Dev Discussion Seeking Feedback for Ally Ability Descriptions

Discussion in 'Concluded' started by Sammiford, Aug 31, 2021.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Sammiford Developer

    Hi all! We’ve seen some chatter about how the Allies ability descriptions aren’t helpful enough or are too vague. We want to make sure we can give you enough information about what the Allies are able to do and why you’d want to use them. So with that, we’re seeking some feedback!

    If you feel compelled, please let us know what your thoughts are on the current method for describing allies and their abilities.

    Here are some questions we’d like for you to keep in mind:
    1. What about the Allies ability descriptions do you find unhelpful or vague?
    2. What information is specifically helpful for you to know when looking at the Ally abilities?
    3. Is there any information that you feel is lacking from the Ally system in general?

    Thank you in advance for taking the time to do this, we really appreciate it!
    • Like x 2
  2. SPARTAPC New Player

    Love the allies so far just wish it stays a bit longer then go into a cool-down so far it’s very nice.
    • Like x 2
  3. Dev72 Dedicated Player

    The font in the system describing abilities, background etc. is too small, particularly on the PS4 console(can't speak for CPU users, or other console variants.)

    Would be nice to know the exact percentage such as Cyborg's power return innate, and how often Oracle repairs gear with each level starting at level 4.

    Would be nice to know if it has not already been explained, the max XP needed to max out each ally.

    The animation to spawn needs to be shortened or clipped out of by all powers and/or by using block.
    • Like x 2
  4. GokuFullSaiyan New Player

    I'm enjoying the Ally System so far which is awesome and I've always wanted the option to summon iconic characters to fight alongside me at least briefly. I think that the description of the Flash's "Tilt A Whirl" Combat Ability should also include how long the Cooldown is before players are able to summon the Flash to do his "Tilt A Whirl" again. I haven't unlocked Oracle-Bot's "Tinker" ability yet but the description of that Support Ability is straight forward to understand even though it would be nice if the description of "Tinker" also include how much Durability does our gear repairs overtime or how long does it take for that Support Ability to fully restore our gear.
    • Like x 1
  5. lakereric New Player

    Having issues swapping. It just won't swap.
  6. SaiyanDeezy New Player

    I love the Allie system. Wish they stayed out longer and that it told you how long cools down are. I can’t wait to see how else gets added.
    • Like x 1
  7. SPARTAPC New Player

    Would be a cool feature if the allies will stick around to say hello to the player maybe at the half of the cool down. Looks nice. 90 second cool down is a lot better then a 2 minute cool-down. Very effort indeed
    • Like x 2
  8. Sammiford Developer

    Hm sorry to hear that. Could it be that you don't have any support abilities unlocked yet? The system wont allow for swapping or equipping Allies that don't have those unlocked. Unfortunately there's no messaging system for that yet, so I can see if that would be confusing/irritating
  9. 9001BPM Steadfast Player

    Is there any chance you could allow us to preemptively equip allies in our passive slots before the passive is unlocked? They wouldn’t do anything of course, but it would streamline the process of fortifying them in the meantime.
    • Like x 1
  10. IonHero Committed Player

    It's been unclear to many what leveling up an ally does other than unlock support abilities. Perhaps some sort of power range description could be added.

    additionally...
    Allies seemingly can be stunned, intentional or not?
    Although not completely necessary yet, could Ally placement be attached to armories?
    • Like x 1
  11. nawanda Loyal Player

    Did anyone from DI test the new UI on a console on a typical living room set up? I can’t even read the descriptions, let alone comment on their clarity.
    • Like x 2
  12. OracleWillTeleportYouOut New Player

    Allies require investment. We need to know exact numbers for each level listed before committing similar to artifacts. Their damage should be streamlined to be the same so people can call the iconic they want for damage slot.

    Instead of "Get power back from stunning an enemy NPC" we could get "Get 20/30/40% power back from stunning an enemy npc with a 5 second cooldown."(numbers aren't real)
    • Like x 2
  13. notNSANE New Player

    First of all, thanks for asking for feedback on this specific feature, I feel it's not up to the DCUO standards.

    No feedback on this. Just state that damage does damage, support supports, etc.

    No feedback on this other than stated on the previous question, just be simple.


    First, I think the entire UI needs a complete makeover, specially the Gamepad UI. I understand that you guys don't have the same UI designers as 10 years ago, but you have the base assets and somehow you decided to make a new UI with new backgrounds, buttons and palettes and it just doesn't work, it doesn't even look professional. It would have been better if you just reused the old assets. Also, it's noticeable how small are the text sizes compared to the rest of the game. This also happens in the Quick Match and Daily Rewards menus. They need to be bigger, it's inconsistent with the rest of the game. They all feel "engineered" and it seems you made them specifically for mouse and keyboard, and then you forgot you had to make them for gamepads too and just pasted the buttons there.

    The Gamepad overall UX/UI works but it's kind of a mess, it does work in the end but like the "Quick Match" UI, it's not really made for controllers. The way it flows needs tweaking to make it easier for controller users to understand that some things are happening, the buttons feedback isn't very good either.

    And a special note needs to be made about the Bio UI in general: the baloons looks just ridiculous in the context of the overall menu UI, and again, the text size is extremely tiny in this one.
    • Like x 3
  14. Blight KOBRA Commander

    This is my major concern as well. A LOT of us have wanted a long time to be able to fight alongside our favorite DC comics characters using heroes/villains we create ourselves, so the amount of time spent fighting side by side just seems too short.

    In fact the biggest problem withe user interface right now for me is that I have to open it constantly to change what hero/villain I want fighting by my character's side. It would be nice if instead of only having one main ally to fight by your side at any given time, you could summon all three, maybe even on a rotational basis. I'd take that over the minuscule advantage the support abilities give me.
    • Like x 1
  15. darry3275 Well-Known Player

    Dps ally puts us in the calling animation too long, ruining flow of our loadouts. Can we just click it and do our thing? The oracle bot is awesome. I'm going to try Cyborg tonight. As I said before, because of the animation, it actually lowers dps.
    • Like x 1
  16. RTX Well-Known Player

    I think the best would be, since everyone likes numbers, show the numbers of what each ability will do, when will they activate, for how long, whats the percentage something gets increased to? etc. In my opinion it´s must have information to avoid false bug reports and to have players decide easier with which ally combination they wanna join the fight. And "Professor Zoom" specificly needs his passive description to be updated, was reverse engineering it (affects all movement in and out of combat) Otherwise, visual aspects and other aspects others mentioned before.

    Thanks for using the feedback, i guess!
    • Like x 1
  17. Dstdnt Source Wall Promethean Editor-in-Chief

    Percentages of increases per each Ally Rank would be really helpful to know if we're set at just Rank 3-5 once we get the Support Ability, or do they have a bonus to reach their final Ranks, for all Combat or Support Abilities.
    • Like x 2
  18. Penryn The Gadgeteer

    Regarding ally ability descriptions, they are too vague. Some of them are outright misleading if you take them at face value.

    I get the UI space is limited, but longer descriptions would be helpful in the long run. Show us the percentages and cooldown for each ability level. Show us detailed information about some of the extra conditionals that are required to activate some of the passives.

    The extra information allows the players to make an informed decision about which ally to purchase and level up. As is, you have to go to a third party site or do extensive testing to get details about the passives. The extra information also provides confidence in knowing whether an ability is working correctly or not.

    The extra information works remarkably well for Artifacts. There is no need for that information to be obscured in the Ally system.
    • Like x 2
  19. xxHELLSTROKExx Loyal Player

    Thank you for asking. My thoughts:
    We don't really know what happens with them most of the time. Like we know damage will increase as we level them up. At least I think most know that? But what we do not know is if say I only want flash for his passive, do I have to level him up completely for it to be full strength or is it full strength once it activates at its lowest level. So maybe some words about that somewhere?

    2nd, we do not know what their passive triggers are. Are they always active or do they need to be triggered and if so, how? I'm mainly thinking aquamans 2nd. We need to know what triggers it to make the best use of it.

    3rd, they need to lock to armories. Game income needs it as much as we do really. I would absolutely want different ones for healing vs dps'n. That's possibly 6 sales. Then I have a tank that would want 6 and a troll and yet another healer. That's good for biz. But there's no way I'm doing that if I have to switch them out after switching roles or armories. Heck, i may be a sweaty and want 9 for my main for an aoe setup then st then healing. $$$ should make this a worthy addition.

    4th, give us so many more. Make them tied to certain artifacts even. Like using learneas amulet with black canary reduces damage taken by 10% once you unlock her top level. Idk, you're the designer lol take my money.

    Aside from that, as said prior, give us some numbers. We have no idea if they're working correctly because we're unsure of what they're supposed to be at. Oracle level 1 does 2% more damage over base oracle, level 2 is 3% so on so on. These do not have to be powerhouses, we just need to feel like leveling them up is worth it. Even if your numbers are like .2%. It's ok, we know they help but aren't artifact level of need/ want.
    • Like x 1
  20. Elusian Crowd Control

    - cooldown of passive ability
    - duration of a passive ability
    - for how much it increases (percentage)

    basically: numbers, numbers, numbers
    • Like x 6
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.