Change the icons of Dual and Single Origin Enhancements

I bolded it in the quote, but it bears repeating, due to code reasons the Defense and Resist Icons are the same with this installer, so unfortunately there's gonna be some confusion regarding those two when using the installer.

Anyway, mad props to Neo Shadowdream for this installer! You rock!

My regular post resumes now.

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So I've been discussing this with my buddies and a couple of newbies lately, and eventually we figured that for all the flavour that unique Dual and Single Origin Enhancement names and icons bring, they're ultimately more trouble than they're worth.

Maybe you still remember when you're new to the game, and once you went from TOs to DOs, you were barely able to tell enhancements apart? And once you thought you got the hang of it you switched to SOs and are confused all the same? And went through that trouble every time you made a toon with a different origin?

I realise that about everyone who reads this already switched to IOs that lack this problem because they either use generic IOs which have the standard icons AND standard enhancement names, or they use IO sets which also have their enhancement type in their name, like, say, Devastation: Damage/accuracy.

But many players outside the forums who are either new or don't care enough to get in the Invention system are stuck with DOs and SOs, and I dare say they are just too frustrating to figure out at times.

The problem is two-fold, and both parts are related to flavour.

First, the names: Often enough the enhancement name at least suggests the nature of the enhancement, like Benedict Tech Adv. Targeting Eye. But more often than it should be, that is not the case. Can you figure out what Dragon Strike does? Dragon Flurry? Insight of Grey? Military Insight?

Second, the icons: TOs and Generic IOs have 23 unique icons, disregarding colour, over 26 enhancement types. most icons are self-explanatory and those that appear twice share a related function and appear right next to each other, like Defense Buff and Defense Debuff, so TOs and Generic IOs are easy to tell apart. Most DO and SO categories have only two to four icons over 26 enhancement types. It goes without saying that icon and enhancement type, rarely, if ever, match and it's absolutely horrendous trying to tell the slightly darker orange enhancement apart from the slightly lighter orange enhancement if they use the same icon.


tl;dr, DOs and SOs are horribly confusing.

So what I suggest is, the DO and SO icons are changed from their current flavour ones to the generic TO and IO ones. To preserve the flavour DOs and SOs would still retain their names and the icon borders (tech enhancements would still have the gear and natural enhancements would still have the green circle), but with the generic icons you would have a lot easier time telling them apart, eliminating this infinitely confusing design while style retaining the origin flavour of these enhancements.



Alternate Suggestions

Others came up with several other good solutions to clarify this design, so I'll be listing it here for easier access.

- Add tags like (DAM) or (ACC) next to enhancement names. That way you can still quickly see what an enhancement does while still retaining the icon flavour.

- complete vendor UI overhaul. By including features like telling your vendor what origin and enhancement types you're looking for, using the vendors would hopefully be a much quicker and easier process.

they do if you put your mouse pointer over them.

Actually, the difference in colour can be extremely subtle, and when the icons are the same, it's hard to tell two enhancements apart. Also, I think I said that the borders can stay the same.

Here, I made a horrible MS Paint image to illustrate my point:



The border still says Natural, but the icons definitely say Defense Debuff and Fear.

Now that you mention it, I remember that we had this feature.

Had. It's been bugged for a long time now. To my knowledge it's also unknown what causes this bug and why not everyone is affected, but even if it works for you, there's several others it doesn't work for.

I suppose if that bug is fixed, we wouldn't need to change the enhancement icons anymore, but still, I'm not exactly unconvinced changing them is a bad idea.

Actually, my idea here wasn't that you make wrong purchases, but that telling them apart seems unnecessarily difficult, especially with the mouse-over bug around. Having to right-click a lot might not be the biggest issue of the game, but it's, at least to me, a QoL issue, if only a minor one.

And I'm (red/green) colorblind. Even without the interference of the icon, and compared directly, I have difficulty telling the difference between the colors for, for instance, Taunt, Recharge Time, Defense Debuff, and Fear Duration. For TOs and Common IOs I can tell at a glance what I'm getting because the central symbol is clear.

Note that the poster does not suggest replacing the borders, nor the color - only the central icon.

Having the info certainly helps, but searching a list of 104 items (a tech store in steel canyon sells 15 and 20 TOs and the two tech-origin DOs) for the one that qualifies for what you want takes several minutes of boring, repetitive work. At least TOs I can tell what they are without two clicks on small objects and several seconds of reading.

Not at the store, and in the manage screen the window gets in the way.

yes they do in the store. and i have never had problems on the management screen as far as i remember. the only time you won't see a description by putting your pointer over an enh is in the training window when you train up.

There's also that, too. Considering the Patrol XP bar colour was changed to accomodate colour-blind people, this wouldn't be unprecedent, either.

See my Guides and Tutorials

But the problem is it doesn't actually train you. At least not in a way that helps you later. If you learn the icons you're screwed over because DOs and SOs use only a limited range of them, and with 26 different enhancements you will have a lot of samey colours, not to mention that it screws over colour-blind people like Vorn.

so what is wrong with putting your pointer over the enh and reading it? you haven't addressed that yet. at least in a way that we've described.

A) He's color blind.
B) There are too many colors and too subtle of differences for that to be a good indicator for some of them.

That's the entire point here. They train you to do one thing, i.e. be able to look at the icons to tell the difference between them via icon, then they turn around and completely change the way they work.

*ahem*

BECAUSE THERE IS A LONG-STANDING BUG THAT MAKES THAT NOT WORK.

Since you've obviously ignored the several times it's been said so far, maybe you'll see it this time.

I'm standing at the store looking at it right now. There's no tooltip.

And while the manage screen isn't all that horrible, it still often covers the power name and icon, and the other enhancements on that power.

You mean other than the fact that it's bugged and doesn't work for everyone?

And no, I checked, Tool Tips are enabled. It's a bug.

And while right-clicking and selecting info isn't a big glaring flaw, it's still a hassle, especially when you have to replace your enhancements every five levels.

yes there is if you right click on the enh and select info...

why at lv 22 are you not using io's( regular generic io's, not set io's)? then you wouldn't have to replace them every 5 levels.

I wrote my reply directly to the OP. There is no mention of color blindness there. And if you're unsure, you can still right click and read.
... and they're also alphabatized.

See my Guides and Tutorials

So now you're backpedaling. Bravo.

And since you obviously missed *those* sentences too, right-clicking is a clunky and time-consuming way to go about it...especially if you don't get what you're looking for right away.

Some people don't like using IOs. Some people don't use IOs until 50. Some people don't use them on alts. Some people wouldn't touch them with a 39-and-a-half foot pole. IOs are completely optional. Just because there's another thing out there, that doesn't mean we should forget about SOs completely.

by what they enhance.

...

I must be typing in invisible ink or something.

...even if that was true, which it's not, as was stated above, the names have very little correlation to what they do in many cases. Mutation is fairly easy, but the other origins are a crapshoot as to figuring out which name corresponds with what type.

i have done a toon from 1-50 using them. my first 50. took all of 3 months for me to figure out to use generic io's to be able to save money. and why the hell would i turn off a function that was never off to begin with? not to mention that if you actually pay attention to what you are using and spend some actual time reading the info, i know heaven forbid i mention a time sink in a game that has time sinks, you would understand them.

It's true that they have the same order no matter the origin, but I sincerely doubt anybody bothers to remember the order. Do you?

Let me clarify. What they do is alphabatized (with one or two rare exceptions, which are typically enhancements that have been combined.) And they always go through the same order.

See my Guides and Tutorials