UI improvements + several minor suggestions
Hey to ya all...I wanted to propose several things in terms of UI improvement. Before that I do want to point out I've been playing MMO's for over 12 years...started my first MMO with Ultima Online, so I do believe I have quite a bit of experience. I am sure a lot of the things I will propose have already been proposed, so I am sorry for any repetitions.
1) One the biggest issues I've found with playing on the iPad is the inability to easily switch among targets.I want to suggest the addition of a small round button that should be placed somewhere around the auto-attack button, that switches targets on the bases of nearest to farthest. The radius of this button should be the radius of a range wand/staff or bow attack. This should be relatively easy to implement.
2) The virtual joystick on the iPad is really weirdly placed. Instead of resizing it to move position I believe it would be best if one can choose the position of the virtual joystick as well as the size. This would be done by an additional option in the option menu that choses the coordinates on the Y axis of the virtual joystick.
3) Another quite inconvient thing is the skill placement mechanism. It would be very useful for plays, and I am sure a lot will agree if we could customize the position of our skills. However, if STS doesn't want to allow this option I propose to add one more bar thats in the middle of the screen just left of the Auto-Attack button with 2 rows for skills. This way players would have two bars one horizontal and one vertical with skills. The vertical side bar can be used for immediate skills that need easy access while the horizontal one can be used for spells with larger cooldowns and more of a buffing capabilities. To illustrate what I mean check the picture. Furthermore, one should be able to choose from the option menu how many rows he wants to use in the Side-Bar and the Horizontal bar. Thus (sorry for the text on the picture i figured 3 rows is a viable option) if one wants to use the 3 rows on right without the horizontal bar that should be doable. Keep in mind that shouldn't put iPhone, iPod and other smaller devices users at a disadvantage as they are more mobile, and they can control their char and use skills easier.
http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/43/photojo.png
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4) I really would like to be able to see my HP and MP in points as well as that of my party. That should be quite easy too.
5) The addition of a combat log would be great, the combat log should just be included where the chat is. So once you click the arrow you would have two tabs one chat and one combat log. The combat log should also record all activity all the damage the character has done and taken as well as loot received and non-damage skills used.
6) I have found the general notification system to be lacking. It is a real pain to not receive notifications when a friend has logged, and to have to constantly browse my friends list. I would like to see a small text notification in the chat when a friend logs.
7) Adding a bit more instant replay would be nice. 4 is just not enough. This can be easily done by making the list with ready answers a scrollable one with 4 at a time shown.
8) Other improvements would be to include the ability to play music from your device without having to multi task to your music player. That should also be quite easy to implement.
9) I would like to see a bit more flexibility in the overall UI. In the options menu you can hardly change anything about the UI. It would be nice if you could hide or move some of the stuff like the quest tab, or the potion and auto-attack position. Overall just a bit more customization ability.
10) It would be nice if one could always see the stats of the items he is getting, not just the change in the character stats if the selected item is used. This applies mostly to the stuff in the platinum store.
11) Overall improvements in the Menu tab would also be great. Such as easier access to the current equipped armor stats. For example, when one enters the inventory it would be great if under the character avatar, it would shall of the items equipped and with the stats they carry as well as set bonuses etc. In addition the Social tab is a lacking a bit. One should be able to sort within his guild the lists by Classes, Levels etc. So for example I go to my Guild tab and I want to see all the mages, thus I click a sorting arrow that sorts by class. The same should be done for levels too.
12) I would really love it if I can lock my camera distances. Sometimes I would pinch and zoom in by mistake!
Well I know I wrote a lot, but I hope I have given some good ideas. Sorry for being a pain and demanding a lot, but I love the game as much as you guys do thus I really want to see it become even greater than it already is!
Thank you!!
