[Let's Speculate] GW2 UI Customization.

[Deleted]

um, what? my mind broke reading that sentence.

I know, right

[Mif]

I'm sure his English is better than your.... whatever the hell they speak where he's from.

[Tithonus]

If I had to guess, it sounds like hes asking if the UI will have enough options so that many players will have different looking UIs.

[Cuchulainn]

Alright, think of it like this; as the MMORPG model grows and changes, then so come nessecary additions to MMOs. Think back to the days of TBC in WoW (if you ever played WoW), you had to have addons like Quest Helper and Ability CD alerts (mostly for the Paladin and Warlock). Blizzard recognized the need for these features to be a default part of their game simply for the reason that some people don't like managing and DLing addons. Let's not forget to mention that the more addons you have active at once, the more they bog the game down for you, especially if your connection sucks, like mine.

I believe that everything we want in GW2 will be there. It'll be default. It might possibly be better than any addon version could come up with. However, I understand that this conversation has moved from Addons to UI customization. I just wanted to point out the whole Addon issue is all :P

[edit]: Did the thread title change, or am I smoking crack?

[Fencers]

Did the thread title change, or am I smoking crack?

It was always about UI customization. People were just using addons as short hand for some features like mini-map reworks, action bars and stuff. Others were foolishly going on about Recount, DBM and the like.

[Cuchulainn]

It was always about UI customization. People were just using addons as short hand for some features like mini-map reworks, action bars and stuff. Others were foolishly going on about Recount, DBM and the like.

Oh yeah, now I remember. We were talking about UI, then it went to addons that are not related to UI (I'm guilty for bringing up recount, lol) then it got into how addons are different from UI custimization, then it got all mixed up to a point where I posted all confused-like.

TL;DR: yeah, I was just smoking crack.

[Hellgaunt]

you had to have addons like Quest Helper and Ability CD alerts (mostly for the Paladin and Warlock). Blizzard recognized the need for these features to be a default part of their game simply for the reason that some people don't like managing and DLing addons.

[...] I just wanted to point out the whole Addon issue is all :P

I underlined the biggest problem about addons:

Addons are a disaster to WoW - it lessened the game and forced everyone to have those addons by default. Threatmeter anyone? DPS meter? BigWigs, etc, etc etc.

An ADDON to display CD timers is a big grey zone. However I do believe that it should be possible to customize the LOOK of your UI so you can put an emphasis on things that help you play the game, without gaining access to information that wouldn't normally be available to you.

But I belong to those that actually like to change the look of my game every month or other month. It keeps the game fresher in a certain way - but then again, perhaps that isn't needed in GW2 since I don't really pay attention to the look of my UI if the game itself is engaging me (which WoW did only on progression raids - the daily grind was agonizingly boring).

[Odeezee]

Would like to change, resize, move, remove or have the option of all of the above. UIs have to at least be as customizable as WoW w/ Addons or Rift / TOR out-the-box. The Aion UI drove me crazy!

no disrespect ma', but you cannot possibly be serious. SWTOR having a good customizable UI out the box? all you can move is the chat box you cannot even scale the UI, haha.

[Lucky_]

Things that will likely be present in the game on release if GW1 is of any example:

1. Resizing every major element.
2. Moving every major element.

There are a couple of major things that I'm rather worried that will be missing from UI and not customizable/addable to the game.

1. Re-skinning. Health bubble is easily the #1 worry, followed by some less annoying details like decorations.
2. Rotation/reforming/reordering: Things like being able to rotate some bars (to move them to the side for example, or to make the weapon skill bar into a semicircle close to the center. There is also an issue with some liking to make a different skill order from default one.
3. Transparency: I'm something of a fan of placing key resources, which in GW2 will be cooldowns and some class-specific resources, semi-transparent and close to center so I don't have to look away from the action to see if I can use the skill x or not.
4. Splitting "major elements" into smaller fragments and handling these separately. A good example of this is the skill bar in GW1, which could only be resized and moved as a single entity. You could not split it into two different bars (for example, one with short CD and one with long CD skills) and place/resize these separately.

[Fencers]

no disrespect ma', but you cannot possibly be serious. SWTOR having a good customizable UI out the box? all you can move is the chat box you cannot even scale the UI, haha.

Quite clearly never said that. -__-

Said I expect GW2 to at the least have UI customization as two recent MMOs (TOR/RIft) or the industry benchmark (Warcraft).

[Lucky_]

Quite clearly never said that. -__-

Said I expect GW2 to at the least have UI customization as two recent MMOs or the industry benchmark.

WoW is the industry benchmark when it comes to customization, both in terms of native support and support via 3rd party add-ons.

SWTOR is, no offence, a total dud in terms of customization. There simply isn't any worth speaking of.

[Fencers]

Okay, what? Where did I say SWTOR was an industry benchmark? That was WoW I was referring to as benchmark.

[Odeezee]

Quite clearly never said that. -__-

Said I expect GW2 to at the least have UI customization as two recent MMOs or the industry benchmark.

i get what you were implying but i disagree with the inclusion of TOR even meeting your criteria. WoW/w addons and Rift base UI customization != TOR out the box at all. now if you mean GW2 base UI customization should be >>>> TOR's, then yes i can see that being a valid concern.

[Cherrysoul]

Is the customize will be big like many things to change that i would not look like some1 else?

Fixed (looks at Fencers) hehe

Will the customisation have many changes available? So that my UI does not look like someone elses.

ETA Ooops forgot to answer the Poster , YES!(Most likely? TBC/D)

[Fencers]

i get what you were implying but i disagree with the inclusion of TOR even meeting your criteria. WoW/w addons and Rift base UI customization != TOR out the box at all. now if you mean GW2 base UI customization should be >>>> TOR's, then yes i can see that being a valid concern.

Of course. That's what "at the least" implied. I wouldn't expect Anet to take a step backwards from basic UI functions in GW1 yet alone newer MMOs. Whereas earlier I was talking about the rigidity of Aion's UI in contrast to the newer games.

[Deleted]

Funny how a lot of people are having concerns about the 'health orb'.
I think you'll get used to it pretty fast and then you'll be able to 'read' it just as easily as 'health bars'. The argument that when you're at 50% health the orb will make you think you have more, or when at 90% you will feel like you have 100% makes little sense to me. Perhaps you need some time to get used to it, but it's not like your human brain cannot comprehend what the orb really means.
On top op that GW2 has other ways to indicate you're low on health: The sides of the screen become red and bloody.

[Lucky_]

I think this thread of discussion (one about SWTOR) can be summarized with "everyone agrees that SWTOR's UI customization is terribly lacking" and we can move on back to GW2.

---------- Post added 2012-02-15 at 09:51 AM ----------

Funny how a lot of people are having concerns about the 'health orb'.
I think you'll get used to it pretty fast and then you'll be able to 'read' it just as easily as 'health bars'. The argument that when you're at 50% health the orb will make you think you have more, or when at 90% you will feel like you have 100% makes little sense to me. Perhaps you need some time to get used to it, but it's not like your human brain cannot comprehend what the orb really means.
On top op that GW2 has other ways to indicate you're low on health: The sides of the screen become red and bloody.

I did a rather lengthy write-up on why health bubble will never be as accessible as a bar here: http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...0#post15185150

Also, not everyone like having sides of their screen be cluttered with distracting "low health" warnings. After I get decent at any game, I don't need them. I know exactly how much health I have by quickly glancing at the bar, and whether or not I can handle being low based on skill availability and combat situation.
Most of the "omg low health, heal now!" warnings in modern games are aimed at beginners, and are a huge distraction for experienced players who know their exact health situation without them.

[Hibiki]

For me minimum is Rift - like UI customization. I prefer WoW like addons for best possible UI.

SW:TOR is great example of epic fail in that area.

and btw "health orbs" sucks, I dont want it at all.

[Hellgaunt]

For me minimum is Rift - like UI customization. I prefer WoW like addons for best possible UI.
and btw "health orbs" sucks, I dont want it at all.

We buried the Add-on discussion, why are you trying to revive that? Addons are evil and bad, UI customization and skin-remodelling is great and good. Please stay on topic.

On the topic of health orbs:
Did you play Diablo 1+2? Are you looking forward to Diablo 3?

Can't we just agree on Health Orbs being an esoteric issue? Personally I don't give a rat's arse about whether my character's health is displayed as a bar or as a 'bubble', and I'm pretty sure you can turn off the flashy side warning of low health.

[Lucky_]

Can't we just agree on Health Orbs being an esoteric issue? Personally I don't give a rat's arse about whether my character's health is displayed as a bar or as a 'bubble', and I'm pretty sure you can turn off the flashy side warning of low health.

Considering that there are a number of significant arguments against it which have been presented, and the best argument you could put for it is that "it's an esoteric issue", essentially telling everyone disagreeing with you that "you don't matter, I do and I won't even bother talking about it, go away", I would suggest that for a start, you change the tone of your discussion to a bit more respectful towards other participants.