Teleport Organization/Usability Improvements

[bbik]

All suggestions should be in their own, individual thread. Since this is a group thread, it's being closed.

 

 

 

1. Links for teleport-eligible and offered dragons

It would be very helpful if dragons listed for trade/transfer (implemented), and even those which are eligible for a trade/transfer, would link to either their /view/ or /lineage/ pages. Most trades involve a dragon being of a specific lineage (whether CB, PB, inbred, whatever), or with a specific time remaining, or meeting other equally specific details, so it would be nice to be able to check that directly, rather than typing in the code.

 

2. Password placement

The password box should be moved to the bottom of the dragon list. Typing your password is typically the last step for any action, and the same should apply here. That way, the steps would flow better to first select your transfer type and dragons to send, and make sure you get that right, and then type your password and submit -- rather than typing the password first, which allows you to accidentally bump the wrong thing and botch the transfer.

This logic applies to the scroll settings page, as well, but at least those options are a lot easier to reverse if submitted incorrectly.

 

Edit for even more improvement suggestions:

3. Logically ordered dragon listing

The teleport page would benefit from having teleport-eligible dragons listed in a determinate order. Right now, they seem to be tossed up completely randomly, which can quickly get very confusing, especially if there are multiple dragons of the same breed. Sorting to match the order on the scroll, or by time remaining (like incubate), or even alphabetically by code would all be better than the current unpredictable random ordering.

 

4. Time remaining for teleport-eligible dragons

It would be very nice to see the time remaining on teleport-eligible dragons, like we currently can for dragons already set up for trading/transferring. This applies tenfold if the random ordering mentioned above remains the same.

 

5. Gender of teleport-eligible and offered dragons

Much like links would be helpful, showing a dragon's gender would also be fantastic. There is a whole thread devoted specifically to swapping genders. For those trades especially, but also for most others, it would be entirely appropriate and useful to be able to see, at a glance, if an offer has the desired gender.

 

 

Related ideas with threads of their own:

A. Reject/Decline option; "Maybe" option -- Half implemented, yay!

There should be an option to decline a trade offer. That way it doesn't clog the list, and the other player knows their offered dragons are free to be used for other trades. A "Maybe" or "I'm considering your offer" option would also be nice. That way the potential trade partner has some idea of whether their offer is being considered, is being ignored but not declined, or hasn't even been seen yet.

Main discussion thread

 

A2. Decline confirmation

Require confirmation when declining a trade offer. This would make it consistent with all other site functions, and would prevent a single accidental click from blowing away the offer you were planning to accept.

Main discussion thread

* On a related note, perhaps there should also be a confirmation before cancelling a teleport, as well? That link is a bit less likely to be bumped, but could cause just as much damage.

 

B. Messaging system

Allow short messages to be sent along with trade offers. That way even non-forum-goers can communicate with their potential trade partners. It would allow players to confirm if a hatchling was influenced as desired, or to offer additional dragons as IOUs, and many other useful things.

General messaging; Teleport specific 1; Teleport specific 2

 

C. Alerts indicating teleport status changes

Add a line to the top of the scroll page, much like the sickness message, to indicate that a new offer has been made on a trade link, or that a trade offer was accepted, or a transfer picked up.

Main discussion thread

 

D. Transfer offers visible while locked -- Fixed, yay!

Transfer offers should be visible, if not available, even if you are locked. That way you can see what the offer is, and decide if you want to drop something to make space.

Main discussion thread

 

E. Teleporting CB eggs during the 5 hour abandon limit

The limit is meant to prevent CB eggs from clogging the AP, but if they're being teleported, they have a home waiting and won't affect the AP. The limit should be removed in that case, since all it does is hinder already planned trades/transfers.

Main discussion thread

 

F. Multiple teleport links per dragon

Allow a dragon to be offered on multiple trades, so you're not stuck waiting on a slow trade while other good trades pass you by. This could also include creating a trade link with your dragon, and being able to offer that dragon on someone else's trade link at the same time.

Main discussion thread

 

G. Accept only part of a trade offer

Choosing whether you want to accept a trade as offered, or only accept part of the offer, would be quite nice. This would be especially useful if you don't have many slots available, and the offer includes more dragons than you could fit, but you would be happy to settle with accepting only the subset that you can fit.

Main discussion thread

Edited June 3, 2017 by SockPuppet Strangler

[Fengari]

I agree with the password thing.

 

As for linking the dragons on the transfer page, maybe a link to their lineage would even be more useful?

[WinstonGA]

Rah! Yes, please. I came here to make that request, glad to see some other folks want it too.

 

Personally I'd prefer the link be to /view, since often I'd want to see both /view and /lineage pages, and you can click from /view to /lineage but not the other direction.

 

[miladyz]

Whoops, I found this link right after posting a new thread. Anyway, I definitely think this would be useful, especially with a lineage link, and I support it completely.

[Fengari]

Personally I'd prefer the link be to /view, since often I'd want to see both /view and /lineage pages, and you can click from /view to /lineage but not the other direction.

Actually you can go from /lineage to /view: just click on the picture of the egg/hatchling.

[bbik]

Bump for more related suggestions, and for clarification (hopefully!) of the original suggestions.

 

3. Logically ordered dragon listing

The teleport page would benefit from having teleport-eligible dragons listed in a determinate order.  Right now, they seem to be tossed up completely randomly, which can quickly get very confusing, especially if there are multiple dragons of the same breed.  Sorting to match the order on the scroll, or by time remaining (like incubate), or even alphabetically by code would all be better than the current unpredictable random ordering.

 

4. Time remaining for teleport-eligible dragons

It would be very nice to see the time remaining on teleport-eligible dragons, like we currently can for dragons already set up for trading/transferring.  This applies tenfold if the random ordering mentioned above remains the same.

[Wookieinmashoo]

I accidentally teleported a CB white instead of a second gen white.

2. I keep forgetting to type in my password because of the odd placement of it, so I have to backtrack and put it in almost every time.

3. I mistook the CB white for my bred one because it was at the bottom of the telepot list and not the top (where my CB was) like on my scroll.

4. Time remaining would also be a nice addition.

 

I don't mind that I keep messing up with teleport, I have plenty of magis to spare. For people who only have a few though, this can be cumbersome if they mess up even once.

[Stromboli]

Would it also be possible to have a way of rejecting offers without having to accept another offer?

[libby2999]

yes yes, this is something that is more nessisary than just opinal to have.

[bbik]

The more I use teleport, the more I would love to see these ideas implemented. And that goes many-fold for the first suggestion, linking to dragon pages. Pretty please?

[Stromboli]

Right now the biggest issue I've been running into with Teleport is trying to trade hatchlings and having them mature before the trade can be completed.

 

Could we possibly not have dragons grow while they're in a pending trade?

[~!~]

Could we possibly not have dragons grow while they're in a pending trade?

I would like this as well. Especially since you can't fog things while they're in mid-teleport.

[Imbecamiel]

Would it also be possible to have a way of rejecting offers without having to accept another offer?

This, please! Very much!

 

It's frustrating when you're wanting to make multiple potential trade offers (often using some of the same eggs/hatchies). So you're sitting there, with one offered on a longshot that you really want, when there are also more likely trades possible - but you can't find out if the person's already decided against accepting your offer until they actually find a different one they want to accept. Meanwhile time's ticking down on your dragons, and you've got that much less time to work out a different trade for them. Even though the original person may have decided at first glance they weren't interested - there's no way to communicate that. Especially for those who only want to arrange trades through the teleport system, rather than discussing it via PM.

 

And, for those who have something quite valuable up for trade, and are getting numerous offers, I'm sure it'd be helpful in deciding to be able to just weed out the ones that're a definite "no" in order to better look over and compare the more promising prospects.

 

It'd really make for more convenience on both sides.

[WraithZephyr]

I agree.. password should go at the bottom. I've screwed up a few links by not entering a password first time around. sigh.

 

Also, I would like to see a decline link for offers people have made for your trade.

 

Sometimes I get offers where it is obvious the person didn't read exactly what I was looking for and offered up something else that was close but not what I wanted. It's a pain to have to cancel *my* original trade link in order to get the other person's offer to me to go away and then set up a new trade link, edit posts for the new link, etc. And if more than one person has already offered a trade I can't drop a bad offer in that fashion so it leaves the poor person stuck not knowing that their offer was not acceptable. Not everyone who offers has a forum account or you can't always assume that the scroll name is the same on the forum so no way to PM them and let them know. I would hate having to leave a person stuck not being able to use their egg/hatchling for another trade.

[bbik]

Added another usability idea to the OP:

 

5. Gender of teleport-eligible and offered dragons

Much like links would be helpful, showing a dragon's gender would also be fantastic. There is a whole thread devoted specifically to swapping genders. For those trades especially, but also for most others, it would be entirely appropriate and useful to be able to see, at a glance, if an offer has the desired gender.

 

I can't believe I didn't think of this when I first made this thread. It's been such a nuisance not even knowing genders, yet somehow all I could think of was checking for links.

[IsmaielDeath]

Totally agreeing.

All those features would be more than helpful and really cool.

[Amazon_warrior]

Yes please, to all of that. So far I've been lucky and not made any serious teleport goofs because I do always make extra sure to check codes and genders and so forth, but it's a faffy, painstaking task as it stands. I haven't had to deal with multiple offers yet, but I can certainly see how a Decline function would be very useful indeed.

[airaani]

I completely agree with all of these suggestions.

[TCA]

The fact that these extremely helpful suggestions weren't part of the design to begin with shows that this wasn't thought through very carefully and we got a bare-bones teleport system tossed out as soon as it could survive without crashing. I agree with all the main points here, and most of the related separate-thread ideas.

[Ashes The Second]

Agree. Wish this was suggested sooner, actually.

[OMGitsKairi]

All I have to say is: THIS.

 

 

If we're going to have teleport, I'd much prefer it to be more... "user-friendly."

[AngelKitty]

I agree with all of these suggestions, especially having a link to lineage or even view pages on the teleport screen, and this:

 

Would it also be possible to have a way of rejecting offers without having to accept another offer?

[00n0b0dy]

I would very much appreciate any or all of these suggestions being implemented, even those which are only listed under the vaguely related. Teleport is wonderful as is, but it still has a lot of untapped potential, and this suggestion topic covers a lot of teleport's weak points

[MisaTange]

I was excited to trade my actual first trade... until I realized you couldn't view the lineage of your offers. This would be useful and much more convenient than pasting the code on the end of the link as some people don't use the forums and just put in an offer.

[Evangeline]

I noticed this too. The way I make sure it's the right egg they are trading me is copy the 5 digit code, open a new tab, and put "dragcave/lineage/CODE".

 

It would be a nice addition to put on but would it be possible/easy to do?