The New Interface (Please read this post before posting any reply)

I like the new interface, but options for colors and such should be available for those that can't take it.

We're not petitioning to have it changed back, but to have the Option added for those of us that need to to change it back.

It's not that I don't like it, but don't have a chance to like it do to the fact the interface strains my eyes and causes me physical pain.

I'm pretty sure the devs will do something about this. After all, a company that leans so heavily on visuals to sell their product would be foolish not to address their customers' problems with eyesight. No industry would ignore 5-8% of its market, would it?

So, I'm giving a 5-star rating to this thread.

I have not been able to play the new professions but from what I am reading, they do not seem to be very good. Well they say that about everything hehe. But yes that is the point, It is not that I do not like it, but that I do not have the chance to like it. I hope that something is done, I think every service should provide for it's disabled customers. I am glad i am not the only one it does make things easier, I have not even been sitting in Guild Wars chatting sicne I got that silly reply from PlayNC I do hope something is done, someone else asked the question to Guild Wars to who is also having the same problem. So I do hope something is done. I do respect Guild Wars a lot for creating this beautiful game. So I am sure and hope with all my heart that they offer some help for those of us who need it!

(I am sure they will... right?)

I think what we need is just a nice option to go back and forth between the two interfaces.

~Jenias Perta Ectara

I finally had the chance to get online and play last night, and although I really like the new color scheme, my eyes did start to hurt right away. (hope that was just in my head from having read this thread, lol.) After an hour or so I got used to the changes and just played regularly. My only criticism is the borders around some boxes (like your target box) is too wide now.

So I hope that for those of you experiencing difficulties, it's just a matter of adjustment for your body. /hugs

I spent a couple hours today trying to get used to it to see if my eyes would adjust. It didn't work, it still irritates my eyes.

/signed.

The interface is fine for me, although the colours are pretty gross. What I do think is that we should have the option to choose, and/or colour options on the layout customisation screen. Would not need much, palette of 16 colours to choose from should do it.


Here's hoping that Anet get to see this for the sake of the OP and other visually-impaired gamers who I know are ALSO having problems with the new colours.

Oh and for people who are saying 'your body will adjust' - thats just silly. This is a game and you play them for fun. It's not supposed to hurt you know.

Personally I wouldn't mind being able to change back to the original interface from prophecies release (the sort of grey/blue one).

/Signed for the option to select interface.

i hope that anet can see that not all people can handle or like for that matter the new interface...i hope that they are big enough to make the option available to revert

/signed

There are very few usability improvements. Can anyone actually name any? The only one I can think of is the options tab stuff ( but they could add that without changing the colour scheme/theme).

In fact the usability has got worse in many areas - the colour scheme change was unnecessarily bad.

For example: with the new colours it is hard to tell the difference between a dead party member and one who has dropped or disconnected.

Also, the new colours make the interface cluttered and messy. The textures of the environment in the game itself can be colourful etc, but the interface should be kept clear, elegant and simple.

If Anet wants to change the UI they should make Guild Wars easier to use, rather then messing around with STUPID cosmetic stuff that doesn't really add much to the game.

For example, it would be good to have a way to list the inventories of all the characters. I can tolerate that it is intentional for storage to be restricted, but it is a stupid waste of time to make players "play" the "GW storage shuffle" game longer than they need to.

Also requiring players to logout and then relogin to switch characters is annoying, and I don't see why that should be necessary even for technical or gameplay reasons.

Everytime they change the UI or stuff it causes everyone to have to download and makes the game laggy, and frankly IMO the new UI isn't worth it at all.

/signed
I dont really notice all the colors, I just kinda ignore them. But we whould be able to choose our interface, as some people might not like the older ones. Just as some don't like the newest one. So i vote for being able to choose your interface.

I was playing my mesmer yesterday and it was pretty hard to tell if I had interrupted something. The skill use bar no longer flashes when something gets interrupted.. IMO, REALLY annoying.

yea i noticed that also...it sucks

How are you going to tell someone visually impaired to get used to it, then complain about not having a good color? You just made yourself sound like a huge jerk. Maybe someday you'll be the one with the stabbing pain in your eyes and you'll be the one asking others for support to save something you enjoy.

We're not asking for much, just a way for users to change the interface at will so we may continue to play an excellent game. Why would signing a petition be so much trouble if it doesn't even affect you unless you chose to change the interface?

/signed

They should make it be able to switch between the two choices, and possibly make a green-red colorblind friendly color scheme, as well for purple/yellow colorblindless (i think it is purple and yellow).

For those who have set not signed, I too like the new colors, but man, you cant stick it to people who have colorblindness. They CANT get rid of that.

As for original poster's post, I was very touched by that story, that was very enlightening. I'm glad to hear you are happy now!

Now, I haven't been able to play for the last month and I therefor haven't tried this new interface, but is it really that bad?
I mean, I can understand how the new purple colors in your Hero screen can be annoying and I can also see how the new colors and light parts can be a problem for people with some kind of disability, but is it really BAD or is it just a minor bother (like it's a minor bother to change builds before a fight, but not a problem)?

To me it doesn't look that bad, I think it looks cool, especially the new casting animation but, well, I haven't tried yet.

/signed

I gave up on using my Interrupt A/R today. I still just can't look at the activation bars for too long. Now, my A/R is set up for critical barrage. Atleast that way I don't have to look at the activation bars constantly. Hopefully ANet will do something about this soon.

I am sorry to hear that a few of you don't care for the UI changes. And of course I'm sorry if the changes are causing actual problems for anyone. But do understand, we each have the power to make changes at home, on our own systems, that could address some of these issues. I just spent some time experimenting before I posted here, fiddling with my monitor settings. Those controls allow a wide range of colour saturation, brightness, and gamma controls. They really will make things less bright or less high-contrast, and that might help those of you who are having difficulties. For those who are less techie-minded, or have trouble figuring out how to make adjustments to settings on the monitor or in the game, ask a friend or family member to do some adjustments, and then give it a bit of time before you judge if it worked or not.

Remember that things do look different, and be prepared for the fact that they will remain different. But you may be able to adjust the contrast, the gamma, and the brightness and saturation to make that difference comfortable for you. Keep in mind that change often requires adjustment. I do not think we have the option to offer a choice of interfaces, and I know that we have many objectives for future development that would put the design of this sort of "extra" less high on the list. We have a new design for each game, and while they may be tweaked with time, having optional interfaces is not something that I've heard is coming. I'll pass the request along, of course.

So you want to do an honest "self test" on this? For those who are claiming they are unable to play, or might leave the game, or other such comments, with all kind intention, I suggest you ask yourself: "Would I have stopped playing if the initial game had had this interface?" I would bet that if you consider, and honestly answer, you would say "no, I would not have stopped playing." In which case, you've "self tested" yourself to assure that this is a matter of preference or adjustment, and not a true problem with the interface itself.

As for the Support response, I have to defend those. You see, the automatic system chooses responses that, in about 20% of the cases, give the player all the assistance that he/she needs to solve the problem immediately. This is a considerable help, as it gets the player the fastest possible assistance and allows the Support Team members to focus on those who cannot be helped by the Knowledge Base answers. So don't disparage the responses -- they are clearly marked as automatic, and they lead the way for further answers by a "real human being." The OP sent a request for a change based on personal request, and our team properly referred that request/suggestion to fan forums where, obviously, it has been read and responded to by players and by the designers, too. I think the system has worked just fine. In fact, and there's nothing further to be asked for Support, since this is not an issue that Support could solve.

Some changes may be coming to the interface in the future, for design reasons, for functionality reasons, or for reasons of adding new features or options. But I don't foresee us reversing several months' worth of work to revert to an older interface, nor do I see us investing considerable time to develop a whole new design which may be met with as many subjective concerns as was this one.

Now, to start off, I have that fun disability known as "colour deficiency vision" myself. Deuteranopia, IIRC, but since I'm sure I don't that's not really important. The interface hasn't given me any problems with shades or nuanced colours that I can't distinguish, at least no more than it did before.

I do, on the other hand, find some of the elements a little distracting. It's a very showy, ostentatious design, and though I like all the classy fading and glowing effects on a certain level, general functionality seems to have been compromised in order to provide those. The skill activation bar, case in point. When I'm interrupting I want things as plain as possible. No fading. No gradients. No strobing. Just a big ol' bar that'll fill up from one side to the other.

Pretty lights are all well and good. But the situation expressed by a few posters (that they literally could not use the interface as is) is definately problematic and some sort of solution or at least workaround, I would hope, is something for which the costs and benefits are being given considerate evaluation by the development team (wheeee run-on sentence). Provision of multiple interfaces entailing new interface skins is not something I think has been seriously suggested. AFAIK, people have expressed the desire for an option to choose between the current version and the previous versions. The old interfaces already exist, so it wouldn't be a matter of development per se, merely implementation.

That said, if I cannot play a game on the default settings, and cannot ameliorate the problem with means provided by the game, then frankly, that game is set to enjoy a mighty long shelf life. I don't want to have to play with my monitor and video settings. I don't want to have an "everything else" configuration and a "Guild Wars" configuration. Devil's Advocate, but it still stands. Screwing with gamma and colour saturation in order to wile away a few hours doesn't cut it. I'm too much the miser to trash it outright, but I can say that whoever developed, marketed, and sold me something that I can't use isn't going to be getting any future business.

The new interface isnt only causing problems too visually impaired people, its also making the game harder to play, as interrupting is now much harder, atleast in my case, and I can't tell the difference between dead partymembers and leavers in my party window. Most people in this thread seem to like the old interface better, so I dont consider a switch option to be that unimportant. Maybe its a good idea to let the community join in a poll on wether they want the old interface back or not?

While playing with the setting’s of both the monitor and the game, but honestly I can say GW goes to extremes of being to bright to almost pitch black.

Here’s screen shot of the game gamma setting and monitor brightness and contrast setting all the way up.




I could spend about a week just getting the interface colors to where they don’t cause a problem, but with that other problems will pop up which all those setting will be nulled.

Hardware and software are very two different things, and each monitor, video card and software has their own limitations as to what it possible to perform. Now both things can have “color safe” options however if the software does not offer such setting then the hardware can not act on its own. Games should always have a “color safe” option, but is there anything that can be done as far as adjusting the colors to make them darker shade?

I want to make it clear that the parent poster is not a troll. About 3-5% of the population will have a serious problem with some of the new water effects (for example, the water in the Random Arena entrance). It is unnecessary and dangerous, it is _not_ subjective as Galie posted earlier.

Photosensitive Epilepsy

But you see you don't have to do either of those to solve this problem.

You still have all the art files and assets for the old interfaces in backup, all that is required is adding a drop down list on the options panel to select from one of those previous interfaces, or the current one. The users selection can be saved locally so it won't even effect the servers.

Both the old interfaces support all of the features currently in the new one, so what's the problem with letting the user select one of the older skins.

Gaile, there is no need to completely reverse several months of work. You do not have to get rid of either of the iterfaces, just put in a simple option to switch between the old one and the new one. I really don't see why Arena Net would have a problem doing this if more people could play the game without straining their eyes on the colors.

I think you got the wrong idea of removing this interface completely, instead of a simple toggle button.

I am begging you to inform and convice the Arena Net team of programmers of this situation or thread. Please and thank you.

/signed

The new UI and such doesn't really bother me, but I understand how it may be a problem for some. As many others have mentioned, although it doesn't bother me much, I do find it much harder to read the text in the purple bars (in hero title's window), it strains the eyes like how the GW site's white text on black strains the eye.

What Random Arena are you talking about?? I went hunting for the new water effects but couldn't find (I'm just curious)

Whether you have the problem or not, the issue is that some people do. In fact, it seems that a lot of the people here have some issue or another with the new UI. Indeed, since many are having the same problems with it, those problems may not in fact be subjective! However, since they're below the 50% mark, they can be safely ignored or given platitudes (which some have already tried and found not to have worked sufficiently well). Excellent! That's the ticket!

I have no medical conditions either, and I really dislike the new interface. I am straining my eyes more than normal, and interruption is really a pain. There are some portions of the new UI that is fine, but seriously, some are just too over the top in my opinion. Like others who have posted, I can barely tell who has left and who is dead, and am really distracted by the "pretty colors" in activating skill bars.

It's only clearer and more vibrant in your opinion, Omega X. In my opinion it's flashy, gaudy, laggy and not as good as the old one. I would like the chance/opportunity to either be able to fully customise the UI or have the option to revert back to the old one.


And I just have to say that the tone of the post from Gaile was pretty atrocious. If I had been the OP I would have been pretty upset after reading that.

As much as I sympathize the OP's situation, and without any disrespect - If someone has a physical condition, one should not be performing certain activities. For example, if you have a heart condition, you do not go on roller coaster rides (as warned at amusement parks), you can't (and should not) expect the amusement park to change their attractions just to make certain people happy. Same goes for video games. They are flashy colourful forms of entertainment.

As much as I think the new "add party member" button is ugly, and the white text on the virbant purple is eye straining, I don't expect them to make any major changes.

And as Gaile said (although she did seem quite "angry" in her post), many of these UI changes consisted of many months of hard work in preparations for future upgrades and such. Which means, the option of "choose your own UI" is not probable.

Once again, I do feel sorry for the OP and I think something should be done about it instead of turning the issue around and pinning it on the person that's experiencing the problems.

@OP - Hi, if you're comfortable with telling us what your physical disability specifically is, maybe the rest of this kind community can be of even better help.

I've already attempted to adjust mine. The Skill Monitor and Skill Warmup don't hurt my eyes as much, but still cause pain. As for the Party Members roster, there is no way to change the heighth and spacing between each characters name. I still have an issue with this even with the interface set to "Larger."

Is your development team really that swamped that they can't add an option to change to an interface they have already created? That just seems like your team doesn't care to address the issue to me.

If you had a stabbing pain in your eyes the first time you started playing would you have kept playing? I wouldn't. I've spent nearly 1000 hours in the last 5 months since I bought the game playing and now it causes me physical pain. The answer is yes, I would not have played your game and do not intend to use it as much more than a chat room to keep in touch with the many friends I have made. If possible, maybe I'll be able to convince my closest online buddies to switch to WoW if the issue isn't addressed in the next couple of weeks.

Reversing several months of work? That's ridiculous considering there is already code for the previous interface in existance. Adding an option to change it would not be incredibly difficult or time consuming. We're not asking for everything to be changed, but content to be added so we can adjust it ourselves.

And since when has eyesight been a "subjective concern?" Do you realize how rude you sound to those of us with disabilities? I'm glad you're expressing your true concern.

I get paid on the 15th, if nothing has changed by then, I'm buying WoW. I hate the concept of pay-to-play games and have never bought one, but maybe they'll be more apt to address issues to keep my monthly fee coming.

Man, if Anet can't cater to part of their fanbase for a damn good reason (they're freaking disabled man), and BLAME THEM (like the disabled person can help it), what next?

Blizzard did this same thing with the European instance crashes (oh hey guys, we know everyone is having this problem, but maybe it is YOUR network. Even though it is everyone.)

And Gaile, if the interface was THIS horrid and against the disabled and those with physical and mental problems, yes, I would of quit.

Why do companies want to be Atlus and not make money?

Also, I highly doubt you have to "reverse all this hard work" when the interface has always been the same, minus the actual effects/graphics. Always customizable. You'd just have to make a drop down in the options menu which would change the graphics. Client side. Woo, that was so hard.

(I also thought you were PR not Techie?)

I'm sorry Gaile, but blaming that everything is at fault with the OP, when you know DAMN WELL not everything can change settings as well as everything else, is the most inhuman, unfair, and anti-PR thing, I think any person could ever say.

Do you think the OP can help it that she has problems? No.

I guess if you ever get suspectible to bright light, become blind, or can't detect color it must be your own fault and you have to just "magically" fix it.

Also OP, /signed.

EDIT: "I get paid on the 15th, if nothing has changed by then, I'm buying WoW. I hate the concept of pay-to-play games and have never bought one, but maybe they'll be more apt to address issues to keep my monthly fee coming."

That sounds like a damn good idea. Even if Blizzard blames the people for some things, they HAVE to keep you in their game. Unlike Anet who since they have our money really have no real "incentive" to keep us "into the series".

Certaintly. However... people have been playing this game since release with no problems. Now, there is a problem and Anet created it. Question: is there any additional functionality that comes from the cosmetic UI changes which was not possible with the older UI?

Changes in functionality, of course. There is no doubt that those would take time to test and verify they would work properly. Changing the color of a bar (particularly on the Hero menu) is not part of it's function, although the specific color may significantly degrade/improve functionality based on contrast.

For example, on the party bar texture: They already have the UI's ability to shrink to fit the window, and that is most likely independent of the images used for the UI (indeed, it'd be slightly crazy not to, especially since they seem to love to change the interface). For the health bar, I could create a similar 1px wide by Xpx high texture in quite literally seconds in PSP, which then would be tiled to fit the length of the bar. If there's something I'm not getting here, well, I don't know. But I do know that it didn't take them 'months' to come up with an image like that - something that almost anyone with a few minutes experience in any image editing program can do. They may have worked months on the store, and on the actual functional interface changes, but I'm having a hard time believing they spent that much time on the rest. And the rest, the non-functional changes, is where most of the problems seem to lie.

No, I'm saying Rather than cater to yourselves then petition have them create an interface with accessibility in mind in addition to what they want it to look like.

If you ARE in fact for people having something that suits all people, then you shouldn't have a problem with it.

If they won't fix it (I have no problems with the current UI, in fact, I love it) then why not allow for modders to create custom UI's?

Yes, but these things are to be expected no? More and more games are surrounded on looks more than anything now, Anet is simply trying to keep up by "dressing" up their game a bit (although I disagree with this and I am by no means trying to defend them, I'm just trying to see things from their perspective), infact I am almost certain that if this specific horrid UI update didn't occur and things remained the same for the next couple of months, more than half the GW population would be complaining in a different thread about how things are plain and boring (once again, I'm not defending Anet) and how Anet isn't doing enough to keep their customers satisfied which would lead to some stupid debate about whether we should be paying for blah blah blah and then end up having GW compared to WoW again. - Like I've mentioned, video games are flashy, bright and colourful, these sort "graphic" enchancements are to be expected, especially with a MMOGame like GW. If you're fully aware of the fact that you have a physical condition that disallows you to participate in such activities or limits your participation in such, then you shouldn't be playing video games.

If most people are experiencing eye strains after a couple of hours of play, then take a break? Get up, do something else, I'm pretty sure any doctor would not recommend more than 1 hr of staring at a computer monitor. A for the ones that are going to act all manly and such claiming that it doesn't bother you, even if it doesn't, take a break anyways... there's no telling what long-term effects there might be.

On a humor-note: Hey maybe they made it this way to force people to take breaks.

Wow I didn't even know people had this many issues with the new UI.

Simply put it doesn't bother me at all. The ONLY thing that sets me off is the fact you can't tell if someone has either DIED or left the party in the middle of a mission or even PVP. Also the whole thing with the colors losing saturation when you die seems... pointless.

I've compared my old old screen shots opposed to the ones I have now I've noticed for some strange reason that my eyes hurt MORE with the old interface then the new one. It makes no sense maybe because the pictures are too bright at the time cause I've played this game since it came out. But at any rate I'm fine with the new UI.

But this doesn't concern me (though I would like to know about this sparkley water.. I went to RA and didn't see ANY difference and even with my graphic settings to max I noticed nothing.) it concerns with those who DO have the issues.

I find it that there should be a simple way to toggle between the two interfaces.. it does not take "months" for a new interface. It takes months for skill changes, glitches, and the STORE for Guildwars. Hell I'm wondering why it took so long to get the toggle for our capes and headgear. =P

I doubt anything can be done within WEEKS to deal with it. A company can't stop and drop what they have to do to deal with other things but they could atleast get this done before a month ends. At the rate of constant updates I think it can make it in time.

For Gaile to have a post like that it seems a lot different and spiteful. If people have problems AFTER an update then it's the system... not us.

On a side note I agree with Silv3rr too a compant has to sell and keep up to date and the audience always has to be pleased at one point or another... And after switching webpage to game my eyes are straining in general, especially when I've been playing for over 4 hours. Which would explain why my eyes hurt from looking from the old pics to now.. break time.

Besides after farming SF or Tombs those are two hour long sessions at a time so yeah it hurts but if someone is hurting within minutes of playing that's a true issue which our OP might have.. =P

If that were the case, I wouldn't have an issue, but mine is within the first 10 minutes play.

Okay, maybe you didn't comprehend (I tend to ramble on:P) my post properly. I never said there was nothing wrong with this new UI, infact, I'm pretty sure I've mentioned my dislike for it a few times. I agree that there should be changes, but don't expect anything too major. Possibly a new colour-scheme.

With that said, if you're experiencing headaches/eye strain or anything in that manner, you should get it checked out. As someone else has mentioned already, that might lead to some bigger problem(s).

EDIT: Either way, these issues are because of the new UI, no doubt about it.

Also, you can't expect something to please everyone. It's not possible, it's like trying to create a utopian world. It's just not possible. When Anet decided to make Guild Wars, they decided that people with these sort of physical conditions would not be of their interest. When Bentley decided to make cars, they decided that the wealthy/rich people will be their only point of interest. My point is, Anet can't please everyone. GuildWars (the gameplay aspects) was obviously designed to challenge the players intellectually. Those not up for the challenge usually find GuildWars boring because GW was simply not the game for them.

I am by no means, defending Anet. I'm just pointing out possible points from THEIR point of view.

silv3rr, maybe you don't understand.

A disability / a known eye disorder is something you just can't 'get checked out' and then magically fixed.

Anet eithers cares about their playerbase and is willing to fix it, or doesn't, loses players and because of this loses even more players.