Colourblind accessibility and a request regarding Item Rarity

Lazy4k · June 25

Greetings, adventurers! This is my first post here, so apologies if it's in the wrong board. I registered an account because I want to request an accessibility feature.

I've been playing ESO on and off since launch on Xbox One/Series X, and while I love the game there's one thing that has been an issue for me since day one. I'm a colourblind gamer and while it mostly hasn't caused me any problems with this game, I've never been able to identify, at a glance, what rarity an item is.

The colours used for Green (Fine) and Gold (Legendary) items look too similar for me, as do the colours for Blue (Superior) and Purple (Epic) items- I can't tell them apart. When I'm scrolling through my inventory, reading the text and seeing the colour for each item, I never know how rare something I have is! This has lead to many instances of me crunching items I didn't intend on, and it makes build crafting more unintuitive for me than I feel it should be. Currently if I want to know what rarity a piece of gear I have is, I have to attempt to improve it at a crafting station and figure it out that way.

I'd like to request a simple fix for this- could the item's rarity be written in text in the item description? Somewhere near the top of the item would be best. I made a quick mockup to show an example of what I mean. Having the item's rarity written in text would really help me, and potentially other colourblind players, out a lot! I've noticed ZOS have been making many QoL improvements to the game recently, so I'm hopeful this request won't fall on deaf ears

Are there any other colourblind gamers on these boards? I'm curious if anyone else has the same difficulty with this that I do. For that matter: are there are any additional ways that the ESO could be improved to make it more accessible for players like us? Please share your thoughts and ideas, maybe we can help make ESO a better game. Thanks!

LunaFlora · June 25

im not colourblind, but i do agree it would be helpful to add the quality in text

katanagirl1 · June 25

My hubby is shade colorblind, as he calls it. He isn’t a big spender at the guild stores, but he has trouble seeing if mobs have a yellow outline (not aggressive) versus red outline (will attack on sight), so sometime he attacks npcs that he doesn’t mean to.

Probably a good thing he doesn’t play in Cyrodiil, I don’t think he would be able to use siege and tell when they are ready to fire since they go from green to red after firing, and then back to green when ready to fire again.

The game needs more accessibility options for the colorblind so colors like these can be changed.

Danikat · June 25

I agree this would be helpful even for people who aren't colour blind.

I can tell the colours apart but occasionally forget the order because a lot of games use the same colours but in different orders and I can't always remember which order goes with which game. For example in my other MMO green is a higher rarity than blue and purple is higher than gold. Having the rarity name shown somewhere would help me remember.

Considering they started adding accessibility features recently it seems like something ZOS should be interested in doing.

Feljax · June 25

I have the same issue as the OP and I support this suggestion enthusiastically!

Lazy4k · June 25

katanagirl1 wrote: »

My hubby is shade colorblind, as he calls it. He isn’t a big spender at the guild stores, but he has trouble seeing if mobs have a yellow outline (not aggressive) versus red outline (will attack on sight), so sometime he attacks npcs that he doesn’t mean to.

I had no idea that was a thing! Tried running around overland a bit to see if I could notice this and for me those outlines all look super similar as well. Makes me wonder what other features might be effectively invisible to me. It would definitely be nice to be able to tweak these colours like we can the damage circles (I've shifted mine from red to pink like many content creators have suggested). Maybe there's room for more colourblind accessibility features than I originally thought

Danikat wrote: »

I can tell the colours apart but occasionally forget the order because a lot of games use the same colours but in different orders and I can't always remember which order goes with which game. For example in my other MMO green is a higher rarity than blue and purple is higher than gold. Having the rarity name shown somewhere would help me remember.

Interesting, I've definitely noticed this in other games I play as well. It's a good point- this request could help more gamers than just those with colourblindness. Hope ZOS is listening!

I've adjusted the original post a bit to encourage conversation about colourblind accessibility more broadly. If there's any other tweaks that could be made to make ESO more friendly for gamers with colourblindness, perhaps this thread could be a good place to discuss them.

katanagirl1 · June 26

Lazy4k wrote: »

katanagirl1 wrote: »

My hubby is shade colorblind, as he calls it. He isn’t a big spender at the guild stores, but he has trouble seeing if mobs have a yellow outline (not aggressive) versus red outline (will attack on sight), so sometime he attacks npcs that he doesn’t mean to.

I had no idea that was a thing! Tried running around overland a bit to see if I could notice this and for me those outlines all look super similar as well. Makes me wonder what other features might be effectively invisible to me. It would definitely be nice to be able to tweak these colours like we can the damage circles (I've shifted mine from red to pink like many content creators have suggested). Maybe there's room for more colourblind accessibility features than I originally thought

Danikat wrote: »

I can tell the colours apart but occasionally forget the order because a lot of games use the same colours but in different orders and I can't always remember which order goes with which game. For example in my other MMO green is a higher rarity than blue and purple is higher than gold. Having the rarity name shown somewhere would help me remember.

Interesting, I've definitely noticed this in other games I play as well. It's a good point- this request could help more gamers than just those with colourblindness. Hope ZOS is listening!

I've adjusted the original post a bit to encourage conversation about colourblind accessibility more broadly. If there's any other tweaks that could be made to make ESO more friendly for gamers with colourblindness, perhaps this thread could be a good place to discuss them.

Yes, they have some options but I honestly don’t think the damage circles were intended for colorblind players, otherwise they would have included the other options. I could be wrong, though. I change the red to orange just because it stands out more. Hot pink is a favorite color for all players but it is too faint in the center for me.

Good luck, I think this is a worthy topic and there are many more features that could be added to the game to make it easier to play for those like you and my hubby.

Theist_VII · June 26

Another colorblind ESO player here, from what I’ve gathered in my interactions with others, there are certain hues of red that I cannot see.

I’ve always had a problem distinguishing blues and purples and never had a name for it until I decided to look further… where I found out that it is Deuteranopia.

There are times when this creates strange situations for me when playing ESO, such as failing to upgrade my gear. Colorblind filters would be an incredible addition to the game that would help alleviate that problem.

Lazy4k · June 27

katanagirl1 wrote: »

Yes, they have some options but I honestly don’t think the damage circles were intended for colorblind players, otherwise they would have included the other options. I could be wrong, though. I change the red to orange just because it stands out more. Hot pink is a favorite color for all players but it is too faint in the center for me.

As far as the damage circles are concerned, pink mostly works great for me, except when I'm in one of the zones with a lot of blue like Coldharbour or dungeons like Banished Cells. Then the circles are effectively invisible for me again, and I'm too lazy to be adjusting that colour all the time

I'll have to try orange and see if it works better for me.

Telos_Tim wrote: »

Another colorblind ESO player here, from what I’ve gathered in my interactions with others, there are certain hues of red that I cannot see.

I’ve always had a problem distinguishing blues and purples and never had a name for it until I decided to look further… where I found out that it is Deuteranopia.

There are times when this creates strange situations for me when playing ESO, such as failing to upgrade my gear. Colorblind filters would be an incredible addition to the game that would help alleviate that problem.

Hmm, I'm not sure what kind of colourblindness I have, so I always get confused when I see the options for colourblind filters in games. That being said, I would definitely welcome the addition of such filters in ESO! It's kind of weird they aren't already there, to be honest. A high contrast mode might also be helpful.

katanagirl1 · June 27

Lazy4k wrote: »

katanagirl1 wrote: »

Yes, they have some options but I honestly don’t think the damage circles were intended for colorblind players, otherwise they would have included the other options. I could be wrong, though. I change the red to orange just because it stands out more. Hot pink is a favorite color for all players but it is too faint in the center for me.

As far as the damage circles are concerned, pink mostly works great for me, except when I'm in one of the zones with a lot of blue like Coldharbour or dungeons like Banished Cells. Then the circles are effectively invisible for me again, and I'm too lazy to be adjusting that colour all the time I'll have to try orange and see if it works better for me.

Telos_Tim wrote: »

Another colorblind ESO player here, from what I’ve gathered in my interactions with others, there are certain hues of red that I cannot see.

I’ve always had a problem distinguishing blues and purples and never had a name for it until I decided to look further… where I found out that it is Deuteranopia.

There are times when this creates strange situations for me when playing ESO, such as failing to upgrade my gear. Colorblind filters would be an incredible addition to the game that would help alleviate that problem.

Hmm, I'm not sure what kind of colourblindness I have, so I always get confused when I see the options for colourblind filters in games. That being said, I would definitely welcome the addition of such filters in ESO! It's kind of weird they aren't already there, to be honest. A high contrast mode might also be helpful.

I found this website that described a few different types and had some images to compare. There are some glasses you can get for colorblindness but I am not sure how they work. I only assume that they cannot correct to see what normal vision would be like.

https://enchroma.com/blogs/beyond-color/how-color-blind-see

I added this one just because it has nyan cat, lol

https://www.boredpanda.com/different-types-color-blindness-photos/

We looked at sites like this and it was educational for me too. It seems strange to me that green and red would look the same to my hubby.

wolfie1.0. · June 27

katanagirl1 wrote: »

Lazy4k wrote: »

katanagirl1 wrote: »

Yes, they have some options but I honestly don’t think the damage circles were intended for colorblind players, otherwise they would have included the other options. I could be wrong, though. I change the red to orange just because it stands out more. Hot pink is a favorite color for all players but it is too faint in the center for me.

As far as the damage circles are concerned, pink mostly works great for me, except when I'm in one of the zones with a lot of blue like Coldharbour or dungeons like Banished Cells. Then the circles are effectively invisible for me again, and I'm too lazy to be adjusting that colour all the time I'll have to try orange and see if it works better for me.

Telos_Tim wrote: »

Another colorblind ESO player here, from what I’ve gathered in my interactions with others, there are certain hues of red that I cannot see.

I’ve always had a problem distinguishing blues and purples and never had a name for it until I decided to look further… where I found out that it is Deuteranopia.

There are times when this creates strange situations for me when playing ESO, such as failing to upgrade my gear. Colorblind filters would be an incredible addition to the game that would help alleviate that problem.

Hmm, I'm not sure what kind of colourblindness I have, so I always get confused when I see the options for colourblind filters in games. That being said, I would definitely welcome the addition of such filters in ESO! It's kind of weird they aren't already there, to be honest. A high contrast mode might also be helpful.

I found this website that described a few different types and had some images to compare. There are some glasses you can get for colorblindness but I am not sure how they work. I only assume that they cannot correct to see what normal vision would be like.

https://enchroma.com/blogs/beyond-color/how-color-blind-see

I added this one just because it has nyan cat, lol

https://www.boredpanda.com/different-types-color-blindness-photos/

We looked at sites like this and it was educational for me too. It seems strange to me that green and red would look the same to my hubby.

Fyi, those glasses are a scam. They do not "solve" colorblindness. Your can't fix colorblindness. There isn't a surgery for it. There ARE filters and changes that make it easier but all those glasses do is up the contrast between objects and they only even help for one or two colorblind types. And then even only marginally.

Regarding colorblindness and eso... feel free to be ignored.

The game revolves around color mechanics everywhere and the only bone zos has thrown is the ability to change aoe colors... but not ALL aoe colors... and there are some attacks where they don't apply.

There are mobs and bosses in this game that are close to invisible in because of the choice of color combinations in dungeons and design. I can't read mob names without addons.

I used to complain a lot about it years back and just gave up...

wolfie1.0. · June 27

Lazy4k wrote: »

katanagirl1 wrote: »

Yes, they have some options but I honestly don’t think the damage circles were intended for colorblind players, otherwise they would have included the other options. I could be wrong, though. I change the red to orange just because it stands out more. Hot pink is a favorite color for all players but it is too faint in the center for me.

As far as the damage circles are concerned, pink mostly works great for me, except when I'm in one of the zones with a lot of blue like Coldharbour or dungeons like Banished Cells. Then the circles are effectively invisible for me again, and I'm too lazy to be adjusting that colour all the time I'll have to try orange and see if it works better for me.

Telos_Tim wrote: »

Another colorblind ESO player here, from what I’ve gathered in my interactions with others, there are certain hues of red that I cannot see.

I’ve always had a problem distinguishing blues and purples and never had a name for it until I decided to look further… where I found out that it is Deuteranopia.

There are times when this creates strange situations for me when playing ESO, such as failing to upgrade my gear. Colorblind filters would be an incredible addition to the game that would help alleviate that problem.

Hmm, I'm not sure what kind of colourblindness I have, so I always get confused when I see the options for colourblind filters in games. That being said, I would definitely welcome the addition of such filters in ESO! It's kind of weird they aren't already there, to be honest. A high contrast mode might also be helpful.

If your on pc there is an rgb addon. It features an rgb rotation with a turbo mode. I basically turn that on so the aoes cycle through the rainbow at a super fast speed. Basically it turns enemy aoes into blinking lights regardless of how the dungeon or boss is designed.

If your on console see if your monitor or tV has a colorblind feature built in. Though neither option is as good as built in filters.

AlnilamE · June 27

This is definitely something that should be worked on. Accessibility is important.

Necrotech_Master · June 27

@ZOS_Kevin this might be something good for future accessibility consideration

Lazy4k · June 29

katanagirl1 wrote: »

I found this website that described a few different types and had some images to compare. There are some glasses you can get for colorblindness but I am not sure how they work. I only assume that they cannot correct to see what normal vision would be like.

https://enchroma.com/blogs/beyond-color/how-color-blind-see

I added this one just because it has nyan cat, lol

https://www.boredpanda.com/different-types-color-blindness-photos/

We looked at sites like this and it was educational for me too. It seems strange to me that green and red would look the same to my hubby.

Thanks for the link! I tried taking the colourblind test on the enchroma website and it says I am Deutan Colour Blind, which is red/green colourblindness. I'm glad I know now

wolfie1.0. wrote: »

If your on pc there is an rgb addon. It features an rgb rotation with a turbo mode. I basically turn that on so the aoes cycle through the rainbow at a super fast speed. Basically it turns enemy aoes into blinking lights regardless of how the dungeon or boss is designed.

That sounds really useful! Would sure be nice if ZOS could implement something like this in the game to make it better for colourblind console players like myself. Sadly my tv doesn't have any colourblind features, so I'm really at ZOS' mercy regarding the damage circles.

kargen27 · June 29

katanagirl1 wrote: »

Lazy4k wrote: »

katanagirl1 wrote: »

Yes, they have some options but I honestly don’t think the damage circles were intended for colorblind players, otherwise they would have included the other options. I could be wrong, though. I change the red to orange just because it stands out more. Hot pink is a favorite color for all players but it is too faint in the center for me.

As far as the damage circles are concerned, pink mostly works great for me, except when I'm in one of the zones with a lot of blue like Coldharbour or dungeons like Banished Cells. Then the circles are effectively invisible for me again, and I'm too lazy to be adjusting that colour all the time I'll have to try orange and see if it works better for me.

Telos_Tim wrote: »

Another colorblind ESO player here, from what I’ve gathered in my interactions with others, there are certain hues of red that I cannot see.

I’ve always had a problem distinguishing blues and purples and never had a name for it until I decided to look further… where I found out that it is Deuteranopia.

There are times when this creates strange situations for me when playing ESO, such as failing to upgrade my gear. Colorblind filters would be an incredible addition to the game that would help alleviate that problem.

Hmm, I'm not sure what kind of colourblindness I have, so I always get confused when I see the options for colourblind filters in games. That being said, I would definitely welcome the addition of such filters in ESO! It's kind of weird they aren't already there, to be honest. A high contrast mode might also be helpful.

I found this website that described a few different types and had some images to compare. There are some glasses you can get for colorblindness but I am not sure how they work. I only assume that they cannot correct to see what normal vision would be like.

https://enchroma.com/blogs/beyond-color/how-color-blind-see

I added this one just because it has nyan cat, lol

https://www.boredpanda.com/different-types-color-blindness-photos/

We looked at sites like this and it was educational for me too. It seems strange to me that green and red would look the same to my hubby.

My roommate in college could tell you if something was orange or if something was green but if you put an orange golf ball down on green grass he couldn't see a difference in color.

katanagirl1 · June 30

kargen27 wrote: »

katanagirl1 wrote: »

Lazy4k wrote: »

katanagirl1 wrote: »

Yes, they have some options but I honestly don’t think the damage circles were intended for colorblind players, otherwise they would have included the other options. I could be wrong, though. I change the red to orange just because it stands out more. Hot pink is a favorite color for all players but it is too faint in the center for me.

As far as the damage circles are concerned, pink mostly works great for me, except when I'm in one of the zones with a lot of blue like Coldharbour or dungeons like Banished Cells. Then the circles are effectively invisible for me again, and I'm too lazy to be adjusting that colour all the time I'll have to try orange and see if it works better for me.

Telos_Tim wrote: »

Another colorblind ESO player here, from what I’ve gathered in my interactions with others, there are certain hues of red that I cannot see.

I’ve always had a problem distinguishing blues and purples and never had a name for it until I decided to look further… where I found out that it is Deuteranopia.

There are times when this creates strange situations for me when playing ESO, such as failing to upgrade my gear. Colorblind filters would be an incredible addition to the game that would help alleviate that problem.

Hmm, I'm not sure what kind of colourblindness I have, so I always get confused when I see the options for colourblind filters in games. That being said, I would definitely welcome the addition of such filters in ESO! It's kind of weird they aren't already there, to be honest. A high contrast mode might also be helpful.

I found this website that described a few different types and had some images to compare. There are some glasses you can get for colorblindness but I am not sure how they work. I only assume that they cannot correct to see what normal vision would be like.

https://enchroma.com/blogs/beyond-color/how-color-blind-see

I added this one just because it has nyan cat, lol

https://www.boredpanda.com/different-types-color-blindness-photos/

We looked at sites like this and it was educational for me too. It seems strange to me that green and red would look the same to my hubby.

My roommate in college could tell you if something was orange or if something was green but if you put an orange golf ball down on green grass he couldn't see a difference in color.

I’ve been told by the hubby that he can see some shades of green or red but not others.

Mathius_Mordred · June 30

Totally agree, I have deconstructed legendary items before thinking they were uncommon as to me the colour is identical. What I do now is lock any legendary items I make, and if I'm still not sure I check to see if it can be improved, if it can then it's obviously uncommon. There is also an addon for PCs that add a marker next to each item to denote it's rareity, you can find it on Minion and here is it's web page

https://www.esoui.com/downloads/info2981-ColorBlindMode.html