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Console Screen Real Estate and the Buff Bar
silverwolf
Member Posts: 187 Arc User
The Screen Real Estate is important, the player needs to see the game and all the relevant information that they need/want to see.
now, on the PC they've got the ability to have higher graphics settings than us on console so you can shrink things down whilst still making them easily visible to the player. But what about the console ?
Well, when in a group of 5, the player who is located at the bottom of my player list covers over the exact same location as the NPCs that are talking; just pop into T9 on console with 5 players and have a look at the talking points from the NPC when you're walking down the stairs - you just can't see it.
The Icons and Health bars etc for not only myself but other players can really be shrunken by quite a bit, moved up and left on the screen too - there's a huge unused border that's just begging to solve the problem.
But it does also give another interesting option to help solve the issue of screen real estate - the buff bar.
As a player, I want to see the buffs that are most relevant to me when I'm playing unfortunately I only get shown 5 buffs and quite honestly, the ones that are shown don't need to be.
Here's an example; I am VIP, have Stronghold weapons, a Legendary companion and I'm wearing Hags Rags and Eyestalk Wrappers.
What I'm presented with is the Increase to Ranged Damage, The power of VIP (You're already displaying a VIP symbol next to the health bar so you're literally showing this twice), Legendary Bonus, Stronghold Unity and Terrifying Insight (I'm currently using my DC for the example).
I don't need to see any of those when I'm in combat, MY VIP hasn't just expired, I've not disrobed and removed my gear, my companions have not decreased in level down to Epic etc.
What I'd like to see would be Buffs/Debuffs that I want to see. Am I getting Aura of Courage from the Paladin ? Do I still have the Cavalry's Warning Buff or the Power of the Nine Hells buff from the Scourge Warlock etc etc.
1: As a player, I want to be able to specify which Buffs I want to see in Priority and have those displayed.
2: As a player, I want to be able to see all my Buffs/Debuffs that I've selected across the top of the screen
3: As a player, I want to be able to shrink the buff bars/player heals etc for the other 4 players in the group ( I don't need to re-arrange the screen, just have the items smaller to a size that I determine)
4: As a player, I want to be able to just see 3 Quest titles (that must match the title in the Quest Journal for ease of reference) on the right of the screen and not the descriptive text that covers over the map (Check out the River District when you've gotten your daily quest)
5: As a player, I want to be able to shrink the event notification as it's taking too much room on my screen
6: As a player, I want to be able to decide the background colour of the loot text box that appears on screen when my target reticule is near it. A big black box appearing in the middle of my screen when I'm in combat is blocking my view of the enemy and my group. I can't target my Exaltation with a big black box obscuring my view of the DPS character.
7: As a player, I want to be able to shrink the information box at the bottom of the screen that shows my AP, encounters etc as that's taking up a lot of the view.
These are some Quality of Game play additions that I'm sure the PC community have been enjoying for some time but we really need on the console platform too.
now, on the PC they've got the ability to have higher graphics settings than us on console so you can shrink things down whilst still making them easily visible to the player. But what about the console ?
Well, when in a group of 5, the player who is located at the bottom of my player list covers over the exact same location as the NPCs that are talking; just pop into T9 on console with 5 players and have a look at the talking points from the NPC when you're walking down the stairs - you just can't see it.
The Icons and Health bars etc for not only myself but other players can really be shrunken by quite a bit, moved up and left on the screen too - there's a huge unused border that's just begging to solve the problem.
But it does also give another interesting option to help solve the issue of screen real estate - the buff bar.
As a player, I want to see the buffs that are most relevant to me when I'm playing unfortunately I only get shown 5 buffs and quite honestly, the ones that are shown don't need to be.
Here's an example; I am VIP, have Stronghold weapons, a Legendary companion and I'm wearing Hags Rags and Eyestalk Wrappers.
What I'm presented with is the Increase to Ranged Damage, The power of VIP (You're already displaying a VIP symbol next to the health bar so you're literally showing this twice), Legendary Bonus, Stronghold Unity and Terrifying Insight (I'm currently using my DC for the example).
I don't need to see any of those when I'm in combat, MY VIP hasn't just expired, I've not disrobed and removed my gear, my companions have not decreased in level down to Epic etc.
What I'd like to see would be Buffs/Debuffs that I want to see. Am I getting Aura of Courage from the Paladin ? Do I still have the Cavalry's Warning Buff or the Power of the Nine Hells buff from the Scourge Warlock etc etc.
1: As a player, I want to be able to specify which Buffs I want to see in Priority and have those displayed.
2: As a player, I want to be able to see all my Buffs/Debuffs that I've selected across the top of the screen
3: As a player, I want to be able to shrink the buff bars/player heals etc for the other 4 players in the group ( I don't need to re-arrange the screen, just have the items smaller to a size that I determine)
4: As a player, I want to be able to just see 3 Quest titles (that must match the title in the Quest Journal for ease of reference) on the right of the screen and not the descriptive text that covers over the map (Check out the River District when you've gotten your daily quest)
5: As a player, I want to be able to shrink the event notification as it's taking too much room on my screen
6: As a player, I want to be able to decide the background colour of the loot text box that appears on screen when my target reticule is near it. A big black box appearing in the middle of my screen when I'm in combat is blocking my view of the enemy and my group. I can't target my Exaltation with a big black box obscuring my view of the DPS character.
7: As a player, I want to be able to shrink the information box at the bottom of the screen that shows my AP, encounters etc as that's taking up a lot of the view.
These are some Quality of Game play additions that I'm sure the PC community have been enjoying for some time but we really need on the console platform too.
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