Game Mechanics CROSSPOST Make stuff more clear in party/boss fights [long/effort]

This is a crosspost from Discord feel free to talk there instead

There's already many posts about the messy "damage splashes"
However, I'm attempting to make a more holistic list of all the issues with clutter. From a game design standpoint, Wynncraft bosses have always seemed too "confusing" and a big reason is the amount of particles and stuff on the screen. There is no reason to move around because you can't tell what is dangerous and what is safe.

What is the clutter?
- Damage splashes - possibly the biggest issue already, and most likely going to get worse due to the UI scaling to size now
- Dodge splashes - specifically, other player's dodges, which are pointless
- Combat XP and who killed - especially considering in this example the message is (un)helpfully telling you +0 xp, making it useless
- Emerald to Pouch - pointless (especially when fighting bosses) should be relegated somewhere else
- General Particles - there is a bigger game design standpoint of this, see part 2
- Minion's Nametag - this is more difficult. Minion's nametag could still be seen as "important", but there are ways to effectively use this to our advantage, see solutions




When?
Unlike many others, I do not believe this should be toggleable - this is a massive issue in boss fights in general, and toggling something every time you fight a boss is not user-friendly nor beginner-friendly.

Instead, it should automatically happen (in some way!) whenever it is too much or you need a clear view
This can occur by just stopping it during boss fights, by having it so boss minions specifically don't render these text, stop rendering when there are already a lot of particles or players, etc.


Part 2
The general issue stretches beyond just "a lot of stuff in the screen" but also making sure the important stuff is clear
Color coding is an important part of game design (especially in rapid situations such as boss fights) The brain should immediately tell what to avoid and what to go to, and color is one of the fastest ways to do so.

Looking at these images, you can see red, orange, blue, and white particles. If you think the fire particles are bad, no - I'm pretty sure some of the fire particles are from the archer's arrow bomb. It's actually the other orange fire particles that are dangerous and you should run away. Those orange and blue particles are healing though, go towards that, but ignore the other blue particles, that's just meteor. Also, explosions are fine, that's also meteor. Red is bad except here where particles are shaman, I think. I have no idea what the white particle is, but I assume it is fine, except in the boss fights where it's used as slam.
​

This extends beyond particles but should apply to any mob or thing in an arena. In a millisecond, you must realize that the trap on the ground is from your party's archer and is safe, that mob is a summon and is fine, but that mob is dangerous, and that mob is healing and especially dangerous.



Solutions?
DISCLAIMER

Although I believe there is a problem, I won't say I (or any single person) has the best solution. I'm fully open to discussion over other possible solutions. Do not rate this post purely for these solutions, more importantly is the problem. Please don't conflate "these are bad solutions" with "therefore there is no problem"​

However, from my experience, these are some of the things I would do:
- Light Green is always associated with buffs of some kind and players should go toward it
- Light Blue is allied mobs and things, look out for them but don't be afraid of them
- Anything else should be gray and dark colors and minimal. If needed, tint towards other colors or dark green, aqua, and orange. If absolutely needed, like blood, make it a different color of red.
- Red should be associated with damage, all attacks and mobs should have red where possible
- Boss arenas should avoid using green, blue, red, or noisy patterns. However, do use them when there is something you need, look out for, or avoid.

While it is best this design language should be universal, I will agree it will lose some theming in certain areas, Qira comes to mind. In general, there should at least be a consistent color for damage in any specific boss fight. At the very least, light green and light blue should never be used in any damage, unless it is intentional.

Minion's Nametags
I put this down here because this is more my own personal solution. A cool solution to this problem is having important minions have a nametag, but swarm minions won't have a nametag. This allows players to quickly recognize what minions are dangerous, what minions would heal the boss, and also stop clutter in screens.

I'm a minimalist designer, so if that minion who dies in one shot does not have an important name or lvl, I don't include it. But I will say it's not the biggest issue, and this is more of a "pitch" for removing the nametag. Do keep the health bar though.

This is a crosspost from Discord feel free to talk there instead

 

There is a toggle for this, but you are correct in saying it would be nice if it disabled automatically during boss fights.

Other than that, good post. I can't access the beta so I can't really tell how bad it'll be after 2.1 but I think these are good ideas. (Though I can see clearly in bossfights as of the era of 2.0.)

 

These images are sourced from RawFish's youtube video on Annihilation so you can judge whether it's an issue or not Wynncraft - World Boss Annihilation Experience (First New Mythic in 2.1) - YouTube

Personally, I think even 2.0 bosses have issues with clutter, especially the ONoL raid, but in general bosses in Wynncraft are just pretty simple. I think this is a major barrier for making more complex bosses, such as abilities where you have to be careful of and dodge, because the it's so difficult to differentiate between a party member's ability and boss's ability. Watching the video, I can tell nobody even bothers trying to dodge any attack because there's so much stuff.

 

Yeah, that's pretty cluttered. Jeez.