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TFT Interface Update

Riot·12/10/2019, 6:50:02 PM·1 votes·30,679 views

When you start up a game of Teamfight Tactics in patch 9.24 you may notice that the interface on your screen looks a bit different. Today we're going to talk about what's changing and why.


What's changing?

We're adding a new user interface element: The Level Bar

  • Displays your current level and XP progress.
  • Displays the drop rates for different tiers based on your level.

To better accommodate for these additions, we've moved the lock button to the right corner of the shop and are swapping the positions of the Buy XP and Refresh buttons.

Uh, I'm definitely going to mix up the XP and Refresh buttons.

Yup. This isn’t a change that we make lightly. We know how this especially impacts those of you that have been playing for a while.

From what we’ve observed and experienced in our internal playtests, the first game with this new change in effect is quite painful, however players are able to adjust to the change within 3-5 games.

Why and why now?

There’s never a good time to make a change like this, but the longer you wait the worse it gets as more players get used to a previous set of controls. With TFT, we’re always learning new lessons about the experience as we go, this is one of the harsher ones.

This change is about investing in TFT and its future. The relationship between Buy XP, Level, and how it affects what appears in your shop is not an obvious, understandable one. It’s something that you currently have to learn from a friend or a guide rather than something that is naturally communicated as a core part of the game.

For those of us who have already sunk several 8th place finishes into the game trying to hard force Ocean Mages the buttons and their functions are an afterthought. But for someone just discovering the game it’s an important concept that they’re completely unaware of. Keeping all these elements next to one another (Buy XP, Level, Tier Drop Rate) helps reinforce their connection and makes them more prominent. Making this more obvious and understandable is something we think is important and is the biggest reason why we’re making this change.

These additions are the first set of changes we’re introducing targeted towards making the game more understandable. Moving forward, there shouldn’t be any more button flips, but this is space we will be continuing to invest in and improve.

81 Comments

ForgottenoO012/10/2019, 7:38:04 PM134 votes

ADD A STAR to the home base of the player.. so in carousel rounds you can see clearly where home is to double check items!~!!!

Pixelsage12/10/2019, 7:38:57 PM11 votes

The change is fine. I certainly hope that the lock store bug is fixed (where store items remain locked even at the next level).

On another note - it'd be great if we can get like, a 3 second grace period to undo dragging items on the wrong champs due to bad UX. The left champ is too close to the stack of items on the left, and the item slots feel extremely arbitrary and hard to manage.

Chun Chun12/10/2019, 7:28:07 PM11 votes

so is zed not a summoner anymore?

Advacus12/10/2019, 7:03:42 PM10 votes

I love this change!

Q zzy12/10/2019, 7:32:16 PM9 votes

I really like how XP is split up into "bars" of 4 xp points each. It makes it easier to visualize that when you buy XP, you get one bar of XP (4 XPs). Also it makes it better to see when you need 1 or 2 extra bars to get an early level up instead of having to math it out on the fly.

Dick12/11/2019, 1:29:22 AM9 votes

Riot please add an "Encyclopedia" drop-down button that shows all the ITEMS and their possible combinations as well as class/factions for all champions. This information should be easily accessible in game instead of tabbing out to third party web pages. Keep up the good work!

ForgottenoO012/10/2019, 7:36:03 PM8 votes

please make a keybinding to lock champs you have.. instead of having to click the lock icon!

ForgottenoO012/10/2019, 7:36:27 PM8 votes

An auto pick up orbs keybinding/selection would be nice for the PVE rounds

Looneybin12/10/2019, 10:17:14 PM5 votes

Can we please get the item recipies in the UI. One of the most daunting things about picking up TFT after not playing for awhile is trying to remember all the item combos or scrambling to look them up on your phone mid game

DartExplosion1012/10/2019, 6:57:29 PM5 votes

ok

MaidSupportOnly12/10/2019, 7:07:49 PM5 votes

Honestly understandable. The hotkeys don't change, I hope?

Demacian Yordle12/10/2019, 10:51:07 PM5 votes

Is there any chance you can add the players name you're facing back to the top of the UI? I play with summoner names off in normal league, so it's nice to see who I'm fighting without having to change my settings every time I play TFT.

Also, when it gets to mid/late game, sometimes the character model for first/second place gets too large to see their level if they are sitting in the back, is there any fix to this?

Coins12/10/2019, 9:04:10 PM4 votes

The image you posted shows 0% change for a tier 5 unit, but Zed is in the shop....

Stexe12/11/2019, 12:30:04 AM4 votes

Nice... now we only need the ability to hit TAB and see what everyone is doing... you know, like what ever other auto-battler has. :-P

Dustogrei12/10/2019, 10:39:15 PM3 votes

Following that logic shouldn't the lock store button be moved to the left right next to the refresh button?

Win Zhao12/10/2019, 7:17:35 PM3 votes

Yes good idea. your shop refresh should already be on hotkey anyway. i still have TFT cheat sheet as my background on my 2nd screen monitor Lol the less info on that i have to look at (and more on the UI, like drop rates) the better

Chinese Support12/11/2019, 1:05:53 PM3 votes

This is soooooo bad the new inferface made me press the wrong button hundreds of times....

YataYan12/10/2019, 10:26:41 PM2 votes

A feature i would love for you to add is during late game, we should be able to buy champs that we need for an inflated price. This can be added to after the dragon round and you should be able to right click one of your champions and buy a copy for an inflated price (something like x5 the original price). I think this would balance out the late game a little bit and make it so we're not just rolling all the time when it comes to late game and the luckiest person just wins

Ensabanoor12/10/2019, 8:56:50 PM2 votes

This makes sense. I support it.

frafdo12133312/10/2019, 7:17:57 PM2 votes

This new UI is better than the previous one, regardless of the cost of a couple games.

Vincentcloud12/11/2019, 4:35:16 AM2 votes

I dont see the point in this. They could have made numbers bigger and served same purpose l(unless people cant do basic math). As for the people who want item combo...there are many overlays the give you every item combo(with effects), all origins and class(with synergy break points and unit and cost) and unit% in shop per level. I'm kinda glad TFT doesnt spoon feed people so you gotta put in some work.

imp12/11/2019, 5:21:04 AM2 votes

button swap is a terrible idea, makes more sense to have the lower gold cost option on top for the re roll

Serpensous12/11/2019, 7:11:30 AM2 votes

I wish they brought back the old top interface so I know who I previously lost and won to that stage. It helps a lot out with remembering what comp i lost to and who to look out for. Also, when will recordings and spectating be a thing?

Black people tho12/11/2019, 8:47:37 AM2 votes

can I point out that in the example pic it says there is a zero % chance of a 5 cost at his current level and yet there is a zed in that roll?

laothoe12/12/2019, 1:51:51 AM2 votes

Never would've guessed that's what the little percentages were pertaining to, mostly because I'm not sure why they're necessary? Isn't it common sense for higher tier champions to drop at higher levels and/or further into the game? Unless it's a matter of being on the lookout for a specific champion that's a specific tier and the likelihood that the next round or refresh might have it in the pool? Regardless, it seems like an unnecessary feature taking up valuable space. I actually thought it was showing me the balance of attack/defense/physical/spell/true/etc you have in your team composition, which imo might be more valuable to keep track of to have a well-balanced team? All I know is that I probably won't be utilizing the little percentages, what I get is what I get, that's the RNG effect of the pool.

Void225812/10/2019, 11:42:11 PM2 votes

Can we please update the carousel to make us able to view champion and item details in real time rather than having to remember it? Also, can we please just get drops instead of running around for them?

Sylphiod12/12/2019, 8:25:18 AM1 votes

Cost me a ranked game because I didn't notice the change till part way through the game and it still messed me up costing my wasted gold and no rerolls. So annoyed

WubLyyfe12/13/2019, 1:08:38 AM1 votes

Be honest, it just looks nicer with the blue of the buy xp button up next to that fancy new progress meter. It does look really nice though.

Juice Cleanse12/13/2019, 11:12:15 PM1 votes

Seems like a change that should have been made much earlier as opposed to during the 2nd season of ranked play. Changing muscle memory is a pain.

Kazymandias12/13/2019, 8:55:47 PM1 votes

Understand this:

  • How you treat the existing player base affects the trust and goodwill of all future players.

It determines their faith, their loyalty, their expectations.

Not just the current players, but even new ones, as the reputation of Riot toward its customers helps determine who chooses to play going forward.

The rationale for swapping those buttons is foolish, it's interface design esoteria that is absolutely needless in the long run. You could accomplish the same thing in other ways. And I speak as someone expert in interface design, a web developer and graphic artist.

One could unify the interface in a dozen different ways that would not require offending hundreds of thousands or millions of players, who will lose rounds and matches because of this.

The bad experience and ill will it will generate among the existing player base is more important.

**Example: **

Apple was never able to build more than a niche in the computer market because they repeatedly abandoned their user base. Each time they released a machine or OS that was not backward compatible, they not only drove away some of their existing customers, but dramatically reduced their potential new customers. The Apple II was not compatible with the Apple. The Lisa was not compatible with the II. The Mac wasn't compatible with the Lisa. The MacOS broke much of its backward compatibility with System 7, OSX, and one earlier one I forget.

This is part of why they couldn't get above 10% in the desktop market share, while arguably inferior but always-backward-compatible Microsoft dominated. Windows XP could still run MS-DOS software from the 1980s. Note that Apple learned their lesson with iPhones, never dumping their customer base, and have managed to retain a larger smartphone market share.