All Interface Needs Revamp. Problems & Suggestions Inside.

[Scourger]

This game is amazing, and it's very fun to play with, but after sticking to it for all closed beta until now, the entire UI is making me increasingly uncomfortable and, well, mad.

This is because the game is clearly fast paced or at least action based, but the amount of time I spend in the UI sorting/applying things is actually bigger than playing time (D2 muling anyone?).

It's buggy (I'm sure all the bugs got reported in the right section), it's clunky and takes SO MANY clicks and screen changes to do simple things.

I'll try to cover everything, and when things come up in mind I'll add to the list.

First things 1st: Mods related UI

Typical/Example situation:

I do a mission, I earn 3 mods, now I'm back in the menu.

Goals:

Check mods I got

Can I fuse them with something I already have?

Fuse/Sell/Store/Equip them.

Get back to game.

What it takes to do this:

1. Click Arsenal (top right)

2. Click Mods (I'll call this screen the mods storage several times) (bottom left)

3. Check the 3 mods on the recent filter, play a memory game to remember if you have them already between the huge storage, your warframe, your weapons, and your pet. Let's assume you have the memory of Einstein and you remember everything, so that you skip through the hugely boring task of checking every single inventory of the game (which is usually what you have to do once you have several warframes, many weapons and many pages of mods, plus you get 5/10+ mods per mission).

So for example now you have to fuse one of them with a mod you have on equipped pistol, one with a mod in the storage, and sell the third one.

4. Click Back.

5. Click on the small wrench of the pistol.

6. Find the page with an empty slot where you have to put the mod you want to fuse.

7. Click & Drag the mod in the slot.

8. Click Apply.

9. Click for confirmation.

10. Click Mods.

11. Sort for Name.

12. Got through pages until you find your mod.

13. Check which one of the 2 has the highest rank (because if you fuse them in the wrong order you spend more credits), click on it. [and hope they are not on 2 different pages, that's bad luck an it implies even more clicks]

14. Click Fusion.

15. Click the other mod.

16. Click Apply Fusion.

17. Click for confirmation.

18. Click Back.

19. Click on the small wrench of the pistol.

20. Go through pages and find your mod.

21. Click and Drag.

22. Click Apply.

And we are done with 1 mod.

I don't even want to go through the other ones, and I assumed you got 3 mods, but majority of farming in this game you'll get 10+ mods per mission/defense.

Also, if the mods are for Warframes/weapons you are currently not using, or for pets, add layers to the clicks and memory game.

All this is simply unacceptable.

It's not only tiring for your hand for all the clicks, but for your eyes (all the screen changes and the multiple quick double checks / comparisons etc on all the mods and the like), and your mind (it's a constant memory game).

And it takes FOREVER.

Not to mention many times during the entire process you forget to put back the mods in your equipped stuff, or to equip back the right weapon and many other mistakes that can come out of all the process.

Add to this the fact that for some reason half the resolutions are not properly supported and so most of the times I can't even read what mods do at the bottom of the "wrench" interfaces because they are cut out, so I have to play with them and the capacity of the item to check what they do, and you got a mad man as a result.

Suggestions/Solutions:

You could for example give us an option to visualize the mods in different ways like say windows explorer (which I don't use lol), as detailed, or as a list, or with pictures (like now), and stuff like that, and you'd be able to choose the different visualizations.

Equipped mods around the various weapons/pets/warframes MUST be ALWAYS visible (and open to interactions) WHILE you see all the other mods. This is IMPORTANT as it lets you stay on ONE screen which is the mods storage to do all mods related things.

If you keep the pages thing, those equipped mods should be fixed in place and not being switched by pages.

Also, still if you keep the pages thing, it'd be nice if you could make a zone where you put your "mods in the work" while you go through the storage. For example between the recent mods I have a Crush skill and I know I have another one somewhere. But I also want to check something for another mod I saw on the main page, or on page 2 while I was going through storage. Well then I middle click those mods while I stumble upon them so that they are brought in a part of screen where I can interact with them at any time while I'm in the storage.

This way I don't have to search and go back to them several times to do one simple thing.

Tabs like "Weapons", "Warframes", "Powers", "Sentinels".

Under these tabs, filters needed, like "Rifle Only Mods", "Damage-wise Only Mods", that hide the other mods that don't meet the requirements of such filters. Also filters shouldn't exclude each other, you should be able to put several filters together.

Duplicated Mods MUST be one of those filters. Period.

A simple "Search" feature would save lives as well.

Fusion Cores should be divided from all the rest, as they have only one and divided function, they are not mods.

"Wrench" interfaces must include filters and sorting options as well, or need to be rethought.

For example you could put a list of all stats on the left, you click those stats (or skills) you want on weapon/frame/pet, and on the right of the screen the mods that give such stat or skill are shown with all their different ranks and such.

In this way if you have an idea of what you want already on the weapon/frame/pet, you can apply everything in a short amount of time/clicks.

Get rid of useless confirmation dialogs; and of the "apply" feature on the wrench interfaces. They are simply not needed as you don't risk anything. The only confirmation that should remain is the fusion one as you spend money.

Stats

Well we are all crying for this since release.

All stats shown in game are either inaccurate, wrong, deceiving or pointless.

Plus in places like the shop they are not easily accessible nor comparable.

All the unique features of weapons are unknown.

All warframe stats are hidden.

Is this a joke?

Every time I want to add something to my inventory I have to hope that someone covered it on youtube or wiki or forum, and that I will actually find it.

Also, we should have a way to see both base stats and upgraded stats once you apply stuff.

Chat System, Contacts and social related things

All these interfaces interact badly with each other in layers, often unreachable, or reachable when you don't want.

It really adds up to the constant screen changing, and multiple clicking.

The chat lacks proper notifications for messages written in clan/squad and also the possibility of reading both at the same time.

Also, messages get reset every time you enter or exit from the game if I'm not mistaken, making it very difficult to properly communicate.

Planetary

Or the Solar System, however you want to call it :P

I won't write much on this as I'm sure you noticed the other better threads made on this that explain all the problems such as the back button making a mess when in multiplayer mode, having to remember and go through the chains of missions to reach the one you are interested in or where your squad is, etcetera etcetera

Arsenal

Pets shouldn't be nested under warframes, as they are standalone and also have secondary interfaces.

Inventory

Would be nice to have the option to sell stacked items all at once instead of click/sell multiple times. Leads to costly mistakes too. [thx plastictrash]

General Interface Interactions

The whole system of overlapping permanent interfaces needs to be refined or completely changed, as right now it always feels like you end up on the screen or interface you don't want to.

I won't put suggestions for this because it's a bit too in-depth stuff and I feel like you'd do a better job. I just wanted to point out the problem.

Also I want to give priority and focus on the mods/stats problems.

EDIT: Another mods thing

I love the variety of warframes and weapons, but switching through them is a pain and takes a lot of time, and if you are in a squad you don't have that time. It would be GREAT if we could have some sort of set-up saving system for different needs.

Hell I even think it would make a great Platinum shop thing if you'd like.

For example most of us have a set-up different for each enemy type.

I personally go for a Volt vs corpus with certain weapons and mods, Loki for bosses, Ash for Grineer, Ember for Infestation... you got it.

If I could have a one-click thing to switch between these setups, I'd die a happy death.

I think that's it for now.

This said, I am absolutely in love with the game itself (and not its UI XD) and I hope you'll keep up the good work.

So far patches have been awesome.

I tried to EDIT to keep things updated in 1st post through other people contribution but it's too much work for my time, so just read the rest of the thread, there's awesome stuff. Thank you DE for your attention <3

P.S. Sorry for my engRish and my wording, it's not my native language.

Edited March 27, 2013 by Scourger

[plastictrash]

+1 on everything you said.

And I'd like to have an option to sell stacked items, like blueprints all at once, instead of having to sell them individually. I sold a couple of Cronus blueprints today, and accidentally sold a Banshee Chassis blueprint as well. Extremely frustrating.

[Scourger]

+1 on everything you said.

And I'd like to have an option to sell stacked items, like blueprints all at once, instead of having to sell them individually. I sold a couple of Cronus blueprints today, and accidentally sold a Banshee Chassis blueprint as well. Extremely frustrating.

I was just thinking about that.

I'll add to the post.

I'm farming Vor in these days too :D

Thx for the +1

[Yanga]

Another good thing to add with the mod filter is a sorter that arranges in Mod Level... higher ranking mods listed first over the lower ones (with the same mod type being right next to it giving easy access to quick fuse)

Help with Instant Leveling since the same mod type fusing together provides the most XP... 2 lvl 1s would instantly make a lv2. Another after that would provide 50% of the xp with the same price as usual.

[HaikenEdge]

+1 on what you said. The constant unequipping and equipping of mods is an annoyance.

[Scourger]

Another good thing to add with the mod filter is a sorter that arranges in Mod Level... higher ranking mods listed first over the lower ones (with the same mod type being right next to it giving easy access to quick fuse)

Help with Instant Leveling since the same mod type fusing together provides the most XP... 2 lvl 1s would instantly make a lv2. Another after that would provide 50% of the xp with the same price as usual.

Not sure what you mean here, don't we have the "Rating" sort option already?

[Yanga]

Not sure what you mean here, don't we have the "Rating" sort option already?

The rating option either sorts it by level or by rarity... it doesn't have a option to sort the mods by name and rank at the same time so there are times where people either accidently fuse it the wrong way or get close to doing it and correct themselves. If they made it filter it to have the same Name but higher rankings first, I'd be all go because so far, I accidently fused a Damage Mod for Rifles and a Freeze Mod for Melee wrong.

[Scourger]

The rating option either sorts it by level or by rarity... it doesn't have a option to sort the mods by name and rank at the same time so there are times where people either accidently fuse it the wrong way or get close to doing it and correct themselves. If they made it filter it to have the same Name but higher rankings first, I'd be all go because so far, I accidently fused a Damage Mod for Rifles and a Freeze Mod for Melee wrong.

Aaaaaah at the same time, that's the piece I was missing.

In that case I believe it's included in my 1st post, it'd be a filter.

:3

[zelgaris]

+1

I know, the gameplay is more important than UI, that's a fact, but using current Warframe UI (especially the mods management and fusion) is just painfull and it brings the whole experience down a lot. Don't want to be rude, but, sadly, it sometimes feels, like there is no UI designer in DE :(

[Yanga]

For example most of us have a set-up different for each enemy type.

I personally go for a Volt vs corpus with certain weapons and mods, Loki for bosses, Ash for Grineer, Ember for Infestation... you got it.

Oh, just noticed this... fyi, Trinity is a better Boss solo type than Loki... Loki is a good Defense Warframe because of his Decoy and Radial Disarm.

[Scourger]

Oh, just noticed this... fyi, Trinity is a better Boss solo type than Loki... Loki is a good Defense Warframe because of his Decoy and Radial Disarm.

Still didn't check what Trinity powers do in U7, but I generally don't like support classes.

Also I love Loki's tricks and speed, and originally I got it for Grineer, but it got replaced by Ash after its fix to ulti and the like.

I said for bosses due to permanent invisibility :D

At the end tho it's my most used Warframe anyway ;)

P.S. Let's try to keep this OnTopic anyway xP

Edited March 26, 2013 by Scourger

[Yanga]

P.S. Let's try to keep this OnTopic anyway xP

It was in main post so I thought I'd correct you on it :P

Plus... you had to seen it coming anyways. Even I would have if I posted this lol

Btw, if you've noticed... Inventory Misc now has the Components and I thought maybe they might add a 'Sell this much' kind of option since if you have more than one, it'd be annoying the sell 1 at a time.

[Pathyriel]

This covers a lot of my ui gripes. So many clicks...

[Tongue-in-Cheek]

Agree with you that tabs and filters are needed. There can be six tabs: all, warframe, sentinel, primary weapon, secondary weapon, and melee weapon. And under each tab there will be related filters (but not too many as that always leads to messy UI). And in each tab the relevant equipped mods would also appear, so under primary weapon tab the user can see their equipped shotgun mods.

I do think it's a difficult decision bringing the equipped mods into the same screen as it would reduce the size of each mod, and we all know how much work DE put into the visual presentation of mods. If each mod becomes too small, it's hard to showcase that.

Also, I think it'd be great to have a quick sell or fusion mod page right after the reward screen, It can be simple, only showing the mods you have duplicates of, allowing for quick sell or fusion.

[zelgaris]

I do think it's a difficult decision bringing the equipped mods into the same screen as it would reduce the size of each mod, and we all know how much work DE put into the visual presentation of mods. If each mod becomes too small, it's hard to showcase that.

Well, that would be a shame, but let's put it this way - what is better for user experience? Nice looking, but hardly working interface or less spectacular but more clear and user friendly one? I think it's hardly a "difficult" decision, unless they don't like us, you know :)

And to be fair, you really consider the mods visuals to be "much work", come on. Nicely painted cards in Magic the Gathering are "much work", icons in Torchligh/Diablo 2 are "much work", but the mods in Warframe looks rather temporary considering what they show us (however, some of them looks good and fit the description of the mod, e.g. the health increasing mod).

--

About the mods (cards))

There are even more problems with them (considering the UI):

- hard to tell the mod rank at a glance - there is a lot of space on the mod card, but they decided for these small white squares in addition to number after the mod name, but the number is visible only in full view

- unable to tell (or maybe not obvious?) the upgrade progress bar of the mod, unless I click [FUSION] button to check it - should be always visible on the mod

- only hovered mod is in color, others are in grayscale - this is actually making the "first glance" distinguishing of the mods even harder. They look really similar, because they are not represented by well crafted icons, but only by screenshots, that were a bit modified. They don't even share some kind of same design element (e.g. overlay color, same color of frame, etc.) according to their type. But at least, when they are in full cover, you can tell the difference between them a bit better than when they are all grayed out.

- mod names... yes, this is probably really subjective and someone in DE probably thought that would spice the game a bit, because we have not enough random titles from other games (Diablo 2 ftw), but why we can't just have "PISTOL DAMAGE" mod instead of "HORNET WHATEVER" - yes, it less "arsty" but it is also more informative and obvious and user friendly. I say, having some makeup terms for the mods doesn't enhance the game immersion much and isn't worth it.

---

And some suggestions

- Give each frame an icon or some sign and use it on warframe specific mods - use this for good inspiration (VTES disciplines symboles)

- Use more distinguishable images/icons/signs/whatever for mods instead of generic screenshots with wannabe 3D gimmick - looking nice (while really subjective in this particular case) is not as important as clarity, we don't have mods to look at them, but to use them

Etc. etc. more on this later...

[Guest Sess1on]

Warframe's UI needs a total overhaul because right now it's super convoluted and counterintuitive so I completely agree with you.

[plastictrash]

I really don't understand how they managed to make every iteration of the inventory- and mod-system more user-unfriendly than the last.

Especially when considering that a lot of very good ideas and suggestions have come from the community.

@DE: you really need to hire an interface designer. And I mean REALLY.

[zelgaris]

Let's hope this current situation is caused because everything is not final and thus they feel like it isn't necessary to finishg the UI properly (which is actually an effective way for developer but painful for us). I can imagine lot of people hate the new mod system especially because of poor UI implementation :/

[Scourger]

Well, that would be a shame, but let's put it this way - what is better for user experience? Nice looking, but hardly working interface or less spectacular but more clear and user friendly one? I think it's hardly a "difficult" decision, unless they don't like us, you know :)

And to be fair, you really consider the mods visuals to be "much work", come on. Nicely painted cards in Magic the Gathering are "much work", icons in Torchligh/Diablo 2 are "much work", but the mods in Warframe looks rather temporary considering what they show us (however, some of them looks good and fit the description of the mod, e.g. the health increasing mod).

--

About the mods (cards))

There are even more problems with them (considering the UI):

- hard to tell the mod rank at a glance - there is a lot of space on the mod card, but they decided for these small white squares in addition to number after the mod name, but the number is visible only in full view

- unable to tell (or maybe not obvious?) the upgrade progress bar of the mod, unless I click [FUSION] button to check it - should be always visible on the mod

- only hovered mod is in color, others are in grayscale - this is actually making the "first glance" distinguishing of the mods even harder. They look really similar, because they are not represented by well crafted icons, but only by screenshots, that were a bit modified. They don't even share some kind of same design element (e.g. overlay color, same color of frame, etc.) according to their type. But at least, when they are in full cover, you can tell the difference between them a bit better than when they are all grayed out.

- mod names... yes, this is probably really subjective and someone in DE probably thought that would spice the game a bit, because we have not enough random titles from other games (Diablo 2 ftw), but why we can't just have "PISTOL DAMAGE" mod instead of "HORNET WHATEVER" - yes, it less "arsty" but it is also more informative and obvious and user friendly. I say, having some makeup terms for the mods doesn't enhance the game immersion much and isn't worth it.

---

And some suggestions

- Give each frame an icon or some sign and use it on warframe specific mods - use this for good inspiration (VTES disciplines symboles)

- Use more distinguishable images/icons/signs/whatever for mods instead of generic screenshots with wannabe 3D gimmick - looking nice (while really subjective in this particular case) is not as important as clarity, we don't have mods to look at them, but to use them

Etc. etc. more on this later...

AAAaaahhh I love good feedback and MTG / Diablo quotes.

XD

Anyway I do agree that accessibility is more important than "art" when it comes to interact with such elements.

However, I do enjoy the game a LOT because it is very immersive.

Given a mod system can't be immersive due to how dispersive it is and how much work it requires for the user, then in that case you either rework the mod system and invent something else, or you just make it accessible.

I love the art that they made, and I don't mind as much the grayed out thing, as it would hurt my eyes to see so much color on one page, but I don't want to lose accessibility.

So to me the solution is to just give the option of different visualizations.

Some day you will want to please your eyes with art and spend a bit more relaxed time in the UI, some day you just want to farm or you are in a speedy squad so you need efficiency, and you'll have it.

As for the mod names, yes, that's just not worth the confusion or memory game.

No names, stat names.

[zelgaris]

In case a new alternative and more user friendly interface for mods and basically everything is implemented and I can switch to it, yes, in that case, I can and would totally don't care, how the old (the current one) looks like, however, it would still discourage new players :/

[Tongue-in-Cheek]

And to be fair, you really consider the mods visuals to be "much work", come on. Nicely painted cards in Magic the Gathering are "much work", icons in Torchligh/Diablo 2 are "much work", but the mods in Warframe looks rather temporary considering what they show us (however, some of them looks good and fit the description of the mod, e.g. the health increasing mod).

On a closer look, yeah, you're right. The visual of the cards isn't that much work (a screenshot splited to two and being moved on the opposite direction) and is currently occupying too much space on each card, and all the rest of the elements that are more important to the players get pushed to the side or become too subtle to distinguish.

In the end, I appreciate their attempt in trying to bring something new to the table and I actually like the idea of mod fusion, but they really need to re-think on how to distribute space on each card and make something that's more player-friendly.

Btw, you can tell the upgrade progress by looking at these black rectangles on the left side of the cards. Upgrade once = 1 black rectangel turned white. And yeah, it's not super obvious.

[Groumfy]

I have made a simple UI suggestion about mods : just adding border colors.

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[Scourger]

I have made a simple UI suggestion about mods : just adding border colors.

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

This could be cool but I don't see it as necessary, after all you can see all that yourself with ease, it's not crazy numbers.