Visual feedback for Aetherflow PLEASE! (Quality of life imporvement)

[alpha_]

Something like this would be my vote:

Wow! That actually looks great! How do we get the Devs to chech this out?

[YuriRamona]

A visual display of Aetherflow amounts is a crutch for new scholars and is something you should very rapidly be transitioning out of.

You should be mentally tracking your remaining stacks as it coincides with enemy mechanics. Generally, you should be using 1 Lustrate every 20 seconds to maximize your Aetherflow MP efficiency.

Relying on visual feedback for Aetherflow distracts you from what you should be focusing on and keeping in mind, which are predictable mechanics and unexpected events (critical damage, party members stepping into AoE cleaves, etc).

If anything, a visual display harms, rather than helps, new scholars. This shouldn't be implemented.

[Dosito]

A visual display of Aetherflow amounts is a crutch for new scholars and is something you should very rapidly be transitioning out of.

You should be mentally tracking your remaining stacks as it coincides with enemy mechanics. Generally, you should be using 1 Lustrate every 20 seconds to maximize your Aetherflow MP efficiency.

Relying on visual feedback for Aetherflow distracts you from what you should be focusing on and keeping in mind, which are predictable mechanics and unexpected events (critical damage, party members stepping into AoE cleaves, etc).

If anything, a visual display harms, rather than helps, new scholars. This shouldn't be implemented.

I really don't see how this would be detrimental to new scholars since you can see how many stacks are left on your status bar. if anything its aesthetic. just my opinion though. there is no way I consider myself an expert scholar.

[Bigcat9715]

Something like this would be my vote:

How about instead the 3 rings are floating around the user like how blm effect work and each ring disappear as each stack is used. Also it should work for both Smn and Sch.

[Dyne_Fellpool]

This is an aesthetic issue, not a "quality of life" issue, as the thread title indicates.

[Eggnook24]

I don't see how a visual reminder on your character could be a crutch. It's good to know how many stacks you have, but when the crap hits the fan and you're concentrating on keeping order in the chaos, you can forget stacks, it'd definitely be helpful even to end gamers.

Besides, auras are cool.

[YuriRamona]

I really don't see how this would be detrimental to new scholars since you can see how many stacks are left on your status bar. if anything its aesthetic. just my opinion though. there is no way I consider myself an expert scholar.

I think it's quite detrimental to have to take half a second to glance at your status bar to count your stacks. In a game full of instantaneous mechanics and razor-thin reaction times, that momentary distraction (or perpetual visual clutter distraction from a character glow/aura) is extremely costly.

I don't see how a visual reminder on your character could be a crutch. It's good to know how many stacks you have, but when the crap hits the fan and you're concentrating on keeping order in the chaos, you can forget stacks, it'd definitely be helpful even to end gamers.

This is what I'm trying to get at. Yes, the chaos may lead to you forgetting your stacks, but I don't think we've considered the possibility that the forgetting of stacks is what can generate more chaos.

And it's not necessarily just the memorization of stacks that is beneficial. It's the entire principle of having knowledge and awareness of the situation at every moment. A critical component of multitasking is the mastery of individual tasks: comfort through familiarity, routine, and ritual make adding additional tasks exponentially easier. I would argue that mentally keeping track of stacks gives people greater stability through the ritual and routine of holding that number in mind. Whereas other elements of the fight are less predictable and controllable, your stacks and cooldowns are inherently knowable and controllable, through practice.

This doesn't even consider that the SCH playstyle can be heavily dependent on available Aetherflow stacks. Considering that Lustrate is the most powerful tool in the SCH healing handbook, having an excess of it any moment (or knowing that you will have an excess for the next few moments) allows freedom to reposition, choose lower-cost heals, use or save pet cooldowns, and most importantly, entering and leaving Cleric Stance. Being short on Lustrates (or knowing you will exhaust them in the next few moments) likewise heavily informs all of a SCH's decisions.

[Enthy]

No thanks, I already play with all battle effects off because there's way too much glow effects on every character. Unfortunately, turning off all battle effects does not turn off the glow from relic weapons, BLM glowing orbs, or SCH pets glow. During group gameplay, the mob being attacked is engulfed in white flashing light and you really cant make out any unique battle effects. Some more options to tone down the bloom/glow for everything would be appreciated.

[Tayolynn]

Visual stacks for the arcanist (different visuals or different colors per class) class would be pretty cool. The only thing I wouldn't want it shown would be through PvP, where the enemies can see how many stacks I have. I'd like to keep it hush hush about when I can lustrate/bane.

[Hulan]

I already posted my thoughts in picture form, but allow me a moment to summarize them here as well; to lend another point of view to the debate so to speak. Video games are intrinsically a visual medium - as well as tactical and audible, but let's focus on the matter at hand. It is up to the individual graphic designer to decide how much garnish to flavor their visuals with, but fundamentally the things we see on in the world correspond to the simulation that is being played out in bits and bytes internally. As a general rule, presenting as much information to the user graphically while limiting the amount of meaningless flare is what we call "elegant". Case in point, my entire understanding of UI experiences was turned on it's head when I watched a friend play Dead Space 2. For those of you who do not know, Dead Space 2's UI is entirely in world. The healthbar is displayed as a neon spine down the back of the main character's suit, while is "MP" is a radial dial next to it and ammo is displayed above the weapon.

This concept of visual data density is what separates good UI design from bad. It is certainly true that if the data is too dense, it looses meaning. This is often less an issue of how much data is available and more on how much of the activity on screen is not providing the user with any valuable information at all. MMO design in general runs somewhat contrary to this schema of course, since "flashier is better" is a common doctrine. That doesn't mean it's a a bad idea to embed meaningful information into the world around your character. It better anchors the mechanics of the game in a tangible reality, rather than leaving it totally abstract.