Gear & the wheel of misfortune. Gear "Rings" UI suggestion.

[(XBOX)Duke DEFCON]

I would like to propose a change to the way the gear wheel currently functions. Presently, the wheel can be user-defined and is simplistic in that regard, but is also prone to clutter. Few things are worse than scrolling 3 revolutions of your wheel to find the one that phylaxis or that one specter in the middle of a firefight! The gear wheel is less critical for keyboard PC players that can simply key-bind an item or macro it if they really had to... but for those of us who are dedicated console players (or PC controller fans) the gear wheel is an essential interface. Optimization will be a huge quality of life upgrade.

Please consider the following (pictures are included below);

Does the item really need to be on the wheel?

This is an important question for streamlining the wheel. In order to trim the clutter, the gear wheel should only be used for items that MUST be actively deployed in mission by the player in order to use them.

What should we do with non-deployables?

We need a backpack!

For example, let’s consider Dragon Keys. Dragon keys do not need to be deployed in order to be used. You simply need to have them on your frame to open a vault. Items that need to be on your person but are not DEPLOYABLE should be equipped in a "backpack". So, for example, putting a dragon key in your backpack would allow you to open the vault, but apply the negative effects as well. Hey! Let’s call it "dragon keyless entry"! To remove the negative effect, you will need to remove the item from your backpack. The razorback cipher should be a backpack item.

Beacons, Pherilac pods and maybe even some questline items should be considered for backpack use (but since they're currently deployable, I've added them below).

In the future, passive use emergency items could be offered. These might be a single-use item, like a heal when your health drops below 50% or something, and simply remove a charge from your backpack with a large cooldown before another of that item could be used.

Radial menu categories & deployable items

When I got to looking at all the gear items, I found that it's not too difficult to categorize actually deployable items. There are never more than 3 levels of categorization to reach any deployable in the game. Even at the 3rd tier, there are no more than 7 items to choose from! Every single possible deployable is within 3 clicks at most. This being the case, I suggest that placement of the items on the gear wheel be automatic (I will explain later how the gearwheel will work)! In the loadout screen, the gearwheel tab will, therefore, be replaced with a tab for the backpack (and maybe with its own presets).

I found the following main and Subcategories for gear wheel items. First column items belong on Ring 1, the category ring. Second column items belong on Ring 2, the sub-category ring. 3rd column items belong to Ring 3, the Selection ring. Items in bold italics are the actually deployable item;

1. Heavy Gear
   1. Archwing
   2. K-drive
   3. Archgun
   4. Air Support
2. Reinforcements
   1. Tenno
      1. Vapor
      2. Phase
      3. Force
      4. Cosmic
   2. Grineer
      1. Clem!
   3. Corpus
      1. Moa
      2. Roller
      3. Osprey
   4. Infested
      1. Ancient Healer
      2. Charger
   5. Corrupted
      1. Bombard
      2. Heavy Gunner
      3. Lancer
3. Supply
   1. Health
      1. Small
      2. Medium
      3. Large
   2. Energy
      1. Small
      2. Medium
      3. Large
   3. Shield
      1. Small
      2. Medium
      3. Large
   4. Ammo
      1. Small
      2. Medium
      3. Large
      4. Omni Ammo Box
   5. Stims
      1. Calcifin
      2. Adrenal
      3. Refract
      4. Clotra
   6. Anti-toxins
      1. Amethyst
      2. Beryl
      3. Citrine
      4. Topaz
      5. Lapis
      6. Vermillion
4. Tools
   1. Omni
   2. Scanner (Will use synthesis over normal scanner charges. Battery widget will make unlimited use)
   3. Tranq Rifle (Lures can be deployed from the rifle itself, and do not need to be displayed on the radial menu)
   4. Mining (Will equip the highest level cutter or drill the player has obtained, the best presently being the Sunpoint Plasma drill)
   5. Fishing (Baits can be deployed from the spear itself, and do not need to be displayed on the radial menu)
      1. Lanzo
      2. Tulok
      3. Peram
      4. Shockprod or Stunna (Stunna is an upgrade and will be selected over shockprod if the player has it)
5. Misc
   1. Event items
      1. Eidolon Phylaxis
      2. Infested Catalyst
      3. Oplink
      4. Fomorian Disruptor
   2. Fireworks/Fun
      1. Remote observer
      2. Glyph
      3. Eros Arrow Skin
      4. Grand Finale
      5. Starburst
      6. Ki'teer Fireworks
   3. Music
      1. Shawzins!

What would this gear wheel look like?

I am suggesting 3 wheel tiers, or “rings”, a “Category”, “Sub-Category”, and “Selection” ring. 

Before viewing the graphics I have created to present this concept, allow me to lay down a few rules about how this ring system will work;

• If the player has access to a deployable item, it should automatically be available on the wheel! 
• if the player does not have access or enough copies of an item it should say so in a pop-up context box. Content or mastery locked items might have a lock icon on them with an explanation when a player tries to select it, and again, a pop-up context box will explain what the player needs to do to use that item.
• If an item is on cooldown, it will be greyed out and a countdown timer is shown on it. If it shares a global cooldown with another item (like specters often do), those items will be greyed out with a timer also.
• Consumables will have a number indicating how many are available for use in the mission.
• All 3 rings are always visible, but only one wheel is ever “expanded” at a time, with the other 2 visually smaller to help the player know where they are on the menu. 

The category Ring, or Ring 1, will look like this;

The Sub-Category Ring, or Ring 2, will look like this;

The Selection Ring, or ring 3, will look like this;

I truly hope you like this idea and that I conveyed it well enough. More importantly, I hope you find it useful! 
 

Edited March 25, 2020 by (XB1)Taz Deduction
Because formatting!

[[DE]Bob]

Great idea!

[PhoenixElite]

Love this idea so much! Current gear wheel is kinda tedious to deal with, and god help you if you want to re-organize it

[moondog548]

This is an outstanding idea and an outstanding presentation for it!

[(XBOX)Duke DEFCON]

11 minutes ago, moondog548 said:

This is an outstanding idea and an outstanding presentation for it!

Thank you. I was concerned I didn't convey it well enough. 🙂

[(XBOX)Duke DEFCON]

I thought I'd address one contention to this idea that a friend brought up. He felt that having to press the A twice to get any item in the game (because you already start in ring 1) was a downgrade from the current wheel. So basically he felt that one extra button press was a downgrade in speed to access items. I do not believe this is the case, because it's only 1 extra button press and you cannot get lost on an endless wheel of clutter. Your items will be in the same place every time. Once familiar with where items are on the wheel, it'll be super fast to access them.

[(PSN)palebluelight]

I like this but the implementation has to be done right. A big problem is the cursor in mission. It needs to snap on and not clip back and forth between two items. I really get salty when I wanna do a fast action but can’t just quite right get it on the right item because of the cursor. This change would just be visual if the system doesn’t make it efficient to select with a joystick. Just my two sense. 

[(XBOX)Duke DEFCON]

I didn't envision a cursor at all. I envisioned the wheel selector working the way it does already for console/controller users. That being, using their left analog stick. Also, I would agree that to work with the speed of WF it would have to be snappy!

[Xinopia]

If you have all items automatically equipped it will be loads of icons and you still will miss click a lot, many items can also only be used at few locations. For example Archwing launcher, K-drive, Tranq rifle, Fishing spear and Mining tools can only be used in Plains and Vallis. Omni tool can only be used in Railjack. These items should not be visible at all in normal node play, or for that matter any item you don't equip should be invisible, and even that category should be hidden. Many items could also be made like ciphers work, they can only be used when interacting with consols in the game world (Eidolon Phylaxis, Infested Catalyst), others could be placed in the emotes section (Glyph, Grand Finale, Starburst, Ki'teer Fireworks and Shawzins!)

[(XBOX)Duke DEFCON]

An excellent point! So only fishing spears show up while in the Plains, and Shockprods in Orb Vallis! Excellent contribution to the idea. 100%

Also, Cyphers would be a backpack item. I like the idea that Shawzins and Fireworks items be in the emotes section. That would trim even more fat off the gear wheel!

Edited March 30, 2020 by (XB1)Taz Deduction

[(XBOX)Duke DEFCON]

I was thinking also this morning that a similar but simpler version of this wheel concept could be used to command companions and allies.