HP UI change suggestion that I am not totally serious about... but equality

[Archaell]

While discussing healer's responsibility and what is the job of the role in other threads I got to question who is responsible for hit points of members of the group.

Here is my not so serious suggestion: Different colour schemes for avoidable and unavoidable dmg.

Basically when the player gets hit by avoidable attack the health missing should use different colour, while even if you heal them, their HP bar should still show how much avoidable damage they took. Maybe even supported with number indicator of how many HP bars the player depleted while receiving avoidable damage.

Your thoughts?

[braneri1]

People would cry too much that it could be used for 'harassment.' I don't know if any parsers can separate the two since I'm not on pc but I have seen pictures of parse results that show the amounts of damage each person took throughout the encounter, so it might be possible. But, you know...'harassment.'

Fearmongering is why we can't have nice things.

[Zojha]

Fearmongering is why we can't have nice things.

The secret service has been saying that for 'years'! Which is why they stopped making observation and abduction announcements.

On a more serious note: What would qualify as "avoidable" and "unavoidable" damage? A DRK/PLD outside def stance technically eats 20% avoidable damage at all times and cooldowns add a lot to it. And lag can quickly turn a technically avoidable damage source into a practically unavoidable damage source. And is damage taken from a DoT the healer could and should dispel avoidable or unavoidable? Clearly, it is avoidable, but not necessarily by the person who takes it.

The idea is nice in theory, but I'd wager it would not be particularly useful in practice.

[Archaell]

...

I would start with something simple. Can you dodge it? Yes - avoidable. No - unavoidable. Can you dodge dot? Yes - avoidable for the whole duration. No - unavoidable. Also I would let every player remove the avoidable portion if they self-healed either right away, or something healer should heal.

Tank not using tanking stance... that could be step two. They are kinda increasing healers work.

This indicator should mainly show what is and what isn't healer failing at their job.

[Lyrica_Ashtine]

It doesn't really take HP bars to know what's avoidable damage and whatnot.

How? Learn the fight mechanics

So here's another misunderstanding of what it means to heal (in this game). Healers aren't there to keep you alive, they're here to keep you in good shape. You can't blame the healer for getting blown up by something completely avoidable. If you do get hit and you survive, the healer can help you survive the next source of damage. If you get hit and instantly die, there's nothing to heal up in that condition. Even if the damage is unavoidable (Titan encounters), the fault is questionable. If you get hit and thrown off the platform in Titan Extreme, who are you going to blame? Healers? It's usually the lag that is being blamed in this case. But this can be easily solved as well: Learn the fight mechanics! Alternatively:

[Risvertasashi]

From those parser things, check out something called the "Death Report". Shows all damage taken and healing received leading up to a death and you can also check if they had vulnerability stacks, B4B, or other such things. Very useful for shifting the blame off healers when a tank eats a 24k tankbuster or DPS stand in cleaves, etc.

The best part is you don't have to pretend you don't know because all this is in the actual game's battle log. So just tell them they took a 24k hit or whatever.

[Fourbestintoner]

Is tanks murdering me with splash in A4 by not ignoring dolls unavoidable damage?

[FridgePanic]

If you do a fight enough times you'll know exactly what's avoidable and what isn't.

[Archaell]

If you do a fight enough times you'll know exactly what's avoidable and what isn't.

It isn't much about knowing what is and what isn't. Of course healers usually know what hit you even when you yourself aren't sure.

This idea is more of a healthy reminder of healer's extra work, while providing some support to inexperienced ones.

[Anova]

I don't think it will work. You have healers looking at 3 colors on their bars (green = remaining hp, color1 = avoidable damage taken, color2 = unavoidable damage taken). It's not only a messy UI to look at, but it's sending a completely wrong message to players.

Damage is damage, and while I understand you like a big reminder telling dps and tanks why they suck by taking so much avoidable damage (and it's not because of weak heals), the simple truth is that the players already know. You will get a few new players from time to time who have never run the dungeon and who may not handle the telegraphs properly, but it is very obvious where the avoidable aoe attacks are. I just don't see the point in this system when we have the telegraphs, the cast bar, and the visual/sound effect of whatever attack just chunked a person who ignored mechanics.

Maybe if a person dies, they can see a menu of the total damage dealt to them (like the LoL menu, detailing % and total damage from all damage sources). I can see some raiders using a tool like that to identify mechanics and sources of damage in their runs, but it's too much of a distraction in the actual fight and I don't see the point in broadcasting it out publicly in a pug for non-savage content.