The New Interface (Please read this post before posting any reply)

I just played this game for a little over an hour non-stop with video settings at Highest Quality and i'm hurting. I usually keep them set to Fastest because that video set gives me the least lag issues in-game over time. But not always.

I've never gotten a headache from an hour of play for any video setting with this game.

Thats not all most people are asking for but this might solve some of it. EX: the old red and blue just used "red" and "blue". With these new shades you're not using just 1 or three colors; you're using 5 or ten or however many you need to change the bar from light to bright as it fills.

I think that may be the OPs problem. Normal eyes see these different colors and process them into just one. even processing it though, its a strain to see all these different colors, and some people--many people--get headaches because their eyes start working overtime.

On the OP; her eyes see these new color schemes and see them ALL. seperately. Think getting really close to the screen so you can see each pixel and i think you understand the problem.

Changing these color schemes back to a simplier 1-3 color scheme means she's only going to see 1, maybe two colors in text, fill bars, etc. the eyes don't have to work as hard to filter and the pain--and problem--may go away.

If i'm wrong, please correct me.

EDIT: to those with the headaches and the OP too: try adjusting quality down; so your display is using the fewest colors possible for the game to run. Compared to what you're used to, it's goanna look nasty, but it might not hurt the eyes as much.

a good idea would be to stick to SIMPLE COLORS... blue was fine for the hero tab, that NEO purple is SICK..its.. so bad... along with exp bar, i thought it was finally Done with werid edits, no more white line and dots with green, it was dark solid green (that was good and easy to read the numbers) then now its this neo green ...wtf damn it..

yes a BIG issue i realised is, people who d/c or leave game are hard to notice along with dead party memebers.. its WAY too close colored, the brighter gray/silver it was was GOOD... whoever did the interface just screwed up, no big deal just do it better this time.

A few problems here...

I don't know if it was intended, but the comments Gaile made about Things on a Priority List ("I know that we have many objectives for future development that would put the design of this sort of "extra" less high on the list") was in the same post that she made a comment about months work on this UI ("But I don't foresee us reversing several months' worth of work to revert to an older interface"). EDIT: To Clarify..This implies that A) Anet has a real list of problems and things they work out apparently in order of how urgent or needed the fix is, and B) that apparently since "Several Months" were spent on it, something was trival as changing the colors on the UI topped this said list...

Its weird because Things that could in reality be problems, like physical discomfort from the shading used ingame appears to be at the bottom of their list of worries while "Several Months" work went into overall unneeded Color changes and Shading on the UI....I won't even mention the ACTUAL bugs in the game that aren't being addressed because they apparently aren't as high on Anet's Priority List as Making the Faction bars a pretty shade of Purple..

I think that was poor wording on the Relations part...

The problem with how some people are viewing this, in my opinion, is that this ISN'T a disability. Now, I know that that isn't entirely true, I'm just introducing the point as I try to be more specific. Anyone will eventually have a burning sensation in their eyes and/or a headache after playing a video game for a long period of time. This doesn't happen with television simply because when you watch television, you don't stare intently at the screen as you try to kill something. Games require more concentration, and tend to result in hours of staring at the same moving images. Now, granted, most people won't experience anything noticable (or even harmful at all) unless they spend a LONG time at this, such as 6 or 7 or more hours. But it will happen eventually. And fo a lot it happens more quickly.

Some people do indeed have photosensitivity, and this will obviously affect them in a more obvious way, and develop much faster. But the point is, that even people who have no medical conditions at all can start to have a headache after a few hours. A lot of people just have sensitive eyes, it doesn't mean they are disabled. Brighter colors just increase that risk, and even someone who has never had any problems before can start to feel it after only a couple of hours.

My point is, this isn't just to cater to disabled people, or those with medical conditions. This is going to affect a great deal of people. Granted, for most it will be nothing more than a minor nuisance, easily fixed by taking a short break. But it is still going to affect many people. This isn't just the 3-5% of people who have photosensitive epilepsy (as stated in another post, I haven't checked that myself), as anyone who had that would or should have stopped playing long ago, seeing as that is a very major problem. But just plain regular photosensitivity is a MUCH more common factor.

I'm not going against anybody here. I'm sure Anet will do something to address this now. I don't know what, or if it'll work, but it's good enough for me that it's being considered, and I hope they at least change the colors, as that seems to be the main problem (I play and interrupt ranger, I know the new skill cast bar is hard to interrupt, but it's not as important to me as the fact that people are going to have to quit due to an innocent update). I'm simply saying all this to try to get across that this isn't as small a problem as some people have been stating.

We should get the option to choose which interface either the old or the new, the new one is ugly if i wanted to see so many bright colors i would use the old interface while taking LSD. The new interface is hard on the eye's too look at for long periods of time and what was wrong with the old one that one looked great.

We need some sort of change here. I don't think I'll be playing again until it's fixed. (If it does get fixed that is)

You know what? I bet no one would have said a thing about the interface if GW had started out with it in the first place. I'd say most of you complaining about it have no real issues with it but just like complaining.

The only person who has any right to complain is the OP....

I want make one thing clear.

Fix it or WoW more likely get me when chapter 3 comes out. Now this is because new interface is ugly and I don't like those new color choises.

If a computer game is causing this issue, whether or not it's a new game or a game with a revised interface, GO SEE A DOCTOR. The light from a computer monitor is not typically bright enough to hurt your eyes unless you have a pre-existing problem. Whether or not you know about the problem is irrelevant. I'm not a doctor, nor do I have any form of medical training outside of a bit of college level biology. Check your diet and talk to your doctor, odds are, you (like many gamers) could stand to seriously improve your diet among other things. Think of the pain as a warning sign that your body is trying say "Uhm, dude, I think we've got a problem here". The game just caused lights shining on the sign to turn on so it's a little more noticable. So once again, allow me to stress this, GO SEE A DOCTOR IF THE PICTURES ON THE SCREEN CAUSE YOU PAIN

We must have some of the files from the older interfaces on our PC if not all of them so why not allow people a choice to which one they would like to use, I doubt this would affect game play.

Have fun paying monthly fees.

The new UI doesn't bother me.

Seriously, if the changes make your head hurt go see a doctor - you need to get checked out, or maybe stop playing games 24/7 and go outside.

Adjust the colors/brightness/contrast on your monitor and quit whining.

If you can't tell when someone dies/leaves/out of range then you need to get a new video card/monitor because I can distingish all of those just fine. Poison is obvious too.

If you are colorblind you have no excuse, you bought the game knowing you would have problems - nobody takes the colorblind into consideration when they make games, they create games to look the best they can for people with normal vision. Sorry for your condition, blame God, not Anet.

There IS a problem with the UI on a physical level. I.E, at the very least it gives people eyestrain headaches with Higher Quality video settings. i'm not describing excessive play either, but just 1 hour of runtime.

Thats not a good thing. Eye strain headaches are a warning sign of something that can lead to permanent problems with prolonged exposure. It's not healthy to keep it like this and impractical to ask all players to revert only to using minimal quality settings in order to play this game for a length of time; so this problem does need to be addressed.

I'm just saying that there are a bunch of people complaining who dont have a legitimate complaint. I have no doubt that some people are affected physically, but most are just complaining because they dont like the aesthetics of the GUI.

I'm all for customization of the GUI though despite hearing all the needless complaints.

I haven't read this whole thread, just been jumping to random pages. I'm so glad that someone else already wrote that so I don't have to. I don't know how difficult it is to include custom interfaces but I know that the game Gunbound has the option to choose your interface so it is possible.

i actually like the rainbow multi-color skill warm up bar they made, i like colors
the purple bars when you press H... remove them Anet please!
don't like how the outlines look, makes everything look "sharp" especially the arrows on the health and energy bars. an option to revert back to a classic user interface of guildwars would be a nice addition. and if you can customize how they look too that would be awesome. i'd go with the classic guildwars UI + the multi-colored skill warmup =)

Thank you Jen~ for posting this here.

It would be so wonderful if this problem with the colours & shades will get some attention on the developer side.

Possibility to change colours/shadings of one's interface is extremely important to prevent these kind of problems & to give the player-base a chance to build an UI that fits perfectly to everyone's own style.

I really hope that you Jen, & everyone here who shares similar experiences, will have a chance to enjoy this game again without any problems.
______
jackie

OK 4 things:

1. The new interface is more tiring for my eyes, my eyes get watery and itches more often. Chanage it or add the classic interface button which was suggested by many people.

2. Also, eventho I'm a Ranger/Necromancer, I am NOT a touch ranger. I play a barrager/interupter 99.9% of the time, I picked necromancer just for the animate flesh golem spell, because I don't like training pets. Since I'm a interupter, it's hard for me to tell if the skill is interupted because the warmup bar no longer flashes.

3. Seriously, those colours look like 70s tie dyes, and they are ugly. (or add the F11 button for classic interface which was suggested by many people)

4. Jenia, I wish you luck and PLEASE do NOT quit Guild Wars because of a lousy interface change, I'm sure they will fix it. And I hope to see you in game!!!!

I have the same problem. I'm colorblind and I can't for the life of me discern between a dead player and one that left the game. I can fix it by going with extreme gamma settings but that makes the rest of the game utterly unactractive. Trying the new professions at the Random Arenas, I kept finding myself attempting to use my Resurrection Signet on people who left after they died.

And I thought I was alone with this...this new interface is just too flashy. For some reason, my friend likes it because he thinks its "sharp."

actually names in my party kinda irritates my eyes
bright red and the name is bright white hurts me eyes.
i'm game for some ui options atleast