I spent several hours exploring the 'enhanced' client.. Frankly, theres some options I wish we had in 2d, but generally speaking, it was basically unplayable for me.
I spent a long time trying to set up my macros.. I have some major issues with this. It does NOT do everything that uoassist does, and frankly, there is no way to pvp without these functions..
I did TRY to pvp, but because my computer can barely run it, I was clearly in no position to be fighting. I ran back home. . I dueled a friend, and lost badly, because I couldn't even see what he was doing it system-lagged so bad.
Frankly, there are VERY few perks, and it is my prediction that this client will flop just as all the other 'enhanced' clients.. Graphically, btw, I thought it was horrible, and looked NO different than the first 3d client before KR.
I WAS, however, able to get it basically to the exact same macros/keys i use in 2d, so pvping was basically the same as 2d, plus a TON of lag, glitches, lockups, and an overall 'slow' feeling.. This combined with the lack of CRUCIAL macros, and this client is a done deal for me..
All in all, epic, epic failure. Here is the journal i kept:
1. paperdoll is very ugly. I look fat, and just generally silly.. confusing paperdoll.. do not like.
2. Horse looks very silly. Stumpy legs.
3. running at 300k Kb. Whoever said it is on a par
with 2d is out of their mind. 14k vs 300k, buddy.. do the math...
4. New backpack system is stupid. WAY too many items
to scroll through to find my armor. (we pvp-ers carry
lots of stuff) also, they actually made it HARDER to see items.. HOW did they DO this??
5. The woods kinda look cool.... little too 'rich' tho..
6. does not work with nostromo pad.
7. window resize is awesome
8. zoom in/out is awesome
9. looks like i am wearing bell-bottoms when i am sitting on the horse..
10. why is horse running animation so slow.. runs like winnie the poo's sad donkey..
11. nearest friendly and nearest enemy is a great feature. Though nearest mobile isn't new..
12. enter-to-talk = epic win on several levels.. we can't have this in 2d because why again??
13. bell-bottom look is so bad. bad call. epic fail.
14. so, you actually DO NOT get stuck on things.. Solid win.
15. okay, does work with nostromo.
16. 'hotbar' is no good... . far as i can tell.. I miss my millions of icons..
17. can't make combinations of ctrl + mouse3..
18. no way to set a macro to get in llama form.. kindof a big deal..
19. No trapped box macros..
20. no re-mount macro..
21. About to make my computer crash it lags so bad..
22. i am dead.
23. Wait, This is different from the old 3d client, how?
It's not my intention to become the enhanced client apologist here, but you clearly didn't give it a chance.
1. That's a matter of taste, and a matter of what you are used to. Frankly many of the female faces in the enhanced client look downright hot.
2. Again, a matter of what you are used to, and a matter of taste. I think a lot of the animals in the enhanced client, including the horses, look pretty terrific. What I don't like are the dragons...
3. Actually in many situations the enhanced client is clearly faster than the classic client, if your machine can handle it, and you do some tweaking (using Mz CPU Accelerator to set processor affinity to processor 1 helped me a great deal). However, there are some serious performance issues and bugs. The client is still in beta, and it should be seeing more patches and updates than it is getting at this point.
4. You can choose legacy mode for containers, and while it isn't perfect, it does work almost exactly the way the classic container system does, and being able to switch between the legacy and enhanced default modes actually makes the system better than the 2D because it makes it very easy to find misplaced items. There are other advantages to it as well, such as right click to loot. But it takes some time to get used to something new and you aren't going to figure out all of this stuff in your first five minutes.
5. Again, a matter of taste and what you are used to.
6. Which is odd, and makes me think you didn't take the time to set it up properly. I use it with the G13 game board and it works better than it does with the classic client because I can't use the thumb joystick for movement in the classic client, while I can in the enhanced client.
7. Yes.
8. Yes.
9. Again, a matter of taste and what you are used to. I like the old 2D graphics, but there is something to be said for some of the enhanced graphics as well. Either way, it certainly isn't a game breaker for me. The only thing I wish is that everything from the 2D client translated into the enhanced client: such as two different colours of dragons, the various shades of nightmares and white wyrms, and long maned and short maned nightmares. However, all things considered, those are pretty minor quibbles.
10. See above. There are other graphical glitches as well, and I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of them get fixed.
11. Yes.
12. You can change that to legacy mode as well. That's another configuration issue that you didn't take the time to resolve.
13. Whatever, and see above a few times over.
14. This is actually huge.
15. Thought so.
16. You can set it up to have as many icons as you wish, and they are superior in many ways to classic client icons because you can attach macros to them, mini scripts, and they can have useful information in them such as numbers of reagents, potions, etc. Again, something that takes time to figure out and set up properly.
17. Don't understand this one. I use a programmable mouse, so I can bind anything I want anywhere.
18. Again I don't understand what you mean here. If you are talking about the ninja llama form, ya, that spell is a bit of a pita the way it works.
19. Again, something you didn't take the time to figure out. I use trapped boxes all the time.
20. Yet another thing you didn't take the time to figure out. You can set up both mount and dismount macros, with the added bonus for the mount macro that you can use one macro for any pet, or you can set it up so that you can designate the specific pet the way you do with UOA.
21. Lag has been a huge issue lately for me for some reason. But again, if you have a dual processor I found setting processor affinity to the second processor helped tremendously. Having said that, you shouldn't have to have a degree in computer science to get the client to perform well. This is something that must be fixed.
22. Yes, I died more often than normal while I was figuring out the enhanced client. But in my opinion, it has been worth it, and I wouldn't want to have to go back to the classic client. But as I said, there are some issues, especially the performance issues, that simply must be fixed. They can be pretty close to game breaking.
23. There simply is no comparison, the enhanced client is far more advanced than the 3D client ever was, and in many ways it is better than either the 2D or 3D clients even combined with UOA and UOAM.
And for the record, I pvp with the enhanced client all the time, and now that I am getting comfortable with it, even with the performance issues, I am starting to kick some serious butt. The thing is, many of us have years of experience with the classic client, and you simply can't expect to get comfortable with something new in a matter of an hour or two.
I had the advantage of being away for two years, so I was rusty anyway, and taking up the enhanced client wasn't as jarring for me as a result, but even at that, it still has taken more than a month to get to the place where I am finally starting to become truly comfortable with the enhanced client.