Guild Wars 2

I was fighting the Dredge Powersuit on the Tier 2 Underground Facility Fractal, dying several times, when I realized that the reason I was dying was because I was standing in AoE circles that I couldn’t see. I am red-greed colorblind, and can only barely see the color red, and I found the narrow red outlines to be nearly imperceptible against the backdrop of white snow. In the end, I switched to a ranged weapon and stayed at max range, which was more dps than I could do while dead, but much less than is possible with a melee weapon.

There are some contexts in which the little red outline is adequate (it stands out better for me against a blue background), and at low levels it isn’t a big issue, because you can stand in AoE for several seconds without dying. But I feel like I can’t progress to higher level fractals or raids because standing in an AoE circle for even a moment means death, and I can’t see the circles to avoid them. The same is true in WvW, where people often stack wells to make an instant-death zone. It’s frustrating to feel held back by a disability which rarely comes up in my everyday life.

Having thought about it, I could suggest a number of different potential fixes to make Guild Wars 2 more colorblind-friendly. For me, it would be sufficient to simply be able to change the color of the red outline on enemy AoE circles. Alternatively, it might be helpful to be able to fill in the circles with some sort of highly-visible pattern. I find AoE skills like lava font easier to avoid because they have a component which is visible inside the circle, and being able to do something similar for all AoE would be a big help.

The large yellow-orange circles and cones that are used for active AoE skills are very easy for me to see, because their color is high contrast, and the whole object is filled in. These are the AoE circles and cones that pop up under several bosses, keep lords in the desert borderlands, and Mordrem Punishers, among others. I know that red circles refer to something different from yellow-orange circles, but I think taking design cues from the AoE circles that are easy to see could help in making the game more colorblind-accessible. Being able to swap red circles to match yellow-orange circles, or circles of a different color which are similarly high-contrast and filled-in, would go a long way towards making the game more playable for people like me.