Buff Status Quick Check OR Buff Expiration Notification

[tenbsmith]

I loose track of buffs and they expire unbeknownst to me. It's a bummer when a hero goes a couple rounds taking extra damage or missing attacks b/c of buff expiration. Constantly clicking through to each heroes' "Effects" screen and then scrolling to see all active buffs is a bore. Perhaps more importantly, doing that breaks up the flow of a good fight. Expired buffs are most likely and most annoying during the toughest fights, when you should focus on tactics.

A minor tweak that would improve things would be for the "Effects" screen to list Talent-related buffs first, monster-created buffs second, and item-related buffs last. (I do NOT go to the effects screen to see item-related buffs.)

Here are suggestions for more robust solutions.

1) An easily accessible screen that shows all buffs on one screen.  For example, the screen might contain a table with 4 columns--one column per hero. The top of each column has the hero's face. Below that, each row contains an icon for an active buff so that all active buffs are displayed. displayed with each buff icon is the number of turns left on that buff; to save room, just the number is displayed, no text. A screen like this would also be handy for post-fight buffing needs review.

2) Some sort of notification when a buff expires. The notification of just-expired buffs could come at the beginning of the player's turn. Maybe something written, or using the buff icon, or some sort of expired-buff-animation. Please not a toast, I always miss those.

3) Add the number of remaining rounds for buffs to talent shortcut buttons that appear on the right of the screen when you select a hero. Again, just the number, no text.

The ideal overall solution might include suggestion 1 above and either 2 or 3.

[fallen]

tenbsmith - here is a blog post we recently put up talking about our next big additions to HoS. In that list, we list this as an upcoming major feature.
blog.tresebrothers.com/2014/06/heroes-of-steel-major-updates-are-coming.html

[tenbsmith]

I'm really glad to see that. Any hints about what sort of solution you're planning would be of interest.

You guys usually are a couple steps ahead of me. :-)

[fallen]

tenbsmith - as you have to go through each character to complete each turn, we're looking at a display of the current characters buffs & duration remaining over the main map. Tap to go to the full list. This would only include Buffs & Curses, not EQ.

[tenbsmith]

By "main map" do you mean the screen that shows the terrain and locations of the heroes and enemies? If so, it sounds that you would see each heroes buffs/curses as you highlighted the hero. Sounds cool, but I'd be a bit concerned about it using up precious screen space for small smart phone players.

[fallen]

tenbsmith - yes, that's what we are looking at. Immediate and constant reminders of buffs / curses. The graphics will be scaled depending on the available space.

[tenbsmith]

That sounds like a great solution. To save space you might superimpose the number of turns remaining on the icons for the active buffs/curses. The icons could be just a bit bigger than a 2-digit number. No text other than number of turns.

At some point you might need a way to deal with overflow--too many icons to fit across the top of the screen.

I'm excited about this pending improvement.

Edit: Players using small-screened devices might appreciate the option to toggle off the "buff status bar".