Spoilers Lw S4 - Warning for All Those Who are Light Sensitive

Anet, you've done it again and shown you don't give a skrit about players with seizures, migraines, or sensory sensitivity.

LW S4 opens with a nightmare of flashing, pulsing, and exploding lights.

-Flashing brandstorm-Multiple red and orange flashing circles on the ground-Flashing crystals all over-Pulsing shields-Eyestraining bright colors that pulsate-Flashing lightning

Several SEVERAL players have complained about this over and over AND KITTEN OVER but it's like you don't care. All you have to do to fix that first instance is LESS flashing and less frequency of the flashing, THAT'S IT. As it stands, my eyes are watering and I want to vomit because of too many flashing pulsing lights. I understand, you want special effects but this is just getting stupid. People have told you over and over that it's flashing. pulsing, and exploding effects that are causing issues so what do you do? Add more, pump up the intensity, and you add time gated GARBAGE (Wyvern crystals). To someone with seizure and migraine triggers, moving fast in a field of blinding and painful effects isn't kitten happening. Especially with stuns and knockbacks as well. That instance was an absolute nightmare, what the skrit were you thinking? Oh and if I want to take my other toons to Istan or play LW S4 on them? Yeah I have to do this crap again.

Seriously, this has to stop. Tone this garbage down. Do we have to get Jim Sterling involved in this too so you'll stop because that seemed to have gotten the mount situation solved quick. How much more do we have to beg you to stop and explain the issue why we need it to stop? There's no reason for that much flash and effect. NONE. You could accomplish the same with far far less. In fact, far less would be more visually appealing and give the player the chance to actually look around and see what was going on instant of being blinded and distracted by quick flashing intense effects. What does this even add to the game? Really? I want an actual explanation from the Devs for this and for all the past effects. What do bright rapidly flashing effects add that you absolutely could not do with anything else? And I want to pinpoint.. it's the F L A S H I N G. Not the fact there are bright lights. Not bright sparkly mounts. Not weapons with effects. It's F L A S H I N G lights that do this and the faster they pulse, flash, or strobe - the worse it is. Other examples?

-Effects in Hearts and Minds-Bloodstone effects in Confessor's Stronghold-Effects in the final stage of the battle in PoF's Crystalline Memories-Effects in The Last Chance-Motion sickness in Confessor's End-Motion sickness in Bitter Harvest

I know these are not needed because I have finished some truly epic battles, such as PoF's finale against Balthazar, and did NOT see the rapid flashing, nausea and migraine inducing effects used. At. All. These fights were still hard and still challenged me but without the added effect of making me sick and triggering a migraine. You can use flashing effects and tone down the frequency and still get the same effect, I swear to the Eternal Alchemy that you can, so I want to know why this keeps happening? Why can't we have a graphics slider? WHY?

Sorry for the harsh tone but I'm irked. People whine about mounts, Anet instantly comes out with a statement and says no more added loot boxes. People complain about medical issues and we get a shrug. Thanks.

Edit: five minutes after that light show, I am now quite nauseated.

I agree with your post. I don't have those problems any more than anyone else, but that first instance was a real shitshow of lights and effects that needs fixing. Not to mention the instance was typical Anet with no direction other than a passing comment by the "player" about how to do it that is readily missed with all the activity and lights and sounds. Uh, perhaps update the quest marker so we know what we're supposed to do with the invulnerable ones and where to go? Maybe help players out who are overloaded with your shitshow know the exact next object to be attacked?

Ugh. I simply exited the game while right in the middle of that first instance and said to hell with it. Won't be playing it until I see some updates to that nonsense. Wow. HTF thinks this was OK?

They have warning about seizure, like every video games.

The start of LS4 was so awful I almost quite right there, so much blinking and flashing. After spending 10 minutes in the graphics options I managed to tone it down to the level where my eyes did not instantly pop out anymore. It remained horribly annoying andfor the parts where no direct action was needed I still had to simply look away and forve myself through whole instance. Truely terrible design and none of that lightshow adds anything to the story or improves the fight in any way, just makes everything worse.

I made through it but I missed all the dialogue and do not remember anything about the boss battle, just that it all felt bad and I do not want to repeat this with my other characters.

"We included a warning just for players with seizures so we can completely overdo it with flashing lights so bad that even players without health issues are getting sick"

Yeah that worked so well for Pokemon too or don't you remember Electric Solider Porygon? You know, the episode that made kids in Japan sick and is now banned because they realized rapidly flashing different colored lights = bad?

I'm hearing people without migraine or seizure triggers are getting ill from that instance now. I could understand if we were talking like the bright colored mounts or other things but this is 100% unneeded garbage that the instance doesn't need and is turning people off left and right. Don't play that.

What with people who actually like such flashy effects?

@cNd.1096 said:What with people who actually like such flashy effects?Think if people just had the option of saying they don't want it then both sides would get what they want. Problem is just getting through it when only 2 choices are - ignore and get through as fast as possible (and miss everything) or bail from the event. Means over time more and more people wont enjoy the events and means less investment. Think hardest part is finding a balance that keeps everyone happy as yep I do know that people enjoy all the bells and whistles.

I empathize with this situation because I get motion-sick easily in alot of First Person Shooters. What kind of change would improve this? Maybe an option to disable all skill and attack effects and switch to basic projectiles, arcs and circles?

@Therys.4368 said:I empathize with this situation because I get motion-sick easily in alot of First Person Shooters. What kind of change would improve this? Maybe an option to disable all skill and attack effects and switch to basic projectiles, arcs and circles?

Either a slider so you can decide how much flash and glow you want or an option to disable/tone down visual effects. That's seriously it, it's all they need to do.

@cNd.1096 said:What with people who actually like such flashy effects?

Well... I'm sort of bias, I admit. I get why you like it and I wish Anet would consider an option like I said above for people in your boat.

That what I meant, author just wants to disable this effects, ignoring people who may like them.

@cNd.1096 said:That what I meant, author just wants to disable this effects, ignoring people who may like them.

You've been talking to author and author would prefer a slider or option but it's getting to the point where it can't come soon enough and it would be nice if it just stopped being used until Anet got their skrit together and designed that option. Super unpleasant to have your entire LW S4 experience ruined by an over abundance of flashing lights. Especially when more players than me have said "This isn't cool".

Then you're right, such options would make both sides happy. And about you, it may be stupid idea, but have you tried changing your gamma slider?

I've put my graphics to low settings and that didn't help as much as I hoped :( I could try messing with the gamma slider again too. I've also considered changing monitor settings just for that instance since I'll have to redo it on my alts. It's just... I wish Anet would listen and stop or start development on an effects option/slider.

Thanks for the heads up. I do have epilepsy (somewhat severe at times) & light sensitive eyes "yay me" (most sunny days puts me on my knees) but I will take caution with this. I know the risks & i know my limits. I will play with another just incase i need a hand through the instance.

Probably thinking...then why play? /uninstall. But in my reality. GW & GW2 have been great for me to pass time & get away from it all. "I know Gaile, you told me to stop playing once before but as said i know my limits. :)

Cheers guys~J

Anything on-screen, might it be movies, TV shows or even events like at the prom or my brother's wedding had light shows, strobe lights on the dancefloor etc. And you still do play and basically expose yourself to those hazards. That's like saying "I am alcoholic, so let's ban all alcoholic drinks so I can be a killjoy for anyone who likes to have a drink here and there. Or at least force people to invent non-alcoholic drinks for me" - instead of said alcoholic not entering a bar at all. Or when you're motion sensitive - this is 100% triggered by watching movies or video games on-screen while your own motion senses (in the ear for example) do not register movement. But how are you supposed to move in video games or display dramatic scenes? Did people ask for "slower movement" or "sliders" in the "DAS BOOT" movie when they readied their torpedos and displayed all shaky cameras and such? I mean, it's a solid and neccessary part of movies and video games. Else we could just film a chess board and call it "CHESS - THE MOVIE - VIDEO GAMES SOLD SEPERATELY".

Sorry, but this whole caps lock swearing that a video game uses stylistic devices common and known for visual media (and PC and TV are restricted to audio-visual aspects by the very design) makes me sort of angry. Reads a bit like in Spongebob Squarepent's episode with the delivery serviced and that one guy rages about the missing diet cola after the odyssey they went trough to deliver said menu.

In very short: Blinking, pulsing and other photo-sensory triggers are necessary part of video games and movies as they are audio-visual media. If you still consume such media while knowing about your problems is like an alcoholic entering a bar and then rage at the barkeeper why he serves alcohol in his pub. First person shooters are prone to motion sickness by design and still people say they buy and play them - just to complain about that later.

I would support the slider option. I would not support removal of content.

@Zedek.8932 said:In very short: Blinking, pulsing and other photo-sensory triggers are necessary part of video games and movies as they are audio-visual media. If you still consume such media while knowing about your problems is like an alcoholic entering a bar and then rage at the barkeeper why he serves alcohol in his pub. First person shooters are prone to motion sickness by design and still people say they buy and play them - just to complain about that later.

Complete and utter rubbish. When most video games and movies can do perfectly fine without any such effects, the ones which do use them are just examples of bad game design and bad movie directing. Because these are easiest effects to HIDE your empty content, to make it prettier or to increase battle difficulty. What is worse, is that game developers DO THIS INTENTIONALLY while being perfectly aware this WILL be problem for some of their paying customers.

I have played GW2 for years and never had SO MUCH problem with the stinking flashing lightning. Sure, some of the previous instances were a bit stupid too but nothing even close to this one. So, it is not example of how WHOLE GW2 is totally unplayable without blinking lights. This is just one single badly designed instance. Think about it for a moment, they could of chosen NOT to add any of these lights, the instance would be done faster and run better. But no, they had to spend money and time to design these effects, so I assume over the course of designing and testing (poor guys who had to look at this for several hours testing the boss fight multiple times), SOMEONE in the company must of asked "Hey guys, maybe we gone too far with this flashing light effect?" And then bunch of developers shouting back to the poor guy "Nah, look how cool and fancy this looks!". Or maybe not. Maybe nobody even cares. Not sure which option is sadder...

As about First Person Shooters, not all of them cause motion sickness, only badly designed ones do. There is number of design tricks to follow that completely negates these possible effects. The bad shooters made by lazy and ignorant developers WILL end up causing this, better ones where developers actually thought through what they are doing and how it affects their customers, do not.

I have ASD and while I will say the flashing lights don't upset my sensory issues too much if I'm in a comfortably lit room with my small laptop screen, the amount of fight effects do. There is SO MUCH going on now in boss fights with aoe, character mechanics, trash mobs, the option to save npc's etc. It's like every fight is a raid fight but solo and I do not raid because my reaction times and ability to process a lot of activity at once basically doesn't exist, I am a liability to my team. But I adore this game and while I have always found it difficult, the challenge made me feel like I had truly achieved something. Now it just feels like someone is standing and throwing things at my face and screaming "why are you hitting yourself?".

I don't suffer from any seizures but even i'm afraid to get something from all this flashing flash flaaaaash lights all over. Literally considering to play with sunglasses on as its waaaay to much now.

Now add some scourges spamming sand shades to make it complete.

Sorry @"Zedek.8932" , that's complete rubbish and shows you aren't reading or caring.

With migraine triggers, I had no issues with any content in GW2 until Heart of Thorns last two story missions. That's an awful long time and a heck of a lot of content! I've replayed the core game several times - no issues. I've finished Personal Story many times - no issues. I've done HoT maps several times - no issues. Then suddenly those last two story instances which hurt. Do you not see Anet has been ramping up the rapidly flashing, strobing, glowy skritt since HoT and that it didn't really exist before then? GW2 has only recently tossed in this garbage and usually in the story episodes so your BS "lawl all games are like this, don't game and not expect it!" is insanely stupid.I've been a gamer probably longer than you've been alive with few issues. I can count on my fingers the games that set off my migraines out of the 300+ I own and still have fingers left over. The only time I have this issue is when lights/flashing/strobing is outrageously overdone.

This is outrageously overdone.

@Haishao.6851 said:They have warning about seizure, like every video games.

That is CYA legalish boilerplate put on every game, whether it is needed or not. I think even sims has it but I would need to check. The epilepsy community ignores those warnings because they are so overused.

I specialize in accessibility on web sites. I wonder why we even bother to HAVE 508, WCAG, and associated technologies? I mean, I can just slap a disclaimer on the site, right? Yeah, that is equal accessibility there .... games do not get a free pass. It is one thing if we are talking a key mechanic (like if the ONLY way to do something was because the player, and not someone else, heard something) but all the things listed would not suffer one jot if they did not trigger photosensitivity.

As someone with epilepsy I know seizures caused by flashing lights are rare. Still though, I avoid flashing lights when I can because, well, why take the chance? Plus with this large a player population it will affect SOMEONE and I tend not to play russian roulette.

I have to agree, I just did this chapter and I do not normally mind this visual lightshow since it does not affect me negatively. I understand the setting feels more immersive with the lightshow but there should be an option to tone down or switch off these environental effects for those who suffer, even I was eager to end the instance just to get away from it and my desire to redo it for achievments is very low

I have no actual health or comfort issues at all with anything happening in this instance, (or anything else in the game for that matter) and still this instance annoyed the hell out of me. It's just overdone. So much so that I actually had a bit of trouble finding some of the shield empowering crystals that protect the lieutenants. Purple crystals hidden in a purple aura, surrounded by a purple haze and obscured by purple lightning. Really?

If you didn't like the first instance you're not going to be happy further on in the story.

And I agree, took me ages of running around trying to find what I needed to in that Barney the dinosaur on crystal meth pukefest.

Less is more...and someone needs to re-read the definitions of challenging and annoying, they're actually very different. I want to feel challenged, not be going through a fight and mumbling to myself "when is this nonsense going to end so I can see again?"

I guess OP never step a foot in the WvW visual clutter skill spam... after Pof