Market Overhaul Feedback [Megathread]

[Barnago]

The new menu looks nice and has some dubious design choices related to usability.

Clicking "home" first off to open the drop down menu of categories did not on first blush and continues to not make any sense to me. I don't read "home" buttons in UI design as a "start" button. The step of having to click on this dropdown menu to even begin navigating the shop is puzzling. I'm already in the shop, of course I want to navigate the shop interface, it feels like a click that doesn't need to exist and I resent excessive drilling down of menus in the market the same as in other parts of the game's UI.

 

Blueprints

That's sort of nitpicky and you could fairly call it a pet peeve rather than a serious issue, so here's a real issue-- the way blueprints are hidden in the market interface now is unbelievably bad. I am a veteran player since the closed beta and I could not find the blueprints in the shop until a clanmate told me where to look. I used the search bar to look for "blueprints" and did not find any guns. I literally thought briefly that they were moved to a different location in the game during the market revamp. If I had trouble, how is a brand new player supposed to fare? How is a new player supposed to even know that you CAN buy blueprints from the market? Who on earth thinks to click on an item with a price displayed in premium currency when they're looking to buy something with in-game credits? The tiny little "credit icon" tab that reveals the actual blueprint is almost comical, it looks like it was hidden or only reluctantly afforded space in the design (I don't actually think you were maliciously trying to hide it, but this design is rotten). Just as bad,  it seems like it would be too easy to accidentally purchase an item for plat while trying to get a blueprint-- the prices and currency are placed just far enough away from the actual purchase button to create the potential for confusion.

Buying blueprints is a major aspect of acquiring new gear and the only way to get blueprints for many guns and frames in the game. Buying blueprints is important enough to have its own header in the market's drop down menu, but instead it's been shoved so deep into the interface that you have to know where to look to even find it.

Edited July 9, 2016 by Barnago

[Chrysaliarus]

- Made the market worse than before (even thought I as a newbie found it great)

- People need a FACKING GUIDE just to find blueprints now

- It looks even more like a p2w game then before and that's saying something

- and I as a controller user despise the new layout. :/

[UncaIroh]

Egads, there are ZERO clues where the bps would be at first glance. Heck there are zero clues where anything is at first glance.

I assume that a lot of people will not read the patch notes. These comments are from the point of view of a first time user who has never used the market before. It's simply not intuitive. As mentioned in previous posts, a player should not need a tutorial to use the shop!

A lot of the things I will say have been said before, but here are my priorities:

1. The banner doesn't really work. It takes up half the page but shouldn't. I suggest reducing its size and allowing more of the actual items of sale to occupy the bottom half.

2. Making the broader categories (warframe, weapon, etc) part of a pull down menu is not intuitive at all. There is no indicator that the box with the word HOME is a pull down menu at all. To that end, I agree with other posters who said make the menu permanently open instead.

3. The first thing we see when browsing items is PLATINUM. Guys, you made your name in not being a pay 2 win game, don't hide the damn BPs. No one will click a picture with only a platinum price! I was wondering if you moved the BPs somewhere else in the orbiter/menu. Suggestion: Since you made the picture of each item so large anyway, put a clear BP/Research icon in the pic of the thing in question and make it a clear that it is a clickable thing.

[Sepharoth]

Blueprints need there own button and there own page again. They are way to difficult to find and the new layout is confusing and clunky. Separate blueprints as it was before the update or better yet, go back to the market we had before the update as it was easy to use. This one is not. Sorry, it does look cool but it is confusing and will especially be to new players. I will visit it much less often in its current state.

[Radagosh]

k so blueprints of weapons and such... usually im the last to ask something for noobs but if i was a noob id think this game is pure pay to win now. Im mr 21 and had to look for like 5 minutes till i finally found the button that changed it to bps. I know its easy money that way but i think your new players wont stay if you squeeze out everything at the beginning just add restricted areas if you need the money so much.

[SausageVB]

I totally agree with everyone here about the blueprint issue.

I'd also like a way to filter out used weapons/frames, I'd find that way more useful than just hiding the ones I've currently got in my inventory. If I wanted to buy a weapon I've sold already, I'd probably remember the name anyways. 

[Larsurus]

Like others have said, the fact that an item is craftable is a completely hidden fact that requires you to click on the item you want and then find the obscure blueprint tab. IMO, anyone new to the game will immediately think that all items are plat only on first glance. You need a clear icon/text/button on each item to show that they have a blueprint, not hide it. Waving plat costs in their face is a sure way of scaring new players away who could become potential customers in the future by making them think you have to pay to progress.

As a long term player looking for a BP, this made me shake my head thinking "this needs to change for the sake of new players".

[Carifyn]

I totally agree that the Blueprints need their own menu - I wouldn't have found them either if I hadn't read how to find them in the forums. :( They also should be shown when you search for a warframe or weapon or blueprint.
The new market is really neat and intiuitive, so the Blueprint thing is a huuuge drawback.

And I second the filter for already ranked up weapons and warframes :)

An not so urgent thing, probably only me:
When we open the market, the market items are at the bottom of the screen.

Spoiler

While I understand that there is that background image that would be mostly hidden otherwise, it just feels wrong to me. We don't see much of the background anyway, is it really that huge difference that this is needed? I think it should always open like this:

Spoiler

 

And finally, here is a mockup of how I feel it would be even more intuitive:
Most important things should visible with one look!
The menu could always be there. Mouseover only for the sub points like primary weapons, secondary weapons, etc. It doesn't really destroy the design but add to the clarity.
Again, this is just a thought, because of personal preferences^^

Spoiler

 

Edited July 9, 2016 by CayceSianan

[KinnyTheFox]

The new market UI design feels overly implicated and clunky to use for me. I don't see a reason for hiding everything behind hover menus. 

Before, the "back"-key on the mouse was useful quick navigation through the menus. Now I am slowed considerable down. Maybe re-adding a 'frontpage' with all the different categories could fix that. 

Edited July 9, 2016 by Valderhaug

[Dogefighter]

For the love of RNG, Cthulhu, and...I dunno, Todd Howard or something(?), add a blueprints section.  I get that Warframe is free, and y'all need platinum sales, but this is a bit off-putting, and definitely hard to find.

[CorrinAvatan]

1 hour ago, Dogefighter said:

For the love of RNG, Cthulhu, and...I dunno, Todd Howard or something(?), add a blueprints section.  I get that Warframe is free, and y'all need platinum sales, but this is a bit off-putting, and definitely hard to find.

Agreed.

 

As well, Genetic Imprint Templates now have no BP.  This is crud.  There is no icon on the item in the market that allows for buying BP.

[Kethus]

So you keep moving away from the menus that have an actual presence in the game that were introduced with U14, do you intend to convert all menus to appear directly on the screen instead of in front of the warframe? I wont say "Redo the market so it appears in front of the warframe." because that would probably take a lot of work, but the camera could at least zoom in on it like it used to before fading to the market to imply that the things we see show up on the display in the landing craft. The same could be said about all the other segments that don't have a physical menu, like the syndicates and the void relic refinement, also an additional zoom when viewing a diorama in the codex.

[Paso-Doble]

I am unclear what the market overhaul was attempting to accomplish, but it very much gives me the impression that I have to spend money on this game if I want anything from the market.  I get that the game needs money to fund further development, but it looks to me like a rather transparent push in that direction. 

The only added functionality I can see is the addition of a search bar, and I'm not 100% certain the old market interface didn't have one. 

I liked the feel of the old market as though a holographic projection was being displayed from the machine in my ship.  This new market consumes the whole screen, and in my opinion it feels a touch less immersive. 

Old market had buttons along the top displaying categories.  New market collapses those categories in the upper left under a Home button.  That seems counter-intuitive already.  I expect a Home button to return me to a landing page, not offer up categories. 

I don't dislike this market overhaul simply because it changed.  Rather, I cannot find much usefulness in the change, and I feel galled by the obvious "Give us your money!" up front and center but the credit-costing blueprints being buried.

[Belluset]

21 hours ago, Foefaller said:

Giving a deeper look into the market. Found 5 frames whose main Blueprint can't be bought from the market, but doesn't have a tab saying where the blueprint is earned, further giving the idea that the frame has to be purchased with plat:

Ivara

Mesa

Atlas

Mirage

Limbo

Yeah, please address this, DE. I did the whole song and dance with Mesa and just got the parts as this update went live. I'm not going to re-run the quest and I'm not going to buy her with Platinum. I'll be taking a break from the game until this is resolved. It's just an annoyance to get on the game multiple times, through multiple hotfixes and a new day and still see absolutely no way to get Mesa aside from plat now.

[MagPrime]

While I like the look of the market place, you've managed to make it worse.    You can't even search for blueprints.

 

After reading some of the comments in this thread, I was able to locate where to buy the blueprints, but presentation is terrible.  If I was a new player, I'd most likely think that hitting "purchase" would cost me plat and not credits when on the BP tab.

Some suggestions;

• Make BP's searchable
• Improve clarity on BP tab; i.e. Purchase (35,000) or Purchase for credits or Purchase Blueprint
• Provide a short tutorial in the Codex on the market place layout and functions
• Allow purchase of blueprints through the Foundry

Edited July 9, 2016 by Noamuth

[Littlerift]

Why was it changed and what has actually been improved? All the changes seem to do is make things harder to find things.

[LSG501]

This feels like it was just designed by a mobile device developer rather than a proper UI/UX designer who then got caught out by a 'designers trap' where you get to the point where you can easily understand your design but forgot about anyone else who wasn't involved in the design process.  (I can say this because I do design for a living and know how easy it is to do)

Why do we get a 'hamburger' drop down menu when we have all that real estate up top, last time I checked this is played on pc's and consoles not tablets and mobile phones.  It's just too many steps in going from page a to page b.

We've got 'item descriptions' for the slider, which looks like the page background, in the hierarchical placement of the page title.  It didn't even register with me straight away that the 'title' was actually referring to the background image or the top row of items with the barely visible arrow...

Then there's the way you've hidden all the in game credits items such as blueprints away which is really just a 'sneaky' move to try to encourage players who don't know any better to buy platinum, now I have no issue with you wanting to make money but this is purely a design decision driven on pushing platinum to new players who know little better.   Please don't go down this route because it will just alienate new players, I've seen it happen in other 'freemium' games, just create a great game and people will pay willingly. 

At the very least you could make a toggle switch on the main page to show items which can be bought for credits versus platinum and show their prices instead of platinum prices...

Could really do with a 'breadcrumb' menu system to go down a tier rather than having to keep going via that drop down menu or even better a proper menu system.. 

I actually preferred the old market, it wasn't perfect but it was a lot easier to use and navigate.

[polarity]

You already had a lot of first time and prospective players falsely claiming that the game was pay to win, because it wasn't made obvious to them that they could purchase blueprints and craft as an alternative to buying with plat, and now you've made it even harder to find the blueprints.  Congratulations, you've ensured that you'll be getting more bad reviews from now on, and those of us who are already sick of correcting them are going to get fed up and stop.

Promoting plat sales through obfuscation of the in-game market is a dirty tactic, and while I can't speak for anyone else, that you did this really makes me wonder just how 'hands off' your new investors are.

If you wanted to claim honesty you would have both plat and credit prices listed side by side in the market, and let players know that they have a choice.

 

I've said it before and I'll say it again, you really need to work on the usability and clear presentation of information in the user interface.  Nice looks may draw new players in, but ease of use is what will keep them playing.

Edited July 9, 2016 by polarity

[fatmonk77]

I could not agree more! I am not real sure if I will be playing Warframe anymore as I see this new update as mostly a profit making venture for the owners of the game. While I have no problem with anyone making money or a profit, I do profoundly resent how this was done. There was no warning about these profound changes.

Those players who have spent their money to buy Platinum and have an account with Platinum maintained within the game wil lose that money if they chose to quite the game now also.

The deal to take the ability to buy items for credits and replace those purchases with platinum ONLY unless a player digs and searches to the credit buying of that item was purely mercenary and profit driven.

The deal in gaming was that you buy the game up front and there are no additional cost to the owner or player.

With these games like Warframe, there is no end to the expense a player can be charged to continue to play the game and I see this as a terrible idea by these developers of the game and the gaming industry itself.

[fatmonk77]

I believe this "Market Overhaul" was done to generate more profit off the new players coming into Warframe.

So new players will by mistake use platinum to expand the warframes,weapons and such until they learn that credits can be used to buy most of the same items now listed in the market for PLATINUM ONLY!

The reason I say this and came to this conclusion is I could NOT find a single item in the market when I 1st signed on after the new update that could be bought with credit. (I had been terrible ill for several weeks and had not signed on to play until last night and saw all the changes)

Everything I could see was Platinum ONLY!

I truly hope this was not  intentional as the game owners will make more profit from all those Plat purchases by the new players until they have played long enough to find how to buy items with credits and other than platinum.

This gives the appearance of a 100% mercenary move and I would hate to see Waframe doing business in such a fashion.

I have been playing Warframe now for almost a year and am a lever 16 player so I am not a newbie but even I had to go onto Warframe Wiki's website to see were and how to use the new Market to buy items without using ONLY platinum.

I have spent almost $50.00 to date on Platinum playing Warframe and I feel that is a sizable amount to play a advertised "free" to play game but did not complain until this occurred as I have enjoyed the game.

I truly hope this is not a sign of things to come as profit generation gimmicks using designs to cause players to use real money by mistake to P2W when the free to play option was hidden by a design flaw or intention.

[EddyLoco]

Well, the market design is kind of different that we were used to, the changes are difficult to assume at the first time, thats why i'm giving the doubt benefit. But when i was trying to see some blueprints, i felt like something is missing, for example the genetic code template blueprint. I tried to find it, but was useless. Even when i was just scrolling down all the weapons and cosmetics the feeling that something is missing or out of place, is hard to explain.

Edited July 10, 2016 by EddyLoco

[CorrinAvatan]

On 7/8/2016 at 10:17 PM, james188 said:

market bp is not removed go to  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lq8IzQybFk  to see how to get ito it

Except some are.  Try finding the Genetic Code Template Blueprint.  Go on, I'll wait.

[Grimlar]

Must be honest, at best Im neutral on the new market tending towards negative.

Ok, I admit it, I dont like it.

I dont like the home menu, (it hides too much,)  I dont like how few items are on screen at once, I dont like the overall art style, I dont like being presented with a wall of platinum prices and I dont like how fiddly it is to find the blueprints for stuff. Im sorry, but it feels like a smartphone app, not a game on a full size monitor.

I cant speak for everyone, but it seems to me that I buy blueprints in order to make the stuff I find in the game more often than I spend platinum. It may be that sales figures dont reflect that, but either way, effectively hiding the credit purchases just doesnt seem right.

TBH I really havent seen anything that particularly stands out as an improvement over the old market. Apologies to all the people who worked on it, but thats the bottom line for me.

The old market needed an overhaul... tidying up and organising better, but not this...

Still, I dont imagine DE are likely to revert to the old market, so, here are some suggestions that might improve it:

Everytime you show a platinum price, you could give the credit price as well. (ie two purchase buttons side by side.)

Or, make credits the default purchase option.

Or, add a select default currency option to the market somewhere, perhaps as an option on that home menu.

And I would like to be able to set how many tiles/items I see on the screen at once.

[Cortanis]

STILL waiting on that "hide mastered" button to be put into the market or at the very least a mastered stamp in the corner or something of the weapons/frames. >.>

[Arkvold]

I'm going to offer a pictorial guide to improving the "New" market.

Let's start with the opening page.

Use the middle space for your advertisement of featured items.  Have it change to reflect the item your mouse cursor is on.

 

Now, for the meat of the market...

These changes are subtle, but add a lot of useful functionality and significantly ease navigation and transparency for your users.

Of course, individual equipment pages need some love, too...

This will make finding blueprints on items with buyable blueprints much less obnoxious, and will end accusations that you're 'hiding' blueprints to encourage platinum usage.  The mastery mark is sheer convenience.

 

Finally, an omission I think you forgot...

Incubator stasis chambers need to be added to the slots category.

In addition, requiring archwing and archwing weapon slots, and demanding plat for them, is dirty considering that they were never needed before.  I'll admit that it's consistent, but it smacks of gouging, especially since the fact that archwings/archweapons lacking slots was something that was never indicated as unintended before.

It wouldn't be so bad if we were warned, at some point, that archwings and archweapons would eventually be needing slots, and that we shouldn't get comfortable getting them for free.  But we weren't.  It was sprung on us, and there's not even a mention in the patch notes about it.  That's a dirty business practice, DE - if you start making a habit of it, I'm going to stop playing, and don't think for a moment that I'm going to be the only one.

I refuse to do business with companies that don't respect the time and money I'm willing to invest in them.  It's why I quit Mabinogi, it's why I quit Champions Online, it's why I quit Perfect World, and if this keeps happening, it'll be why I quit Warframe, too.

EDIT: Apologies for the poor compression on some pictures.  That's imgur's doing, not mine.

Edited July 10, 2016 by Arkvold
apology for imgur compression