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PTS Update 30 - Feedback Thread for Ability Bar Timers

ZOS_GinaBruno
ZOS_GinaBruno
Community Manager
This is the official feedback thread for the ability bar timers. Specific feedback that the team is looking for includes the following:
  • Are there any abilities in particular that didn’t display the timer as you expected?
  • In general, how communicative was it? Did it help manage combat abilities better?
  • Were you using keyboard or gamepad UI?
  • Do you have any other general feedback?
Edited by ZOS_GinaBruno on April 20, 2021 3:53PM
Gina Bruno
Senior Community Manager
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Staff Post
  • karekiz
    karekiz
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    1. Not that I noticed on my Sorc.
    2. It helped manage timers just fine. I do miss the countdown from the other Addons though. Maybe an option of timer/number?
    3. Keyboard
    4. The timer is WAY too small. I have good eyes and I feel its too tiny. I would just clone the flip of ability similar to ADR of active skills. If devs don't want to go down that route, then flip the skill a tiny bit out as it occurs currently with a larger numerical timer above it.

  • Tannus15
    Tannus15
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    it's not good.

    Screenshot_20210421_083552.png

    Seriously, please just copy Action Duration Reminder.
    It's a great addon that everyone has been using for ages, there is no need to reinvent the wheel here.
  • LeonAkando
    LeonAkando
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    This is the official feedback thread for the ability bar timers. Specific feedback that the team is looking for includes the following:
    • Are there any abilities in particular that didn’t display the timer as you expected?
    • In general, how communicative was it? Did it help manage combat abilities better?
    • Were you using keyboard or gamepad UI?
    • Do you have any other general feedback?

    * Timers appeared consistently, felt intuitive.

    * I've used Action Duration Reminder for as long as I've played ESO. This system feels both better and worse in different regards.
    What is Better: The progression bar, the greying out on abilities when their duration is going out. ZOS' version is better polished.
    What is Worse: How tiny the bars are when weapon swapping. I play in 4k on a medium sized monitor and can't see the abilities used on my backbar. I would also like to see full-size icon option with the bar similar to Action Duration Reminder.

    * Keyboard.

    * Expand the options for this feature, and most importantly allow us a bigger backbar size. I really do appreciate how addons are being baked into the game, even as a PC only player who has them downloaded. Not having to use Rapid Riding or Action Duration Reminder is awesome. But it needs more of a robust option list to truly dethrone the current options.
  • CyberOnEso
    CyberOnEso
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    Are there any abilities in particular that didn’t display the timer as you expected?
    Warden's deep fissure sometimes showed 6 seconds, which is wrong.
    In general, how communicative was it? Did it help manage combat abilities better?
    1000x better than before, but I think Action Duration Reminder/ Bandits UI displays information cleaner.
    Were you using keyboard or gamepad UI?
    Keyboard
    Do you have any other general feedback?
    I know you have the timer showing on the back bar because you don't want to move the health bar up. I get it. But look at how Bandit's UI does it, it doesn't need to move the attribute bars up and it shows the information much cleaner.


    @CyberOnEso PC | EU - Jack of all Trades - Armory Style Manager Planesbreaker | Godslayer | Dawnbringer | Immortal Redeemer | Tick Tock Tormentor | Gryphon Heart
  • Rugby_hook
    Rugby_hook
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    I was testing this out on a stamcro earlier. Coming from console (and only playing on PC on PTS and using a controller) I am not familiar with the add-ons that provided this feature. It is very helpful to be able to see the timer on the backbar, but it could be a bit bigger or maybe have numbers above it. Something to make it more clear.

    On the stamcro, some of the skill timers were confusing to me. I wasn't sure why blastbones and skulls had timers that were still counting down but then I could recast the skill anyways. I'm not really sure what the countdown for on them was for, also. It made it seem like I wouldn't be able to cast it. The timer for barbed trap was also confusing to me since it lasts for a minute on the bar, but once it gets applied to the enemy it no longer lasts that long, so maybe this can update to be the same timer that is on the boss debuff bar (rather than having to look in multiple places for when to reapply dots). I think it was better than before (with no timers), but it could definitely use some work on clarity.
  • ssewallb14_ESO
    ssewallb14_ESO
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    In short I won't be using this (though I would like to), because the back bar timer is extremely small and has no numerical countdown. The main point of a buff tracker is to time the back bar, that's where your buffs generally are. It seems like an odd choice to have a very visible number on the front bar with a tiny timer bar on the back.

    Like someone else mentioned, literally just copy action duration reminder, there's no need to get fancy. It fulfills this role perfectly, that's why so many people use it.
    Edited by ssewallb14_ESO on April 21, 2021 12:34AM
  • OutLaw_Nynx
    OutLaw_Nynx
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    Tannus15 wrote: »
    it's not good.

    Screenshot_20210421_083552.png

    Seriously, please just copy Action Duration Reminder.
    It's a great addon that everyone has been using for ages, there is no need to reinvent the wheel here.

    Us console plebs don’t have add ons :(
  • WrathOfInnos
    WrathOfInnos
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    The active skill bar timers were good, but we need the ability to see off-bar timers in seconds. The tiny bar was both difficult to see, and hard to understand how much time was remaining. Especially since skills of different duration all have the same bar size, so it just shrinks slower. We need to see “2.3 seconds remaining”, not “about half of a 10s skill” and “a sliver of a 36s skill”.

    Also Barbed Trap duration was showing 60s instead of 18s.
  • INe_Saninus
    INe_Saninus
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    I'm a console peasant, but PLEASE keep giving feedback PC players.
    We have needed this for soooo long and I want it to be as good as possible.

    If you have an opinion, post it. Keep bumping the thread.

    I appreciate your efforts in this.
    I know you guys have an already great option.
    Hopefully, the feedback will get us up to par.
  • Hotdog_23
    Hotdog_23
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    First a BIG THANKS for finally add this to base game for console players.

    Second, still wish console had a PTS so we could test things out like this since we are one of the main reasons this is being added.

    Third, really wish you would just copy what the other UI add-ons do and show both bars completely. In its current form it just looks so tiny and we be difficult to see. Guess if you only played one or two characters mainly it would be easy to remember where and what the back bars skills are but not if you play 18 like I do. Please just go full fledge and put both bars on display.

    Fourth, non-related but want to again advocate for the ability to pick which buff and debuff we track and not show everything.

    Stay safe and enjoy the journey 😊

    PS. ZOS stop the micromanagement of the green tree 🥺
  • Tannus15
    Tannus15
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    for the console peeps, action duration reminder:

    8g12e6g6smme.png
  • robpr
    robpr
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    1.
    Burning Embers show duration 4s longer than it is (14s, shows 18)
    Scalding Rune show 30s, ignores the dot times when triggered
    Barbed Trap show 60s, ignores the dot times when triggered

    2. I'd prefer timer instead of bar but its better than nothing. The icon should be bigger and should flash or bar timer go red if its about to expire

    3. Keyboard

    4. As 2, increase the size of this thing. If not copying ADR, you can copy the stacked look from BanditsUI
    209e.png
    If bars have to stay, please increase their width to match the the active bar, its too small.
  • Artorias24
    Artorias24
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    The Timer on the skills is really good but i highly dislike that your skills get darker. In the middle of a fight seeing your heal skill (in my case polar wind) being darker then it used to be always gives me the impression i am out of magicka (wich i am not).
  • colossalvoids
    colossalvoids
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    Backbar skills pop-up should match the size of a frontbar ones and be more visible, also numerical as current bar isn't helping really. Optional preference would be to show numbers closer to the bottom as untweaked ADR does to clearly view the skill itself.

    Also dislike darkening of a skill, intuitively it seems like you have no target/resources hence might be confusing.

    All the changes could be optional with a bigger menu, the more customisation the better. Like numerical display, their colour, position, backbar skills sticking out etc.
  • Hotdog_23
    Hotdog_23
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    Tannus15 wrote: »
    for the console peeps, action duration reminder:

    8g12e6g6smme.png

    Really wish they would just copy this setup completely. Then maybe PC players would actually use it too. I know if I was on PC, I would not use the new default and go the add-on route because it looks superior.

    C-mon ZOS pretty please make it look better.

    Stay safe and enjoy the journey 😊

    PS. ZOS stop the micromanagement of the green tree 🥺
  • Firstmep
    Firstmep
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    Too tiny, barely noticeable.
    Just copy the code from action duration reminder, it worked well for inventory search and multicraft.
  • PrinceShroob
    PrinceShroob
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    I noticed an issue where a timer from a skill you cast in one combat won't carry over into another combat. For example, let's say you cast Channeled Acceleration and you see a timer tick down from 36 seconds. When you finish your current fight, all timers disappear. If you then enter another fight, you won't see the timer for Channeled Acceleration, even if it's still active -- you'll have to cast it again to watch the timer.

    I would appreciate the ability to toggle reminder "popup" notifications. As for aesthetics, I can't put my finger on it, but something about the font used for the countdown bothers me -- perhaps it's too large? In the wrong location, like it should be a bit farther downward so as to not cover up the skill's icon as much? Not sure.
  • Hotdog_23
    Hotdog_23
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    I noticed an issue where a timer from a skill you cast in one combat won't carry over into another combat. For example, let's say you cast Channeled Acceleration and you see a timer tick down from 36 seconds. When you finish your current fight, all timers disappear. If you then enter another fight, you won't see the timer for Channeled Acceleration, even if it's still active -- you'll have to cast it again to watch the timer.

    I would appreciate the ability to toggle reminder "popup" notifications. As for aesthetics, I can't put my finger on it, but something about the font used for the countdown bothers me -- perhaps it's too large? In the wrong location, like it should be a bit farther downward so as to not cover up the skill's icon as much? Not sure.

    This would be very nice too, but I would want to be able to decide which skills show notification and not every one of them.

    Stay safe and enjoy the journey 😊

    PS. ZOS stop the micromanagement of the green tree 🥺
  • zaria
    zaria
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    robpr wrote: »
    1.
    Burning Embers show duration 4s longer than it is (14s, shows 18)
    Scalding Rune show 30s, ignores the dot times when triggered
    Barbed Trap show 60s, ignores the dot times when triggered

    2. I'd prefer timer instead of bar but its better than nothing. The icon should be bigger and should flash or bar timer go red if its about to expire

    3. Keyboard

    4. As 2, increase the size of this thing. If not copying ADR, you can copy the stacked look from BanditsUI
    209e.png
    If bars have to stay, please increase their width to match the the active bar, its too small.
    Yes, both this and action duration reminder is nice. You see the backbar skill and the duration left.

    Grinding just make you go in circles.
    Asking ZoS for nerfs is as stupid as asking for close air support from the death star.
  • Bodycounter
    Bodycounter
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    I have to agree here. Just take the code from Action Duration Reminder and add your layout to it which is really nice. There is no reason for you taking 7 years to add an action duration to the game just for it to be worse than an already exisiting addon in almost every aspect.
  • Ancalag
    Ancalag
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    [*] Are there any abilities in particular that didn’t display the timer as you expected?
    Not in particular.

    [*] In general, how communicative was it? Did it help manage combat abilities better?
    For front bar yes, but we are not able to understand anything of what is happening on backbar.

    [*] Were you using keyboard or gamepad UI?
    Keyboard

    [*] Do you have any other general feedback?
    Like everyone I think it's a way better idea to have a timer with number turning red when less than 3/5s and/or flickering and more important having the full ability mini for backbar skills to be able to understand which one it is. Pretty easy to do, just reproduce what the original addon do.
  • ajkb78
    ajkb78
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    This is the official feedback thread for the ability bar timers. Specific feedback that the team is looking for includes the following:
    • Are there any abilities in particular that didn’t display the timer as you expected?
    • In general, how communicative was it? Did it help manage combat abilities better?
    • Were you using keyboard or gamepad UI?
    • Do you have any other general feedback?

    I have only tested on a sorc so far, using gamepad mode as I'm a console player. All the abilities from my standard trial setup that I would expect to display the timer did so however for some skills it's not a helpful timer. For Barbed Trap the timer times the 60s duration of the trap itself, which we don't really care about. The timer should show the duration of the DOT and minor force buff, because it's when that runs out that we will need to re-cast the skill.

    The timer does not react to changing skills. If for example I pre-place a scalding rune while out of combat the timer starts counting down from 36s, but if I then immediately slot hardened ward in place of scalding rune the timer continues to count down the time remaining on rune, and even if I then cast hardened ward the timer does not update to display the time remaining on hardened ward. There is no display of time remaining on ultimates, not really vital as there isn't usually anything you can do to recast them but it would be nice to see how long the damage continued for with ultimates that have a DOT component.


    It's a big step forward for us console players but there is room for improvement. The back bar display is too small and too hidden, it's ok to see that there are durations remaining on skills but it doesn't show you which back bar skill is which. Not a problem if you always use exactly the same bar setups but for players who change their setup round for different senarios it would be nice to be able to see the skill icon as well as the timer. The timer bar is also not as stand-out as it could be, it's kind of dull and uses only 1 side of the skill icon. The similar add-on available for PC does a better job of this, using a really bright green and 3 sides of the icon. At least let us customise the color. It would also be nice if we had an option to display a timer bar instead of or as well as the number of seconds remaining for front bar skills, analogue meters are generally more instinctive than digital ones. Even in its current state I will definitely have this turned on at all times once it goes live.

    Where skills have soft cooldowns or stacks it would be nice if those were shown in the toolbar, for example the cost increase timer on streak would be nice to see in the streak tool icon in the toolbar. I know it's shown in the buff bar but that bar becomes so full that it's hard to keep track of individual buffs. Similarly, it would be good to show the stacks of bound armaments or relentless focus on their tool icons, though this would only really work if you changed to using a time remaining bar instead of numbers of seconds for front bar skills. (I've only tested with bound armaments which doesn't show the stacks but I assume it's the same for relentless and any similar skills.) Alternatively, having a setting where we could filter individual buffs that we do / do not want to see on the buff bar would be great.

    General feedback: it's a fair start on closing the functionality gap with PC players. There's a bit of room for improvement still for this particular feature as described above but there are 2 more bits of functionality provided by add-ons on PC only that I really hope you'll bring into the core game so that console players have access as well:

    1. Some functionality to change skill bar, equipment and CP slottable presets. With the recent patch-on-patch nerfs speed run achievements are becoming harder because of reduced damage. This is mitigated to an extent on PC as add-ons provide the ability to rapidly alter setups for boss fights and trash pulls. Not only would having this functionality available bring console and PC players closer to a level playing field as far as difficulty of achievements goes, but it would also breathe new life into sets suited for trash pulls on console, because at the moment they are little used because of the hassle of switching gear back and forth between bosses and trash.

    2. Some functionality to provide more detailed feedback on performance against target dummies. The detailed advice provided by combat analysis plugins on PC is crazy useful and there is no equivalent available for console users. If you're serious about helping new players to close the skill gap and improve their play there is no bigger change you could make than to introduce detailed target dummy feedback of the kind available from something like CMX - skill uptimes, light attack rate, highlighting where missed LAs are happening, what skills are providing what damage.

    With those two bits of functionality I think you would have done a huge amount to bring the game experience on console up to the same standard that is available to PC players. I'm super encouraged that you've made a first step by introducing skill timers and I really hope it's just the beginning of a series of pieces of work to provide us with the key bits of missing functionality.

    Thank you.
  • phileunderx2
    phileunderx2
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    Front bar timers are really nice, back bar timers are not good at all. Hard to see and no numbers.
  • Narvuntien
    Narvuntien
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    Oh I posted in a different thread about it being bugged.

    The new Ability timers are completely wrong for my MagDK.
    Burning embers in particular way off.
    Strangely Elemental wall seems to be wrong it lasts a lot longer than the visuals that I use to gauge it.
    And the ability that is worst is scaling rune, the timer is for how long it lasts not for how long it deals damage for.
  • Noxji
    Noxji
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    xc6j07239b90.png


    This is how I use my Action Duration Reminder. I don't like that moving the health bar up thing everyone is using. I like a clean look. The new implemented action bar system is imo amazing, other than the backbar icons are WAY to tiny.
    Edited by Noxji on April 21, 2021 7:22PM
  • ghost_bg_ESO
    ghost_bg_ESO
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    *Are there any abilities in particular that didn’t display the timer as you expected?

    magcro - blastbones - timer is a mess
    - have timer counting something despite i just saw it hit the target.
    - ability is greyed but i still can press it.
    - have timer start without blastbones appear.

    *In general, how communicative was it? Did it help manage combat abilities better?

    - can adapt to small backbar, but it is less noticeable in combat compared to ADR - can miss a skill or two...

    *Were you using keyboard or gamepad UI?

    -controller/ gamepad UI

    *Do you have any other general feedback?

    - may be it has to activated by default.

    ** after playing through one dungeon game became way more laggy, freezing almost on every ability mine or mobs, /reloadui fixed it (not sure if timer is the problem but mentioning it here as reloadui fixed it)
  • bharathitman
    bharathitman
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    Re-arming trap shows 60 seconds as the duration which makes it kinda useless to people who are only looking for the minor force uptime (18 seconds) that comes out from this skill.
    Edited by bharathitman on April 21, 2021 5:09PM
  • vgabor
    vgabor
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    The main reason why I used such addons (Action Duration Remainder or Bandist similar feature) is to see the countdowns for my backbar. While this new base game feature is nice, it does not help with that at all as the visibility for backbar is just too small and no countdown either... In this current form I don't see any reason to start using this instead of the addons...
  • Styxius
    Styxius
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    Timing on Barbed Trap is off,
    Timer on Blastbones doesn't work properly it treats it like Blastbones is an 8 second DoT instead of just indicating when it's ready and active which can cause massive confusion.
  • relentless_turnip
    relentless_turnip
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    Stamsorc: lost the timer whenever I changed target this included self buffs like hurricane and crit surge.
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