[Accessibility Request] Colour, Text, Character visibility accessibility

LunaFlora · April 11

Greetings.

in 2023 i made a post requesting options to change background opacity behind text.
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/643533/slider-for-the-background-opacity-of-text#latest
Nothing happened with that yet so now i am making another thread nearly 3 years later with several similar requests.

Text options
- Background opacity, at least 0-50-100%.
- Size options, some text is too small and double the size would be helpful at minimum.
- Colour options similar to Guild Chat.
For any kind of text in the game. Though ideally the ability to have different options per text source
Such as Menu and Tooltips, Dialogue, Social Chat, Nametags.

Colour blind options.
We have the ability to change the colour and intensity of Friendly and Enemy area of effect abilities, but not our own or anything else.
It would be good to have colour blind options similar to other games, this has been requested by others in the past and it is long due.

High Contrast mode or options.
Friendly, Neutral, and Hostile characters and creatures have Green, Yellow, and Red in their Nametags and as a glow around them when you target them.
(Friendly characters only have this glow when using skills like Nature's Grasp or Symbiosis)
it would very helpful to have:
- the option to have these coloured glows to replace the entire character texture similar to other games' High Contrast Mode.
- the option to have the glow always active instead of only when targeting a character.
- the option to change the colour and intensity like the Area of Effect options.
This would make characters easier to see in combat, right now (with my eyesight) some Monsters and Players really blend in with the rest of the game.
picture examples of the glow around characters:

i took pictures of Ember, Skingrad Guard, Goat, a Skingrad graveyard character, and Mudcrabs.
currently the colours appear to be:
- Green for friendly characters, cannot be attacked.
- Yellow or White for neutral characters.
- Red for enemy characters.

tagging zos to make sure it is definitely seen @ZOS_Kira @ZOS_JessicaFolsom

Thank you for reading,
— Luna Flora Blossom

edits under spoiler tags

11 April 2026
- created this thread.
will add pictures soon
- added pictures.

attrielub17_ESO · April 11

(a) There's a couple mods for colorblind tagging on items (full disclosure I did one of them; and i need to update it actually)
(b) THERES MROE THAN WHITE AND NOT WHITE ON THE OUTLINES??? is that why sometimes mammoths attack and sometimes they don't???
(c) I regularly stand in enemy AOE or dodge out of friendly heals because i can't tell the difference

That said, having played MMOs since way back, I will say that changing the color of anything outside text is problematic because there's so many times that another player will use the color, even as simple as "anyone get any purples?" or "stand in the red circle for the next bit". not that it isn't kind of satisfying to be the one giving directions and telling everyone to stand in the "blue one" because you changed your color palette and no one else HAS a blue area on screen. But its unhelpful

But I can get behind high-con and non-color-markers (some of the dungeons have glowing runes (although changing the color s is still rude but at least red yellow blue are reasonably distinct for me))

LunaFlora · April 11

attrielub17_ESO wrote: »

(a) There's a couple mods for colorblind tagging on items (full disclosure I did one of them; and i need to update it actually)
(b) THERES MROE THAN WHITE AND NOT WHITE ON THE OUTLINES??? is that why sometimes mammoths attack and sometimes they don't???
(c) I regularly stand in enemy AOE or dodge out of friendly heals because i can't tell the difference

That said, having played MMOs since way back, I will say that changing the color of anything outside text is problematic because there's so many times that another player will use the color, even as simple as "anyone get any purples?" or "stand in the red circle for the next bit". not that it isn't kind of satisfying to be the one giving directions and telling everyone to stand in the "blue one" because you changed your color palette and no one else HAS a blue area on screen. But its unhelpful

But I can get behind high-con and non-color-markers (some of the dungeons have glowing runes (although changing the color s is still rude but at least red yellow blue are reasonably distinct for me))

a: i have not seen any add-on like that on Playstation 5 and this is a request to ZOS
b: yes, neutral characters only attack when damaged.

C and the rest of the post:
in my post i refer to options we already have that let us change colours of Area Of Effect.
This lets enemy aoe be any colour be it green, orange, white, or blue.
So "stand in the red circle" is already not accurate, not to mention the fact that not everyone sees colours the same.

These options are in Gameplay options under Combat.

Soarora · April 11

LunaFlora wrote: »

attrielub17_ESO wrote: »

(a) There's a couple mods for colorblind tagging on items (full disclosure I did one of them; and i need to update it actually)
(b) THERES MROE THAN WHITE AND NOT WHITE ON THE OUTLINES??? is that why sometimes mammoths attack and sometimes they don't???
(c) I regularly stand in enemy AOE or dodge out of friendly heals because i can't tell the difference

That said, having played MMOs since way back, I will say that changing the color of anything outside text is problematic because there's so many times that another player will use the color, even as simple as "anyone get any purples?" or "stand in the red circle for the next bit". not that it isn't kind of satisfying to be the one giving directions and telling everyone to stand in the "blue one" because you changed your color palette and no one else HAS a blue area on screen. But its unhelpful

But I can get behind high-con and non-color-markers (some of the dungeons have glowing runes (although changing the color s is still rude but at least red yellow blue are reasonably distinct for me))

So "stand in the red circle" is already not accurate, not to mention the fact that not everyone sees colours the same.

Whilst you can change the friendly AoE and enemy AoE colors, there are mechanics that are a consistent color. Orange/Yellow AoEs are stack AoEs. Some start more red and become yellow when enough players are within them (think Siroria flares in Cloudrest, Yoln stacks, first boss of Exiled Redoubt, Blackrose Prison netch/wamasu/etc boss), others stay yellow (think first boss of Scalecaller Peak, the ice AoEs and first boss of Black Gem Foundry). There's also color mechanics like last boss of Black Gem Foundry and Moonhunter Keep.

That said, it's probably more important that people can actually see what's happening than it is to have it be yellow for everyone, I'm sure people can adapt to knowing, say, "blue mechanic = yellow for everyone else".

There are also consistently red mechanics that certainly should be affected by a colorblind mode, I knew a colorblind person who commented on the shock waves Felms drops in Asylum Sanctorium. The waves are red, the ground is yellow, this made it hard for him to see them.

katanagirl1 · April 13

Yes, the colorblind options are much needed. As I mentioned in previous threads, my hubby is red/green colorblind and he cannot tell the difference between the yellow and red outlines on npcs, so he cannot tell between hostile and non-hostile npcs before they attack him. This makes him also attack non-hostile npcs sometimes without meaning to do so.

Another area where there is a problem is when aiming siege in Cyrodiil. The arc to aim is green when ready to fire and red when it is not.

ZOS_Kira · April 21

LunaFlora wrote: »

Greetings.

in 2023 i made a post requesting options to change background opacity behind text.
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/643533/slider-for-the-background-opacity-of-text#latest
Nothing happened with that yet so now i am making another thread nearly 3 years later with several similar requests.

Text options
- Background opacity, at least 0-50-100%.
- Size options, some text is too small and double the size would be helpful at minimum.

Hi @LunaFlora !

It's my understanding that we have the in-game features to be able to update the background opacity and text size options for chat. Is there something more that you were asking for those two options?

As for the rest, I've tagged in our accessibility guru @ZOS_Luke , and we'll do some investigations on our side!

LunaFlora · April 21

ZOS_Kira wrote: »

LunaFlora wrote: »

Greetings.

in 2023 i made a post requesting options to change background opacity behind text.
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/643533/slider-for-the-background-opacity-of-text#latest
Nothing happened with that yet so now i am making another thread nearly 3 years later with several similar requests.

Text options
- Background opacity, at least 0-50-100%.
- Size options, some text is too small and double the size would be helpful at minimum.

Hi @LunaFlora !

It's my understanding that we have the in-game features to be able to update the background opacity and text size options for chat. Is there something more that you were asking for those two options?

As for the rest, I've tagged in our accessibility guru @ZOS_Luke , and we'll do some investigations on our side!

Hi Kira,
i use a PlayStation 5 and do see Chat text size, but nothing for opacity.
The backgrounds are sadly too light to always see text.

Not chat maybe, but my post is also about the text that appears in the middle of the screen, when you summon Companions or get close to a quest giver.

Thank you for the response and the investigations!

ZOS_Luke · April 22

Thanks for the feedback. This is helpful context.

allochthons · April 22

@ZOS_Luke I remember someone commenting that they had a really tough time in Maelstrom, during the Vault of Umbrage section, because the poison circles are green, and they were red/green colorblind.

Color-based puzzles and mechanics really are problematic in this way. They need either a 2nd indicator (shape, symbol), or an option to change the colors depending on need.

It's great to know who these requests go to!

wolfie1.0. · April 22

ZOS_Luke wrote: »

Thanks for the feedback. This is helpful context.

It would be nice if we could adjust enemy names as well as non-aoe combat indicators and mechanics.

It would be nice not to need tk rely on 3rd party addons to compensate for such things.

attrielub17_ESO · April 24

LunaFlora wrote: »

a: i have not seen any add-on like that on Playstation 5 and this is a request to ZOS
b: yes, neutral characters only attack when damaged.
.

ah i missed you were on PS5, i don't know anything about the addons there yeah