Accessibility does NOT have enough options and it's a huge issue.

[Aregin]

I've been raiding the last savage tier and ultimates with a static member who has tritanopia and they are constantly suffering from headaches and pain while raiding and are unable to change anything in the accessibility options to help them, even the tritanopia option in the colourblind settings does nothing (in fact in some cases it makes things worse).

During our TEA prog, phase 1 and phase 2 effects from the bosses are so straining on their eyes that it causes them pain and discomfort within an hour or so of raiding. Recently we needed to take a long break mid instance with multiple members from party finder having to wait for quite a while for them to take some painkillers and rest their eyes for a bit. Similarly, the Fifth Circle in the recent savage tier is all bright green and they are unable to see most mechanics due to everything blending in together.

This game has held strong that it's incredibly accessible to those that do not want to communicate with people when they don't have to, which I think is amazing, however its falling short for those that have disabilities.

We are in desperate need of additional options for colourblindness and even options for the removal of boss effects like raid wide AOEs. We can remove our own and other players effects, so why can't we remove simple raid wides like the cascade cast in Phase 1 of TEA.

They feel as though they are unable to do the content that they want to do in the game that they pay for monthly. They have even contemplated 3rd party tools to help them in game but do not wish to do so as it goes against the developers' wishes and would risk a ban. We are constantly told that we are not allowed to use 3rd party tools, but then we are neglected the options we need in game legitimately. So what are our other options?

We love raiding and playing the game together and want to continue to do so, but I don't want my static member to constantly have to get migraines and eye strain just for playing.

[Alninio]

Watching my friend struggle has been rough through the colourblindness, things that by default should have wider accessibility. I feel as though these kind of additions to the game adds more accessibility by default and I feel like if it causes people distress and pain or struggle to see even the most basic mechanics in the game and feel pain through it - is a problem.

There needs to be more support for colourblindness aswell as other types of disabilities that can effect a player's ability to play the game that they pay for - we can talk about multiple disabilities even those that could be unknown to us because I feel that those aswell need to be looked at - colourblindness, epilepsy, etc etc

I think its unfair that my friend has to go through it - they're the only one in our team with those struggles and I think the game should add things that would actively help and its good for the game long term. I feel like not many people talk about this but it IS a real issue and it feels as though its been around for a while.

Would appreciate if we all collectively spread the word and let it be known that colourblind people, people with disabilities as a whole - should all have support within the game.

Thank you!

[JoeBarbarian]

10 Paragraphs between the two of you and you've not explained the actual issue with the tritanopia option. For feedback to be effective they need to know what the issue is and maybe suggestions on how to fix.

Going on the offensive with "It don't work, fix it, he pay sub, you fix game now" It's like taking a car to a mechanic and telling the mechanic to figure it out because you bought the car.

[Aregin]

Apologies for that, I'll explain more about what the issue with the tritanopia option:

https://imgur.com/gallery/CnhNV7D (not mine or my static members pictures, these were found online)

My static member points towards this as an example of what the tritanopia option does for them. Everything gets incredibly saturated and looks intensely bright in the filtered version and on top of this, it turns greens into very bright reds. Because of this, it makes flashy effects like AOEs incredibly bright and straining on the eyes. In the pictures provided, you can see how bright even greys are.

As well as this, when filtered, it removes smooth gradient colour flow, it turns them into layers instead. For example here, if you look at the ocean, the blue smoothly transitions from one blue to the other where as in the filtered version, you can see that the red does not do the same, making it look jagged and straining to the eyes, especially in motion.

You may be thinking "why not turn down the slider if its too bright and harsh?", then the issue becomes that the filter does nothing for them at 0-70% and very little for them at 70%+. The saturation, is indeed a bit better when turned lower however it then leaves the issue of not being able to see the colours or, alternatively, it makes the colours that they can see blend into each other .

So at 100%, the saturation is so high and blinding that playing for a prolonged period of time ends up giving migraines and eye strain, and anything else below that just makes it so the colours blend into each other completely nullifying the attempt the option is trying to provide.

I am unable to give any proper suggestions on how to fix the tritanopia issue outside of the ones I mentioned in my original post, which just adds more options for players struggling with eye strain or similar issues. I am not an optician so I would be unable to delve into the issues of the filter and unfortunately my static member does not know how to fix the issues either. I'm not saying that this filter does not work for every person, but if they are unable to do something about the present issues with the filter, then more options to handle effects for the players legitimately would help exponentially.

If you have any other questions, please let me know and I'll try explain as best as I can. My intent is not to spread hate, but to raise my voice about an ongoing issue regarding the inaccessibility currently rampant in FFXIV's options.

[JoeBarbarian]

This clearly explains the issue with some great examples. There are some possible solutions that could help in the interim, you can reach out to me on discord: MrJoeWarbarian#3792

[Rongway]

I agree with you about the need for effective accessibility solutions, especially as they apply to color vision.

I have a graded disagreement with this specific part of your post though:

We are in desperate need of [...] options for the removal of boss effects like raid wide AOEs. We can remove our own and other players effects, so why can't we remove simple raid wides like the cascade cast in Phase 1 of TEA.

It would be fine to allow people to reduce the level of effects, for example excluding overlays like snow storms and full-screen flames. However, there is a minimum amount of enemy bfx that should not be allowed to be turned off because (1) if you let people turn all enemy effects off, there will be some players who turn them all off and then get hit by things they should not get hit by because they never received the visual feedback to inform them what the shape and size of the attack was and (2) this would have an adverse impact on everyone who plays with those players. Therefore, to protect other players, who did not have a say in the matter, from having to deal with avoidable mistakes that people would make from setting enemy effects to None, enemy effects should only be allowed to be set as low as Limited/Simple.

[Aregin]

That is why I said specifically raid wide AOEs like Cascade from Living Liquid, Aioniopyr from Hephaistos phase 2 and the likes. Those are completely unavoidable damage and have the added cast bar to see that its coming up and prepare for it. There is no reason for those types of attacks to not have an option to turn them off. Mechanical AOEs, like Stack and Spread AOEs, I agree should not be able to be turned off, as it would cause a lot of issues however, I would also prefer a "limited" option for those but I understand that would require a lot of work.

I think your disagreement stems from a misunderstanding of what I was asking for, I apologise if my initial post wasn't clear with what I meant.

[Alninio]

I agree with you about the need for effective accessibility solutions, especially as they apply to color vision.

I have a graded disagreement with this specific part of your post though:

It would be fine to allow people to reduce the level of effects, for example excluding overlays like snow storms and full-screen flames. However, there is a minimum amount of enemy bfx that should not be allowed to be turned off because (1) if you let people turn all enemy effects off, there will be some players who turn them all off and then get hit by things they should not get hit by because they never received the visual feedback to inform them what the shape and size of the attack was and (2) this would have an adverse impact on everyone who plays with those players. Therefore, to protect other players, who did not have a say in the matter, from having to deal with avoidable mistakes that people would make from setting enemy effects to None, enemy effects should only be allowed to be set as low as Limited/Simple.

It has more to do with raid-wides that are unnecessary flashy, atleast for some players it can cause a lot of fatigue - Especially after many pulls and countless hours during prog. My friend had to close their eyes during raid wides after multiple pulls during prog because it's simply way too flashy - I think even just having a slider from 0-100 to reduce/increase the intensity of how bright a raid wide is would be a welcomed addition in itself and doesn't hinder you from actually doing mechanics.