Hi there. I looked for this suggestion to be in Battle net forum, but it seems no one post it. I dont understand why blizz didn't update the unit bar of the protoss (or at least giving the user to choose between the old one and this one). For example, when you see an Archon, although one knows that the shield represent 99% of his life, the shield and life bar have the same length. And with units like the carrier, where the shield and hp aren't the same, there's a previous experience from the user's side required, to not be fooled from what the bar shows. Why I'm suggesting is that the Hp and Shield bar show the percentage of the added values of both. (Each bar will represent 50% of this value). This way, the two bars will be almost the same as one. I can't explain it well, Let me give you an example: In the case of the archon, the shield (blue squares) would fill all the standard shield bar and also almost all the hp bar, only a square will be green representing the 10hp. This way, the inexperienced (and some experienced players too), would have a pretty good idea of the unit's remaining life when seeing the shield+health bar. UPDATED: Heres are an image with the idea behind it... I don't know... I really think is a good not Unbalancing/Difficult/Useless idea. What do u all think?
I agree. This would be very helpful since I'm a bit of a noon to Starcraft and didn't realize there was a difference between the health and shield levels of certain units.
Quality post right there, supah. This idea would make health bars look cluttered and uneven. Health bars assume some familiarity with the game and unit stats and aims to provide the percentages of the hp/sp. If they were more about absolute values then the squares would be assigned after a set number of hitpoints, in which case higher tier units would have really long bars, which again results in clutter. I like the current display because it's neat and uniform.
I'm not saying anything about absolute values, the length of all bars are all alright the way they are now, the problem is that the sp and hp bar are separated, then when you see the bars from, for example, a carrier (150sp/300hp) the two bar have exactly the same amount of "squares" thingies, even when there is a really big difference between 150 and 300. I updated the main post, with an image working as an example of the idea...
Now that I see what you meant, I can imagine it actually working. Simple to get and easier to get information. As someone who has absolutely zero to null say in this, I see some potential here.
Meh, it's okay. Personally I prefer the current shields/HP display to yours, but something like this could definitely be squeezed into the options menu.
that's a pretty good idea. i always wondered why it wasn't like this in SC1, especially since HP:shields ratio can vary wildly between units. you can watch an archon's shields drain slowly... and when it hits the HP bar the whole thing disappears. lol. although, the mockup you made does look kind of... inconsistent. keep the shield and HP bars on separate lines, just make them different lengths.
I was in a hurry, okay!? However, I still think that all health/shield bars are to be the same size as it'd look bad having one dot of green and ten dots of blue :s
but it would be far more informative... in other words, more useful. when you sacrifice function for form you get crap like the iphone 4. ha!
It's as I said, because the bars represent percentages and not hitpoints. You're wanting it to be based on absolute hitpoints multiplied by a unit-specific number (to keep the bars the same length) but Blizzard wants the bars to show percentages. The emphasis here, I think, is not that Blizzard would prefer percentages but that it looks neater. And indeed it does, now that you've provided example screenshots. Think about how many colours those bars would have when both the hull and the shields are partly damaged... uh no thanks
Argh, that's true, i didn't think when a unit is damaged. Yeah, definitely the idea need more development process But somewhere in the middle, there has to be a way to show more real values, it's awful when you see a carrier shield going down like crazy and then cut by half that speed when hits their hp.
Awful? Maybe to you. The current system is fine the way it is and it's not like Blizz is gonna implement your idea anyways.
