Initial site impressions

[markusin]

I want to highlight AdamH's point about this thread being of immense value. Now, user interface design is an extremely hard problem to solve because it is not solved by simply having more time to work on it. UI design requires consideration of insight from various perspectives, including the brand new player perspective. Developers can't simply "unlearn" what they know about their product and identify all usability issues themselves. ElizabethK's posts here help convey the kinds of thoughts that might go through a new player's mind.

The Shuffle iT team has done a great job developing the core features of a proper Dominion Online experience with the 2017 New Year deadline. There is however lots of room to improve on the flow of things. Finding more people who have attempted to use the new client with little to no prior experience to Dominion and hearing what they have to say can go a long way.

Granted, I don't know the inside working of Shuffle iT and what the final vision of Dominion Online looks like according to Shuffle iT. It could be that a lot the usability issues mentioned in this thread are on the list of things to correct.

I'll finish this post by stating that I don't think it's too late to find people that don't have prior experience with Dominion (could be people close to the developers or testers), give them a high level rundown of what Dominion Online is trying to do, and have them do a Dominion Online trial to see where they get stuck.

[allanfieldhouse]

I agree with basically all of ElisabetK's "new player" observations (though I'm not a new player and didn't have most of those issues myself). Thank you for taking the time to write out your initial experience (starting with even trying to find the site). Thinking from a new player's perspective is really hard when you're already familiar with the system.

On the other hand, you're way off about Vassal -- it's a super fun card. :) Try it out with Harbinger (or Artisan and a village). First you put an awesome action on top of your deck, then you play it with Vassal (while basically getting Vassal's +2 money for free). Or somehow manage to get 5 Vassals on top of your deck and watch them all magically chain together.

[limetime]

I read the OP and a few replies but if you have any lingering questions I would suggest taking a look at this FAQ.
http://forum.shuffleit.nl/index.php?topic=1100.0

[Coruba]

I would like to say even though I am not a big user I found the game on this site awesome. The most frustrating bit so far is playing with friends. If you are having trouble my advice is kill the tab, get back to log in screen and click kick & resign then log in. Everyone has to do it as once you are at multiple tables you are stuffed.

Apart from that love it, loved it so much I bought the gold package for a month which is also a great feature.

Keep up the great development work :-)

[kn1tt3r]

Btw, as much as I dislike MS browsers, I find it quite disturbing that the site doesn't work for MS Edge, as this should be one of the 3-4 standards of today's browsers.

[Witherweaver]

Just a note, the more I play this implementation, the more I like it.  Of course improvements can be made, but I think it's well done.

[robperry]

I too was not impressed with my first impressions (oh help me a developer designed this, I am a developer).  However, after playing a few games, I love it. Seriously.  It is better (less clicks) than making fun (which I thought did a fine job and I appreciated their support).  Once they fix graveyard and selecting shelters with wishing well, then we will be rockin.