Of course I expect many replies saying it "dumbs down" probing or makes it too easy.

That's actually quite a good idea. I'm still going to say "put it in Features and Ideas", but in a "that's a good idea and CCP should read it" way rather than a "get out of my GD you noob" way.

Of course I expect many replies saying it "dumbs down" probing or makes it too easy.

I don't think it's a bad idea. He's only asking for a more user friendly feature for the UI, not for the sites to be nerfed. Since when has it been a bad thing to create a more user-friendly interface?

I don't think it's a bad idea. He's only asking for a more user friendly feature for the UI, not for the sites to be nerfed. Since when has it been a bad thing to create a more user-friendly interface?

It really has nothing to do with UI. Having predefined formation mostly removes the challenge of actually finding a site.

It's not about making things faster. In my opinion there are things that need brain and skill and whatever and then there are things that are just monotone and dumb things that are annoying and waste your time. Putting probes into formation has nothing to to with creativity or being "better" than others. It's just annoying.

So it doesn't make it easier to find sites or ships. It just takes out a boring part of launching probes. If you fear that it makes probing too fast then add a timer and say the formation takes 5 or 10 seconds to finish.

It's just a waste of time to do it each time, especially when you scan systems for explo sites or whatever.

If you fear that it makes probing too fast then add a timer and say the formation takes 5 or 10 seconds to finish.

No, he's not.
He' asking for "effort" to be removed.

Ok you need to explain that. How does it remove the challenge to find a site? It's not like the probe automatically launches at the spot of the site. I think you dont understand what i'm asking for. The probes just launch where your ship is and put themself into formation as you would do it in a manually monotone way too. Then you have to adjust them and move them around to find your sites like you do it anyway

Ah ... so now it's not a "waste of time" anymore, but actually "effort".
.

Blubb

I think it's a good thing to have to position the probes manually. It's already been made really easy to get a warp-in on a signal once you found it by the ability to scale the probe-formation you set up with the alt key.

The manual positioning and how fast you are doing that, how good you are to quickly bring your probes in a good formation can make differences when you have to scan down ships. Being fast here, or being prepared by prearranging your probes, is a real advantage, and so it is one more way player-skill or foresight is rewarded.

Edit: I realize I'm talking about mere seconds here, but those can be important, too.

GREAT IDEA!!! Even better to just launch probes and just hit 'scan' button to scan down things! I mean, why do we need to pinpoint those pesky sigs manually every single time? It's just a waste of time.. LOL

Also when you scan down pilots, it would give them less time to spot the probes on the d scan, with predefined..so hippy hip hooray for predefined probe formations!

[...]
So the only argument you could have is that it might save you 5 seconds. Then just implement it the way that it takes 5 seconds for the probes to get into formation. So nothing has changed for your example
[...]

I'd instead like to see a way to avoid accidentally clicking on some celestial names instead of the probe when attempting to move it around.. without having to aim for that single right pixel.
(if there is already, please, for the love of god, tell me how!)

Why do i get the feeling that really no one here reads what i'm saying -.- You can make it exactly the same time. As i said you can launch the probes and then they move into formation which could take 5 or 10 seconds if you want. They would be on d-scan exactly the same time. And you still need to scan to find the sig, move probes to the sig, adjust range and so on. It's only the step i linked in the picture.

Next time please read the text before answering. But thanks for trying ....

I understood what you meant. But whether you make the formation you saved appear instantly upon clicking "load formation" or selecting it from a dropdown or whatever.. or whether you make it last 5 seconds.. it'll still make the difference between people who can arrange them in to their formation quickly and those who can't go away.

You never place probes in the EXACT same order as before. So it's up to every pilot how he will place probes. Will he be careful and patient every time when positioning probes, or will he just be sloppy about it and get worst results than the careful one?
.

[...]
I just think the current probe launching is a pure clickfest that needs no brain. You have to press the probe launcher 7 or 8 times and wait until each cycle is done, then drag*drop all probes where you want them to get the formation, size them and so on. If you check a full constellation for explo sites for example you will hate probes and when you jump into a system you think "oh no not again that clickfest". If you want make the probes take 30 seconds to get into formation vOv in the meanwhile i could have some chat or answer mails or do some other stuff.

And it shouldn't be mandatory, so if someone thinks he's faster manually he still can do it. See it like the autopilot. You can jump the route manually but you also can use the autopilot. It may take a bit more time but you can do other stuff in the meanwhile and you dont have to make the same monotone clicks again and again.
[...]

Would it be possible to give us pre-defined probe formations?

Like i launch my probes, put them in a formation and then press a save button and the next time i launch probes i can choose the formation without having to move the probes around. It's just a waste of time to do it each time, especially when you scan systems for explo sites or whatever.

I don't think it's a bad idea. He's only asking for a more user friendly feature for the UI, not for the sites to be nerfed. Since when has it been a bad thing to create a more user-friendly interface?

20-30 seconds until the probes are in formation can easily mean that your target sees your probes way before he's supposed to.

Also when thinking about the actual formation, and the possible problems you might get with it such as probes set to be in a specific formation around a gate or wormhole to uncloak boats easier, it could really end up causing more problems than it fixes.