If there's one thing I think would improve the new-player experience, it would be UI

I'm going to be blunt; the default UI just... isn't good.

Right out of the gate, the chat window is obviously way too small. But the moment you set foot in an Alliance Raid, it really just all falls apart.

Now obviously, there are a lot of robust options for customizing the UI. But as a new player, you shouldn't feel like you NEED to customize the UI. That should be something you only have to bother with as an advanced player, or if you're just REALLY particular about things. It shouldn't feel fundamentally necessary just to play the game.

Because it DOES affect the game. You have crazy elements stacking and overlapping, obstructing your view of the actual GAME, making it difficult to even see mechanics targeting the ground, let along tracking and avoiding them.

Also, while it may seem extremely minor to some, not all of the UI elements properly "line up", even when using the Grid-Snap feature. For example, if you convert your Job gauges to "simple" designs, they LOOK like your HP and MP bars. But they're a different resolution, and even when you use the grid-snap feature to try and align them, they'll always be a few pixels off.

I say this, because I feel it would be a worthwhile and relatively simple effort to simply commit to improving the DEFAULT UI setup, and perhaps even have a couple of "Presets" to choose from.

For example, you can have your "Standard" option, which is mostly how it is now but without overlaps in an Alliance Raid, or a "Minimalist" option, where everything that isn't directly related to you or your target, and probably the minimap, are hidden. Maybe even a new "Modern" option where your bars are placed to the left of your character near the center of the screen, and your target's info to the right (I've noticed this "look" has become super common).

Like I said, no need to reinvent the wheel or anything, but I think it would just be a worthwhile endeavor to improve the Default options.

Maybe even incorporate the "Class gauges" WITH your HP and MP bars, so you have a singular UI element that looks good, instead of a bunch of weird-looking elements that don't really "fit" anywhere or next to anything.

Oh, and remove the last two digits from our MP meter. Seriously, there's no reason to have a whopping 10k MP, when all of your spells cost multiples of 100. At level 1, having 10,000 MP seems crazy. Makes far more sense to just have 100 MP, and your spells reduced accordingly. Mechanically, nothing changes whatsoever, but it would make it easier to read I think.

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Originally Posted by Terin

Oh, and remove the last two digits from our MP meter. Seriously, there's no reason to have a whopping 10k MP, when all of your spells cost multiples of 100. At level 1, having 10,000 MP seems crazy. Makes far more sense to just have 100 MP, and your spells reduced accordingly. Mechanically, nothing changes whatsoever, but it would make it easier to read I think.

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doing that for new players will cause no end to the confusion. you did say "new players"

a new player using aero for instance, that costs 200 MP will be confused as to why they can cast it with only 100 MP on the bar.

honestly, as a player I didnt start looking into customizing the UI until around 60 or 70. at which point the player knows what they want and what they want it set up like. with the current default, you get eased into changing things as you go, more bars added, resizing, things like that. I think its fine as is for new people

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Originally Posted by Terin

Right out of the gate, the chat window is obviously way too small.

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This one is tough. Some people have 4K monitors, I run a 5K myself, some are on potatos and some are on PS4 with a TV half way across the room. Then on top are differences in visual accuity, with some teenage players, and some players well into their sixties and beyond. While the method to adjust up that size could really be worked on a lot, I am not sure it can just be increased. So sure, it needs improvement, but not as a default, only as an improvement to how you choose your text size.

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Originally Posted by Terin

Oh, and remove the last two digits from our MP meter...Mechanically, nothing changes whatsoever, but it would make it easier to read I think.

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For a healer at level 90, every ~12.666 of piety adds 1MP recovery per tick.

If you've sliced off the last two digits, you've possibly made a change to MP recovery. No?


On top of that, as a SGE, I know that casting a 'chole will get me 7% of my maximum MP back. If you've knocked off the last 2 digits, then a 'chole will have to become 0.07% of MP restored, and that calculation is just too hard for a lot of people.

My chat window is small in the corner. I never understood people who made them huge. It blocks the screen and stuff happening.

I have almost every constant UI element set to small, with windows set to 200% depending on what it is.

The UI you get at the start has everything necessary on screen, and should be customized to fit each user after. I think the real problem is people don't know how customizable it actually is. I spent hours making mine right for me.

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Originally Posted by Terin

Right out of the gate, the chat window is obviously way too small.

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You might have a small laptop monitor.

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Because it DOES affect the game. You have crazy elements stacking and overlapping, obstructing your view of the actual GAME, making it difficult to even see mechanics targeting the ground, let along tracking and avoiding them.

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Such as?

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Also, while it may seem extremely minor to some, not all of the UI elements properly "line up"

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I doubt they are going to overhaul the UI just to make it "line up" of all things.

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I say this, because I feel it would be a worthwhile and relatively simple effort to simply commit to improving the DEFAULT UI setup, and perhaps even have a couple of "Presets" to choose from.

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The overhauls we need are these.

• Status effects to default below the hotbars with Left Justified I.
• Target and focus target bars to default just above the hotbars.
• Mini-map to move to the bottom right corner.
• Menus need to be condensed.
• Change default settings that annoy people and make them quit. Enable legacy type movement without auto-fly/auto-dive, set the target type to Cone, disable clicking on the field to remove target, limit all battle effects to self and only show important ones from the party, show enemy HP %.

I play on a massive TV and the default PS4/5 chat window on a fresh install is still tiny. Figuring out how to change its size (and - advanced technique - how to move it so it isn't weirdly 2inches away from the side of my screen wasting lots of space) was surprisingly difficult because it's not in the HUD menu and you have to use a mouse or the awful virtual mouse to interact with it, in unintuitive ways. I've always found that weird because getting the chat log to the right size and in the right place is the first thing I want to do in any MMO.

There are also a lot of UI elements which don't seem to be editable in the HUD menu. For example, the Diadem weapon gauge thing uses its own unique element which doesn't seem to be movable and lies directly on top of my other UI elements by default. That's annoying. And some elements cannot be hidden even when they are 100% useless, like the Sage Eukrasia icon or the achievement pop-up notice. The Focus Target components aren't customizable like the regular Target UI elements, which sucks when I'm healing or DPSing adds and still want to keep an eye on the boss. I wish they'd tidy some of it up or allow more customization.

Still better than WoW

While I have a laundry list of things I'd like to change with this game's UX, the one that I think would make the biggest difference remains something not strictly UI: consolidate all the initial Active Help entries into one "Getting Started" entry.

At least last time I checked, when you start a new character the Active Help will pop up to tell you how you can move, that icons over an NPC's head denote types of interactions, that you can click on (or select and press the Interact button) those NPCs to accept or turn in quests, etc. Almost everyone who has ever played an MMO—or really, most video games—will almost immediately turn off the Active Help system as a result... which means when there are things unique to FFXIV (or to the job you're leveling) later, you've already turned off the system and so do not get those tips.

Now, it's been a while since I started a fresh character, so they may have changed it. But if it still functions that way, I remain of the opinion that it would be one of the smallest changes you could make with one of the biggest impacts.

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Originally Posted by Shibi

For a healer at level 90, every ~12.666 of piety adds 1MP recovery per tick.

If you've sliced off the last two digits, you've possibly made a change to MP recovery. No?


On top of that, as a SGE, I know that casting a 'chole will get me 7% of my maximum MP back. If you've knocked off the last 2 digits, then a 'chole will have to become 0.07% of MP restored, and that calculation is just too hard for a lot of people.

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Actually, no. 7% restored is still 7% restored. Knock 10,000 down to 100, and your 400 MP cast costs 4 instead of 400. Your 7% restored is now 7 out of 100 instead of 700 out of 10,000. Percentage of total mana remains the same, the flat numbers just change. It's more or less the same thing we dealt with when it came to the stat squish at the start of the expansion. We quickly adjust.

I'd question whether a number is truly needed when the bar itself gives us a good idea of how much MP is left since it's a static 10k max regardless of job, level or gear.

I miss my Grid from WoW. The bars would give me enough information about available HP/MP with no need for their numbers in most cases. I could adjust the information being displayed to what was pertinent to the fight.

I don't need to know that the WAR is using Defiance yet that still takes up room in my party frames. I don't need to know that the MNK is in Raptor form but that still takes up room in my party frames. I don't need to know that the BRD is Shadowbite Ready yet that still takes up room in my party frames. Each piece of irrelevant information displayed is something I need to mentally filter out so I can focus on what is relevant to my role. When the irrelevant icons start to have similar appearances to relevant icons, it's an even bigger problem.

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Originally Posted by Valkyrie_Lenneth

My chat window is small in the corner. I never understood people who made them huge. It blocks the screen and stuff happening.

I have almost every constant UI element set to small, with windows set to 200% depending on what it is.

The UI you get at the start has everything necessary on screen, and should be customized to fit each user after. I think the real problem is people don't know how customizable it actually is. I spent hours making mine right for me.

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While it's got a good amount of customization for element location and size, element design is lacking in many cases (again, I hate the party frame and would love to change some of the simplified job gauges as well).

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Originally Posted by Knot_D

Still better than WoW

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At least the players have the ability to swap it out for something better. Square's hard line stance against mods really works against them here.

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Originally Posted by Packetdancer

While I have a laundry list of things I'd like to change with this game's UX, ...

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Square desperately needs to hire a UX and accessibility team that has executive power over UI decisions and schedules.

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Originally Posted by Packetdancer

Now, it's been a while since I started a fresh character, so they may have changed it. But if it still functions that way, I remain of the opinion that it would be one of the smallest changes you could make with one of the biggest impacts.

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Oh they changed it all right, in true Square fashion they made it even more irritating. There's no longer an opt out on the pop-up, you need to dive into the config options to turn it off. Instead of being seen as helpful they've made it into a pain point.