Official petition for the new skill GUI (to be improved)

[Khalem]

Im bored, and i find http://forums.anarchy-online.com/sho...d.php?t=459674 overwhelmingly constructive and somewhat amusing since there is no way Funcom is gonna add back old, semi broken GUI code when they finally managed to get rid of the last pieces of the antiquated beast after 3 years.

Attention Funcom,

this thread is a petition for the new GUI implemented in 16.3 to recieve the following improvements:

• Skill window
  
  • Color code the skill bars in the new skill GUI
  • Improve the speed of opening the skill GUI [Know its being worked on already before the patch went live, but listing anyways]
  • Add a warning to the Map Navigation skill thart it cannot be reset
• Mouse wheel scroll
  
  • Require zoom to hold down CTRL to activate in line with the other camera movement functions like CTRL + Right Mouse.
  • Make zooming in and out not affect the camera angle if the character moves or the camera hits an obstacle unless the player is also adjusting camera angle.
• Map window
  
  • Make the buttons smaller, or add an option to use small icons to duplicate the button functionality like we had in the old GUI, thus allowing us to retain full map functionality while at the same time not waste space.
  • Fix the bug where large squares of the map will go missing giving the impression of a broken map.
  • Give us an option to disable the scroll bars.

[Iriche]

Bump

[Borsky]

could you please explain how it was broken?

in fact, i found it one of the few things in this game that WASN'T broken.

[Khalem]

could you please explain how it was broken?

in fact, i found it one of the few things in this game that WASN'T broken.

I respected your petition by not cluttering your thread, why do you want to clutter mine? =P

Just because something appears to work just fine to the end users, does not mean everything is just fine on the inside. You are trying to have code that was removed for good reasons and was likely also holding AO back in terms of future improvements put back into the game. Trying to maintain two different GUI codebases in a game increases the complexity, not to mention when the now extinct GUI code had not been maintained for years since it was planned to be removed fully possibly as early as 3 years ago when Funcom started to tear out the old spaghetti GUI code.

[Edit]
Oh yeah, and why do you insist on being unconstructive instead of being constructive and give feedback trying to get the new GUI to work and look more to your liking? Afraid of change? Can't stand having to adjust?

[Makabey]

Bump for Khalem

[Borsky]

I respected your petition by not cluttering your thread, why do you want to clutter mine? =P

Just because something appears to work just fine to the end users, does not mean everything is just fine on the inside. You are trying to have code that was removed for good reasons and was likely also holding AO back in terms of future improvements put back into the game. Trying to maintain two different GUI codebases in a game increases the complexity, not to mention when the now extinct GUI code had not been maintained for years since it was planned to be removed fully possibly as early as 3 years ago when Funcom started to tear out the old spaghetti GUI code.

[Edit]
Oh yeah, and why do you insist on being unconstructive instead of being constructive and give feedback trying to get the new GUI to work and look more to your liking? Afraid of change? Can't stand having to adjust?

Not intending to clutter your thread, just wanted to know why you think it was broken. What you said makes sense, however.
But, since when is organizing a petition being DEconstructive? It's better than bickering and whining in the feedback thread.

[tehacidbaron]

bump , but they're working on the lag caused by opening the skill window already.

[Khalem]

It's better than bickering and whining in the feedback thread.

Thats one thing we can fully agree upon :P
Although i have to admitt, i would rather see the energy imho wasted on something Funcom have clearly indicated they will simply not even consider due to some of the reasons i outlined above, put into constructive feedback on the GUI we will be stuck with wheter we like it or not.

[Thefo0]

• Skill window
  
  • Color code the skill bars in the new skill GUI (jaaaaaaaaa)
  • Improve the speed of opening the skill GUI (jaaaaaaaaa)
  • It's all text. Why does it take up 3/4 of the screen now?!
  
  
• Map window
  
  • Make the buttons smaller, or add an option to use small icons to duplicate the button functionality like we had in the old GUI, thus allowing us to retain full map functionality while at the same time not waste space. (jaaaaaaaaa)
  • Fix the bug where large squares of the map will go missing giving the impression of a broken map. (jaaaaaaaaa)
  • Remember settings? I dread even using the map now...

- signed

[Doctorhyde]

signed

[Minleo]

Bump for improvements.

[Silentwidow]

It wasn't broken, I know why the changed it and I know the logic behind it, however, lets get realistic here, funcom has already stated they won't give us a new engine.

Why bother fixing this one? It seems everytime they change something another thing breaks, The new GUI is functional, and it doesn't lag on my PC(I use VIsta its different). However, it is in the way, and unless they are planning to change the GUI for something else, I don't see a reason for it.

The old OLD gui, at least in screenshots seemed to be just fine, they didn't have to upgrade it, they wanted to. Tbh, the new Stats window is a pain, its bigger than it was and IIRC the original GUI had something similiar to it, so what are they doing? Fixing something, or just making the old thing look different?

I understand the need for advancement, but what about all these advancements that make this game less fun and less playable? who wanted those perks and skill windows? you know when you ding, its really obvious.

There was nothing wrong with the old MAP other than it was old, it worked fine, this new one, at least for CSP map is a pain when moving because instead of staying in one place it now follows you and gets laggy.

I don't see these as improvements, look, I'm all for upgrading and stuff like that, but you can't put something into the big servers unless its completely working, look what happened? first time they brought out 16.3 the GUI is laggy, the inferno mishes gave -XP. That's not fixing things, and I'm not calling out funcom or anything.

It seems however every time they try to fix or change something they break something even worse, and its probably not thier fault, just crappy code.

In the end why do they even bother? Look how many problems arise EVERY time they patch this game.

I forget to add, the IPR is no longer visible, the camera is now completely a pain, and according to the threads on it, funcom doesn't care.

[Sloathe]

Signed, along with map window

Both were very very greatly appreciated by myself, its a refreshing change to see FC taking time to work on some good needed updates, but this really seems...not well

Instant freeze up while opening window, and the map is just a hassle to change between CSP and other maps I like to have.

But really, I'd like a day that AO is up at the moment, and I think the Devs and all the official posters that are keeping the flame and spam down deserve a break. They did their part, now its our time to contribute back with an organised, orderly list of what we want

So yeah, the new GUI updates optional

[Bereavement]

bump for the undo changes button

[Borsky]

well, signed.

[Jawiz]

Bump for a great thread...I'm actually in favour of the new improved Skill GUI (well once these improvements are made )

At least now it looks in keeping with the rest of the GUI and gives info on each skill in the same window, which should help new players.

[Khalem]

It wasn't broken, I know why the changed it and I know the logic behind it, however, lets get realistic here, funcom has already stated they won't give us a new engine.

Why bother fixing this one? It seems everytime they change something another thing breaks, The new GUI is functional, and it doesn't lag on my PC(I use VIsta its different). However, it is in the way, and unless they are planning to change the GUI for something else, I don't see a reason for it.

And if they don't plan to do a complete one shot engine replacement they should just stop trying is that what you are saying?
Yes, everything is interconnected, and changing one thing often leads to another bug, which is also part of the reason funcom has choosen a step by step approach to improve things. And ironically, is also a big argument for removing old code which could be a source of such problems.

The old OLD gui, at least in screenshots seemed to be just fine, they didn't have to upgrade it, they wanted to. Tbh, the new Stats window is a pain, its bigger than it was and IIRC the original GUI had something similiar to it, so what are they doing? Fixing something, or just making the old thing look different?

And they have given you the option to make the new stats window even SMALLER than the old one. It's not so much making old things look different, it's about removing complexity, old crufty code and to try to avoid the exact thing you and others complain about (breaking something else by fixing/changing something)

I understand the need for advancement, but what about all these advancements that make this game less fun and less playable? who wanted those perks and skill windows? you know when you ding, its really obvious.

While it is obvious to you, and me, and most others who have played AO for a few years, small things like the perk and skill buttons are a tremendous help to brand new players. Oh, and they can be disabled you know? No one is forcing you to see them when you ding or gain a perk.

There was nothing wrong with the old MAP other than it was old, it worked fine, this new one, at least for CSP map is a pain when moving because instead of staying in one place it now follows you and gets laggy.

See above, and yes, it could do with more improvements.

I don't see these as improvements, look, I'm all for upgrading and stuff like that, but you can't put something into the big servers unless its completely working, look what happened? first time they brought out 16.3 the GUI is laggy, the inferno mishes gave -XP. That's not fixing things, and I'm not calling out funcom or anything.

And it affected a full 18 characters before Funcom got it fixed in record time. Not to mention was a bug involving several factors no one had simply thought about. Im sorry, but things don't always go according to plan. You just get to a point where you can't find any errors and you have to risk releasing it. Else we would never get anywhere.

It seems however every time they try to fix or change something they break something even worse, and its probably not thier fault, just crappy code.

Again, why this change was neccecary.

In the end why do they even bother? Look how many problems arise EVERY time they patch this game.

Ahh yes, we should simply tell Funcom to stop doing any development or touch the code ever again. Thats a solution everyone will be happy with... errr... no.
Funcom are working hard to improve the client and cleaning the client and server up internally, to make things better. You may not see it in the patchnotes, but these changes are occuring.

I forget to add, the IPR is no longer visible, the camera is now completely a pain, and according to the threads on it, funcom doesn't care.

I don't know about you, but i know how many IPR's i have, if i forget, the information is there for me to look up. If you are paranoid about knowing you haven't lost an IPR point in the last 10 minutes you can always enable the option to display IPR's so you don't have to worry.

And just because Sirillion have not had a chance to comment on the community's feedback doesn't automatically mean no one cares. We know Devs and Designers read the feedback threads, we know they act upon it or at the very least discuss it before abandoning the idea or planning it for the future. Yes, it would be nice to have a Funcom employee posting an update every hour on every issue, but it's not gonna happen.

[Looke]

signed.
Although I don't think the new GUI has improved anything, with the right adjustments it could become pretty good.

I think the old skill menu was better but it's huge downside was that it couldn't be moved, but not being solid you could open it and fiddle with your IP at any time. The new one is just too big in full mode and lacks some important information in minimized mode.

The new map buttons are wasting too much space, the pyramid shape of them is also a mystery.

[Thermonuke]

signed

personally, i'd like to give more space to the skills, and less to the explanations and oversized buttons, lets be honest here, its only when u are new that ppl actually read that stuff anyway, but making the skill bars and controls on them tiny is stupid imo.

love the map which follows you when u move about, now if they can just make it so u can zoom out, move the map to another location, and zoom in on that location, instead of some random place, that would be good, would also make finding fgrid exits easier... but damn, wtf is the deal with the fricken huge buttons!!!

oh yea, and the mouse scroll thing is a nightmare, not only for ppl who use 3rd person camera, but also for the side scroll bar, which scrolls fine when the mouse is over certain parts of it, then someone opens a trade with you, and the bloody thing disappears, leaving u trying to scroll thru all your nano listings instead of moving the bar down

[Telcea]

Finally, someone who posted something constructive without whining or crying for the old GUI back.

Signed and bumped \o/ (No marriage proposal because you're atrox )