That’s another problem with how Wolcen telegraphs work. If you get out of the delimited area of effect fast enough, you are 100% safe and if you are in it, you are fully damaged (as fat as I know). Better games can do much better and one example from Grim Dawn boss fights are those rare moments when some fights become a bullet-hell shmup for a couple of seconds and you have to actively dodge and sometimes even accept and mitigate the damage you’ll take.
You can’t achieve that level of gameplay depth with a red bar on the ground and putting that into a game effectively becomes a “design contract” that you’ll limit most or a lot of your attacks to using it. It works great for MMOs where in a 40-man raid group you might have some legit potatoes playing who can’t dodge without a very obvious bright red bar slowly filling half the screen or because some connectivity or server lag might make finer mechanics unwieldy. For a game like Grim Dawn with an emphasis on single-player or small-group multiplayer and not necessarily a strong focus on casual play, adopting “explicit telegraphs” becomes a handicap.
My preference is skill based telegraphs with one exception of some skills falling from the top when it’s difficult to know the area it falls due to isometric view.
Still it would be nice for even those skills to have something more than just a red dot indicator but it’s not that big of an issue if it is just a red dot.
It’s better to balance skills that are harder to predict with less damage than with a red dot on the ground IMHO - the same way that “stealthy” enemies are balanced with game mechanics, not by giving them an outline and effectively breaking their concept in doing so.
I came across some bosses yesterday with those “meteor” type of spells that are indeed hard to read - but for me that’s not a bad thing, it adds depth for me having to decide in a split second how confident I am about my chances to dodge, how much damage I expect to receive and whether I should pop a potion preventively and how close I am to the enemies that I should just take the risk of damage in case I get pumelled by enemies a split second later, so I have the potion off of cooldown by then.
A red dot on the ground turns all of that intense gameplay depth into a “yes/no” situation that can be immediately solved by looking at the screen and moving away (or popping a potion if you’re stunned and can’t move).
I know which of those two games I’d rather be playing (as long as spells that are harder to read are properly balanced and not unfair one-hit kills, etc, as I already mentioned).
Depends on the telegraphing. I like the way they do it in this game, just a simple “tell” by the monster, rearing back before a big hit, a green projectile being lobbed in the air, etc.
On the other hand, I’m not a fan of the big 'ol obvious yellow-orange marker AoEs they use in Final Fantasy XIV (technically the game is not an ARPG, but you get the idea). That almost insults my intelligence.
For online I really like them, for offline I can eventually learn and be confident my character is standing where I think they are so I could take it or leave it.
I think it does simplify game-play too much. Visual & audio cues are more immersive and challenging. It gives you a feeling of accomplishment when you learn about the patterns of a boss fight and manage to defeat him thanks to that.
Let’s not make Crate’s next ARPG a piss easy game. Games are becoming too easy to play nowadays, rewarding players with achievements for taking a single step, especially in mobile gaming. Sadly PC/Console developers are now taking inspiration from mobile gaming. Let’s not follow the trend.
As far as multiplayer goes, you can make the cue/hint last a bit longer to compensate for network latency.
red squares/circles gamification/immersion breaking etc
telegraphs in form off, the ground visibly breaking before erupting fire, or freezing then ice spikes forming i would consider telegraphs done right… in mmos with effect “overload” this can be hard to see, but in a game like grim dawn i think it would be fine
but this takes more resources to implement than red squares/circles and in a ARPG i would rather have none than red telegraphs.
Faster action based games like Wolcen almost need it.
Slower, more tactical games like GD I don’t miss it at all. Most developers I think take this into account when developing the overall combat mechanics. But I don’t hate it or love it. It’s game dependent.
