Milestones: Discussion
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dubowell
Just inputting information here that I put on the forum to raise some concern and discussion about this update. I wanted to go ahead and post this here. Mostly because i know that the last concern we raised about some UI changes (IE the removal of certain things from the side bar) became a hot topic on live (15+ pages of disussion). I do believe that this may be another one of those topics so I wanted to make sure I posted thoughts here officially!
Post 1:
The milestones option looks really cool. So interested to check that out. I do have a few follow up questions about some things.
Offer button - Is there a way to get rid of the offer button being so large and in our face if we don't want to sign up for the news letter? I still have it on beta and now on live. I am curious if this is something that the dev team has looking into adding as a feature for us to remove if we don't want to sign up for offers?
Also in relation this specific update. Curious as to why the milestones is located above the estate information? If it is possible I'd love to suggest maybe putting the milestones under the estate information. I think it would flow looks wise much better to have the large illustrated icons underneath all of that and be the last thing that is visible as you look down the left side of that page.
Being in the design / game design field myself i really think that might be a nice improvement to make to flow a little bit better as far as UX/UI goes on the main home page.
Post 2:
Also, I will be honest. I like the milestones and i think that's great for me to see personally but in the years I've been on the game I have never ever been interested in what milestone other playes have hit or ever clicked on their milestone badges... I still stand by the suggestion that I am not sure why it has become more front and center on the user profile page? it doesn't really seem like something that is super super important to see front and center when clicking on other people's pages... However, if it is i really think it's placement needs to be reconsidered. it's very distracting to have it where it's at and would really think it would be liked better if it was moved down below the estate information.... or honestly back into the tab where it use to be... I do like the improvements HR is making but i just see this as another one that was fine the way it was?
Sparrowhawk
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We've moved the milestones underneath estate info, after reading yours (and others) review. The offer button will stay-put for the timing being.
Thanks for reporting and taking the time to type us!
Sparrowhawk
in progress
Hi dubowell! Thank you for writing and sharing this with us.
I think as far as (any) design choices go: It would be ideal if people could organise this themselves on a personal level, but we're not there yet. The main aim was to highlight that milestones are now a thing and can help people form a goal. Horse Reality offers a more free, do what you want, experience, but we do notice a large percentage that feels a bit lost. Adding milestones, act like adding mini-goals, and help guide the player.
We changed the way the milestones look and acts for multiple reasons: we want info on how to obtain things in-game and not only via our wiki. We also wanted to add more milestones, so while we're at it - why not give it a facelift? We think it's time well spend, especially since it's a visited tab and right there on the user page.
We do take your concern seriously, and for that reason, we decided to move the milestones underneath the estate info block on the user profile.
The offer button will stay put for now, especially since we have a font/sizing discrepancy, and we first want to fix that up before we start changing again.
Changes always are a bit uncomfortable, especially if the change didn't impact you before, but kinda does after the change. We also received feedback that people missed out on backgrounds, for example, so we want to be more transparent to what the game has to offer (both free and paid).
I know sometimes the direction seems a bit random, but we are cracking down on a whole lot of numbers and tallies. Changing up these things should work in our and the community's favour, so we're basing our updates partly on that info. We try to alternate as well: artwork, veteran-player updates and new-player updates, to strike a balance.
Hope this makes sense, but please do reach out if you have more questions or concerns! (I would like to add to not be afraid to add several disccusion posts, so we don't need to split one comment up in several parts to address it all. :))
dubowell
Sparrowhawk in regards to the offers button. I don’t have problems with it, however. I do wonder: if a player signs up for the news letters it disappears until a new offer is available correct? Or am I misunderstanding. If it does in fact go away is there not an option to make that happen without accepting the offer? Sort of like the “read all notifications” kind of deal. I agree that the offers is nice I just wish there was a way for players who may not want to accept it to be able to minimize it
Missing things : yes I have been victim to missing the backgrounds myself lol so I do think those options to remind players is very nice.
I do like the milestones: highlighting them for players will be nice. I am glad some feedback in regards to UI/UX was taken into consideration. I think that update will look much better for users.
Also apologies for typos. I have a band aid in my thumb making this very hard to type on my phone LOL
Sparrowhawk
dubowell: I'm forwarding your suggestion to maybe make the offers button function a bit differently. (No promises for change!) We are still in the process of streamlining, so now is the time to suggest ideas and/or solutions for issues you may be having!
Glad to read you think the icon at the fitting room works out well for you!
Also, thank you for chiming in about the milestones. You are incredibly helpful and insightful, on both the positive and negative side of things.
For next time: Could you split up your different questions? I know it may feel spammy to create several threads, but it's a little easier to slap a tag and reference on a ticket if it only contains a single piece of info.
I appreciate the chat we're having, thanks! :D
dubowell
Sparrowhawk yes! I will split it up next time. My intention really wasn't to bring up the offer button, but when i copied and pasted my comment from the news post it accidentally got left in there and i forgot to delete it. SORRY about that. I will be sure to double check myself going forward.