omgdracula.6345 Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 Hey everyone! As a long time player of guild wars 2 I have never been satisfied with the out of range indicator. Heck looking at all the new player guides that have popping up due to the influx of new players from that one MMO that isn't that other MMO it seems even veteran players have never noticed the out of range indicator. If you are reading this and have no idea what I am talking about, I am talking about that little red line at the bottom of a skill icon that shows up red if you are out of range. Below is an image of designs that I thought improve on what we currently have. Feedback is welcome as well. I will detail out each one below.  "") **Option 1/Option 1 Alternate** This option simply wraps the while skill icon in a red border which improves a bit on the current design. The alternate method would also turn the color of the circles behind the keybind numbers to red adding more visibility. **Option 2** Option 2 is the typical red overlay that I toned back to around a 30-40% opacity so that it would not interfere too much with the skill timer or cooldown animation. **Option 3** Option 3 is my personal favorite. Option 3 uses a vignette effect to give a bright red border around the skill icon but keeps the center alphad out which would easily allow players to see the skill cooldown numbers, or the animation while a skill is on cooldown **Option 4** This one kind of fuses my original idea of just making the bar wrap around, but adding in a red gradient so as not to take away from the art of the icon and again allowing players to easily see cooldown numbers or the animation I just think the current skill indicator could be better, and also have a color option for color blind players who I am sure cannot even see this bar at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elden Arnaas.4870 Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 Red is going to exclude some color blind people. Your ideas also get fairly complicated. It think it would be more effective to have the skills that *are* in range be more brightly lit, and the skills that are out of range be lit more dimly and possibly be grey with no color at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaGranse.8652 Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 I think the current indicator works just fine. It would be nice if it was mentioned in the tutorial somewhere though so more people know about it. If you are colorblind I think I saw a colorblind setting in the options. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thehipone.6812 Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 Current one is fine. Only issue is that you basically need to be told that it is there. The problem with doing that ingame is that nobody stops to read anything, but hint on the first usage of a skill that is out of range would be appropriate. If people don't read it then it's on them. The proposed ideas seem visually noisy and look unattractive in my opinion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elden Arnaas.4870 Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 There is *no* colorblind setting in the options. Even after all these years. You must be thinking of all the various games that *do* have colorblind settings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
omgdracula.6345 Posted June 1, 2018 Author Share Posted June 1, 2018 > @"Elden Arnaas.4870" said: > Red is going to exclude some color blind people. Your ideas also get fairly complicated. It think it would be more effective to have the skills that *are* in range be more brightly lit, and the skills that are out of range be lit more dimly and possibly be grey with no color at all. I actually really like that idea. Sadly I don't have the PSD at work else I would whip something up! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
omgdracula.6345 Posted June 1, 2018 Author Share Posted June 1, 2018 > @"thehipone.6812" said: > Current one is fine. Only issue is that you basically need to be told that it is there. The problem with doing that ingame is that nobody stops to read anything, but hint on the first usage of a skill that is out of range would be appropriate. If people don't read it then it's on them. > The proposed ideas seem visually noisy and look unattractive in my opinion. I am personally used to having overlays on skills be it from other MMOs or addons from when I played WoW. These are actually quite normal. Though I do like @"Elden Arnaas.4870" Idea of graying skills out is actually typical UX/UI design of showing something is disabled or not usable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
omgdracula.6345 Posted June 1, 2018 Author Share Posted June 1, 2018 > @"Elden Arnaas.4870" said: > There is *no* colorblind setting in the options. Even after all these years. You must be thinking of all the various games that *do* have colorblind settings. Yes you are correct. I was simply stating I know colorblind players have an issue as I have seen it on multiple tweets linking to new player guides. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LaGranse.8652 Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 > @"Elden Arnaas.4870" said: > There is *no* colorblind setting in the options. Even after all these years. You must be thinking of all the various games that *do* have colorblind settings. Hum ok my error. I think Nvidea drivers have integrated gamefilters for colorblind people, might help some. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
omgdracula.6345 Posted June 1, 2018 Author Share Posted June 1, 2018 > @"LaGranse.8652" said: > I think the current indicator works just fine. It would be nice if it was mentioned in the tutorial somewhere though so more people know about it. If you are colorblind I think I saw a colorblind setting in the options. There is a lot that could mentioned in the tutorial. The issue I have and a rule I live by when doing UX/UI is that if someone needs to be told something is there then it can be improved upon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlippyCheeze.5483 Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 > @"LaGranse.8652" said: > > @"Elden Arnaas.4870" said: > > There is *no* colorblind setting in the options. Even after all these years. You must be thinking of all the various games that *do* have colorblind settings. > > Hum ok my error. I think Nvidea drivers have integrated gamefilters for colorblind people, might help some. reshade, and thus gw2hook, also offer this in a game-independent way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danikat.8537 Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 > @"Elden Arnaas.4870" said: > Red is going to exclude some color blind people. Your ideas also get fairly complicated. It think it would be more effective to have the skills that *are* in range be more brightly lit, and the skills that are out of range be lit more dimly and possibly be grey with no color at all. I really like this idea. I'm one of the people who didn't notice the range indicator for a really long time and even though I'm not colour blind I do sometimes find it hard to see, depending on the skill icon and the background. Extending the red line all the way around the box would help a bit but it's not a big improvement, and as discussed it doesn't help colour blind players. A red overlay across the whole icon could also be hard to see in some cases (elementalist fire skills for example, which are mostly red) and could interfear with the recharge animation. But turning it grey (or monocrome) would make it clear it can't currently be used, whilst keeping the 'clock face' recharge animation visible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
particlepinata.9865 Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 Never noticed a range indicator, will look out for it the next time i play. Did it change over the years? Do have a distant memory of there being one years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
omgdracula.6345 Posted June 1, 2018 Author Share Posted June 1, 2018 > @"particlepinata.9865" said: > Never noticed a range indicator, will look out for it the next time i play. Did it change over the years? Do have a distant memory of there being one years ago. I believe it has always been there. Just like others have mentioned if a skill was heavily colored with red the line was hard to see. Looking up screenshots it looks like a dim is already used for thief skills when initiative is too low. So sadly while I like that idea, it may be off the table =/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eloc Freidon.5692 Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 The last game I played, your abilities were grayed out and not allowed to activate until you were in range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FrizzFreston.5290 Posted June 2, 2018 Share Posted June 2, 2018 I personally dont feel its needed. Infact the limited visibility is part of the design imo. It doesnt have to be super clear when a skill is out of range. I like that it is there just incase, but otherwise getting a feel for the skills is better the way it is. imo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
omgdracula.6345 Posted June 2, 2018 Author Share Posted June 2, 2018 > @"Eloc Freidon.5692" said: > The last game I played, your abilities were grayed out and not allowed to activate until you were in range. That would work, but it is already used for thief skills when you are too low on initiative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
omgdracula.6345 Posted June 2, 2018 Author Share Posted June 2, 2018 > @"FrizzFreston.5290" said: > I personally dont feel its needed. Infact the limited visibility is part of the design imo. It doesnt have to be super clear when a skill is out of range. I like that it is there just incase, but otherwise getting a feel for the skills is better the way it is. imo. Yea but the case for it was it is barely noticeable. I stated earlier I am on a ultra wide monitor and even with the UI scaled up its not even remotely noticeable especially as a thief where our icons incorporate a similar red. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elden Arnaas.4870 Posted June 2, 2018 Share Posted June 2, 2018 How 'bout a brightly colored cross-hatch pattern over icons of skills not in range. The color would have a higher intensity to not exclude color bind players. It needs to be simple, easy to implement, and easy to distinguish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
omgdracula.6345 Posted June 2, 2018 Author Share Posted June 2, 2018 > @"Elden Arnaas.4870" said: > How 'bout a brightly colored cross-hatch pattern over icons of skills not in range. The color would have a higher intensity to not exclude color bind players. It needs to be simple, easy to implement, and easy to distinguish. So something like this? Obviously color could be different. Just wanted to clarify Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elden Arnaas.4870 Posted June 2, 2018 Share Posted June 2, 2018 re: So something like this? - Yes, but maybe with fewer lines so that cool-down timer is easily visible. Or maybe just a large bright "X" over the skill icon. Also, Revenant skills that can't be used because of low energy and thief skills that can't be used because of low initiative are greyed out, but have a symbol in the middle of the skill icon. So you would be able to see a difference between greyed-out low energy/low initiative skill icons vs. greyed-out out of range skill icons.(if you just go with the dim or greyed-out option) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
omgdracula.6345 Posted June 2, 2018 Author Share Posted June 2, 2018 > @"Elden Arnaas.4870" said: > re: So something like this? - Yes, but maybe with fewer lines so that cool-down timer is easily visible. Or maybe just a large bright "X" over the skill icon. Also, Revenant skills that can't be used because of low energy and thief skills that can't be used because of low initiative are greyed out, but have a symbol in the middle of the skill icon. So you would be able to see a difference between greyed-out low energy/low initiative skill icons vs. greyed-out out of range skill icons.(if you just go with the dim or greyed-out option) Oh well then that would work then. They should do that. Or just implement a few options. I miss the good old days of super customizable Guild Wars 1 UI Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elden Arnaas.4870 Posted June 2, 2018 Share Posted June 2, 2018 re: I miss the good old days of super customizable Guild Wars 1 UI - Absolutely. The GW1 games had really nice UI customization options . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alcopaul.2156 Posted June 2, 2018 Share Posted June 2, 2018 it's fine as is because of cleaving. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knighthonor.4061 Posted June 2, 2018 Share Posted June 2, 2018 I am a little confused about the whole issue. What is your problem with the range notification again? That's where I am not understanding the OP. The OP mentioned another two MMOs but didn't say what MMOs he or she is talking about to get any idea what this problem is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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