Player Features and Ideas Discussion

What we have here..... is a failure to communicate

4 different threads on this one subject

CCP soundwave saying one thing and the other DEVS saying something totally different Obviously shows they are not communicating with each other much less the community of their customer base

if you are trying to divide and conquer it will not work, each new thread will just enrage the community more feeling they are not being listened too

The only ones that could possibly think the new file trees are better than the system we had before are anal retentive programmers

people on the test server gave you feedback and YOU Didn't listen to one word
4 different threads on the same issue and you are Still not listening

if that is NOT a failure to communicate, I don't know what is

give us back what was working if i want trees i will go into the forest
If it aint broke don't fix it

Issue: Suggestions in multiple threads ignored.
Solution: Go back to the countless other threads and start reading.

Hello CCP Optimal.

There is a perfectly useful Thread running in Info Portal. To find this new thread, here, is just alarming. CCP Soundwave has already set the table for you & CCP Arrow.

-- Plenty of pilots in that thread are still ready to offer clear references, links, and comments
-- Those ideas will most likely be quite helpful in retooling what currently passes for inventory management
-- There will be plenty of time to 'tinker-and-test' when this system is moved back onto Sisi.... where it belongs

What, a bit uncomfortable with the high % of negative commentary in Soundwave's thread? Feel for ya, really! Despite a best effort this system has not been so well received. If you can deal with the 'Tin Foil Hat' crowd, I think you'll find that once folks calm down after you start posting, you might get what you're seeking. Best of luck.

ISSUE. i need multiple windows to work properly, there are things in multiple locations i need access to all at the same time, with as FEW clicks as possible


FIX. one window is a mistake remove the inventory window, replace with multiple windows.


can you undo the craptastic mess you made of the ui, thats how you can improve it.

I have to say that it's nice to see that CCP is taking our comments on board and this can be seen here from CCP Soundwave.

I may log back in in a couple of days and undock to see beautiful missiles...but not right now as it'll take me 30 minutes to find more missiles!

CCP: Keep reading this thread. A lot of people have used some inappropriate language but their frustration comes from their passion for EVE much like my own and we all pay to play and just can't with this UI. Fantastic to see that this feedback is being taken on-board but a simple suggestion to ensure a happy player base AKA The Customer:

A bit of RL background on me: I work as a Virtual Environment Engineer and take projects involving new software through the path to LIVE so I kind of know the rough process. My idea's are below:

Issue:

Test Server "Volunteers" DO NOT always follow CCP's rules for testing.
"Volunteers" DO NOT always submit reports\feedback.

Solution:

• Form a new group of volunteers called "UAT Volunteers" (UAT stands for User Acceptance Testing).
• These volunteers would be vetted on application and if successful would be asked to feedback on WIP (Work in Progress) updates\expansions.
• Limit the volunteers to have a minimum Time In Game (e.g. 1 year) so that you have individuals who have been in EVE long enough to know how things are going.
• Ask them what their main playing time consists of e.g. PVP, "Carebearing", Missions etc.
• Create a new Testing Server just for them to test updates\patches\new ideas on and provide them with a feedback forum to report back to you.
• Make this new server similar to SiSi with seeded market, POS's etc but only provide 1 region or a few Solar Systems. This doesn't need to reflect TQ or SiSi as it's for dedicated testing to meet specific objectives.
• Limit the number of people to say 500 globally.
• REWARD them for testing and feeding back.
• Punish them if they go "rogue" during testing.
• Testing would be on an invite with a weeks notice before testing and the Agenda sent to the UAT Volunteers.
• Obviously include a commercial confidentiality clause similar to an EVE "Official Secrets Act".

Benefits:

You can get early eyes on feedback from a selection of the Player Base AKA The Customer before throwing a lot more time into further development of things like the new UI.

The UAT Volunteers would be willing and enthusiastic to provide this as they are all volunteers and selected for their skills, background, experience etc.

It would cost a little to begin with to set up a new environment for this testing but the benefits you and we Capsuleers would gain could be tremendously beneficial.

Just my suggestion's roughly thrown together but if this were to happen I would volunteer like a shot to be in this team (if I passed the rigorous selection process I stated above)! How many times have we all gone on a Mass Test and had PVP before the Test even starts from Players who want nothing than to disrupt\annoy\grief.

I'm done...Max out :0)

ISSUE: The single window you end up with when trying to perform complex inventory task.
FIX: Make it possible to manage my inventory through multiple windows, where each holds a particular location and makes it faster and easier to drag and drop between them.



Yes, with that kind of OP, you deserved that one, and it encapsulates the by far biggest issue. Almost all other issues and fixes are simply the nitty-gritty details of returning proper multi-window functionality. Also, beyond what's said here, see sig for further elaboration on some other details. Here goes.

ISSUE: Inability set up a consistent workspace.
FIX: Make each item location open in a new window by default. These windows can be stacked together to create clusters of similarly-themed item locations so that I always know that my POS modules are in this stack and my cans are always in that one. If I don't want to open a new window, I can use a hotkey (say, shift-click) to reuse the first available existing window, alternatively, I can use the tree view to manually navigate to the location. Make these windows remember their position, size, view-mode, and stacking so that each time I open a given location, it appears takes up the exact same screen real-estate and presents its information in the same manner. Also, make it so that the windows remain on-screen for as long as the item location is available — no window should automatically close unless the inventory is no longer a valid location to interact with (off-grid, in-station while undocked, wreck already emptied etc).

ISSUE: No context-sensitivity for inventory windows.
FIX: Make it so that windows showing station-based inventories (e.g. hangars, corp hangars, delivery hangars) remember their state and re-open if available the next time I dock at a station. Likewise, make it so that windows showing in-space inventories re-open when I enter space. Preferably, for things like POS hangars, they should auto-open when I get close enough to them if I left them open the last time I was at that POS.

ISSUE: Screen real-estate bloat.
FIX: Make it possible to hide or minimise pretty much all internal elements in an inventory window: size display, ISK estimate, filter text box, and maximise the available area for items. Some elements might exist in different sizes (e.g. the old thin-line space meter alongside the new fatter one). Also, make the tree view be a slide out side-window that expands on the side of the actual inventory and keeps the area available for items the same at all times, rather than a slide-in window that steal space from what the inventory window is meant to display: the items. Finally, with all that in place, drastically reduce the minimum size the window is allowed to be, since it no longer has to fit all the mandatory elements and since the user can set the window up to show what (s)he wants and what fits in the preferred size.

ALTERNATIVE FIX: Completely detach the tree view from the inventory window. Make it a separate “remote control” for currently selected inventory window. This lets it be populated separately and means you only have to spend that screen-space once regardless of how many windows are currently on screen (this as an alternative to the slide-out fix).

ISSUE: No direct access to specific locations.
FIX #1: Bring back context-menu items for ships and other “combined containers” such as the various POS arrays and the actual POS tower that list the various sub-bays available for the container: be it different bays on a ship or different divisions of a CHA. These should open up the specified location directly in a new window or in an existing one if shift is held down (and while you're at it prune some of the contextually irrelevant stuff from the context menu, such as “undock”, “find in contracts”, “buy item” and other things that all lead to the same market window, even show info can go and be replaced with a direct button to the fitting window).

FIX #2: Let me drag specific locations to the NeoCom to create new direct-access buttons there.

FIX #3: Let me define “root objects” for windows as described here. This also works as an alternate solution to the option of opening all items in new windows by default (or rather, they open in new windows by default for a different reason).

ISSUE: Inability to set default view modes for new windows.
FIX: Let each window (and preferably each location) remember what kind of view mode it was in when last accessed: icon, or list mode, sort type, what columns were set up and at what sizes. Also, let me set a default layout that will be applied to new windows (in particular in terms of which columns should show). It might be worth-while do do a survey on what columns people actually use and shift the game's defaults to better represent this. Personally, I doubt that columns such as “location” and “group” see much use. Likewise, make a survey of what other columns people would like to see and implement those as well.

ISSUE: No remote management of distant inventories.
FIX: Port the unified inventory to the asset, corp asset, and science-and-industry interfaces to let me manage my assets remotely the same way I do locally. In particular, combined with the above issue, add sort columns such as ME/PE for blueprints as a standard column so that the blueprint viewer just becomes another instance of the inventory manager and the two can be use interchangeably. Yes, it may slow down the fetch time, but then warn people of this if/when they try to turn it on the first time. Do not integrate remote locations directly into the standard inventory manager (or make it an option if people want to see those nodes in the tree view as well), but rather let them be separate windows by default.

After days of trying to use it, the only way to fix it is to TRASH it.

I fully support and endorse this statement.

what he said but OK we will play this game

the issue : you messed it all up when it wasn't broken to begin with

Fix : yes we wish you would the sooner the better put it back the way it was

only an anal retentive little programmer with too much time on his hands,would think a file tree is a better system than what we had

the issue: there is 4 threads of dev posting about this same issue and no one is listening

the fix : wake up and clean out your ears and flush your eyes with a good eye wash so you can hear and see what people are saying


the issue : even the test server people told you this thing was junk but you released it anyway
The fix : listen to the feedback you get and adapt accordingly

this is not a flame i was not rude so please do not delete this post as such Just learn from your mistakes and move on

Easiest Possible Fix which will satisfy many of the people that have problems with the UI interface....
Give an option to turn the UI OFF (turning off the index and the 1 window format) IE revert to the old way.

You managed it with station walking.

Give the players the option to turn it off and see how many of your active subscribing accounts actually use the current interface