High-res font = yay; Now, how about the title screen?

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Originally Posted by Alhanelem

You probably haven't played many other MMOs. The only concieveable strong point of FFXI's UI system is how basic it is. It lacks in information given, lacks in intelligent design (e.x. UI widgets covering up other UI widgets when they shouldn't), is almost unusable with the mouse (which drives a lot of would-be PC players off), is barely customizable at all, doesn't allow you to directly hotkey spells and abilities or many other functions for that matter, and has stupid rules for when you can and can't use certain functions ("You must close the currently open window to use that command").

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I agree drastic changes would be very jarring to long time players, but it will be no more difficult to adjust to than when you learned it for the first time.

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I agree. After a few years of playing with a controller, and then having to play on PC with mouse when my console broke, I felt completely lost. The UI was so crappy without a controller it was almost unplayable. I mean just clicking on the menu item you want is often inaccurate or laggy, and navigating the menus is lame. It would make more sense if you could have macros up that you could click any time without having to push ctrl or alt. On a high res screen, I could probably fit 40 macros up on one side without even needing to hide them. Thank god for that JP guy who made drivers that turn the 360 triggers into buttons so that I can use my 360 wireless on my PC.

Actually, I'm surprised anyone plays XI with a mouse!

I find XI's UI one of the best, most unclunky out of all MMOs for a pure keyboard player. Having to move my hand to my mouse every now and then in some MMOs really is frustrating. The only thing I don't like is just how macros aren't as responsive as I would like to be.

Well, I don't mind a UI change as long as it's not so drastic *or* we have the option to keep the previous UI as well. Given XI's history though, I don't know how customisable it will be, if it will be at all.

yah if you play pure keyboard it's not a bad interface. Still pretty clunky yeah but not unmanageable.

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Originally Posted by Darkvalkyr

I really really hope the change to the UI isn't going to be drastic.

I don't know why people complain about XI's UI, I've found it to be one of the most convenient, fastest UI in most areas bar certain parts.

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Originally Posted by Darkvalkyr

I find XI's UI one of the best, most unclunky out of all MMOs for a pure keyboard player. Having to move my hand to my mouse every now and then in some MMOs really is frustrating. The only thing I don't like is just how macros aren't as responsive as I would like to be.

Well, I don't mind a UI change as long as it's not so drastic *or* we have the option to keep the previous UI as well. Given XI's history though, I don't know how customisable it will be, if it will be at all.

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Originally Posted by Tagrineth

yah if you play pure keyboard it's not a bad interface. Still pretty clunky yeah but not unmanageable.

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"User Interface" isn't just navigating the menu, it's everything that translates user actions into the game and vice versa translates game elements to the user. One of those things is displaying stats that currently aren't being displayed, like Accuracy, Evasion and as ranged and magic stats, as well as other screen elements, like displaying Party TP and Alliance MP/TP. Another would be allowing gear changes to take place when menus are open, something that bothers me gravely. Yet another thing that's an UI issue (that probably won't be fixed, though), is the disappearing of the menu one zoning, and consequently missing parts of the chat, and not being able to chat during that time. All of these things (and plenty more) bother the majority of people. And that's still not all, blinking and losing target on blinking, for example, could also be classed as interface flaws.

It's not just how well and fast the menus are to navigate with a keyboard. It's some inherent issues with the design and implementation of that into the game client, and SE can do a lot on that front.

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Originally Posted by Arcon

It's not just how well and fast the menus are to navigate with a keyboard. It's some inherent issues with the design and implementation of that into the game client, and SE can do a lot on that front.

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UI and usability are critically important aspects of any software development.

I'm just delighted to hear that FFXI will finally be getting some much needed UI upgrades.

The layout of FFXI's UI is not bad. I've used it for so long that I can't imagine using anything drastically different. The problems with the UI are 1.) It's ugly as #$^& and 2.) Useful info that other games put front and center are hidden in XI. I'm glad they are addressing point 1, and hope that this "overhaul", if it happens, addresses point 2.

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Actually, I'm surprised anyone plays XI with a mouse!

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People would use the mouse if it wasn't so completely useless the way its controlls were designed. The lack of a hotbar doesn't help either.

I use the keyboard only, but I would use mouse + keyboard if the mouse was in some way functional.

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Originally Posted by Alhanelem

The FFXIV team gave us a sneak peek of what the UI will look like a year from now. If it's going to undergo major changes, how about whetting our appetites with a sneak peek too? :p

You probably haven't played many other MMOs. The only concieveable strong point of FFXI's UI system is how basic it is. It lacks in information given, lacks in intelligent design (e.x. UI widgets covering up other UI widgets when they shouldn't), is almost unusable with the mouse (which drives a lot of would-be PC players off), is barely customizable at all, doesn't allow you to directly hotkey spells and abilities or many other functions for that matter, and has stupid rules for when you can and can't use certain functions ("You must close the currently open window to use that command").

The biggest problem is inability to customize. The ability to resize the log window is the best little baby step in that direction in a very long time.

I agree drastic changes would be very jarring to long time players, but it will be no more difficult to adjust to than when you learned it for the first time.

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There's nothing wrong with keeping a UI basic. Complexity for complexity's sake is stupid design. Also whatever they do has to be usable with a controller so don't expect anything like a WoW style MMO. They're not going to put as much effort into FFXI as FFXIV, so we almost certainly won't get two separate UIs.

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Originally Posted by Alhanelem

I use the keyboard only, but I would use mouse + keyboard if the mouse was in some way functional.

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I use a controller and I like it that way. I don't want to be forced to use mouse+keyboard.

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Originally Posted by Darkvalkyr

Actually, I'm surprised anyone plays XI with a mouse!

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I could go for an option to disable mouse input altogether.

I can't be the only one here who has instances where the mouse is overriding my keyboard input on the interface and requires me to move it around and click once before I regain control.

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Originally Posted by Kaisha

I could go for an option to disable mouse input altogether.

I can't be the only one here who has instances where the mouse is overriding my keyboard input on the interface and requires me to move it around and click once before I regain control.

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Couldn't agree more. I want the mouse gone.