Warcraft 3 actually faced a similar problem too. I expect leagues to choose lowest settings, and highest graphical settings to be shiny and stuff to appease the causals.

Zabestrial

United States194 Posts

March 14 2010 15:07 GMT

#123

this is a big issue to me 2
in BW the colors were so bright it made the units distinguishable and now they are just a BLOB.

-Zabestrial

HeartOfTofu

United States308 Posts

March 14 2010 15:14 GMT

#124

It's sad that people are suggesting that lowering your graphics settings in order to better distinguish units is actually an acceptable and/or reasonable fix to this problem...

Blizzard, fix the god damned colors already.

Mykill

Canada3402 Posts

March 14 2010 15:16 GMT

#125

bleh crappy spec view
i think i could tell when im playing

member1987

141 Posts

March 14 2010 15:18 GMT

#126

I don't know, it the high resolution image you provided I can clearly spot which unit, what color it is.

Generally though I think the zerg have the least color recognition, especially when on creep.

jackofclubs81

United States196 Posts

March 14 2010 15:30 GMT

#127

this was a problem for me even in the days of the battle reports, blizzard should take 3 months to fix the graphics and lag

Voyager

Canada111 Posts

March 20 2010 20:45 GMT

#128

For Zerg if they have the body toned more towards the player color instead of just a static color with sections of the unit corresponding to the player color it think it would work. Like BW but maybe not quite as bold, enabling blizzard to show off the artistry and graphical structure of the unit well.

As for Protoss it would probably help if their attacks were in line with the player color. I believe zealot blades reflect this idea but it's a bit pale. Bold use of the player color throughout the entire army and their attacks would help. Things like blue colossus having a blue thermal lance. Although colossus is usually the easiest to distinguish with team it belongs to based on color. Dark templars cloaks could be warping and shifting through the player color. In anycase they just need to be more bold.

I don't have much difficulty distinguishing between all Terran units. I'm sure at some point blizzard will have marauders sholderplates reflect the players color, it's not as big of an issue for me with terran.

It might also help to have an option for broadcasters to enable a unit ground glow type feature. I was also thinking maybe implementing a flag carrier type feature but that might be too WH40K/WC3 (Blademaster)

Kennigit

Canada19447 Posts

March 20 2010 20:46 GMT

#129

Try turning your gfx settings down. Playing on high res + low settings seems best to me. I agree its crap for spectating, but im sure you can tweak gfx settings to make things "pop" a bit more.

Trowabarton756

United States870 Posts

March 20 2010 20:55 GMT

#130

Do you have the shaders turned off? Cause on my client the zealot blades are the color of who ever owns them(green green pink pink etc.)

Voyager

Canada111 Posts

March 20 2010 20:57 GMT

#131

On March 21 2010 05:46 Kennigit wrote:
Try turning your gfx settings down. Playing on high res + low settings seems best to me. I agree its crap for spectating, but im sure you can tweak gfx settings to make things "pop" a bit more.

My post was primarily in regards to sc2 as a spectator sport. So far in my limited beta play I haven't encountered any difficulty. Although leading up to beta entry I watched many videos on YouTube and based my ideas around that experience.

On March 21 2010 05:55 Trowabarton756 wrote:
Do you have the shaders turned off? Cause on my client the zealot blades are the color of who ever owns them(green green pink pink etc.)

Just to reiterate my post was all in regards to sc2 from a viewer perspective not a player. I was fairly certain that zealot blades are of the colour, but I think it the colours were more vibrant instead of an off white with a hint/glow of the player colour it would help.

Gedrah

465 Posts

March 20 2010 21:51 GMT

#132

I didn't read this massive thread but I agree whoeheartedly with the OP. In a match being watched at 420p or less, the colors all desaturate into tinged shades of grey because of the artifacting. In particular, orange\yellow look the same, red\purple can get tough, and purple zerg units it's unclear what color they are at all...

To me the likely solution is a replay mode that emphasizes bright and colorful unit textures which makes it very obvious what unit you see and who owns it... Almost like watching a tactical overlay that replaces the images of hydralisks with icons representing them. Slightly easier to read without completely destroying the look of the game?