Default User Interface

[Vasilios]

I read it in a thread but i don't know anymore in which it was... but..

there are few things we should give the new players to enter istaria...

here is my suggestion:

-give new players a chance to communicate to other players after creating a character. like to join "new player" and "Marketplace" after spawning.

-add a tab "say" and "group" so they know where to write things...

-give the combat window a separate "feedback" so they can see any changes or maybe approved quests or rewards..

- add the map at the beginning.. so they can see where they are

- extend the effect-window so they can see if there are more than 5 buffs on them


ah.. there should be a "npc chat history" under options (blue button on left side)

[Velea]

I read it in a thread but i don't know anymore in which it was... but..

there are few things we should give the new players to enter istaria...

here is my suggestion:

-give new players a chance to communicate to other players after creating a character. like to join "new player" and "Marketplace" after spawning.

First, thank you for making specific suggestions! Players are now directed through the tutorial on how to do this. Unfortunately we can't just "force join" them to New Player because the channel is different on different shards.

-add a tab "say" and "group" so they know where to write things...

Not everyone likes tabbed chat. What we could do is add to the chat interface tutorial that tabbed chat is available and briefly how to use it. But changing the default interface to this would be more confusing to new players. There's a fine line balance between showing right off the bat all the features the UI has and overwhelming players.

-give the combat window a separate "feedback" so they can see any changes or maybe approved quests or rewards..

Could you explain what you mean by this? Because from what I see, you can easily separate combat feedback from quests. Perhaps something isn't filtering properly, though, and it would help to know that.

- add the map at the beginning.. so they can see where they are

I believe the tutorial explains how to open the area map, but I'll look into that. Thanks.

- extend the effect-window so they can see if there are more than 5 buffs on them

Doubtful that a new character has more than 5 buffs. Keep in mind, too, that not everyone plays with a great deal of "screen space", so the more we put on the screen at start up, the less of the world a player sees.

ah.. there should be a "npc chat history" under options (blue button on left side)

Again, I'm not sure what you are meaning here. Could you explain better?

[Nambroth]

A NPC chat history would be exceptionally helpful, even to some forgetful old players like myself!

I can't tell you the number of times I've had to come to the forum to search and see if anyone has posted a given NPC dialogue here so I could re-read it to better understand the quest I am on (or understand some element of the story).

If it could be done, at the minimum, I'd love it if any quest that is active could have the option of pulling up a NPC chat dialogue history for that quest.

For a new player that is still trying to learn where to go for things this could be very helpful.

I'll give a totally made up example:

Jim the farmer: "Hello Player! I'm so glad you stopped by. My goat is very sick and the only thing that can cure her is a wild banana. However I cannot go get one myself because I'm lazy, can you get me a wild banana? The wild bananas grow in a special place north-northeast of here on the top of a big hill, but beware the evil scarecrow that will try to keep you from the bananas."

Now you have a new quest. You close the dialogue and go to bed for the night.
The next day you pull up your open quests:
"Quest #3, Jim the Farmer's sick goat"
+ Obtain one wild banana 0/1

OKay well.. augh. What did Jim say again? Where were the bananas? Did he say something about a creature that will attack me? The quest information doesn't tell me any of this. The dialogue did but it's gone now and talking to Jim just makes him say "Where's my danged banana?". Help!

I'd love to be able to open a dialogue history, at least for the open quest, to refresh my memory.

I know the game has a built in notepad, but.. I mean, quite honestly, not many people use it and some don't even know it's there.

Either consider a quest dialogue history, or perhaps in the new player tutorial direct how to use the game notepad.

[Vasilios]

First, thank you for making specific suggestions!

you're welcome, i just want to help to keep istaria alive.. im interested too to have more active players...

Could you explain what you mean by this? Because from what I see, you can easily separate combat feedback from quests. Perhaps something isn't filtering properly, though, and it would help to know that.

its not that easy (might be easy for you and me) but there are still players who don't know how to use the group chat. they still use /g to communicate with group..

but this is, just you said, only some peoples like tabs.. never mind

Doubtful that a new character has more than 5 buffs. Keep in mind, too, that not everyone plays with a great deal of "screen space", so the more we put on the screen at start up, the less of the world a player sees.

okay, my bad ^^ i have a resolution of two 1920x1200 (dualscreen)

Again, I'm not sure what you are meaning here. Could you explain better?

well, if you talk to npc, they explain you the way or what to do next.. then you click it away, looking or exploring something else... and whoosh..

"what do i need? what did the npc say? where can i read it again?"

there is no chance to get the old message back from the npc.. this is annoying and without help experienced players they cannot finish the quest..

maybe there is a chance to create a new filter "quests" or something.. or even add a new option to the istarian "start button" it calls "Text History" or "NPC chat history".. something like that

[Velea]

"what do i need? what did the npc say? where can i read it again?"
there is no chance to get the old message back from the npc.. this is annoying and without help experienced players they cannot finish the quest..

maybe there is a chance to create a new filter "quests" or something.. or even add a new option to the istarian "start button" it calls "Text History" or "NPC chat history".. something like that

Well, there is a way to get the exact chat history back... chat logging.

But I would rather address the underlying problem that you raise, that of players not knowing what they should be doing to complete a quest.

Keep in mind that if we were to somehow "repeat" the quest dialog, the whole of every quest that the player is on would have to be called up every time they need to look something up. This would cause huge "lag" on an interface that many say is already overly "laggy". Every time you make a request back to the database (which is what you'd have to do in order to implement what you're suggesting), it slows everything down for everyone just a bit.

We are trying to target and fix quests where players "get lost", though, so please, if you hear of specific examples, or experience one yourself, where the quest journal doesn't provide enough information to do the quest, let us know either in a thread or support ticket. While quests in Istaria aren't designed to be "jump through this hoop", "ok, now go to here and jump through this one", as they are in some games, we also don't want them to be "man, I feel like I have to climb inside the quest writer's head just to get what they want me to do here". (And I've played games at both extremes and found neither fun.)

And btw, I'm still not understanding what you mean about group chat. Has /g stopped working as a way to send a message to group?

[Knossos]

Am not sure of this answer as I always have a group chat tab - but if i did not and i sent a /g message where would I see the replies and where would I see chat going on between others in the group?

Knossos

[Thicklesip]

I will note that I don't remember the tutorial flashing anything at me to indicate what the abbreviated channel slash commands (/g for group, /gu for guild, etc) are, which can be problematic even for old hands at MMOs. If there would be an easy way to work that into the tutorial somewhere (or if it's already there and I've gone and forgotten) that might alleviate a few problems.

[Vasilios]

And btw, I'm still not understanding what you mean about group chat. Has /g stopped working as a way to send a message to group?

it is not broken.. i is used instead of (only)group chat tab

here an example (typed in text field):

[Groupmember1] Hi mate, do you come hunt with us?
[ME] /g okay, what do you want hunt today?
[Groupmember1] Well, we go for some beetles
[ME] /g OK, im on my way. meet us there

so in fact, [ME] writes always /g at the beginning on EVERY text he write to tell this text in group..

a player who knows how it works.. he just add a new tab, select only "group" as a filter and he don't need to write always /g on every text he write

got it? (or i'll make you a screenshot)

[Raptress]

I personally don't have a group tab.. I just set my default in my /say tab to /g.. as I almost never need to use both. If I do though, it's still not worth it to me to take up a tab just for group. That's a personal preference. Perhaps an explanation of tabs and guide to setting up things like group tabs might be in order? If it's not there already (I admit I tended to skip through the new tutorials since I've been here so long.)

Also, is there a way to make the "Main" tab flash when a quest update is received? I found it never flashed (for any quest), and I'd miss the quest feedback. I've thus stuck quest feedback (as well as gathering feedback) onto the combat feedback window. Perhaps that might be something to consider doing by default?

For dragons, I'd also suggest turning hatchling glide on by default or at least having a notification that it's available, as that's probably one of those "wow!" features for a new player.

[Frith-Rae]

I'll have to go check my quest log for "specific examples" of lost NPC/Directions. I normaly pick quests up and then I may not look at them for months - so I get constantly lost/confused/wha? all the time trying to figure out what I was doing...

If you look at my last thread in the "Help" area I listed several quests I no longer had any clue where to go to either do them or turn them in.

That's my biggest problem usually - not where to go for a quest (map packs work for that well) but where to go BACK to to turn them in. NPCs are given but rarely have I seen "in Tazoon" or "in Bristugo" or wherever, to remind yuou where to go BACK to to turn something in.

So that's my 2c on the "quest log/detail/location" thing - I think it would be a GREAT idea if we could recall the detail and/or just have the quest log show the entire text instead of just 1-4 sentences . Or even in the heading "Blahblah QUest from Bob in Bristugo"

[Shian]

Can you please move the default place the breath bar sits?

Can you move it to center top-ish of the screen (to be cliche and uniform with other MMOs...) or just anywhere -other- than it's current location.

If a person with a strange screen resolution (meaning most everyone...I have yet to figure out what Istaria's screen resolution is set for,) logs in for the first time, the first thing they do is change the sizes of the chat boxes... now covering up that important info without realizing it.

Even if they don't change the chatbox size and simply add tabs, the breath/cast bar is lost underneath.

[SwordMage]

Well, there is a way to get the exact chat history back... chat logging.

But I would rather address the underlying problem that you raise, that of players not knowing what they should be doing to complete a quest.

Keep in mind that if we were to somehow "repeat" the quest dialog, the whole of every quest that the player is on would have to be called up every time they need to look something up. This would cause huge "lag" on an interface that many say is already overly "laggy". Every time you make a request back to the database (which is what you'd have to do in order to implement what you're suggesting), it slows everything down for everyone just a bit.

We are trying to target and fix quests where players "get lost", though, so please, if you hear of specific examples, or experience one yourself, where the quest journal doesn't provide enough information to do the quest, let us know either in a thread or support ticket. While quests in Istaria aren't designed to be "jump through this hoop", "ok, now go to here and jump through this one", as they are in some games, we also don't want them to be "man, I feel like I have to climb inside the quest writer's head just to get what they want me to do here". (And I've played games at both extremes and found neither fun.)

And btw, I'm still not understanding what you mean about group chat. Has /g stopped working as a way to send a message to group?

I would hope this log could be client based and not involve the server at all. It would require a way to move the text from the chat window into a log and a way to limit the size of that log file at a "reasonable" length.

I am assuming we would want the NPC chat in one log and player chat either not logged or in a separate log.

[Alacor Vashnore]

its to bad we cant make a auto join. but maybe we could have a short window on how to use yr chat box and how to join chat chanels. and maybe a few basic comand instructions to get them going in chat like if u type /g u will talk in grp if u type /gu u will talk in guild if u type /tell randomistariaplayer it will send that player a tell. that type of thing. i find whin im in NT thats one of the top questions i here in gen chat is " can anyone here me how do i talk or grp invite ?" and also if we could make the default chat window transparent enough to see the flashing tabs. i dont know if anyone else has noticed but the defult is to dark and needs to be changed in order to see a tab flashing.

[Alacor Vashnore]

oh and maybe its already there im not sure but a lil note about the community site would be helpfull i think lots of good info here.

thanks for hearing us out and responding to us on this thread btw thats very cool and remindes us that even when we think the devs are out to get us you realy are listening and dont want to hurt us hehe

[Dracaena]

I second the motion to make the default windows a bit lighter so the flashing tabs are visible without having to go to window properties. Also the breath/casting bar default location.

Another problem I had to help a new player with yesterday. Her map wouldn't show group members and she couldn't find anyone. The older player in her household couldn't figure it out and I didn't remember it either to begin with. I had to sit and fiddle with my map while in group to find what setting it was that added group members. I didn't think of the tiny help button at the top of the screen either until I had already solved the problem. She also didn't realize she could put in map markers for locations she wasn't currently at, or how to move the map to show parts that weren't currently displayed. Any way to make the map hints a bit easier to find for new players?


Dracaena

[Dhalin]

I would hope this log could be client based and not involve the server at all. It would require a way to move the text from the chat window into a log and a way to limit the size of that log file at a "reasonable" length.

I am assuming we would want the NPC chat in one log and player chat either not logged or in a separate log.

I don't see why the game couldn't save logs of quests as .txt files.

Say you accept a quest called "Dragon: Dragon's Reach I"

It would create a file called "Dragon Dragon's Reach I.txt" (colons are not valid in a filename of course) and dump the chatlog from the NPC that gives that quest in this file.

Anytime, even after you logged off and logged back on, you could click a button that says "Recall Quest Log" or what-ever you want to call it.

The game would open this file (again, the file name would match the quest's name) and parse it, format it, and pop a window on-screen that shows the log. It _should_ look exactly like it did when you accepted the quest. Obviously, if the file got deleted (or you logged on from a different computer/reinstalled the game/whatever reason), the game would give the appropriate error message ("Log not saved." or some-such).

You would probably want to remove links, of course.

When you complete said quest, the game would delete this file as you no longer need it.

Subsequent conversations with this NPC could be flagged as "quest-relevant" or not, maybe. For long quests that have lots of steps, the file could be appended with the new text, but a 'quest-relevant' or similar flag would prevent greet dialogue from being written to this file, maybe?

[Shian]

Can you please move the default place the breath bar sits?

Can you move it to center top-ish of the screen (to be cliche and uniform with other MMOs...) or just anywhere -other- than it's current location.

If a person with a strange screen resolution (meaning most everyone...I have yet to figure out what Istaria's screen resolution is set for,) logs in for the first time, the first thing they do is change the sizes of the chat boxes... now covering up that important info without realizing it.

Even if they don't change the chatbox size and simply add tabs, the breath/cast bar is lost underneath.

Judging from the tells I've been getting in game, I've been a bit misunderstood. Yes, *I* know that as a player we can move them, but a new player does not.

I was requesting whatever the server's default position be changed so that we as players don't have to move chat boxes to get at our breath meter every time we create a new character or reset the HUD. It's not intuitive.

[Dhalin]

Judging from the tells I've been getting in game, I've been a bit misunderstood. Yes, *I* know that as a player we can move them, but a new player does not.

I was requesting whatever the server's default position be changed so that we as players don't have to move chat boxes to get at our breath meter every time we create a new character or reset the HUD. It's not intuitive.

The game doesn't even tell you that the bar CAN be moved.

Ditto for the cast bar (I think they both occupy the same space, even!)

I've been playing since well before the EI takeover, and I didn't even know you could move those. I recently saw some screenshots of multiple hotkey bars on-screen, and got the idea to try it myself, and complained in chat one day that I couldn't see my casting bar and someone said "you can move it, but you have to be currently casting a spell to drag it".

I think there out to be an option, or some button you press to cause the bar to come up on-screen even if you're not drowning/currently casting a spell so you can position it to where you see fit, without having to spam gift spells on yourself until you've had enough time to move/position it. Doubly so for a dragon; they only get 2 breezes, 2 buffs, 1 heal and 1 gift that they can cast.

[Shian]

I get around that by spamming recall... sitting at my recall point to nab the bar ^^;

Recall/breath/cast are all the same bar, so you only need to move it once.

[Frith-Rae]

I don't see why the game couldn't save logs of quests as .txt files.

Say you accept a quest called "Dragon: Dragon's Reach I"

It would create a file called "Dragon Dragon's Reach I.txt" (colons are not valid in a filename of course) and dump the chatlog from the NPC that gives that quest in this file

Serously we don't need anything that complicated.

All it takes is a "return blahblah to Bob in Chiconis" statement in the last step of the quest.

(I need to remember to open this thread when I'm in game so I can give the specifics) BUT as of right now I probably have about 6-8 active quests in my quest log. Only 2 of those quests give a return NPC and LOCATION to go with them in the last step. The rest just give a name, but no location.

Now a couple of them are dragon-specific quests, they do give a name, though not a location. Now I can hear the "they are dragon specific so you really should know..." but for new players or someone who hasn't logged in in awhile they may not know or remember where that particular dragon NPC was (dralk..chiconis..other?). So I think those should be included to.

One day I'll login and remember to check back with the thread... But if my quest log is any indication claerly the majority of quests need the statement just added. Time consuming I'm sure but pretty basic all the same.