Guild Wars 2

The problem(s):
One of the game-play mechanics that I consistently forget about is the use of the food or utilities I’ve made, and boosters I’ve collected. If I’m not using up these consumables, then I will neither be making nor buying more in the future. This lack of consumption will leave my bank full of items that I keep forgetting to use, and leaves money unspent that I could be giving to other players via the Trading Post (i.e. helping the gatherers, chefs, and other crafters of Tyria make money from their discipline).

Possible solution:
Icons help to remind me of my present state. When I have a buff on, the simple blue image of a wrench or an apple tells me that I have what I want. But when this icon goes away, I do not have a prompt to tell me what I’m lacking (i.e. no signage leads to little awareness). I may spend much of my game-play unbuffed, especially if I change characters partway through.

Maintaining a small greyed out icon above the skills 6 – 10, would tell me at a glance that something is not what it should be.

• Having four such icons (Food, Utility, Enchanted Reward Boost, Enchanted Combat Boost) could cover the bases.
• The icons can be clickable in the same way that the skills 6 – 10 are, letting you select which item from your backpack you want to consume (i.e. a small window will pop up containing icons that have their own detailed hover-over text)
• These icons can float/move as you gain other stat changes, such as poison, bleeding, aegis etc. Since knowledge of these food buffs are least important while in a fight, they can float at the end of all the icons, or be positioned further out of the way. Only when the fight is over (no other icons present), does one need to be aware of them again.
• The greyed icons can be gated, so as to be consistent with the New Player Experience. Food can still be consumed which will give a blue icon, but the grey icon does not need to replace the blue when the buff is over for a level 2 player.

Issues with implementation:
Right now, the players have a large set of boosts outside of food and utilities that they can use and stack at their pleasure. Some were amalgamated into two large sets (Enchanted Reward/Combat Boosts).

• For my suggestion to be implemented in full, all separate boost items from these sets would have to automatically be turned into one of these conglomerate items. Any boost items such as speed, strength or karma would be changed in all character’s inventories and bank accounts. This step is currently being done at the players’ pleasure and expense.
• Additionally, this would limit the number of boosts a character can apply, as they would have to choose only one option from each of the Reward and Combat lists. (Note that there are still many other buffs that are completely separate from these two categories, such as Birthday or Laureate Magic Find boosters, which will remain stackable).