Dear Devs, when buffs get removed or expire........

[J-mann]

Sometimes I get an icon that shows on my screen showing that the buff is gone (a pic of the buff with a minus sign) can we get this whenever a buff expires? It would help immensely imo because even with guild buffs collapsed my bar is so long that it is hard to keep track of whats up and what isnt.

[Loholt-UK]

Sometimes I get an icon that shows on my screen showing that the buff is gone (a pic of the buff with a minus sign) can we get this whenever a buff expires? It would help immensely imo because even with guild buffs collapsed my bar is so long that it is hard to keep track of whats up and what isnt.

As long as it's just the guild buff icon that is displayed and not each individual guild buff - actually, condensing them is an option so whatever the player wants I guess, as long as if condensed guild buffs is chosen then the guild buff icon only please. But yes, I too am a fan of knowing whether I'm still buffed.

[droid327]

I'll go even further...

The devs have said they're looking for ways to reduce hotbar bloat.

How about a new free metamagic-style feat, lets call it "Renew". It would change any limited-duration SP-based buff into a permanent toggle that would steadily tick your SP, at a rate proportional to its total cost (plus metamagics) divided by its duration.

In other words, turn all buffs into permanent toggles, but keep the SP/min cost the same. That way you wouldnt need to worry about keeping buffs up, you could just stick them on a hidden hotbar and only have to click them each once at the start of a quest. Short term expensive buffs like Displacement or Haste, you probably wouldn't keep running like that since it'd drain your SP too fast.

I really dont consider buff management to be a part of skillful gameplay, its just a chore. Automating it like that would just let us focus on actual skillful play without getting slowed down till we realize we missed a buff refresh.

[Ashlayna]

I'll go even further...

The devs have said they're looking for ways to reduce hotbar bloat.

How about a new free metamagic-style feat, lets call it "Renew". It would change any limited-duration SP-based buff into a permanent toggle that would steadily tick your SP, at a rate proportional to its total cost (plus metamagics) divided by its duration.

In other words, turn all buffs into permanent toggles, but keep the SP/min cost the same. That way you wouldnt need to worry about keeping buffs up, you could just stick them on a hidden hotbar and only have to click them each once at the start of a quest. Short term expensive buffs like Displacement or Haste, you probably wouldn't keep running like that since it'd drain your SP too fast.

I really dont consider buff management to be a part of skillful gameplay, its just a chore. Automating it like that would just let us focus on actual skillful play without getting slowed down till we realize we missed a buff refresh.

I disagree, to a point. Knowing your buff timers is part of skillful gameplay. However, I do agree that some consolidation would help cut down on ability bar bloat. My idea, however, is something akin to what I observed in another MMO, and make it so you can consolidate your buffs into a single slot, although not on the toggle. You push the button, and it casts all buffs that are assigned to it. In Aion, this was accomplished through a macro, where you could pick and choose what buffs you want on that particular cast. This is a much more eloquent solution, in that it allows the player to make a button for Party, and a button for Self, for example. My WP FvS doesn't need blur on herself, but some party members may not have it, so for my personal buffs, I would have Nightshield, but not Blur, while for the party buff, I would have Blur, but no Nightshield, since it's Self only.

[droid327]

I disagree, to a point. Knowing your buff timers is part of skillful gameplay. However, I do agree that some consolidation would help cut down on ability bar bloat. My idea, however, is something akin to what I observed in another MMO, and make it so you can consolidate your buffs into a single slot, although not on the toggle. You push the button, and it casts all buffs that are assigned to it. In Aion, this was accomplished through a macro, where you could pick and choose what buffs you want on that particular cast. This is a much more eloquent solution, in that it allows the player to make a button for Party, and a button for Self, for example. My WP FvS doesn't need blur on herself, but some party members may not have it, so for my personal buffs, I would have Nightshield, but not Blur, while for the party buff, I would have Blur, but no Nightshield, since it's Self only.

Managing short-term combat buffs (ie ABs or Haste) is skill-based gameplay because the game itself is happening on the same timescale as the buffs you're managing. Managing long-term buffs (like 7 mins) takes no skill, because you dont expect players to keep mental clocks running for timescales like 7 minutes. So it just involves learning to compulsively scan your buff bar for missing icons. That's not really a skill, that's a meta-skill.

A macro button would be nice for quicker casting at the start of quests, but it doesnt help buff management because all your buffs are going to be on different timers - having a macro button means, effectively, all your durations are reduced to whatever your shortest duration is, and that's inefficient.

[Ashlayna]

Managing short-term combat buffs (ie ABs or Haste) is skill-based gameplay because the game itself is happening on the same timescale as the buffs you're managing. Managing long-term buffs (like 7 mins) takes no skill, because you dont expect players to keep mental clocks running for timescales like 7 minutes. So it just involves learning to compulsively scan your buff bar for missing icons. That's not really a skill, that's a meta-skill.

A macro button would be nice for quicker casting at the start of quests, but it doesnt help buff management because all your buffs are going to be on different timers - having a macro button means, effectively, all your durations are reduced to whatever your shortest duration is, and that's inefficient.

Depends on the buffs, and what you'd really want to put on the single button. I wouldn't want things like Haste, or Displacement on the same button as Nightshield, for example. Another solution, that wouldn't clear up any bars, but would make management a bit easier, assuming it doesn't already exist, that is, would be adding a "cooldown timer" on the actual buff, showing remaining duration w/out having to mouse over it.

[J-mann]

Depends on the buffs, and what you'd really want to put on the single button. I wouldn't want things like Haste, or Displacement on the same button as Nightshield, for example. Another solution, that wouldn't clear up any bars, but would make management a bit easier, assuming it doesn't already exist, that is, would be adding a "cooldown timer" on the actual buff, showing remaining duration w/out having to mouse over it.

If they could at least organize buffs by duration on the bar that would help a lot in buff management.

[Ashlayna]

If they could at least organize buffs by duration on the bar that would help a lot in buff management.

I think that might be hard to pull off, because not everyone casts them in the same order. It might require assigning a specific position to each buff, which may make things worse, instead of better, hard to say.

[J-mann]

I think that might be hard to pull off, because not everyone casts them in the same order. It might require assigning a specific position to each buff, which may make things worse, instead of better, hard to say.

I was intending simple duration remaining. Sort from least to most.

[Ashlayna]

I was intending simple duration remaining. Sort from least to most.

That might work. A trickier thing that occurred to me is that they could add the duration to the buff icons on the bar as a cooldown timer. It doesn't solve the bloat issue, but it does make them readily viewable.

[J-mann]

That might work. A trickier thing that occurred to me is that they could add the duration to the buff icons on the bar as a cooldown timer. It doesn't solve the bloat issue, but it does make them readily viewable.

Problem with that is that it doesn't help with clickers. Lynn can we get a comment on this? Is something like this possible?