Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Patch 9 - User Interface - feedback/suggestion

Hey guys,

Here is (I guess) my last feedback thread about the User Interface.
I may update this list at some point, eventually.


1) SPELLBOOK / REACTION MENUS VISIBILITY
I struggled at finding the spellbook/reaction tab.
These menus are some of the most important one. Currently we have to open the character sheet / click on a very small icon on the top left.
It is far from being obvious that the character sheet will lead you to those menus.
It should be easier to find them and faster to open them. They deserve their own icon on the main UI (as they had previously).



2) OVERWHELMING REACTION MENU
The reaction menu is already overwhelming. I really fear higher levels / classes with more reactions / the implementation of all reactions in the new system.
I don’t even understand why the game ask me if I want to enable reaction on hit AND on critical hit.
Nor do I understand why I have a line for every spell level. Just ask and allow me to choose the spell level if I want to react.
The reactions configuration should be faster and the menu should be as simple as possible
In my opinion we should choose the spell level when we react and players in auto mode should eventually toggle the different spell levels on the configuration menu (single line with level toggles).



3) REACTION ICONS ON THE MAIN UI
There are already too many reactons icon on the main UI.
We will have tons of icons in the end which will further overload the interface.
We don’t need one icon for hit level 1 + critical hit level 1 + hit level 2 + critical hit level 2,...



4) VISIBILITY OF THE REACTION RESSOURCE
Now that we have reactions, is it even more important that players see and understand that it is a ressource just as action and bonus actions are.
The main UI lack of a reaction resource icon.
Click on it could lead to the "passive tab" of the hotbar or directly to the reaction configuration menu.



6) THE HOTBAR IS TOO SMALL
Not a fan of hotbar at all but I'd rather have a biggere hotbar well organized than having to waste my time to configure and navigate through multiple ones.
In my opinion the hotbar could be bigger so we have 4 - 6 more squares.


5) ICONS TO AUTO-SORT ITEMS
The UI lack of icons that sorts items (scrolls, potions, throwing items,…). It would be a great QoL functionality.
It is perfectly fine to allow players to customize their hotbars but it is not not to sort some things automatically in a game with so many elements.
We need icons (that we can remove, eventually) to see all scrolls / potions / throwing weapons / arrows under one specific icon. It should use the “variation functionality” of the UI : players know it and it works well.

If that's not possible : the game need specific containers with unique design. In other words : bags but that looks like a scroll case, a quiver, a potion case,...
It would require more management from players but it would allow to sort and organize the hotbar better.


6) INVENTORY FILTERS
The inventory lack of filters icons. It is not obvious at all that you have to click the search bar to filter items.
That kind of thing should be obvious but currently it’s not. The inventory UI deserve proper and obvious filters.


7) NEW ... ON TOOLTIPS
The new "..." on various tooltip is not a good addition at all.
It make things confusing and slower to understand. It often hide only 2 lines on top of hiding the most important informations.
I’d rather have bigger tooltips than having to loose time or eventually miss the informations I’m looking for.



8) TARGET(S) INFORMATIONS ON TOOLTIPS
Tooltips lack informations about the target(s) (self, ally, ennemy) for spells / weapons attacks / class features and so on...
I'm not supposed to know that in exemple “shield of faith” can only be cast on myself.

Currently you have to “pre-cast” (click the icon without validating spell casting) every spell you don’t know to see if it’s a spell for you, for an ally, for a few allies, for an enemy or for a few enemies.
It is boring when you play, but it is even more when you are choosing spells when you level up. It should be a line of text in the bottom of the tooltip rather than eventually be in the text (it’s not always).


9) RED LINES ON THE MAIN HOTBAR
The red lines in the middle of the main hotbar are visually not appealing at all.
It should be something more in line with all other UI elements.
There is other way to make players understand that they can interract with them than making them an big red bar.



10) AREA MAP
Nothing on this map is barely recognizable. Villages, temples, bridges, mill, statues,….
The map of the area does not help to understand the structure or the world and how things are interconnected.
It does not really help to find your way and to localize your group in the area. The only valuable informations are the fast travel points, the quests markers and the characters markers.

I personally think that to find their way around a map, players need to see the key points of interest that they have spotted while travelling through the world.
If I’m walking in a town I never went to, the “point of interrest” on the touristic maps are the first layer that help me to understand where I am / where I want to go.
The road and the bridge tell me how to go from point A to point B. In BG3 we don't even clearly see point A and point B…

I wish this map could be great art like the worldmap is. A zoom on this part of the world with main roads and point of interests.


11) FAST TRAVEL POINT NAMES / POSITION
The fast travel system does not allow to visualize where most points leads to.
Some of the names in the list do not refer to anything significant on the map and does not allow players to visualize where they lead.
Goblin’s camp is ok = if I click on Goblins camp I know that I will be teleported to the goblin’s camp.
But Roadside Cliffs ? Overgrown ruins ? Riverside Teahouse ?

I personally think that some fast travel points should be renamed and/or relocated a bit.
The beach, the lost chapel, the fetid bog… This would allow players to visualize what they have really saw. You saw a bog, it's not obvious that the building is a teahouse. You saw a chapel, not a "Roadside Cliff". You saw a beach, the "Overgrown Ruin" is not the memorable thing next to this point.
On top of that when we are fast travelling to "Sylvanus grove" is it to go into the grove... Why do we always have to loose 30 seconds to walk towards the grove ?



12) FASTER FAST TRAVEL
Currently we have to check the names on the map then find the names on the list and click on it.
It would be a lot faster and easier if we could just click the icons on the map directly. It is obviously linked with the 2 points above.

I wish I could have a clear map and click on clear icons of clear locations to fast travel there.



13) LOOKING AT UNDERDARK MAP / SURFACE MAP
Currently we can't look at the surface map if we are in the underdark and vice versa. We should be able to look at the underdark map when we are on the surface and at the surface map if we are in the underdark.
If I want to teleport from the surface to the underdark, I have to remember the fast travel point name of the location I visualize in my head and want to travel to... or teleport anywhere then teleport again to the good one…

The 4 points above leads me to these suggestions :
https://forums.larian.com/ubbthread...+the+worldmap&Search=true#Post814237
https://forums.larian.com/ubbthread...+the+worldmap&Search=true#Post727408


14) MINI MAP SIZE
According to my calculations it takes between 1/12th and 1/15th of the space on the screen. The mini map is all but mini.
It is too big, really.


15) QUEST DIARY UPDATE
The quest diary should update automatically. Currently when a task is updated the quest line has a it has a ! that will always remain a ! until the player click on the line.
After a few hours it is very complicated to understand at the first glance what is done and what is not.

I guess players are not constantly reading their journal and what matter is to see what is done, what is work in progress and the steps of the quests.
It does not matter to see that "a task has been updated". The ! is useless and the screenshot on the right give as much valuable informations than the screeshot on the left.

If a task is done, it should have a V directly even if the player don't read / click on the lines and the ! should not exist



16) NO DICE CHECKS IF THE DD = 0
I guess it only happen when we use the tadpole's power. We should not have dice checks when the DD is equal to 0.
It does not make sense and it just makes things slower for the sake of it.

On top of that, it would make the option to use the tadpole more appealing and more unique/memorable by it's (lack of) mechanic during dialogs.


17) DAMAGES INFORMATIONS ON TOOLTIPS
If I have a long sword in my hand with a shield, the tooltip of my weapon tells me that I will deal 1D8 (+modifiers) damages.
If I highlight another long sword in my inventory, it will say that I'm going to do 1D10 (+modifiers) damages.

It is due to the fact that if the item is equipped, it shows the "real damages" and consider that I'm using it with 1 hand. But if it's a tooltip from a non-equiped item, it will show the greater value and consider that I will use it with my 2 hands.
That's just an exemple but I've noticed this with many items and spells.

Another exemple is with radiant damages from a few paladin skills. It deals +1D8 radiant damages versus all target and +2D8 versus undead => the damages written in the tooltip will always consider the +2D8.
Another one is when some damages have conditions : it is clearly written that the +1D6 fire damage only applied under condition, but the damage range written above consider that you will do them.

It may be very confusing because players may choose an item or a skill because the tooltip tells them that it will deal more damages... even if it is wrong or if it is only partially true !



18) TOOLTPS DON'T GIVE ALL MEANINGFULL INFORMATIONS
I guess I won't be able to go into details for every one of them here... But in exemple a player that doesn't know DnD will only look at the damages.
We have already seen that tooltips are not really accurate in the previous point but some of them also lack informations.
- In exemple players can't understand that a +1 weapon not only deal +1 damage... but also have +5% chances to hit.
- In exemple the Bestow Curse Spell description. Curse a target ? What does that mean ? Players would like to know before choosing this spell.


19) THE COLOR CODE IS OVERWHELMING AND CONFUSING
Too many items now have a color and to be honnest I don't even understand what this code mean at all...
Is "speak with the dead" (green scroll) a better spell than "scortching ray" (normal scroll).
Are all the keys we find really important quests related items ? (all orange).

- The color code does not make any sense to me.
- It encourages players to choose some items over others when they are not necessarily a better choice.
- On top of that our inventory is now an unreadable rainbow. All those colors everywhere does not help to have a clear overview of our items (I don't have any problem with my eyes).

You are over doing it. It is important that players understand what item is magical and what item is not but it should be up to our appreciation which one is better / more important or not. Especially if the color code is wrong.



20) AOO MARKS UNDER ENNEMIES (IN THE RED CIRCLE)
In many situations, especially when you are engaged with more than 1 ennemy, it is still very unclear where you can move without triggering any AOO and when you will trigger an AOO.
I'm a fan of melee characters so I'm used to AOO and I always check if my moves are going to trigger one or not... And I have been attacked a lot more than I thought because it was not clearly visible.


21) DUAL WIELDING TOGGLE
I haven't play a dual wielder yet in my first patch 9 playthough but I cannot forget to add my support to this feedback.
It has never been clear that the player can enable / disable automatic dual attacks (action + bonus action). It is still not considering the small icon I've seen in a screenshot on this board.


22) SCROLLS - SPELLS SCHOOL
Players should understand faster what spells belongs to which school in my opinion. It is important for some classes, subclasses and races.
It could be done with a color code, in exemple all abjuration spells could have a yellow icon... But I guess it would create issues (blue flame, red lightning,...).

If that's not possible, it should be an icon on tooltips rather than a line of text under the spell name. Reading a small line is slower and less obvious than looking at an icon you are often seeing.


That's it for now.

EDIT

23) HOTBAR - ONE ICON FOR SPELLS FROM MULTIPLE SOURCES
Currently when we have the same spell from multiple sources (items AND spellbook), we have 2 icons on the hotbar.
It does not help to have a clean and clear hotbar and it may be confusing. On top of cluttering up an already overloaded interface, you have to read the tootlip every time to be sure what you're about to do/use (item ? spellslot ? spell level ?).

It would be cool to streamline the hotbar and make things clearer and easier to understand by removing one of the 2 icons.
I guess it could be done by using the variation feature of the UI. See the picture to understand what I have in mind.



24) SPELLS WITH MUTLIPLE VARIATION / UPCAST LEVEL
The variation window when you use spells that have a lot of variations is really confusing.
1 icon for each variations / spell level is a lot too much ! (and it will be worse at higher levels). Currently it is really confusing and difficult to read correctly/quickly

Let's have a look at the chromatic orb and the command spells variation submenu...

Would it be possible to include toggles in this variation sub-menu ? I guess it would be a lot easier to interract with the UI if it looked something like that.

Yes, that's what I would like too.

+1 to almost everything. Thanks for compiling it all together.

Reaction menu definitely needs further work - fine control like "smite on crit only" will be valuable option to some, but what the menu needs are submenus - just list each reaction with some general setting, and deeper customisation in a submenu for that reaction.

I do agree that reaction need a reaction icon, but it can't list all "reactions" when listed - the system uses it for non-reactions (like smite, or bardic inspiration) and resource icon needs to show only skills that use that resource.

I somewhat disagree about redbars on the hotbar - I think anything less subtle might not draw attention to the fact that they are movable. Perhaps something less garish, bit still intuitively understandable might be implemented though. It's not something that bothers me in the slightest, though.

Yes yes and yes again, I have a 21:9 screen and look at how much of the screen is wasted :

I could fit twice the bar here.

This is great feedback. I also agree with pretty much everything here. Some of the criticisms are bugbears of mine while others don’t particularly bother me, but there’s no suggestion here that I’d be actually be upset to see implemented.

+1 from me as well. Thank you for this compilation 🙂

I like that the UI in this game has its own unique style, but there is still things that could be improved to make the UX more enjoyable.

I knew you would disagree about that considering that we have already talked about this a few months ago.
According to me this red bar is really a stain in the middle of something visually quite nice.

But I really think something "like that" would draw attention as much as the big red lines / enough.
That's paint design and I'm not an artist... It should obviously be better but that's just to explain the idea I have in mind.



Of course it would mean that the lines on top and bottom of the hotbar get longer or shorter. No idea about the feasibility.

Just adding one more point.

23) HOTBAR - ONE ICON FOR SPELLS FROM MULTIPLE SOURCES

Currently when we have the same spell from multiple sources (items AND spellbook), we have 2 icons on the hotbar.
It does not help to have a clean and clear hotbar and it may be confusing. On top of cluttering up an already overloaded interface, you have to read the tootlip every time to be sure what you're about to do/use (item ? spellslot ? spell level ?).

It would be cool to streamline the hotbar and make things clearer and easier to understand by removing one of the 2 icons.
I guess it could be done by using the variation feature of the UI. See the picture to understand what I have in mind.

I concur, this one would be neat as well.

Agree! I would love to have a larger hotbar!

ill add this here let us hide mini map!!!

Second, spells like command that have multiple different uses are a nighmare of a mess when you click on them. Same as chromatic orb... DUe to all the upcast options and that is when we only have level 3 spells.

The whole things needs a submenu you have a basic level 1 version and those level 1 icones have small arrow ontop of the icone that will open if you hover over and open up the upcast option... simple and it would cut on icon mess

Maximuss I follow you and agree with you on almost everything since the beginning. I was waiting to finish this patch 9 session before making a topic like this at larian.

1 ) SPELLBOOK / REACTION MENUS VISIBILITY
Just press K and you have the menu that opens. At first it takes a few minutes of adaptation but in the end I am rather satisfied.

2) OVERWHELMING REACTION MENU
For smite it is normal to ask if we perform the reaction on critical hit, this is one of the main reasons for the paladin on the table because its double the damage and efficiencie of a smite. The solution you propose is interesting and would allow better visibility. Actually the thief dont have reaction on backstab and Uncanny Dodge , thats a shame.

3) REACTION ICONS ON THE MAIN UI
I totally agree with you. Its useless to see icon there.

4) VISIBILITY OF THE REACTION RESSOURCE
Im agree with you again , for uncanny dodge or attaque of opportunity in example, we want to know that is one use per round.

5) ICONS TO AUTO-SORT ITEMS
This comes from a bar that is not intuitive and poorly designed. When they have solved the problem, it will be better

6) THE HOTBAR IS TOO SMALL
The icon bar is too small and as I said in a previous post, it is not intuitive. Looks like storage within storage. The passing turn is too big. Personally I used the "Custom" bar from the beginning which is sufficient for level 5 but which will soon be overwhelmed with icons. They should add a bar on the right of the screen, above the text as well as increase the main bar by one line

6) Bis : INVENTORY FILTERS
The inventory is badly done. The keys overwhelm our inventory, they should be placed in a different compartment.

7 to 15 )
Im agree with you. Nothing to say.

16 ) NO DICE CHECKS IF THE DD = 0
Fun fact that i lost 3 time the first check when i want to save Shadowheart from his prison. I dont know why but i got lot of 1 on my illithid test. xD

17 to 23) True ! Im agree.

I agree on a lot of things but we can see that from one player to another we don't have the same concerns. I would like a lot of better faces and customization of our characters. This time you're not talking about objects which are once again...be good, be too complex or convoluted, or totally useless.
I know you talked about shove in another topic so I'm not mentioning it.
Continue as his maximuss we are with you.

+1, great suggestions all

Oh yeah you're so right. Haven't noticed because I haven't used those spells at all during my playtrough but it could definitely be improved !
I will definitely add that too !

24) SPELLS WITH MUTLIPLE VARIATION / UPCAST LEVEL

The variation window when you use spells that have a lot of variations is really confusing.
1 icon for each variations / spell level is a lot too much ! (and it will be worse at higher levels). Currently it is really confusing and difficult to read correctly/quickly

Let's have a look at the chromatic orb and the command spells variation submenu...

Would it be possible to include toggles in this variation sub-menu ? I guess it would be a lot easier to interract with the UI if it looked something like that.

Yes!

On top of that current chromatic orb sortingis buggy - the order of the icons have been jumbled for most of my playthrough.

Oh yeah there are shortcut for everything but I still think that such menus deserve their own icon on the main interface.
It should be easy to find them imo, shortcut user or not.


I don't get it. Ask for every hit would also include to ask for critical hit.
I'm not saying they should not ask for critical hit, I'm saying they should not have a specific line dedicated to critical hit.
But I guess that's for players that don't enable to "ask" option... Whatever something has to be done because it's really gonna be a mess in the end, especially if they include (and I really hope they will) all reactions or skills that can be used with reactions (AOO, sneak attack, feather fall, protection,...)


I totally disagree with your last sentence on this one.
I'd like the bar to be a bit longer because there are a lot of empty space on the bottom left... But I don't want the UI to be even more overloaded with additionnal bars and additionnal full lines.
There are already too many UI elements all over the screen imo. A bit more confort to deal with the messy hotbar is fine but UI elements everywhere is not something I'd like


Thanks for your support ! I wish I could work FOR FREE with Larian to talk with them, suggest things more directly / think about things with the team, clarify tooltips and so on

As you said players don't have the same problems and expectations... In exemple, I personnaly don't care AT ALL about faces and characters custom options.
Items may be another thread at some point because I was (in exemple) so much overwhelmed to see AGAIN many new 50% HP items... but let's be honnest : I've lost hope about itemization.

There have been people mentioning that they save smites for crit hits only to maximise the damage. It must be a popular approach to warrant a specific option. As such, I don’t think the option should be removed, but better organisation will definitely be welcome.

Great suggestions, i like most of it without any coments ...
Except:

4-6 is nothing ...
I mean it would be nothing on max level.

I would certainly +1 option to expand AND reduce our hotbar ... both horizontaly, AND verticaly ...
See no problem in it.
If you want 3 Row hotbar ... have it ... if you want 4 ... have it ... if you want just 1 ... hey, its your interface do whatever you want with it.
Same goes horizontaly ... you want it as tiny as possible? Make it shorter ... you want to expand it to full size of your monitor? Sure, why not.

Question is, if we should get additional "lock" for size of our hotbar ... (lets call this compromise)
If it should be adjustable in menu ... (my preffered option)
Or if it should be adjustable any time with no way to lock it ... (worse option imho)

Dragon Age: Origins did this, and it was awesome. :3

Great idea +1!
Except i would give there also scrolls for that spell ...

There is no reason in my opinion to have Magic Missiles, and Magic Missiles from neckage, and Magic missiles scroll ... those are 3 icons for the same cast.
Lets include it all ... Magic missiles > here are all your aviable sources of this spell.

+1
I mean, submenus are never organized. So, I agree! It's a pain to select a disguise with Disguise Self for instance.

+100 you guys are brilliant
Looks very good!