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Clarity of Effects
darthtzarr
Member Posts: 1,003 Arc User
I am not going to be talking about the balance of effects in PVP, simply their clarity. I do not think the game is balanced, or that any of these effects are okay (or not okay) to have in the game, however, as long as they currently exist, they should be clearer, and easier to understand, so that players are not left cluelessly raging at unknown mechanics. Even after known certain mechanics exist, it is often hard to see them in play, since they are not visible.
One such mechanic is Shadow of Demise.
I said no balance comment! Okay, so as it currently stands this is a stacking damage counter for 6 seconds followed by a burst of damage. This damage can be mitigated, but it is very difficult to understand when it is active and when it is going to explode. This mechanic is actually very similar to a mechanic from another game. Zed's ultimate power from League of Legends--Death Mark. As a matter of fact, it's almost identical. Probably one of the biggest differences is the visibility of this power. Zed's Death Mark leaves a very visible pulsing mark directly on top of the enemy (similar to the GF mark or OP bane). It also pulses loudly for everyone nearby, differentiating in sound for each tick, so that everyone knows the exact time at which is will explode. This is huge. Neverwinter may or may not have the resources to make something this detailed and flashy, but I think there should be some (massive) indicator to help players (including the TR themselves) to understand the mechanic at play.
Another mechanic is the new CC resist stacks. It's nearly impossible to track these during a fight. It's even harder to tell when your opponent is immune or not. It would be great if we could get some type of indicator for when someone is immune (for both the immune and others around them). This indicator could be an icon over their head, a bright circle below their feet, a glowing aura, anything that lets us see the immunity quickly. The buff bar is useful for replays and testing, but is currently nearly useless for realtime info like these immunity stacks.
Another one is the stacking heal from Agent of the Divine capstone. It is impossible to see how much is currently in the pool. Even hovering the tooltip won't show you. It would be cool if the amount it would heal was displays almost like a 2nd HP bar (similar to temp HP), or at minimum the amount added to the tooltip. I understand that if killed from above 45% HP, the gift never procs, so displaying a literal HP bar probably isn't the best of options.
Another one is the Avatar of the Divine capstone. Although it shows when it starts, it doesn't show when it ends. This effect can be a little confusing to use at first, since you do so much more damage (no balance comments!
) for the first 20 odd seconds of the fight, and then seem to lose damage without explanation. It would be cool to have a weapon glow, a halo, red text when it ends, something to indicate the end of this effect. It is simply too long to count when it starts/ends.
Another one is damage debuffs. I am talking about Courage Breaker, Break the Spirit, Feytouched, Power of the Sun, Valhalla set, etc. It would be great to get an indicator of some kind to see that your damage is being drastically reduced by these effects. If I am dealing 5% of my actual base damage, I probably want to save my powers to use later. There are so many of these effects that it is no longer feasibly possible to actually track each of them while in combat.
Finally (for now) is damage resistance/armor pen. I think it's important to know when you are hitting a brick wall. It would be great to see an indication of when you are attacking someone that is mitigating 80% of your damage with DR/pvpDR instead of just mysteriously doing less damage. Even if this were just done as a special sound effect and flash when your attack is "fully" mitigated it would be more useful than the current system. It could just be shown as a shield icon above their head when damaging them.
Obviously, having too much visible just becomes clutter (look at the current buff/debuff bars for reference), but some things really do need displayed. There are even some effects that I think shouldn't be displayed that are such as Smoulder and Divine Glow, which should only be visible (if at all) to their owners.
One such mechanic is Shadow of Demise.
I said no balance comment! Okay, so as it currently stands this is a stacking damage counter for 6 seconds followed by a burst of damage. This damage can be mitigated, but it is very difficult to understand when it is active and when it is going to explode. This mechanic is actually very similar to a mechanic from another game. Zed's ultimate power from League of Legends--Death Mark. As a matter of fact, it's almost identical. Probably one of the biggest differences is the visibility of this power. Zed's Death Mark leaves a very visible pulsing mark directly on top of the enemy (similar to the GF mark or OP bane). It also pulses loudly for everyone nearby, differentiating in sound for each tick, so that everyone knows the exact time at which is will explode. This is huge. Neverwinter may or may not have the resources to make something this detailed and flashy, but I think there should be some (massive) indicator to help players (including the TR themselves) to understand the mechanic at play.Another mechanic is the new CC resist stacks. It's nearly impossible to track these during a fight. It's even harder to tell when your opponent is immune or not. It would be great if we could get some type of indicator for when someone is immune (for both the immune and others around them). This indicator could be an icon over their head, a bright circle below their feet, a glowing aura, anything that lets us see the immunity quickly. The buff bar is useful for replays and testing, but is currently nearly useless for realtime info like these immunity stacks.
Another one is the stacking heal from Agent of the Divine capstone. It is impossible to see how much is currently in the pool. Even hovering the tooltip won't show you. It would be cool if the amount it would heal was displays almost like a 2nd HP bar (similar to temp HP), or at minimum the amount added to the tooltip. I understand that if killed from above 45% HP, the gift never procs, so displaying a literal HP bar probably isn't the best of options.
Another one is the Avatar of the Divine capstone. Although it shows when it starts, it doesn't show when it ends. This effect can be a little confusing to use at first, since you do so much more damage (no balance comments!
) for the first 20 odd seconds of the fight, and then seem to lose damage without explanation. It would be cool to have a weapon glow, a halo, red text when it ends, something to indicate the end of this effect. It is simply too long to count when it starts/ends.Another one is damage debuffs. I am talking about Courage Breaker, Break the Spirit, Feytouched, Power of the Sun, Valhalla set, etc. It would be great to get an indicator of some kind to see that your damage is being drastically reduced by these effects. If I am dealing 5% of my actual base damage, I probably want to save my powers to use later. There are so many of these effects that it is no longer feasibly possible to actually track each of them while in combat.
Finally (for now) is damage resistance/armor pen. I think it's important to know when you are hitting a brick wall. It would be great to see an indication of when you are attacking someone that is mitigating 80% of your damage with DR/pvpDR instead of just mysteriously doing less damage. Even if this were just done as a special sound effect and flash when your attack is "fully" mitigated it would be more useful than the current system. It could just be shown as a shield icon above their head when damaging them.
Obviously, having too much visible just becomes clutter (look at the current buff/debuff bars for reference), but some things really do need displayed. There are even some effects that I think shouldn't be displayed that are such as Smoulder and Divine Glow, which should only be visible (if at all) to their owners.
Signature [WIP] - tyvm John
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