Aggro Icon

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Originally Posted by Rjain

What on earth does that have to do with enemy aggro and having the option to turn it off?

Is it that hard to make an OPTION to turn something OFF?

Keep the ugly icon for all I care so long as the damned thing can be eradicated from my screen.

Third party tools aren't allowed in 14. And in WoW, they're a complete option. You can get all the information you want, but half the time you have to track it down yourself. Third party tool talk just completely goes off-topic.

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Hey Rjain ^^

I hate this icon, I hate it so much I had to erase the thing from the files. But I hate it more for its purpose, it holds your hand and ruins a nice gameplay experience.

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Originally Posted by viion

But I hate it more for its purpose, it holds your hand and ruins a nice gameplay experience.

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Yes, because providing a user-friendly game environment for players totally ruins all the fun... -_-

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Originally Posted by Rhianu

Yes, because providing a user-friendly game environment for players totally ruins all the fun... -_-

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People are forgetting the fact that we are actually the minority, the one that they need to attract is the new players, if they flop on PS3, FFXIV is going down with all of us that complains about this silly icon.

Copy/pasted from my post that I posted on a different website regarding this topic:

One of the best thrills in the Final Fantasy is seeing a monster for the first time and thinking, "Is this going to kill me if I get close?"

And then slowly walking up to it to check.

I hope this "Red Star of Death" is removed. Even a toggle feature isn't something I want. The thrill is all about making a mental note that the mobs in the area you are now in are going to agro on sight/smell/sound. I would rather not see "spoon feeding" of this magnitude because "testing the waters" to see if a mob will attack or not if you go near plays a large part in this MMORPG as well as many other MMORPGs when it comes to the thrill of adventuring.


I remember when I got attacked by an Ogre and Goblin when I first started FF11. Mental note made. "Don't piss off the Ogres and Goblins."

I remember when I first saw the Valkurm Dunes Bogy. I was terrified as it chased me. It looked so cute, but for some reason it wanted to kill me! Mental note made. "LOOK what you are pulling once nightfall comes.

I appreciate the effort and thoughtfulness, but I don't want it. This is something I'm better off without. I don't like to be encouraged to be even more lazy than I already am. The "Red Star of Death" is too helpful.






/names off isn't going to please the people that are saddened by the "Red Star of Death". Changing the quality of sense of immersion to spoon feeding doesn't seem to be a good idea in my opinion.

A big thrill and sense of adventure in daily gameplay is finding out if a mob agros when we get near. And if it does, it's an experience that we catalog into our memory.

In my always-fail-attempt to compare the situation to a real life scenario: If I were to walk into the woods behind my house and find a rabid racoon, I'm not going to stand next to it because there isn't a "Red Star of Death" next to it's head. If I do, I obviously missed the foaming mouth, sharp claws, and the fact that this nocturnal animal is walking around during daylight. I'm going to go up to this animal thinking, "OH IT IS SO CUTE!!! :th_008_:," find out it just wants to scratch my eyes out and I run like hell.

That is something I'll remember. I'll never forget to check the raccoon for a foaming mouth again.

Now add in a "Red Star of Death". I'm not even going to bother looking at the monster because I already know it will give me rabies if I squat down and stare at it. I'm going to take the long path around it to get to the other side of the woods. During my journey, I'm going to be looking for more "Red Stars of Death" as opposed to looking for the warning signs in mobs, i.e. gigantic crabs with house sized clippers, a starving wolf with 4 inch teeth and a murderous expression, or a lion...

The sense of immersion declines.

Do you need a "Red Star of Death" or an alt/tab website to tell you if a mob attacks when you get near? Really? I don't know about anyone else, but I don't need a "Red Star of Death" to know a lion wants to eat my face for lunch.

Isn't running away from a crazed monster one of the highlights of the game? How many times did it take you to remember that going near that crazed monster is a bad idea? Once? Twice?
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Originally Posted by PeppinoTuna

I would rather not see "spoon feeding" of this magnitude because "testing the waters" to see if a mob will attack or not if you go near plays a large part in this MMORPG as well as many other MMORPGs when it comes to the thrill of adventuring.

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No, actually it's not. In fact, pretty much every other MMO I can think of (besides FFXI, of course) clearly distinguishes between aggressive and non-aggressive mobs. Seriously, get out there any play any MMO that wasn't made be SE, and you'll just how completely wrong it is to insist that such visual indicators are not a common part of the genre.

I want the option OP came with. Toggling aggro icon sounds wonderfull, sometimes i like it and sometimes not :p so toggle sounds great :)

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Originally Posted by Rhianu

I like the idea behind the icon, but as I've said before I think color-coded names would be more effective.

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Color coded names would definitely be better than an icon. But id rather have un ungly icon indicator than none at all. It doesint affect my sence of adventure like for some ppl, but there should be On/Off function for those who it does ruin the adventure or just dont like the idea of having an indicator. Like someone mentioned as long as it is On by default for the new players.

They need to get rid of the icon and change the HP bar instead! xD welps, the ICON is really does look suck and i think ppl get pissed off is because they put ICON instead of anything else lol, like in WoW (sorry for making reference here) Aggressive monster are known by the color type when your hover/select the monster, Non-aggressive is Yellow while Aggressive is Red.

ok well WoW may make people paranoid coz i cant remember other games having Aggressive feature.. i think they dont lol... . So taking off the bloody icon is the best way for more adventures world!

All this madness about an icon make me sick. I personally don't see any issues, but well, give'em the on/off toggle and all 'll be good

i vote for toggle icon, but tbh aggro icon really annoying :P

I don't like this aggressive icon either, it make Final Fantasy XIV look really fake and not blend in the atmosphere. Also, I rather know or have people learn which mob aggress and which does not. It take out the fun out exploring. There should be an option to turn this off, so people who want it there can have it and people who doesn't like it can have it turn off. Someone should also post this in Suggestion Thread so the developer can see and look into it.

Agreeing that, from an aesthetic point of view, the aggro icon should be replaced with a colour coding system.

I personally don't find the idea of distinguishing between aggro and non-aggro monsters patronising, nor do I feel it ruins any sense of adventure - I've never been much of a masochist '-'; - but having the option to toggle it on or off seems like a sensible one!

Off with the ICON!

Agreed. Off with the icon.

Just make it optional, problem solved.

I would say the following would be a good idea.

• Keep the icons, but shrink them by 50%
• Add the ability to toggle them on and off via the configurations (like names)

this allows those who hate them the change to hide them and allows those who like them their ability to use em. Win/Win.

Optional or gone,i should not have to play with an ugly red dot .
Options and customization is always welcome.

Please remove the aggro icon again, and roll back the changes of icon and mob sizes from patch 1.16.

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Originally Posted by Gath

The icon takes the fun on wondering if a red mob is going to kick your butt or not.

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And how is this fun?

It's about time hostile monsters were designated somehow! I didn't think it was fun finding out the hard way which aggroed and which didn't. You had to memorize families of monsters and hope your memory didn't fail you.

I don't really care how it's done. Red name, icon designation, doesn't matter. But this option needs to stay!

I'm sure SE will implement a toggle feature. Personally, it doesn't bother me that much. What did bother me was the wave of whining about it directly after the patch. People were so angry about it, as if you keyed their car or something. :p

You bet I'll be turning it off the second I can, though.

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Originally Posted by Rinsui

The icon is stupid.
I've not read a single post of someone who actually liked it.
End of the discussion.

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Then you need to read again.

This icon not only look dumb (etc, the ants in Copper Bell Mines), also took the fun out of the game.

There appears to be two very distinct groups of players- people that have solely/mostly only played FFXI and people that have played other MMORPGs either as well as or exclusive of FFXI.
As a FFXI player myself (and having personally not played any other MMORPG), who was used to the "way things worked" for the 5 years I played, it is sometimes difficult to distance my gaming experience of FFXIV from that of FFXI. The temptation (and probably human nature) is to compare it too much... I still do it now, and sometimes I have to force myself to take a step backwards.
My rambling point?
I think this is why those that have come only (or mainly) from FFXI are quite against having the aggro icon at all as they feel it makes the game too easy. I will admit, after not having this aggro icon feature in FFXI and having to get used to which mobs of which family aggro by what means, my first initial knee jerk reaction was that I didn't like it. Obviously people coming from other MMORPGs where there is a system like this in place will have the exact opposite reaction.

I can understand why they have put the feature in; do I like it? Not really. Would I ask them to remove it so that players "have to learn" about which mobs aggro? No, this is not FFXI. But, as with everyone else I hope that they either redesign and make the icon easier on the eye and smaller and/or allow the icon to be toggled on and off.

Last FFXI and FFXIV mob aggro comparison..... I personally would prefer to have a "Check" mob selection to see whether they are passive or aggressive, which would be less intrusive. I know it is not an instant visual feature, but if you are unsure of a mobs aggro range and behaviour are you really going to run straight up to it anyway?

I think someone already mention it, but the best way is just to add another icon next to the monster strength icon, which is already in the game right now when you target on a mob. Just need to change the icon to fit better in the game. Right now it a bit too cartoony for my taste.

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Originally Posted by Shika

if you are unsure of a mobs aggro range and behaviour are you really going to run straight up to it anyway?

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Maybe not deliberately, but if I can see some kind of clear visual indication from far away, I'll be able to recognize aggressive monsters more easily, and will likely give them a wider berth than I would otherwise.

I would be OK if the standard "Check" icon with the helmet was replaced with the "Star" symbol if the mob is aggressive. That way, they could still change the color to determine the strength of the mob. Cause right now, all I see is bright red, and I think Tough! If the icon was changed to the coincide with the check icon, you would see a blue star for an aggressive weak mob, a yellow star for an aggressive DC Mob, so on.

Anyone else like this idea?

*edit - when I posted this, didn't realize there were already 11 pages of replies, lol. So now I see that some others have had this idea as well.

I'm for removing it to be honest. It again takes away from the adventure one should feel when traveling Eorzea. :)

I think it's nice to have an agro icon, it may not be needed for veteran players but its nice for new players, and for future reference we know what will agro straight away rather than running up to a monster and finding out the hard way. It does look a bit much though, maybe adjust the size of the icon, or add it in to the '/check' window next to monster difficulty, and have it only display the agro icon if the monster is high enough to agro your current level.

Colour-coding would work well for this. That starburst is not a very good way of handling the situation. In addition, I think a toggle feature would be nice too.

I think the icon is just ridiculous, I mean come on most of the FFXIV players came from FFXI. We aren't in Pre-K.

Remove this icon. Learning about Eorzea and the lore surrounding you is part of the game.

If a mob aggro you sure next time you'll remember.

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Originally Posted by Nharil

I agree, but I still think there should be some sort of visual cue to tell players if a monster is aggressive. How about if the icon only shows up when targeting a monster, and not over their head?

If nothing else I think the icon really needs to be re-designed. It looks sloppy, as if one of the artists was just told to create something quick and dirty for testing, but a final icon was never implemented. If the colors were toned down and a more detailed, menacing icon were created then I think it would be easier to accept.

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The visual cue is the monster turning towards you beating you down.

I absolutely, unequivocally, vehemently hate it. Its really rather peculiar how much venom shoots from my eyes every time I see it. What ever happened to players, I dunno, learning and having to remember what aggros and what doesn't.

SE must think we're all very stupid.

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Originally Posted by Picasso

The visual cue is the monster turning towards you beating you down.

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That's a visual cue which involves death and frustration. :X

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Originally Posted by Vackashken

What ever happened to players, I dunno, learning and having to remember what aggros and what doesn't.

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Whatever happened to expecting a video game to be user-friendly and not needlessly bash players on the head all the time?

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Originally Posted by Vackashken

SE must think we're all very stupid.

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Or maybe they just decided to stop living in the past and adopt the same basic mechanics that the rest of the industry already incorporated a decade ago. Just a thought.

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Originally Posted by Rhianu

not needlessly bash players on the head all the time?

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One time is enough. Or maybe the player could just be cautious and not play around tigers, wolves, dragoons walking around like a sausage with legs and asking himself, later, why on earth he was bitten ?

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Originally Posted by Rhianu

Whatever happened to expecting a video game to be user-friendly

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Theres user friendly and then theres being completely incompetent. If you honestly think this is a matter of "user friendliness" you should stop playing and pick up GO-Fish in your spare time.

Give me a break, lol...

I'm just playing with /names on, that's all.

Now I'm running away from bigass icons rather than the monsters. It's like SE took away the only bit of adventure we had in this game.

any link to a picture of this? i'm curious to what it looks like myself. (pc died b4 I could play ffxiv)

I kinda like the idea of one. As a long time ffxi player, telling newbies what aggros was a pain. Infact ppl stopped helping newbies all together. When I first started everyone had the mentor status, now barely anyone does.

So stuff like this helps out in the long run if your really think about it.

Just give us the option to turn it off. Simple as that.