Can someone explain the AoE differet markers to me?

[Pheex.8932]

Some enemy AoE is just a red outline, some AoE is a filled orange circle.

Some red AoE just indicates a trap, sometimes a passive ongoing condition damage mechanic, and other times an actively incoming attack, but the time between the ,marker and incoming damage varies per mob.

 

Then fractals and raids seem to have different AoE damage indicators for nearly every fight with arrows, wells, green and red filled circles, etc.

 

Then friendly players have different AoE markers for every class and skill resulting in a huge mess of circles during boss fights completely obscuring any damaging AoE.

 

And on top, half the time I have no idea if a non-red AoE marker is friendly or enemy. Orange outline circles for example seem to be able to be either friendly or enemy?

 

Is there some article I can read on how they all work or is there some kind of system to it?

 

Above all else; how do I differentiate between friendly and enemy AoE and wells?

Edited October 14, 2021 by Pheex.8932

[Blood Red Arachnid.2493]

All non-red AoEs are friendly.  The only confusion would be the fire fields, where the orange outline can sometimes obscure the red part.  All friendly circles come in assorted colors, which you can read about in the combo section of the wiki.

When it comes to PVE enemy circles, there is no consistency.  The circles are handled by the art department, which makes them very inconsistent throughout time.  They follow two general trends, though.  The circles that fill up indicate a timer, and regardless of what the red circles look like you do not want to stand in them.  

[Danikat.8537]

17 hours ago, Pheex.8932 said:

Some enemy AoE is just a red outline, some AoE is a filled orange circle.

Some red AoE just indicates a trap, sometimes a passive ongoing condition damage mechanic, and other times an actively incoming attack, but the time between the ,marker and incoming damage varies per mob.

The red outline is the old version, the filled circle is the new version. Usually newer content uses the new version but there are exceptions when older content has been updated. But basically both mean the same thing.

The type of AoE does vary, but effectively it all comes down to "do not stand here". My approach is to get out of the circle when it first appears, then see what happens. If it's an incoming attack you'll likely see it, or you'll see the circle disappear relatively quickly, and can assume it would have done serious damage if you'd stayed in it. If it sticks around for a while it's an on-going condition field or something similar and you can probably run through it or stand in it for a short time, or out-heal the damage if you need to. Sometimes (depending on what else is going on) you can see additional effects that show you what's going on, like fire or green smoke rising from an AoE field.

But if you're not sure the best approach is just to stay out of red circles.
 

17 hours ago, Pheex.8932 said:

Then fractals and raids seem to have different AoE damage indicators for nearly every fight with arrows, wells, green and red filled circles, etc.

The arrows tell you the boss is going to move in that direction, doing damage as they go. The green circles are the opposite of red circles, you want to stand there because something good will happen (these are also used in other parts of the game sometimes). The red circles (or occasionally rectangles and other shapes) mean the same as they do anywhere else in the game.
 

17 hours ago, Pheex.8932 said:

Then friendly players have different AoE markers for every class and skill resulting in a huge mess of circles during boss fights completely obscuring any damaging AoE.

 

And on top, half the time I have no idea if a non-red AoE marker is friendly or enemy. Orange outline circles for example seem to be able to be either friendly or enemy?

 

Is there some article I can read on how they all work or is there some kind of system to it?

It's not based of the player's profession but the type of combo field. They're all good, or neutral so you don't really need to worry about them, unless you want to activate a particular combo effect.
 

17 hours ago, Pheex.8932 said:

Above all else; how do I differentiate between friendly and enemy AoE and wells?

There's 2 ways:

1. If it's red then it's an enemy AoE, if it's not red then it's friendly.
2. If you're taking damage while in it then it's an enemy AoE.

In general if you're taking damage and you're not sure where it's coming from it's a good idea to move away and see if that helps. All professions can move during combat and (unless you're setting up a series of AoEs of your own) there's rarely a need to stay still for long so moving around is a good way to avoid all kinds of damage.

[Pheex.8932]

Thank you so much for the explanations!

[Urud.4925]

If it's too messy (especially in open world), you can also disable all the players' AoE from the options: that way you'll see only the AoE coming from the enemies, like it used to be. Even if you are able to distinguish a fire field from a smoke one, when there are dozens of players it would be still useless. It's different in challenging instanced contents though.

If for arrows you were referring to bounties (especially in PoF), they show where you have to stand to deal damage: inside or out of the blue circle.

[Sevetamryn.2974]

On 10/19/2021 at 12:51 AM, Urud.4925 said:

If for arrows you were referring to bounties (especially in PoF), they show where you have to stand to deal damage: inside or out of the blue circle.

Please explain those blue circles / rings in PoF areas, that's exactly what is unclear and confusing for me

[Kaltyn of Torbins Deep.294]

27 minutes ago, Sevetamryn.2974 said:

Please explain those blue circles / rings in PoF areas, that's exactly what is unclear and confusing for me

PoF bounties have a mechanic where you are supposed to do ranged damage at times and melee damage at other times.  When it is ranged, there will be a blue ring around the boss with arrows pointing out or away from the bosss.  You are supposed to stand inside the ring and DPS from a distance.  Then it will flip and you have a circle around the boss with the arrows pointing in - you're supposed to run inside that circle and do your DPS there.  Until it flips again.

[Urud.4925]

Yes, the game doesn't troll you, so if the blue arrows point outside of the circle, you should stay outside, and vice versa. If you stay in the wrong area, you basically deal no damage. You should notice that something is wrong when you look at your damage.

 

Another sign (that I also saw in EoD) is the green or red hand (like an exagon) that appears near the boss. It should be self explanatory, but many players ignore it and keep to dps. If you attack when you see the red hand, you will be blinded for some seconds, so you will deal no damage when the stopper turns green again.

[Sigerk.2897]

To add: The green circles with arrows pointing inward can also mean that there's a ''share the pain'' mechanic, meaning if only one player gets in it, they take the full brunt, but if more join, the pain is shared, thus survivable. 

For bounties and certain bosses, for example in EoD, I'd recommend to stop before you engage them and they aggro, and check their buff bar (below the health bar). Bounty and EoD bosses can have different mechanics, which are shown when mousing over the buffs, which are indicated with blue I think. The ranged/melee circles are one of them, stop/go is another, damage over time with cleansing orbs as well. 
 

[Orack.4825]

21 hours ago, Sigerk.2897 said:

To add: The green circles with arrows pointing inward can also mean that there's a ''share the pain'' mechanic, meaning if only one player gets in it, they take the full brunt, but if more join, the pain is shared, thus survivable. 

For bounties and certain bosses, for example in EoD, I'd recommend to stop before you engage them and they aggro, and check their buff bar (below the health bar). Bounty and EoD bosses can have different mechanics, which are shown when mousing over the buffs, which are indicated with blue I think. The ranged/melee circles are one of them, stop/go is another, damage over time with cleansing orbs as well. 
 

I'll add that the SAME bounty can have different mechanic the next time you do it.
It's totally random. So, yes, take time to read before fighting ^^

Edited March 18, 2022 by Aznarb.6347

[Ashantara.8731]

Red + orange + yellow = bad
White + green* + blue = good

*) except for the filling green circle, which is "good" as long as at least 4 players stand in it, otherwise: ouch!

Simple. 😄

[Khisanth.2948]

22 hours ago, Sigerk.2897 said:

To add: The green circles with arrows pointing inward can also mean that there's a ''share the pain'' mechanic, meaning if only one player gets in it, they take the full brunt, but if more join, the pain is shared, thus survivable. 

For bounties and certain bosses, for example in EoD, I'd recommend to stop before you engage them and they aggro, and check their buff bar (below the health bar). Bounty and EoD bosses can have different mechanics, which are shown when mousing over the buffs, which are indicated with blue I think. The ranged/melee circles are one of them, stop/go is another, damage over time with cleansing orbs as well. 
 

That should be done for anything that doesn't have an empty buff bar