Option to Remove the Circle Image on Skill CD

[Sicno]

This whole thread is why we can't have good things. So what? They will remove it and people who liked it and had their life made easier will now have to deal with the old bars again...

Not if they listen to our suggestions on how implement both options.

[Niwashi]

he explained exactly why that is not the case. It may seem to be poor implementation, and perhaps it is, but the implementation that they are using according to the dev post is an entire packet of hotbar images all loaded at once such that every conceivable icon that could be on a hotbar (and as such any recast animations) are all held in memory at once.

He did explain how it's all animated together and not as an icon in the background with an overlay recast timer on top of it. So, for instance, if they have a 1% increment in their recast animation, it would mean they actually load 100 different images of each skill icon and keep all 100 in memory, switching between them according to the current cooldown state. But that still doesn't account for why they couldn't have a packet of 100 images for animation type A and another packet of a different 100 images for animation type B, and then use whichever fits the user's settings. The system would still only be alternating between images in one set or the other, not both, so would only need to load one of the possible sets. (If anything, that should make offering multiple options even easier, since they're each just a set of animation images, processed the same way regardless of which set is displayed.)

A more valid point of his post was the part that it would take programming, QA, etc resources, but he tried to inflate that into sounding as though it were something excessive when he was simply describing what every change in the game takes, including this change they did just make. Once you exclude the spin factor, his post came out to saying it doesn't give us options because for that they'd have to put the option in. Basically, they just didn't bother.

[Causality]

Hello, everyone.

The following is a comment from UI Lead Hiroshi Minagawa in regards to the new recast timers implemented in Patch 3.2.
Display the remaining recast time as a numeric value
*Since we cannot add more displays on top of existing icons (which is a measure to lessen display density), we therefore used the part of the display which was used for TP cost. There were comments from testers mentioning that they wanted the number to be displayed in the center of the icon; however, this would required preparation of a different part or the placement of a process which would check the situation to change the displayed position. This was rejected because it would increase the load.

Unfortunately by new timers this is what most were expecting. The circles are not ugly, but they are not an improvement on the old ones.

All these new ones do is show the same cooldown in the same clockwork manner only with a circle in the middle.

You couldn't use the same faded animation method for numbers?

[Laraul]

Read this to understand WHY the change was made.

[Kinseykinz]

Read this to understand WHY the change was made.

Just to be fair a couple things about that specific example:

1. I can still see it, as could others...so it's a personal thing...much like the change to 'fix' it works for some but not others.
2. The real problem with that skill was it has a long cooldown timer+ is on a light colored background. Meaning another option SE could have chosen, would have been to adjust the background colors on skills with longer cooldowns and there would not have been a problem.

[Rowyne]

You can revert back to the old hotbar cool down timer graphic by simply unchecking the following...

This only affects the numbers (which I have no issue with). It does nothing to remove the flashy white disco balls going off all over my hotbar whenever the GCD is triggered. Circles. Over top of square buttons. There are several ways that this new animation is distracting and out of place.

The original recast overlay texture prior to 3.2.

This made much more sense.

[TheRogueX]

Wow. People can be annoyed by the smallest things.

To be fair, though, I agree 100% that it should be optional and should have a toggle somewhere. I'm guessing the UI memory load issue is part of the problem. I'm also guessing that when the PS3 version goes away, we'll see a LOT of awesome changes for the better, across the board.

[Nicobo]

Wow. People can be annoyed by the smallest things.

To be fair, though, I agree 100% that it should be optional and should have a toggle somewhere. I'm guessing the UI memory load issue is part of the problem. I'm also guessing that when the PS3 version goes away, we'll see a LOT of awesome changes for the better, across the board.

I think you forgot PS3 version only has one crossbar on the screen (max 16 icons) while PS4 and PC can have 10+ bars (over 160 icons) simultaneously... ^^;
I believe this icon animation circle thing was purely a design outcome, just bcoz the decision maker tho it looks better.

[randysquirrel]

Is there anyone who doesn't have some kind of visual impairment or color blindness playing any more

my take on the visual changes... fcks given: 0
I managed ok with the old style, and will do so with the white circles

tl;dr neck up moaners

[Sicno]

my take on the visual changes... fcks given: 0
I managed ok with the old style, and will do so with the white circles

tl;dr neck up moaners

"It's not an issue to me so of course it shouldn't be an issue to ANYONE."