[Ui Criticisms. It's Like Windows 8, An Absolute Nightmare.]

Maybe terribly designed but looks pretty none the less.

 

The anthem of the Liset.

[Quick List Of Problems With The New Ui]

No, in this context we are CUSTOMERS.

 

If you feel dehydrated, this is an excellent way of increasing the amount of expectorant in your food.

I am obviously a paying customer.  I do not expect this to give me rights over the actions of a company other than those explicitly set out in our agreements.  I absolutely do not believe it further gives me authority over their employees.

["eve Incarna" And The Abstracted Ui.]

I'm not sure why we're discussing the Spanish Inquisition.  But since we evidently are, scrapping a poor UI is also not the Spanish Inquisition.

 

I'm also not sure why we are firmly not discussing Eve Online by way of quoting its CEO.  That seems... counterintuitive.

[Quick List Of Problems With The New Ui]

I am sure you have the best of intentions, and I strongly agree with the general theme that the UX route was a poor choice.  However, even as a fellow professional, telling someone how to do their job is... highly abrasive, at best.  In this context we are guests.

[Ordis Needs To Go.]

I don't want a non-repetitive Clippy, I want *no* Clippy.

I don't mean to say that I dislike the voice or the idea of the thing, I just don't want it to be a part of the menu or navigation experiences.  Any more than I want Darvos to talk to me whenever I have the market open, or the Lotus to offer me verbal suggestions while I look at the mission selector.

["eve Incarna" And The Abstracted Ui.]

Branched official UI support is unlikely, and both the old UI and new ship experience would need to have new elements and mission nodes manually added.  However, I am so frustrated with this experience that I would even take a User UI toolkit, knowing that this means either trying to develop my own UI (a task for which I am woefully unsuited) or periodically migrating between third-party solutions with no official support and no guarantees of unofficial support.

["eve Incarna" And The Abstracted Ui.]

When I type "Eve Incarna" into Google, it asks me if I mean the "protest," "debacle," or "summer of rage."

 

Not really a great list of qualities for something -- a thing that was just repeated in Warframe.

 

Incarna was the end-point of a much-hyped "Walking In Stations" project, in which the venerable sci-fi ship-flying spreadsheet simulator finally got fully-rendered 3d characters who can walk around and interact with their environment... sort of.  What they really got was an abstracted user interface, where characters docked in a station were forced to walk around and interact with things in order to access features that had previously been available with a few clicks.  

It still exists, and new players are given that experience first, but are able to quickly opt back into the god's-eye view with a more conventional UI.  In that game, it's been relegated to a historical footnote and an object lesson in Things Not To Do.

 

I... hope... the same thing happens here.  I say this unhappily, because I can't deny the obvious care put into crafting it.  And yet I hope it is buried and forgotten.

 

The UI's gorgeous; few would disagree.  But the experience is awful, because it aggressively ignores an essential quality of a good interface: transparency.  The best interfaces are rarely mentioned and are in fact completely forgettable -- because they are so good people forget they are using them.  That is impossible to do with this one, because I'm never even in direct contact with the interface; I'm manipulating an avatar who is doing so.

 

The comparison has been made to Windows 8, but it's in error because it is not like using an operating system, it is like watching someone else use an operating system.  It *is* watching someone else use an operating system; a series of photographs of a character we can give instructions to dealing with Windows Odyssey 2001.  And as beautiful as the holographic tools present in that character's world appear to be, I must forever remain at a forced distance, interacting through telephone call and remote waldo.

There are many problems with the UI that can be solved -- element size, motion, resolution, etc.  But this essential thing never could be because the UI has been crafted as an "experience," and because of that those changes will never quell the frustration that it brings.  I do not want to experience the UI.

I am sorry not to have said any of this earlier, before all of this care and attention was put into this beautiful thing we were given.

 

Please revert.

[Ordis Doesn't Shut Up, Omg]

I like Ordis' voice.  I don't mind having a deranged AI in the game.

I don't want it to be part of the menu/UI experience.

[Ordis Hates Me]

Darvos mentioned replacing the cephalon when we had the money.  If that's an option, sign me up.  I want the one that doesn't talk.

 

(The voice is fine, and I'd love to see L.C. show up as a frienemy in missions or something.  But I really can't imagine why I want my menu interface to have a passive-aggressive helper at any stage.)

[Update 14 Bug/issue Megathread]

Same issue as Snappin.

[New Hud Feedback]

Ok, first off, the UI is fine. If it had been released from day one, I don't think we would have people screaming their head off. 

No.  Quite a few iterations of the UI have been greeted with criticism, but they were usually solved by restoring some lost functionality and tweaking some of the more obnoxious graphical things -- like an "off" switch on sliding/shaky elements.

This is Clippy, Vista, and Eve Incarna all rolled into one.  It's bad, and the number of people it had to have passed through to get to us is rather appalling.

[New Hud Feedback]

tl;dr: Huge step backwards in usability.  On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd rate this at "MS 'Clippy'."
 

• Why can't I select my queue type preference (solo, private, etc) from the mission select screens -- like while zoomed into a planet?  I have to back out of the entire menu to get to the option.
• I also don't understand quite what was gained by removing a slowly-spinning solar system and making literally every menu have to be manually spun around.
• Spinning my mouse wheel in one direction does not rotate the map consistently in that direction.  My laughter sounds like sobs.
• People are saying that this was designed with a console in mind, but honestly, it looks like it was designed with a touch device in mind.  Or the Oculus Rift.
• The 'deeper' nature of the HUD -- where each thing is accessed and often escaped sequentially -- makes me feel like I went from information and utility at the touch of a button to needing to start my car with a hand crank.
• I've several times encountered the problem where my cursor is over an element, but the element is not "selected."
• I have managed to crash the market/Gear UI by hitting "Enter" too quickly to attempt to buy an item (codex scanner) multiple times rapidly, as was possible under the old UI.  The UI froze, and I couldn't find a solution other than restarting the client.
• UI elements "wiggling" contextually was an option we begged an "off" switch for last time.  Why is it back?  EDIT : I just checked and the setting is still even in the options menu!  It does nothing, of course.  Whyyyyyy....!

 

 

Will try to update as I encounter more specific issues, but honestly... kill it and revert.  Please.  The last UI rollout did need specific tweaks to restore lost functionality; I truly cannot see how tweaking could save this.  The problems are endemic.

[What Ifs:accelerant]

I like having an escape power.

I'm not opposed to the idea of improving the skill, because it is a bit difficult to use except as an escape; for one thing, the visual indicator of range and ongoing effect is pretty minimal.  But I'm not sure this is actually an improvement.

[Who Thinks The Stat Helmets Should Come Back]

The problem is that a small subset of the arcane helms are far more useful than the others and significantly improve the frame in question.  They also work independently of, but complementary to, mod cards.

 

I assume that the current program is partially intended to gather data -- for instance, on whether or not people actually convert their Arcane helms.  I think this is a flawed method since making the Arcane helms unobtainable gives them collectors status regardless of their utility.

[The Lotus Came To Our Lan Party!]

I wasn't... really trying to weave a narrative here, just say thanks.  Our random LAN party is a twice-a-year event with about 40 folks (so I'd place it as mid-size), mostly consisting of technical professionals including a few in game design (and this year, a game blogger).  Not sure on the exact figure but I've run Warframe with about half of them.

And, you know, encourage people to network and play Warframe, because DE is very supportive of the community.

[The Lotus Came To Our Lan Party!]

I'm saying Rebecca sent a 1K platinum code to our local LAN party by way of a games blogger.  And thanking her for that.  (And thanking him by way of linking to his blog.)

Is it really that unclear?

[The Lotus Came To Our Lan Party!]

Well, not exactly -- but she did send along 1K platinum courtesy of Steve, "The Geeky Husband."  Unfortunately plans of a last-man-standing melee only survival fell through, but I snagged the code anyway while all of our other resident WFers were struggling with the lobby of some Steam Early Access game.  I guess that's what you get for deserting.

But I'll end up spreading it out in smaller prizes and gifts to 'em anyway.  Speaking of which, if anyone wants to offer me a good bulk rate on Void Keys, I've got a few ideas...

Thanks, Rebecca!  You really made our weekend!

 

 

(Since I seem to need to translate:
Rebecca sent a 1K Platinum code to our LAN party by way of the blogger linked above.  It didn't work out quite like he or I wanted, but it was a generous gift that we appreciated and will use in the spirit in which it was intended.)

[Why Do People Not Like Hydroid]

I don't hate Hydroid, but I do find him kind of boring.  I'd like to see new frames move more into the direction of team synergy or interactive abilities.  His are very static.

I do have a personal goal of jacking up the damage on his 1 to the point that it actually feels like a terrifying cannon barrage.

[Re: Warframe & Shares (Late Response Is Late)]

If people are not expecting this to be the dominant topic of the live stream with a Threadnaught and this growing into thread naught status rather quickly think twice.

...

 

Devs....I'm without a job right now and i know just how hard it is to find one let alone in a competitive enviroment like yours. But if this deal is locked and nothing can be changed. Walk off the company. Do it as publicly with as many eyes on you as possible.

 

Other companies will not like the decision. The players will follow you wherever you go next. And that still means something to companies not aligned with PWE. 

I don't think dominating the Livestream chat with this issue will help anyone in any way, but everything here is true.

[Re: Warframe & Shares (Late Response Is Late)]

I wonder if there is anyone happy with this.

 

Whoever the individuals were who sold their stock to PWE, presumably.

[Re: Warframe & Shares (Late Response Is Late)]

Literally the best thing we can accomplish is to convince the developers to leave, attempt to acquire the IP and engine license for this product, and found their own studio to publish it.  Showing them how anxious and aggressive we are as a community is not a step in that direction.

[Re: Warframe & Shares (Late Response Is Late)]

I oppose what was said before. Go in the devstream and make an absolute shi7storm out of this. I want to see that twitch chat box on FIRE! They're still negotiating, probably. If we make PWE see that we'll stop giving them money if they take over DE, they may back off.

Yeah, PWE isn't reading the Twitch livestream and doesn't care what's said.  They've dealt with similar reactions in the past.  Their overwhelming response has been not caring, but it's peppered with a dose of permaban for the most vocal individuals.

You are figuratively shooting the messenger, and the messenger is someone we all like.

[Re: Warframe & Shares (Late Response Is Late)]

I just want to point out something you and your kind seem to be missing.

 

Now is the only time that we can do something about the issue. ...if we protest now, and do so in a loud and consistent fashion, it will likely scare off the potential new owners enough to either not go through with the purchase or at least keep their hands off the actual control of the company for some time.

You and your kind are the people who yell at the clerk at a department store for being out of stock on the thing you wanted for the seventh time.

[Re: Warframe & Shares (Late Response Is Late)]

Yeah, folks -- Steve basically said the PRSpeak version of "Everything you've heard is true."

We're in for the fun-wrecking changes that every other PWE acquisition has gone through.  U14 is the next update, but U15 may well be the final one -- or at least, the final one that isn't, "Here's a pile of recycled art assets in cash shop lockboxes."

I'm here until we see those show up.  But when they come, there's no point in sticking around.

[De, Please Please Do Not Do Business With Perfect World (Mega/hyper/ultrathread)]

Yeah, PWE involvement is basically a death sentence for fun.

I'm sure someone will play Warframe even after acquisition; I couldn't guess as to its profitability.  But from the looks of things, it won't be any of us.