Ability Tree Status Description Improvements

Hey again everyone!

This is a pretty minor thread, but I wanted to quickly get some community feedback on the way I'm attempting to improve some ability descriptions.

Basically, a couple nights ago I got the idea to add the symbols that represent various status effects to their respective ability descriptions. For example, the Winded status for Riftwalker Mage! On the current live patch, the description for Windsweeper states as follows:

Spoiler: Current Windsweeper Description

And when Winded is applied to enemies, it's represented with this symbol:

Spoiler: Winded Icon on Enemies

I thought making the connection between the symbol and the status might be difficult for new players, so my idea was to simply add these symbols next to the name of the status on the tree!

Spoiler: New Windsweeper Description

Obviously this isn't going to matter much for players with more experience with the Ability Tree, but having a place where the link between indicator and effect is made clear should help a lot with making everything less confusing. Plus, I just think it looks awesome!

I plan to do this for all the status effects that you can apply to enemies and see on their health bar, even the ones that aren't specific to one class, such as Blind:

Spoiler: Eye Piercer/Blazing Powder as an example

And, combining this with rewriting some of the more confusing ability descriptions, and adding in some previously missing information, we end up with descriptions that are so improved it's even going to clear up things for more experienced players; just take a look at this glow up for Delirious Gas!

Spoiler: The Old (Confusing, Sad, Cringe)

Spoiler: The New (Amazing, Inspirational, Extraordinarily Based)

Now, here's where I want your opinion!

• First, do you like having the symbols in ability descriptions? Is this a good plan or does it make things look messy? Should they be the same colour as they appear on enemies, or match the blue text for status names?
  
  
• Second, should I include symbols for status effects that are never shown on enemies' health bars, but still appear in the tab menu when active? Examples include Timelocked, Vanished, Radiant, Speed, etc. What about the symbols for meters such as Mana Bank and Blood Pool? And should something like Focus have a symbol, since it currently doesn't?
  
  
• Third, what colour should status effects that are applied at various levels be represented with in ability descriptions? As an example, the Slowness from Ice Snake and the Freeze from Arctic Snake both show on enemies' health bars as a red hourglass. However, CCI indicators use different colours than only red, and it could make sense for a weaker slow to be shown in yellow for example, even though the symbol on enemies will still be red regardless of the strength of the debuff. Another option would just be to have the symbol in the ability description not be coloured at all, to reduce visual clutter and prevent any confusion involving CCI.
  
  
• Lastly, are there any other ability descriptions that you think are just confusing and need a second pass? Let me know, even if they aren't related to status effects! I've got a bunch on my list already, but there are definitely some I could have still missed.

I'm excited to hear your thoughts, and thanks for reading c:

-Xavier

 

ii think u could change the number to match in color but idk

symnbols r radt hough :grin

 

yes, hello hi, question, assassin sucks

 

-:like:
-:like:
-Seems like more of a niche thing depending on the ability, something about giving normal ice snake a light-blue slowness and giving arctic a turquoise color. Maybe something similar to windy/stormy feet, but with a different text color.
-I must know. What is the meteor range increase on Pure. And some effects like tempest/cyclone aren't clarified if it's specifically a circle area or a sphere. I assume it's a sphere but... have to ask anyway.

 

i dont know if this is already in the game or not but maybe each class has their colour. E.g. acrobat is a good example as it's tree starts with air and water mastery and it's lacerate is white and blue, then the colour of smoke bomb would be white and blue but it isn't. Any more cosmetic ability tree changes coming in the future like this?

 

Add a poll

 

This would be a great addition. Honestly, I still don't know what the CCI symbols actually mean...