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Unread 02-12-2007, 03:59 PM
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Cairenn Cairenn is offline
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I had this posted in the (US) Beta UI forum, but since NDA is gone, I think it's okay for me to post it here now as well. Just a bunch of thoughts I've had so far with how the interface stands at the moment:

Quote:
I know some of these may have been covered already, but things I've noticed, or not noticed and wish was there to notice (and yes, I know, some of it may not precisely be "Interface" per sae, but so much of it is inter-related). In no particular order:

1. Out of Combat click-to-move: ie for looting, talking to NPCs, etc. Being able to right-click move to target would be nice. At the moment, you can only click-to-move IN combat. As a ranger, I don't want to move while in combat. But when I go to loot or talk to a_random_NPC_001, being able to do so would be nice.

2. Change Server option on the character select screen. At the moment the only way you can change which server you are on is to log all the way out and back in again. It would be nice to be able to change which server you are on from the character select screen.

3. Character Location on the character select sceen. It'd be nice to be able to see where your character(s) is in the world before logging in.

4. Auto-switch crafting tools. You auto-switch from ranged to melee and back again, depending on distance from mob. As long as you've got the crafting tools in your inventory, it would be nice if it auto-selected the appropriate tool for the situation.

5. UI Scaling. A big one. Some people want their UIs larger. Others want them smaller. Being able to scale individual elements would be even sweeter, but knowing how much work is involved, even one slider for the entirety would be nice.

6. Player Created Chat Channels. Let us make our own channels. Nice for folks that have friends in different kinships, etc. At present, the only way to talk to folks outside your own kinship is either in the general channels or in IMs. IMs don't work so well when you've got all kinds of folks that want to be able to chat together at the same time, and spamming the general channels with what is [almost] private conversations is just being inconsiderate to everyone else in those channels.

7. Chat Filtering/Colouring. Further to 6, being able to better filter your chat/combat would be nice. Using the combat as a specific example: I want to see the damage I do and that is done to me. I want to see the deaths I cause. I don't care about the damage done, deaths caused, by other players. At the moment, if I have deaths turned on so I can see my own, I see everyone's. Also, allow greater colour choices for (again most specifically) combat. Damage I do vs damage done to me vs critical hits vs ranged vs ... you get the idea.

8. More on Chat. Right now, you can't control your character's movement and chat at the same time. If you are running when you start to chat, you keep running in the same direction. You can't stop, you can't change direction, nadda. If you need to do any of those, you either have the choice of sending your incomplete message, or wiping it completely, doing what you need to do with your character movement, then re-type it all.

9. Player Created Maps/Map Notes. Let us add our own labels/points of interest/map notes, call them what you will. In the middle of Bree, being able to stick my own pin into the large map saying that my ranger trainer is [here] would be nice. Over all, the entire mapping system needs work, imo. Given the state of maps at the moment, I'm hopeful that there will be the ability for player created maps that can be viewed in game.

10. Give us the ability to have a clock or some such. Some people like to be able to see what [RL] time it is right on their screen. Make it optional, so those that don't want it aren't required to have it, but those that do, can.

11. Colouring of PC vs NPC vs Mob Level names. Player and Non-Player character names are all the same if you aren't in a kinship. I would really like to have names turned on, but it makes it impossible to find the NPCs when you are in a busy area. If you are in a kinship, the Player Names [titles, kinship name, etc] are the same colour as the light blue mob con.

12. No idea on a "short" name for this, so: Almost everything you interact with within the world requires right-clicking. That's pretty standard. Except when you go to open your bags. They are a left-click. Right click to loot a mob, left click to open the bag, right click to equip that neat drop you just got. I'm *always* right-clicking on the bags. Just seems like I should be. Having to left click to open them constantly confuses me.

13. Something I'm pretty sure I haven't seen brought up anywhere yet. "Viewport". The ability to "scale" the visible world, leaving a "blank" area top/bottom/left/right of the screen in which to put your chat windows, action bars, etc. That way those elements aren't "covering" the view of the world. Not for everyone, but lots of folks like it. Users choose how much of the top/bottom/left/right of the screen they want to have "blank" in which to put the various elements.

14. Mouse-controlled movement. At the moment, I can't bind mouse keys to movement. Being able to do so would be nice. (This would also help with #8 above, in that at the very least you could stop your character's forward movement using your mouse, without losing your chat messages.)

15. Kinship/Friendship notes. Let us add notes to various UI elements. Kinship_member_05 is Kinship_member_02's alt. Friend_001 is actually [Tom] your rl friend from [somewhere], friend_002 is in [this timezone] and can only play at [this] time.

16. Unfortunately ... Ignore lists. You've got the ability to add friends. There currently is no way to ignore people, that I've discovered. While it's sad to be needed, it will be. Person_001 is a complete and utter jerk and you want to have nothing to do with them. You don't want to see messages from them, you don't want to see emotes from them, you want to be blissfully unaware of their presence. These folks will need the ability to have notes as well, so you remember why you are ignoring them. Person_001 is a spammer, person_002 KS's, person_003 was harassing you.


More to come, just [some of] what I have so far ...
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