116534-some-small-quality-of-life-requests

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I wasn't sure exactly where to put this, so if there's a better forum for it to be in, mods please feel free to move it :)
 
There are a few things that have been bugging me lately about the way that I interact with the game, and it really solidified yesterday when I was spending a lot of time in things like chat channels and mail.  So, I wanted to make a list of some of the little things that could be improved in upcoming drops, that aren't related to big systems like PvP or itemization or so on.
 
Here goes!
Please make the auto-afk thingy recognize chat activity.  It's super annoying being automatically set to afk status while I'm in game having a conversation, just because I'm typing rather than moving.	Speaking of AFK, it would be nice if it was just a "I can't respond right now" flag rather than something meaning the server is going to disconnect you in 15 minutes.  Sometimes I'm in a dungeon and want to throw up an AFK auto-response to let people know I'm fighting and can't respond, or I'm "semi-AFK" and might not be at the keyboard to respond right away, but I'm still in game and chatting.	The text limit on mail is incredibly restrictive - you can hardly explain anything or provide any detail in a mail message.  Can it be increased?	The /who command could probably use some work to make it a bit more intuitive.  I come from old EQ where /who was a mainstay of how we operated, but all the normal things I'm used to doing, like /who <zone>, or /who <class>, or /who <level range>, or /who <guild name> don't seem to work.  Maybe I'm just doing it wrong, but if so, maybe some in-game help for using this command?	In the same vein, custom chat channels could probably use a little love.  I spent a lot of time yesterday educating people about /chjoin and /chleave.  The exposure these things get in the UI is very minimal and most people simply don't know they exist or how to use them.  Being able to type /channelname to talk in it, instead of /1 or /2, would be a huge improvement as a starter.	It would be really helpful if the creator of a custom chat channel could designate moderators and retain ownership of the channel even if they log out and later log back in.  Channel moderators should be able to silence or boot people from joining the channel.  This would help prevent issues with people trolling custom chat channels used for guild alliances or other purposes.	The killroy addon does a great job, but we should probably be able to customize colors for chat channels in the default UI.  It gets especially confusing if you have multiple custom channels set up.	The interface option for enabling RP chat is super well hidden and nonintuitive.  It'd be nice if we could make this easier for players to find.	Likewise, the method to type in RP chat involves special characters that aren't things touch typers like myself normally hit on their keyboards.  It would be nice if we could have a simpler alias for RP chat, like maybe just /rp	I have a USB headset as many players do.  In many other games, I can simply plug that USB headest in and audio output switches to it as it becomes the new Default Playback Device in Windows.  In Wildstar however, I have to restart the game in order to get audio to come through the headset.  This is problematic when I want to jump into TS for a group or a raid but still have game sounds, for example.  I'm sure this one isn't easy to fix since it involves the way that you're using the audio codecs, but it would be awesome if we could make this easier for players - even it involves us going into options and hitting a button to move the audio output, it would be an improvement.	The size of the window border for dragging and resizing on the chat window should probably be increased - or at least give us a way in the UI options to turn off clickthrough on it or something.  I had to resize the window several times yesterday during ThaydFest, and it was always a huge chore to try and find the one little spot where i could grab the thing and move it properly without accidentally breaking tabs out or clicking through to something behind it.	(From Roda) - the ability to scale the font size larger than currently in chat windows - especially helpful on some newer large-format monitors.	Offline neighbor and circle invites.  There's really no reason not to allow this to work in the same way that friend invites do.	Allow characters to mount hoverboards while at the surface of water, or fix it so that if the water depth is very shallow, you can still mount any mount.  It doesn't make sense that you can't have your toes in the surf and then jump up on your Equivar or grinder.	A /guildstatus command that allows us to see if someone is a member of a guild or not, and what guild they are in, even if they have a circle title on their tag.  This is super useful for guild recruiters who meet an awesome person but aren't sure if that person is already guilded and don't want to bother them if they are.  It's also useful for checking to see if people who contact you (as a guild recruiter) are already in another guild or not.	It would be super nice if the guild management UI showed last known location (like the contacts list does) and AFK status.	It would also be really helpful if the guild management UI had (private) officer notes for guild members.
That's it (for now!)	
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			10. Being able to scale up the font to be even bigger.  I've got the text set to the damned highest it can go, and I still have to squint to see all the conversations going on in chat.	
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			All my yes to number one in particular.  I can't count the number of times I've been having a conversation in Thayd, Illium, (yes, yes, I'm a dirty traitor :P) or Housing when I just pop an AFK tag. Obviously not AFK dood, I'm sitting AT the blasted keyboard typing!  As long as the game is receiving some sort of input, you shouldn't get flagged and potentially logged out mid-heated discussion.	
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YES @ Number one! Cougar logged onto Luminai when the megaservers hit, and he went afk whilst chatting and his exact quote was "stupid afk thingy", even cougar doesn't like it! Get rid of it :P
 
AND DOUBLE TRIPLE AMILLION @ Number 8.
Having people hop on to ts to then go "oh wait a few mins guys, I need to restart I plugged in my headset". Just making this work, would be a great QoL improvement! :D	
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			All the yes to the AFK one.	
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YES @ Number one! Cougar logged onto Luminai when the megaservers hit, and he went afk whilst chatting and his exact quote was "stupid afk thingy", even cougar doesn't like it! Get rid of it :P
 
AND DOUBLE TRIPLE AMILLION @ Number 8.
Having people hop on to ts to then go "oh wait a few mins guys, I need to restart I plugged in my headset". Just making this work, would be a great QoL improvement! :D
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Yes yes yes!
 
I'd love to add to the list but nothing is coming up to me at the moment. 	
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			number 8.... so annoying	
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			Sadly I feel like number 8 is the toughest to fix - if only because I understand (at least partially) the technical nature of that problem.  But I really hope that the whole list gets looked at and addressed as soon as it can be. :)	
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I wasn't sure exactly where to put this, so if there's a better forum for it to be in, mods please feel free to move it :)
 
There are a few things that have been bugging me lately about the way that I interact with the game, and it really solidified yesterday when I was spending a lot of time in things like chat channels and mail. So, I wanted to make a list of some of the little things that could be improved in upcoming drops, that aren't related to big systems like PvP or itemization or so on.
 
Here goes!
 
Please make the auto-afk thingy recognize chat activity. It's super annoying being automatically set to afk status while I'm in game having a conversation, just because I'm typing rather than moving.
The text limit on mail is incredibly restrictive - you can hardly explain anything or provide any detail in a mail message. Can it be increased?
The /who command could probably use some work to make it a bit more intuitive. I come from old EQ where /who was a mainstay of how we operated, but all the normal things I'm used to doing, like /who <zone>, or /who <class>, or /who <level range>, or /who <guild name> don't seem to work. Maybe I'm just doing it wrong, but if so, maybe some in-game help for using this command?
In the same vein, custom chat channels could probably use a little love. I spent a lot of time yesterday educating people about /chjoin and /chleave. The exposure these things get in the UI is very minimal and most people simply don't know they exist or how to use them. Being able to type /channelname to talk in it, instead of /1 or /2, would be a huge improvement as a starter.
The killroy addon does a great job, but we should probably be able to customize colors for chat channels in the default UI. It gets especially confusing if you have multiple custom channels set up.
The interface option for enabling RP chat is super well hidden and nonintuitive. It'd be nice if we could make this easier for players to find.
Likewise, the method to type in RP chat involves special characters that aren't things touch typers like myself normally hit on their keyboards. It would be nice if we could have a simpler alias for RP chat, like maybe just /rp
I have a USB headset as many players do. In many other games, I can simply plug that USB headest in and audio output switches to it as it becomes the new Default Playback Device in Windows. In Wildstar however, I have to restart the game in order to get audio to come through the headset. This is problematic when I want to jump into TS for a group or a raid but still have game sounds, for example. I'm sure this one isn't easy to fix since it involves the way that you're using the audio codecs, but it would be awesome if we could make this easier for players - even it involves us going into options and hitting a button to move the audio output, it would be an improvement.
The size of the window border for dragging and resizing on the chat window should probably be increased - or at least give us a way in the UI options to turn off clickthrough on it or something. I had to resize the window several times yesterday during ThaydFest, and it was always a huge chore to try and find the one little spot where i could grab the thing and move it properly without accidentally breaking tabs out or clicking through to something behind it.
That's it (for now!)
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/signed
 
#6: @Carbine Please add the RP channel option to the toggles already attached to the chat box itself. That is where almost everyone I've talked to has been looking when they're unable to find it.
 
#7: @Carbine Please do change it to /rp...not sure why the existing chat channel conventions were not kept consistent for RP.
 
#8: @Neph I have a USB headset as well, and I've never had a problem with the game automatically switching to it from my speakers. Is this a recent problem? I haven't used my headset for a while.	
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I would be happier with RP channel toggles in the chat box if the chat box didn't constantly forget and reassign channels to additional chat tabs.  Honestly, this one should be fixed by now.  I try to make a guild only tab (or guild/Evindra Accords) and every day it's a random wonderland of which radio buttons got turned on in that tab.
 
I don't honestly run across many bugs, but that one really ticks me off.	
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#8: @Neph I have a USB headset as well, and I've never had a problem with the game automatically switching to it from my speakers. Is this a recent problem? I haven't used my headset for a while.
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			I added something to the list at top and also added Roda's request about font size.  I think that's actually really important - I just got a new 4k monitor to play with at work, and I can definitely see how font size and scaling might become a bigger issue than it is today.	
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			These points have my beardly endorsement. I don't know what they were thinking when they made {*} the RP tag instead of something actually intuitive. Most people I've seen roleplaying just don't bother with it.	
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			#8, Would love to have that one !!	
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#12. Fix the ChatSystemLib bug/feature that gives all Circles the same channel ID and all Custom channels the same ID. This will be required to allow for custom chat colors and or muting of individual circles/custom channels without something like Killroy.
 
Never been convinced of the value of another mandatory channel though (/rp). /wsrp already exists and folks could easily create /rp if they wanted it. I'd be surprised if it doesn't already exist actually.	
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I would be happier with RP channel toggles in the chat box if the chat box didn't constantly forget and reassign channels to additional chat tabs.  Honestly, this one should be fixed by now.  I try to make a guild only tab (or guild/Evindra Accords) and every day it's a random wonderland of which radio buttons got turned on in that tab.
 
I don't honestly run across many bugs, but that one really ticks me off.
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			#8 times a million.	
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And I suspect that is the bug/feature I just mentioned.
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This might be a little off-topic (maybe):
 
12. Have the ability to mount in water (Not deep water, I can understand, but it's confusing and frustrating when I'm standing in one inch of water and unable to mount on my hoverboard). 	
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			Bumping this back up because I added a few items to the list.	
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Nice list :) !
 
I got the audio problem yesterday and thought it was my setup, didn't know it was something widespread because of the game.
 
As for #2 I believe there is already something somewhere in the social panel where you can choose to set yourself as "busy".
I don't remember exactly but I think there is active (normal "I'm here" choice) then busy and then away...	
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			There is, but it only works for account friends :(	
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			Oooops sorry my bad !  :unsure:	
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			The biggest QoL feature, well aside from the OP list would be some moderation tools for custom chat channels.  The ability to boot/mute/ban people would be an incredibly nice feature.  As it is there's no way to moderate and they tend to turn into the wild west.  we use a custom chat channel for alliance chat...and if someone gets booted from the guild and they have a problem with it, the only thing we can do is ask them to leave and hope they do.  Otherwise all we can do is have everyone leave the chat and reform it over one person.  	
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			 I always wondered what the group circles are for.  :(	
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			Added that to the list for you Malak. :)	
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