Glorious Alpha Two Testers!

Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.

Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.

Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.

[Feedback Request] UI Progress and Processes Shown in February Livestream

124

Comments

  • VaknarVaknar Member, Staff
    There's been some great feedback and conversations happening in here! Keep it up! ^_^

    I have a follow-up question to add to the OP: What kind of customization do you hope to achieve with the UI? What layouts would you create for yourself, in terms of utility and aesthetics?
    community_management.gif
  • SongcallerSongcaller Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    I would have my health above the hotbars and my enemy health opposite (with target's target added). Then my positive status effects on centre left and the negative side effects on centre right. The raid frame and group frame would be top left. Chat bottom left. Quest log middle right. Compass/mini map top right and inventory/options bottom right.
    2a3b8ichz0pd.gif
  • ShadowVenShadowVen Member, Braver of Worlds, Kickstarter, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    Vaknar wrote: »
    There's been some great feedback and conversations happening in here! Keep it up! ^_^

    I have a follow-up question to add to the OP: What kind of customization do you hope to achieve with the UI? What layouts would you create for yourself, in terms of utility and aesthetics?

    One of my previous posts kind of mentions some of this.
    ShadowVen wrote: »
    One thing i'd like to add onto from my previous post, and its been mentioned already.

    I'd like to have the ability to hide a choice of UI windows. I really love to have only hot bars and/or minimap shown when im exploring. Even have the ability to have the Hotbar UI fade out after set timer of not being used. That way I could enjoy and explore the amazing world Intrepids Environmental and artists team created. Please allow us to hide these windows and have the ability to have Hotbar fade out.

    =)

    6vhp4w6n7z62.png
  • I was happy to hear about all the discussion about customisation options. In a game that will not have addon support, it is super encouraging to hear that the player will have a lot of control over their UI.

    My area of concern is about class icons. Having 64 different icons of which many will be slightly similar might cause confusion rather than clarity. In my opinion, the icon should be intuitive and provide a visual shortcut, but it feels like I am going to have to make an effort to learn the class icons through making up mental associations such as "songcaller looks like a treble clef". A part of the problem is the high fantasy signifiers such as "soul weaver" or "scion" are too niche to draw upon a player's assumptions about fantasy. You can get away with icons such as sword = damage, shield = tank, cross = healer etc. But that is because we have become acquainted with those icons across many different games. Perhaps icons are not the best way to communicate class identity and it should be expressed through other means such as gameplay or spells?
  • HexidineHexidine Member, Alpha Two
    1. The background of all of our UI panels, allow us to create or upload a custom image. guild logo, or a streaming name. ether same image on each panel or one image stretched across the screen and as panels are opened or moved you can see the rest of the image.
    2. Have the auto-sort button be customizable. some people want all there gear in an order across the top. i need the usable items so my heath potions got to the top left and are always first. allow us to change the first slot every thing is sorted by, instead of left to right it's bottom to top going left to right.
    3. Allow us to change where the default new gear enters our bag. i hate when i have 100 slots and i just used an item that disappeared then the next thing i pick up fills the slot.
    4. Allow us to hide all buttons on the inventory and only show up on hovering over them or have an accordion style that pops up on one button click.
    5. Allow us to put an auto close timer on our panels for those of use that raid with our inventory page up.
    6. if we are getting saved role gear sets. allow us to put a button we can key bind to quick swap. so we don't have to open a character sheet then click over to the saved gear sets.
    7. on the map if everyone in the raid is in one area when you mouse over the cluster of icons, the mouse turns in to a sort of mini map style zoomed in of that area for more detail of where everyone is.
    8. Allow us to make custom marks on the map that can be saved or shared with load outs. for siege battle plans during raids. locations where we found rare minerals. faction enemy's houses or areas to not travel to.
    9. if I'm fishing and have a fishing pole equipped and an enemy runs up and attacks me allow me to make my main skill do a gear check to equip my battle gear or just my weapon to fight back.
    10. let us decide what quests or tasks get put in the screen quest tracker. so if there is a cluster of daily quests to pick up but the two kill quests that are time sensitive are my goal i don't have to remove every thing and find the two i need tracked.
    11. let us save the locations on the screen where the panels open up to. if I'm crafting and my inventory keeps opening on top of the panel I'm crafting with.
    12. let me change the layout of my health, mana, buff and de buff bars.Let me separate them and drag them to different areas of the screen.
    13. let us make an exploration UI good for screen shots and just enjoying the scenery when sailing on a boat that can be a hot key press or button in the corner that switches the UI to another UI/hides or a minimal UI with like five buttons.with different key binds.
    14. give us a way to give custom marks to players that only i can see that stack along side the raid leaders marks. so if I'm a DPS i can mark all the enemy tanks or healers but i need to still focus what the raid leader is marking.
    15. Give us a UI feature that gives distances to all marked targets.
    16. Give us a feature to have an X or arrow on the screen showing one or multiple marked targets are out of view or behind your field of view.
    17. Give us an in game note pad or calendar that can have links of items,quests, monsters or map locations to create in game guides for guild members or locations on when and where the raid is to start.
  • 3Snap3Snap Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    Can you please add themes, that way there's something for everyone. I prefer a clean modern UI myself, right now from what insaw it's way to black and like old world of warcraft for me. Also please make the search function search for a specific item is all locations... Freehold, character,mail, house, Alts, everything connected to your account. There's nothing worse then spending 30 minutes trying to locate 1 item.
  • RazThemunRazThemun Member, Alpha Two
    edited March 2023
    1) Being able to save multiple UI files. I will prefer a different layout when I am healing or tanking in comparison to dpsing.
    2) I would also like multiple rows for action bars added, if possible. I as a player use keys 1-5 and F1-F4 a lot. So being able to set up my bars in a way I can place F1-F4 abilities, above the row of 1-5 abilities would be most helpful... Also being able to add a row that I can strictly dedicate for things such as potions, food, trinkets etc. not related to spell casting abilities.... I think being able to have 3-4 bars with about 6 action keys per bar, would be lovely for many a player.
    3) With the action bars, I would also like it to where you can hide specific action bars/keys not being used for spells, potions, etc at that time. So a bar of 1-6 could be adjusted by the player to not show the 4th action key, leaving a gap between 1-3 and 5-6.
    4) Allow there to be flexibility with bag itemization... I would like to be able to have bags I can "ignore" so that random things do not get placed in it. I would also like to have the flexibility to assign bags for specific things. This bag only holds armor. This bag only holds consumables. This bag only holds items related to my crafting selections such as mining... this way these bags do not get filled with JUNK! ALSO! CAN WE PLEASE HAVE A WAY TO PUT ITEMS IN A BAG, THAT CAN NOT BE SOLD/DISENCHANTED AT ALL OR GIVE US THE MEANS TO RECOVER THAT ITEM, EVEN A FEW DAYS LATER . It is so frustrating when you accidently sell something and you can not get that item back, when all you were trying to do is clear out bag space prior to a raid or something needing plenty of bag space. Raid on Friday, to realize on Monday, that you had accidently sold that nice shield you were saving for when you became a higher level... all for the sake of clearing bag space.
    5) Please have Main quests listed separately and a different color from other side quests in the quests tracking category column. Players like to know what quests they should be prioritizing and the list not be overwhelmed with dailies or random go and fetch quests. So perhaps "Main quests in relation to your node progression, mayor needs, siege defenses, etc" show up on the top of the list with gold lettering... Random filler quests from npc's... show further down the list or in a secondary list being of another color. If there is a quest tracking limit... the quests that are a part of the main quest line take preference to the random go an fetch quests.
    6) Add 3-4 custom marks that I can apply above players "that only I can see within the party". This will help in healers focus, without the need to mark someone for the entire party to see, in regards to something that does not pertain to them... so perhaps add 6 symbols that everyone can see and a lead assign to the group. And then 3 or 4 symbols that are completely different that can be used on an individual player basis.

  • Saving your customization is essential as it allows you to experiment with different builds and test out new strategies. Additionally, it enables you to share your customization with others who might be interested in trying it out.

    People will even upload their sick customizations to the internet and brag about them.
    PvE means: A handful of coins and a bag of boredom.
  • RockettRockett Member, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    edited March 2023
    I would like to see a toggle to thinnen the banners on the top of UI elements that will be on screen most of the time like the bag and character equipment interfaces.

    Here is an example from runescape:

    Thicc banners:
    ozkuexi20ksy.png
    Thin Banners:
    2at7q1edptqg.png

    I see a need maybe for newer players but as you play more and work things out it just gets in the way. That is why a toggle option in the settings somewhere would be very nice.
  • SongcallerSongcaller Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    Translucent forms to go with thinner banners please.
    2a3b8ichz0pd.gif
  • MaouiiMaouii Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    edited March 2023
    the interface must be :
    1 - fully customizable
    (create (personal choice of the quantity) and positioning resizing of each skils bar, inventory, improvements ect ..)
    (and associated call keys)
    individual button to view and display the list on the skil bars on-off drop-down menu that displays only the occupied boxes
    2 - easy, clear, functional
    all configurable shortcuts
    the possibility to adjust the volume of the music, special effects and the game in general independently
    3 - have the choice
    to display or not the minimap to adjust its transparency level
    to display or not the list of quettes and the current quette must be able to remain permanently displayed if I want to
    4 - original, must be signed aoc
    design styled
    at the bottom of the screen a small scrolling message displaying a joke or a message from steven or a team member
  • TawniTawni Member, Leader of Men, Kickstarter, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    From your screenshots I've seen you're going in the right direction! 👍👍👍

    The most important thing is being able to continue playing while having the UI open (inventory, etc).
    This requires the ability to move various UI screens around, and resize them.

    A picture says more than a thousand words, so here a screenshot of a game I'm sure you've heard of.
    Multiple UI screens open, yet room for more, and this without blocking player vision (to a degree anyway) and keeping skills/health bar visible.
    x98q85xp6x9o.jpg

  • ChaosFactorChaosFactor Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    Good day glorious Intrepid Adventurers!
    I have a few thoughts when it comes to the UI system in Ashes, and I hope to share some insight into how they would actually be applied. I'll likely be assuming some strength and weaknesses of the game's processes, but of course if my most wild dreams are possible, I wish them acheived!

    Never throw anything out!
    Unfinished assets are one things; but never throw out a single decent, fleshed out piece of art. One of the things that I envisioned when I saw all of the "potential" art styles for the UI of ashes of creation I think.. Well would I rather that they spend hours and hours of pain and effort to make sure that everything is uniform, consistent, and beautiful for everyone on the game... or would I rather that they make a decent run on a few BEAUTIFUL UI pieces like shown in the forums and during the livestream, and allowing the user to take advantage of ALL of those.

    I think my general conclusion is the latter. What I want to see out of the UI is an INSANE amount of customization, of course short of including a literal art/document editor within the game. Allow us to put our spells anywhere, even change the coloration of the UI. Give us images that we can intentionally place on the UI and create our own custom borders. Even if all of those things aren't possible, getting one or two of them would already put you guys a step above many games, not even just MMOs.

    I can see someone complaining about the idea of spending 4 hours on character creation, just to be faced with another 8 hours of work customizing the UI. Which is where my second point arises.

    Import/Export the beauty of players!
    When you provide the community, especially those as creative and involved as our own, with tons of tools to customize and invent unique layouts, they will build amazing things. People will make UIs worthy of an entirely new game with their spare time. They will create incredibly immersive, yet intuitive UI layouts that could be universally accepted. I'm positive that the UI creators on the team will make something exactly like that as well, however the players will have their own preferences, and I know you all are ready to cater to it.

    Assign every slider a value, every position a grid square, etc. That way when it's all said and done, and the sweaty chad or chadette has completed a flawlessly mastercrafted UI (Or even character design), they can upload that creation into a string of characters, and allow others to bask in the beauty!

    -_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

    Per usual, thank you so much for reading and considering,
    Chaos
    ej8s4cu9gp1n.png
  • Sybil_LanelSybil_Lanel Member, Alpha Two
    katsuenya wrote: »
    Stream overall was decent. And the sole reason why it was decent is because an actual developer was brought to talk about thing you are showcasing this livetstream. Overall this part was great. Developer could explain why they took this development path. This made stream look more professional. Maybe length of this was too long because of unrated chattery happening, but passionate people likely to tell stories in the end.

    UI itself does not fit game at all. Some concept arts fit very well but coloring and overall tables/big chatboxes simply are looking like mobile/moba like game while game itself is trying achieve realistic looks. Just like with skills' VFX there is clash of styles. While game trying to go towards realism everything else seems not fitting the world at all. I strong suggest to take a look better at Guild wars 2/Black Desert Online to see how VFX/UI made fit the world looks.

    However stream once more was delayed, AGAIN. This cannot happen. Stream should be prepared in advance so than delays are not happening. And in case if something bad happens. You have to be prepared for that. Maybe have someone else to be on stream if Steven cannot be there as example. But now, we waiting 15mins and Margaret with Steven talked about candies etc for another 5+ minutes. This just shows that Intrepid Studios does not respect our (as the community) time.

    Then QnA part. Most upvoted posts are ignored. Questions selected which often are very softball questions. This stream we even had issue where Steven said crossbow don’t exists, when wiki and past streams said it exists. Even worse crossbow skin was sold in the weapon pack 3. Then the question regarding freehold and corruption. Are you safe in your freehold or not? We once more have mixed answers on different livestreams.


    This mediocrity and lack of professionalism is starting driving me crazy.

    No offense but I would much rather the devs talk about the game this way than turn into every other company. Currently Intrepid studios is one of the few developers that even tell there community what is going on regularly. If you are looking for professionalism I suggest looking elsewhere. I would rather they not take the advise because if they do the streams will be worse to watch.
  • AshiraAshira Member, Founder, Kickstarter, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    I'm thrilled to hear you guys are planning to save custom UI setups for raids vs questing etc.

    Inventory management... the minigame.
    Agile - As a hoarder, I need to quickly clear out my inventory so I spend more time adventuring than I do staring at my inventory in town! :D

    1. Possible currency tab incl counts of key materials for those crafters/traders? For example:
    Gold 1000
    Platinum 1000
    Materials
    • Elmwood 1000 (851 bank)
    • Iron Ore 522 (500 bank)
    With collapsible categories

    2. Quick sell grey/junk.
    3. Stack all buttons are amazing too, to/from bank. If I have 200 of something in the bank and 35 in my inventory and I hit quick stack to bank, it moves just those items that already have stacks.


  • zumbidanevezumbidaneve Member, Alpha Two
    I see that you guys have an automatic organizer option, so a good thing to complement this option would be to be able to lock items in a place so that they are not influenced by the organizer
  • The color palettes are great. (Especially the different colors in the Quest Log and Journal.) Love the colors chosen and think they look very good together, as well as looking like they "belong" in the world aesthetic.

    Love the use of accordion menus. In regards to just about any of these HUD windows, mirroring what others have said: search options! Especially in Crafting Windows, Inventory and Journal.

    Also, not sure where Achievements and other such windows will be accessible from but having them linked in Quest and Journal windows is always helpful.

    Border windows - Love the slightly ornamental aspects, but that that the Hud in general is dark. The less is more aesthetic is wonderful and will let the real star of the game (the world behind these windows) really shine.

    Quoted to Boost

  • I had some trouble with a log-in loop and after following the link in my email asking for feedback. Then, could not find a button to post, and had to resort to quoting a post and just deleting the quote. So, that is my first feedback. lol

    On the topic of the UI... I have a visual impairment that makes high contrast for text and the background behind it, almost a requirement.

    I can see everything else just fine. I don't just have bad vision, but suffered from an injury years ago which I don't mind describing, but the end result is that is I need text that stands out vibrantly from it's background, and black and white in any orientation, be it black text on white backgrounds or white text on black backgrounds is near impossible for me to see. Like this forum haha.

    There are also a number of color combinations used in video game UIs that make text difficult too.

    It is best if I can at least change the color of the text. Even better if I can set a background for any text in the game, and am able to change that background color too.

    I am not alone in the particular visual impairment from which I suffer. I can promise you that many thousands of people playing your game, would appreciate any efforts in this regard.

    Thank you!

  • Loved the Update! Will the dialogue options have emojis or something similar denoting tone? I hate choosing an option that I read one way only to have the NPC react negatively [for example.] I know that the Mass Effects dialogue wheel is trademarked, and emojis would be anachronistic, but perhaps some tone icons more fitting to the setting would be greatly appreciated.
  • UI - User Interface

    Essential features:

    0 - Minimal
    1 - Fully Customizable at will
    2 - Open to community addons for UI and gameplay
    3 - Free Camera Positioning, both in 1st and 3rd person.

    An MMORPG game should never have an inflexible UI. It is fundamental that the player can customize his game screen, without aesthetic obstacles.

    Nothing should disturb the synergy between player and character.

    Also, the most important thing for the success of AoC is investing in animation quality (characters and motion environment) to surpass similar as ArcheAge 2. The ideal is to surpass the quality of Red Dead Redemption Online, Assassins Creed and Hogwarts Legacy.

    It's not the repetitive mechanics or story that holds a player for years, but the organicity promoted by natural interaction. This is the lesson that stands out throughout the history of the best MMORPG games to date.

  • SongcallerSongcaller Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    You won't get open api for community addons. Best approach is to ask the devs for stuff you want.
    2a3b8ichz0pd.gif
  • Neurath wrote: »
    You won't get open api for community addons. Best approach is to ask the devs for stuff you want.

    Without an open api for community addons You won't get any community. : )
  • SongcallerSongcaller Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    fogovivo wrote: »
    Neurath wrote: »
    You won't get open api for community addons. Best approach is to ask the devs for stuff you want.

    Without an open api for community addons You won't get any community. : )

    The situation has been the same since inception and there is a community...
    2a3b8ichz0pd.gif
  • Neurath wrote: »
    fogovivo wrote: »
    Neurath wrote: »
    You won't get open api for community addons. Best approach is to ask the devs for stuff you want.

    Without an open api for community addons You won't get any community. : )

    The situation has been the same since inception and there is a community...

    ...

    LoL... "The situation has been the same"...not a good thing. The success of an MMORPG, commercially and historically, depends on an OPEN and GROWING community to survive.
    AoC is not The Mystic Quest. It cannot be a make-believe MMORPG.


    8j2tpe81ez59.png
  • SongcallerSongcaller Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    I've read the requests in the thread and anything an addon will do has been suggested. User customisation can lead to system exploitation which is never a good thing.
    2a3b8ichz0pd.gif
  • Neurath wrote: »
    I've read the requests in the thread and anything an addon will do has been suggested. User customisation can lead to system exploitation which is never a good thing.

    ...

    On the contrary, system exploitation happens precisely for such reasons:

    1 - when the game limits the player's freedom.
    2 - when the game has programming flaws
    3 - when Devs don't invest in professional and active GMs

    The antidote to avoiding system exploitation is the game to be open to the addon community and not have programming flaws or repetitive and boring activities.



    x0cg49l6as65.png



  • SongcallerSongcaller Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    My decision is not to allow DPS meters nor add-ons. I feel we have adequate measures in place to prevent a majority of potential third party trackers. I know this subject has passionate voices on both sides and I respect the various opinions and positions many of you have expressed.[2] – Steven Sharif
    2a3b8ichz0pd.gif
  • Neurath wrote: »
    My decision is not to allow DPS meters nor add-ons. I feel we have adequate measures in place to prevent a majority of potential third party trackers. I know this subject has passionate voices on both sides and I respect the various opinions and positions many of you have expressed.[2] – Steven Sharif

    It is not a "decision", it is nothing more than the manifestation of a personal will.

    It's a bad choice, unfortunately.

    Hopefully the reality of the business of creating and maintaining an MMORPG will open Steve's eyes.



    fc1djay7m6wk.png


  • SongcallerSongcaller Member, Alpha One, Alpha Two, Early Alpha Two
    We can go around the same arguments for years much like the dps thread. I've advised you of the stance. Anything an addon can do can be requested here but the discretion goes to Steven and the devs.
    2a3b8ichz0pd.gif
  • Neurath wrote: »
    We can go around the same arguments for years much like the dps thread. I've advised you of the stance. Anything an addon can do can be requested here but the discretion goes to Steven and the devs.


    Yeah, it's not about "arguments".
    The thread asks for suggestions and opinions. If there is restriction, censorship or previous position that everything will depend on the sole, exclusive and discretionary will of the Devs, you kill the game, and its community, before it was born.


    uw3bil7z4dz2.png
Sign In or Register to comment.