Talk:Power Icons Legend

Notes for future refrence:

I got in the mood to figure stuff out about power icons after looking at your stuff Vanden. The borders of the power icons seem to be fairly consistent with only a few divergences, most or all of which I believe you've caught.

I started looking at the interior symbol of the power icons and reasoning out what each meant and the paradigm coh is using for power icon inner symbols. I started a paragonwiki page here. The more I keep looking at these symbols, the more I understand the paradigm and am able to see which icons are 'broken'.

Consider this a mini-guide to what I've been figuring out.

Icons Explained.

Control/Mez icons: Almost all of these you'll be familiar with as they are the same graphic used on a training enhancement. A few exceptions and some unique icons (Force Bubble, Telekinesis, Wormhole) are out there.

Buff and Debuff icons: Buff/debuffs have 2 types of symbols. One is an arc, the other is a triangle. Buff/debuffs with the triangle have an instant effect. For example, Healing Aura gives you hit points. Buffs/debuffs with an arc have persistant effects. For example, Recovery Aura increases your recovery rate for a period of time. A triangle or arc at the top of the icon means a buff. A triangle at the bottom of the icon means a debuff. The exchange symbol is somewhat ambiguous. The way I conceive it, the exchange symbol is only used when the two things being affected are the same. For example, in Absorb Pain caster loses hit points, target gains hit points. Usage is correct. Dark Consumption target loses hit points, caster gains endurance. Usage incorrect. Powers that buff/debuff multiple aspects should be using the icons found in Powers like Equip Thugs, Tactical Upgrade and Serum. Usage of which icon depends on the strength of the buff/debuff.

Resistance icons: The basic resist symbol is the icon used on the training enhancement. There are no resistance buffs used in the iconography. All resistance is assumed to have a buffing effect. Resistance debuff could certainly be a valid symbol, using the downward arc described above. Resistance icons have variations depending on what type of resistance they provide. Temp Invulnerability uses smashing/lethal, Resist Elements uses fire/cold, Resist Energy uses energy/negative energy and Minerals uses a psionic resistance symbol. The symbol for increased resistance to mez effects is used in powers like Unyeilding and Rooted.

Defense icons: The basic defense symbol is a shield. Flavors currently exsist for melee, ranged and AoE defense. Missing are icons for the different types of damage (smash/lethal/fire/cold/toxic/energy/negative energy/psionic). If we used the same symbology as resistance, we could have the flavor of defense on top of the shield symbol and it would be more clear how each defense power functions. A boost to your current mez defense is the symbol used by Clarity.

Melee icons: Any power that does damage could use the icon found on the training enhancement. I consider it the default damage icon. Melee icons have three tiers depending on how much damage they do. Look at Brawl, Punch and Haymaker for examples of tiers 1, 2 and 3. Barrage uses the icon for melee damage over time. The extreme damage symbol used on Nova can also be added into this category. A few more icons exsist such as assassin's strike, elemental weapon, greater elemental weapon and chain-type powers that are used only in certain specific powers.

Ranged icons: Once again, any power that does damage could use the icon found on the training enhancement. The extreme damage symbol used on Nova is part of this category. There are four tiers of standard ranged damage. Only powers with a recharge time of "Very Fast" should use the tier 0 ranged icon as in the power Nuetrino Bolt. Small, medium and large powers use the other ranged icons that appear as skinny, normal and thick beams and I call them Tier 1, 2 and 3. Sniper powers have a unique icon. Short range powers have a unique icon like the one found on the Power Burst icon.

Pet icons: Any power that is a pet or henchman, or effects only a pet or henchman should have a ring at the bottom. If a pet has a specific power effect (taunt or fear) that icon should replace the rising sphere on most of the pet icons. The number of pets summoned should be the number of rising spheres found on the power icon. The pet power icons should be used only when the power summons something that can be killed. Voltaic Sentinal is not a pet, Gun Drone is.

Form icons: Icons should be used when you actually shift forms. Kheldian Nova and Dwarf powers use this icon. IMO, Granite should use this as well.

Hierarchy Symbols have a hierarchy. For example, if a power does damage and has a mez effect, the mez icon will be used.

Mez trumps buff/debuff trumps resist/defense trumps damage.

If one effect of a power is much stronger than the other, the primary effects icon is used. Frozen Armor provides defense and resistance, but the primary effect of the power is to provide defense. Defense symbol is used.

There are a couple of specific things that trump one another in the same category. For example, increase recharge speed (Hasten) trumps increase run speed (Swift). Healing trumps endurance. Damage trumps accuracy if the power's effect is equal. Defense trumps resistance. Hold trumps disorient trumps sleep trumps immobilize. Knockback/up/down sometimes trumps other control powers even when it is not the strongest effect. Running trumps jumping trumps flying. Compound symbols (see below) trump standard icons.

Compound symbols A few of the symbols used in power icons are combinations of two or more icon graphics. Some of the best examples of this are the power icons for Unchain Essense (defeated plus damage), Invincibility (defense plus accuracy/to hit plus buff) and Shiver (slow recharge plus slow movement). Many, many of the powers currently in the game could use compound icons to replace the current graphic. For example, Dark Extraction could use the defeated plus single pet summon icon. Stygian Circle could use the defeated plus heal buff icon.

New Icons Needed In thinking about this, I found the game really, really needs some additional icons not currently used but are consistent with existing iconography. Flavored defense and resistance debuffs are desperately needed, imo.