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Item UI Changes

AuthorMessage
Astrologist
Feb 12, 2015
1165
This may sound demanding, but why hasn't it been reverted back yet? Clearly it has been met with universal disapproval, I haven't found a single voice that likes it. In my opinions, Kingsisle is only dragging out their own crisis.

Administrator
Lookit Light on May 4, 2020 wrote:
This may sound demanding, but why hasn't it been reverted back yet? Clearly it has been met with universal disapproval, I haven't found a single voice that likes it. In my opinions, Kingsisle is only dragging out their own crisis.
This is a good and quite valid question! The reason being is that reverting something can be as complicated as implementing something.

Just putting something back the way it was is not always the right answer. In this case, what we need to do is incrementally adjust what's there now, since the foundation is solid, so to speak.

Expect some updates this week on many of these points.

Defender
May 22, 2012
109
Sparck on May 4, 2020 wrote:
This is a good and quite valid question! The reason being is that reverting something can be as complicated as implementing something.

Just putting something back the way it was is not always the right answer. In this case, what we need to do is incrementally adjust what's there now, since the foundation is solid, so to speak.

Expect some updates this week on many of these points.
Isn't that why we have test realm so you can iron out the kinks before bringing a faulty update to live realm? Admit your mistake, revert it and leave it be please.

Survivor
Dec 04, 2013
18
Sparck on May 4, 2020 wrote:
This is a good and quite valid question! The reason being is that reverting something can be as complicated as implementing something.

Just putting something back the way it was is not always the right answer. In this case, what we need to do is incrementally adjust what's there now, since the foundation is solid, so to speak.

Expect some updates this week on many of these points.
Well, I hope I misread that. If by 'incremental adjustment' you mean a complete revert to the old UI for display of item stats, followed by later incremental changes to put gear set info on a pane we can invoke by a right click then we'd be happy.

But I recall it being mentioned that this appalling mess of a UI was said to be the foundation of further changes and my fear is that the current situation will merely be tweaked.

I'm afraid the customer base will take issue with your statement that 'the foundation is solid'.

Astrologist
Feb 12, 2015
1165
Sparck on May 4, 2020 wrote:
This is a good and quite valid question! The reason being is that reverting something can be as complicated as implementing something.

Just putting something back the way it was is not always the right answer. In this case, what we need to do is incrementally adjust what's there now, since the foundation is solid, so to speak.

Expect some updates this week on many of these points.
Ah, I see. You're trying to find that 'in-between' that will work out best. I look forward to seeing what it will be.

Defender
Dec 27, 2014
140
Galen Hawktamer on May 5, 2020 wrote:
Well, I hope I misread that. If by 'incremental adjustment' you mean a complete revert to the old UI for display of item stats, followed by later incremental changes to put gear set info on a pane we can invoke by a right click then we'd be happy.

But I recall it being mentioned that this appalling mess of a UI was said to be the foundation of further changes and my fear is that the current situation will merely be tweaked.

I'm afraid the customer base will take issue with your statement that 'the foundation is solid'.
Well said Galen the current foundation is like building a house on sand. The original UI is solid and does what we need it to, also a very efficient design. I'd hire better developers if I was KI. This is a mess.

Survivor
Jun 03, 2009
2
Sparck on May 4, 2020 wrote:
This is a good and quite valid question! The reason being is that reverting something can be as complicated as implementing something.

Just putting something back the way it was is not always the right answer. In this case, what we need to do is incrementally adjust what's there now, since the foundation is solid, so to speak.

Expect some updates this week on many of these points.
Let me be the first to say on this thread that I love the fix you guys did. I stayed up late just to see if it would be acceptable.

I see it now solves the problem you guys felt for too big of screens while also showing things "at a glance". This is perfect because in the case of the tiny card symbols, veterans will know exactly what it is and newer players can discover by opening further details.

So for me this is a pass, and I commend you and the team for remaining positive and looking for a solution despite harsh criticism. I'm glad you all didn't let people's passion for the game inhibit/intimidate you from making a change, and I'm also glad you LISTENED to the players.

Good Job

Survivor
Dec 04, 2013
18
Well, today's update has brought some significant improvements to the UI and I think it only fair to congratulate KI on listening to the customers. We have back the 'hover over view' of gear now which does show what type of sockets are on the item, whether they are locked, and if not what type of jewel is fitted and the appropriate stats.

If an item has spells we get a tiny icon of the spell which is some improvement but you still don't know what damage it does or how many spells it grants until you click to open up the expanded detail - which of course still needs you to click on the spells tab before you see it. So not much improvement there.

I never found a problem with the larger display of the spell which told you the number granted and what the effect was and I'd have thought it would still be possible to revert to that in a future update. This tiny postage stamp sized icon is not at all impressive and even the one showing the full detail of the spell when you go through the tedious multiple clicking actions is smaller than it used to be and on an HD screen the writing is very small and indistinct. I don't want to drop my screen resolution to be able to read things on the UI.

Can we please have an option to use larger display pictures for spells if you really still consider that there is a small minority disadvantaged by low resolution screens?

Mastermind
Mar 13, 2010
328
Bravo. This is what the new UI should have looked like from the beginning.

Survivor
Nov 19, 2009
19
Sparck on May 1, 2020 wrote:
Apologies about the delay, but please understand that this isn't a quick fix. You can't just change something on the fly, as much as we would like to. You risk making it worse that way.

There is another update coming out next week that addresses some of these concerns. Thank you for your patience as we work through them!
Well, it's a LITTLE better. But, there is a but. I have two very good friends who play that suffer from low vision. I'm pretty sure they are going to still have trouble with the TINY little box that shows the school a wand hits with. I'm old but my eyes are fairly good and I have to squint at it. It's better but putting it back the way it was would be best.

Explorer
May 07, 2010
70
first off, great start with improvements to the ui! i think this is the right direction to getting the "happy medium" of a condensed new ui with the same user-friendliness & utility of the old. especially thankful that jewels were added back in full on hover now some suggestions/thoughts:
  • i think the spell card icons on gear are a bit too small, its difficult to even notice theyre there, even on the huge ui setting. my suggestion is, if its only 1 card, why not make it a bigger icon (or even the full card)? make it similar to the old ui - the cards scale down when theres more than 1, with 3 being the smallest but perhaps still a bit bigger than they are now?
  • ive also heard from some people about how its hard not being able to see how many copies of each card we get on gear when hovering. for this, i think the pip idea we see in expanded view is great! maybe this can be used next to card icons on hover to show copy count. i understand this might be hard on cards like wand hits though, where you get many copies, so showing that with pips next to such small icons might not work. still, worth checking if its possible?
  • theres a lot of "dead space" on the ui, which seems counterintuitive if the goal was condensing it. theres a gap under no auction/no trade/etc. icons and now a gap under jewels. both could be removed.
  • jumping off of the last point, i really feel that the "ctrl+click" graphic takes up way too much space... is there a way to reimagine it? maybe change it to a "right-click" graphic (i think most people prefer that shortcut anyway, though id love to hear otherwise), and/or find a way to keep it to one line?
  • additionally, the "ctrl+click" graphic is still on some items that definitely dont need it, like jewels. overall, i think that if an item has no cards and no adjustments, then there shouldnt be an "expanded view" & the ctrl+click graphic shouldnt show up at all. but heres an idea: as an example, most athames arent part of a set (yet?) and dont come with cards, so expanded view and the ctrl+click graphic are pointless. however, if you add a card via a triangle jewel to an athame, maybe that then adds expanded view capability to the item and thus adds the ctrl+click graphic. another example: for an amulet with a card but no item set, maybe the "adjustments" tab in expanded view wouldnt be available in that case, but the spells tab would be? i hope this makes sense. im not sure how complex this would be to code, but i think it would be very beneficial to the ui design if its possible!
  • finally, small detail, but i heard from some that the ctrl+click graphic feels out-of-place stylistically as well. maybe if it does get redone, something as small as changing the tiny arrow pushing down on the mouse key to a star or spiral could be enough to make it feel more "wizard-y".

i hope that wasnt too long, and i hope this feedback has some merit. thank you for reading

Armiger
Feb 25, 2009
2425
NightPoe on May 7, 2020 wrote:
Well, it's a LITTLE better. But, there is a but. I have two very good friends who play that suffer from low vision. I'm pretty sure they are going to still have trouble with the TINY little box that shows the school a wand hits with. I'm old but my eyes are fairly good and I have to squint at it. It's better but putting it back the way it was would be best.
Agreed. I wear glasses anyway and I feel as if I need a magnifying glass in addition to see something that should not have been changed in the first place.

The fact that the Devs chose to make a change that was asked for 5-6 years ago and ONLY on 3 very short threads just doesn't make sense.

https://www.wizard101.com/forum/the-dorms/item-set-bonus-8ad6a41446ae24380146b6e825f068bd

https://www.wizard101.com/forum/the-dorms/armor-set-bonus-8ad6a4154c98265a014c9b9bfac51c9e

https://www.wizard101.com/forum/the-dorms/idea-for-110-balance-gear-with-a-set-bonus-effect-8ad6a414518b2e3e0151ab8bbf1c6f68

Instead of making useless changes, it would have been more of a benefit to FIX issues that have been around for a a long time. Now, we have more issues and no fixes that work for many players. Infact, there are so many more glitches, most of us don't know where to begin.

Survivor
Aug 01, 2015
15
They should just have a setting to change it back to the old user-interface. I HATE the new setup!