Debuffs and Debuff Visibility

[ty_taurus]

I've brought this up in the distant past, but it's been a long time and I want to reiterate one of XIV's accessibility flaws. The indicator of which debuffs can be cleansed with actions like Esuna is small and lacks readability. You've likely experienced situations where someone is hit with a Doom for example and the healer doesn't even realize. We can call it a skill issue and hold the player accountable, but my point is the game could do a better job at making sure that information is clearer regardless.

The solution I've proposed was to copy FFXII's debuff UI. If you check out the timestamp, you'll see how after the party is hit with multiple debuffs, each effect pops up around the character, and the debuff icons and names flicker across the party's HP UI including a pause after each debuff where the UI is not obstructed. This same effect could be applied to FFXIV on the party list over the affect players' names as to not obstruct any information and would be a lot more readable and eye-catching to the player. Counterpoint: I know we can be a bit sensitive here to suggestions, so I'd like to add this can be added as optional UI and let players turn this off if they'd prefer to rely on the white/aqua-colored bar above the debuff icon instead.

Now, in all honestly, this is not a major issue. It's not the end of the world that a healer didn't cleanse a Doom here or there. That's a part of MMOs. Failure happens. However, I believe if the readability improved, it might also result in the devs feeling more confident in using debuffs in mechanics and making Esuna-effects more valuable rather than highly niche.

What I mean by this is I fear FFXIV lacks a good variety in meaningful forms of utility. Look at Bard's evolved mode showcase for example... Since offensive buffs were removed, what Bard got instead was healing, barrier application, and Expedient. These three effects are just about the only forms of meaningful utility that FFXIV has across all jobs. I worry we'll just see them repeated on other jobs like Dancer and Red Mage when Warden's Paean could've in theory been a very solid form of utility for Bard if debuffs were used regularly instead of in only a few encounters per expansion (which I've heard has not changed in Dawntrail).

To be fair, a UI update does not promise this would change, and even if it does, I know plenty of people don't just want to see a floodgate of annoying effects unleashed across all content either. Debuffs as a regular mechanic would be best handled in an elegant way. I'll share a couple examples of solutions that I think could work well if utilized more frequently: 1. Instead of having Doom be handled through Esuna or by healing the target to full, I'd suggest Doom being resolved through either method and increasing the frequency. I'd also advocate for using Necrosis from the Dead Ends dungeon instead for this, as the visual effects are more exciting, and you could apply them to a visual effect around the target so the healer can see the heartbeat around the target increasing and making the remaining duration palpable. 2. Make the Bleed applied by certain raidwides cleansable. An unmitigated Bleed can be devastating, but if there's a job that has an AOE Esuna, that job then has a unique way to salvage a fumbled mitigation check.

TL;DR
While improving the UI visibility of cleansable debuffs is not an urgent necessity, I think there's always value in improving UI readability (especially when optional if there are people who would rather turn this off), and if handled correctly, which I understand can be a big "if" may support the better application of debuffs and Esuna-like effects in the future.

[Arthur-Holt]

Yeah they need overhaul the UI in this game bigtime especially for gamepad players. Like you CAN blow up the party list but it also takes up a sizable chunk of your screen in doing so which is not ideal

[Shchaq]

Personally i don't think indicator is not clearly visible, sure they can make it pop out more, like flashit outline around debuff or something, but i wouldn't say it's necessary once you get to know the game a little better.

The problem with mass esuna job you bring up is that said job would suddenly become mandatory for mechanics like Throttle in TEA so it's a very bad idea to itroduce it.

Expedient was laughed at when shown first but then it turned out to be giga usefull in many many situations, many many mechanics. The songs you mentioned on bard will most likeley be played in line with fight mechanics for said benefits it actually sounds very interesting to play around for bards.

Visual effect around a player is ok, but also leads to clutter if overdone, personally i just look at partyframes for debuffs anyway so i see this a bit pointless, that said certain mechanics like Dynamis stacks in TOP if telegraphed overhead ect wouldn't lead to such issues with that mechanic.

[Exinias]

I'm colorblind and sometimes it takes me like 3 seconds to be able to tell if something can be esunad. I know it's white, but it blends in to some of the designs for me. I wish I could just change the color or the symbol of it and I think that would solve it for me.

[ty_taurus]

Personally i don't think indicator is not clearly visible, sure they can make it pop out more, like flashit outline around debuff or something, but i wouldn't say it's necessary once you get to know the game a little better.

The problem with mass esuna job you bring up is that said job would suddenly become mandatory for mechanics like Throttle in TEA so it's a very bad idea to itroduce it.

Expedient was laughed at when shown first but then it turned out to be giga usefull in many many situations, many many mechanics. The songs you mentioned on bard will most likeley be played in line with fight mechanics for said benefits it actually sounds very interesting to play around for bards.

Visual effect around a player is ok, but also leads to clutter if overdone, personally i just look at partyframes for debuffs anyway so i see this a bit pointless, that said certain mechanics like Dynamis stacks in TOP if telegraphed overhead ect wouldn't lead to such issues with that mechanic.

I imagine almost anyone engaged enough in the game to be on the forums at all probably wouldn't have an issue knowing about or looking for the current Esuna indicators, but I don't think that's reflective of the player base as a whole. Maybe I'm out of the loop, but as I recall it wasn't that uncommon to run into people ignoring the few Esuna mechanics that do exist, and while I don't think it's a problem of high friction, creating some more prominent, optional UI alternatives can only potentially improve the experience for the people who otherwise wouldn't know to use Esuna.

In regards to how mandatory a mechanic ends up being, it does ultimately lean on the devs to ensure the mechanics feel balanced in a way that doesn't result something like an AOE Esuna feeling mandatory. FFXIV has a problem with thinking this way--that anything unique a job offers runs the risk of being mandatory and treating that as such a taboo that it ends up stifling job design. You bring up Throttle in TEA, but can you give me any other examples where AOE Esuna felt mandatory? Even if you introduce mechanics where a job bringing AOE Esuna can render one mechanic easier, that doesn't mean there can't be alternatives. Like the example I gave of Doom/Necrosis... Making it so that the effect can be cleared by Esuna or by topping off the target's HP creates a branching solution so that if you don't have someone bringing AOE Esuna, topping off the party is just as effective and isn't that resource intensive for healers. I always think back to P3S where Macrocosmos would cheese Death's Toll, and yet there was no shortage of White Mage players in PF. Double barrier healers did it without much difficulty too.

Frankly, I believe this fear of one job having an edge in some content and feeling "mandatory" has done FFXIV way more harm than good.