Update on Future UI Changes.

[Doho]

well you'll still use the same shortcuts, just the bars are all visible at the same time. works for me lol

[Loony_BoB]

If both the action bar and the macro bar will be unified, will we have to set the macros for each class independently? Also, for macros that change jobs, this could take up an entire bar. How many bars will there be? Just the three, or will there be an endless cycle? I'm just a little wary about the amount of space my macros will take up - right now my actions take up three bars, so trying to fit in about 30 macros on top of that into a mere 30 slots will prove tricky to say the least.

I know "a large amount of slots to play with" was mentioned, but obviously if 30 are displayed at once then it would take a significant amount of cycling through bars to reach certain things, personally I'm kind of happy just having to press Ctrl ^_^:

[Skies]

If both the action bar and the macro bar will be unified, will we have to set the macros for each class independently? Also, for macros that change jobs, this could take up an entire bar. How many bars will there be? Just the three, or will there be an endless cycle? I'm just a little wary about the amount of space my macros will take up - right now my actions take up three bars, so trying to fit in about 30 macros on top of that into a mere 30 slots will prove tricky to say the least.

I know "a large amount of slots to play with" was mentioned, but obviously if 30 are displayed at once then it would take a significant amount of cycling through bars to reach certain things, personally I'm kind of happy just having to press Ctrl ^_^:

I think those will be unescessary?
I mean, this is mere speculation, but with gearsets, you simply change your gearset and your entire class and gear changes, so there is no need to macro that, though you would need to open our status window.

[Soukyuu]

Well, one possibility would be to do away with forcing us to equip WS on our bar. This way you will be able to either equip the WS, or a macro that uses it (and possibly several others).

I'll miss having the macros bar and action bar separate though, no more saving navigation time by pressing one button on gamepad for me... I just hope the new crossbar system for gamepads will make up for it.

[Estellios]

Well, one possibility would be to do away with forcing us to equip WS on our bar. This way you will be able to either equip the WS, or a macro that uses it (and possibly several others).

I'll miss having the macros bar and action bar separate though, no more saving navigation time by pressing one button on gamepad for me... I just hope the new crossbar system for gamepads will make up for it.

Depending on the control setup they could easily still let you use L2/R2 for getting to specific action bars quickly (like how in the 2.0 screenshots some bars are numbered but have an S meaning you need to hit shift for those actions).

Of course if those buttons are used that wouldn't be the case but I think they have something figured out, the current bars are fairly unfriendly to everyone.

If both the action bar and the macro bar will be unified, will we have to set the macros for each class independently? Also, for macros that change jobs, this could take up an entire bar. How many bars will there be? Just the three, or will there be an endless cycle? I'm just a little wary about the amount of space my macros will take up - right now my actions take up three bars, so trying to fit in about 30 macros on top of that into a mere 30 slots will prove tricky to say the least.

I know "a large amount of slots to play with" was mentioned, but obviously if 30 are displayed at once then it would take a significant amount of cycling through bars to reach certain things, personally I'm kind of happy just having to press Ctrl ^_^:

You will have more bars than there are now and you could just fill a bar entirely with CTRL + Number shortcuts making it just like you play now. You could fill some bars with Shift + Number or Alt+Number if you want. All the bars will just be visible on screen at all times so you don't have to cycle and you can see recast timers for everything.

Re: Macros on the bar, you will probably have to click on the empty slot and it will give you an option for macro'ing meaning you may have to do them for different classes, but the current version has copy/paste so I don't see why we wouldn't in ARR. There could also be a Macro book and we pull macros from there.

[Zephen_Kellen]

We have a lot of good information to share in regards to upcoming UI changes, as well as those planned for version 2.0!

The bars next to the party member list in the 2.0 image are what you were requesting. However, we are currently planning to use a combination of numbers and colors to represent the different hate levels. For example, 1 or A (aggro) representing red, 2 representing yellow, and 3 and on representing green.


I apologize that most of my comments are about the 2.0 UI, but please continue to submit your feedback on the UI!

I would much rather have a changing number like. X player has 100 hate, Y player has 200 hate, Z player has 50 hate. Keeping the color would be nice as a general who is being hit, but the increased accuracy of who has how much hate would help tanks and hate management. No game out there has a rolling number lock listed for hate. Think this would be nice to have.

[Skies]

I would much rather have a changing number like. X player has 100 hate, Y player has 200 hate, Z player has 50 hate. Keeping the color would be nice as a general who is being hit, but the increased accuracy of who has how much hate would help tanks and hate management. No game out there has a rolling number lock listed for hate. Think this would be nice to have.

I also think that it might be a conscious choice of theirs to make hate levels visible but not clear as a way for you to know when your hate is high and you're about to rip it, but not to let you know wether you need one or two more thunder spells to get over the edge.

[Zephen_Kellen]

I also think that it might be a conscious choice of theirs to make hate levels visible but not clear as a way for you to know when your hate is high and you're about to rip it, but not to let you know wether you need one or two more thunder spells to get over the edge.

I can be a bit of a min maxer I do admit. I could see that. I would understand if they do not go about doing that, but that will not keep me from wanting it still lol. It has its pros and cons as so does the current system. Just throwing the idea out there.

[PSxpert2011]

"Hate meter bars", thats so last millenium! :P .. and poor design(graphic-wise)! Why not avoid cluttering up the screen with these widgets( this is not a Windows OS, or a Macintosh HUB,lol!)

The more innovative design to help us keep our eyes on the action and "HATE" would be to illuminate the character(TANK) with an ambient glow(or constant color/light) to illustrate the level of hate. At the same time, if the attention of the mob changes, you'll visually see his line of sight change to 'that' character. Have a "!" pop up above its head while it resets hate.

Every single thing doesn't need to be put to numbers or bars when good programming and design can visually help us play and understand the behavior of the game.

Another point I want to make to the director and dev team is, if we do choose to apply all these UI graphics along with the actual game play visuals and graphic to our display, will there be multi-display support?
I bought two identical LG flat-screen monitors(24") specifically for playing FFxIv. I think it could be included, display could be customizable to the right or left to accommodate a wide view. If there's an option to move the camera up and down in the configuration, there could be a one to move your character view from left to right. This way, I can move useful but distracting widgets to the left or right screen when in battle(or just enjoying the view).

!!! Again, i support the independence of macros and actions bar. NO! to hot-bars! I want freedom in FF xIv. !!!

There no better way to play a MMO when you know there's space to view the action, have accessibility to information and easy UI.

[Laraul]

"Hate meter bars", thats so last millenium! :P .. and poor design(graphic-wise)! Why not avoid cluttering up the screen with these widgets( this is not a Windows OS, or a Macintosh HUB,lol!)

The more innovative design to help us keep our eyes on the action and "HATE" would be to illuminate the character(TANK) with an ambient glow(or constant color/light) to illustrate the level of hate. At the same time, if the attention of the mob changes, you'll visually see his line of sight change to 'that' character. Have a "!" pop up above its head while it resets hate.

Every single thing doesn't need to be put to numbers or bars when good programming and design can visually help us play and understand the behavior of the game.

Another point I want to make to the director and dev team is, if we do choose to apply all these UI graphics along with the actual game play visuals and graphic to our display, will there be multi-display support?
I bought two identical LG flat-screen monitors(24") specifically for playing FFxIv. I think it could be included, display could be customizable to the right or left to accommodate a wide view. If there's an option to move the camera up and down in the configuration, there could be a one to move your character view from left to right. This way, I can move useful but distracting widgets to the left or right screen when in battle(or just enjoying the view).

You want to keep your eye on the action so you can focus on what's going on while at the same time keeping the other eye on the your other monitor far from the action but void of anything and therefore would be where you'd stick your widgets?

Huh?