New UI Screenshots (?)

ste2000

I don't actually know if those screenshots are new or not, but I certainly never seen them.
Reading through the new Newsletter from Aradune, I decided to browse the Screenshot section to see if there was anything new.
I remember seeing screens about the environment and about  character models but not regarding the UI.

Anyway here's the screenshots.
The UI looks pretty much identical to EQ, with the "memorized" spells on the left hand side of the screen and the regular Hotbar at the bottom.
The Character window layot looks also very similar to EQ, and that 6 slot vertical loot bag.......
I just hope the new UI is not as clunky and painfully frustrating like the old one.
Never than less is good to see the game is shaping up.
I am starting to get quite excited

                                                                  New VS Old

 





 

CalmOceans

I don't see any resists in the Pantheon UI. Nor HPS or AC. Seems to be missing or on another tab window.

Sinist

Wait for the incoming whines and complaints about there being no mini-map. You mean people will actually have to explore without staring at a dot on a map as they run? No way! I guess some will have to wait till maps are published. Quick, call up Muse and tell him to get to making a Pantheon atlas site! *chuckle*

Amsai

That will be funny. Im an explorer. So i look forward to the times I day to myself, "Where the hell am I". 

carotid

Amsai said:

That will be funny. Im an explorer. So i look forward to the times I day to myself, "Where the hell am I". 

I still remember my fist time in Kithicor Forest. Yep, I got lost and it was night time. Holy Potatoes!! that was some heart pounding goodness LOL

Fourplay

I dislike the multiple window setup and prefer the one large menu with cycle tabs for switching menus...


http://i.imgur.com/2QpvAq8.jpg

Sinist

Amsai said:

That will be funny. Im an explorer. So i look forward to the times I day to myself, "Where the hell am I". 

Now add in a corpse run and the fear of exploration will put you on the edge of your seat.

Remember this?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKDkvy9sKuY

 

TheJoda

Use to hate it when I was in the middle of a kite and got mass "tells" can you summon my guilds corpses?  Good times.

Sinist

Fourplay said:

I dislike the multiple window setup and prefer the one large menu with cycle tabs for switching menus...


http://i.imgur.com/2QpvAq8.jpg

The benefit of multi-window setup is hot keys and placement configuration. A single window with tabs is a bit clunky for such modular setup.

Felwit

I have been assuming the UI components are still very much placeholder elements to show basic functionality, which they do fine. But I expect something much less spartan and more aesthetically pleasing for release.

Also, those screenshots have been up since at least mid-October, and probably before.

Sinist

Felwit said:

I have been assuming the UI components are still very much placeholder elements to show basic functionality, which they do fine. But I expect something much less spartan and more aesthetically pleasing for release.

Also, those screenshots have been up since at least mid-October, and probably before.

Maybe, maybe not. EQs UI was clunky in many ways, but a lot of it was due to various aging in the back design of it. The idea of separate bags, skill bars and individual elements is still a good design. Yes, it goes against mainstream design which is singular components, tab based menu systems, etc...but keep in mind that design focus isn't because it was a logical progression of a keyboard/mouse input, but due to the influence of console based "pad control" systems which have been driving the industry for years.

They can still add UI modding to an extent and still keep the game secure from botting by only allowing generic "visual" adaptions and limiting or disallowing any input control data or usage. So, you could still make a given menu as elaborate or limited as you like to your taste. EQ even allowed a nice modding aspect that served that purpose, but didn't allow a lot of extra input functionality.

Amathe

Recently I downloaded original EQ again, just to run around and reminisce. The UI, even with many updates, is a hot mess. I don't know how I ever used it back when I played. This is certainly an area in which modernizing would be a blessing. 

Wizardry

My fave UI is by a long ways FFXI's and yet many complained.I had every single press i needed right around the num keypad,it made for real easy gameplay.Also the entire screen was usually empty,you could bring up a map or compass with a keypress or auto run was the same and even the hotbars were brought up by the keyboard,it kept the entire screen clean,allowing for a more enjoyable view.

I won't lose any sleep if it is necessary to keep the hotbar on screen but everything else i like to see as easy hotkeys.

Even to this day i have not seen another game have a resizing chat bar and imo it was great .When you got a tell or any chat several lines would popup but then depending on setting they could fade away quickly or slowly,it just gave us more options for screens in my view.

Hard to tell from a screenshot anything about the UI,how each screen is brought up makes a lot of difference.I would expect hotkeys and binding.

Sinist

Amathe said:

Recently I downloaded original EQ again, just to run around and reminisce. The UI, even with many updates, is a hot mess. I don't know how I ever used it back when I played. This is certainly an area in which modernizing would be a blessing. 

How is it a hot mess? Be more specific. Is it because you haven't used it in a while and so can't remember all the shortcut keys?

I played it a while ago and at first I was overwhelmed because it had been so long, but once I started remembering all the hotkeys to pull up exactly the window I was looking for, at least in that functionality I thought it a better UI than many games today (I really despise the all in one tab UIs as they are completely dysfunctional in game play).

So give some examples as to why it is so bad? I am not saying it should not be improved, but I think it is important for people to be specific about what it is that is actually causing them issues? Is it the mouse interaction? Is it the stacking/splitting functions? Is it the looting? What?

Amathe

You can start with the fact it is broken up into over a dozen modules that look as if they have all been spilled on the ground. 

Sinist

Amathe said:

You can start with the fact it is broken up into over a dozen modules that look as if they have all been spilled on the ground. 

Which is exactly what gives it the power of modular use and access. Why do I need to pull up all of the UI just to see a given aspect of it? If I want to check for instance a particular window, why should I have to pull up one big window, then tab over to the specific window? What is wrong with a separate window for each particular use in game? Why do I need some massive blob of a window opening up for every single window in the game? As I said, that is Console game design influence for people using game pads, not a design for mouse/keyboard.

What you see as "confusing", I see as very powerful and flexible to my needs.

kemono55

Oh, no minimap?

I'm more interested now.

Sinist

kemono55 said:

Oh, no minimap?

I'm more interested now.

No minimap, and it is still up in the air as to if it will have a main map. The scuttlebutt is that if it does allow a main map, it will not show your position or any real time indicators on it, being more along the lines of a iconic style map of general reference.

goboygo

Fourplay said:

I dislike the multiple window setup and prefer the one large menu with cycle tabs for switching menus...


http://i.imgur.com/2QpvAq8.jpg

Then you can only look at one menu at a time.  That's for console games.

Fourplay

Sinist said:

Amathe said:

You can start with the fact it is broken up into over a dozen modules that look as if they have all been spilled on the ground. 

Which is exactly what gives it the power of modular use and access. Why do I need to pull up all of the UI just to see a given aspect of it? If I want to check for instance a particular window, why should I have to pull up one big window, then tab over to the specific window? What is wrong with a separate window for each particular use in game? Why do I need some massive blob of a window opening up for every single window in the game? As I said, that is Console game design influence for people using game pads, not a design for mouse/keyboard.

What you see as "confusing", I see as very powerful and flexible to my needs.

Why do you need to pull up one window?

What if you want to view three or ten windows at once? Is it more efficient to to press three-ten different keybinds once to open, twice to close or press one key and tab through various 1-10 menus quickly ?

Sinist

Fourplay said:

Sinist said:

Amathe said:

You can start with the fact it is broken up into over a dozen modules that look as if they have all been spilled on the ground. 

Which is exactly what gives it the power of modular use and access. Why do I need to pull up all of the UI just to see a given aspect of it? If I want to check for instance a particular window, why should I have to pull up one big window, then tab over to the specific window? What is wrong with a separate window for each particular use in game? Why do I need some massive blob of a window opening up for every single window in the game? As I said, that is Console game design influence for people using game pads, not a design for mouse/keyboard.

What you see as "confusing", I see as very powerful and flexible to my needs.

Why do you need to pull up one window?

What if you want to view three or ten windows at once? Is it more efficient to to press three-ten different keybinds once to open, twice to close or press one key and tab through various 1-10 menus quickly ?

I can set a macro on my keyboard to open up multiple windows at once if I choose (and any combination I choose), the options are limitless. I can also do one thing your console window can't do, I can open a single small window with only the elements that I need as well.

In the end, the modular window design is far more flexible for the user. This is why console designs have always been the bane of PC users and why we hate it when we see those console ports.

goboygo

Fourplay said:

Sinist said:

Amathe said:

You can start with the fact it is broken up into over a dozen modules that look as if they have all been spilled on the ground. 

Which is exactly what gives it the power of modular use and access. Why do I need to pull up all of the UI just to see a given aspect of it? If I want to check for instance a particular window, why should I have to pull up one big window, then tab over to the specific window? What is wrong with a separate window for each particular use in game? Why do I need some massive blob of a window opening up for every single window in the game? As I said, that is Console game design influence for people using game pads, not a design for mouse/keyboard.

What you see as "confusing", I see as very powerful and flexible to my needs.

Why do you need to pull up one window?

What if you want to view three or ten windows at once? Is it more efficient to to press three-ten different keybinds once to open, twice to close or press one key and tab through various 1-10 menus quickly ?

Yes I want a separate window for each thing, bound to separate keys so I can quickly open exactly what I want the first time, or have 5 separate windows open at once spread out over my GIANT monitor so I quickly look at and cross reference everything about my character and inventory at a glance all in one field of view.  How glorious it will be.

 I have almost 100 keys on my keyboard, you must have a different keyboard than me, maybe it only has 10 keys on it...or something.  Or sounds like you want to play a PC MMO with a console controller. 

Somebody in this thread said they get "confused" when too many windows are open.  Windows, too many windows open on a computer running..........windows.

How far we have fallen.

Paladrink

Fourplay said:

I dislike the multiple window setup and prefer the one large menu with cycle tabs for switching menus...


http://i.imgur.com/2QpvAq8.jpg

Is this an actual screenshot of the UI? i think it's fine imho, may not be perfect but it's very polish. I like it.

Personally i think the only perfect UI was World of Warcraft due the ability to totally tweak it, but no game has came close since then, so as long as is polished and not eye burdening im fine with it.

Aradune

CalmOceans said:

I don't see any resists in the Pantheon UI. Nor HPS or AC. Seems to be missing or on another tab window.

Yes, in a different tab.

Aradune

Paladrink said:

Fourplay said:

I dislike the multiple window setup and prefer the one large menu with cycle tabs for switching menus...


http://i.imgur.com/2QpvAq8.jpg

Is this an actual screenshot of the UI? i think it's fine imho, may not be perfect but it's very polish. I like it.

Personally i think the only perfect UI was World of Warcraft due the ability to totally tweak it, but no game has came close since then, so as long as is polished and not eye burdening im fine with it.

We did debate internally about whether to show screenshots with UI because since the game is pre-alpha, the UI is likely to evolve and change (and hopefully made better) the farther along we get into development.  We were concerned that some people might see the UI and assume it was final, or not see something that is important to them.  But in the end, we decided that it was even more important to show that the development of Pantheon is really coming along.  It's not just pretty environments and graphics.  There's really a playable game already, and a functional (but not finished, nor polished) UI.  We wanted to make sure people could see that many of the fundamental aspects of MMO gameplay are already in place and being tested internally.  So while most of the screenshots simply show off the world and the graphics, we intentionally did post a few that show combat, inventory, merchants, banks, etc.  

Aradune

kemono55 said:

Oh, no minimap?

I'm more interested now.

Correct, no mini-map or 'radar' --- situational awareness, exploration, learning the best way to travel through a dangerous area, or being surprised when you take the wrong turn in a dungeon -- all of this is very important to us.