Riot released an unexpected gift on PBE today; a new item GUI. With the old display system organization was difficult and items often overlapped, making it a struggle to click the item you wanted. During streams on Twitch, TFT lead designer Mortdog acknowledged the need for improvement without ever giving much information on the “when” or “how”. Numerous suggestions and fan-made designs have been posted to /r/CompetitiveTFT and /r/TeamfightTactics to no avail.
Today, Mort finally tweeted:
New coming to PBE in today: New Item storage system!
Now you can see your items on carousel, and no more accidental grabs or weird stacking issues.
Please give us lots of feedback on this feature we're testing! pic.twitter.com/paB8cjDLjy
— Riot Mort (@Mortdog) January 6, 2021
After playing a game with the new interface, I can definitely say it is an upgrade over the old one. It is unobtrusive and fits cleanly with the existing shop. A major benefit of the new system is it’s visibility during the carousel; a player no longer needs to tab back to their board to see the items they hold on their bench. I only noticed one downside – the item icons feel smaller, though the crispness and color on the flat images makes them easier to see in the end.
Another new GUI feature that Riot released to PC without fanfare is also shown in the bottom right corner above; a mobile style button to easily navigate back and forth between your board and the carousel (in the event you need to see your champions or the items you already have equipped).
Compared to the issues with the old system, the new interface is a breath of fresh air. It may still need tweaks and adjustments, but Riot is definitely trending in the right direction.
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Let us know your thoughts in the comments, and be sure to let Mortdog know on Twitter as well!
