Actually, I found if you spend 2 hours configuring your interface and your macros properly and spend one or two gaming sessions to get used to it, the learning curve isn't that bad (at least I didn't have much problems). In fact, once you get used to the new interface, many things can be done much easier and more efficiently (and I already tried a mage, a melee fighter and a crafter).
Well, I sat down last night, I set up all my spell macros, got my key assignments set up, got things laid out just the way I wanted them, and set about playing for a bit on KR.
And I sort of wish I hadn't, because I remember now why I liked the client in the first place. It's got a TON of potential.
The problem is that it's more unstable than the 2D client. I crashed at least four times down with Melissa, which is not a good area to crash in, to say the least. I play WoW, so I'm fine with modal chat, and like that my keys can do all kinds of stuff for me. But now I have a whole new list of issues:
- The graphics are, indeed, horrendous, particularly for corpses. While 2D corpses at least have the decency to lie flat, the KR ones seem to bend at strange angles (at least on demons).
- The free-form backpack mode is useless, because it randomly chooses where to drop whatever you're dropping, instead of dropping it at cursor points (not to mention the icons are WAY too small for the size of the backpack they give you).
- The list mode causes a TON of freeze-lag if you hit a corpse with a lot of stuff in it, which is bad, bad, bad.
- Did I mention that I crashed from someone else recalling in my presence? What?
- I crashed for what amounted to no apparent reason, which was odd.
- KR and 2D have the same house cache bug... see, apparently Melissa's room in Ilshenar is in the same geographic comparable area as my house in Compassion Grove, so when I get down there, a replica of my house is half waiting for me, so I get to hide and restart UO (odd that they share this same bug since they aren't the same client).
- Figuring out where I'm standing in comparison to the twisted corpses is nigh on impossible, while in 2D I know I have to stand in the middle of multi-tile corpses. I spent literally a couple of minutes trying to figure out how to loot a balron while it kept telling me "I can't reach that." I *finally* found the place to stand, thank god.
- Movement is strange in the KR client, and I don't like that it seems to want to move me around everything I come to. Sometimes it's okay to just stop me.
- Why can't I reassign the keys on the primary hotbar?
- Why is the CANCEL button where OKAY should be given the layout of the settings screen?
- What's with the font used for the client? And why doesn't all-names cycle nicely on mouse-over like the 2D client? Using KR to target a name is... "fun."
- Why does my elf have a mage's hat in KR, but a circlet in 2D? Did they forget to do some stuff with the graphics? Shame.
- Pet interface for seeing your pets is nice. However, why does it default to closed, and why does it keep moving?
- Why doesn't the KR client remember what bags were open and where they were?
- And what's with the interface? I mean, WoW's interface has a fantasy flair to it, but remains functional. This interface is uuuuuuuuuuuugly, and doesn't speak to fantasy.
But what ticks me off about this is that I really would LIKE to play the KR client regularly. I like the bits and pieces of it that do function. But I always liked them. It's the stuff that is left that STILL doesn't work that bothers me, and we're a year out from its "release."
So I'll keep playing 2D for now, because it's just easier to stay in 2D with the occasional crash than to have to worry about crashing in KR just for crash sake.
I totally agree that the graphics and animations are not state of the art (just look at Titan Quest or Diablo 3!!!), but it still is 100 times better than the cheap-looking choppy 2D client.
2D isn't really choppy though.
And... uh... no, the artwork is not better. If you use the standard KR client graphics, they're way too thick (and why? what's wrong with thin? everything seems to have become bloated), and the icons for everything are mega-blurry lacking any solid detail. I'm not sure why, but wow, it's not pretty to look at. I had to go back to the 2D graphics just to know what was in my backpack (but, of course, those icons were too small too).
Oh, and why can't I resize my backpack in grid mode? Good lord.
