Spell Ranaming Feedback

[CuCullain]

<p>Had a chance to check out the new spell naming on test and had a suggestion. Looking at spells as they are now, and to be fair as they where before, there is no easy way to tell when a spell is a App1,Ad3,Master etc. The only way to tell is to mouse over the spell and see what pops up.</p><p>It would be really nice if there was a way to tell a spells quality w/o havign to mouse over them all.</p><p>Suggestion:</p><p>1. The color of the spells name tells you it's quality e.g. Dark Red>Master II / Red>Master I / Dark Blue>Adept III/ Light Blue> Adept I/ Grey>App IV/ White/App I</p><p>OR</p><p>Icon has an indiaction on the icon such as a1 for App1 aIV for app4 AI for Adept1  etc etc</p><p>I like the 1st idea better....</p>

[Noaani]

<p>Are you talking about the colour of the spell name in the examine window, the mouseover or the knowledge book?</p>

[Kalliand]

<p>The color of a spell already has a meaning, a meaning that is much more important than ad3/master etc. Most people know which spells they have yet to master, so this isn't something you should be bothered about when mousing over.</p><p>Incase you do not know, the color of a spell says what type of spell it is. Green means it hits target encounter/heals your group/buffs your group. Blue means it is range based aoe, meaning it hits within a certain amount of distance, even if it's not your group/target encounter. Red means it is direct damage/direct healing/buffing</p>

[Noaani]

<p>He said spell name, not icon background.</p><p>Edit: and single target buffs and heals are orange, not red. Group heals and buffs are purple. The exception to this is self only buffs, which are yellow.</p>

[CuCullain]

<p><cite>Noaani wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Are you talking about the colour of the spell name in the examine window, the mouseover or the knowledge book?</p></blockquote><p>Knowledge book, the other two already have text to indicate their quality.</p>

[Kordran]

<p>Yeah, I'm not really clear about where it is that you're having a tough time knowing the quality of the spell. And as you point out, this is no different than it was before -- the only way that you knew was by examining the spell or reading the tooltip for it.</p><p>Personally, I don't think coloring the spells would be that great of an idea. However, what would be nice is to sort by level and quality. Actually, the whole knowledge book could use a complete revamp, but that's another thing entirely.</p>

[Solkarr]

<p>I really like the idea of being able to sort my level quality, since I have a character which I am trying to get ALL abilities mastered on.</p><p>I do think that the knowledge book should have a filter option, similar to our tradeskill filters, or the broker filters.  It would make it SO much easier to find what we are looking for.  (maybe have a name filter, a quality filter, a level filter, a type filter (aoe, group, single target, attack, heal, buff, debuff, etc)).</p><p>And the person asking why comment on this now... because they are actually working on the spells/abilities of course!  They are focusing on this area, so its the perfect time to draw attention to more needs that are related.</p><p>Solkarr</p>

[Kitsune286]

<p>Guess I'm just old timey, I don't mind the  "Combat Art IV"  but I do kinda miss "App1, Ad3, M1"</p>

[Deson]

<p><cite>Kittsune@Unrest wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Guess I'm just old timey, I don't mind the  "Combat Art IV"  but I do kinda miss "App1, Ad3, M1"</p></blockquote><p>No, it was part of the game environment they just removed for "progress". Some people just don't realize how important those features are until they are gone. Same phenomena as when they chop down the trees near your house in the name of development--triple if done wrong (which I think this was).</p>

[Xalmat]

<p>Apprentice I to III = Apprentice</p><p>Apprentice IV = Journeyman</p><p>Adept I = Adept</p><p>Adept III = Expert</p><p>Master I = Master</p><p>Master II+ = Grandmaster</p><p>It's pretty easy to remember.</p><p>Really there's no reason to worry about previous tier spell ranks if you have the latest tier. And there's no reason for any kind of visual telling if you if a spell is Apprentice, Expert, Master, or what have you.</p><p>As an above poster said, if a spell name is Gray then you outleveled it, and its really time to move on at that point.</p>

[Aneova]

<p>*pulls out the old book of EQ2*In the beginning of EQ2 spells were originally listed by quality of: App1-4 Ad1-3 and then!! the mysterious *drum rolls* Adept 4, yes adept 4, then they proceded on to Master 1 THROUGH Master 4 (yeah you heard me Master 4) but as we all know this never came to be. And if you want i'll scan my old EQ2 Guide from Prima just to show ya'll <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> so the whole narrowing it down to what is actually available in game is no big issue, and infact makes it easier to most folks as it was really pointless to bother with App 2 spells.</p>

[CuCullain]

<p>not going to fire the mega quote cannon, but this is a reply to a few different posts.</p><p>In the knowledge book it would be nice to be able to not have to mouse over or examine a spell to know what quality it is.</p><p>Yes it is not some monumental task to do so, but when you have multiple alts and you log in to check the broker, it would be nice to simply open the Knowledge Book>sort by level>look at spells and at a glance be able to tell what spells you still need upgrades for.</p><p>I am sure those of us with 1 toon, or a better memory than I, know without havign to check their books what spells need upgrades.. but I am sure there are others like me who would forget by the next day.</p><p>If it is a simple change it would be helpful and that is why i asked, it certainly wouldn't hurt anyone if it was put it.. make it toggleable if you like.</p><p>Another idea instead of the text color changing would be to make it so when you search on the broker for spells that any spell that is a higher quality than you currently have shows up with a solid white name and one that is equal or lower show sup greyish (A'la collectables).</p>

[CuCullain]

<p><cite>Xalmat wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Apprentice I to III = Apprentice</p><p>Apprentice IV = Journeyman</p><p>Adept I = Adept</p><p>Adept III = Expert</p><p>Master I = Master</p><p>Master II+ = Grandmaster</p><p>It's pretty easy to remember.</p><p>Really there's no reason to worry about previous tier spell ranks if you have the latest tier. And there's no reason for any kind of visual telling if you if a spell is Apprentice, Expert, Master, or what have you.</p><p>As an above poster said, if a spell name is Gray then you outleveled it, and its really time to move on at that point.</p></blockquote><p>That previous poster is incorrect btw. There are MANY cases of T8 spells that even at A3 are inferior to T7 masters.</p>

[Thunderthyze]

<p>I find it all just a bit cumbersome:</p><p>Ability IV (Master)</p><p>When you are at T8 and you have T8 abilities and some lower tier examples that don't get upgraded it is all a bit "messy" looking through your spell book trying to sort out those where the current tier [Expert] version is not as good as a lower tier [Master].</p><p>I may be being slightly conservative here but surely there is a clearer way to denote an ability with two variables attached to it?</p><p>Maybe the actual name of the ability could have the text coloured to denote quality?</p><p>Grandmaster - Platinum / White</p><p>Master - Gold</p><p>Expert - Red</p><p>Adept - Blue</p><p>Journeyman - Green</p><p>Apprentice -  Grey</p><p>Then, that way, you would only have a single qualifier to the nomenclature denoting the effective tier.</p>

[Darkstar101]

<p>We already have the ability to sort the knowledge book by level, alphabetical, and type. Perhaps adding an option to sort by quality as well may be of some help to people to determine what spells they have yet to upgrade.</p>

[CuCullain]

<p>If we can get a sort option by quality then level, that works too.. so e.g. end of spell book would be your highest level master2 then next highest master 2, then when master twos are done highest level master 1 etc etc. I personally like the color idea better, but that works too.</p>

[wingedwizard]

<p>I do not like the renaming of spells or the changes so late in the game. Feels like stealing from WoW. Anyway I have no clue why you would want to do this for no apparent reason other than perhaps the devs cant use their imaginations to come up with new names for spells? spend more time building x4's imo.</p>

[CuCullain]

<p><cite>wingedwizard wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I do not like the renaming of spells or the changes so late in the game. Feels like stealing from WoW. Anyway I have no clue why you would want to do this for no apparent reason other than perhaps the devs cant use their imaginations to come up with new names for spells? spend more time building x4's imo.</p></blockquote><p>Thank you for making your 18th post, perhaps in 2 months when you've been here 1 year you can come up with something informed and relevant.</p>

[wingedwizard]

<p>Ok, I will use my 19th post to respond to you who has probably posted a response to anything that you do not agree with. Which is probably most everything. Why dont you go out and experience the real world and stop judging a persons character by how many times they have posted their opinion. Forumns such as this are meant for some honest feedback about how players feel about new changes to the game and what they do or do not like plus any suggestions on how to make the game as a whole better. Your status as a forum troll is probably legendary in the realm of others of your type but in my life you only have my pity. BTW it's summer why dont you crawl out of that hole and check it out.</p>

[Kordran]

<p><cite>wingedwizard wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I do not like the renaming of spells or the changes so late in the game. Feels like stealing from WoW. Anyway I have no clue why you would want to do this for no apparent reason other than perhaps the devs cant use their imaginations to come up with new names for spells? spend more time building x4's imo.</p></blockquote><p>At some point, you start exhausting reasonable alternatives from the Thesaurus. With the release of Kunark, it was clear that the well was already starting to run dry there.</p>

[Deson]

<p><cite>Kordran wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p><cite>wingedwizard wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I do not like the renaming of spells or the changes so late in the game. Feels like stealing from WoW. Anyway I have no clue why you would want to do this for no apparent reason other than perhaps the devs cant use their imaginations to come up with new names for spells? spend more time building x4's imo.</p></blockquote><p>At some point, you start exhausting reasonable alternatives from the Thesaurus. With the release of Kunark, it was clear that the well was already starting to run dry there.</p></blockquote><p>But since the dev responsible completely downplayed that idea, it's totally irrelevant.</p>

[wingedwizard]

<p>I was playing in test again last night and i think what i find most disconcerting is not necessarily the changed spell names but rather seeing II or III or V  ect after the spell name. I mean sometimes II is designating a low level spell and sometimes its a end game spell. If for instance every spell repeated the same number of times throughout the game there would be uniformity and it would look fine cause we would all have V spells or some such for our end game spells and next time they raised the level cap we would be tryign to upgrade with VI.</p>

[CuCullain]

<p><cite>wingedwizard wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Ok, I will use my 19th post to respond to you who has probably posted a response to anything that you do not agree with. Which is probably most everything. Why dont you go out and experience the real world and stop judging a persons character by how many times they have posted their opinion. Forumns such as this are meant for some honest feedback about how players feel about new changes to the game and what they do or do not like plus any suggestions on how to make the game as a whole better. Your status as a forum troll is probably legendary in the realm of others of your type but in my life you only have my pity. BTW it's summer why dont you crawl out of that hole and check it out.</p></blockquote><p>Cute, but you failed to respond to the fact that you have an account that is less than a year old..... lol</p><p>Before you start accusing devs of waisting time, you might want to learn who did the changes and the fact that those people have nothing to do with zone/ecnounter creation.... but as a relative newb I guess you missed that.. research before you speak.</p><p>The devs that should be creating more X4 content are waistign time... creating X4 content and X2 content... FYI</p>

[Despak]

<p>wow I wasn't aware that you had to have played a game for x years before being allowed an opinion!!</p><p>Perhaps we should increase that to say you have to post over 400 times in 4+ years, that way you can take your attitude elsewhere.</p>

[Despak]

<p>Now OT, not checked yet; but does hovering over the spell icon on broker or examine window still say whether you have scribed this or a better quality of the spell?</p><p>*it's whether, not weather!</p>

[Noaani]

<p><cite>Tralesh@Splitpaw wrote:</cite></p><blockquote>Now OT, not checked yet; but does hovering over the spell icon on broker or examine window still say whether you have scribed this or a better quality of the spell?</blockquote><p>Yes.</p>

[CuCullain]

<p>I am not saying there are nto ways to accompolish the task, simply that it would be nice if a much easier method could be implimented with minimal developer effort.</p>

[We_want_your_soul]

<p>After playing on test I personally feel this was a pointless change that hasn't added anything to the game, at all.</p>

[Zibleez]

<p><cite>wingedwizard wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>I was playing in test again last night and i think what i find most disconcerting is not necessarily the changed spell names but rather seeing II or III or V  ect after the spell name. I mean sometimes II is designating a low level spell and sometimes its a end game spell. If for instance every spell repeated the same number of times throughout the game there would be uniformity and it would look fine cause we would all have V spells or some such for our end game spells and next time they raised the level cap we would be tryign to upgrade with VI.</p></blockquote><p>It's that number in the line of spells... it's a more intuitive organizational approach than we had before.</p><p>As far as the getting rid of the App I-IV, AD1, AD3, M1, M2 progression - I can't think of any logical reason someone would argue against it other than nostalgia and being contrary.  It makes no sense to effectively have:</p><p>App 1: Given by default</p><p>App 2: ... barely ever seen, bought from merchants</p><p>App 3: </p><p>App IV: Crafted</p><p>Adept I: Mob dropped</p><p>Adept II:</p><p>Adept III: Player Crafted</p><p>Master I: Mob dropped</p><p>_____________________________</p><p>You have 3 gaping holes in there - App II, App III, and Adpet II.  They removed the holes and renamed the tiers - not a big deal.  As for the renaming of spells, yeah, it removes a little of the flavor of the game, but it also makes the spatial conception/informational ordering of things in the game easier.  Doesn't make the game easier, just makes it more accessible.</p><p>As someone that got his wife into the game - these kind of little things really [Removed for Content] her off because to her non-gamer brain, they made no sense.  This kind of change appeals to people that aren't used to the random broken eccentricities that grow up from an organically growing and changing game.  </p><p>Not us.  *shrug*</p>

[Gladiolus]

<p>Although the different spell names never really bothered me, now that I see the new version, it appears that the streamlining was overdue. When there were only spells up to level 50, our spellbooks were much smaller so it wasn't really a problem, but as they continue to grow, we need to keep them under control.</p><p>My only suggestion for improvement is that, under Sorting, we be given the option to show only the highest version of each spell, so that we don't need to see version I, II, III, etc., of each one, but only the highest one we've scribed. That way we'd be able to see all our current spells in just a few pages.</p>

[Beghard]

<p>The color of the spell should be based on the race and skin color of the player</p>

[Zibleez]

<p><cite>Beghard wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>The color of the spell should be based on the race and skin color of the player</p></blockquote><p>O.o</p>

[Leucippus]

<p>I could thoughts:</p><p>(1) It is a shame "I" , one , is skipped and the naming continues with II , III , IV , V , etc. I doubt there is a way to change this situation now.</p><p>(2) When one first logs in there needs to be one of those "?" popup things that explains the quality level renaming i.e.</p><p>App II is now ___</p><p>App IV is now ___</p><p>Adept I is now ___</p><p>Adpet III is now ___</p><p>Master I is now ___</p><p>and</p><p>Master II is now ___</p><p>These "?" popup things are rarely used after the very first character levels. Why I do not know.</p><p>-Leucippus</p>

[Gladiolus]

<p><cite>Leucippus wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>These "?" popup things are rarely used after the very first character levels. Why I do not know.</p></blockquote><p>Probably because people have found how to disable them</p>