TL ; DR: Add a command /awho to display the selected Abilities for all players in lobbies, and add visual indicators for some Abilities that can have drastic effects but don’t have visual indicators.
Inspired by:
There’s several Abilities that don’t have a lot of visual indicators, if any, when in use by players, and so it isn’t possible to check what abilities players are using without observation of their actions or level up Abilities, if the Ability in use can level up. Hence, I propose a few measures to aid in checking who has what Abilities in play.
Firstly, a command to check everyone in the lobby. Not all Abilities (i.e. Dual Wield, Sentry, None) has a level up effect with text, and so as a result players using these Abilities cannot be checked for an Ability by the level up message. Hence, I propose a command, /awho, shorthand for “Ability Who” (not grammatically correct, but SHHH SHHH it fits with the already existing /ahelp). By using the command with syntax /awho (username), you can check the ability of any player in your lobby, regardless of your rank or the rank of the player you’re checking, in order to enable Guests to check abilities if they have questions.
Second, more visual indicators. Ms.Lina had originally suggested it for Telekinesis, but why not for other Abilities that don’t have them but would be useful?
Dual Wield has 3 different modes for which users of the Ability can fire in… yet there’s no indicator of which you’re using unless you fire off a projectile. Thus, I propose that various cosmetic debuffs be used to indicate firing mode, rather than the scoreboard, in order to better cater to mobile players. If using the S S firing mode, the Dual Wield player has no effect. If they are using the W W firing mode, the Dual Wield player has the Sparkle Slime debuff until they switch firing modes. If they are using the S W firing mode, the Dual Wield player has the Slime debuff until they switch firing modes.
Shaman relies quite a lot on player cooperation in order to ensure its successful usage due to the stored HP requirement. Furthermore, because the stored HP is only displayed on the scoreboard, it’s impossible for mobile players to tell how much stored HP they have. Therefore, when a Shaman player has their stored HP maxed out and ready to use the HP upgrade, I propose that the Shaman Player gains the Lovestruck debuff until the HP upgrade is no longer available, be it through said upgrade being used or if the round ends and the stored HP resets.
Telekinesis was the original suggestion, and for it I propose that the Telekinesis player gains the Wet debuff while their Telekinesis abilities are on cooldown from any source (the movement options, enemy manipulation options, etc.) This effect is one of the most visual out of all the ones I tested in PvE using /buff, and since it has the biggest potential for griefing, I chose Wet for Telekinesis.
These could be a helpful tool for any player, as knowing when anything from other players’ Abilities are available or how they’re playing without needing to see a specific chat message from them or the server could be helpful during play for various reasons, and the visual effects for Abilities could help mobile players especially since they are unable to view the scoreboard.
(the original failed because I accidentally tapped “Create Topic” before it was complete, this is the actual complete suggestion now)