Aggro Icon

[Rjain]

I think it's a little too cartoony looking
i also don't like how they increased the size of the linkshell/sell/fix icons as well

Yeah I don't like the linkshell icon change either. It's like FFXIV, Blind People's Edition.

[Gewt]

Yeah I don't like the linkshell icon change either. It's like FFXIV, Blind People's Edition.

LOL I totally agree.

[Kolbey]

I would like the aggro icon to disappear from the screen and be incorporated into the "mob strength" colors. Say blue, green, orange, red, but with a little dot for aggro. I'd also like the "aggro" dot to go away when I'm at a rank high enough that the mobs no longer aggro.

Kolbey Trifel

[Madrox]

I don't like the way the the aggro indicator is displayed. It seems kind of obnoxious, I would definately prefer something more subtle.

[Coyohma]

It's a complete eyesore, and has to either be changed or done away with.. I see two logical options of implementing this sort of thing, if you've decided you want it in your game. You can either (like others have suggested here) have something display around where the colored mob check icon is.. Or have the names of aggressive mobs display as a different color than normal to differentiate. I'd prefer the former.

[Rhianu]

I like the idea that hostile enemies are easily distinguishable from non-hostile enemies, but I personally feel that this glaring Red Sun of Death™ icon is obnoxious and over the top.

Personally, I prefer the way WoW and Rift do it, which is by using color-coded names instead of an obnoxious marker.

Green name = friendly NPC who will not attack you
Yellow name = neutral NPC who will not attack you unless you attack it first
Red name = hostile NPC who will attack you if you get too close

Not only are the color-coded names less intrusive, they also create less clutter, and allow players to distinguish between THREE different types of NPCs instead of only two types.

Marking hostile NPCs was a good idea, but in this particular situation color-codes work better than icons.

An alternative method to do it could be to utilize a slow "pulsating" animation on the text outline, perhaps like this:

There are probably other ideas that could work too, such as a red glow around the text, or a red underline, or any number of things which are less intrusive than the Red Sun of Death™.

[popdai]

Sneak + Invisible + Deodorize FTW! Not knowing if a mob aggros is much more better imo!

[SirOleas]

While I think it's nice they are making the game easier for new players I do find the icon extremely ugly.

Maybe I am a bit old school or am too nostalgic but I loved not knowing which enemy would come chasing after me in FFXI. Learning the mobs is an important part of any MMO to me and I feel like this icon not only takes away from the beauty of the game but also some of the sense of danger, which if I'm not mistaken, the dev. team is trying to create that danger.

At the very least have an option to toggle the aggro icon.

[OJtheLIONKing]

Seeing the responses to this...I think the community may be part of the problem with FFXIV. I don't think I've ever seen such a sustained "stop whining" "just learn the game n00b" etc kind of attitude as I have with responses to the game adding basic functionality that is considered industry standard. This is not the attitude the developers or the players can have if FFXIV is to relaunch and expand to a sustainable playerbase and business model. The game should be welcoming, not punish people at every opportunity for not knowing something they had no way of learning before. Trial and error gameplay is a game design philosophy that has been outdated for 15 years.

As far as the actual icon, the implementation was a bit ostentatious, so I think the name coloring system would probably be the least intrusive option. After all, most people who would play this have probably played another MMO, so they know a red name=bad. On the other hand, they might think that starburst is a quest mob or something. What they most likely wouldn't think is that aggressive enemies are completely unmarked, since every other MMO I can think of besides FFXI has marked aggressive enemies in some way.

[Rjain]

Trial and error gameplay is a game design philosophy that has been outdated for 15 years.

If it was outdated I don't think so many people would be demanding it.