You have the players and the content, now see the shiny new bridge that connects them.

While the day that WildStar Wednesday falls on has been a little up on the air as of late, this week we actually got some news on Wednesday from the Carbine campus--just in case you were missing the tradition. While most of the recent WildStar news has been about raw game content, this time around we got a sneak peak at the shiny new bridge that allows players to access it. Prepare yourself, User Interface changes are on the way and Carbine's new Senior UI Designer, Rob Martin, gives us the details!

So what about the UI is changing and why should you be excited? First off, as we take a look at the old UI above, notice how everything seems a bit "bulky". While this isn't always detrimental to the game experience in MMOs, in this case the previous UI actually took away from WildStar's explosive personality in a few different ways. One way it accomplished this was by taking up about 26% of the player's screen, covering up a lot of the action that happened near your feet. Because WildStar's combat is so heavily centered around the telegraph system and watching where you stand, this was a big deal.

Instead of just stripping away at everything entirely, the UI team decided to "flatten" it out a bit in order to help create a less cumbersome menu system while also giving the player's eyes more room to focus on the actual playspace. They also gave it a sleek new coat of paint. Shiny!

See the old and new UI comparisons below.

Along with the flattened bottom UI elements, you'll also notice that the player's selected target also appears at the bottom of the screen now. This was to address players feeling "disconnected" from their targets UI window and having to constantly look at the very top of the screen to see their health and then back at the bottom to see everything else going on with the telegraphs and player abilities.

"You'll notice we also addressed the disconnected target feedback by moving it down into the play space.  The play space is very important and we are always hesitant to add UI content there. In this case, though, we believe you have more space overall despite the changes. We also further reduced the height of the pyramid by putting a symmetrical target frame on the left side dedicated to displaying your own information. This makes it very easy to compare your vitals with your targets."

However, if you aren't too fond of having your target box represented on that portion of your screen, you'll have the ability to move that window wherever you want. If that bit of UI customization even managed to spark a tiny bit of excitement in you, you'll be shooting out lighting bolts of joy after you hear about this next feature.

"If all that wasn’t enough, most of these new HUD elements will have customizable UI options to drive their display behavior. WildStar is a beautiful game, and I don’t want Alt+Z to be the only way you get to see the world without clutter! Many of the UI elements can be configured to be on or off all the time, or even on/off in combat. Theoretically, this means most of the bottom HUD can be eliminated entirely when you’re out of combat exploring the world if you'd prefer to take in the vistas."

In short, Carbine is giving players the option to pick and choose what UI elements show up and when. You know what I say to that? Yes please!

And while this won't be that big of a deal to people who don't mind UI everywhere, to players like myself who thoroughly enjoy the RPG element of MMORPGs and don't want to be bothered with 20 different windows when we're trying to scale a mountain and take in the view, this feature has to be one of the best UI additions since the creation of the UI itself. I can't wait to jump in and kiss the days of cluttered UI goodbye--except for when I need it of course.

On a closing note, Rob also wanted to mention that the base UI isn't the only portion that gets to see big changes. UI updates for Tradeskills, the Auction House, the Commodities Exchange and Housing will be making their way soon as well.

"We’re reading your feedback and making lists of things to improve. Even if it wasn’t mentioned here, you can be sure we’re thinking about every area of the game!"

After reading all of the UI changes to come, is there anything that you liked, didn't like or can't wait to try out? Let me know in the comments below! You can follow this link for the full UI preview post and, as always, stay dialed into ZAM for all of your WildStar news, updates and information.

See you on Nexus!

Corey "Cyglaive" Jenkins

Follow Corey on Twitter @Cyglaive