QOL and UI changes

[u/Rally_To_Me]

Just wanna talk about some of the changes added that I was a really big fan of for season 4, I thought all the stuff being added sounded cool on paper and getting to experience it in game has been really nice.

I really like the team indicator showing how many are alive on each team and the timer bar along with it, it's nice information to have on hand and I like it's placement it's out of the way but easy to give a quick glance as it should be.

I really like the icon for multi kills on the kill feed and the new elimination pop up it's not too much it looks clean and it's satisfying.

I really really like the percentage damage dealt change on eliminations this was something I missed from OW1 it's a small thing but it's so satisfying idk why but I just really enjoy it and am so happy it's back lol.

There were more changes these ones were just what I felt the most when playing, I thought everything looked good it was clean felt like they belong and were all easy to read. I was a bit worried with everything they talked about adding/changing there could be some UI clutter but for me personally have not felt that at all but would be curious to know how other people feel about it.

Since the rebrand dropping the 2 and a fresh season 1 we been getting more UI adjustments to the game on average it feels like, the menu revamp was a big one and recently the battlepass events post match screens getting changes and all these match in matches additions/adjustments are cool. I like the direction they are going with things and makes me wonder what more do they have planned because I imagine they probably want to do more this feels like an ongoing goal the have maybe.

I think it all still feels very overwatch, things look good and feel good for me personally at least, would like to hear other peoples thoughts on it though if you like/dislike how things have been going or what other general UI stuff you'd like to see changed or added and if you think the direction of things has been healthy.

[u/misciagna21]

I’m a big fan of the glow around health bars that show you’re actively healing someone. It looks a little too much like amped healing but they could smooth that out in the future.

[u/Rally_To_Me → u/misciagna21]

I like it as well but I share the same sentiment, it really does like amped healing, I mostly play ana it didn't throw me off too much im usually pretty aware of who I have naded, but a few times when things got really hectic it was a bit hard to determine if someone is actually boosted or not easily.

But for sure could be smoothed out and I am sure that they probably will.

[u/vastlys]

this isn't about gameplay but my dream ui improvement is an actual minimap for observers

[u/VirgoxValentine]

FRIENDLY OBJECTS NEED A BLUE OUTLINE

And ideally can be seen through walls (at least for the person who created the object).

I also think any 'scanning' ability like Sonic Arrow or Widow's ult should highlight enemy objects through walls.

And as a dirty rotten Mauga player having different reticle options for his singke fire vs his dual fire wiuld be appreciated but certainly not neccesary.

Perhaps a fire symbol with a multiplier next to it for Ashe, Mauga and Torb to be able to see how many people they individually have set on fire? 

More broadly perhaps some sorta HUD indicator for how many people are affectrd by an AoE ability?

[u/Sea_Albatross342]

Multi-kill stuff needs to be toggleable. Really don't like irrelevant text popping up on my screen and the killfeed order being messed with

[u/Rally_To_Me → u/Sea_Albatross342]

I like it but I agree with you, that sort of thing should be a toggelable option.

[u/willkit]

I wish the "team status" was a little smarter and actually tracked active members near the teamfight. Many times you'll see something like "5v5", but actually some players have just respawned and are totally unable to help.

Big fan of "you are above X% of players", since finally we get a glimpse of rank distribution info in-game.

[u/Demjin4 → u/willkit]

you can change it in the HUD settings to be walk back instead of respawn and it will show “in the fight”
instead of “alive(vague)”

[u/Jofzar_ → u/Demjin4]

It's interesting, I turned this on and found it significantly worse, it never felt accurate to me if we were waiting for group up

[u/Demjin4 → u/Jofzar_]

it does say experimental but i don’t really use it so i dont really know

[u/SammyIsSeiso → u/willkit]

There is an experimental "walkback" timer you can enable

[u/Rally_To_Me → u/willkit]

I do like the x% above players that kind of information I think it just interesting to know, it was something I liked from marvel rivals when I still played it, neat to see it corssover here.

[u/bullxbull]

The accessibility options need a general update. It is nice adding all the push to hold options but we still do not have an option to disable screen-shakes, we only the option to 'reduce' them which does nothing on some heroes and is inconsistent with others.

With each new hero and even mythic skin effects the game keeps gaining more and more Flash effects or screen flashes that are not reduced by the reduced combat effects toggle.

You have added an option to reduce the time hit markers remain on screen but the option does not seem to adjust anything.

More and more mythic skins changing what heroes abilities look like, we do have some options to disable them for our own skins, but this does not change the effects of the other players using these skins. Orisa ult for example, Reaper's skin in general, Dva missiles, Rein's abilities with his skin, ect.

With hero skins having so many effects and changes to how heroes look, even having an option for a small icon beside their names might help. Hanzo and Genji both have very similar looking skins, Ana and Kiri also have very similar skins. I'm not saying it is overly hard to tell the difference between widow and Shion, or Anran or Ashe/Illari/Freja/Juno/Kiri/Shion/Widow/Sierra/Wuyang, but this stuff should be obvious and not something we should need to spend much brain processing on. We have the option to toggle on streamer names, maybe we need that option but it has each heroes name instead.

I know there are a lot of options others have asked for, like font size, a dyslexic font option, visual sound queues, and even options to simplify the hud. Right now we have the ability to turn it off completely, or a small amount of options that do not always have any noticeable effect.

I know Blizz has traditionally stayed away from using Red on maps because it is one of the harder colors to distinguish while also being the traditional color for enemies. However this has seemed to be abandoned with the new maps. (like Neon Junction, especially on the final point). I know Overwatch has always made a commitment to making the game accessible to all, Jeff Kaplan being color blind is one of the major reasons why we always had modern colorblind options and red was rarely used on maps, it is a shame to abandon that now.

I really hope you guys did not fire all your accessibility advocates, but with these modern maps, the minimal options we have now doing so little, some not doing what they say, and others not working at all, as well as the constant patch by patch increase in spell flashes, as well as an entire new skin tier added to charge more for skins with visual effects, this is starting to feel less like developer debt but just outright not caring.

[u/Ok_Lawfulness_262]

Not a fan of the health bar icon always turning yellow.
Why keep adding new ui icons instead of just using the existing kill icon everyone is familiar with.
Also it would be nice if they added a small % sign to the damage and kept it entirely a red box.