Same for me, I stripped out all the 'frilly' borders and made nice clean square frames. Having some type of snap functionality would be nice. Trying to line up windows using the mouse can get frustrating.
I'm hoping that the UI is overhauled entirely, there's so much bloat currently that the "real-estate" of viewing space is often severely compromised in even fairly minimalist setups just because of the "add a ui piece" approach dev teams used for years. Borderless UI sections, snap-to funtionality, scalability all wonderful, and for such an old game a very big project to get the basics right before aesthetics even get a look in. I'd love to see some of the combat & spell button bloat reduced at the same time if it's within the scope of a ui revamp, EQ given a smarter, cleaner UI could be a nice shot in the arm. The UI puts off many would-be players.
It may be very performant but that doesn't mean it doesn't have some limitations that can be removed with a complete overall. Examples include the number of bag slots that can be displayed on the screen at once and that is possible to surpass with the current size bags and number of inventory/bank slots that we have. There could also be some good overhauls to how numbers are displayed to allow for proper formatting no matter how you like it such as 1,000.00 or 1.000,00. Not to mention plenty of other areas that seem to use hard coded values that could likely be recoded to allow for more flexibility. I think a complete rewrite of the system could open up a lot of new possibilities with the UI system with things like making the bank/inventory system display more like the guild bank or like the current system depending on the users preference.
I think the xml config is a bit outdated. if you could support .yaml config and actually document how this stuff works well, that's be nifty. I think equi customization is under-utilized by the player base because it is cryptic as ... pie. *edit* my comment is only about the customization of the eq ui, but more than ease of use and documentation, i also believe the capabilities could be improved. It would be nice if daybreak would host templates or themes on their end, or allow players to continue to create them, but upload them to daybreak via some process, requiring player based vetting (or by dbg). I'd like this to be more integrated with the game, and not require a visit "off-site" to find a custom ui setup".
well its Christmas eve, anyone see a "blue post" on any news or samples of the new UI stuff, I have been playing off and on for years and years. I just want to come back home and stay for a while.
Modernizing the EverQuest user interface is not only about retaining existing players, it's about making EQ palatable for new players. For many years, SOE and subsequent owners took the profits and failed to adequately re-invest into EQ. Reinvesting back into your company with research and development, product upgrades and staffing is what responsible companies do. What we have now, 23 years later, is a user interface that looks like utter crap. Fine in 1999, but wholly inadequate in 2023. IMHO, 2023 is the year that Darkpaw and Jen Chan have to finally deliver on their promises for the UX experience. Also, some word on the future of the EQ franchise needs to be forthcoming as well, as Darkpaw was created to be a studio that solely focuses on EQ both existing and new.
My UIs do look fine even that I do play just on 1280x1024 with very limited space. It does really depend on the users . A collection of junk UIs can be found in about every EQ related YT video. Basically the UI from 1999 was much better because nearly everything was on the right place and most players failed badly in customizing their own UIs after that.
I hope they either work with custom UI developers or at least give us some warning and time to work with the new systems before any sweeping changes: more than just a week on test server, especially if they change it from the current xml. Speaking as the developer for one of the most popular custom UIs, if the changes they make are too complicated or don't allow customization and still keep the graphic style of the default interface, I know a lot of people will be very unhappy.
I would hazard a guess that the "changes" will be so sweeping as to render the whole ecosystem of custom UIs completely unsalvageable. You'll essentially be starting over from zero. I could be wrong, but I don't see "new UI engine" being a simple reskin of the default or just moving around a few buttons.
This is the logical path. Why hire specialists for a reskin when you can really do a job? Sorry custom UI folks - your days are numbered.
Honestly, I dislike UI changes. Currently I have tabless windows ( like it used to be ). A Custom compas. Old default icons (like allakhazam uses). A custom buff window. I don't use tell windows. I can't stand the tabs. Rather have 15 windows functioning for what I want then one big window with tabs.. Soo much frustration in the game when you start because players can't see a message not understanding how tabs work. Recently, buff windows were coded that was a few days to get mine to work, thanks to friends. So as an ex eqinterface UI contributor, changing UI's just are a no for me. IF you were to change it to be more friendly when a person starts to play eq.. GREAT! It is why I didn't go to win 11
There is nothing wrong with the default UI other than scalability with different resolutions. We can all wish for our on personal quirks, but at the end of the UI displays exactly what it needs to.
There is a lot of things wrong with the current UI in things that both players would like to do or devs would like to do that can't really be done due to the way it is setup.
Like what? Scalability at different resolutions and tabs as default are the only things that I find wrong with the default UI. What else are we looking for to keep it functional? I think most people hate the bloat, but that is not going to get fixed until they start consolidating spells and abilities to reduce the number of hotbuttons.
Other than high resolution support, improvements to EQ's user experience is really hampered by the underlying complexity that make the game what it is. There's a lot of little things that can be done to improve that, but I don't think the kind of UI refactor that is in the budget will do that.
Like which items can or can't be combined, or which items are hard coded to be in a specific window/tab. Plenty of those items that limit what can be done with a UI. Also there is the pain of having to make minor changes and keep reloading the UI in order to test it when there should be a better way.
I'll explain this simply. The UI *IS* ergonomic. The EQ community is used to custom orthotics. Don't give us shoes that fit your feet.
