EsperXI Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 (edited) EDIT: Bioware did not hotfix this, I misunderstood the change/change's impact. I actually like the change for the reason I state a few posts below (orange text)... but I also understand why it is a definite problem for other players. Please consider this change in a balanced way and voice your opinions about it to Bioware in a manner likely to garner attention and address so that all players can have fun. Don't get crazy belligerent. Cheers. I read a bunch of the posts, then logged in to check out this issue with the CD grey-out being removed. Thing is, I'm still seeing a greying out of abilities which gradually colours as the ability becomes useable. Did they hotfix this, or am I just not noticing it for some reason? I'm level 18 so I don't have a ton of abilities, but I have about seven I use regularly and several longer CDs. I tried them all and haven't had any issues whatsoever. It even felt a little bit smoother than last time I logged, though I can't pinpoint the reason... Edited January 19, 2012 by EsperXI misleading title, changed to clarify current position Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Traumahawk Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 Abilities that have insufficient resources go gray. Abilities that have sufficient resources but are cooling down, remain lit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EsperXI Posted January 19, 2012 Author Share Posted January 19, 2012 (edited) Well, I'm a Sage, and I have a full Force bar. So resources aren't a problem at all unless I'm power healing, which isn't the case. Maybe I'm not understanding the "greying out" part. I click the ability, its icon darkens; the darkness gradually retreats in a southern direction until the icon is fully recoloured (ready for use once again). Is it because I'm a caster or something? I'm using Project and Telekenesis (6 second CD) and Disturbance (no CD, darkens while I cast it) to test this out. I'm having no problems whatsoever. I can't really remember exactly what this was like pre-patch for comparison, I just didn't pay that much attention because it wasn't a problem. But I have no issues right now, and I still see a darkening that's notifying me of CDs and has plenty of visual clarity (even for my 1.5 minute CD ability). Edited January 19, 2012 by EsperXI Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EsperXI Posted January 19, 2012 Author Share Posted January 19, 2012 (edited) I'd also like to add that when I first logged in, I said in General chat that I was about to test out the patch changes to CD notification. No one replied or gave any indication of an issue, and there are plenty of folks online who were chatting. I brought it up twice more, explaining that everything seemed OK--none of the players online in my zone said a thing about it. I'm really confused right now witnessing this flood of complaints on the forum. It is definitely not synching with my current play experience, social and otherwise. Edited January 19, 2012 by EsperXI Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rykzon Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 (edited) I'd also like to add that when I first logged in, I said in General chat that I was about to test out the patch changes to CD notification. No one replied or gave any indication of an issue, and there are plenty of folks online who were chatting. I brought it up twice more, explaining that everything seemed OK--none of the players online in my zone said a thing about it. I'm really confused right now witnessing this flood of complaints on the forum. It is definitely not synching with my current play experience, social and otherwise. Many players are just very new to MMOs and wont even notice things like that thanks to Star Wars franchise. Edited January 19, 2012 by Rykzon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timjackson Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 Maybe I'm not understanding the "greying out" part. I click the ability, its icon darkens; the darkness gradually retreats in a southern direction until the icon is fully recoloured (ready for use once again). That was the change... pre-patch, the icon was darkened while the line retreated, then became recolored at the end. Now it's recolored as it retreats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Traumahawk Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 (edited) Well, I'm a Sage, and I have a full Force bar. So resources aren't a problem at all unless I'm power healing, which isn't the case. Maybe I'm not understanding the "greying out" part. I click the ability, its icon darkens; the darkness gradually retreats in a southern direction until the icon is fully recoloured (ready for use once again). Is it because I'm a caster or something? I'm using Project and Telekenesis (6 second CD) and Disturbance (no CD, darkens while I cast it) to test this out. I'm having no problems whatsoever. I can't really remember exactly what this was like pre-patch for comparison, I just didn't pay that much attention because it wasn't a problem. But I have no issues right now, and I still see a darkening that's notifying me of CDs and has plenty of visual clarity (even for my 1.5 minute CD ability). You said "until it's fully recolored". Do you mean that it's original brightness has been restored? Don't confuse the creeping countdown overlay with the icon's saturation. Here is the core problem: Use an ability with a cool down greater than 30 seconds. Now when the ability is about 4 seconds from being off the cool down, look at the icon. Because the Cool down overlay is now minutely small, it is impossible to calculate the time remaining by glancing at the icon only. Therefore, you are more likely to click the button for the ability without knowing if it's off the cool down or not. Well unfortunately, most times it has a few seconds left. This is bad news. By also greying out the button, the player has a second test to verify the ability is not yet ready. It's a failsafe of sorts. The solution is, of course, to introduce alphanumeric countdown values atop the hot bar button, or add back the greying out of the ability until it is available. When playing a class that relies on sub-GCD reactions, it is vital to be able to time and weave abilities. In other games, I would use add-ons that actually told me the countdown to the 1/10th of a second, because it can be that important. Here is a visual example: http://www.curseforge.com/media/images/9/705/aesa.jpg Edited January 19, 2012 by Traumahawk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kubernetic Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 Don't want to be too much of a conspiracy theorist here, but we are indeed seeing a lot of rage and a lot of insults to the game based on "not having what WOW has", and it just struck me... how difficult would it be for Blizzard to put together a team of 50-100 people, buy them all a game box and a month of time, and send them all over here to set up infinite ragefests about the game? Even if you take it to 1,000 people, $60 a game box, that's got to be less than the price of a single TV ad in a major market area. We already know about sock puppet software out there that the Department of Defense was using (or seeking to use) to allow one person to handle 20 different "online personalities"... I guess the saddest thing is that it might not be a conspiracy at all... it's just WOW kids doing this for free. LOL Oh well... love the game! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EsperXI Posted January 19, 2012 Author Share Posted January 19, 2012 Ahhh, I see, I see. I actually like this change. However, that said, I can see how it would be a problem during critical encounters. I tested again using a 1.5 minute CD and you're right-- at approximately 4-5 seconds it becomes quite difficult to tell if the ability is off CD. I guess my stance is that it's not impossible to tell, just difficult. And I would assume that over time our sight will adjust so that we would be able to tell even up to the 1-2 second mark. I've been playing MMOs for about 7 years now and I don't see this as an especially bad thing. At least, not bad enough to justify these posts I've seen about cancelling subs and patch 1.1 ruining the game (although the Ilum problem sounds quite bad, it's not altogether new, even for major titles like WoW... has everyone forgotten the Cataclysm pvp gear farm bug?). But yes, I 100% agree that numerical counters would be ideal. My final opinion on this would have to be that the CD change barely affects me, if at all, and I probably represent the majority of players given my level and the type of combat situations I'm generally in (not critical). So I wouldn't be surprised if it stayed, but I hope BW adds in a few UI options for the rest of the players who are bothered by this, because... well, why not? Is it so hard to make everyone happy when it seems such a minor thing requiring so little time to code/implement? Bioware: Options are pretty much always better than static changes. Be dynamic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EsperXI Posted January 19, 2012 Author Share Posted January 19, 2012 (edited) And one last thing, the reason why I like this change: Abilities with lower CDs now have a clearer indication of when they're off CD. That's why I felt there was something smoother about gameplay. The ability delay is less of a problem now, IMO. But yes, options, please. Edited January 19, 2012 by EsperXI Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spawn_of_Santa Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 I like the new change but then I don't PVP. Ever. Since more people seem to be complaining about it than not, having an option would be nice for them. Works fine for me, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Papadodo Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 I don't like this change =( Is there anyway to turn it back to previous one? My CD is on 1 minutes or so, at first I thought I was lagging when I try to spam this skill. Then I found that it's still has 4-5 sec CD on it >_< It would be nice if they also add count down number on the skill icon itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evensong Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 (edited) Or change the way how the cooldown looks to a clock-like. I think Rift has it this way, not sure. Still not sure if it would resolve the problem on long cooldown. Sure thing is that it is very annoying. Many many times today I was hitting abilities thinking they should work, just to find out that nope, it is still cooldown. Costed me one death on tough fight, because instead of watching what mob is doing was watching the cooldowns... Definitely change it back or make it optional, but to be honest, who would pick something which is not working.... Edited January 19, 2012 by Evensong Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arestos Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 And one last thing, the reason why I like this change: Abilities with lower CDs now have a clearer indication of when they're off CD. That's why I felt there was something smoother about gameplay. The ability delay is less of a problem now, IMO. But yes, options, please. The UI overall in this game is terrible. Aesthetically its pleasing (opinion) but the functionality is just plain terrible, not to mention the bugs... o god the amount of bugs . In this case its just an example of poor design. It should just have had a 10sec trigger anything with cool down longer than 10 secs is greyed out. Once you're under that 10sec it uses the bar for visual representation. For that matter the "trigger" as i call it should be varied depending on user input, maybe with a default of 10 or 15 secs which can be changed in the options. The way it is at the moment is just moronic with anything that has a cool down longer than 30sec you can't tell if its up with a glance. To make a change like this and not even implement it as an option ... lazy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mahdii Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 They need to give an option to turn this back to what it was. I play a Sentinel not on a monitor, but my TV. During combat in PvP with the old CD indicator i could easily tell if something was off or on CD. Now its virtually impossible when a CD is near its completion. This issue at hand is game breaking for me. Not being able to tell if an ability is on CD is ridiculous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Talorya Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 Or change the way how the cooldown looks to a clock-like. I think Rift has it this way, not sure. Still not sure if it would resolve the problem on long cooldown. Sure thing is that it is very annoying. Many many times today I was hitting abilities thinking they should work, just to find out that nope, it is still cooldown. Costed me one death on tough fight, because instead of watching what mob is doing was watching the cooldowns... Definitely change it back or make it optional, but to be honest, who would pick something which is not working.... You know, the clock-like fade reminds me of another game, maybe GW or something but the clock effect will take place most of the time, but once it's near the end, say the last 5-10 seconds, it'll show the number instead and the light up completely again ready to be used. Pro of the new CD indicator: -It's colorful. Con of the new CD indicator: -Can't tell the exact readiness of skills with longer than 30-60sec CDs as it nears the bottom. -Can't tell the location of the light blue line when it's up against a skill icon of the exact/similar color. -Costly in PvP to have skills light up but can't be used, I don't care if I have the resources for it but if the cooldown isn't finished it still can't be used so why light it up! Really don't see why they had to change something that wasn't broken, they need to test these changes themselves and run it through multiple people before letting on to the PTS, and then get feedback on it and adjust it before putting it on the live servers. Do things right instead of doing it quickly, people will wait for things that are done right, but will get really angry if you rush out problem-ridden products/changes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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