I wish AOE spells had clear animations that didn't require those ugly white circles.

[Aodlop.1907]

I wish you could see the lava or the ice on the ground and think: "okay, me no go there". This is one of the few things WoW does better. 

[Linken.6345]

What kind of potato computer do you have?

[Veprovina.4876]

I have a potato computer yet even i can see the various AOE spell animations... What are you talking about OP?

[Danikat.8537]

2 minutes ago, Veprovina.4876 said:

I have a potato computer yet even i can see the various AOE spell animations... What are you talking about OP?

I was thinking the same thing, the red or white circle just shows the exact outer limit of the effect, each spell or attack also has an animation so I'm not sure why the OP isn't seeing them.

 

On the other hand I know a lot of people would like to hide a lot of the effects in combat and only see the essential information so if we can figure out what the difference is some people might find that very useful.

[Omega.6801]

You can discus this topic with the "no more visual clutter" crowd. No way to please everyone I guess.

[Veprovina.4876]

1 hour ago, Danikat.8537 said:

I was thinking the same thing, the red or white circle just shows the exact outer limit of the effect, each spell or attack also has an animation so I'm not sure why the OP isn't seeing them.

 

On the other hand I know a lot of people would like to hide a lot of the effects in combat and only see the essential information so if we can figure out what the difference is some people might find that very useful.

Oh right, the outer white ring around AOEs...

 

That's kind of a general design choice of the visual aesthetic GW2 is going for, i find it quite useful to see the exact AOE areas, especially in high player count instances like huge metas and WvW.

 

Sure, the effect could stand on its own, but it's not always clear where the effect area is like Ranger's "raining down arrows" thing, Ele's Meteor shower or such. Not all are super clear about their AOE. Mesmer's Null Field and Chaos storm are literally just variations of circle with a purple "shattered" border, and i think it's quite nice and minimal, having the entire AOE have heavy effect would even more bloat the already bloated visual clutter.

 

So far, i think the balance of AOEs effects are quite nice, some being more flashy than others, but in general, outside of meta events and WvW, they're pretty clear as far as indicators go.  I wouldn't want that outer circle removed, i perfer that over some bloated effects that have to visually cover the entire area in order to see where their limits are...

[Astralporing.1957]

5 hours ago, Aodlop.1907 said:

I wish you could see the lava or the ice on the ground and think: "okay, me no go there". This is one of the few things WoW does better. 

Considering the amounts of AoEs that can overlap on open world events, or in WvW (and sometimes even in fractals and raids), you'd probably see even less with more detailed sfx effects. Also, white circles are for your/allied AoEs. The bad ones are red/orange.

 

[mikansei.5742]

AoEs with white circles are ones you CAN stand in, though, as they're either your own or your allies' spells. In some cases you're even supposed to stand in them for buffs/finishers/cleanses.

 

(Granted I do tend to run away from AoEs that look like erupting lava, white border or no, because the "fire bad" instinct is strong and I'm made of tissue paper lol)

[Jin.8501]

Maybe burn effect from the Blood Crazed Wyvern. The visual does not cover the whole area it does damage and also appears late

[Westenev.5289]

I think this is a case of each class having too many skills with flashy animations but zero impact, so animations have no meaning beyond red circle white circle green circle expanding circle.

Edited June 11, 2021 by Westenev.5289