UI enhancement requests
Posted: 07 Apr 2014, 12:21by Xyx
- General | Open
- It took me a while to discover the "Download LQ Set Images" button, and I've spoken to several people that didn't even know Forge supported card art at all (which was obviously a bit of a turn-off for them). I understand you can't ship Forge with art included, but perhaps some sort of reminder could pop up whenever someone boots Forge without card art, like "Hey, try going to Game Settings -> Content Downloaders and click on Download LQ Set Images to get all the card art!"
Why does Forge.exe have two different icons? The file itself uses an icon of a green sphere with the word "FORGE" written in it, but while it's running it's showing an anvil and hammer icon.
The main tabs are what seems to be exactly 1 pixel below the top edge of the screen. Unfortunately, when trying to click a tab it's very easy to position the mouse cursor on that 1-pixel top row that doesn't do anything.
Counting hybrid mana as both colors when determining a deck's colors is misleading. Mono-Red is listed as a 5-color deck because it contains Boros Reckoner, Frostburn Weird, Rakdos Cackler and Burning-Tree Emissary. The same applies to phyrexian mana (Vault Skirge, Dismember).
- Gameplay | Open
- Is it really necessary to ask for confirmation when I need to pay costs with zero choice, like paying 1 life and saccing my Misty Rainforest (which even asks twice; once for the life and once for the sacrifice)?
Optional triggers with a cost ("when X, you may pay Y", for instance Mind's Eye) have to be verified twice. Since the payment has a Cancel option, the "would you like to put this on the stack" question could be bypassed. In fact, I don't think putting the trigger on the stack is optional anyway. Paying the cost is optional, but the trigger is mandatory.
I would like an option to automatically accept all beneficial triggers such as card draw and life gain.
I would like an option to "always yield to" specified triggers, as per Magic Online. My spacebar is wearing out.
Whenever I get the option to pay mana for a triggered ability but can't actually pay, maybe it'd be better if Forge didn't even ask the question; it obviously knows the answer already since the "Auto" button is disabled.
If I enter my Declare Attackers step, select a planeswalker to attack and then press Ctrl+A to alpha strike, that planeswalker will not be attacked. This is not intuitive.
I would like an option to always auto-assign damage when my attacker is multi-blocked or has trample. I've been playing Magic for almost 20 years now and I can't remember EVER assigning more than lethal damage. It's bad enough that I have to order the blockers when it's clear they (and my opponent) are all going to die anyway.
Playing cards from the top of my library is way awkward. It also takes up a lot of screen space because I have to keep the Card Detail panel visible at all times and at such a size that I can see its entire contents on wordy cards like Oracle of Mul Daya. It would be nice if there were a separate panel showing the top card whenever that's relevant. I could position it next to my hand or something.
It would be nice if the list of cards to choose from when searching the library were sorted. Casting Demonic Tutor can be a bit messy.
It would be nice to see pictures when looking at cards in library or graveyard. It would also be nice to be able to sort (like Cockatrice does).
I really don't care enough what color the AI chose for Birds of Paradise (or City of Brass) to ever want to see a pop-up message about it. Similarly, I get a popup message explaining what color the AI picked for Command Tower (in rather poor grammar at that). Does that really warrant a popup? I don't get a popup explaining that the AI chose W for a dual land, so why should I get one for a 5-color land?
If I manually assign some or all of the combat damage to my band and then click Auto instead of OK, Forge will completely redo damage assignment. I would expect it to only Auto-assign the remaining damage.
It might be practical if moving the mouse over a player avatar showed that player's details (such as active damage prevention shields) in the Card Detail pane.
It would be nice if I could see color change effects on the battlefield.
The dredge UI is awkward. If I have three dredgers in my graveyard but don't want to dredge (it happens), I have to...
1: Select a dredger.
2: Say no to the replacement effect of that dredger.
3: Select one of the remaining two dredgers
4: Say no to the replacement effect of that dredger.
5: Say no to the replacement effect of the last dredger.
I would prefer there to be an option such as "Draw a card" for when I want to actually draw a card.
- Match layout | Open
- Tokens being put into their own row makes the cards really tiny and wastes a lot of horizontal screen space.
The layout switching to a single row when there are only lands out is unnecessary. It should always be two rows. Between the Card Picture, my Hand, and both Field areas, it's quite possible to end up looking at four different sizes of cards. I would prefer cards to only ever be one size on the Fields; the "two rows" size.
Duplicate cards on the battlefield are put in piles of 5. Piles of 4 would be more intuitive (and more like Magic Online). At least it's not piles of 3 like in Cockatrice.
It would be nice if bands were indicated with arrows.
When a player dies in a multiplayer game, their battlefield does not get cleared.
- Quest Mode | Open
- The huge piles of basic lands in the Spell Store break up the layout. I understand the player should be able to buy basic lands, but they really clog up the stores. Maybe make a separate store for essentials like basic lands, like one of the substores of the Bazaar? Or maybe even just make them free as per Magic Online's Add Land button.
"Credits" is such a flavorless term. Couldn't it be called "Gold", like in Shandalar?
I would like to be able to select easy or medium quest opponents even at higher levels. I can't really try another deck if I'm limited to playing against (very) hard opponents.
I would like parts of the Bazaar to be available in non-Fantasy Quest Mode. The familiars (and to a lesser extent life increments and free mulligans) in Fantasy Quest Mode are so unfair that they make me feel I'm not playing actual Magic, but I would still like to be able to use the Bazaar for "metagame" upgrades like the Haggler's Coin and other things that do not influence the games directly.
The Start a new Quest UI is too cryptic. I have read the "Quest Mode: Guide to Formats, Worlds, and everything" several times now and I'm still not entirely clear on how worlds and format restrictions and whatnot interact. I also took me a dozen quests before I found out what the Difficulty setting does. It's no good giving people options that they don't see or understand.
When winning a booster, the most important card in the booster (the rare) is at the bottom of the list, off-screen. Seeing what it is requires both scrolling and clicking. The card at the top of the list is showcased, but that's just a common. It would be nice if the rare was showcased instead.
Why are there range checks on the Quest Preferences settings? I know I can set these values to whatever I want in quest.preferences, but why allow people to alter the values at all if you're going to enforce arbitrary limits anyway?
If I choose Save As for a Quest Deck, the dialog does not begin at the constructed decks folder, and the deck won't show up in the (non-Quest) Deck Editor.
I can load a deck in the Quest Deck Editor that I made in the (non-Quest) Deck Editor. A bit of an exploit, but handy when developing a Quest World.
- Deck Editor | Open
- I would like an "Add another copy of this card" button in the Deck Editor in Image View (so that I won't have to switch to List View, click the + button to add the copy, and switch back to Image View).
The color/type/CMC filter grids won't stay away. The filter is occasionally useful in the Card Catalog but I really don't need it for the Deck. These filters take up a lot of screen space. I can remove the individual rows but they'll be back when I restart Forge.
I would like to be able to filter basic lands out of the Card Catalog. They take up a LOT of space.
If I click Save As in the Deck Editor, I am taken to the My Documents folder rather than the decks\constructed folder. It's kind of annoying having to browse to the decks\constructed folder because that's inside the AppData folder, which is a hidden folder and thus a bit awkward to open.
I would like to see something of a Comments area for decks. I frequently find I have to include notes such as a url to where I found the deck, a quick explanation of obscure workings or even "Card X is supposed to be in the deck but Forge currently doesn't support it."
- Specific cards | Open
- An-Zerrin Ruins should list the chosen creature type in the Card Detail pane.
The AI cast Inquisition of Kozilek and saw only lands. Forge said "There are no cards in the named location." This is techically incorrect; there were cards in the named location, just no valid ones.
Stangg's Stangg Twin token has no picture.
When I activate Sentinel's ability, the stack reads "Sentinel becomes ."
Curse Artifact's prompt reads "Select 1 Artifact.EnchantedBy(s) to sacrifice"
Wand of Ith's texts are messed up:
On the Stack it reads: "Wand of Ith (<ID>) - <target> reveals a card at random from his or her hand. <controller> discards (1) defined cards. <controller> discards (1) defined cards." It's redundant, refers to the wrong player and is unclear. It should read: "Wand of Ith (<ID>) - <target> reveals a card at random from his or her hand. If it's a land card, <target> discards it unless he or she pays 1 life. If it isn't a land card, <target> discards it unless he or she pays life equal to its converted mana cost."
The Prompt reads: "Do you want to pay <n> life? (or: <controller> discards (1) defined cards.)" It refers to the wrong player and does not explain which card was revealed. It should read: "Do you want to pay <n> life? (or: discard <the card>.)"
Amnesia's text is messed up.
On the Stack it reads: "Amnesia <ID>: <target> reveals his or her hand. Discard (All) of type: Card.nonLand." It should read: "Amnesia <ID>: <target> reveals his or her hand and discards all nonland cards."
Gaea's Touch's text is messed up:
On the Stack it reads: "1. Gaea's Touch (<ID>)- - <controller> puts 1 Forest.Basic+YouCtrl card(s) fromhis/her hand onto the battlefield." (missing spaces and all). It should read: "1. Gaea's Touch (<ID>) - <controller> puts a basic Forest card from his or her hand onto the battlefield."
Goblin Wizard's text is messed up"
On the Stack it reads: "1. Goblin Wizard (<ID>)- - <controller> puts 1 Permanent.Goblin card(s) fromhis/her hand onto the battlefield." (missing space and all). It should read: "1. Goblin Wizard (<ID>) - <controller> may put a Goblin permanent card from his or her hand onto the battlefield."
Icatian Priest's text is messed up.
In the Log it reads "<controller> activates Icatian Priest targeting ." Doesn't list the target.
Elvish Scout's text is messed up.
On the stack it reads "<controller> activated Elvish Scout targeting ." Doesn't say what it targets.
Breeding Pit's text is messed up.
In the Card Detail pane its mana symbols are displayed as "B B" (space and all) instead of proper black mana symbols. The period is also missing at the end of that sentence.
On the Stack it reads: "1. Breeding Pit (<ID>) - Sacrifice Breeding Pit (<ID>)" (no period). It should be: "1. Breeding Pit (<ID>) - Sacrifice Breeding Pit (<ID>) unless you pay
{B}."
Genesis' text is messed up.
The popup message is titled: "Select target Creature.YouCtrl". It should read: "Select target creature card in your graveyard."
Scavenging Ooze's text is messed up.
On the stack, it reads: "1. Scavenging Ooze (<ID>) - Scavenging Ooze - Exile <target card> (<target ID>) from the graveyard. Put a +1/+1 counter on Scavenging Ooze (<ID>). <controller> gains 1 life." That's one "Scavenging Ooze - " too many, and the +1/+1 and life gain should only happen when it's exiling a creature card (but it happens when exiling other cards as well).
Vendilion Clique's text is messed up.
The prompt reads: "Select a card from [Hand]". It should read "Select a nonland card from <target>'s hand."
If the AI activates Pernicious Deed, I can't see what the value of X is.
Goblin Warrens makes phyrexian goblin tokens. That looks really out of place. It should make the Unglued goblin tokens.
When using Fatestitcher on my own permanents, it would be convenient if the default choice was Untap rather than Tap (so I could just hit Space).
Sun Titan's text is messed up.
The popup message reads: "Select target Permanent.YouCtrl+cmcLE3". It should read: "Select target permanent card in your graveyard with converted mana cost less than 3".