UI suggestion: Improve the current difficulty symbols next to Monsters and Players names

Universe · May 2020

Hello,
I find the current difficulty symbols of Monsters and Players a bit lacking and poor.
It will be nice if you will improve how they look in the UI.
I speak about this, current difficulty symbols in PTS & Live(example):

*What I suggest is to add better Elite/Boss symbols instead of the old fashioned 1/2/3 bars.
*Also, I suggest to change the difficulty symbol next to enemy players names in PVP to something similar to level 1 or level 2 elite.
Player characters are usually tougher than normal Monsters so this will be more appropriate.

WoW difficulty symbol next to a name, example:

I don't suggest to copy WoW ofc, but at least improve the current difficulty symbols to something which is more fitting.
@ZOS_BrianWheeler @ZOS_RobGarrett

GeorgeBlack · May 2020

Monster difficulty....?
They die with 1 full Flurry

Universe · May 2020

GeorgeBlack wrote: »

Monster difficulty....?
They die with 1 full Flurry

My suggestions in this discussion aren't about the monster difficulty in ESO in terms of power/endurance.
I suggest to improve the cosmetic UI so the symbols of Elite/Boss monsters will look better.
Also, it should also apply to player characters in PVP, level 1 or 2 elite seems reasonable.

VaranisArano · May 2020

Players in PVP don't come with difficulty symbols. The most you get are their Alliance Rank markers, and those are more a measure of how much time they spent playing that character, not entirely a measure of skill. To a limited extent you can look at titles, if the player is using one indicates their PVP skill.

Universe · May 2020

VaranisArano wrote: »

Players in PVP don't come with difficulty symbols. The most you get are their Alliance Rank markers, and those are more a measure of how much time they spent playing that character, not entirely a measure of skill. To a limited extent you can look at titles, if the player is using one indicates their PVP skill.

I'm aware of it...
Though introducing default & similar difficulty symbols in PVP will distinguish the players from normal trash monsters found in open world

VaranisArano · May 2020

Universe wrote: »

VaranisArano wrote: »

Players in PVP don't come with difficulty symbols. The most you get are their Alliance Rank markers, and those are more a measure of how much time they spent playing that character, not entirely a measure of skill. To a limited extent you can look at titles, if the player is using one indicates their PVP skill.

I'm aware of it...
Though introducing default & similar difficulty symbols in PVP will distinguish the players from normal trash monsters found in open world

If you want to distinguish PVP players from NPCs, try using the alliance markers. It'll put a shield in their alliance's color over their head. It makes it easy to tell the difference.

Since you are aware of the current options for ranking, you should probably put some thought into exactly how you intend to "rank" PVPers. ESO ranks them on time spent playing that character or let's them "self-rank" with titles. How do you intend to rank players based on skill in a practical sense? Cyrodiil doesn't break down into a nice win/loss record like BGs, after all.

Universe · May 2020

VaranisArano wrote: »

Universe wrote: »

VaranisArano wrote: »

Players in PVP don't come with difficulty symbols. The most you get are their Alliance Rank markers, and those are more a measure of how much time they spent playing that character, not entirely a measure of skill. To a limited extent you can look at titles, if the player is using one indicates their PVP skill.

I'm aware of it...
Though introducing default & similar difficulty symbols in PVP will distinguish the players from normal trash monsters found in open world

If you want to distinguish PVP players from NPCs, try using the alliance markers. It'll put a shield in their alliance's color over their head. It makes it easy to tell the difference.

Since you are aware of the current options for ranking, you should probably put some thought into exactly how you intend to "rank" PVPers. ESO ranks them on time spent playing that character or let's them "self-rank" with titles. How do you intend to rank players based on skill in a practical sense? Cyrodiil doesn't break down into a nice win/loss record like BGs, after all.

I don't suggest to create an entirely new ranking system for PVP in this discussion.
This can be done separately.

What I suggest here is to simply upgrading all PVP players difficulty symbols to elite level 1/2 in the UI(cosmetic change only).
Currently, it is on "normal" difficulty and I believe it doesn't do justice to the players, especially since player characters are tougher than normal mobs.

Furthermore, the difficulty symbols should be changed so they will look better than simple dots and lava bar, regardless if this is PVP and/or PVE change.

Universe · May 2020

The changes I suggest here should be very easy to implement.
It is not mandatory ofc, but it can make the difficulty symbols look better.

Just a slight change to the UI design and enabling it

zvavi · May 2020

I mean. Elite to players is still pretty offensive imo. Those overland mobs are pretty wimpy.

Universe · May 2020

zvavi wrote: »

I mean. Elite to players is still pretty offensive imo. Those overland mobs are pretty wimpy.

It seems more appropriate that PVP players will be at elite level 1 at the very least(i.e 1 dot by current design).
Also, the design of elite symbols should be changed to something nicer than simple dots and lava bar regardless of monsters difficulty.

Though I kind of agree the many elites/bosses in ESO don't pose a real challenge due to current power creep, but this is for another topic.
Here I focus on UI cosmetic changes.

Major_Lag · May 2020

About the whole notion of "player difficulty" in PvP:

There are already some addons which have a similar feature, showing a different color "difficulty indicator" in the nameplate - based on the player character's level/CP and AR compared against your own.

However, ultimately both the AR and CP are just a measure of time played, not any indicator of actual skill.
AR is especially meaningless in this sense, since it's not account wide.

As for PvE:
ZOS might as well delete all the "difficulty indicators" from every overland monster that isn't a world boss, because non-WB overland enemies are a complete faceroll joke, and they do not deserve being called "difficult" in any meaningful sense.

Sange13 · May 2020

WoW's way of denoting elite mobs lost its meaning long, long ago and they really should have been updating it as they went since some "gold" mobs are weaker than some "silvers." As for ESO, I agree the elite bars aren't very appealing and could be done up better, but I wouldn't want them to try to follow WoW as any sort of example.