Does anyone else feel that the current operator select screen isn't optimized well enough?
Sorry this is a long post, if you don't want to read it all skip to the Tldr at the end for a quick summary:
I don't know if this is an unpopular opinion or not but I was looking at some of the posts about operator bans and it got me thinking, why do I often just chuck a ban on something common like Mira and call it a day?
And to be honest, I think the issue stems from the layout of the operator select screen, as I have personally noticed it to be an issue for me when it comes to both the ban phases, and sometimes when actually picking an operator to play as.
I feel that the issue stems from two things. The fact that operators are just represented by their icons without a name (unless you hover over them), and the fact that they are listed in the order of release.
I think when it comes to the ban phase, the short time I have to figure out what I want to ban, what options there are and what operators are represented by each icon is just not enough time, I'm not by any means a stupid person as far as I know but I have found on plenty of occasions during these moments that I'll just get a brain fog where I'm thinking ok I wanna ban thorn, wait I forgot what does her symbol look like again, and then my slow ass brain tries to figure it out often not in time.
This has also happened to me on the actual pick phase as well where I've been trying to think of playing someone different to my usual on defense but I've had a brain fog moment and forgotten which icon it is and not picked in time.
On top of that, I think that there are just simply too many operators at this point to expect the average player to mentally register every symbol in there head and be able to pull up that information with just sections to spare.
Personally I think there are multiple ways this could be improved:
- The first and most effective way by far would be to simply list the operators in alphabetical order at this point. While my brain takes a bit to recall an icon, I do remember all of the operators names without an issue and I know my alphabet meaning if I want to pick Thorn I know exactly where abouts in the order she would roughly be, already making it a lot easier to find her.
- Add names permanently by the symbols so they are clearly visible at all times, making it a lot easier and quicker to identify who the symbol belongs to at a glance.
But I think by far the alphabetical order part is the much needed update at the moment, I can think of other games where there are loads more individual characters, take League of Legends for example which has more than 150, I have no issues finding a champion to ban in this because the names are all alphabetical and appear under all of the icons at all times.
That is how I would recommend it best be ordered for the champion pick screen. In terms of the ban screen, it could be the same like this, or as another idea, they could be potentially listed in a similar style to how Apex Legends does it, where basically operators are grouped into several 'sections', like kapkan, frost, thorn, etc. are in 'trapper', and bandit, kaid, mute, tubero in 'anti-breach', etc. This would allow players at a glance from the first second of the ban phase to see exactly what their options are without doing as much mental gymnastics.
TLDR
- It takes too much mental gymnastics to find operators at the moment due to: -- Them being listed as 'icons' instead of 'names' -- Them not being listed alphabetically The current system for displaying them is not optimized well enough for the sheer number of operators in the game at this point. (In my opinion)
Potential solutions:
- List operators alphabetically
- List their names next to their symbols permanently (not just when you hover over them)
- Potentially categorize them in the ban phase (like trappers, anti-breachers, intels, etc.) for easier identification and decision making.