[Suggestion] Implants need more visual/audio feedback

Discussion in 'PlanetSide 2 Gameplay Discussion' started by DJPenguin, May 20, 2014.

  1. DJPenguin

    There are some implants which do a poor job of informing the player of its effect and when its actually working. Counter-Intelligence for instance turns the implant icon red but the problem is its at the bottom of the screen and requires breaking concentration on the fight to look down to know if you've been spotted. Others like Sensor Shield don't give any feedback whatsoever. Does it kick in the exact moment i stop sprinting? Do jetpacks fall into the "jumping" category? And countdown timers for ones like Regeneration which don't activate immediately would be the bees knees. Whatever makes implants more intuitive the better.
    • Up x 4
  2. Nak

    We considered adding a sound effect to Counter-Intelligence that plays when you are spotted, but didn't add it for the launch of the system because we thought it might get annoying. Thoughts?

    Regarding the other implants - unfortunately, implementing some of the messaging is expensive (i.e. it takes a significant amount of code work and may not be worth prioritizing over other features), but we definitely understand and recognize that there is room for improvement in the future. We welcome suggestions that describe the preferred messaging methods for those implants.
    • Up x 6
  3. RyanGUK


    Maybe just making the Implant symbol on the HUD flash like Orange or Red for Counter-Intelligence would do? Or even some kind of screen flash effect in the vein of code which does concussion grenade effects or EMP grenades?
  4. DJPenguin

    Understandable. It can be hard to balance making a notifying sound effect which isn't annoying after the millionth time yet isn't easily drowned out by background noise. And without a corresponding visual aid it's useless if someone has their sound off or is deaf.

    When done right I've been a fan of screen border effects. Something subtle that isn't distracting yet just apparent enough to relay the message. And depending on the game I also don't mind small transparent icons near the center of the screen that flick on and off when the conditions are met but others may find it intrusive. Given how limited PS2s HUD is, are new interface options specifically tailored for implants a future possibility?
  5. Nepau

    Personally I think there should be a bit better feedback in your Energy use and time remaining.

    What I was thinking is that They could add a part to the scoreboard (tab) that shows your current energy and Time to depleation based on the implant you currently have active. Having the only spot you can see your current energy in the Implant craft menu is kind of hidden for something that people might want to gauge while playing.
  6. Nak

    What are your thoughts on the current energy meter on the HUD below the implant HUD icon?
  7. Nak

    Thanks for the suggestions!

    New, customizable implant interface options are a difficult proposition in the near future since a significant amount of current UI efforts is devoted to PS4 work, but the not so near future has more potential.
  8. Prudentia

    Is the charge meter dynamic? as in, a T3 Implant might show a half full bar while a T1 displays it at full due to having half the enegy usage?
    if so a simple tooltip in the implant screen, like it is for the ressources explaining their function, showing how much time you have approximatly left at your curent energy usage would probably be enough to make the energy easily readable with out cluttering the screen.
  9. Wobberjockey

    here's what i would suggest as a sound.


    i would say have the icon 'pulse' or 'glow' while it provides it's benefit - so sensor shield would flash on after it's done sprinting and then have a soft glow around it while you are protected. regen would only do so while you were healing, etc.

    also having an idea of how much energy i have left would be nice perhaps a small timer with an estimated time to empty on it? 1 hr, 30 min, 15 min, 10 min, etc. then again i'm one of those people who wants a battery percentage on my phone as opposed to a graphical representation.
    • Up x 2
  10. Taemien

    Believe me guys.. you don't want a sound effect when you're spotted. They had this in MWO for about a week or so and that was in 8v8 matches. It was utterly annoying. They took it out.

    A subtle but easy to see indicator would work.
    • Up x 1
  11. Elrobochanco


    I don't like it currently because it shows a full charge, even when I know I can add much more charge to my ...charger or whatever it's called. It's sort of the same problem phones have in deciding how to show estimated battery left even though they can have radically different power usage while "on".

    I would prefer, at least an option that let you change the display to show time left on charge using the current implant. Even if it had a cap like "30m+". I don't need hours/min/second, but I want better than some battery pips, and I want a lot better when I go to the implant screen (what does 3500 even mean?, tell me a time/rank!)

    Basically the display isn't telling me my charge level so much as it is confirming I have any amount of charge left. Which at that point is a silly distinction, why have a battery bar if I can't gauge time left. Might as well just hide it and only show/flash the "no charge" when a minute or two from dead away. I want more relevant info faster,

    I don't want to stop playing to do math to calculate how long I can sustain and what I need to convert, this is the anti-fun in the middle of a battle.
    • Up x 2
  12. Nepau

    Right now the Indicator doesn't really give you any good information. We see 3 bars but what do they represent? It looks like a Standard battery indicator, but we have no way of knowing if a full Meter is 30 minutes or 3 hours. Today I was playing for a while and burned about 3600 energy out of 6600 and that bar never moved, so unless I went into the Implants in the menu's I wouldn't have any real knowledge of how much energy I had been using, or how much effective time I have left.

    Compare this to say your Resources that you need for items. You can quickly hit the Tab menu and see not only how much you currently have, but also how much you will get in X time from the normal Ticks.
  13. Torok


    Just put the hud indicator where it's more easily readable, for example in the Centered HUD in the middle somewhere near the health bar or something.


    Nothing special, nothing bad, if anything make it scale with the Total Energy you had when you started the gaming session rather than fixed values, where it's always full and only start dropping when it's really low (compared to a ultra charger starting value)
  14. Nepau

    Do agree that the largest problem with the current indicator is that, unlike a battery in real life objects, the Total power supply you have can be vastly diffrent, as a Real battery only have so much possible charge. Using the same indicator which gives us no real information of what each state really represents (as stated in my other post), the current Indicator is more Window dressing then useful information. Right now it is not much better then something saying if the implant is on or off.
    • Up x 1
  15. Voss

  16. Runegrace

    In Shadowrun (360 shooter incarnation) there was an ability called Enhanced Vision, which when activated let you see through walls. When an enemy nearby used this ability, you'd get a faint red line/static effect across your screen. It really didn't interfere with your vision, and if you were in a gunfight you likely wouldn't even notice it. But it was pretty effective at letting you know that you've been pinged while you're running around. Counter-Intelligence might benefit from something like this, if it's workable.
  17. o.Solei.o

    On a slightly different UI note, the "help" button needs to be moved somewhere more visible (daylight sky, or high rocks on Indar make this UI element damn hard to see), like the work-area, and renamed to something that sounds like it's in someway related to implant crafting. In it's current state, if you don't know that the implant crafting instructions are behind the generic game-wide help button that is NOT a generic game-wide help button, you won't have the foggiest idea what you're doing. Not a huge problem for people who read the patch notes, but kind of a big issue for the newer players you want to pay money and play the game.
    • Up x 1
  18. Anti-Skub

    It wouldn't be annoying if it was this noise.

  19. Nody

    Steal World of Tanks "spotted" warning system; simply have a icon come up slightly off center to the left/right with a warning icon that lights up for 1 or 2s (if you want to make it even fancier add in a slide bar for how far off centre it will be).