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Deciphering the meaning of colors & icons on the Teleport to zone list

Discussion in 'Release 62 QA Feedback' started by Rinaldi, Jan 24, 2019.

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  1. Rinaldi

    Rinaldi Bug Hunter

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    Currently in the game and in the instructions file, I cannot find any mention of what the colors or icons mean on the teleport to zone list.

    For example, why are some location summaries in yellow, while others are in dark green or light green? (see blue arrows).

    Also, why do some icons show a check mark while others show a question mark? (see red arrows).

    The reasons for these should be clearly described somewhere, preferably in the interface itself (with a hover over help icon).

    Ultimately, these type of issues are largely unaddressed across the entire game interface. How is a new player supposed to know:
    1. The meaning of the item-name colors in the inventory (there is green, red, yellow, white, and orange colored text)?
    2. The meaning of the colored text in the friends list (why are some yellow, some white and some green)?
    3. The meaning of different colored text in the rewards list?

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Jan 25, 2019
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  2. Daxxe Diggler

    Daxxe Diggler Avatar

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    @Rinaldi - I agree these things should be explained somewhere, but here is what I've figured out about them:

    I believe the check mark on the icon means that you have been there before (and have that "new location discovered" recorded as a "teleport to zone" candidate.)

    You will see this check mark or question mark if you hover mouse over the town/scene info panel on the world map. This lets you know whether or not you have added that scene to your list already. So when you wander around on the world map, you can quickly check to see if you have that one or not yet.

    The reason that one with a question mark is showing up in your teleport to zone list is because they added the two daily fishing bonus zones to the list automatically and the one (Storms End) is not one you have visited yet to get the "new location discovered" message. If you don't visit one or both of them, they will not be on the list when the bonus scene changes the next day.

    As far as the colors of the summary field, the light green ones are all non-adventure scenes (Towns/POT's/Fishing Expedition). The dark greens are adventure scenes that are "easy" difficulty for your level. The yellow ones are adventure scenes that are "difficult" for your level. It's sort of the same color conning system of the mob names. Basically, green means easy, yellow means caution.
     
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  3. Rinaldi

    Rinaldi Bug Hunter

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    @Daxxe Diggler - thank you for providing the info (you are helpful as usual :D).
    I am sure many players will find it useful (including me).

    Notice in my pics that the summary text of Paxlair & StormsEnd (both POTs) and the summary text of Ruined Keep (a Tier 10 adventure area) are both yellow.
    I guess if you really squint hard, you might see that they are slightly different shades of yellow. So, whatever meaning the colors are supposed to have, they are applied inconsistently.

    Many aspects of the User Interface are not intuitive, not informative, and not explained in-game or in the game instructions.
    While watching SOTA reviews or initial "let's play" videos on youtube, it is cringe-worthy to see so many people struggling with simple aspects of the user interface.
    I am also amazed at how many seasoned players have to ask questions about what something means or how to do something.

    Improvements in the user interface are almost useless if existing and future players cannot easily discover and understand them (the improvements should either be intuitive or be clearly described in context sensitive explanation).

    Portalarium has the luxury of having dedicated and generous players that spend time deciphering cryptic aspects of the interface and that try to disseminate this information to other players.
    It would certainly be nice if the interface were more intuitive and more informative, especially for incoming players.
     
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  4. Alley Oop

    Alley Oop Bug Hunter Bug Moderator

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    the two fishing towns (and presumably any other temporary additions to the list for events) show in gold. perhaps that is too similar to the one yellow for conning; that would be good feedback to give (aside from the feedback about getting this info into the instructions in the first place)
     
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  5. Daxxe Diggler

    Daxxe Diggler Avatar

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    Yea, I see those two "Fishing Bonus Scenes" as more of an orange or gold than a yellow. Definitely a different shade from the +10 zones, but I agree not far off enough to notice a difference with a quick glance. You do need to focus hard to notice the difference. Perhaps the fishing scenes should be shown in blue or something?

    I also agree that many things with the UI here is not intuitive enough to figure out without some instructions. Sometimes smart people (the Devs) do things for a reason that seems so obvious (to them) that they don't realize it needs explaining. This is probably one of those times.
     
  6. Anpu

    Anpu Avatar

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    Edit: looking at the list, I think the colors used in it are fine.

    Towns are light green. Adventure areas are the color of difficulty. And bonus fishing areas gold. Seems fine and logical.
     
    Last edited: Jan 25, 2019
  7. Rinaldi

    Rinaldi Bug Hunter

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    Its not the colors per se that are problematic, it's the lack of information on what the icons and colors mean. I looked at the teleport list and thought...
    1. In the location column, why have the icon to the left to the city name? It is redundant information that indicates what type of zone it is (adventuring zone or town) - that exact same information is already conveyed in the summary column as a text description, so no need for the extra icon. It's just interface clutter.
    2. The exact difficulty tier is already listed in the summary column as text (e.g. "tier 10"), so color as a vague indicator of relative difficulty is not really helpful. In the last livestream, even Chris stated that these tier colors are not really very accurate.
    3. When a town is under siege, the summary info says "Besieged town" so you cannot tell if it is an NPC town or a player owned town.
    4. Highvale outskirts summary info says "adventurer area" - well, okay...what tier? Again, inconsistent implementation.

    etc.

    why not have 4 columns in the teleport to zone list? With this layout, no colors are needed, there are no cryptic/redundant/cluttering icons, and the info is far more clear.

    Location.................Type..................................Status ........Add'l Info
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Ruined Keep......Adventure zone ..................Tier 10+
    Owls Head.........Town...................................Besieged
    Jade Valley........Player owned town.............Besieged.......Event - Darkstarr Birthday 6-9 NBT
    Blood Bay..........Adventure zone (PVP)........Tier 10+
    Bottle Neck.......Player owned town (PVP)...Besieged.......Fishing Bonus Today
    Elementum.......Player owned town ..................................Fishing Bonus Today
    Ardoris..............Town...................................Besieged.......Part of Main Story Quest
    Mudd.................Town........................................................Mini-quest available​


    You can sort by location name, type (PVP/non PVP would sort with "type" column), tier level, and besieged or not. As far as i know, there are no adventuring zones that become besieged, so the status column can indicate the adventure zone tier and siege status without conflict.
    Also, towns with temporary special "events" would be explicitly indicated. It would be immediately obvious which towns had the fishing bonus, or some other special event for the day.
    Furthermore, you could tell if a besieged town is a POT (nonPVP), a POT (PVP), a NPC town, a fishing bonus spot, etc.
    Also, note that this will help people find in-game events. The one time announcements that portalarium puts in the chat box reach only those who are paying attention to the chat box when they log in or at the exact time the announcement is made.
    In the example above, the event will be visible the entire day (and the player does not have to remember where the event was going to occur - they look at the list and teleport!)
    In addition, the flashing "sparkle" quest markers that show up on the overworld are not really useful if people use the teleport to zone for travel now. So, adding the questing info on the table will help add the "sparkle" info to the teleport list.
    There are many ways the in interface could be improved in terms of quality of life, usefulness, clarity, and intuitiveness. I hope Portalaruim continues to whittle away at these issues.

    @DarkStarr , @Chris
     
    Last edited: Jan 25, 2019
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  8. Alley Oop

    Alley Oop Bug Hunter Bug Moderator

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    i LIKE the icons. if i'm going to ardoris and i type a quick "ard" in the search box, there are 11 results. they're all green, though the two towns are a different shade. they all have different info in the summary field because all the adventuring areas have different tiers (and some have pvp flags). but only ardoris and estgard get the town icon, while all of the other 9 have the same adventuring icon. that makes what i want very easy to pick out of the list.
     
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