User:Gaia's Wrath

Health Bar substitute--Avatar Health Condition

I always thought it would be more exciting, more immersive, in both pve and pvp environments, if your avatar actually showed graphically their health condition rather than to rely on the unimmersive and rather obnoxious ubiquitous health bar. At first, relying on the graphic presentation of one's avatar health might seem unsettling, especially since there's no precedent to help as reference to gauge our status, which may explain the persistent use of the "easier" to read health bar and/or hitpoint number. But I feel confident we can get over this unsettling stage after "learning" from enough encounters the graphic presentation of the various stages of health. Imagine, not only are you looking at your avatar swing that mighty sword or cast that flashy spell, but you can see in that same area of focus "how" well that spell or sword hits your foe because you see it land and cause the graphic deterioration of your foe and visa versa. During combat, how many times after having stolen a glance at our health bar have we been shocked and surprised to see our woefully deteriorated health bar all the while your graphic avatar battles on looking as pristine and untouched as before the battle started! There's a disconnect there and thus a huge lost of the game's immersive quality. If my foe blocks my 2 handed axe with his shield, I want to see a dent! If I unleash a fireball on a dwarf, I want to see his beard burnt off with soot all over his face! I want to see cloths ripped by daggers and faces scared by sharp claws! It could be temporary or permanent! But by relying on the condition of our foe, friend, and ourselves in such a graphical representation the immersive quality of the game play experience, whether pve or pvp, will explode. Yes, I can imagine the amount of data needed to represent those various stages of health, but it need not be too fancy or of numerous stages if time or technology is not there yet. We can start off with health conditions that show deterioration at 75%, 50%, and 25%. Rather than showing details of injuries from specific attacks (which would be ideal), we could simplify with just displaying damaged armor or ripped clothing. Or more simply yet, have the body showing "general" deterioration--how? with blood, without blood, I dunno, lets ask a living gladiator:P The main point is to allow the player to simply focus on his or her abilities during combat while receiving seemingly instantaneous feedback from those said abilities. No health bars, numbers, pie charts, etc... this is not a business meeting with your ceo! It's just you and your opponent enjoying the beautiful battle animations before contact as well as AFTER contact, immediately seeing in an artful, graphic form the consequences that relays pertinent information in one swoop! Healer wouldn't have to look at health bars, they look at your avatar doing his triple-decker flying kick move into the maw of a dragon! Now wouldn't that be more entertaining to look at than a health bar?

Gaia's Wrath 07:25, 14 February 2012 (UTC) Gaia's Wrath