I easily missed the gorilla, and not surprised by it: I know I suck horribly at multitasking, so that's one thing. Another is a massive lack of interest. Why should I care about a gorilla? I was tasked with following the bloody ball, so I'll follow the bloody ball. There was little chance of getting the count of passes wrong - I started to doubt something fishy at 14, but then it was already too late. Gorillas? I don't even ever go to a zoo.
1) Yes, major alerts need to be highly visible. Major attacks need to be visible on the map as well.
2) Commanders need a portion of their screen dedicated to the 'alert queue' window. The queue would have two columns that worked similarly. Each column would have entries appear chronologically, with the top being the newest alert. The entire window wouldn't take up much space and would be docked to the side of the screen. It would offer a persistent look at what's happening to your team/team's structures around the map.
A) One column would be dedicated to active player requests.
EXAMPLE: A new medpack request would show up at the top of the column, and would be retired if the player dies or is healed, for instance. A mist request would work similarly for the aliens, and would be retired if the player finishes evolving or is killed while gestating. Players spamming medpack, ammo, order or mist requests would generate just one entry in the alert box (to prevent abuse).
The other column would be dedicated to active structure alerts.
EXAMPLE: Structure alerts would show up in the order that they happen, and be retired when the structure is destroyed, or when the attack stops. If you're a marine commander and the aliens start attacking the ore processing extractor and five seconds later begin attacking warehouse power, the warehouse alert would remain above the ore alert until bumped down by a newer alert.
--Active alerts would continue to flash red until retired, at which point they'd go grey/stop blinking.
--New alerts would always push the others down. Active alerts would never be pushed off entirely, however.
--Clicking on an alert would take you to the relevant location or player on the map.
--Alert types could be further distinguished via developer discretion (e.g., using extra bold lettering or special icons for hive or node/cc attacks, etc.)
Justification: First, both teams have lore which explains why their units and structures are sufficiently interconnected to justify immediate communication/feedback when being attacked or when requesting help. Second, while map awareness is a necessary commander skill, commander difficulty is still prohibitive for most players, and alerts have a long history of being inconsistent. A alert queue system - if designed unobtrusively - would give each commander a running log of what's going on to his or her structures and troops around the map, and would give virtually nobody the option of using the "I had no idea it was being attacked" excuse. This can only be a good thing, as it'll lead to more responsive games for both teams.
I have the king of all solutions: CAN UWE PLEASE HIRE A HCI EXPERT TO ADVISE ON ALL OF THE UNITUITIVE, UNRESPONSIVE UI IN NS2? I could sit here and write a long list but I know I'll be ignored so it's better to just get someone "official" to do it. (I'm also not a HCI expert but have a special superpower that enables me to detect crap UI.)
No you didn't. Don't try and bullshit your way out of it. You embarrassed yourself and the people who agreed/awesomed your post. Now you are trying to recover. Nice try. The other thing you got wrong was your 'score', but you're free to believe whatever you want to believe.
Yes because even tho two thirds of your point was:
[quote="Savant;128777" So problem one is that marines have no way to know if it was a skulk shooting a parasite at a remote extractor, or a gorge and an Onos hammering at the main base power node... Thirdly, there are no specific visual warnings.[/quote]
I meant to address a completely different point you didn't bring up, you've caught me in an elaborate ruse because the difference between typing sound instead of visual was finally your chance to be right at something you've posted.
There is beyond enough warnings in the current build to alert anyone with a working brain that a power node is under attack, anything more is going to be clutter for marines already trying to hear and see skulks to shoot them, I would argue the visual warning in now is clutter and no option to disable that annoying announcement spam, I know when bases are under attack because I'm constantly pressing the map key and checking for things like that, this is just about as close to becoming a L2P issue as it was a design issue patches ago.
In my mind UWE have completely fixed suicide gorge/horrible power warnings in a surprisingly perfect fix last patch, I find this thread and any opinion otherwise insulting to the hard work implemented last patch (and basic map awareness) when the problem doesn't exist anymore except in peoples heads.
Only thing I can think of is silence playing havoc with the alert system, silence won't stop a control group from flashing red and for this thread specifically talking about power nodes there's no excuse for not control grouping your power nodes now control groups go from 1-9.
- Make the red lights in the room that the power node is being attacked in flash, so Marines with LOS can tell what's happening.
- Make the room on the map / minimap flash red also, to indicate something happening there.
Ensures Marines are proactively checking their map for things happening. It's a lot easier to see a whole room flashing red on your map than a tiny yellow dot changing colour.
Or - How about this: if there's an Observatory in a Tech Point room, the Power Node reaching the "critical" stage where it lights up and the alarm sounds forces a beacon? Instant fix has a benefit to Marines, but also a disadvantage to a degree - an unannounced beacon may leave ARCs/phase gates unattended, for instance. It would also force lone skulks/gorges to focus their sneak attacks on something more precise - Do I take out an Advanced Armory, or the Arms Lab, or an Infantry Portal?
Comments
Haha, I loved it, thanks for that.
I easily missed the gorilla, and not surprised by it: I know I suck horribly at multitasking, so that's one thing. Another is a massive lack of interest. Why should I care about a gorilla? I was tasked with following the bloody ball, so I'll follow the bloody ball. There was little chance of getting the count of passes wrong - I started to doubt something fishy at 14, but then it was already too late. Gorillas? I don't even ever go to a zoo.
2) Commanders need a portion of their screen dedicated to the 'alert queue' window. The queue would have two columns that worked similarly. Each column would have entries appear chronologically, with the top being the newest alert. The entire window wouldn't take up much space and would be docked to the side of the screen. It would offer a persistent look at what's happening to your team/team's structures around the map.
A) One column would be dedicated to active player requests.
EXAMPLE: A new medpack request would show up at the top of the column, and would be retired if the player dies or is healed, for instance. A mist request would work similarly for the aliens, and would be retired if the player finishes evolving or is killed while gestating. Players spamming medpack, ammo, order or mist requests would generate just one entry in the alert box (to prevent abuse).
EXAMPLE: Structure alerts would show up in the order that they happen, and be retired when the structure is destroyed, or when the attack stops. If you're a marine commander and the aliens start attacking the ore processing extractor and five seconds later begin attacking warehouse power, the warehouse alert would remain above the ore alert until bumped down by a newer alert.
--Active alerts would continue to flash red until retired, at which point they'd go grey/stop blinking.
--New alerts would always push the others down. Active alerts would never be pushed off entirely, however.
--Clicking on an alert would take you to the relevant location or player on the map.
--Alert types could be further distinguished via developer discretion (e.g., using extra bold lettering or special icons for hive or node/cc attacks, etc.)
Justification: First, both teams have lore which explains why their units and structures are sufficiently interconnected to justify immediate communication/feedback when being attacked or when requesting help. Second, while map awareness is a necessary commander skill, commander difficulty is still prohibitive for most players, and alerts have a long history of being inconsistent. A alert queue system - if designed unobtrusively - would give each commander a running log of what's going on to his or her structures and troops around the map, and would give virtually nobody the option of using the "I had no idea it was being attacked" excuse. This can only be a good thing, as it'll lead to more responsive games for both teams.
Thank you.
Yes because even tho two thirds of your point was:
[quote="Savant;128777" So problem one is that marines have no way to know if it was a skulk shooting a parasite at a remote extractor, or a gorge and an Onos hammering at the main base power node... Thirdly, there are no specific visual warnings.[/quote]
I meant to address a completely different point you didn't bring up, you've caught me in an elaborate ruse because the difference between typing sound instead of visual was finally your chance to be right at something you've posted.
There is beyond enough warnings in the current build to alert anyone with a working brain that a power node is under attack, anything more is going to be clutter for marines already trying to hear and see skulks to shoot them, I would argue the visual warning in now is clutter and no option to disable that annoying announcement spam, I know when bases are under attack because I'm constantly pressing the map key and checking for things like that, this is just about as close to becoming a L2P issue as it was a design issue patches ago.
In my mind UWE have completely fixed suicide gorge/horrible power warnings in a surprisingly perfect fix last patch, I find this thread and any opinion otherwise insulting to the hard work implemented last patch (and basic map awareness) when the problem doesn't exist anymore except in peoples heads.
- Make the red lights in the room that the power node is being attacked in flash, so Marines with LOS can tell what's happening.
- Make the room on the map / minimap flash red also, to indicate something happening there.
Ensures Marines are proactively checking their map for things happening. It's a lot easier to see a whole room flashing red on your map than a tiny yellow dot changing colour.
Or - How about this: if there's an Observatory in a Tech Point room, the Power Node reaching the "critical" stage where it lights up and the alarm sounds forces a beacon? Instant fix has a benefit to Marines, but also a disadvantage to a degree - an unannounced beacon may leave ARCs/phase gates unattended, for instance. It would also force lone skulks/gorges to focus their sneak attacks on something more precise - Do I take out an Advanced Armory, or the Arms Lab, or an Infantry Portal?