Mod Breezy's Gamejam Bonanza - #1 Auras

Originally posted by Alzarith

I was so happy to see this post but then it didn’t include changing the method of obtaining auras, which was a bit of a letdown. Please, the way to obtain auras is horrible. Loyalty points are terrible.

That said, I love the way these look. Auras have been so difficult to tell apart based on visuals for far too long, so I do like this.

Originally posted by 5-x

Truth be told you cannot improve much on the aura interface.

The actual work that needs to be done is to redistribute auras as rewards from various pieces of content across the game.

Originally posted by DraCam1

This is all cool and nice, but the graphics isn't the main issue with auras. It's the way how you obtain them, which you apparently realised with GIM release, yet refuse to do anything with it... This has been an issue for many many years now, yet nothing happens. Solving gameplay issues should be higher priority, than giving them a graphical touch-up.

EDIT: Also if you want player feedback, why use reddit and twitter, which is only used by a certain minority of players? You literally have an entire sub-menu called "Vote now!" with polls and such in game. Wouldn't that be better for feedback, than getting some certain cherry picked ones from people on social media, who might even not play the game actively anymore?...

Originally posted by Sayan911

Sure there are a lot more things that could improve but the priority matters too.

Originally posted by woodcarbuncle

Refreshed icons are definitely an improvement. The main problem with the original ones (besides the small icon size) is that the border being large and the same colour as the icon prevents the icons from standing out visually. In my opinion communicating the tier in the icon is less important since you will never have two different tiers of the exact same aura. The new icon designs are good enough and any additional clarity for aura refreshes can be provided in the aura info when the icon is clicked.

One thing I would like to highlight is that the current order of auras is kind of nonsensical. Berserker is far away from Reckless and Maniacal, accuracy auras are sandwiched between skilling auras, and there's no logic to ordering even within the same group (like skilling auras could be alphabetical). The fact that everything is clumped together also makes it harder to find your desired aura in the icon mode. I would strongly recommend putting some time into grouping these into categories with headers, something like the currency pouch, and finding some sort of logical order for them within each category. An aura interface rework wouldn't be complete without this. Advanced search is nice to have but needing it to exist at all indicates a deeper underlying problem with navigating the interface.

EDIT: Thinking about it, I'm also curious if there's really a need for aura icons follow the same colour scheme. Like one thing that helps magic spells stand out is the different colours. Obviously the colours wouldn't be the only difference due to colourblindness, but is there really a need to not have them at all? Feels like a self-imposed limitation that doesn't provide much of a benefit

Originally posted by GInTheorem

Limiting my commentary to the design, and not other aura issues:

I think it's pretty. I don't know that the icons are clearer per se? For instance, I have genuinely no idea what this is supposed to be:

https://preview.redd.it/kz45gbroeg2e1.png?width=116&format=png&auto=webp&s=c41d0790125899ca1bca12981ff51692c1d26a2c

The ones which I think are good are very closely connected to the skill's icon (see: DG, div) or core purpose (mining, fishing). The rest I don't think are really any clearer than the existing icons.

I don't remember much about the UI, but all I really want from the aura interface is (ideally customisable) categories and subcategories.

Originally posted by Mini_Hobo

Looks great, these are a lot clearer already. Could there be a theme to some of the similar auras? e.g. all the zerk auras have a red border, or all the skilling auras are green. Also, would it be possible to order them alphabetically in the selector too?

Originally posted by srbman

My one hope from this is that the aura tiers are (much) easier to differentiate. To this day, I can't tell which auras are which tier. I know it's the corners, but they're so small and the colours are fairly similar, that they all basically look the same.

Originally posted by Zepertix

Would adding a small amount of color to the white symbols be a possibility? If auras are broken into categories by what they do, it might make them much more recognizable.

Skill auras slightly green

Once per day auras slightly gold

Combat auras slightly red

Or something like that. It'd help picking them out from a crown at least a little bit.

Originally posted by DraCam1

As long as you keep an interface where auras can be found in written form, not as icons, I'm happy. You can change the graphics however it is better for people, but having just the names there in compact form, instead of large icons will always be my go-to option to have.

Also I'd appreciate if the favorite system could be expanded a little so more auras can be right click quick-selected.

Originally posted by Mr__Perfect_

As long as it's still possible to keep the UI always open so we can still change auras during PVM it will be fine.

Originally posted by DraCam1

If there is clear issue with a piece of content, that has been voiced numerous times for over 10 years, which even openly got acknowledged by the devs (i.e.: GIM aura unlocks), and you show us a graphical update that the majority will not care about, because the gameplay aspect sucks, I don't know why you act surprised. The interface is fine, does its job. While it's not the best, there are way more, core issues with auras, that should have been addressed years ago already...

Originally posted by ChildishForLife

Ty /u/JagexBreezy, it must be tricky dealing with comments like this when all you’re looking for is valid feedback on what you are working on!

One improvement I would ask for the aura UI, maybe a small one, is that using the premier artefact to be able to reset an aura currently in use would be amazing! A few times I’ve tried to fit a few buffs in before the daily reset, being able to reset an aura in-use would save some Wax!

There is a current bug with the aura window where if you open the window it auto selects the last used aura but doesn’t show the time remaining/CD, you have to select another aura and then go back to see the details.

Re visuals: those look amazing and are unique enough it would definitely make me swap from a list view back the icons!

Originally posted by Narmoth

Players get into end-game PvM in less than a year and are held at a disadvantage with how auras are obtained.

This work is like a car owner being more worried about the paint job of a car vs the fact it is out of gas with a dead battery.

Originally posted by geriatriccolon

Wait a whole Gamejam was dedicated to changing the icons of auras? Right clicking isn’t hard.

Originally posted by shrinkmink

I understand it's tiring having to read about inverted capes and now auras (thanks to gim) every day on your job. But surely there were some other outdated interfaces that could've been chosen to be updated instead if getting asked about the elephant in the room is gonna affect their morale?

Also going off on the players because the feedback is to focus on the important issue and not the interface is not a good look. The average player doesn't really care if the content comes from a gamejam or 3 month dev cycle. Just like you don't care how the milk/juice/water got into the bottle only that it's affordable, tastes good and that you don't get sick from it.

Originally posted by yuei2

I get it’s a classic design but I just don’t feel like the red triangles or whatever you want to call those shapes ever really communicated tiers effectively. Maybe if they weren’t present at all, as in there weren’t empty ones, and instead the red ones just showed up as the tier increased that be better? 

I feel like legendary could still stand to be more distinct, the blue line is a nice start but I dunno it feels like it could use more? Sorry I know from design experience that vague feedback isn’t the most helpful lol.

Originally posted by IAmLordOwen

(sorry if this is outside the scope): Will you also be addressing the way auras are sorted in the list? For example, it feels weird that Berserker isn't next to Reckless & Maniacal even though they're the same type of aura (but for a different style each)

Originally posted by Ac50388

This is a pretty disingenuous “whataboutism.” If there’s no clear line between

1) fixing clearly broken things 2) fixing other things

Players are rightfully going to complain about your lack of transparency.

It’s not just that we want more transparency - we do. We also want to see things the company broke and then never bothered fixing, fixed. Because these things are game breaking. Arch Glacor invisible attack. Elite sliders. Auras.

This thread is the perfect place to complain, because as you pointed out, you’re not even working on fixing auras.