For what it’s worth, as someone with bad time management I agree the +5s becomes very blitzy in the mid game. But in any case, this was discussed extensively (with data!) here:
5 Likes
I love the new layout. I think the flexible button is the best feature.
4 Likes
What kind of games are you finding this for? Live? Blitz? Rapid?
1 Like
As a new user that started playing just before the play page changes, the new layout is definitely more approachable and inviting.
I do however think that the Available Games section should be visible in the Quick Match tab as well. Accepting an already existing game would after all also lead to a “quick match”, and as it is now, the Available Games section is a bit very hidden away.
3 Likes
On the other hand, if players that just want a quick match and don’t care about settings go to “Available (custom) Games”, then that compromises the critical mass of players necessary for automatch to make fast match-ups. I think the current design is correct to nudge players toward automatch if they’re fine with the default settings there.
2 Likes
Based on matchmaking apparently only taking 20 seconds on average which should be well above the “critical mass”, I’d assume that matchmaking wouldn’t be notably implicated by showing open games in the Quick Match tab.
Having played with the new UI for a few days, I have to say that unfortunately I’m not a fan. The user experience feels clunkier to me for no significant benefit.
A big part of this is just that things are divided onto two pages. Normally, I hit auto-match and then watch the custom games to see if any challenges show up that I want to play. Now, if I want to do the same, I need to first open a challenge and then navigate to the custom games tab. Plus, the vast majority of what shows up on both pages is irrelevant to me if I’m looking to get a quick game. I want to play with the same settings I had last game. All that I need is to hit the ‘play’ button and check to see if there’s any other games I might want to join. It feels like what I’m looking at is a ‘settings’ page with a picture of a board and a ‘Play’ button, which seems disjointed, and another settings page for custom games that I have to scroll past to even see what games are available.
It also doesn’t feel like that much better UX for beginners. New players are going to get a wall of options as the first thing they see when they enter the play tab. If they go to the ‘custom games’ tab, they get a different wall of options and need to scroll down to even see the list of games.
I think something significantly simpler is possible and would be a better experience for both new players and experienced users. I’d combine everything into one page, with a list of games and three “new game” buttons: one for quick match, one for custom match, and one for AI match. Set a good default for the quick match and let everything else be hidden in a settings menu. It’s a quick match, let’s make it quick. Additionally, if someone creates a custom match that’s got a 20 minute main time and 5x30 byo-yomi, just have the quick match seeker automatically join that game.
I think things would also be improved by merging the quick match and custom match pools and displaying them all in the open games queue. If I’ve got a challenge for a 20 minute main time game and someone else has a challenge for a 10 minute main time game, I’d rather be able to see that and just join their game instead of waiting for ten minutes for someone to join my part of the hidden pool of quick match challenges. The best UX for everyone would be that you click “quick match” and get immediately matched to any open challenges that fit your quick match filters. Then, if there’s no applicable game open, create a new open challenge that anyone can see and join. That would be better for custom match players as well. A lot of people go for custom matches because they’re often faster, but if someone is openly seeking a game that would match their preferences in the quick match queue, just showing them that option would speed up match making for everyone.
3 Likes
Play button is now always visible, no matter where you scroll in the other settings.
Do those errors persist after a refresh? Maybe it’s just dragged window size changes it is struggling with? Couldn’t reproduce since mobile can’t change screen size, normal scrolling works fine.
Refresh doesn’t change anything.
That’s concerning. Good feedback 
1 Like
I’m dubious. I did a quick match today at 1k and it took nearly 15 minutes to find someone. It seems things are considerably slower than they were before the change.
4 Likes
Can confirm that the play button goes under the goban image, screenshots on iPhone 14 Pro, using a homescreen shortcut to the chrome browser
As an unrelated issue, the menu hamburger (top left) and user avatar (top right) are barely visible or clickable in landscape. This is because in landscape there is no status bar, and since I have no browser addressbar, these elements are up in the rounded corners of the phone screen. They are at best half visible, but they still appear normally in the screenshots as the screenshot doesn’t round corners off.
2 Likes
While I like the floating button, the 100% width seems a bit much on horizontal layout (and even on vertical too). I recommend an Extended FAB from Material UI instead
2 Likes
I used to switch between quick and normal so I wouldn’t have to wait for games as long. (Personally don’t care about timing at all)
Do I really need to switch between 3 time settings now? Why is there no flexible option for all time settings?
And even switching between all 3, it seems to take much longer to find games now, like half an hour minimum for a 13x13 4k to 7k.
3 Likes
I still think this would be useful, for example for pointing people in the right direction when they ask where custom games went. It could also make the Play menu a little more interesting:
The current behavior is surprising and disorienting since the “Play” link apparently takes you to one or the other page depending on your recent browsing history.
8 Likes
One could even imagine having the automatch play button in the nav bar, or as a drop-down in it, so that you can just automatch with your last used settings no matter where you are on the site.
7 Likes
Both these things ^
All of the yes!!! 
3 Likes
For some reason, I am not able to play with bots with the new settings. They don’t play and reach their total time and lose. Is there a way to avoid this?
Thanks a lot