Guild Wars 2

Actually, yeah. Very this.

+1

I think I prefer the old blue skill point icons.

If you can’t find anything on a specific map for map completion, you can always visit http://gw2.mmorpg-life.com

I use this to quickly identify and pinpoint stuff I have missed in any map.

Yah, I noticed this right away when they introduced them. Especially in maps that are mostly brown like Dry Top / Silverwastes. I actually ran right past the skill point inside of the Vinewrath cave half a dozen times on one of my characters who didn’t have said skill point before I even realized I didn’t have it yet.

Honestly don’t know why they changed the old symbol. Yah, the old symbol was for skill points, but since skill points no longer exist… I dunno, may as well just use it, far as I’m concerned.

It certainly stood out WAY better than the current icon. At the very least, if you don’t revert to the old icon, make it a different color. Something that stands out more than dull brown.

I miss them all the time. They blend in so well I end up doing so many back and forths. I miss the old blue ones. :C

At least one is bugged and is literally invisible from above. It’s a Hero Challenge in the Fields of Ruin inside a Harpy nest. You have to get right beside it before you can see it in the nest and it doesn’t become visible after you do it either.

If you set the content guide options to “Hide Events and Personal Story” it should lead you to all the map completion stuff.

That being said, the new icon is rather difficult to see.

I also find the current color does not lend itself to visibility. Tan/brown blend into the landscape too well. What would have been wrong about the blue color? Were they afraid players wouldn’t get they were different? If not blue, then how about commander tag purple? Those stand out…

Short of making them transparent with pale, thin outer lines, they couldn’t have made them more difficult to see than they are now.

Maybe they can give it a periodic shimmer on the mini map similar to what you see when you hover the cursor over the icon on the full map.

Ayrilana.1396:

Maybe they can give it a periodic shimmer on the mini map similar to what you see when you hover the cursor over the icon on the full map.

Or maybe they could recolor them to something that stands out from the background, like blue.

I actually can’t even find the icons in the 3 pictures in the OP.

Who the hell thought it was a good idea to change the icons from their previous noticeable blue arrow icon to this where it’s barely visible at all?

This is weird to me, since I’m able to see the icons all perfectly fine in the minimap. I don’t know if it’d be something to do with graphic options or what, but they stick out fine for me. But if some people are experiencing what you are, then yeah, that definitely needs to be fixed.

you can just highlight hero challenge with the mouse is causes all the ones not done to sparkle or glow or what ever it is that is does.
also what area is that?

TJgalon.5012:

you can just highlight hero challenge with the mouse is causes all the ones not done to sparkle or glow or what ever it is that is does.
also what area is that?

That’s Metrica Province.

It’s been posted before, but I’ll join the chant again. We need Hero Point icons that actually stand out. Not all of us have incredibly amazing 20/20 eyesight.

If I hadn’t finished world completion a few times before they brought in Hero Points I would have no clue where half of them are. That bright Cyan colour was the right colour. Whoever thought of making it brown should be hung, drawn and quartered.

I wonder if it a option that i do not have selected, or do. cause they seem to stand out a lot to me.

The perverse thing is, once you complete the skill challenge (I’m sorry, hero point), it becomes this bright gold color which stands out pretty well. In other words, the thing you have no need to do again is easier to see than the thing that you need to do.

Scratcherclaw.2713:

This is weird to me, since I’m able to see the icons all perfectly fine in the minimap.

You’re at a higher zoom level on the minimap. A lot of us prefer the lowest zoom level which still shows features, so we can spot resource nodes. At that zoom level, the edges of the incomplete hero point (or heart) icon are too thin and easily blend with the background clutter.

Purple Miku.7032:

I actually can’t even find the icons in the 3 pictures in the OP.

Who the hell thought it was a good idea to change the icons from their previous noticeable blue arrow icon to this where it’s barely visible at all?

Perhaps someone who enjoyed “Where’s Waldo” books as a child. At least that’s what I feel I’m playing when I uncover maps. xD

ANet’s UI design in GW2 was always a bit poor (a bit! lol) but the hero point change was just unbelievable, they made the UI much worse. Updates are supposed to make things better but GW2 UI is now somewhat of a joke. From invisible elements to OTT particle effects, lack of configuration to RSI inducing double-clickness everywhere. ANet UI really needs a big overhaul. The playerbase has been complaining about all these bad UI elements since launch and things just keep getting worse.

Solandri.9640:

The perverse thing is, once you complete the skill challenge (I’m sorry, hero point), it becomes this bright gold color which stands out pretty well. In other words, the thing you have no need to do again is easier to see than the thing that you need to do.

Scratcherclaw.2713:

This is weird to me, since I’m able to see the icons all perfectly fine in the minimap.

You’re at a higher zoom level on the minimap. A lot of us prefer the lowest zoom level which still shows features, so we can spot resource nodes. At that zoom level, the edges of the incomplete hero point (or heart) icon are too thin and easily blend with the background clutter.

higher you mean more zoom out, yes, cause I always leave mine zoom in as far as it can go, and never noticed a issue.

Already was an earlier thread about this. Agree with it. Old ones were better (smaller but draw more attention, exactly what a mini map icon should be).

Apceroz.7964:

I think I prefer the old blue skill point icons.

I really miss the big huge BLUE CHEVRONS that were incredibly easy to find on the map.

With the new icon, I’ve walked past tons of points simply because I couldn’t tell it wasn’t:

• sand
• a mountain
• trees?
• maybe just something on the map

Agree 100% with the OP. I had problems seeing them on several maps.

I’ll join in the request for a return to the blue color (current icon is fine, just blends in due to the color). But color demands seem least likely to ever be heard by ANet.

/quietly weeps over grey emote text

I agree, the hero point icons are extremely hard to see. Even more so when zoomed out! I think they need to be larger, and at the very least, have some sort of outer glow on the icons or SOMETHING to make them noticeable.

Edit: Or like others have said, revert it to the pointy blue chevron icons they used to be.

I feel like I’m playing where’s Wally with those pictures. I couldn’t find him on the third one.

I quite agree. The old ‘skill point’ blue chevron was much easier to discern on the maps. I wish they would go back to some brighter coloration.

Yeah, I’ve found the hero points on the three screenshots with some searching. I can understand why they wanted to change the icon when they changed the system (it’s a good idea to visually indicate that the system has changed) but I much prefer the old skill point icons to these new ones.

The “little man” in the middle of the new icon is the problem here, I think. If it was a solid block of colour it’d probably be OK. Even a thicker border would probably do but I’d much prefer blue to yellow as yellow tends to blends into the background a lot more than blue.

Yes those are quite hard to see actually. It was a bit difficult to complete a few maps while I played my new sylvari alt since I had to run to some places twice.

@OP I took your screenshots and did a little photoshop on them to give the hero points the blue color again, don’t know if its the same they previously used for skill points though. That way the problem should be solved.

Agreed. Everytime this topic comes up I will agree. I dislike the color of the new icon.

This sort of thing makes me wonder about the quality of quality control or the amount that feedback is listened to.

They make a mini Tybalt with a female Charr tail. The artist never notices? The person that checks the art work never notices? It goes (presumably) to a general meeting of people who vet the products that are going into the game. No one notices? It gets sent to the people who put it in the game. No one notices? And then of course the bug reports come in and after being in the game all this time, he still has a female tail.

And with these icons. Someone or a committee came up with the idea of putting brown icons on top of a brown/green background and no one noticed they were hard to see during any of the quality checks?

I think the new icon looks nicer which is what the artists went for. But the visibility is indeed alot worse than the bright blue old ones. The small photoshop above by ShelBlackblood already increases visibility drastically. Sometimes UI usability should come above ‘making it look pretty’. I think this is a good example where the artist intentions were good but it just didn’t work out so well in practise.

+1

First of all… I like this game freaking much!
But this is something a development team should be truly ashamed of… You literally can not see a huge amount of the skill points/challenges since that patch. If it was my choice I would make it pink. They should have made it a better color yesterday!

No need to spend time re-evaluating or developing anything new. Just put the old icons back or change the color of the new one to that same blue.

If your color-blind, its worse. They might as well be invisible.

roperratt.6917:

If your color-blind, its worse. They might as well be invisible.

I’m pretty sure it was mentioned they have color blind staffers. Since there have been numerous posts about the problems that color blind people have, including one that Gayle posted on, you would think that they could have a policy of running new icons or skill effects by their color blind staffers for a quick check.

Where’s Waldo: Hero Point Edition

Yea, I definitely think the old ones were more notable on the map.

I agree, i cant even see the icons on the pics you have added. Maybe im partly colorblind? :S