One of my Mesmer comrades has poor eyesight. It makes it difficult for them to tell what charge their Mantra is on. The request was that an additional charge number could be placed on the skill icon itself so it would be easier to see. There would be no confusion because a cooldown ticks, and colours the skill icon black until the cd finishes.
That was their request.
My request is that this is not going far enough to just change one skill. The entire UI should have some option for resizing or changing to accommodate not only those with visual disabilities, but also the players who simply find some aspects intrusive. For instance when I have too many buffs I have to decrease the size of my map in order to see them all.
So the questions for this thread are both for anet and for the player base.
(For anet) Is there anything in development to assist players with visual disabilities?
(For both) What about your gaming experience has been affected because you were unable to resize or move aspects of the UI?
“Kentigem”-chief. Born cycle of Dusk. Wyld Hunt:
Learn as much mending and medical info as possible so that it can be added to the Dream.
Become the first Chief of Mending and guide the newly awaken as well as those who want to learn.
Great question! Those with disabilities are often overlooked when it comes to UI development both in games and business applications. If ANET hasn’t already developed features to address this, they really should.
As someone who’s (successfully) requested similar changes for a friend on a different game, I’m in full support of both the specific request about mantras and the UI in general. Visual disabilities or no, resizing/hiding parts of the UI would be welcome to a lot of people.
Suggestions for UI improvements and overhauls have been a staple on the forums since launch as far as I know, and a lot of them are long overdue. Everyone should get the chance to play comfortably, so I fully support resizing of specific UI elements.
Bump. Kinda gonna keep bumping it until ANET addresses it or the forum mods tell me to stop. Because it is super sad when you want to use something like mantras but you can’t use them effectively cause you don’t know how many charges you have.
“Kentigem”-chief. Born cycle of Dusk. Wyld Hunt:
Learn as much mending and medical info as possible so that it can be added to the Dream.
Become the first Chief of Mending and guide the newly awaken as well as those who want to learn.
Going into graphics options for GW2 and telling it a different resolution (windowed or full screen) may help. There are also various things in operating systems to help with accessibility. Between a Deaf spouse, getting involved in disability issues, and working out how to make software more accessible I feel the frustration when it is not done right.
Yes, ideal would be settings within the game but failing that look at what in the overall UI of the computer you can control.
One of my Mesmer comrades has poor eyesight. It makes it difficult for them to tell what charge their Mantra is on. The request was that an additional charge number could be placed on the skill icon itself so it would be easier to see. There would be no confusion because a cooldown ticks, and colours the skill icon black until the cd finishes.
That was their request.
My request is that this is not going far enough to just change one skill. The entire UI should have some option for resizing or changing to accommodate not only those with visual disabilities, but also the players who simply find some aspects intrusive. For instance when I have too many buffs I have to decrease the size of my map in order to see them all.
So the questions for this thread are both for anet and for the player base.
(For anet) Is there anything in development to assist players with visual disabilities?
(For both) What about your gaming experience has been affected because you were unable to resize or move aspects of the UI?
Graphic options gives you interface size options. Setting “interface size” to “larger” makes it pretty kitten gigantic. Have them give that a try. Out of curiosity, do they not wear eyeglasses? Sometimes that can make all the difference. Personally, I cant focus on anything beyond roughly 12 inches beyond my face, which means without glasses, I’m functionally blind.
As for your own UI issues, drag the minimap to the top corner of the screen, and try that for a while. I’ve done that, and not gone back. Frankly it’d be nice if we could hide the minimap.
One of my Mesmer comrades has poor eyesight. It makes it difficult for them to tell what charge their Mantra is on. The request was that an additional charge number could be placed on the skill icon itself so it would be easier to see. There would be no confusion because a cooldown ticks, and colours the skill icon black until the cd finishes.
That was their request.
My request is that this is not going far enough to just change one skill. The entire UI should have some option for resizing or changing to accommodate not only those with visual disabilities, but also the players who simply find some aspects intrusive. For instance when I have too many buffs I have to decrease the size of my map in order to see them all.
So the questions for this thread are both for anet and for the player base.
(For anet) Is there anything in development to assist players with visual disabilities?
(For both) What about your gaming experience has been affected because you were unable to resize or move aspects of the UI?
Graphic options gives you interface size options. Setting “interface size” to “larger” makes it pretty kitten gigantic. Have them give that a try. Out of curiosity, do they not wear eyeglasses? Sometimes that can make all the difference. Personally, I cant focus on anything beyond roughly 12 inches beyond my face, which means without glasses, I’m functionally blind.
As for your own UI issues, drag the minimap to the top corner of the screen, and try that for a while. I’ve done that, and not gone back. Frankly it’d be nice if we could hide the minimap.
I’m not sure setting the size for the entire UI is the best solution. You yourself said it makes the UI kitten gigantic, which would be super unwelcome to someone who only has problems with the size of a specific part of the UI.
I’ll ask them about how severe their disability is and recommend that temporary fix. But a reminder that not all visual disabilities can be fixed with glasses and not all people can afford correct prescriptions, I am fortunate to have insurance but my lenses still cost me around 200 to 300 dollars. I can maintain 20/20 easily, others may be less fortunate. Also remember the issue isn’t the minimap, the issue is that boons and buffs can extend from the health circle to the right edge of the screen interfering with whatever is there.
“Kentigem”-chief. Born cycle of Dusk. Wyld Hunt:
Learn as much mending and medical info as possible so that it can be added to the Dream.
Become the first Chief of Mending and guide the newly awaken as well as those who want to learn.
The reason I suggested moving the minimap is because that’s really the ONLY thing that excessive boons would impact.
Well actually that isn’t true. If you have quest data in that region from having all your dailies listed, you cant read the data on a boon. Anything that goes into that region is impacted by excessive boons.
“Kentigem”-chief. Born cycle of Dusk. Wyld Hunt:
Learn as much mending and medical info as possible so that it can be added to the Dream.
Become the first Chief of Mending and guide the newly awaken as well as those who want to learn.
“Kentigem”-chief. Born cycle of Dusk. Wyld Hunt:
Learn as much mending and medical info as possible so that it can be added to the Dream.
Become the first Chief of Mending and guide the newly awaken as well as those who want to learn.
Bump. Kinda gonna keep bumping it until ANET addresses it or the forum mods tell me to stop.
While I think your cause is decent, if you are familiar with this forum you will notice that Anet very rarely responds to posts and suggestions. Bumping your thread like this will more than likely end up with it being closed instead of getting the response your are looking for.
Perhaps you should contact the forum specialist and see if they are willing to include your suggestion in their weekly report.
Bump. Kinda gonna keep bumping it until ANET addresses it or the forum mods tell me to stop.
While I think your cause is decent, if you are familiar with this forum you will notice that Anet very rarely responds to posts and suggestions. Bumping your thread like this will more than likely end up with it being closed instead of getting the response your are looking for.
Perhaps you should contact the forum specialist and see if they are willing to include your suggestion in their weekly report.
Can you explain more. I am not very familiar with this forum. What is a forum specialist?
“Kentigem”-chief. Born cycle of Dusk. Wyld Hunt:
Learn as much mending and medical info as possible so that it can be added to the Dream.
Become the first Chief of Mending and guide the newly awaken as well as those who want to learn.
Does anyone know what a forum specialist is or who I would talk to?
“Kentigem”-chief. Born cycle of Dusk. Wyld Hunt:
Learn as much mending and medical info as possible so that it can be added to the Dream.
Become the first Chief of Mending and guide the newly awaken as well as those who want to learn.
I know we’d like to have ANET actually do something, but would this be also possible with 3rd party programs?
Doesn’t ANET have that overwolf or something overlay program contest? Couldn’t this “visible to average players” information be displayed in larger context with the program as it would not give these players any unfair advantages. Could it even put on filters or additional circles overlayed on top for the ground targeting for the people that are unable to see certain colors?
As some one else who is partially sighted with a problem that glasses etc won’t fix I can agree that the ability to re size specific items on the UI would be a really useful addition.
I have already set everything to the best compromise and it still leaves a bit to be desired. Small things like the chat box not fitting beside the skill keys, it has to be sited at the top or fits slightly high above the skills bar leaving a big gap below, a fraction smaller and it would fit.
I also have to be careful with the bank or BLTP screens they take up the whole height of the screen if I try moving them just a little then I lose the bottom section.
I know there are programmes to help with the general problem using a computer, and outside of games I do use one but they do not really help in game and only tend to magnify a specific section of the screen. normally where the mouse is which isn’t always what I would want when gaming.
I have friend who’s colorblind… He can’t tell the red circles from the green circles.
Same. Colourblind guildy can’t see AOEs.
Also same. My friend is colorblind and can’t tell a friendly from an enemy circle. He’ll often dodge roll out of healing fields and the like.
I’ve noticed the patterns around the circle are different depending on friend or foe. Foes have more jagged spikes; while friends have low spikes and hills and of course a bubbling effect. Still in the heat of battle sometimes those extra seconds trying to deduce what circle you are in could be deadly.
So it’d be great if a colorblind mode for those sorts of things could be added.
I’m blind in my left eye and my glasses don’t fix that. They also don’t bring my “good” eye up to the levels of perfect sight. I can’t read red nameplates, I can’t tell what icons are what under an enemies’ health bar, I can’t see tells most of the time because either the enemy is too small or it’s engulfed in light from particle effects, or both. And the left side of my screen is generally a blur unless I keep my head turned to the side like a bird. This game could really, seriously use some improvements for the visually impaired.
Which definitely includes a colorblind mode. I’ve been saying this since launch, but this game desperately needs this. I’m not colorblind but red aoes completely disappear for me on red ground, and it’s intensely frustrating, I feel terrible for people for whom red AOEs look like white AOEs.