Feedback [Feedback] Great Buildings Level Up Window

[DeletedUser8461]

- Modification to the layout (remove empty space / compact things a bit) so that at least the top 5 contributors are always visible without scrolling the list. Those funky tower like graphics at each end of the progress bar are not needed. Also for all GBs other than one's own, the empty space where the complete instantly with diamonds button would be could be removed.

On this count, I think you'll be pleased once you've updated to version 1.109. The "complete instantly" button is gone, and the extra room is used for contributors.

 

[Achaeus]

What is with the delay after clicking one of the buttons to add FP's? It is really getting annoying and is not present in the live version. We apparently have a number of versions of this window out there so when do we settle on one and get rid of the delay? (Hopefully that is not a new feature and will not be introduced to live )

 

[DeletedUser8461]

What is with the delay after clicking one of the buttons to add FP's? It is really getting annoying and is not present in the live version. We apparently have a number of versions of this window out there so when do we settle on one and get rid of the delay? (Hopefully that is not a new feature and will not be introduced to live )

The GB screen should be the same now in the live version as here on Beta. I've been seeing complaints about delays in the new GB screen compared to the old screen for a while now, and I knew where parts of those complaints come from, but your comment might help explain a second part, if I'm lucky.

First issue: Input is now blocked during the loading process
In the new GB screen, there's visual feedback about when you can spend your Forge Points - there's loading in-between each click of the button. There was also loading delay present in the old GB screen (and in earlier iterations of the new GB screen here on Beta), but there was no visual feedback. You could click pretty often, but it would only count some of your clicks. It would look like you could try spending Forge Points, but sometimes nothing would actually happen if the game wasn't finished loading your changes. We ended up blocking input during loading to avoid issues with the amount of visually available Forge Points fluctuating a bit during your contribution, which was confusing and also sometimes caused bugs.
I think we started getting complaints about slowness of buttons in the new GB screen when we started blocking input during the loading process, but someone might be able to remember better than I. Now that I think about it some more, the loading might now actually be slightly longer than it used to be. I'll double-check that. Anyway , it's not as much longer as it might appear - the "hidden" loading would regularly ignore your input without telling you about it.

The part which could potentially explain why it takes longer for you on Beta than on live:
Are you by any chance based in North America, and do you usually play on the US server? The US server is based in the US, and the Beta servers are in Europe. If yes, the extra distance between you and the server adds on extra loading time for things the game client needs to load from the servers. This would be particularly noticeable when you're doing such an action often, like contributing FPs.

If you're not, I guess there's a fairly good chance that we've broken something in the new GB screen in the last 2 weeks. But as I said before - the GB screen should currently be pretty much the same code on Beta as on live.

 

[Achaeus]

The GB screen should be the same now in the live version as here on Beta. I've been seeing complaints about delays in the new GB screen compared to the old screen for a while now, and I knew where parts of those complaints come from, but your comment might help explain a second part, if I'm lucky.

First issue: Input is now blocked during the loading process
In the new GB screen, there's visual feedback about when you can spend your Forge Points - there's loading in-between each click of the button. There was also loading delay present in the old GB screen (and in earlier iterations of the new GB screen here on Beta), but there was no visual feedback. You could click pretty often, but it would only count some of your clicks. It would look like you could try spending Forge Points, but sometimes nothing would actually happen if the game wasn't finished loading your changes. We ended up blocking input during loading to avoid issues with the amount of visually available Forge Points fluctuating a bit during your contribution, which was confusing and also sometimes caused bugs.
I think we started getting complaints about slowness of buttons in the new GB screen when we started blocking input during the loading process, but someone might be able to remember better than I. Now that I think about it some more, the loading might now actually be slightly longer than it used to be. I'll double-check that. Anyway , it's not as much longer as it might appear - the "hidden" loading would regularly ignore your input without telling you about it.

The part which could potentially explain why it takes longer for you on Beta than on live:
Are you by any chance based in North America, and do you usually play on the US server? The US server is based in the US, and the Beta servers are in Europe. If yes, the extra distance between you and the server adds on extra loading time for things the game client needs to load from the servers. This would be particularly noticeable when you're doing such an action often, like contributing FPs.

If you're not, I guess there's a fairly good chance that we've broken something in the new GB screen in the last 2 weeks. But as I said before - the GB screen should currently be pretty much the same code on Beta as on live.

Yes I am in North America, but the delay is something somewhat new ... it has been around for a few weeks now and I had hoped that it would clear up but has only gotten worse not better. Why do we need a delay at all? I had no issues with the old screen. On good days it is only a second or two, but on bad days I have to abandon the contribution all together, so please break it and make it do what it used to do, which was register my click and complete a contribution. It should not take 10 secs to contribute 3 FP's! Whatever you are doing in the Research screen works, try that instead.

 

[DeletedUser5429]

I think we started getting complaints about slowness of buttons in the new GB screen when we started blocking input during the loading process, but someone might be able to remember better than I. Now that I think about it some more, the loading might now actually be slightly longer than it used to be. I'll double-check that. Anyway , it's not as much longer as it might appear - the "hidden" loading would regularly ignore your input without telling you about it.

The part which could potentially explain why it takes longer for you on Beta than on live:
Are you by any chance based in North America, and do you usually play on the US server? The US server is based in the US, and the Beta servers are in Europe. If yes, the extra distance between you and the server adds on extra loading time for things the game client needs to load from the servers. This would be particularly noticeable when you're doing such an action often, like contributing FPs.

If you're not, I guess there's a fairly good chance that we've broken something in the new GB screen in the last 2 weeks. But as I said before - the GB screen should currently be pretty much the same code on Beta as on live.

Hi Robert,
I confirm that I started complaining when the input was blocked during the loading process.
Before that it was lightning fast. After it was desperately slow.
I don't understand what you say about errors : with no blocking I never encountered a problem.
With blocking I often encounter internal errors, especially when two people are donating at the same time.
On mobile now, there is no blocking, and I was able to spend as much as 2600 FPs in one single time. It took long to register, but there was no error.

I am based in Europe, and the delay after each click vary greatly. Sometimes it is only half a second or so, other times it takes up to some seconds (2, 3, even 5...).
Don't have a precise pattern to submit, though.

 

[DeletedUser8471]

This is big problem with current design. Because there is no 5 FP button game uses 3x 2 FP packages when we want to add 5. When we have any FP on bar and we want to add 10 it clears bar and small packages from inventory. It clears small packages very fast. There is also not possible to buy 1 FP with coins (suggested by many players and ignored by Inno devs).

For big investments system is nice, although it would be even better if extra 50 FP button would be added.
But currently if you want to add small fixed amount ending with 5-9 FPs, ie 15 FP it takes more time than before. Actually its faster to manually open FP bar and buy for coins / open packs there and then click 'add 15 from bar' on GB. Problem is lack of 5 FP button.
Mobile revenge - now browser players need to taste of manually opening packages - open GB, close GB, open FP bar, manually add FP, open GB again, click spend all from bar ;p

I'd like to see 2 changes on mobile:
- Addition of a 5 FP button
- Modification to the layout (remove empty space / compact things a bit) so that at least the top 5 contributors are always visible without scrolling the list. Those funky tower like graphics at each end of the progress bar are not needed. Also for all GBs other than one's own, the empty space where the complete instantly with diamonds button would be could be removed.

I still think the layout should be designed in such a way that it can have an input box to enter in the number of fps we want to donate manually, and have a memory feature to allow easier use of the "spend x amount of fps" quests. And adding the option to purchase points with coins directly from the GB window. I believe someone suggested this change a few weeks ago and was overlooked completely.

They even made pictures to illustrate better =\



Adding the 5 button in the mix would be nice, and a change to how it uses your packs would be great too.

Essentially you would have a 1, 5, and 10 button plus the bar option, where 10 would use a 10 pack first, even if you have multiple smaller packs, and then use up smaller packs when all 10 packs are used.
Then the 5 button would use 5 packs first and, and then open 10 packs essentially splitting them in half putting the remainder on the bar.
The 1 button would do the same as it is now, use points from bar first, then open available packs from smallest to largest.

On this count, I think you'll be pleased once you've updated to version 1.109. The "complete instantly" button is gone, and the extra room is used for contributors.

That does make the interface look better overall

 

[DeletedUser8277]

I don't want to sound too negative but I took a peek on other forums, here on Beta, on US, on EN, and every forum that had replies and google could translate, the reviews and user experience for this new window are overwhelmingly negative. Players are quite happy adding 10 points has become faster but bothered but virtually everything else discussed here.

I know beta's a small sample, so it was passed to EN but they all said the same things. And now on the live forums again, the same problems. The sample size of players are now worldwide and large. Players are having an overwhelmingly negative experience with this new window. With the exception of Spain for some reason, whose 5 or so replies in the thread were favorable though I believe that was prior to it's release and just based on announcement of a new window.

Why do the developers want to keep this window in the game despite all the issues it's causing and the negative reviews on every market?

Sidenote: It was rather amusing seeing all the different words for FP and GB across the world in all the different forums and languages, I didn't know so much of the game was different (though perhaps it was google translating them differently) also interesting seeing the exact same posts, comments and complaints over and over transending all the different languages.

 

[DeletedUser]

On this count, I think you'll be pleased once you've updated to version 1.109. The "complete instantly" button is gone, and the extra room is used for contributors.

time to remove it on the browser too

 

[DeletedUser7529]

On this count, I think you'll be pleased once you've updated to version 1.109. The "complete instantly" button is gone, and the extra room is used for contributors.

But still no 5 FP button and no option to buy 1 FP for coins directly in GB window.
The 50 or 100 FP add would be helpful, but its not as needed as 5 FP and buy for coins buttons.
Most players by now used all their small packages and are very angry when they end with 9 FP on bar after they clicked add 1 last FP.

 

[DeletedUser8461]

I don't want to sound too negative but I took a peek on other forums, here on Beta, on US, on EN, and every forum that had replies and google could translate, the reviews and user experience for this new window are overwhelmingly negative. Players are quite happy adding 10 points has become faster but bothered but virtually everything else discussed here.

I know beta's a small sample, so it was passed to EN but they all said the same things. And now on the live forums again, the same problems. The sample size of players are now worldwide and large. Players are having an overwhelmingly negative experience with this new window. With the exception of Spain for some reason, whose 5 or so replies in the thread were favorable though I believe that was prior to it's release and just based on announcement of a new window.

Why do the developers want to keep this window in the game despite all the issues it's causing and the negative reviews on every market?

Sidenote: It was rather amusing seeing all the different words for FP and GB across the world in all the different forums and languages, I didn't know so much of the game was different (though perhaps it was google translating them differently) also interesting seeing the exact same posts, comments and complaints over and over transending all the different languages.

Bolded the important question! So, why not revert back to the old one?
If we're using "avoid negative feedback" as the primary decision-maker (which we don't), it's not entirely a matter of simply reverting:

• New window offers a very clear benefit over the old one on mobile. It was not possible to use forge point packages in the old window. That might have been sufficient for people using the mobile app as a companion, but we want it to be able to offer a Forge of Empires gaming experience by itself. (Shout-out to @Prinza the Hunter because Prinza will be pleased to hear me say that).
• Depending on your usage pattern, the new window offers some arguable benefits over the old one on browser.

Both of these would cause fairly serious negative issues if we reverted. To address the negative feedback that results from reverting, we'd need to put additional work into improving the window.

Making improvements is also the solution for addressing feedback about the new window, and the new window offers a better design base for improvement than the old one.

 

[DeletedUser8277]

Both of these would cause fairly serious negative issues if we reverted. To address the negative feedback that results from reverting, we'd need to put additional work into improving the window.

Making improvements is also the solution for addressing feedback about the new window, and the new window offers a better design base for improvement than the old one.

Thank you very much Robert for taking the time to address my question. It is very logical in the way you explain it that the best thing to do is to make improvements on the new window based on user reviews than reverting back to the old window. I'm glad to know the new window is still considered a work in progress and those in the know are willing to make tweeks to make it better for the players. In reading the forums the same issues were repeated over and over:

Different size packs not being utilized correctly and being split up on the bar.
Not being able to use packs before bar points.
Issues with reading and comprehension of the new window.
Not able to use coins to buy and add FP.
Font size.

Features that have been removed:
Ability to see previous levels boost reward amount.

Features that have been asked for:
Ability to see arc boost

And my own personal biggest gripe with the interface is that it dosn't appear correctly. The window is set up as inputs on top, information underneath. This causes someone to look at it each and every time and need to 'process' the screen. Most UIs are set with information up top and inputs at the bottom and it makes sense. You need to know the information before you make a decision on what to do with the information. The new window is confusing because it just isn't how we read things.

Anyway I know you get bombarded with many ideas but if you're interested this is a rough draft I came up with that I believe would address the majority of complaints and also keep with the new mobile friendly window. Please excuse the bad shop job.

A few breakdowns of why I think a design similar to this would address player concerns:

Spoiler

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

[DeletedUser8341]

...this is a rough draft I came up with that I believe would address the majority of complaints and also keep with the new mobile friendly window.

Great work and I agree with most of what is said there - there are some good "obvious" improvements.
I am less sure about the idea of a pop-up for contributing:

1. It is helpful to see the current contributions while adding, to be sure of the amount;
2. I am happy with the game using points from the bar in preference to packs (people wanting to 'use points on the bar differently' can always take a pack, put it on the bar and use it: same result);
3. Why no facility to simply type in the number of forge points wanted? If I am sniping to get some level, or contributing to buy goods, or responding to an agreement to swap a bunch of FP, I know the exact number and should be able to type it in.

 

[DeletedUser8079]

On this count, I think you'll be pleased once you've updated to version 1.109. The "complete instantly" button is gone, and the extra room is used for contributors.

Thank you - For considering, implementing, and replying. Hat trick

 

[DeletedUser8277]

It is helpful to see the current contributions while adding, to be sure of the amount;

In my mock up you can, both stay open. Pop up opens to the teal square location on my idea so all is visible =)

I am happy with the game using points from the bar in preference to packs (people wanting to 'use points on the bar differently' can always take a pack, put it on the bar and use it: same result);

It doesn't work like that and requires people leaving all windows clickiing plus sign at bar and going back into the windows to add them. Where as if someone wants to use bar points first then just hit one button, empty FP bar.

Some people like to use 2 packs for sticks to bricks, keep their dailies for Obs, and do their gb sniping completely with packs. You can't do any of that with this system, people should have more control over what they use. Also your idea doesn't work if people already have points on their bar they do not want to use at all yet but do want to spend packs.

Why no facility to simply type in the number of forge points wanted? If I am sniping to get some level, or contributing to buy goods, or responding to an agreement to swap a bunch of FP, I know the exact number and should be able to type it in.

I think that was one of the most requested ideas they have said earlier in this thread they are not going to do that or don't have a way to do that. Though for me personally I wouldn't have liked it but I know it's what the people want. I wouldn't like it because it would be so easy to make a mistake, you can cancel a good trade if you type wrong but not a GB donation. With everyone in a rush to snipe, mistakes will be made, big mistakes. Also I like loading up spend FP RQ when contributing large amounts, so I would only use it for enough to trigger the quest anyway. I agree that was the most asked for request on how to spend them but I'm personally glad they did not do it that way.

 

[DeletedUser8079]

As for the lag issue. Not sure if this is the same thing or not, but here's my experience / comment:

In recent weeks (many - 2-3 months now), on live US server Q, performance is often terrible. I haven't noticed anything different with, or specific to, the new GB interface, and it started well before it was released to live servers. When things are bad I'll be able to do stuff - anything... Aid, click GB buttons, move units in combat - for maybe 10 seconds, then have to wait 5+ seconds while the game apparently locks up, sometimes for a a good 20 seconds.

This appears to be time of the day related, so I think it's server overload. Things tend to be pretty good around 4:00am

 

[DeletedUser7529]

Bolded the important question! So, why not revert back to the old one?
If we're using "avoid negative feedback" as the primary decision-maker (which we don't), it's not entirely a matter of simply reverting:

• New window offers a very clear benefit over the old one on mobile. It was not possible to use forge point packages in the old window. That might have been sufficient for people using the mobile app as a companion, but we want it to be able to offer a Forge of Empires gaming experience by itself. (Shout-out to @Prinza the Hunter because Prinza will be pleased to hear me say that).
• Depending on your usage pattern, the new window offers some arguable benefits over the old one on browser.

Both of these would cause fairly serious negative issues if we reverted. To address the negative feedback that results from reverting, we'd need to put additional work into improving the window.

Making improvements is also the solution for addressing feedback about the new window, and the new window offers a better design base for improvement than the old one.

Well new window offers much faster donation of big amounts of FP. Most of negative feedback is about spending packages (wasting them) which concludes to those only 3 buttons available.
Spending fixed amount of FP (chains / quests etc) IS MUCH HARDER NOW and its main issue. Example is spend 17 forge points - it requires 8 clicks and in result we end with 1 FP leftover in bar in best case, 9 FP in bar in worst case (ie we had last 3 small packages and game decided to use those and last FP from 10 FP package...). Before player could do it in just 6 clicks - by selecting 10, 5 and 2 packages (2 clicks for each package was needed). It was faster and without any package wasted.
Solutions are really simple:
- add 5 FP button - which would use 5 FP package (same as 10 FP button functions now)
- change spend all from bar button to buy 1 FP for coins when bar is empty - this would allow saving package if we want to add last FP, instead of opening 10 FP ones and 9 FP landing wasted on bar.

Or use other approach, also suggested - convert all packages into 1 FP packages. Then nothing would be wasted. However donating amount ending with 5-9 fp would take more time than before anyway - without 5 FP button.

There is enough place to add 1 more button also on mobile app. And adding function to currently inactive button should be even easier.

 

[DeletedUser7951]

this would allow saving package if we want to

Probably one of the goal with the new interface making us not save.
On my live server most players like the new better than the old one.

 

[podkap1970]

when do we get a 50 FP or a 100 FP button please ?

one of this button is really needed
and as longer it takes (to get this button), as more i want the 100 FP button
putting into a GB 3000+ FP is a pain

this would really help, and shorten the time very ...

 

[DeletedUser]

never

 

[DeletedUser8277]

I would much prefer a 5 FP button to a 50 or 100.

Without a 5 point button the 5 packs are only getting used to make off numbers or when you run out of 10's and 2's. In order to not waste FP by loading more of a pack then I need I must exit the GB use a 5 pack and reenter each time.

A 50 and a 100 button would make locking buildings a more panicked and frustrated race. My understanding is mobile players can now beat PC players with PC players having one hand tied behind their back. If you're like me and you like to try doing the spend FP quest while adding FP you wouldn't want someone to be able to come in and snipe the position you are actively working on. Typically you can see if someone is starting to snipe you and make the choice to forgo the spend FP quest loop so you do not use your FP. A 100 FP button would be you having a GB 2/3rds of the way locked up with no one else on board, collecting your reward and coming back to see someone sniped you and you lost hundreds of FP.

That in of itself would become new sport, seeing someone is adding to a GB slowly and dumping at the last second using 100FP button to get max profit.