have to constantly open your character window like in EQ.

    -WoW limits the use of blue text. There are many people who use the built in Windows blue filter, or f-lux, or use blue filtered glasses. Blue becomes incredibly hard to read with those filters. WoW knows this and always uses a warm background color with black text for both quests and maps.
  5. Manafasto Augur

    I mean it would not be copying WoW. SWG had a clean UI at one time.
  6. Strawberry Augur

    I'm not familiar with it, but it does look a lot cleaner than EQ's UI.
  7. aalith New Member

    Wow UI is actually garbage though, this is why 99% of people use addons to replace literally every element within in. Even after the overhaul
    Ozon, Joules_Bianchi, Lisard and 2 others like this.
  8. Waring_McMarrin Augur

    Even with that fact it is still nice to have a UI that is that flexible.
  9. Strawberry Augur

    People use addons in WoW, not because the UI is bad, the UI is great. But because WoW actively supports addons. It is childsplay to add an addon to WoW.

    [IMG]
  10. code-zero Augur

    I've never played WoW for any length of time but my friends that do all insist that I'd like it just fine if I used their offsets or whatever other stuff they were using for UI. It is apparently obvious to a lot of WoW players that the standard UI is a hot mess express and needs to be thrown out.
  11. Strawberry Augur

    Both EQ and WoW's UI with addons look like a mess at the high-end of the game.

    That's why I insist something has to be done to reduce EQ's AA and ability complexity before the UI is fixed.

    You can't fix the UI of your game when it looks like the cockpit of a Jumbo Jet.

    [IMG]


    However, the basic WoW UI is great. It's incredibly intuitive, easy to use, and has plenty of accesibility features.

    [IMG]
  12. Waring_McMarrin Augur

    Yes, we understand that you prefer a minimalist UI and control system but that isn't what what everyone else wants. There is a reason that the addon UI's look like they do and that is because it is what people want and find useful. And those are just one way that the EQ/WoW interface can look based on how the user sets it up. You are also showing a very basic stage of the WoW interface with a low level character that doesn't have any need for much else yet.
    code-zero likes this.
  13. Strawberry Augur

    There's a reason why people want a new UI. If the UI is fine the way it is, why is there talk about updating the UI.

    There are several reasons why a more intuitive and minimalistic UI is useful.

    -It is useful for new players.
    -It is useful for returning players who need to set up their UI from scratch to have a simpler UI.
    -It is easier for developers to both implement and support simpler UI.
    -Simpler UI and more intuitive UI are much easier to scale without overlapping windows. People talk about wanting larger text in the game, that's not going to work if the UI is a mess where there's no room to scale text.
    -It is easier for the community to design addons if the UI code is simplified.

    I believe many people play on TLP for nostalgic and community reason, but I also believe it is due to the simplicity of the UI and the limits the game puts on the number of abilities.
  14. CatsPaws No response to your post cause your on ignore

    To me this one from WOW looks close to the same as EQo_O

    [IMG]
  15. Waring_McMarrin Augur

    People wanting a new UI is because the current one is very clunky to work with and modify. It has nothing to do with the complaints that you have and wanting to make an over simplified UI with almost nothing on it. As I said in my previous posts there is a reason most custom UI's and Addon's look like they do and that is because it has the setup people want and need.
    code-zero and Rijacki like this.
  16. Strawberry Augur

    It seems to have everything to do with it, since many people share my concerns. This is just from a 30 second forum search.

    EQ UI too clustered with spells and abilities compared to WoW, complaint thread:

    https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq/index.php?threads/eq-ui.219554/

    EQ UI font too small complaint threads:

    https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq...ything-too-small-to-read.287918/#post-4188307

    https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq/index.php?threads/changin-ui-font-size.252835/

    https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq/index.php?threads/change-font-size.234882/

    EQ UI doesn't scale complaint threads:

    https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq...-for-a-larger-ui-or-way-to-enlarge-ui.283048/

    https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq/index.php?threads/ui-scaling.238526/

    https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq/index.php?threads/higher-resolution-monitors.275542/

    And it's not just this forum. Actual gameplay sites complain about the confusing EQ UI and map system.

    Kotaku reviewing EQ in 2019, complaining about the confusing UI and confusing map.

    https://www.kotaku.com.au/2019/04/the-original-everquest-has-not-aged-well/
  17. Strawberry Augur

    And btw, these complaint threads about EQ's UI and EQ's font not properly scaling will only grow as people buy higher and higher resolution monitors.

    I mean I've tried EQ on 4k resolution for the heck of it, and you literally needed a magnifying glass to read the text on maps, literally.

    In a world where resolutions can be anywhere from 720p to 4k, your UI has to scale properly. The UI itself and the text from quests and chat. And it has to do that intuitively with a slider or percentage setting.

    It's called responsive design, and it's not a choice, it's a cornerstone of proper UI development.
  18. Strawberry Augur

    That's not what I said was it. I said some AA and abilities need to be consolidated.

    When each class has hundreds of different AA abilities, tons of activated abilities, glyphs, clickies, spell effects, combat abilities, etc...maybe it's time we cut down on the bloat.

    When the AA window needs 6 tabbed pages, its own drop down menu and expansion sorting, to find the AA you are looking for, an alarm bell should have gone off with the developers. This is too much bloat.

    Something as simple as properly scaling the font of that AA window...is not going to work with so much bloat. You're going to have to come up with a solution that doesn't involve scrolling down for 4 pages of AA because you increased the font size.

    Not to mention you can't properly scale content like that. A whole different issue, but it's related to the massive differences in how characters use AA.

    EQ's bloat actively hinders getting to a streamlined UI.
  19. Waring_McMarrin Augur

    And all of those threads are reasons why they are looking to do a UI revamp but outside of the first thread there doesn't seem to be a call for a UI as minimalist as you are asking for. Even in that first thread it is just asking for a reduction and does not appear to be asking for as drastic of a change as you are.

    Again, this is likely why they have a UI revamp in the post 2022 roadmap that they posted last year.
  20. Waring_McMarrin Augur

    And those type of conidiations have nothing to do with UI changes in general.
    Rijacki likes this.