Information Opacity

Submitted 2 years, 6 months ago by

So, I've played a little of Mercs, and don't have particularly strong feelings on it, but there is one element that really bothers me: information opacity.

What do I mean by this? An example: as a reward after a fight, I'm offered an "Alliance Banner" that gives my Alliance characters +X/+Y. Great. Which ones are my Alliance characters? There is no mention of that on their cards/characters. Nothing. I guess you need to know WC3/WoW lore and/or have listened to the voice lines on characters in main HS: but I typically play with sound off, and have forgotten most of the stuff from the little WoW that I did play 16 years ago.

But let's say I remember who is Alliance and who is Horde (and who might be neither, as I'm sure some are) - now, when I'm being offered it, how can I check who it helps on my team before choosing? It would be great to be able to see who else might benefit from a power up like that, but I have to hold in my head who else is on the team, alive, and of the appropriate type.

I'm an old man, I can't keep that sort of stuff in my head.

It'd be great if there were a little more info about who's on what "team", and if there was the ability to check your roster before selecting rewards.

  • Stockworth's Avatar
    Ghost 380 64 Posts Joined 06/22/2019
    Posted 2 years, 6 months ago

    So, I've played a little of Mercs, and don't have particularly strong feelings on it, but there is one element that really bothers me: information opacity.

    What do I mean by this? An example: as a reward after a fight, I'm offered an "Alliance Banner" that gives my Alliance characters +X/+Y. Great. Which ones are my Alliance characters? There is no mention of that on their cards/characters. Nothing. I guess you need to know WC3/WoW lore and/or have listened to the voice lines on characters in main HS: but I typically play with sound off, and have forgotten most of the stuff from the little WoW that I did play 16 years ago.

    But let's say I remember who is Alliance and who is Horde (and who might be neither, as I'm sure some are) - now, when I'm being offered it, how can I check who it helps on my team before choosing? It would be great to be able to see who else might benefit from a power up like that, but I have to hold in my head who else is on the team, alive, and of the appropriate type.

    I'm an old man, I can't keep that sort of stuff in my head.

    It'd be great if there were a little more info about who's on what "team", and if there was the ability to check your roster before selecting rewards.

    Nobody:

    Me: Why yes, that is a medieval drawing of a cat licking its own butt 

    5
  • TriMay's Avatar
    430 130 Posts Joined 01/15/2020
    Posted 2 years, 6 months ago

    Yeah I often forget the properties of my own party as well, since the only 2 times you get to check what any merc does is  a) in the collection manager if you own the merc, and  b) when selecting the merc's attack/ability in combat.  The only tribe buff I remember more than others is the human buff, and even then, is Scabbs a human, or?...

    Gnome, okay, noted.

     

    But Alliance vs Horde is absolutely the worst when there is zero indication of it, apparently according to some sources it's tied to the race (Human, Elf, etc.), but at the same time not always because Lich King or something...?  There should be an icon on the corner, there's a perfectly empty spot on the top right of the card, or at least a hint dialog when hovering over the card.

     

    The game is incredibly unpolished in terms of giving the player information.

    1
  • Pezman's Avatar
    Staff Writer 2235 2225 Posts Joined 06/03/2019
    Posted 2 years, 6 months ago

    I have this same issue. I played Warcraft 1, 2 and 3, but never WoW. Some characters I know are Horde or Alliance, but others? No clue.

    I also noticed this issue: every single merc has a tribe, even unique ones (Rexxar is a half-orc). EXCEPT for Gruul. Isn't he a Gronn?

    "Be excellent to each other." -Bill and Ted

    0
  • FieselFitz's Avatar
    Prince Charming 1105 1355 Posts Joined 05/29/2019
    Posted 2 years, 6 months ago

    Even tough i do not have that big of a problem about the WoW/Hearthstone Lore i agree that they could have made some sort of Info Box Pop up if you look at the Merc or maybe they could have added some sort of Info Box in the Merc Collection were you level up abilities etc. 

    Also would be kinda nice to know from which merc i've got an extra portrait without clicking on every single one of them.

    Challenge me ... when you're ready to duel a god!

    1
  • Fluxflashor's Avatar
    CEO 2005 3067 Posts Joined 10/19/2018
    Posted 2 years, 6 months ago

    Even worse about the Alliance and Horde thing is that they don't even have the references setup in data in the client to begin with, even though the cards do have faction flagging. That flagging is all just set to Neutral though =/

    This kind of stuff would have been avoided if they had of talked more about the mode well in advance of the release. Instead, let's do a bad presentation and follow it up with nothing until the very last minute.

    Blizzard needs to seriously give their head a shake.

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    2
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