I'm dumb: please explain the CC UI to me

As taken from the lodestone guide for Crystalline Conflict, I understand most of the UI, but one thing still eludes me: what is the team color that glows and when does it start glowing, and what for exactly? What is this supposed to model?

As seen here, nothing glows:

https://lds-img.finalfantasyxiv.com/...tEpls-AU-M.jpg

Where here the blue side glows:

https://lds-img.finalfantasyxiv.com/...FgaX9xlmRM.jpg

This doesn't seem to indicate the winning side since on the first picture nothing glows, yet there is one team clearly ahead, so what is this for?
Furthermore, how can I quickly see which one is my team? Every time mid game when things are hectic I want to check quickly who is winning or what is the progress, but I'm always at a loss because the UI is just unable to tell me which side of the UI I'm on?

Am I missing something or is this UI missing key info in spite of its rework? It's not like I don't have thousands of games done on the mode already, yet I still seem to be completely clueless when it comes to that UI banner... I can't be the only one that confused by it right?

Adding to this, can't we just have the game writing in big letters somewhere "currently: WINNING" or "LOSING" or "DRAW" so I don't have to painfully decipher the details at a glance? Really...

I believe the glowing side indicates who is currently in control of the crystal?

And your team is always blue. Just compare the two progress bars (or the percentages above them).

I hope I'm understanding the question correctly. If I miss the point I'm very sorry! orz

Do you mean the glow around the diamond-shaped element on the right (the one that says 35% in the first picture and that has a white glow and says 82% in the second picture)?
https://imgur.com/N1aZPc2.png

As far as I understand, when the crystal reaches a checkpoint, it will glow while your progress to unlock your checkpoint accumulates/when the percentage number grows. It will stop glowing as soon as it becomes contested/an enemy player steps on the checkpoint and the progress growth halts. When the enemies step off the checkpoint the glow will return with the resuming progress growth. (So when enemies step on and off the glow will switch on and off as if someone was flickering a light switch.)

The first picture shows a scenario when the crystal sits on the checkpoint but no player whatsoever is standing on it so it doesn't progress/doesn't glow despite not being contested by enemies (I found a recording of mine where that exact case is happening and it looks just like in the picture).

So it's not about the winning side but purely about visualising the unlocking process. If team A has already unlocked their checkpoint (and has much more progress) but team B recaptures it, reaches their checkpoint and starts unlocking it, it will glow as shown in the picture.


As for your team and the winning team:

1. You are always blue, irrespective of whether you're Astra or Umbra.
2. Your progress number (element 2 and 3 in the OP image) will always be on the side of your name.

3. But your progress bar (element 9 and 10 in the OP image), i.e., the visual indicator of your progress will always be on the opposite side of your name.

---> If you want to have all information on your progress (visual indicator and percentage) you need to look in two different places.
So the indication of the winning side is really unintuitive. (Great design, SE!)
(Thus, since your number sits above the enemy's visual progress bar it's easy to think the number also belongs to the enemy. Because that would make sense. As they're visually grouped. But no.)

https://imgur.com/odUziJ4.png
https://imgur.com/htIkU3t.png

4. Whether your team name (and correspondingly your progress bar) is on the left or the right depends on the map and can even change from game to game depending on the map.
(Vulcano and Clockwork seem to switch it around randomly. I have to check wether other maps switch too. So far I have only found recordings of Palaistra where my progress bar is on the right. But yeah, you might have to readjuste anew with every game...)


I hope that explanation made somewhat sense (and if that's not what you were asking sorry again orz).

No I meant the glowing sides of the bar (red and blue).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AmiableApkallu

And your team is always blue. Just compare the two progress bars (or the percentages above them).

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Alright, so, like on the minimap right?
That's exactly the problem, they attribute blue and red to each of the two teams (astra and umbra), and even have one side of the arena blue and the other red, but then the UI also uses the same colours but to differentiate your team from the other team, meaning that the red team on the arena can be blue on the minimap and the progress UI? That's just unhinged, are they trying to give us headaches? Who designed this?

Please allow me to configure which colours I want for my UI so I can set any other colour than blue and red please?

No as far as I can tell your arena side is always blue as well. So in terms of the colour blue your UI, your mini map, and your side of the ingame arena seem to be consistent.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Valence

Alright, so, like on the minimap right?

That's exactly the problem, they attribute blue and red to each of the two teams (astra and umbra), and even have one side of the arena blue and the other red, but then the UI also uses the same colours but to differentiate your team from the other team, meaning that the red team on the arena can be blue on the minimap and the progress UI?

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As far as I'm aware: Your side of the minimap is the blue side. Your side of the arena/field is the blue side. Everything for you is always blue.

• Video: Blue on the left
• Video: Blue on the right

(The weird thing is that this means that the two teams looking at the same thing at the same time will see palette-swapped versions.)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AmiableApkallu

(The weird thing is that this means that the two teams looking at the same thing at the same time will see palette-swapped versions.)

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Yep, that's correct. No team will ever see themselves coded as the red team. Everything red is always the enemy team.

Mh ok, then that's better? Are the flags next to the entrance swapped too?

Edit: yeah they look swapped. Well that's better then. Thanks for the help

Unless I missed something...

https://lds-img.finalfantasyxiv.com/...71a7d8e827.png

...the leftmost (or rightmost) part of the Crystalline Conflict UI bar -- or rather, your team's side of the bar -- pulses/glows when your team is currently in control of the crystal's progress.

Oh wait, that's the blue glow OP meant. Sorry, I completely missed that because I was looking at the blue progress bar on the other side (got confused since coincidentally the crystal went from no-glow to glow in the second picture too and thought that's the glow that was referred to). orz
(But that also goes to show how unintuitive the UI can be, if the info for your team is all over the place. I get that the progress bar is supposed to mimic your path from your base away towards the enemy base but for UI I think consistent visual grouping can make more sense.)

I checked some recordings again and the colour pulse (as in AmiableApkallu's screenshot) indicates the team that's currently ahead.
It's also unaffected by who is on the crystal.
So if blue is ahead and nobody is on the crystal, it will still pulse blue. And if red recaptures and pushes the crystal in the other direction the blue side will still pulse/glow until red overtakes their progress.
If progress is even, there's no glow/pulse on either side.

I have no idea why there's no glow in the first picture of OP's post because it should be there since blue is ahead. Maybe it's an oversight or they took their screenshot in that short moment when the pulse fades before it returns.

So it means that this picture is doctored and doesn't represent anything or actual gameplay since a team is clearly ahead but nothing is glowing

https://lds-img.finalfantasyxiv.com/...tEpls-AU-M.jpg

Yeah I think so. I guess they just messed up here/didn't pay attention to this detail.