5 Quality of life suggestions to make the game better.

[DoubleSway.1549]

I can't stress how much I love this game. It's beautiful and I love the work the team has put into it.

That said, it has its blemishes and I have some suggestions for thought. These are mostly PvP related, as I honestly don't have much to say about the PvE.

#1 PROFFESSION COLOR NAMEPLATES / CLASS COLOR NAMEPLATESThis one is simple. Enemy player nameplates should be colored to their class. Every enemy nameplate is red, which is extremely difficult to read. In a game like guild wars where there are many enemy player pets, it can be extremely difficult to read what you're up against. I can't tell you how many times a game has ended in frustration over not accurately reading how many players were in a single fight. When an enemy can have 5 pets, It's very difficult to notice player #2 come in from left side when he has the same color nameplate as everything else surrounding him. Player silhouettes are also not very easy to read, and there is no obvious gear that is unique to a class, so unless you have a trained eye for that class's abilities, it's very difficult.

#2 PROPER UI SCALINGIn Guild Wars, it is extremely important to keep tabs on your conditions/boons and other effects on your character. It is even more important to be able to see these things on your enemies. Honestly, being able to read these as small as they are on the screen is a tad ridiculous. For such important information, they're displayed at a fairly miniscule size. A simple fix would be to allow more customizable interfaces. These should also be moveable and anchored anywhere, as not everyone read certain areas of the screen as well as others.

#3 HELPFULL NAMEPLATESThis goes back to how difficult it can be to read what's going on in guild wars. Players can very often times be in a state of blocking, invulnerability, etc., and it won't be obvious. If you have a trained eye, sure. But for someone who doesn't, it can feel like you've just spent your big cooldowns on a seemingly vulnerable target, only to find out they were immortal for that period of time. The game does not have very many skill animations that are easy to read, or sound effects that queue us in on what's happening.The suggestion: create simple, easy to read symbols that describe the players state, and have them displayed over their nameplates. You can read the skill abilities that are active under their names, but unless you're versed in the class they're playing, good luck.In addition to this, there should be a simular symbol and sound for when a player stun breaks. It's nice to know how they got out of your crowd control.

#4 BETTER MOVEMENT/LESS REALISTIC CONTROLSThis would be an unrealistic overhall, but I'm going to mention it. The game's controls are fine, but they are far from perfect. I'm just going to list a few changes that would help the controls of the game.-Strafing speed should be the same as forward movement speed.-Character turning should not have an animation. It should snap instantly.-The character should move in the direction the camera is facing when using an ability that moves the character forward.-Entering combat should not slow down movementspeed. (This one I've always been confused about. I don't see this bringing anything good to the game. It makes everything feel heavy, and for this reason alone I don't play classes with bad mobility).-Characters should not be forced to face their target. Strafing should be allowed while attacking. (Having your character snap towards your target when you're trying to move backwards forces you to backpettle. This slows you down. Slow is not fun. Slow gets you killed in a match.)As a former World of Warcraft addict, I and many others will say WoW has the best controls out of any MMO out there. Stop trying to reinvent the wheel (that goes to all MMO developers).

#5 LIVE READ OF ACTIVE EFFECTSYou're in a match, and the next thing you know you can't move. What's happening? What ability did they use? How long does it last and what's its cooldown? Does it have a name? I would love to know without needing a PHD in the game. Preferably, this feed should be somewhere visbale, and very clear to the eye. To steal from World of Warcraft again, whenever you are stunned, you are given a feed on the middle of your screen that lets you know what's happening. This is great because it avoids confusion, and familiarizes you with the abilities without needing to spend precious seconds looking for small icons on your screen.

*And a bonus...Remove the delay from revenant staff 5. I was shocked to see my favourite ability in the game stomped into the mud with this little revenge peice. If the idea was to give players the opportunity to roll out of the way, then there are pleny of other cc abilities that require the same change.

Most of these could be fixed with more leeway on player addons, or addon support. But we can only dream.

Thank you for reading. Hate it, insult it, or just chat about the ideas. It's food for thought. Of course, I don't expect any of these changes to see the light of day, but it would be nice to see in a form of ingame testing. I'm looking forward to the next expansion, and I want to see this game boom to the next level and be the best it can be.

[anduriell.6280]

Health bars over allies / status icons over target.

I get having status icons over all players can generate a lot of noise , but having the status icons (buffs/conditions/effects) over the target would help a lot. Higher resolution screens like 2K make the distance to check that information on the top of the screen a long one which is not feasible in games with this such a fast pace.

[Lithium.7904]

I feel like all these issues are solved with spending more time in the game. I understand that gw2 can be very confusing but doing most of these will dumb the game down more. A lot of skills have animations tied to them that you can recognize. Adding all this screen clutter would be bad for the game. Knowing the timing on skills on other classes also helps determine the plays players can make.

[Tharan.9085]

"I'm bad so please make the game more braindead for me"

[Stand The Wall.6987]

i like 4. movement always felt like moving thru a bog. slower strafe is a nerf to ranged.

[Multicolorhipster.9751]

Some of these sound pretty good to be honest ?

I like the idea of 2 and 5. Don't enjoy looking away from what's happening to see active effects, but I wouldn't lose sleep over it. It sounds like a good QoL change.

[Bazsi.2734]

Not having all this information on the UI was a concious decision by the original team that made this game 2007-2012. You were supposed to train your eye to recognise animations, effects etc. That is what separates good and bad players in this game (at least what should, according to orignial intentions).Now over time the ever changing team made many 180-s on important things, but I really hope they do not cave to these ideas.If you want every info on the UI, go play WoW, or any other MMO which can be played without graphics.

The visual clutter needs some sorting, specs like renegade are really adding to the chaos, some really important skills have to small visual cues, but you absolutely do not fix these problems by overloading the UI with info.

[Ovark.2514]

1: Meh I'd take it or leave it

2: YES please do this. I would LOVE to be able to adjust which icons are where under my or my enemy's bar and how big they are.

3: This would probably be nice, but I think player's eyes should really be on the fight as much as possible and not on the UI.

4: Oh god no! If anything they should remove the ability to use AboutFace and freecam in PvP. Or maybe you should just be able to see where your target has their camera facing at all times. Having players drop ground targets far behind their characters while they are fleeing is so cheesy feeling. Also, if you're facing away you should have to rely on experience and intuition to dodge attacks from behind.

5: Yeah it would be nice to know what is hitting you. Though I think that vastly improving the death breakdown would go a long way in this regard. I could, however, see an argument for being able to view enemy skills while you aren't in combat.

Bonus: Yes, apply the current rev staff 5 changes to ALL other CC abilities. Things need counterplay.