Will the new UI be released in our lifetime?

[Alhanelem]

I've played with the new UI on the test server. Aside from being very ugly looking in its current state, it has a lot of promise. I like being able to have different screens open at the same time especially. But currently, it's extremely unfinished and only like half the UI text is translated in the English client. Maybe some people don't care, I don't know, but it's not worth developing if they are going to give it such a low priority that it will never be finished.

I remember when this was first announced and I was really excited about it. It was brought up around the same time as Cait Sith (which we FINALLY have). I would reeeeally like to see it finished. Please?

(though as an aside, one of the things that bugs me most, especially after being so used to XIV's mouse input, is that the mouse control in XI still hasn't been addressed. Aside from clicking on UI buttons it's still worthless- the method by which the mouse controls camera and character movement is about as clunky as it could possibly get, with movement of either being limited to 8 directions despite the mouse being an analog input device capable of fine movement in any direction)

[Selindrile]

I actually really cared about the idea of a new UI, until I saw it, now I'm like, whatevers.

Sure, it gives 30 macros over 20, and different chatboxes, these things are nice, but I was hoping for so much more.

[Alhanelem]

Personally, I'm most happy about being able to keep certain things on the screen that you normally can't, and the ability to move everything around, especially the party windows and target window, which i find difficult to see at high resolutions.

[Vold]

I've been away for awhile now so pretty disappointed to hear this is in limbo. They were moving along pretty good there for a bit with additions to the windows version. Now it seems like with the last exodus of players from the game they have decided to abandon the UI project for the time being. I guess a lot of those players were playing the windows version of the game.

I wish they would use their FFXIV "We gots to redeem ourselfs because we're all about quality service" logic in regards to FFXI, but I guess a game over ten years old isn't good enough for maintaining their company and FF franchise image. I mean you know what the deal here is but you don't really care to think about it because it sucks. All one can do is consistently remind reps that this is still a MMORPG, we're still playing, still paying, and after over ten years there's certain expectations to give the game a breathe of fresh air. Even games with half the current pop of this one find time to spruce up the graphics or whatnot. It's just... etc stuff I cannot say here but we're all thinking it.

[Alhanelem]

As I mentioned, if you go on the test server you can check it out, it has a lot of promise (the one thing I can say I don't like is the macro pallete can't be hidden- I see they were trying to make it act more like the hotbar in any other MMO but unfortunately the mouse input is still dodgy at best), the problem is as I said, it's presently in a very unfinished state with a lot of the text untranslated (Half the buttons and setting labels all say "EN_temporary"). I very much want it to be in the game though, but it seems to be set to bottom-of-the-barrel priority level at the moment.

[MDenham]

For what it's worth, the test server in its entirety seems to be bottom-of-the-barrel priority right now, since it's two months out of date vs. the normal servers. An update of the test server to, I don't know, show things currently in testing for April/May would be nice, in conjunction with some updates to the new UI.

[Sfchakan]

Messing with the Test Server means putting off work of actual content that's coming in the game very quickly as this point.

[Demonjustin]

I think the UI has been put off because they seem to have heavily changed priorities. They went from releasing content slowly every few months with a few goodies and changes to pre-existing things, into a quick releasing frenzy that not only adds new content and improves old, but also has been flat out redefining the game in a few ways when it comes to ease of access and quality of life adjustments. The UI itself isn't a bad idea, but it seems like they are now focused on broader changes with the game itself rather than the display so they can make it better as a whole. That could just be my view on things though.

[Vivivivi]

http://i.imgur.com/ZO0p2cB.jpg
I also agree, the new UI functions fairly well but looks terrible in it's current state.

Here's a very very quick concept I mocked up along the lines of what I'd like to see done with it. It's not "Final Fantasy" themed like the one in 14, but I think it's a legible, clean look for usabilities sake.

[Camate]

Greetings,

We checked in with the development team about the current status of the new UI. They mentioned that there are still a lot of aspects that need to be revamped and reworked, and due to this the implementation period has not been finalized. I apologize for the delay, but we’ll be sure to keep you updated as more information becomes available.

[Alhanelem]

I do realize that redoing the UI is a pretty big undertaking; That being said, game content has actually been getting updated rather fast lately, I would wish for some priority adjustment to this, it seems to me like there is some room to spend time on it given the current state of game updates.

[Byrth]

The new UI offers minimal benefits and requires a lot of Dev time. I hope they put it off indefinitely.

[Lithera]

Why? The game and it's HUD on all platforms could use a facelift.

[Ziyyigo-Tipyigo]

The game and it's HUD on all platforms could use a facelift.

But the new UI is PC only.

[Lithera]

I know which kind of sucks.

[Alhanelem]

The new UI offers minimal benefits and requires a lot of Dev time. I hope they put it off indefinitely.
It might offer minimal benefits *to you*, but it offers many benefits to me and I hope they prioritize it. We've been getting frequent updates lately and I'm sure that it could have more time invested in it without substantially compromising upcoming updates.

We all might be used to the current UI after 11 years, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have flaws, including a major lack of freedom to customize, one of the major deficiencies the new UI intends to address. The standard UI is also microscopic at high resolutions making it hard to read all the stuff that it jams in the corners of the screen. The UI scaling option they added helps, but it results in horrendous pixelation because the UI graphics weren't made at a high resolution.

Another thing that drives me batty sometimes is how the command menu blocks the compass, day, weather, and time displays. On the new UI you can simply move either display out of the way. In short, freedom rules the day.

Having tried it, the thing I like the most is being able to keep the magic, WS and/or ability menus on screen and not having to see them keep popping open and closed as you select things. Same goes for being able to keep the inventory or status screens visible while you're doing things as well. Don't forget the second log window either.

Why? The game and it's HUD on all platforms could use a facelift. While it's possible it might be made available on the xbox (though I doubt it), the new UI allows multiple windows to be open at once and thus requires more memory, something the PS2 version just doesn't have in abundance, so it's only going to be on the PC. The current UI was made with the console versions in mind anyway, since it came out on console first.

[bungiefanNA]

Didn't they say the new UI would support modding by the community? That would allow it to become something like an official version of Windower, with user-generated plugins. They've already been gradually adding features the community has been providing on their own, finally, like AH price history when an item is being sold (not as good as just examining it in the treasure pool, and you don't get Bazaar pricing, but still, better than what we have had officially). Still waiting on the floating minimap like XIV has...

[Alhanelem]

You're probably thinking of FFXIV, which will have an addon API eventually. I don't think they've ever said anything about mod support in XI, and despite the new UI I doubt they would on "fairness with the other platforms" grounds, even though they've all but acknowledged that a large portion of their PC users are using various tools.

[Demonjustin]

I remember talks of being able to make add-ons for it.

[Lithera]

Oh I know they probably won't update the UI/HUD for the consol versions but I've seen better looking stuff at the end of the PS2's life span than what we are stuck with.

[Vivivivi]

There was talk about user generated plugins/themes when Tanaka originally showed the conceptual demo. Haven't heard anything about that since then.

[Byrth]

Why? The game and it's HUD on all platforms could use a facelift.

The last time I checked, there were three feature SE is adding:
1) A second chat log (most useful feature)
2) Letting us drag around the UI boxes and rearrange them as we wish. (Some boxes are also removable, which would be the most useful part of this feature)
3) Macros will have a color bar indicating whether a contained ability is on recast or not. (pretty useless, unless you spend a lot of time with your macro menu open)
Everything else is just re-skinning (with the default skin from the UI they implemented). The dragging/locking was buggy and reskin was ugly, so I'm in no hurry to push them to release this.

If they aren't going to genuinely change the UI and actually add useful features (which they won't, because that would put console players at a disadvantage), then the minor changes that they do make are a waste of time that won't improve the user experience. As such, I hope they don't prioritize them over addressing real issues with the game.

[Dragoy]

Something like this was indeed announced back when.

I remember it, too:



User Customization Features
The window scheme and GUI scripts for FFXI will be released so users can design their own interface features.



Whether or not something was lost in translation or onto the floor of the development room is probably a different story.

In it's current state, I'm not too big of a fan of the new interface, but it does show promise, and I don't doubt a lot of it to be changed yet. It looks and feels like a very early 'frame' for a 'thing'.

That said, I, too, would like that project to have more time and dedication put to it. I think it should be playing a large'ish part in moving the game forward. Perhaps even more so than anything else.

If being stuck to an interface “in the year 2000” is not a real issue, then I probably don't know what is. ^^;

[Selindrile]

User designed plugins sound awesome to me.

[Dragoy]

User designed plugins sound awesome to me.

Indeed.

I was quite careful with accepting the plans for that when I first read it, and I guess I was right in doing that. I still do have some faith for them to pull this through, but it sure is taking a while!

Priorities... priorities, of course.

It would be cool to have at least some sort of an update on this, if the project has been cancelled or not, or still being slowly worked upon. I'd hope for the latter. ^^

[Edyth]

The "New UI" is a remnant of a dark, misguided time that the dev team had for a while. I'm not insterested.