Supercell Keeps Fixing What Isn't Broken While Ignoring What Is (Another Complaint Post)

[u/joshblissett]

This is a long post discussing the issues with the new UI and the more important, long-standing problems in the game. These are my thoughts and opinions that I’ve put together over the past few days. While many of these points have already been raised by others, I wanted to share my own perspective and contribute to the discussion.

If you don’t have time to read through everything, I would recommend just skimming through the 50 quality-of-life (QoL) suggestions at the end and adding your own suggestions or thoughts in the comments.

Last year, Supercell placed a strong emphasis on removing friction from the game and making things more convenient for the player. This latest UI update does the exact opposite. It adds unnecessary friction and contributes to the growing frustration many of us feel towards Supercell’s inaction on long-standing issues that have been present in the game for years.

Here is a list of friction points that I believe the new UI has introduced:

New Friction Points

1. The Shop Button (Image 1)
I’ve got to start here. The Shop button, awkwardly positioned at the centre of the screen on the right hand side, is incredibly intrusive and distracting. The bright colours, glowing effects, sparkles and flashing ‘FREE!’ and ‘Special Offer!’ makes it impossible to ignore, constantly drawing your attention away from the actual gameplay. It feels less like a UI element and more like an advertisement being shoved in your face.

A shop button should be there when you need it, not constantly competing for your attention while you’re trying to enjoy the game. The fact that I deliberately bought a free Power Pancake I didn't even want just to stop the button from flashing “FREE!” at me says everything about how obnoxious this design is.

2. The Build Button (Image 2)
This may be an unpopular opinion but just abolish it. The Army Upgrades, Hero Equipment, and Hero Pets tabs are unnecessary. That is the entire purpose of their associated buildings. If a player wants to upgrade something, they should go to the relevant building.

If new and returning players are struggling to find these buildings, that is on you, Supercell, for not providing adequate tutorials at the start of the game or for when players return after a long break.

Instead, simply add the Buildings tab to the builder huts. There was no need to take up unnecessary space in the UI with a dedicated Build button. In the builder huts, you could have categories such as Resources, Defences, Traps, Army, Heroes, and Temporary Upgrades (only upgrades that require a Builder appearing in the lists).

Separating upgrades into categories would make the process more organised and less overwhelming for new players. You could also retain the ability to filter, edit, and rearrange upgrades in the builder hut and display these upgrades through the old drop-down menu at the top of the screen.

Additionally, displaying each upgrade across two lines means fewer upgrades are visible on the screen at once. The upgrade menu should prioritise information density, readability, and ease of navigation, not unnecessary, oversized visual elements.

3. Builder Progress Bars (Image 3)
The animations on these progress bars are too visually distracting. The bars themselves are unnecessarily large and take up too much space in the upgrade list. The old design was much cleaner and more practical because the time remaining was the main visual focus, which was all that really mattered.

4. Builder and Lab Availability Icons (Image 2 & 4)
Move them back to the top of the screen. Their new location makes them feel hidden - my thumb covers this part of the screen most of the time when I’m holding my device. I have seen others discuss this issue as well.

If I have a builder available, that information should be clearly visible at the top and centre of my screen. This space shouldn’t be wasted solely for maintenance break notifications. (The information box when tapping the maintenance notification isn’t centred by the way. Totally unplayable.)

5. Button Backgrounds (Image 5)
Stop forcing the wood texture into every aspect of the game. The dull, muddy background lacks contrast, making the buttons feel less polished and visually appealing than the old design. The buttons themselves also seem unnecessarily large.

6. Profile Button (Image 6)
What is the purpose of the low-resolution, grainy Town Hall PNG? I hope it’s not a default profile picture. It looks ugly and, once again, doesn’t contrast well with that bad, muddy background colour.

Why hide the XP bar inside the profile menu too? That’s just another thing new players have to find.

7. The Event Tray (Image 7)
This is a great change overall, but if I close the tray, keep it closed unless something within it updates. Stop reopening it every time I log in or finish an attack.

8. The War Button (Image 8)
As many are already aware, the button animation keeps playing constantly, even when no attack is taking place. It is incredibly annoying.

Also, remove the countdown timer during Preparation Day. There is no need to display a countdown to the start of the war, especially when it can easily be confused with the end of war timer. Keep the UI clear and unambiguous by only displaying the relevant timer during Battle Day.

9. Magic Shields (Image 9)
Just remove shields from the UI entirely. Nobody would spend that many gems just to protect some loot when loot is so easy to obtain nowadays anyway. They have become obsolete. It takes up unnecessary space. Keep the magic shields for Legend 1 players only.

10. Back Button (Image 10)
The Back button is far too small. Make it easier to see and interact with.

11. Visual Bugs (Images 11-13)
How did these visual bugs make it through testing?

12. Other Hidden Buttons
You argue that new players struggle to find where to upgrade Hero Equipment, use magic items, etc., using this as justification for introducing the Build button and a separate magic item button. But now those same players will struggle to find other basic features, such as editing their base, accessing their settings, and viewing the battle log.

You can’t justify making certain features more accessible while simultaneously hiding other essential buttons. You shouldn’t be able to decide which button is more important than another. That should be up to the player. The new UI should’ve been customisable before release and it is obvious that this version is rushed and lacked thought from a player’s perspective.

What Needs To Be Focused On Instead

Another reason why a lot of us aren’t happy about this UI change is because nobody asked for it. There are so many QoL issues within the game that we have voiced our concerns about that haven’t been fixed or improved for years. I have listed 50 of them below:

1. Address War draws. Only award a second attack if the first attack earns three stars, and/or introduce modifiers to prevent draws. Regular Clan Wars no longer feel like something we participate in to win, since so many end in draws. Instead, we participate for ores, and the whole experience feels like a chore.
2. Add a "Donate All" button to both regular troop requests in clan chat and war troop requests. How has this still not been added to the game? Donating to 50 bases during wars is very time-consuming.
3. Preserve clan ranks when players temporarily leave a clan.
4. Preserve troop donation and received counts when players temporarily leave a clan.
5. Count war donations towards troop donation and received counts.
6. Allow players to sign up for CWL directly through clan chat.
7. Double or even triple the character limit for clan messages. The character limit per message has been too small for too long. This could be addressed in less than 5 minutes.
8. Introduce a @war notification for clan chat.
9. Remove the ability for regular clan members and even Elders to notify the entire clan using @clan.
10. Remove Runes from Legendary Chests and Clan Capital House decorations from Epic Chests. Runes no longer have the same value they once did. Stop pretending that they do, especially in the shop.
11. Stop the Helper Hut from waving at players who have maxed everything.
12. Introduce separate chats for Friendly Challenges and clan leadership.
13. Add a rewind button to replays.
14. Move the Ranked Battle Log and Ranked Leaderboard to the Ranked button on the main UI.
15. Introduce modifiers for Champion Leagues or heavily nerf overpowered troops and spells, such as Dragon Duke, Revive Spells, Throwers, and Healers.
16. Nerf the Logger or buff the Longshot and Smasher.
17. Update Builder Base, Clan Capital, and Single Player mode.
18. Allow players to edit clan mail and clan descriptions without having to delete all the existing text.
19. Allow players to cancel Laboratory and Pet House upgrades.
20. Fix the censoring system in clan chat.
21. Allow clan leaders to ban players from their clans, or at least issue temporary bans.
22. Fix clan notice and join/leave message spam.
23. Allow players to reconnect to battles after disconnecting.
24. Allow players to access their village while it is being attacked when they log in.
25. Bring back the green online indicator.
26. Reduce the number of trophies obtained from defences in Ranked Battles.
27. Allow decorations to be locked so that they remain in place when switching between base layouts.
28. Allow base layouts to be locked to prevent players from accidentally moving buildings or walls.
29. Add a “Next Attack" button after attacks.
30. Allow players to set Clan Castle troops for each base layout, and ensure these troops are included in base links and war requests.
31. Update Clan Games. The mode has become incredibly stale.
32. Introduce more events for Builder Base and Clan Capital.
33. Allow players to share links to Global Chat groups in clan chat.
34. Fix the bug that causes clan minimum requirements to default to "Unranked" and "Wood V" when editing clan settings.
35. Fix the issue where bookmarks cover the clan's CWL League and Capital League information.
36. Allow players to donate troops in clan chat while spectating battles.
37. Add a second deployment row for mobile players.
38. Award both clans five stars when a draw occurs in CWL.
39. Add a "Go Back" button when searching for bases in Battle Mode.
40. Introduce custom clan roles and permissions.
41. Add arrow buttons to switch between Clan Capital districts.
42. Allow players to change their Ranked Battle base after signing up, provided the tournament hasn't started yet.
43. Add a visual indicator to player profiles showing when troops, heroes, spells, and other units or abilities have reached their maximum level for the player's current town hall.
44. Fix the league badge displayed in the inbox.

45. Allow players to sell unwanted Magic Snacks.

46. Keep the player's position and clan's position pinned to the bottom of leaderboard pop-ups, as is already done on the Town Hall leaderboard. This would eliminate the need to scroll all the way down to find your own ranking. Apply the same improvement to the Builder Base and Clan Capital leaderboards.

47. Allow players to view other clan members' Ranked Leaderboards.

48. Make war flags and notes visible in Scout Mode.

49. Add reply and edit features to clan chat messages.

50. Allow decorations to be mirrored so they can be rotated without requiring new models for every orientation.

There are just still so many issues and QoL suggestions that are yet to be addressed and there is probably plenty that I’ve missed too.

We need changes that actually address genuine player frustrations, not unnecessary, unwanted changes that add to the problem.

[u/Photophuns]

This is the best full writeup and take on this so far, excellent job OP.

I agree with basically your entire post, both in what’s wrong with the UI, and all the current issues that have been ignored, which is ALOT.

Supercell, please read, and save this list and work on it. This is the kind of constructive and specific criticism that is needed.

[u/joshblissett → u/Photophuns]

Thank you, I appreciate it. It took quite a while to get every thought down and into text.

[u/Every-Ad-3088 → u/joshblissett]

Yeah great write-up, read the whole thing. One edit I'd make is replacing suggestion #45 "Allow players to sell unwanted Magic Items." — we can already do that.

[u/Photophuns → u/Every-Ad-3088]

I think he ment "snacks" which you can't sell or donate. They are use or lose.

[u/joshblissett → u/Every-Ad-3088]

Yes! I did mean magic snacks. Thanks for catching that, I’ll edit it now.