Visual noise

There is a ton of visual noise in this game. One of the main problems is with the AOE indicators. ANet seems to want them to all have a shared colour theme to make the fights more clear, but all we're left with is orange circles all over the place, and we're never sure of what's going to hit us... We just know something is going to hit us.

Wind-up indicator

Some AOE show us when they are going to hit, with an inner circle growing inside the indicator. This is a great mechanic, but currently some AOE only have a static indicator that doesn't show when the AOE will strike. The solar blooms in the Chaos fractal, the sandbinders' eruptions in the oasis fractal, the tentacle swipes... It would be nice if there was a wind-up indicator for all of them, no matter how fast they come.Also, that wind-up indicator should be on all AOE shapes, not just circle and square ones.

That would leave only the persisting AOE without indicator, which would make them more clear and would make more sense in general.

Crowd control indicator

Instead of having orange circles for almost all AOE, with sometime red circles but we're not sure what's the difference is, we should have different indicators depending on the type of AOE it will be. So, here are my suggestions:

Separate crowd control indicators from damage indicators.If the AOE is a crowd control, put a special mark all around it, on the inner edge of the indicator, to show what kind of AOE it will be.

• If the AOE is only pure damage, make it orange, just like most of them are currently. If there is any form of crowd control attached to it (even if it's just a small one and most of its effect is damage), make it red.
• If the AOE deals a condition, make it orange with the condition's icon circling the indicator.
• If the AOE prevents you from casting your abilities without moving you (stun, daze, static launch, float...), have stun indicators.
• If the AOE pushes you away from its center (wether it be with fear, launch, push, or whatever), have arrows pointing towards the outside.
• If the AOE pulls you in (taunt, pull...), have arrows pointed towards the inside.

Fix visual noice with more visual noice?

@sokeenoppa.5384 said:Fix visual noice with more visual noice?

No. Replace the visual noise so that it appears less of a bunch of orange circles and more of recognisable indicators.

Orange circle bad is all you need to know.

Especially with condi icons inside the circle? Once you have a spell that applies multiple it becomes a mess. Or two circles. Nope, wouldn't do anything. You also can't color code them umless you completely remove particle effects.

I agree with the OPs thought process, but I think putting in different colors for different types of damage will just overly complicate issues.

My main problem currently is that you need to see the animation on the enemy target to predict what they are going to do. I don't know about anyone else, but I have my camera at maximum distance (for environmental awareness) and with all the visual clutter, I couldn't tell you which way the boss is facing most fights.

For PvE at least I want cast bars underneath the target's portrait, especially for big hitting attacks that we are supposed to counter or avoid.

@Turkeyspit.3965 said:I agree with the OPs thought process, but I think putting in different colors for different types of damage will just overly complicate issues.

My main problem currently is that you need to see the animation on the enemy target to predict what they are going to do. I don't know about anyone else, but I have my camera at maximum distance (for environmental awareness) and with all the visual clutter, I couldn't tell you which way the boss is facing most fights.

For PvE at least I want cast bars underneath the target's portrait, especially for big hitting attacks that we are supposed to counter or avoid.

I am not suggesting different colors for different types of damage. I am suggesting 2 colors, one for damaging AOE (orange), and one for crowd control AOE (red).

The additional things I suggest would simply look like minor alterations to the appearance (but not the color) of the AOE indicator so that we can see more specificly what kind of control or condition it will be.