Guild Wars 2

Well, just my opinion, as I’m mostly a open world PvE player.

I think the Auras visual should have been included into the new and improved “Effect LOD”. Few times I’m having doubts about “what if I missed the aura”, since I can’t spot them on allies and waste my time trying to confirm I managed to land it on them.

Or Auras could have friendly and hostile appearances (friendly being more easy to spot on an ally, while hostile would be those transparent eggshields that are hard to spot).

That is another nice side effect of, ohh we are going for ESL, for that we have to reduce the visual effect so people can see something in twitch, screew all the other people who have no interest in ESL making harder to spot auras.

Any reasonable people will place a setting saying increased effect/reduced effect in Options but not with ANet, they decide we all should be ESL fans and be done with it.

But the new auras are so glassy and elegant

Bump for visibility (pun intended).
I would absolutely love to see the Aura effects returned to their original glory with the new ‘effects LoD’ options.

Everyone knows that the end-game of GW2 is looking fabulous, and until we get our aura FX back the Elementalist (and especially Tempest) is severely hampered in this regard by our colored-egg-shell powers.

i like the new auras they are well drawn, whats the problem?

vesica tempestas.1563:

i like the new auras they are well drawn, whats the problem?

The problem is the fact that you can’t see them when you’re in a raid / fractal / boss fight and a carpet-bombing is going on all around you. For example: To this day, I STILL have no idea what the Magnetic Aura looks like, and I use it a ton in Raids because I run the Earth Traitline for permanent Protection (so I’m constantly spamming Sand Squall and Earth Overload). But because I can’t tell who’s got an Aura on them, or if my Frost Auras fired when my Water traits kicked in, I have to rely on CDs to tell weather or not I’ve actually supported my team.

THAT’S the problem. They may be “well drawn”, but the current design serves no purpose where it matters – visibility.

Yes the previous affects were much better.

vesica tempestas.1563:

i like the new auras they are well drawn, whats the problem?

The problem isn’t with the quality of the new auras, it’s in the design of them.

The old auras felt powerful and encompassing, like a full field of energy enveloping your character.

These new auras just look like a small flurry of light at your ankles, and an unbelievably thin shell around you.

It doesn’t feel like it would burn my attackers or reflect cannonballs, it doesn’t seem substantial enough to lash out and stun someone who hits me.

Also, the new auras are tough to see.
In PvP, it can be very hard to tell if someone has shocking aura on them, which can lead to being stunned out of important channels or combos.
The old shocking aura was not only very bright and loud, it also had a lot of movement to it which drew the eye.

As others pointed out, the new auras may cut down FX ‘noise’, but they also cut out functionality and flavor.

I do not want the new aura FX to be deleted, just made optional.
Have the FX LoD option control if you see the reduced visuals (new ones) or the bright and large visuals (original flavor).