Thanks for the free days again this year. This time I actually had fun and might resub for a bit.

As I played, I kept track of the usability issues I found. (It's easier for me when I do this. I work in software development so I notice such things, and writing them down gets them out of my head so I can think about the next thing.)

With that said, here they are. Hope it helps!

I've logged many hours in Vendetta, but before I have a chance to log in so the game will know that, it presents me with a very in-your-face, forceful tutorial.

I remember the keyboard and mouse versus keyboard and joystick configuration doing something unintuitive. It's still there so I assume it still does. I use mouse and joystick when in flight which isn't a choice on the list.

The joystick calibration screen was pleasantly precise. No really, this one is positive!

It's not obvious how to clear a key binding. This is useful because the keybindings interface serves as the only reference and clutter obscures the useful information. (After playing longer, I come back to add that it's amazing how frustrating it is to not be able to remove a key binding. Eventually I look up how to edit the files, mostly for that reason.)

I was expecting to be able to unload from the ship cargo screen instead of the Commerce welcome screen. Or just only have one screen for one thing. (After playing a bit longer I find out there are actually three screens that show inventory!) (After playing even longer and doing some trading, I no longer know how many screens there are with inventory information, but three sounds low.)

Need to be able to scale turning rate and mouse cursor speed separately.
Edit: By turning rate I meant the turning rate of my "head", not the ship. Maybe mouse look rate?

The map is bound to N which is weird. Based on experience in most games, I expect to find it on M.

Distance to target is still hidden off in a corner of the screen.

I get spammed with the EULA on every login.

Mouse sensitivity does not scale well when I switch up to native resolution on this Retina display.

Comparing ships is really hard. The information is all spread out.

Some "specially sanctioned personnel only" items cannot be acquired through in game work, but some can, and it would be motivating to know how (without searching and finding the wiki).

I was able to use the tactical screen to get into my Atlas's turret but could not figure out how to get back to the pilot's seat.

The Atlas's store description doesn't seem to say that it has a turret. Similar with the 'moth.

I don't want to log off. I want to quit directly without logging out so I don't have to reenter my password or wait for the login screen to load before I can really quit.

JOYBUTTON6 was set to Quit and I could not rebind it. When I tried, the key bindings window would close.

The Keyboard tab in the bindings configuration is miss named.

Pressing enter in an empty chat box should dismiss it. Either that or escape should. Currently escape brings up the options menu.
Edit: I said dismiss, but I meant defocus, blur, move the cursor away so N will bring up the map, etc.

I'd like to stay in keyboard/mouse mode but have the hat switch move both ship and look cursor as far as the ship will turn.

I had to try the help button to find out how to add sector notes. I tried searching with Google first, but had trouble finding results. (Before both, I tried asking chat, but in contrast to the usual, they didn't notice my question.)

My own turrets appear on the radar.

Again, hope it helps, and happy shooting! Vendetta still has the best flying combat of any game I've played.

>> It's not obvious how to clear a key binding.

An easy way to clear a bind is with the /bind command:

/bind JOYBUTTON6 ''

It's easier than manually editing config files, at least.

>> I was expecting to be able to unload from the ship cargo screen...

You can unload cargo from the ship cargo screen. The problem is...?

>> Need to be able to scale turning rate and mouse cursor speed separately.

I don't understand this comment. The turning rate of the ship is limited by its mass and spin torque stat.

>> I don't want to log off. I want to quit directly without logging out so I don't have to reenter my password or wait for the login screen to load before I can really quit.

Use alt-f4 to exit the client without logging off. If you exit the client while in space without logging off, your ship will remain vulnerable for like a minute or so. After logging out you do not have to re-enter your password to quit, so I don't understand that comment.

>> Pressing enter in an empty chat box should dismiss it. Either that or escape should. Currently escape brings up the options menu.

The chat box is not a dismissible dialog. Pressing escape does dismiss any open pop-up dialogs before bringing up the options menu.

There were some recent changes to improve gamepad usability that introduced some bugs to how some dialogs get focus. You should be specific about which dialog(s) are the problem.

>> I had to try the help button to find out how to add sector notes.

I don't understand this comment either. The purpose of the help button is to tell you how to do stuff. Why is clicking the help button to learn stuff that you don't know such a travesty?

>> I was expecting to be able to unload from the ship cargo screen...

You can unload cargo from the ship cargo screen. The problem is...?

He's saying that it's bad UI to have the same functionality spread out between a bunch of different screens. He's not wrong.

>> Need to be able to scale turning rate and mouse cursor speed separately.

I don't understand this comment. The turning rate of the ship is limited by its mass and spin torque stat.

I believe he's referring to the input of the mouse on the ship movement independent of the mouse cursor against the UI. If you make your ship more twitchy, your mouse cursor against the UI also becomes more twitchy.

>> Pressing enter in an empty chat box should dismiss it. Either that or escape should. Currently escape brings up the options menu.

The chat box is not a dismissible dialog. Pressing escape does dismiss any open pop-up dialogs before bringing up the options menu.

There were some recent changes to improve gamepad usability that introduced some bugs to how some dialogs get focus. You should be specific about which dialog(s) are the problem.

This is a very good concern he brings up. Once your mouse cursor enters the text entry field on chat, escape should cancel text entry instead of going directly to the options menu. Imagine you're talking in guild chat while docked. You decide you want to reply to 100. Under the current functionality, you have to hit [esc][esc]t. You should be able to just hit [esc]t. If you want to get to the options menu while you have the chat active, that should require two escapes rather than the behavior we have now.

Imagine you're talking in guild chat while docked...

Ah, the "while docked" part was the key takeaway here, as pressing esc from text entry field of the chat box while not docked does not bring up the options menu. I guess I must not do much chatting while docked.

Errm, not that I really care either way, but if you decide to chat to channel, rather than guild, wouldn't you just simply change the radio button while docked? Pressing "t" would simply type "t". Like meridian said, pressing Esc in-flight does clear/close the chat-box.

Also, you can use the delete key to clear binds, just highlight the required bind, and hit del.

As for the N v's M thing, it's the Navigation menu, not the Map menu. Also if you so desire, you can rebind it to m, but then where would you put the Mission button? Defaults for this are fine, and can be changed by the user if so desired.

Yes, the UI is not the best in the gaming world, especially because it''s basically had features added on and squeezed into places that are functional, but probably not the best thought about. It probably could use a general over-haul - as suggested by Ore - but like a lot of things; once you get used to it, it is fine for its intended use.

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The Joy Button 6 thing is annoying, it is possible to rebind using the menu, but like you found out it's problematic.

When I want to change from guild to channel, I just type /t and then press space, and it switches automatically with no need to click on anything (/g /G and /123 all work that way too). But I don't think that trick is documented anywhere. It should be. It's very handy.

True, true. the /#(space) command is really very helpful.

Thanks, meridian, for the notes about what was confusing. I've edited clarifications for a couple things into the original post.

The rest become clear if you think like a UX designer. What I mean by that is that if someone says some functionality doesn't exist, but it does and the button is right there on screen, you translate what they said into a report that the button is not obvious enough.

Perhaps the button is in with a huge mass of other similar buttons. Perhaps it doesn't have the label they're expecting and scanning for. Perhaps it's tucked away on the other side of the screen from all the other buttons that do things. Perhaps... you get the idea.

You could also conclude that the user is blinded by stupid carelessness, and you might even be correct, but then your interface could never get better and you'd be a bad UX designer!

I should have mentioned this in the original post but I didn't, so I'll say now that none of this is intended as criticism. It's information I'd be excited to have if I was responsible for Vendetta's UX design.

And this is probably obvious, but I'll say it anyway: The value in improving Vendetta's UX doesn't come from satisfying people who have willingly used and paid for the current one for years. It comes from increasing conversion and retention. In other words, people who aren't posting in this thread.

Nobody (nobody competent anyway) does UX work because it's "right" or fun or makes things less annoying, they do it when it's expected to increase conversion and retention enough to pay the person who does the work.

I do not disagree that the UI could use a rework. I'm constantly having to point out to newer players how to do something which "should" be obvious. I just strongly believe more content and other areas of the game could use more work before this happens.

Improving the current UI is not going to make things better, there really is just too much stuffed in places that "work" but are not the best thought out. Also there are two versions of the UI, the full one most use, and the "condensed" one that is default on mobile devices. It needs a full rework.

It definitely needs a thorough re-work, and the feedback is appreciated, Jzalae.

Improving the current UI is not going to make things better

The tradeoff is whether it's more important to provide for established-users by creating additional advanced content (with similar usability issues), or to provide for new-users by making existing content more easily accessible and understandable. Either case does make the game "better", just not for the same groups.

Anyway, an interface re-work is definitely on our radar, but we're still trying to figure out exactly how it'll take place (there are a lot of other development factors, like how unpleasant it is for us to work with our current UI-system, which is also part of why things are.. bad, vs the time to replace that system, etc).

The tradeoff is whether it's more important to provide for established-users by creating additional advanced content (with similar usability issues), or to provide for new-users by making existing content more easily accessible and understandable.

How is this even a tradeoff? I think we can go without trident variants or hound buffs for a few months.

You've already got the vets Inc. I don't see why you wouldn't try to keep some of these new users by improving the UX.