New Overheal VFX are (Maybe, Possibly) Very Distracting

[Ouranochoros]

With appreciation both for the effort put in to the new overheal VFX and the need to distinguish its effects from shield, the new overheal VFX are, in my opinion, very distracting, especially to someone with visual processing issues like myself.

The effect at full overheal is very 'video gamey' in appearance, being a bright neon purple that clashes with most environments I have so far used it in, and being a marked departure from the aesthetics of other game buffs (it looks like characters are being scanned by a targeting system).

Having 3-4+ of these affects on the screen can be... overwhelming... to the point of making it difficult to focus on the environment or roleplay (even with the tab key pressed, it's hard for my brain to process much of anything beyond the four very bright neon purple swirlies around me and my allies. This is especially true in darker dungeons.)

My only suggestion is to perhaps change the max overheal color to a more natural hue like the gentle blue/white it is at medium overheal. Otherwise I am feeling dissuaded from playing my dedicated healer cleric at the moment, because the effects are just very loud for someone with difficulty processing too many stimuli at once.

Thankees.

[Kalthariam]

I think I almost crashed the server once when it came out by circle of healing in the Hub when there was alot of people in it, without realizing there was an update to the overheal animation. Hopefully that's been fixed. X-x

[Ouranochoros]

I'm mostly concerned with the VFX themselves. I realized that they have a trailing effect which is also very distracting.

It makes my brain shut down and go into reboot (for lack of a better way of explaining it). Maybe I am being over-dramatic but I can't play my class/character because of it despite me using a greater award on her. :/

My suggestions/requests are:

1. give the effect some degree of transparency (50% or so) so that it doesn't stand out so much. I have noticed the effect is much less profound when characters are concealed.

2. Remove the trailing effect if possible. This is the main culprit. The movement of the trails is very jarring/distracting and is leading to visual processing issues in my brain.

[Waldo52]

I have mixed feelings.

While I don't think I'm a neuro-typical person myself and I know it's hard out there for people who are different, I don't think it's the dev team's responsibility to accommodate every person's sensory problems. I've seen threads on this forum and other gaming forums that range from "X visual things irritates me, I have Y condition" to "Z is causing me sensory overload" to "I have autism and whenever I hear this particular weapon's sound effect I have an episode". I've even seen a poster on the Pathfinder RPG forums ask the team to "lighten the cognitive load" for people who struggle with numbers or have low IQs.

I'm not trying to be cold, but these kinds of requests are fairly frequent. Not only would addressing them divert effort from the development staff, but any fixes they make to accommodate a particular player or small group of players may wind up aggravating the sensory preferences of another player or group of players. It's like a crazy whack-a-mole side quest for people who really would rather be making substantive changes to the game. Or more fish (don't ban me, I love you starfish).

At the same time, I do believe that the VFX rainbow is uglifying the game. When you're a guy with an optimized buff setup (lots of blue and green), and have a crazy purple healing aura and two red weapons, you're basically looking at a crazy chaotic anime. We should at least have some sort of color preference options for our wards to ensure that level 30 combat doesn't look worse than level 3 combat, which I think we can all agree it does.

[Ouranochoros]

I am not asking that my specific case me accommodated (neither should I be made to feel presumptuous, or that I am asking too much, were I doing so), but giving an example by means of my own experience as to how the new VFX might be a bit overwhelming.

There's just too much happening on the screen at once -- between everyone's buffs, epic mage armor, mind blanks, glowing eyes, glowing weapons, magical damage sparkles, and gods forbid you're traveling with an elementalist or other infinicaster -- to accommodate such a distinct visual aesthetic (four bright purple particles with trailing effects).

But then, it needs to be distinct, so I hardly begrudge the choice!

That being said, my eyes have adjusted some, having played a few more hours. My brain is learning to not see the purple. Still, a reduction in its opacity or perhaps the use of more natural colors would be appreciated. Really, its' the 'trailing' effect that breaks my brain.

[Sincra]

I think from the creative side when a buff appearance everyone knew already and had existed for a considerable time (the prismatic bubble) is changed, it is fair to then criticise the change to what disadvantages certain players.

I also raised the speed of this buff as an issue before it became an issue mechanically causing lag, as it distracted me and made the game feel like a rave as opposed to an rp scene.
So I very much sympathise with this feedback.

[-XXX-]

Is overheal really something that even needs a VFX?

TBH it feels kinda backwards when buffs like death ward or negative energy protection give away no information whatsoever, but buffs that merely give some extra hp like overheal or premonition come with massive advertising signs.

[Ruzuke]

Is overheal really something that even needs a VFX?

TBH it feels kinda backwards when buffs like death ward or negative energy protection give away no information whatsoever, but buffs that merely give some extra hp like overheal or premonition come with massive advertising signs.

This is only a joke.

That just means death ward and negative energy protection requires visualizations.

[Security_Blanket]

I'd quite honestly rather have less visualizations than more, they just look gaudy. I don't care that Premonition gives 30 DR for hours per level, I don't want to walk around covered in a blue misty eyeballs.

[Kalthariam]

Personally I'd be okay with less visuals on spell casting in general.

Might make people stop and think before picking a fight with someone that -looks- unwarded. But they might actually be quite prepared.

Alternatively, people will probably be less tense in situations when they aren't surrounded by people that all are glowing Pufferfish of light and magic.

Most people will Dispel you anyways because some of the more important buffs -don't- have visuals anyways, so it's not like you're really hiding much information.

Probably also would make the servers less laggy and more stable.

[Edens_Fall]

I'd admit the idea of no effect for overheal seems appealing. As it now longer gives the big boost from the healer path cleric days, the extra hp doesn't seem to warrant its own effect. However if we do keep it, I would like to see the trialing effect removed as it's rather distracting when at a run.

[ReverentBlade]

I love it. Absolutely perfect for my shadowy healer thematically, and the changings colors are very useful to -my- autism in regards to knowing how much buffer I still have. It is useful information that I use to make quick decisions in combat. Please leave it alone.