How valuable is the party window?

I never close it.

In PvE - It's very good to know when someone dies, so you can res ASAP. Also you can pull back if the damage is getting too high. Never close it.

PvP - You shouldn't even think about closing it. Never close it.

If it takes too much screenspace, try higher the resolution to 1024x768 and then set interface to "small".

The only time you should close the party window is when you're soloing.

I Never ever close it, not even when running because i always check my health on the Party Window. The Party Window for me is VERY Vital.

I agree with most posters - I never close it. As a monk primarly - the window is valuable source of information and target heling/conidtion removal. Sure, it is very important to keep an eye on radar, so that when (not if) you have to kite, you don't kite into aggroing another group. Also important to keep an eye on the chat windows (which is why I hate those people who spam EVERYTHING they do). I also keep an eye (boy I need more eyes!) on the main screen - it is a valuable source for what kind of enemies are out there.

I never close it, it usually helps me see who's dieing or who needs help. On my Ranger for example if a softie has agro (I know because their health is rapidly decreasing) I can run up to them and use throw dirt to blind them so the softie can escape.

Then hopefully the argo switches to me and with my stances and troll I can stay alive long enough so the warriors can come up and switch places with me.

I wish party windows UI was transparent. Anyways I close it only when farming, solo runs and FA (I keep it open on FA when I am healing Turtles, etc). Most of the time I keep pressing "P", for example I shut it off when running with Pugs to a certain location, as soon as we encounter any mobs I open it again. I've been playing like this since long ago. I always resize my party window so I can see allies and pet, but I try to keep it very small.

If I'm not soloing, the party window is always open. I'm surprised anyone would close it. The more information you have, the better decisions you will make. Knowing when allies are dead/dying get hexed/conditioned is important whether you can change those statuses or not(in the case of non monk/support characters).

I shut the party window when I run me 55 solo build. But I dont close it for anything else.

Actually that's true, I don't close the party window, but if I'm playing a warrior I might be concentrating so much on my adrenaline, or as an interruptor, so much on what skills the person I'm watching is using, that I don't look at it. Then someone says "why the f don't you res", and the answer is because I honestly didn't know anyone was dead.

This is why TS/vent is good.

I have it even open when I am running around solofarming.

It's so much easier to watch my health in the party window instead of on the little health bar at the bottom of the screen.

The idea of closing it when adventuring with a team is totally alien for me... but hey, it explains why 80% of the PuGs don't use their res sigs, I guess.



Though, hey... there was that one moment when my cat walked over the keyboard while I was playing a monk with guildies. The cat hit the P. For some odd reason, I didn't notice that the party window was gone and just kept staring at the radar + positioning myself according to the radar info. I think I was quite happy for these 3 minutes - there was nothing to heal.

Yeah well, then it hit me. Luckily, nobody had died in these 3 minutes.

Why would you close it, its a crucial thing to have...

Its almost stupid not to have open, it's like not wearing your seatbelt

1. Very rarely

2. My build does not influence my decision to close the window

3. Because it's easier to activate the teleport things in the desert

4. When I'm not in the desert then I always keep it open so that I have better battle awareness and that means I can hit the Res Siggy button faster.

People turn them off during PVE?! I monk frequently and now I wonder if that's the cause behind certain retard behaviour like rushing into a battle when the monk is trying to bring someone back to full health.

Even soloing, it stays on for me (though i use F for self target).

GW is a teamplay game, hence shutting it down will not be a good option. Never realized there were people out there shutting it down, but now I do understand the people that spam conditions, deaths, hexes and dont run retreat when the rest is. Well, for the latter I suppose they also close radar (which is probably why the warrior aggrod all red dots on map) and team chat (supposed that someone said 'retreat' on it).

Personally I even dont shut it down when soloing, but I guess there should be no objections to then when doing. But it feels comfortable and that 'x' is so far away to click for me to bother...

To clarify things a little, I usually have my party window open. It is just with certain builds that I find it more of a nuisance than an aid. I always watch my radar and keep chat window in peripheral vision area.

The radar tells me who is or will be under attack (I note placement before attack begins). Waiting for the party window to tell me one of the group is quickly dying before I react is stupid. By the time I can do anything, that one is dead and the attacker is working on #2. The casters have run away randomly and the whole thing falls apart. The radar info lets me know that I should move now and try to prevent the attack.

My normal PvE party window usage:

henching - open
party leader - open
warrior - open but reduced, often don't pay attention to it - use radar and chat more
ranger - closed, have learned to use my radar to watch for caster problems and chat for the screams -- need the increased field of view.
mesmer - open but usually reduced, only pay attention if running anti-hex build
monk - open, she's still in Jungle, learning to do something besides Heal Party, Heal Other - hardest prof for me so far -- hmm, maybe I should close hers
ritualist - open for now, but it would be more useful if it showed the health of my spirits
necro - open, but she is young and henching her way through Tyria

Maybe I should have asked how useful the party window is to players. I think most just never think to close it down, even through they don't really look at it until it's too late to help. I think the majority just use it after a battle to see who is dead.

so THIS is the reason why pve scrubs run into big mobs

Only read the first page and pretty much agree.. it's important to know what's going on.. simple as that. Even if you're not a healer you're going to want to know when you should back off if you're party is taking sever dmg and yeah.. i think it's obvious why people would and should keep it up. For solo reasons it can be closed because the only person it's effecting is you.