Theme Changes: The Good, The Bad And The Hate

[Bawalbaba]

It's been a time of change in Warframe and how it looks, and as with all updates I tend to look at the brighter sides of it.

The Good: The new theme looks really cool and sets the notion that this is primarily a sci-fi shooter game. The artwork is amazing and I would love get my hands on this artpiece to set it as my desktop background.

The Bad: The new theme has a beefed-up brightness scale and a red text which can be painful to a faction of users. Other than that I see no further 'bad' aspects of this theme change.

Solution: 1. Make a secondary theme with toned down white background.
2. Make the titles and every red-text to a more softer Blue color that we had in the dark theme.
3. Recruit people from the forums who can design and manage these web pages, we have so many talented people in the forums that you can take them under your cape and make the dev team bigger. The bigger the team, the faster the development.

The Hate: And with all updates, I can't help but notice the amount of people whining. The devs created a content, you didn't like it, we get it. Why not create a post where you provide a viable solution towards your views of a perfect theme ?
And yes, I myself don't like the fact that the darker theme won't be updated, but it's inevitable. They are a single dev team that is creating content for 3 different platforms while micro-managing everything on a daily basis. These guys have launched hotfixes at times where people would be at home having dinner. Learn to appreciate the content they make rather than making a fuss out of it. They don't have a huge dev team like Ubisoft Montreal or DICE Sweden and still they make a better, WORKING game than Assassin's Creed Unity and Battlefield 4.

tl;dr, DE great initiative forward. People, help them, start with less raging. I know I'll be pissing off a lot of people and might not get any response but whatever.

[Phyrosite]

You can switch back to the original forums theme if you scroll to the bottom of the page and click change theme.

[Yazeth]

You can switch back to the original forums theme if you scroll to the bottom of the page and click change theme.

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[Xriborg]

I think a lot of the rage is about why?

 

Why did they feel the need to redesign the forums? They looked just fine as they were. Even if you prefer the new look for some reason, I don't think a lot of people would say that this is the area DE really needed to focus their efforts on. There's so many other things that could objectively improve the game. Minimap update for instance...

 

I'd be ok with DE attempting to update the skin if there weren't much more pressing issues at hand.

[Bawalbaba]

I know that, but I'm talking about the forums in general.

[vaugahn]

I think a lot of the rage is about why?

 

Why did they feel the need to redesign the forums? They looked just fine as they were. Even if you prefer the new look for some reason, I don't think a lot of people would say that this is the area DE really needed to focus their efforts on. There's so many other things that could objectively improve the game. Minimap update for instance...

 

I'd be ok with DE attempting to update the skin if there weren't much more pressing issues at hand.

 

I'd rather DE's web designers stick to web design, thank you very much. 

[Somedude1000]

Mate to be honest telling people not to rage will only make them rage harder.

 

Also, we overestimate our influence on the devs, do you really think they care about our ideas? They have years of experience in this, some of us probably weren't even born when they started working here, you cannot be serious if you believe that our opinions play any role in their judgement of what is best, sometimes they may coincide with each other, but ultimately the devs' choices are theirs alone, and our opinions, while valued, are for the most part meaningless, because we are not devs ourselves and can't see the bigger picture. Similar things are even in the EULA that we sign in to at the beginning of our warframe experience

 

Additionally, you're only looking at the negative side, there have been multiple suggestions and threads for improvements in the original update thread as well as across the forums, they just haven't become hot topics as much as the ones with rage

 

Assassins creed and battlefield are arguably simply shovelware coming fromt he companies' need to have a COD-ish game that releases year to make more revenue, I haven't played them much but they seem to be rather ... lackluster

[Bawalbaba]

I think a lot of the rage is about why?

 

Why did they feel the need to redesign the forums? They looked just fine as they were. Even if you prefer the new look for some reason, I don't think a lot of people would say that this is the area DE really needed to focus their efforts on. There's so many other things that could objectively improve the game. Minimap update for instance...

 

I'd be ok with DE attempting to update the skin if there weren't much more pressing issues at hand.

So why not make a post in the gameplay feedback section ??? This is a different topic altogether. They created a content, you don't like it, fine. Make a post on how to polish it up, instead of creating posts like, whoever created this theme has a bad taste yada yada yada.

[Somedude1000]

I'd rather DE's web designers stick to web design, thank you very much. 

 

I believe that they worked together with another company to get this new design, I'll check it out later.

[Briareos]

You can switch back to the original forums theme if you scroll to the bottom of the page and click change theme.

 

Except DE_Drew has said that the old theme won't be getting content updates.

[Bawalbaba]

Mate to be honest telling people not to rage will only make them rage harder.

 

Also, we overestimate our influence on the devs, do you really think they care about our ideas? They have years of experience in this, some of us probably weren't even born when they started working here, you cannot be serious if you believe that our opinions play any role in their judgement of what is best, sometimes they may coincide with each other, but ultimately the devs' choices are theirs alone, and our opinions, while valued, are for the most part meaningless, because we are not devs ourselves and can't see the bigger picture. Similar things are even in the EULA that we sign in to at the beginning of our warframe experience

 

Additionally, you're only looking at the negative side, there have been multiple suggestions and threads for improvements in the original update thread as well as across the forums, they just haven't become hot topics as much as the ones with rage

 

Assassins creed and battlefield are arguably simply shovelware coming fromt he companies' need to have a COD-ish game that releases year to make more revenue, I haven't played them much but they seem to be rather ... lackluster

Exactly my point, when it comes to hating, the forums light up like Christmas.

And I would beg to differ because a lot of content in this game actually is based on concepts provided by the members. And frankly speaking, I have never seen a dev team giving so much time and content on a monthly basis. They actually take notice to what the players are saying and tweak the game based on the feedbacks.

[Somedude1000]

Exactly my point, when it comes to hating, the forums light up like Christmas.

And I would beg to differ because a lot of content in this game actually is based on concepts provided by the members. And frankly speaking, I have never seen a dev team giving so much time and content on a monthly basis. They actually take notice to what the players are saying and tweak the game based on the feedbacks.

 

Meh, Ignore the raging arsehats mate, they really don't do anythign for us and paying attention to them gets us nowhere

 

While I appreciate the devs and their work, I try not to view them too positively, because without constructive criticism they really won't get warframe anywhere. I still maintain my stance, we can give all the feedback we want but in the end, the devs can reject it quite easily if they want to, simply because they have implemented some of our previous sugegstions doesn't mean they will always stay this way. 

 

Also, wait till they re-implement LoS, the forums are totally gonna explode once they do, I guarantee it, lets just stay impartial till then :/

[Bawalbaba]

Meh, Ignore the raging arsehats mate, they really don't do anythign for us and paying attention to them gets us nowhere

 

While I appreciate the devs and their work, I try not to view them too positively, because without constructive criticism they really won't get warframe anywhere. I still maintain my stance, we can give all the feedback we want but in the end, the devs can reject it quite easily if they want to, simply because they have implemented some of our previous sugegstions doesn't mean they will always stay this way. 

 

Also, wait till they re-implement LoS, the forums are totally gonna explode once they do, I guarantee it, lets just stay impartial till then :/

Well yeah once they start implementing stuff that potentially nerfs the frames, people will get mad. And I agree too, when you implement conventional physics in a game where people can fire laser cannons shooting beams of concentrated light energy while wall-running through the map, it seems silly.

[Xriborg]

I'd rather DE's web designers stick to web design, thank you very much. 

 

I doubt they didn't outsource it. And even if they didn't, I doubt the resources that worked on the reskin were dedicated web designers. For one, if that's really all they do, they should be better at it. And if they were dedicated web designers, why is DE spending the money on having a team of dedicated web designers? With the website being pretty established at this point, you only need one or two.

 

Point is, if it's an effort, resources are being spent somewhere, whether it be man power or dollars. This argument doesn't hold water.

 

 

 

So why not make a post in the gameplay feedback section ??? This is a different topic altogether. They created a content, you don't like it, fine. Make a post on how to polish it up, instead of creating posts like, whoever created this theme has a bad taste yada yada yada.

 

Well first off, you asked why the hate. I'm giving you a reason for the hate. This new website design is just another demonstration of DE's inability to prioritize. I don't really care how DE polishes up the new site. I'm not gonna bother using it. What I do care about is the time and resources spent on it. 

 

Second off, whiny hate post about whiny hate doesn't make your whiny hate any less whiny hate.

[FractalMind]

HATE... Hate... hate...

 

I know no notice will be paid to this, but it's a simple fact that black(and red) text on a bright grey background has not been "modern" since the invention of writing thousands of years ago.

 

Today we have monitors capable of about 14 million colours. Why did they change the forums? Answer is simple... Make them closer to the boring, bland, commercial grey of Windows builds from decades ago (for some reason). Innocent, inoffensive, boring as hell. And WAY too bright.

 

Just think of all those LEDs on your monitor straining to pump out as much bland light as they can... multiply that by millions of computer screens worldwide and ask yourself what's wrong with a dark background that's easy on the eyes, uses less power and isn't a throwback to technology that's thousands of years old.

Edited November 21, 2014 by FractalMind

[vaugahn]

 

Just think of all those LEDs on your monitor straining to pump out as much bland light as they can... multiply that by millions of computer screens worldwide and ask yourself what's wrong with a dark background that's easy on the eyes, uses less power and isn't a throwback to technology that's thousands of years old.

 

Your monitor LEDs are pumping out the exact same amount of light no matter what color is being displayed. 

[CedarDpg]

They should rename the themes: Dark Theme->Easy on the eyes and Light Theme->S.A.D. lightbox simulator.. :)

[Firetempest]

I find the white and red awful clashing and a pain to focus on.

Will continue with dark theme tell its absolutely too broken to use.

 

Really, its the ONLY complaint. Color. Are we going to have to buy forum color themes with plat or something?

Interface is fine. Just add more "relaxing" colors.

[FractalMind]

 

 

 

Your monitor LEDs are pumping out the exact same amount of light no matter what color is being displayed. 

 

VERY wrong...

"The amount of power the display consumes varies significantly depending on the colour and brightness shown."

 

This from wikipedia page related to AMOLED displays. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMOLED)

 

Scroll down a mere page to the section "Comparison to other technologies" Second paragraph.

 

I know wikipedia isn't the word of god, but seriously dude.. if the LEDs are off it uses less power.

 

EDIT: Possibly another person confusing LCD and LED? (easy mistake to make if not too tech savvy)

Edited November 22, 2014 by FractalMind

[vaugahn]

VERY wrong...

"The amount of power the display consumes varies significantly depending on the colour and brightness shown."

 

This from wikipedia page related to AMOLED displays. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMOLED)

 

Scroll down a mere page to the section "Comparison to other technologies" Second paragraph.

 

I know wikipedia isn't the word of god, but seriously dude.. if the LEDs are off it uses less power.

 

Two things:

 

1. There are maybe a dozen AMOLED laptops on the market. The vast majority of laptops, cell phones, and televisions just LCD displays. AMOLED displays aren't commonly used due to their whites not being proper white, and their excessive power consumption. 

 

2. AMOLEDs only stop consuming power when they're displaying 100% black, which almost never happens. The old forums didn't have a single pixel of true black on them. Even if they're displaying a very dark color, their power consumption is still quite high. 

[FractalMind]

Two things:

 

1. There are maybe a dozen AMOLED laptops on the market. The vast majority of laptops, cell phones, and televisions just LCD displays. AMOLED displays aren't commonly used due to their whites not being proper white, and their excessive power consumption. 

 

2. AMOLEDs only stop consuming power when they're displaying 100% black, which almost never happens. The old forums didn't have a single pixel of true black on them. Even if they're displaying a very dark color, their power consumption is still quite high. 

One thing..

 

LCD screens use a backlight that is always on. The LCD display obscures this light, this is how they work. AMOLED is more efficient overall unless always-on because of poor website/forum design.

[vaugahn]

One thing..

 

LCD screens use a backlight that is always on. The LCD display obscures this light, this is how they work. AMOLED is more efficient overall unless always-on because of poor website/forum design.

 

Uhh...not really. AMOLED screens are extremely inefficient. Unless the majority of your screen is displaying true black, you'll be consuming waaay more power than an equivalent LCD screen. An LED backlight uses almost no power unless you have the brightness cranked all the way up. An all-white interface might very slightly increase the power consumption on an AMOLED screen, but the majority of people looking at this forum are using LCD screens, and an AMOLED screen will already be consuming more power by default. 

 

Look, there are dozens of things wrong with this new design. I'm using the old one right now because grey text on white background is a crime against humanity. Power consumption just isn't one of those problems though. 

[VocalMagic]

Hate the new theme.


 

 

keeping two themes updated is a waste.  So why keep the theme with the color scheme that the majority dislikes as the one that's updated?

 

[Bawalbaba]

I went AFK for a day and this post has turned into a tech debate. Faith restored on forums.

[turbinea]

Mate to be honest telling people not to rage will only make them rage harder.

 

Also, we overestimate our influence on the devs, do you really think they care about our ideas? They have years of experience in this, some of us probably weren't even born when they started working here, you cannot be serious if you believe that our opinions play any role in their judgement of what is best, sometimes they may coincide with each other, but ultimately the devs' choices are theirs alone, and our opinions, while valued, are for the most part meaningless, because we are not devs ourselves and can't see the bigger picture. Similar things are even in the EULA that we sign in to at the beginning of our warframe experience

 

Additionally, you're only looking at the negative side, there have been multiple suggestions and threads for improvements in the original update thread as well as across the forums, they just haven't become hot topics as much as the ones with rage

 

Assassins creed and battlefield are arguably simply shovelware coming fromt he companies' need to have a COD-ish game that releases year to make more revenue, I haven't played them much but they seem to be rather ... lackluster

 

Fact is DE is making games for long, long time. And in many places, the skills and expertize shine through. Then, you get foolish, hard to logically explain, missteps that shouldn't happen, and yet...

 

DE did outsource redesign. Name of the company is in the original post. They made websites for some really popular games, so i doubt it was cheap. Not sure how much input DE had on this, but one would think they at least saw it before launch. It sure doesn't feel like it, it feels more like PR went overdrive to 'explain' how it got out of gates to public. Something about national pride and colors, and about how it was old-ish and needed update.

Considering volume of long lasting problems with the design of the game and bugs, this feels like slap in the face. Yeah we know, game is badly balanced, in desperate need of attention in number of aspects, but hey, we know better...

 

People complain about it because it was change completely unnecessary, bringing nothing new or better. It has this 'new' flat design of contrasting bold colors that designers use to justify their existence using complicated and empty words.

 

From it also comes perception of hate. This new version has nothing better that the old one but has properties that people dislike.

Hate maybe strong word, but it is seen at such, given volume of negative feedback. A lot of it is detailed, fact driven. All of which should be done internally at DE or that webdesign company, not after launch by players.  

 

To add massive dose of irony, just watch last Prime Time where Megan and Rebecca discuss new launcher. At one point they talk specifically about colors, and how text shows better on dark background. It is just after 1 hour mark, feel free to check it out for yourself. Perhaps it will help you understand the 'hate'.

 

.

Edited November 23, 2014 by turbinea