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Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
[Decent feedback with HUD improvement] Gameplay healer of Clerc
Rospionne
Member, Alpha Two
The healer's balance is satisfactory. It allows you to hold a few players against 1 to 2 players or 1 to 4 monsters. And that more, we start to be overwhelmed. What creates a healing tension is that I like. What gives a strong feeling that we are useful in a team in PvP or PvE.
There are just some negative points related to the HUD:
- The team list of maximum 8 players, which I would call the basic team list, is very graphic. The problem is that we do not necessarily realize that the life of our decent teammate because the empty part of the life gauge and the mana gauge is the same color: Black. And since the mana is often reduced by half after a first wave of combat, well we do not see at a glance that the life of one of our group members has lost half of his life. I would like the life bar to be more visible. Because it is much more important to keep alive than seeing the mana of our teammates (we don't really care).
- Another flaw would be to be able to distinguish the penalties from the bonuses. Thus, it would be easier to identify the equipment that needs debuff management.
- Having the choice between the basic team list and the raid team list would be appreciable, regardless of the number of people in the team. Always with the aim of giving the choice of the visibility of the information to the healing players.
There are just some negative points related to the HUD:
- The team list of maximum 8 players, which I would call the basic team list, is very graphic. The problem is that we do not necessarily realize that the life of our decent teammate because the empty part of the life gauge and the mana gauge is the same color: Black. And since the mana is often reduced by half after a first wave of combat, well we do not see at a glance that the life of one of our group members has lost half of his life. I would like the life bar to be more visible. Because it is much more important to keep alive than seeing the mana of our teammates (we don't really care).
- Another flaw would be to be able to distinguish the penalties from the bonuses. Thus, it would be easier to identify the equipment that needs debuff management.
- Having the choice between the basic team list and the raid team list would be appreciable, regardless of the number of people in the team. Always with the aim of giving the choice of the visibility of the information to the healing players.
1
Comments
The fact you could edit the HUD is already a great help to tweak things for a healer.
Two things I find are very important:
- being able to easily see the health of party members
- being able to easily select/target party members to cast your heal
For 1. I think an option to be added to that HUD frame might be to make the mana bar either full opt-out and/or be able to toggle an option where the mana is still visible (maybe as a number and not a bar) to see, but it should very much not interfer with being able to read the health from the corner of your eye.For 2. I would like that if I hover over a party members frame that I can immediately cast a heal without first selecting them to target and then casting the heal. Could again be an option of the frame, of course.
It's better to avoid a number. Because in the heat of the moment, a number alone doesn't indicate if he has enough mana for the rest of the fight. I think we should make the mana bar smaller, with a dark blue background. This way, the life points will be highlighted and we keep the mana information for the bard.
The more options (within reason) in the HUD, the more you can make your experience your own.
edit: Or a circle, or a vertical bar, or another (but smaller) graphic that still shows it. Or an option to show a "low mana" warning (like a debuff maybe) that shows up when the party member is under a configurable % of mana.
Also, regarding HUD and buffs. Splitting buffs and debuffs, great idea.
How about a way to better say your own buffs/debuffs vs others, either by spacing or by another method like another border around the buff.
How about an option to select which buffs/debuffs you want to see as right now you see a few and then it just show something like 2+ that might be hiding important information.
These are very good ideas. This way, everyone will be able to customize their own way of playing. I approve.
However, adding more customization requires additional development resources. So we might as well have an optimal basic interface, intuitive and with its own identity for all players. Then, we will take care of customization when there is a strong demand for more advanced customization and there are enough resources to do it (each feature has a budget and development time, I learned that on Star Citizen).
Well, on other MMOs like Final Fantasy XIV and Thrones of Liberty, we use the shape of the buff (the tip upwards = bonus, downwards = malus), or in a classic way with the borders (blue = bonus; red = malus). And we highlight the buffs in front to quickly identify the situation whether it is a boss mechanic or a fight between players.