Hello,
after these days of playing on 2.00-01 beta server, I (and my friend) have formed several opinions, thoughts and suggestions. Here they are:
Interface and visual side
New interface looks overall better than the old one, it just appears more modern now. There are things I like, but also things I don’t.
1 a) Map is definitely the biggest visual upgrade since west 1.x, I like how it looks now, feels almost like a picture
1 b) Jobs and quest givers are not everywhere, so I can actually see that map without having brown circles on top of everything. Also, “icons” for works look now just great, most of them are almost blending with the map (but since there is glow around them, they are recognizable).
But, well, there are also many things I do not like...
1 c) There are still few things which were not changed, like icons for other players in locations and now it does not fit very well in the map graphics.
1 d) What changed is the representation of character himself (player icon): Seeing little guy walking around definitely blends better with this map and interface (too much I think, there could also be some kind of glow around it). But although that animation looks interesting, it could confuse newbies, because in fact you remain in the same location. Little guy also flies over lakes, mountains and so on, ignoring all beautifully drawn narrow roads (which doesn’t look pretty at all, especially those right angle turns) so in the end it looks less realistic than if he was just standing still.
1 e) The whole interface was changed, but: Why are some icons pretty big and some of them so tiny that I can’t even see what they mean?
Like those around portrait. There is huge portrait (reason?), but small energy/hp bars and tiny icons next to it that I have even problems clicking on? Why? “Friends” button is not more important than Quest book for me. Make these icons bigger, please.
And those icons for moving screen to player/town/fort. They are small, too, but what is worse, they look all the same. Brown squares, no visible difference and I just have to remember which is which.
And about town forum... I hope icon position and its picture are just temporary, right?
1 f) When I freshly log in, no flashing tells me if new telegram arrived like it did in 1.x. Same goes with reports. Quick bar solves this a bit, but first you have to be logged on to see them, second clicking on them never opens the report, which I could use to read it in detail, third there is no quick icon to access them (even though a hotkey does). Friends could get a smaller icon and switch the existing one with reports. They are more often used, at least in my case.
1 g) Last but not least important change for me - Chat.
I can’t help it, it is horrible having to open window to see chat. Why making this game less sociable? It should be a part of user interface like it always was. And hide it with a button.
What I do like are separate tabs for whisper. Saves time and ensures correct recipient of message.
Overall design of game
2 a) Because of better graphics loading time is twice than west 1.x’s (West 1.x 3,5 MB, West 2.x 6,5 MB) which kills availability to play on slower connection, like at weekend house or mobile phone. Turning off the animations in options does not work for those introduced in 2.0.
2 b) I like having less sectors (also bigger ones), looks better on minimap.
2 c) Speed bonus for greenhorn cancelled (2500% for first few hours does not help), why?
Jobs
3 a) I understand why you have changed job times. But I think you did not have to make these times mandatory, give player a choice (1m, 30m, 1h, etc.). You could still make shorter times more rewarding for active players.
3 b) Considering new job times, you should remake hardest work quests. Clicking 240x on stream fishing loses its charm.
3 c) Merging jobs into groups is fine idea, but you also reduced number of jobs per location, making traveling times longer.
Details
4 a) Settings on your minimap (what to show) should be remembered.
4 b) You did a great job by allowing to search jobs on minimap not only by keyword, but also by products. You could also add searching quest givers.
4 c) Another good thing: When I cancel job I am traveling to and have the same one stacked, I do not lose the time I already traveled.
4 d) Quick icons for start job, travel to town are a nice touch.
Well, I hope these thoughts will help you to get some feedback at least.
Thank you