Ease of watching – particles (boons):
There are a lot of boons in the game. A lot are communicated with really small icons. I say this because of the above non-boon particles. It is difficult to see them should they actually have an animation associated with them. While making solid objects a priority for communication will enhance the boon information, there are some boon cues that could be visually improved.
- Problem: visual information about boons is not sufficient.
- Possible solution: more intuitive visuals associated with boons.
- Cost of doing it: increased amount of visual effects.
- Cost of not doing it: following the boons in play is extremely confusing since they are poorly communicated. Other particle effects are making it extremely difficult to
see what one should do, especially when there are massive skill effects
around.
- Implementation: the boons in play could have a stronger visual indication based on what they do. A lot of them could be revised effects that are already in play: stability can be the same effect as wielding the Juggernaut (half body, legs only, black metallic color); retaliation could be something similar to Guardian off-hand focus 5 but with daggers instead of shields (and much closer to the body to prevent clutter), and so on.
Ease of watching – telegraphing:
For a PvP game that wants to be taken seriously, the difference in size between character models will be off-putting to quite a lot of viewers. It means that their skill telegraphs will be very difficult to see, not only for the players, but perhaps more importantly for the viewers. The Asura are the big problem here, and it is not uncommon to see full Asura teams because of this discrepancy in ability to see telegraphed skills.
- Problem: It is simply not fun to watch what you can’t understand, as has been the
idea behind this text.
- Possible solution: normalize the size of the player models, have tourneys play out in fixed races.
- Cost of doing it: some players will be upset because they do not feel that it is a problem.
- Cost of not doing it: telegraphed skills not being seen by viewers leading to holes in the information that should be given but is not. Not being taken seriously because
of these discrepancies; this can also lead to misunderstandings about hit boxes. Better telegraphing would also increase the intuition of when to dodge for newer players, and when someone should have dodged for viewers. It’s a nice mechanic, let’s make more use out of it.
- Implementation: rescaling of player models seems like a viable option.
Discussion
What would you do to improve the quality of viewing Guild Wars 2 streams?
