Hard to notice damage taken

[WildTZ.6174]

Hello!

Really enjoying GW2, played it from the start, but really never got fully into it. Been playing it for a bit lately, still really early (only lvl 40). One thing that I find kinda annoying is the lack of feedback when taking damage.

Is there any add-on or tips for this? Was playing through that second dungeon yesterday with a friend at level 35. Of course it's kinda hard for two players but when we were doing the spider boss it took us a while to realize that the fire traps could be ignored but the poison spit from the boss is lethal to stand in. AOE circles all look the same and sometimes you just feel like you are taking damage and not really realizing from where or why.

I realize at this point this is probably more of a feature, but anything that could alleviate this feeling would be great.

Thank you!

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

This may be helpful:  https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Combat_log

[WildTZ.6174]

Yes a litte :). Can't make a separate chat window right so you either show combat log or chat?

It's defintely useful after, but not as useful for me during engagements.

[kharmin.7683]

You can choose what shows up in the chat window by selecting the appropriate check boxes.

[WildTZ.6174]

47 minutes ago, kharmin.7683 said:

You can choose what shows up in the chat window by selecting the appropriate check boxes.

Yes, I saw that. But combat logs are so spammy, would be nice if it could be in a separate window.

[Danikat.8537]

I freely admit I'm not the best player so maybe I shouldn't be giving advice on this but I tend to go by the health bar. If it's full or only dropping a bit I don't worry about it, if it's dropping too rapidly I move out of any red circles I'm in and look around for enemies targeting me and try to bring them down first. I also try to dodge or move away from any telegraphed attacks by bosses because they're almost guarenteed to do a lot of damage.

[ShadowCatz.8437]

30 minutes ago, WildTZ.6174 said:

Yes, I saw that. But combat logs are so spammy, would be nice if it could be in a separate window.

The only option you will have to get a separate window on screen would be to use ArcDPS (third party add on), if you don't find the built in combat logging in chat good enough. There is also a add on that you can add into ArcDPS which show on screen damage (out or in; or both) which is called Scrolling Combat Text (GW2SCT):

https://github.com/Artenuvielle/GW2-SCT 

https://www.deltaconnected.com/arcdps/
 

Scrolling Combat Text will place an overlay which can either be one or two windows (frame) where text, icon and numbers will be scrolling as you take damage on yourself (as target) or targets damage. You can move those frames where you find it close enough to fast peek at without distracting or preventing view from your main field of view of targets and what is going on.

Here is a video where you can see a box of left side on screen with symbols (icons), text in colour for damage type and numbers.

 

 

 

[Danikat.8537]

There are also damage numbers that pop up on screen as part of the default UI. Ones for damage you're taking will be over your character and ones for damage you're doing to enemies are on them. Over the years I've almost stopped seeing them (I just had to double check they do appear for damage recieved) and I don't know if that's because I don't pay attention to them or because they're not that noticable, but they are there. Although they don't tell you what the attack is, just how much damage it did and whether it's a critical hit or not.

[ShadowCatz.8437]

4 hours ago, WildTZ.6174 said:

Hello!

Really enjoying GW2, played it from the start, but really never got fully into it. Been playing it for a bit lately, still really early (only lvl 40). One thing that I find kinda annoying is the lack of feedback when taking damage.

Is there any add-on or tips for this? Was playing through that second dungeon yesterday with a friend at level 35. Of course it's kinda hard for two players but when we were doing the spider boss it took us a while to realize that the fire traps could be ignored but the poison spit from the boss is lethal to stand in. AOE circles all look the same and sometimes you just feel like you are taking damage and not really realizing from where or why.

I realize at this point this is probably more of a feature, but anything that could alleviate this feeling would be great.

Thank you!

As for Spider in this game, you can expect spiders to have Poison either as AoE (green area effect) or projectiles that when they hit you will apply Poison, Immobilization (prevent you from move to imitate cobs of web) and if I am thinking about the right spider boss here in core maps, also have several smaller spiders that are attacking and each one of those doing small damage (bite - strike damage) which can fast kill players (especially when you are still working on getting more skills unlocked and don't have all exotic gear with attributes that matches for getting high enough numbers for Vitality - increase in HP - and for your main damage type which can be condition or power/strike based; try to craft or buy gear with some Vitality on it in combo with condition or power that are exotic tier in rarity or the highest tier for the level you are on right now which is probably Masterwork tier).

Poison is the reverses of regeneration (heal over time effect) which means your health pool will not increase for that duration while you have poison (if poison damage is low enough as it can also have its own damage). 

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Poison

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Poison_(spider)

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Poisoned

(The last link explains what source and skills that can cause poison and how damage is calculated - scroll down that page and read all about how you can remove condition or prevent getting hit by poison).

From link above:

Quote

Poisoned is a condition that inflicts damage over time and stacks intensity, however the heal potency decrease is unaffected by the number of stacks on a foe, which can stack up to 1500 times. Characters suffering from poison appear green tinted. Damage is determined by the following formula:

(0.06 * Condition Damage) + (0.375 * Level) + 3.5 damage per stack per second,

(0.06 * Condition Damage) + 33.5 damage per stack per second at level 80.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Regeneration

Quote

Regeneration is a boon that grants healing over time. It stacks in duration, though only up to 5 times, and it is not currently known exactly how different stack values are overwritten. The boon with the highest healing contribution is used before other lower healing power applications. Only healing power affects boon prioritization; healing modifiers do not. Regeneration is affected by healing power and the caster's effective level, following this formula:

(5 + (1.5625 * Effective Level)) + (0.125 * Healing Power) health per second

At level 80 this simplifies to:

130 + (0.125 * Healing Power) health per second

___

Fighting spider boss which also can summon adds (of smaller spider) is best done with AoE skills to kill as many smaller spiders before they overwhelm you and your friend.

Avoid to stay in AoE when those happens and use skills that remove conditions, have enough vitality on your gear (as more HP will give some more time before it gets dangerously low) and look at animation where boss will do stronger attacks or do an attack which immobilize you (can be removed with condition removal), you can still use skills while you are immobile, but you will probably also stand in AoE that you can now not avoid or dodge out of.

Go ranged weapon if possible to have more time to see animation and use skills that teleport you to target (there are weapon that have a leap [teleport] to target and utility skills that move you to target) when change to close combat (melee) weapon which often have more damage then ranged weapons.

If you have a crafter you can also craft Superior Sigil of Cleansing, but that sigil is account bound which means you can not trade or send it to a friend, so you need to craft it for yourself.

Edited October 8, 2023 by ShadowCatz.8437

[fatihso.7258]

Might use SCT and Unofficial extras to turn off default sct. Then make the new sct font bigger + enable skill icons might help.

sct is fragile to run, try different versions and if it’s working do not change it anymore. Different versions running for different computers. 

Edited October 8, 2023 by fatihso.7258

[WildTZ.6174]

Thank you everyone for your input. Really appreciated!
I got BlishHUD and ArcDPS for the SCT module, but ArcDPS seems to be broken at the moment. 

I have been changing the camera a little and playing with sound settings to make things stand out a bit more.

That hitbox module on Blish HUD is kinda of interesting even if you don't play with it at least to understand where your hitbox is.

I guess it's really hard for developers to make a the combat feel impactful and provide good feedback.

[Alaia Skyhawk.5064]

My main tip would be to get yourself into the habit of strafing as you fight (aka circle your target) if you're able to. The constant movement will mean that in many cases you move out of AoEs as they are placed under you. If constant movement is too much/you're struggling with it, there are a ton of Low Intensity builds available on various build sites for GW2 that are easy to play, do good damage, and many are also quite survivable/tanky.

My second tip would be to get yourself into the habit of scanning the ground around you and moving the moment you see any red rings on AoEs. Even the older style AoEs on mobs at the very least have a bright red edge on them. Newer ones used by many bosses/champs/newer mobs have far more visible solid orange circles/arrows to mark their most dangerous attacks.

Third tip. Pay attention to the edges of your screen. Certain attacks/aoes will highlight the edges of your game window with an effect (seen mostly in newer content). Across all content the edges of your screen will turn red once your health drops below a set %. When you see the edges go red, you're in trouble. Turn and run, pop any defence skills you have/healing skills. You'll probably want to use at least one of your dodges. And as soon as the red rim has disappeared you can turn back to the fight and, depending on how full your health is, throw yourself back in or approach carefully and whittle mobs away at the edges 🙂

[starlinvf.1358]

it might be faster to say what video game you’re thinking about, so we can look up what kind of UI presentation you’re going for.  

Edited October 8, 2023 by starlinvf.1358