Here is a link to a mock-up demonstration. (Sorry Therek!)
Don't get me wrong, I like the class symbols, but I would much rather prefer player portraits take up more real-estate on our UI. Vain? yes, but they do have their charm.
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Jiub said:Here is a link to a mock-up demonstration. (Sorry Therek!)
Don't get me wrong, I like the class symbols, but I would much rather prefer player portraits take up more real-estate on our UI. Vain? yes, but they do have their charm.
I already know what my character looks like, I don't need a UI element showing me my own character's face.
I don't feel at all strongly but I think I agree with showing the face. Since showing a class icon tells me nothing - if I don't know what class I am I have worse problems than what the UI element shows. My hotbar selections will tell me what class I am if I have forgotten.
Vandraad has a point but in response I note that when running around adventuring all I see is the back of the head and the arse. Which is why hairdo is my number one "must have a good choice" in character creation. A face icon actually gives me a reason to care about the face.
IMO:
Looks like a good place for a UI toggle. But the class indicator could always be a color ring or some other simple 1/12 type of differentiator to communicate that while in a group, if portraits were strongly desired.
I mean, ultimately, I don't care what my guild mates look like in-game, we all talk in Discord, and what shows on the UI in this context means exactly nothing to us.
Whatever UI setting will have the greatest FPS increase will be what we use. If that means turning off portraits and seeing real equipment rather than appearance slots, that's what we'll do.
Not a pre-alpha milestone, to me.
farbekrieg said:Default should be class icon, but the ui should allow for customization of the player or even a custom portait
I think the default should be class icon as well, but as long as I have the ability to change it to that I really don't care what everyone else does.
I wouldn't mind a player being able to see their own portrait in the UI.
However, for the most part, I prefer the class icons for the rest of the group. I typically play a healer when I play MMOs and I spend a good portion of my time focused on the group UI. Class icons just provide me with more usable information related to class synergies and healing priority vs seeing someone's picture.
I also like to reduce visual noise as much as possible so I can focus on the things that actually matter in a fight. I feel like player portraits for the entire group could run the risk of adding visual noise depending on how they are implemented and how they reflect player customization choices in the game.
I don't like the portraits on the status bars (mine or groups). I'd rather have nothing on mine and the logo on theirs (or nothing).
Where I DO want to see my character is when I open inventory.
I can appreciate people wanting minimal distractions on their interface, as well as wanting to devote as much PC resources as possible to gameplay quality. I also did appreciate one of WoW's UI addons that allowed for an animated, semi-transparent GIF of you character kind of behind your health/stats bar... you also had to option to show other's in your party, or even your target (and target's target). The more you enabled, the more resources it used, but it certainly had its advantages in being able to quickly identify which nampeplate in your group window was which character without having to actually read the tiny little name on the red and blue icon to determine which player (or target) was which. The most beneficial part of this feature was that it color coded your entire nameplate by class. (Warrior Brown, Mage Blue, Warlock Purple, Rogue Yellow... etc. And whoever had threat was highlighted in Red. This was awesome (and I would argue hugely beneficial) in raids) You could select the Orc Warrior if you knew that was your tank, or if the mage in the party asks for help, you could very easily distinguish the gnome warlock from the undead mage without having to read all of the names. add: Or if out of the corner of your eye, you saw health come out of your gnome warlock's healthbar, it could possibly have been them sacrificing their own health for more mana and therefore you didn't have to worry about it as the tank or healer (and DPS generally never give a F about nameplates they can't do damage to....).
So my opinion would be that if the technology is available, then have it included and let the players choose to enable or disable the feature.
Honestly, player portraits in the UI has always been a bit of an annoyance for me, since it takes up so much space. I'm not going to be upset if they are in the game, but I would absolutely prefer a UI without them, or the ability to turn them off. In the same way I don't walk down the street holding a mirror out in front of me, I don't need a UI portrait to remind me what my character, or another, looks like. =)