FFXI needs UI improvements

[Zumi]

The UI is very clunky dated and could use some major improvements. A few examples below.

1. In my party and alliance frames I should be able to see peoples buffs and debuffs. MMOs have come a long way since FFXI was released and this is pretty much the standard now. In my party and alliance frames I should have all the information I need to preform my job well. I should be able to see who has what buffs on them and what debuffs need to be removed. Doesn't have to be big but small icons work fine. This stuff has been in Final Fantasy games before 11 so I don't see why it was left out. Having to rely on reading the chat log to see who is effected by a debuff or have them tell you is very archaic.

2. When I target a player or monster your current target info should have a larger frame and the info shown. It would help out healers and people who apply debuffs to monsters to see what debuff needs to be applied. The current target window should also display the amount of HP and MP as well as HP % an enemy has.

3. Debuffs should have a color change in the party frame when a player is effected by a debuff. Once again this is pretty standard in MMOs today. For example if I get poisoned my name and hp bar should turn green to indicate that something is wrong and needs to be fixed.

4. Timers, buffs and debuffs need timers to show how long of a duration they will last. Once again almost every game does this now. It is helpful to see how long a helpfull buff on myself or party member will last, and how long my debuffs and enemy buffs are going to last.

5. UI frame improvements. Stuff like widower already does this but the default UI should so TP and MP values for the whole party and alliance. People should not have to rely on 3rd party tools for a feature that should be in the game.

[MarkovChain]

Being able to see other's TP is essentially useless seing as nobody ever uses skillchain. Seing the MP of the other alliance members is even less usefull. I'm all for upgrading the UI, but please, something useful. Being able to see the mob's HP% is useful however ; they could for instance allow you to select either the "HP bar" or "HP %" for mobs.

[Orenwald]

Heeeey, I uses the Skillchainz. DARKNESS YO!! XD
This being said, seeing important buffs and debuffs on other players would help WHMs who have a lot of filters because they play on inferior systems because they don't have the cash to upgrade (Don't hate ;_

That... and I'm a bum so really, I would be a much better WHM if I could see if a person had like poison/para and stuff without them screaming at me like a headless spider monkey.

[Kailea_Nagisa]

I know SE will say it, so let me do it for them... *clears throat* PS2 limitations

[Rambus]

Being able to see other's TP is essentially useless seing as nobody ever uses skillchain. Seing the MP of the other alliance members is even less usefull. I'm all for upgrading the UI, but please, something useful. Being able to see the mob's HP% is useful however ; they could for instance allow you to select either the "HP bar" or "HP %" for mobs.

so what? Saying something is useless because people don't do it is not valid, I would like to see people's tp since others do with third party tools.

When I have tp when someone does a ws and if i have a good ws to end sc i wait that 1 second to do so instead of doing it on top
You may not sc, your friends may not sc, but I sc.

[Direwolfe]

I like pretty much all those suggestions.

[Kensagaku]

@ OP, I'll address each one in the order you did:

1) This would seem completely unnecessary and unwieldy. When you consider buffs in Abyssea, we have stats (2-7), atma (1-3) not to mention self-buffs, shadows, buffs from our mages, etc we would have far too many to deal with at once. Honestly it would be way too overwhelming unless it blinked between HP/MP and stats, and that in itself would cause its own difficulties.

2) Don't really have much to say about this, I'm on the fence myself. It could be useful, but at the same time it could make the screen cluttered.

3) This one I'm certainly in favor of. Having some sort of mark that indicates you're under a status ailment is useful, though it might end up being a bit annoying if you're using, say, Poison Potions to avoid a sleep-spamming mob or to negate a more potent poison. Still, it sounds very viable.

4) Again, this would just add so much clutter to our screen. With how many buffs we have on us or debuffs an enemy may have on them, our screen will just get messy and make things hard to discern, which in turn will just make things much more difficult. Filter your logs, when you see something wear off, recast it.

5) TP and MP for the whole alliance sound reasonable. It would be nice rather than having to ask "hey, BLM party, do you guys have enough MP?" or checking if your SC partner has TP. Yes, people still Skillchain. D:<

Overall, the concept isn't bad, I just think that we need to reduce how much we get changed simply because it causes a huge mess of clutter.

EDIT:

so what? Saying something is useless because people don't do it is not valid, I would like to see people's tp since others do with third party tools.

So... would you like to see a mob's corpse and watch it vanish when it respawns, or be able to see through walls, etc, just because a third party tool can? Not trying to flame you, simply pointing out that it seems to be faulty reasoning.

[Xellith]

Being able to see other's TP is essentially useless seing as nobody ever uses skillchain. Seing the MP of the other alliance members is even less usefull.

I go WAR/SAM with my Ukon. I love doing Self Light for buttloads of damage for funzies. Seeing everyone elses TP so I CAN skillchain with them or not have them screw up my own Self SC would be nice. Just because people don't specifically go to do skillchains anymore doesnt mean that people will turn down an extra 2-10k damage on a skillchain given an opportunity - if you pass that kind of damage up you are either lazy, dense or both.

Seeing everyone elses MP would also be a benifit so you dont have to get constant MP reports. Einherjar is a place where seeing peoples MP would be very nice. In places like Abyssea when you can have infinite MP its not a huge deal. But if you are low manning with some jobs that don't have shadows and get hit for a lot then its nice to be able to get an overall picture of the alliance instead of just 1/3rd of it.

Just because YOU don't think it would benefit anything doesn't mean you are right.

[Lordscyon]

Won't Happend sorry "PS2 Limitation"
If they Finally remove the ps2 server
Everyone will have advance Stuff on ffxi
They shouldn't have a problem doing this since they force us too change payment method without a long period of time too think about it
Ps2 servers should get remove by force as well & say "Please upgrade your current ps2 console too "PC OR XBOX360" and give them 1 month TOPS too change it or they will be SOL.

[Atomic_Skull]

I know SE will say it, so let me do it for them... *clears throat* PS2 limitations

After the adjustable log window and updated macro pallet on the PC and 360 clients that's coming next update we can now safely say that "PS2 limitations" is no longer an issue.

FFXI's UI works just fine. It just needs to have some additions and tweaks and be reskined for higher resolutions (and to look less archaic)