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UI Overheating
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Moac Tor
Cyber Core
Immediate Destruction
#1 - 2015-12-10 03:07:18 UTC  |  Edited by: Moac Tor
At the moment I feel like I am fighting with the interface rather than my opponent when it comes to overheating. The UI does not clearly display the status of the module, and it is easy to accidentally overheat a module as the button is right next to normal module activation. I have come to rely on memorising the status of each module and keeping track in my mind rather than using the interface. The fact there is an option to lock OH status says a lot, this should not be required with good interface design.

Burning a module because you misjudged the heat level is very good and fun gameplay, it is not so good when this happens because you were fighting the interface.

Some probably have gotten used to the interface and will find it works fine for them, I am in a similar position, although it would improve the pvp experience further for me if we have a OH interface that befits such a great, enjoyable, and important mechanic.

(Just to summarise my point above, I am not saying the overheating element of the UI is unusable, but that there is quite a bit of room for improvement)
Mallak Azaria
Caldari Provisions
Caldari State
#2 - 2015-12-10 04:46:12 UTC
If only there was a little green indicator light that told you whether something was being overheated.

This post was lovingly crafted by a member of the Goonwaffe Posting Cabal, proud member of the popular gay hookup site somethingawful.com, Spelling Bee, Grammar Gestapo & #1 Official Gevlon Goblin Fanclub member.
Iain Cariaba
#3 - 2015-12-10 09:03:39 UTC
Mallak Azaria wrote:
If only there was a little green indicator light that told you whether something was being overheated.

A red ring around it to show how damaged it is would be nice to have, too.
Solecist Project
#4 - 2015-12-10 09:08:15 UTC
Having the green light blink to indicate a status change after the current cycle would help a lot too.

I think.

That ringing in your ears you're experiencing right now is the last gasping breathe of a dying inner ear as it got thoroughly PULVERISED by the point roaring over your head at supersonic speeds. - Tippia
Iain Cariaba
#5 - 2015-12-10 09:19:36 UTC
Solecist Project wrote:
Having the green light blink to indicate a status change after the current cycle would help a lot too.

I think.

Nah, that would be utterly useless. Devs would never implement something like that.
Reaver Glitterstim
The Scope
Gallente Federation
#6 - 2015-12-10 09:40:22 UTC
I have no difficulty telling when I'm overheating and what its status is, but I do have great difficulty whether I am trying to click the button or trying to avoid it. Would be nice to have a better button.

FT Diomedes: "Reaver, sometimes I wonder what you are thinking when you sit down to post."

Frostys Virpio: "We have to give it to him that he does put more effort than the vast majority in his idea but damn does it sometime come out of nowhere."
Ralph King-Griffin
New Eden Tech Support
#7 - 2015-12-10 10:15:06 UTC
Reaver Glitterstim wrote:
I have no difficulty telling when I'm overheating and what its status is, but I do have great difficulty whether I am trying to click the button or trying to avoid it. Would be nice to have a better button.

Or hot keys, that would be sooooo good, too good even.

Murderers of Negotiable Motivations

=]|[=
Solecist Project
#8 - 2015-12-10 10:15:48 UTC
Reaver Glitterstim wrote:
I have no difficulty telling when I'm overheating and what its status is, but I do have great difficulty whether I am trying to click the button or trying to avoid it. Would be nice to have a better button.

Press SHIFT when you click the module and the overheating status swaps at the next cycle.

That ringing in your ears you're experiencing right now is the last gasping breathe of a dying inner ear as it got thoroughly PULVERISED by the point roaring over your head at supersonic speeds. - Tippia
Morrigan LeSante
Perkone
Caldari State
#9 - 2015-12-10 10:24:40 UTC
I'd like to be able to hide or disable the "overheat whole rack" icon, mainly because I shift click 'em.

And in fairness, the flashing green of incoming overheat can be very hard to see over the green active module icon - it could stand a little more distinct.

Or I could stand to get bigger, better monitors. That's a possibility.
Patrick Yaa
Royal Amarr Institute
Amarr Empire
#10 - 2015-12-10 10:50:35 UTC
Actually, I think OP has a point.
Yes, we already have SOME indication of the overheating, the green top-part of the module being brighter, and the heat indication and such.

But that is not to say that it cannot be improved.

For example: chaning the "headlight" from green to Red (maybe RGB customizable, just for lolz?) would be a huge step immo. The tiny light it currently is, can be overseen if you have a wide array of modules, imo.

Another step would be to make the progress of the damage the module is taking more apparent, maybe a thin line for the module cycle and a bold line for the damage already taken, so that you have a better overview how much the heat damage is increasing with the cycles and built up heat.

Also nice would be to have the Overheat apply on the next activation of the module, and not have it deactivate upon denied activation (Target pops before you could activate your guns, but after Target lock --> guns don't activate, since there isn't a target anymore, but Heat status is reset, since guns were in activation cycle[or whatever servermechanics are behind this]) so you can just heat the next target.

Hope I explained what i mean good enough :P
Varyah
Caldari Provisions
Caldari State
#11 - 2015-12-10 11:06:55 UTC
And don't forget about colourblind people. Red and green is kind of bad. Especially with these tiny indicators.
Serendipity Lost
Repo Industries
#12 - 2015-12-10 12:01:48 UTC
This seems to be going very well.

Could we incorporate a feature that allows you to overheat all you high/mid/low modules OR just pick an individual module?
Serendipity Lost
Repo Industries
#13 - 2015-12-10 12:04:49 UTC
Morrigan LeSante wrote:
I'd like to be able to hide or disable the "overheat whole rack" icon, mainly because I shift click 'em.

And in fairness, the flashing green of incoming overheat can be very hard to see over the green active module icon - it could stand a little more distinct.

Or I could stand to get bigger, better monitors. That's a possibility.


CCP should just probably supply a machine w/ dual monitors of the appropriate size - I'd be willing to pay an extra $0.84 USD per month for CCP supplied gaming gear (an occaisional case of Quafe would also be reasonable).
Morrigan LeSante
Perkone
Caldari State
#14 - 2015-12-10 12:32:59 UTC
Serendipity Lost wrote:
Morrigan LeSante wrote:
I'd like to be able to hide or disable the "overheat whole rack" icon, mainly because I shift click 'em.

And in fairness, the flashing green of incoming overheat can be very hard to see over the green active module icon - it could stand a little more distinct.

Or I could stand to get bigger, better monitors. That's a possibility.


CCP should just probably supply a machine w/ dual monitors of the appropriate size - I'd be willing to pay an extra $0.84 USD per month for CCP supplied gaming gear (an occaisional case of Quafe would also be reasonable).



Indeed, but color blindness is legit, I forgot about that.
Moac Tor
Cyber Core
Immediate Destruction
#15 - 2015-12-10 13:30:25 UTC
Reaver Glitterstim wrote:
I have no difficulty telling when I'm overheating and what its status is, but I do have great difficulty whether I am trying to click the button or trying to avoid it. Would be nice to have a better button.

Yes, having the overheat right next to the normal module activation is very easy to mis-click particularly at high resolution.

Also I have come to memorise whether my module is being overheated or not as have most people in this thread it seems who are oblivious to this design flaw. It is actually impossible to differentiate between whether a module is deactivating overheat or activating overheat as both are a flashing green bar.

I would suggest detaching the green bar from the module and having it raised above the module itself as a separate icon.

Also I would suggest the 4 separate and distinct colours below (colours are examples);

orange = module is not yet overheating but will begin on the next cycle.
red = module is overheating.
blue = module is overheating but will deactivate overheat on the next cycle.
green = module is passive.
Serendipity Lost
Repo Industries
#16 - 2015-12-10 14:32:14 UTC
Moac Tor wrote:
Reaver Glitterstim wrote:
I have no difficulty telling when I'm overheating and what its status is, but I do have great difficulty whether I am trying to click the button or trying to avoid it. Would be nice to have a better button.

Yes, having the overheat right next to the normal module activation is very easy to mis-click particularly at high resolution.

Also I have come to memorise whether my module is being overheated or not as have most people in this thread it seems who are oblivious to this design flaw. It is actually impossible to differentiate between whether a module is deactivating overheat or activating overheat as both are a flashing green bar.

I would suggest detaching the green bar from the module and having it raised above the module itself as a separate icon.

Also I would suggest the 4 separate and distinct colours below (colours are examples);

orange = module is not yet overheating but will begin on the next cycle.
red = module is overheating.
blue = module is overheating but will deactivate overheat on the next cycle.
green = module is passive.



I think an Aura audio in a calm voice would be a great for immersion and as a heads up to busy pilots. An example that comes to mind is overheating your mid slots. Things overheat at different rates, so an audio que of what is about to get burned up would be sweet.

"Your micro warp drive will burn out in 2 cycles"
"Your micro warp drive will burn out next cycle"
"Your micro warp drive is damaged beyond immediate repair"

Swapping MWD out for the module being overheated.
Reaver Glitterstim
The Scope
Gallente Federation
#17 - 2015-12-10 19:27:38 UTC
Varyah wrote:
And don't forget about colourblind people. Red and green is kind of bad. Especially with these tiny indicators.

It has never ceased to amaze me how the human population can be so divided on whether red and green are the most distinct or the least distinct colors. That being said, red/green colorblindness is a difficult graphical problem to tackle, and might be best put into a colorblind mode which could have altered hues and luminosities better fit for people who struggle with the normal setting.

FT Diomedes: "Reaver, sometimes I wonder what you are thinking when you sit down to post."

Frostys Virpio: "We have to give it to him that he does put more effort than the vast majority in his idea but damn does it sometime come out of nowhere."
Solecist Project
#18 - 2015-12-10 21:43:55 UTC
Serendipity Lost wrote:

"Your micro warp drive will burn out in 2 cycles"
"Your micro warp drive will burn out next cycle"
"Your micro warp drive is damaged beyond immediate repair"

Swapping MWD out for the module being overheated.

That would be the worst thing ever, because hearing it would be of no use.
It would be seriously distracting and take longer than simply looking.

People hearing it would STILL look at the indicator, making the audio completely obsolete.

And besides that does it take far more time than a simple glance, which means it's horribly inefficient.


Immersion is irrelevant when you want to kill your opponent ... or don't want to get killed by him.

That ringing in your ears you're experiencing right now is the last gasping breathe of a dying inner ear as it got thoroughly PULVERISED by the point roaring over your head at supersonic speeds. - Tippia
Moac Tor
Cyber Core
Immediate Destruction
#19 - 2015-12-10 21:57:06 UTC  |  Edited by: Moac Tor
Solecist Project wrote:
Serendipity Lost wrote:

"Your micro warp drive will burn out in 2 cycles"
"Your micro warp drive will burn out next cycle"
"Your micro warp drive is damaged beyond immediate repair"

Swapping MWD out for the module being overheated.

That would be the worst thing ever, because hearing it would be of no use.
It would be seriously distracting and take longer than simply looking.

People hearing it would STILL look at the indicator, making the audio completely obsolete.

And besides that does it take far more time than a simple glance, which means it's horribly inefficient.


Immersion is irrelevant when you want to kill your opponent ... or don't want to get killed by him.

Indeed. As someone who does a lot of PvP all I want is clear information at a glance, immersion goes out the window. Some of the best pvpers have every graphical setting set to low except for the level of detail to identify weapons.

There is literally more information available than a normal persons brain can assimilate in a pvp situation, the less external clutter such as poor UI and irrelevant bells and whistles the better.
Reaver Glitterstim
The Scope
Gallente Federation
#20 - 2015-12-11 18:32:34 UTC
Might be nice to have Aura say a few more things that could be switched off by default, and people could hunt through the settings and try them out. I know there's a certain Aura saying I'd like to have back...

FT Diomedes: "Reaver, sometimes I wonder what you are thinking when you sit down to post."

Frostys Virpio: "We have to give it to him that he does put more effort than the vast majority in his idea but damn does it sometime come out of nowhere."
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