Minimap Placement

[EKCO]

The minimap was moved so that we could open up more real estate in the orientation at which the game is built. The map is designed to run from the upper right to the lower left. By moving the minimap to the lower right, the game space in the lower left is no longer obstructed, and players will now have an equal amount of space to navigate their cursors in the upper right and lower left diagonal.

 

An example of the obstruction we're talking about is, say you're in the heat of battle on the protoss side. As your health drops, your motion to exit combat is often to click in the lower right space. With the minimap in the lower right, this space is about 45% smaller than it would be otherwise. Now that the minimap has been moved, the space it had occupied is now clickable (with the new UI, you can click the map through the UI, an exception being the minimap).

 

Now that the minimap is positioned to the lower right, the only time the minimap obstructs control space is during upper left to lower right migration, which usually happens in less response-intensive situations.

 

Other reasons include the way that text flows from left to right, thus making the lower left a more natural placement for text properties (such as attributes and combat properties).

 

 

We realize that for some, the lower left simply feels like a more "natural" placement for the minimap. While this is a reasonable sentiment, we feel that given some time, the same can be said for the minimap being on the other side. If you have any technical concerns about the minimap placement, or justifications for it being on the other side, let us know.

[residente]

I have optical problems on my right eye, so I have better reflects looking with the left eye, now I will miss more things on the minimap with my stupid right eye, that's a good justification u.u

[Yaldi]

Seems reasonable

[Ironsights]

unacceptable honestly.

 

Toying with the interface is one thing, but moving where something as crucial as the minimap is is simply absurd. Sure, we can get used to it, but wew shouldn't have to.

 

For that matter, I honestly saw no problem with the interface as it was. I liked it quite a bit actually. This new one looks...bad.

[Itsthatguy]

The main parts that bother me are:

 

1) XP Bar so small, kinda inconvient spot

2) Items are in a inconvient spots and are small, making you forced to use hotkeys (And i suck at modding the hotkeys, only had slot 1 work)

3) I can't really tell about duration of buffs on me. I get a lot of consumables (Tea extract) but i dont no how long they last anymore, as usually you can see a bar telling you it is about to end or if it is halfway done (Which helps you determine if all ihan crystal stacks are done since the duration for those consumables are the same for all stacks on ihan).

4) Eye sight tends to drift to one side (mostly left for me).

 

There is kinda this, Gap in the middle. Also, it is hard to tell if you leveled up. With the new inferface, I had times where i had 3 un used stat points, and when i was level 18, I didn't notice i had one talent point that i didnt used for like 15 minutes. I can probably say this isn't newby friendly either, as newbies will rely on click ability then attack, and may have a hard time trying to find where they level or gain an ability. The small icons make it kinda un noticeable.

 

 

Take Note: Many ppl don't like change. It is understandable this would be criticized.

[Wrath]

The main parts that bother me are:

 

1) XP Bar so small, kinda inconvient spot

2) Items are in a inconvient spots and are small, making you forced to use hotkeys (And i suck at modding the hotkeys, only had slot 1 work)

3) I can't really tell about duration of buffs on me. I get a lot of consumables (Tea extract) but i dont no how long they last anymore, as usually you can see a bar telling you it is about to end or if it is halfway done (Which helps you determine if all ihan crystal stacks are done since the duration for those consumables are the same for all stacks on ihan).

4) Eye sight tends to drift to one side (mostly left for me).

 

There is kinda this, Gap in the middle. Also, it is hard to tell if you leveled up. With the new inferface, I had times where i had 3 un used stat points, and when i was level 18, I didn't notice i had one talent point that i didnt used for like 15 minutes. I can probably say this isn't newby friendly either, as newbies will rely on click ability then attack, and may have a hard time trying to find where they level or gain an ability. The small icons make it kinda un noticeable.

 

 

Take Note: Many ppl don't like change. It is understandable this would be criticized.

 

The ability leveling has been greatly improved. The icon has been changed to something a lot more visible, the charge count is more visible now, and when you level up the button will start flashing until you make use of it.

 

As far as buff durations go, there is a progress bar that appears underneath the health and energy bars attached to your unit, whenever you have a buff with a time on it. Furthermore, the original progress bar in the unit card has been added back in and sits on top of your ability learn and stat buttons.

 

The beta testing told us a lot about what needed work, and it is very polished now. You will get used to the shape of the interface, and as far as the items and hotkeys go, I will probably write a comprehensive guide on binding hotkeys.

[Rem]

Welli naturally dont like them minimap movement, but you make a good case for moving it, i guess we will see in a few weeks what we think of it.

[ShadowDancer]

Welli naturally dont like them minimap movement, but you make a good case for moving it, i guess we will see in a few weeks what we think of it.

Mirroring terrain is maybe 10 minute more work than minimap, equal in effect and with ideal minimap.

[Rem]

Rotating the entire map 90 degrees is quite a bit more work than you make it sound.

[Ironsights]

are teh hotkeys changing too?

what I mean is, i have it set so that if I hit 3,4,5,6,7,8 then I will use my items 1-6...

 

will these hot keys work still or will I have to re-bind them?

[EKCO]

All hotkeys will still work. The only thing that has changed are the grid hotkeys for "Learn Ability" and "Add Stat Bonus", which were simply swapped.

 

 

Rotating the entire map 90 degrees is quite a bit more work than you make it sound.

 

This is true.

[Takeray]

I like seeing a new interface.

 

It is nice how it is displayed. despite from some opinions.

 

Map right or left is usually what ppl is usually playing. ( I looked map at left on Test) but don't care about this point.

 

Things I'd like to see:

 

the Learn skil and upgrade stats button is too small.

 

Upgrade stats button should be shown on learn skill tab ( When you press T but it doesnt) or doing button bigger).

 

Control Groups are not displayed anywhere.

 

Between the portrait of your hero and stats could be a nice place ( just space for 3-4 groups no more.

 

Life and mana could be show in mid where name of hero is displayed same for XP bar ( This don't mean quit from they are just showing there too).

 

If not shown normal controls ( A Attack P Patrol should be shown on F12 or indicating they are on diplayed same as your setup config).

 

 

Yes and if you like why I like interface in some way it is because if I see this I am not thinking i am playing Sc 2 modified but something like other game.

[Peas]

For me, and I suspect a good many other players, looking to the bottom right is significantly more cumbersome. It may have something to do with being right handed, I'm not entirely sure. Either way, there is no justification you can give me that makes moving the minimap a good idea. It might make sense from a design perspective...but I really dont care. I'll take a more cursor obstruction any day of the week.

 

And please, dont tell me I'll get used it. I will, quite obviously...but only to an extent. I've played other games with the minimap on the bottom right significantly enough to know that it's...just....worse.

 

edit:

 

I should also add (and I;ve said this on mumble), that this change will serve to alienate potential new players and/or casual players who come from playing starcraft.

[Wrath]

...but only to an extent.

 

That's just a bad assumption. The only way to know for sure is to try it for a while without this kind of prejudgement.

[Peas]

That's just a bad assumption. The only way to know for sure is to try it for a while without this kind of prejudgement.

 

As I said in my post...I've played other games with the minimap on the bottom right. Its not just an assumption. Looking to the bottom left is naturally more comfortable...and I say this based on extensive experience...as well as on the experience of other people.

[Ironsights]

That's just a bad assumption. The only way to know for sure is to try it for a while without this kind of prejudgement.

 

I am someone who has played games with the minimap and/or radar on the roght as opposedto the left...it IS more uncomfortable, and you tend to look at it less often. This produces a sense of reduced awareness that requires you to focus on it when you should be focusing on your ingame micro. Given this division of focus, you end up playing worse.

 

Putting the map on the right will literally make players play worse.

 

Just switch it with the Toon picture from the UI example.

[WhaleTits]

eh. its kinda true. like you already said in your own post, the natural inclination is to look to the bottom left instead of the bottom right. most of the info in the command card gets skipped over in the middle of a game, really, or at least in concentrated play. How often do you find yourself asking how much movespeed, or strength/agi/int, or even HP/Mana you have, and look at the command card for that info instead of just your hp/mana bar (for that case)?

 

its nice to have extra click area, but i definitely notice that looking at the minimap in LoL is more of a conscientious decision, whereas in AoS, i definitely recall just kinda, hovering it in my field of vision during most of the game. idunno. pros and cons. i think in this case, the cons of moving the minimap might actually outweigh the pros. i guess it remains to be seen with the public release.

[residente]

In eu and na we read from left to right, thats why left minimap is better for us...

[ShadowDancer]

Rotating the entire map 90 degrees is quite a bit more work than you make it sound.

1. Select whole terrain, click edit->flip->horrizontaly (about 20 sec)

2. Save map as sc2 components

3. Write short script in python or c# (hope editing 2 lvl deep xml tree won't be too hard?) applying symetry to all objects in Objects and Regions files (10 minutes even for newb)

4. Viola!

 

So don't give shap, ok?

[GhostEU]

I very much like the layout as it is currently, not the new proposed one.

It is not only the minimap placement that would irk me but also having massive skill buttons in the middle, which I never get used to in some other mods and have stopped playing as a result.

Also, you can use hotkeys to use the skills so no big deal there. Right side is more for relaxing, reading stuff, shopping etc.

 

Moving character health info and xp to bottom left is horrible, small and makes it difficult to stay on top of how your character is doing. Those things should be dead center.

 

Blizzard didn't publish SC2 with the curent interface without any thought. As a large professional gaming company that has released many successful games and has seen other games in a professional setting, they have in their wisdom decided on the current layout which works best in my opinion as well.

[Qlx]

Let's just wait. If it completely sucks and we all fail at navigating I'm sure RNG will change it back to where it was. But for now let the Prejudices stay in your head.

[Takeray]

In eu and na we read from left to right, thats why left minimap is better for us...

I very much like the layout as it is currently, not the new proposed one.

It is not only the minimap placement that would irk me but also having massive skill buttons in the middle, which I never get used to in some other mods and have stopped playing as a result.

Also, you can use hotkeys to use the skills so no big deal there. Right side is more for relaxing, reading stuff, shopping etc.

 

Moving character health info and xp to bottom left is horrible, small and makes it difficult to stay on top of how your character is doing. Those things should be dead center.

 

Blizzard didn't publish SC2 with the curent interface without any thought. As a large professional gaming company that has released many successful games and has seen other games in a professional setting, they have in their wisdom decided on the current layout which works best in my opinion as well.

 

Developers are from Arabia!.

 

 

Map is shown depending the game . D3 is upper right same for wow. Wc1 and 2 is upper left. Wc3, Sc and Sc2 is down left, same for dota 1 (mod) and dota 2.

 

Same for Blizzard, they move map depending kind of game they are doing. Btw it is to soon to ask, everybody palying beta was looking left more than right cause we played that way always and we play , but I can't give a technical o scientific decision about what place is better. Ask me 1-2 months lter and I'll give my opinion.

[GhostEU]

I always got lost playing D3 because I didn't like the minimap placement :P I liked the central placement of D1/D2 better. Since that's not really doable in SC2, I prefer bottom left.

[Wrath]

It is not only the minimap placement that would irk me but also having massive skill buttons in the middle, which I never get used to in some other mods and have stopped playing as a result.

Also, you can use hotkeys to use the skills so no big deal there. Right side is more for relaxing, reading stuff, shopping etc.

 

The skill buttons are not massive, they are actually smaller than they were before.

[Hogwarts]

i use the mini map a lot for my game play i use it to maneuver my hero, at first glance i absolutely hate it on the right but with other changes i disliked im sure i will simply get used to it ,

 

but id like to see it back on the left but as with the map size increase and other changes i.e tele ports im sure it wont be an issue in a month or two