Strobing lights

[WaveIn.4091]

Hi

 

i am not sure if this is a beta issue or not. I have non epileptic seizures. I struggle with a lot of video games. For example, Final Fantasy 14 was fine up until level 50 but then started using visual effects in dungeons that gave me seizures. I could barely get past the opening credits of The Elder Scrolls Online.
 

Guild Wars 2 has worked wonderfully for me for six years. I have been able to play all of central Tyria, large parts of HOT and POF, all of IceBrood. I do well with most world bosses. Shadow Behemouth, jungle world, Jormag, and Drakkar are all fine, most of the time. 
 

I more recently have been trying out some LS3 and LS4 areas. I struggled with Thunderhead Peaks giving me seizures before the beta, but fine, it is about lightning. I just don’t play there. 

 

I hadn’t played Domain of Istan much because I’m not really done with POF. I gave it a try tonight in a group playing a meta, while playing Mechanist. The meta does have a lot of bright flashes, but I mostly did okay. There were a few lights that made my head spin, though I haven’t had a seizure yet 20 minutes later. There were some quickly strobing lights where some pc or NPC was setting off bright white bombs with a whitish orange thin arcing trail behind them. They made a big flash then disappeared. There was maybe one to three a second for ten seconds That’s the sort of flashing that often causes seizures for me, so I wanted to let you know in case there’s some effect due to the beta that’s causing this. 
 

thanks!

 

 

[Batel.9206]

Unfortunately, that sort of effect is all over GW2 now, from about Season Three areas onward (Season Four areas seem to be the absolute worst offenders, from what I've seen so far). Despite repeated requests and pleas for ArenaNet to either tone down the flashing lights or give players an option to do it themselves, ArenaNet has, bizarrely, doubled down on the abundance of flash and glow and flare, on everything from ambient lighting to elite spec visual effects.

It's...really frustrating.

[WaveIn.4091]

11 minutes ago, Batel.9206 said:

Unfortunately, that sort of effect is all over GW2 now, from about Season Three areas onward (Season Four areas seem to be the absolute worst offenders, from what I've seen so far). Despite repeated requests and pleas for ArenaNet to either tone down the flashing lights or give players an option to do it themselves, ArenaNet has, bizarrely, doubled down on the abundance of flash and glow and flare, on everything from ambient lighting to elite spec visual effects.

It's...really frustrating.

Glow isn’t a problem for me. And not all intensely visual scenes are. In fact I really enjoy the glow in fashion wars and have a wintersday infusion on myself and prefer the Starborn wings or tempest cape, both of which shimmer. So shimmer and glow don’t bother me and can be fun. 
 

The seizure trigger for me, specifically, is strobing. Repeated, rhythmic, bright flashes in intervals of a couple per second to one every couple of seconds. 

Fortunately, I didn’t have a seizure in the couple of hours that followed, tonight! So it went much better than FF14 or TESO where I was reliably having seizures nearly every time I played. i reliably am SAFE playing GW2, 99% of the time. 
 

but I do hear the complaints and also the people excited for fashion wars. 

[WaveIn.4091]

19 minutes ago, Batel.9206 said:

Unfortunately, that sort of effect is all over GW2 now, from about Season Three areas onward (Season Four areas seem to be the absolute worst offenders, from what I've seen so far). Despite repeated requests and pleas for ArenaNet to either tone down the flashing lights or give players an option to do it themselves, ArenaNet has, bizarrely, doubled down on the abundance of flash and glow and flare, on everything from ambient lighting to elite spec visual effects.

It's...really frustrating.

Is this an aesthetic concern, something medical, or the limitations of your computer? 
 

not a medical concern for me. I don’t need the glow turned down. 
 

my computer is fine. 
 

i like the glow. 
 

but I’d love to know your perspective. 

[WaveIn.4091]

1 hour ago, Mortifera.6138 said:

wow, stop playing games

No.
 

Guild wars 2 works well for me 99% of the time.  Why would I stop playing something that I’m capable of playing? Having a seizure from Guild Wars 2 maybe a few times a year is no big deal. I have seizures more than once a week anyway. I can’t play FF14 because it gives me a seizure EVERY time I play. Same with TESO. With Guild Wars 2 I play the game more days than I don’t, and I still almost never have seizures from the game. For me, at least, it is a very safe game. 
 

i mean honestly, might as well also say “stop watching TV, going to plays and concerts, exercising, and going outdoors”  my seizures are triggered by the cold and exercise sometimes too  what’s left?

Though to be fair, it really couldn’t hurt to spend more time on professional development, intellectual pursuits, my research (unpaid), and actually speaking to people 

It’s reasonable to think Guild Wars 2 developers might care to know about an effect that happened in a small location. I can just avoid it, but if they know about the effect, it MIGHT matter to them in the future. This is a bug report, and it’s as legitimate as any other. 

 

 

Edited December 3, 2021 by WaveIn.4091

[lezbefriends.7516]

9 hours ago, WaveIn.4091 said:

Having a seizure from Guild Wars 2 maybe a few times a year is no big deal.

 

yeah, no. I had one seizure and now I'm on meds and have to get checked out every year lest I die. but you do you 😉

[Ensarda.5648]

I have some issues in game also i'm a migraine sufferer and some my tiggeres is strobing sudden shifts from bright to dark for example flying through unbound magic in maps so i know the issue though ofc i'm not anywhere near as bad as yourself. There is in theory a setting to turn the eye candy down/off but doesn't work the best and can disable things you do need skill attack aoe's from bosses e.c.t. Hopefully Anet will push this further and get it working properly especaly with things becoming more flashy all the time. I'm not even concerned about the flashy in combat my eyes on are combat telegraphs and my skill bar so i don't rearly see all the eye candy

[WaveIn.4091]

6 hours ago, Mortifera.6138 said:

 

yeah, no. I had one seizure and now I'm on meds and have to get checked out every year lest I die. but you do you 😉

I'm on 4 seizure medications as well, and I see a neurologist for them as well. They work, but not very well. They worked well for several years, but then stopped working. I've had seizures for a decade. When they first started, I was having several a day every day for three months. I started medication, and they went away completely. I was very lucky. They didn't return for several years. Now they are back, and medications aren't working well. I am told that the kind of seizures I have can't kill me, which is good since I can't prevent them, they last about an hour at a time, where I can't move and go in and out of conciousness, and end in convulsions. I remember them because I'm aware part of the time. I certainly wish I didn't have them, but I don't seem to be dying, so I will do me and live while I live.  

[Entropo.1524]

i dont remmber each instance individualy but if u like u can tell me before u start and i can check it for u to see if there is any throbing light , i do remmber the final episode of season 4 had some in the final instance so becarful with that one 

[WaveIn.4091]

34 minutes ago, Entropo.1524 said:

i dont remmber each instance individualy but if u like u can tell me before u start and i can check it for u to see if there is any throbing light , i do remmber the final episode of season 4 had some in the final instance so becarful with that one 

Thank you! I’m making really slow progress on the story and even exploring the world. I love playing but I’m super casual about it. I super appreciate the offer. I will ask if I have any questions. So grateful! 

[WaveIn.4091]

4 hours ago, Ensarda.5648 said:

I have some issues in game also i'm a migraine sufferer and some my tiggeres is strobing sudden shifts from bright to dark for example flying through unbound magic in maps so i know the issue though ofc i'm not anywhere near as bad as yourself. There is in theory a setting to turn the eye candy down/off but doesn't work the best and can disable things you do need skill attack aoe's from bosses e.c.t. Hopefully Anet will push this further and get it working properly especaly with things becoming more flashy all the time. I'm not even concerned about the flashy in combat my eyes on are combat telegraphs and my skill bar so i don't rearly see all the eye candy

I will go turn off my wintersday infusion. Sorry!

[Gibson.4036]

That meta event in Thunderhead Keep is a visual mess. Even without any health issues, there’s so much going on it’s hard to get any actual information out of what you’re seeing.

It would be great if they could spend some time making more robust customization with finer granularity. Players with health issues deserve it, and everyone else would only benefit.

[WaveIn.4091]

My graphics seem to now be set to a low setting and I’m not sure how to fix it. I’m really grateful for the efforts of ANET but I don’t need the resolution or gamma turned down. Bright lights are not a problem for me and neither is glow. I like them. It’s repeated flashes of light in a rhythmic manner that are a problem. When I tried turning down the graphics settings on FF14 and TESO and they had this problem it didn’t make any difference. Fortunately the problem isn’t widespread in GW2. 

[WaveIn.4091]

Reposted from the discussion on “has ANET let people with disabilities down” because I want to be sure this discussion is attached to the right post:

 

I also just want to make it 100% clear that as far as I am concerned, it is easier to see what is going on when there is greater contrast and brightness, and at least some glow. I feel like the greater gamma trend has made it easier to follow gameplay, for me. I have also invested quite a lot in fashion wars and love the look. I would be really really really disappointed to see this eliminated from both a utilitarian and an aesthetic point of view, for me specifically, or in general.
 

I am safe, as things stand, and it is not essential to fix the problem I mentioned. I am fine and can avoid it. 
 

thanks 
 

 

 

[WaveIn.4091]

On 12/3/2021 at 8:14 PM, Gibson.4036 said:

That meta event in Thunderhead Keep is a visual mess. Even without any health issues, there’s so much going on it’s hard to get any actual information out of what you’re seeing.

It would be great if they could spend some time making more robust customization with finer granularity. Players with health issues deserve it, and everyone else would only benefit.

I reread this. I truly appreciate the intentions but I don’t think granularity is the issue for me. It’s just the rate at which the flashes occur. It doesn’t matter whether the graphics resolution is just a single white block filling the screen or photographic realism. It has to do with the rate at which it flickers. 

[WaveIn.4091]

Restating: TV and shows in theaters are more of a problem for me than GW2 (which is almost entirely not a problem). I watch tv and go to shows in theaters. 

[DaFishBob.6518]

Stop bumping up your thread for every thought you have. You posted 4 times in a row in a thread that you already posted the majority of posts for. Use the edit post function. If it falls off front page it's because no one can think of anything worth adding as you're apparently quite content with how things are with the game so there's no need to contribute.