User Interface mechanics on new Map: Massive issues for Vision Impaired people.

[Psientist.6437]

edit: I was too hard on the screen effect.

The screen effect is orders of magnitude less complex than any other similar art asset. Existing debuff art assets are similarly aggressive and good looking. Their art organically resonates with the zone mechanic. A debuff is a productive game organizing tool. It needs to be signaled and if the signal is good looking, maintains complex resonance with the mechanic, the debuff can be intrusive and enjoyable.edit: The effect looks like cost was a major design concern.

[Tukaram.8256]

Wow, the idiocy continues. Does no one actually read and comprehend the issue?It is a vision problem (not for me, but I empathize). More optional visual settings would be a good thing. It lets people play the game the way they can. No one is saying you cannot have your visual clutter, just make it scalable.

Try reading more than just the title... :)

[coso.9173]

But it's meant to be annoying. Removing it, making it more transparent, making it smaller, are all options that defeat the purpose it has, it's a visual debuff for the player. As for visual issues sure, I'm sure it sucks and I hope something can be done about it, but as I read the op, just changing the interactable item text color, so it shows more over the white color should do it.

[PirateSpice.8735]

@"Tuna Bandit.3786" I just wanted to thank you for providing us the perspective of someone with severe visual impairment on this. Up until now, I'd heard some complaints and thought much others in this thread: "It's supposed to be a hindrance to encourage you to want to get rid of it." Never once did it occur to me how it would affect someone with your impairment, so I wanted you to know that I appreciate you broadening my perspective.

You obviously feel passionately about this, and some people are interpreting that as "overreacting". Go figure, someone feels strongly about an issue they live with every single day. You are showing far more empathy than many of the people posting here, seeing as you are not asking Anet to get rid of the effect for those that enjoy it, but merely to provide an option to make the game more accessible for everyone.

Thank you for being a voice of reason and educating those of us willing to listen about what another person's experience might be like in a situation we take for granted.

[Jackson.9307]

@"Tuna Bandit.3786" said:My colorblindness is mostly red/green combinations. But not the only ones.The sensitivity has to do with white/bright light. For example, I cannot read this forum on it's default. Got software that allows me to change over the colors on a browser because default black letters on white is very hard for me. Reversed is much easier.I am one of those using a filter when driving at night, and avoid it if I have to due to blinding lights of opposite traffic.

The reason I started this, has to do with the ability to have the option.

By no means do I want this to be completely removed. I don't want to mess with the immersiveness when it's enjoyed by so many. And quite honestly, I enjoy it too in other situations.

The Dry Top example is a great one, I have no problem with the sandstorm at all. It's not white.Nor do I have any issues with blackening of the edges or the red (despite it being one of the main colors of my issue with colorblindness)

We have an option for example that allows us to disable camera shaking to prevent some people from getting motion sick.For those enjoying that form of immersion, nothing changed.

So why not with these kind of effects?

Option to help some of us, without breaking the game for others. That's all I propose here.

And with that, I have said all I needed to say I think.

I suggest you edit this post into your 1st post and change the title of the thread. The title of the thread is structured in a hostile way, which in turn will make most people jump the gun without 2nd thought to the actual contents, context and reasoning provided within the thread itself as you have so far experienced within the past 2 pages.

Maybe something along the lines of "UI Blizzard Effect compatibility options for Color-blind people".

[Ashantara.8731]

@Dante.1763 said:Not sure if its changed but it wasnt functioning like that when i went.

It was there since the episode was released. Perhaps you need to level the Masteries first?

[Tuna Bandit.3786]

as suggested by > @Jackson.9307 I have changed the title and changed the original post.I put in a warning in the first post that it was edited and why.

I agree they cannot put in options for every single condition out there, it would cripple the software for sure. I understand that.Most of my conditions I can work around with (unfortunately my vision isnt my only issue)

But I strongly believe that the suggestion I have, to have an option to tone down or remove that kind of effects on the interface, will benefit more than just a few people.

I have this issue with the white border. As I said before, the red (bleeding) black (for example in personal story parts) aren't a problem at all for me, but I think that others might have issues with that.

If it was only for the white part and only for me... no offcourse that would not be a viable change. I understand that.But I am not alone, not by any means.

---

Just to clarify what I find amazing about this game, with my limitations:

• The wide variety of classes and the way you can play them.

Without going into much detail: I have arthritis in my hands. The fact that we have almost unlimited options to change keybinds, combined with the amount of different classes and how you can set up each class and elite in multiople ways, gives me the opportunity to work around that problem easely.Something not often seen in other games.

Kuddo's to ArenaNet for that part.

Last but not least: Appologies for the somewhat harsh opening post. Emotions sometimes gets the best of us.

[ugrakarma.9416]

@"Torzini.1523" said:Good lord, people like to complain about everything.

Using the Raven shrines to get rid of the effect isn't hard. There's like one literally every ten feet in the area of the meta.

Also when im leading the event i use commander markers to show where are they located, the problem with shrines is that they positions are not in a spot easy to remember on map. Since i started use the markers i noticed "blue spots" on mini map going more to them.

[DaFishBob.6518]

No objections to an option to disable this. I mean we're all fine with removing screen shake right?

[Poormany.4507]

While I personally feel like this mechanic adds immersion to the game and makes players feel like they are wandering blindly in a raging snowstorm, I do think there should be an optional way to disable it.

Even better solution, imo, would be to add a section to the graphics settings for visual screen effects and be able to scale effects like this, as well as other annoyances to many players that are commonly posted and are legitimate concerns that don't really affect the game's difficulty level (flashing, AOE effects/circles, contrast, screen edge effects, etc.) That way, people who want the extra immersion effects and flashing lights can still have them, while those that don't, for whatever reason, can scale and/or disable them.

[basilmemories.9186]

"It's immersive though!" "Learn to play though!"You know what guys, you're right! you know what breaks my immersion? being able to repeat world bosses. In the story those happen just once, so what's the deal? Why are we able to fight them over and over again? If you beat wyrm once and didn't get the tripple decap? Well you should have learned how to play! And why are the same events happening on the maps all the time? Do an event, and the event disappears for you forever! One dungeon run, one raid run, one time through fractals, and you never get to repeat story missions. Guildlocke or go home. Why don't people GET this?

Oh yeah, it's like gw2 is a game or something, and they want people to enjoy it.

Here's the deal, I have migraines, so the blinding white is annoying, but it's not debilitating most of the time. But even though I don't have the same problems as OP, I have enough friggin human empathy to see why this is a problem. "get to the shrine" you say, but if OP can't see enough to get to the shrine, how can they stop the effect from happening? Oh, yes, i see, they punch their way out, and then the effect starts to kick in again and they have under a minute or so to find a shrine. I'm sure that won't affect their ability to help out on the map. If they're trying to say, revive you, keep you from going down, or helping with a boss, do you really want them getting snowblinded? Like if you can't think about other people, at least think of how this affects you.

[Raventree.8302]

I really enjoy and appreciate the overall design of the mechanic effect (both the blizzard, and the Raven's bubble). But I would be happy if they turned both down, just a little. But still leaving them in place. As others have noted, the raven's bubble is a bit obtrusive itself. It could maybe be a little more translucent

[Zaklex.6308]

@Randulf.7614 said:

@Zaklex.6308 said:

@Tuna Bandit.3786 said:The new map, has during storyline and during snowstorm an affect on the interface that makes me want to put my fist through the screen.It makes the game completely and utterly unplayable.Arenanet, now that I calmed down, I will ask politely: Why are you deliberately making playing the game impossible?The ice effect is too much, WAY too much. It makes me wanna TP out of the map on the spot.

Once you hit half or more of a freezing stack, I cannot see anything anymore, No Enemy tags, no information inworld at all. I can only somewhat see the minimap and chat. That is it.It is as playing with your eyes closed.I have a vision issue and am colorblind.

This freezing effect on screen has to go... not asking, saying... If you have any regards to visually impaired people, you have to conclude it has to go.

Or optional turned off.Right now, whenever that happens, I TP out... ON THE SPOT... it is COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY unplayable. I simply went through storyline BLIND and where I am repeating storylines on multiple characters elsewhere, this one I will never EVER play again. And if future episodes have the same effect... I am out, I will quit.

This was a very poorly design decision. Whomever thought that was a great idea... Consider us next time please?!?! What a monstrocety!!

I have no idea what you're talking about, the only time I had anything on my screen was during the final boss fight in the story...and that was just around the edges. My graphic settings are maxed out on everything...so no help from me on this one.

During the meta, there is a mechanic that builds stacks of debuffs. As the debuffs stack, a white border appears round the screen getting thicker and thicker until it covers at least a third if not 40% of the viewable area. It's kinda like the Vabbi brand effect but even more imposing.

I think it depends on your screen ratio(1920x1080), on mine it only covers 20%, and that basically creates a border and doesn't interfere with anything, for me it focuses my attention in front of me, instead of the sides which are less of a concern.

[Randulf.7614]

@Zaklex.6308 said:

@Randulf.7614 said:

@Zaklex.6308 said:

@Tuna Bandit.3786 said:The new map, has during storyline and during snowstorm an affect on the interface that makes me want to put my fist through the screen.It makes the game completely and utterly unplayable.Arenanet, now that I calmed down, I will ask politely: Why are you deliberately making playing the game impossible?The ice effect is too much, WAY too much. It makes me wanna TP out of the map on the spot.

Once you hit half or more of a freezing stack, I cannot see anything anymore, No Enemy tags, no information inworld at all. I can only somewhat see the minimap and chat. That is it.It is as playing with your eyes closed.I have a vision issue and am colorblind.

This freezing effect on screen has to go... not asking, saying... If you have any regards to visually impaired people, you have to conclude it has to go.

Or optional turned off.Right now, whenever that happens, I TP out... ON THE SPOT... it is COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY unplayable. I simply went through storyline BLIND and where I am repeating storylines on multiple characters elsewhere, this one I will never EVER play again. And if future episodes have the same effect... I am out, I will quit.

This was a very poorly design decision. Whomever thought that was a great idea... Consider us next time please?!?! What a monstrocety!!

I have no idea what you're talking about, the only time I had anything on my screen was during the final boss fight in the story...and that was just around the edges. My graphic settings are maxed out on everything...so no help from me on this one.

During the meta, there is a mechanic that builds stacks of debuffs. As the debuffs stack, a white border appears round the screen getting thicker and thicker until it covers at least a third if not 40% of the viewable area. It's kinda like the Vabbi brand effect but even more imposing.

I think it depends on your screen ratio(1920x1080), on mine it only covers 20%, and that basically creates a border and doesn't interfere with anything, for me it focuses my attention in front of me, instead of the sides which are less of a concern.

Mine is 1920x1080 though and it is more than 20% easily

[zaxziakohl.5243]

I also suffer from visual impairments. My screen is turned down all the way, and I use as much dark background light text as possible. I have problems with the skills and such during boss fights blinding. Blizzard effects are significantly worse. I agree that there need to be options to reduce the brightness of certain effects. If it snows where i live, I can't even look outside without covering most of my vision, because everything else disappears.

After a blinding type light, like massive white areas on my screen, the afterburn images are actually bad enough to entirely block out my vision on anything darker than the white.

To those of you saying that it's fine to you and it's doing what it intends to do, you aren't taking our conditions into account. It's intended to queue us in to the problem and partially obstruct our in game vision. Instead for many of us, it can obstruct ALL our vision. Particularly if we have a tendency to play or live in areas that are dim to start with. A game effect shouldn't be effecting our real life senses like that.Saying what you do about, it works for me, so it should work for you, is akin to telling a hand amputee that because you can use WSAD the controls don't need to be modifiable because they work as intended without a problem. And that because you can use it, the game doesn't need joystick or accessible controls support. Like seriously. Take a moment and actually think about how OTHER people are affected by those things. We aren't asking to have it removed changed, or to turn off YOUR immersion or gameplay. We simply want to be able to make personal modifications that let us enjoy it as well as you do.