News

In the Spring 2023 Update, Anet revealed that they would be adding a new option, Hide Ally Visual Effects, which “will give you control over whether visual effects are shown for allied players, pets, and minions. […] Some high-impact allied visual effects that convey important information in combat, such as combo fields, cannot be hidden.” Good news for those of us who get overwhelmed by too much visual noise.

Cognitive Accessibility refers to providing accommodations to issues such as processing speed, memory or other cognition-related challenges.

Of course, the LI builds on this site are great for reducing cognitive load when doing combat, but there are additional tools available to make your life in Tyria just a little easier.

Useful tools:

  • Adjust graphics and other settings to reduce visual and auditory noise to lower cognitive processing load. This is covered in detail in the (upcoming) Visual Guide, but at a minimum:
    • In gw2’s graphics options, turn animations down (to Low, for instance)
    • Ensure the Effect LOD checkbox is checked

      These settings essentially do a good job of reducing (all) player animations and effects

  • Play with noise-isolating headphones so external stimuli is reduced.

    A cheap option is to wear slim earbuds underneath construction-style ear protection earmuffs

  • The /wiki command.

    Enter this in the chat field, and it will open the game’s wiki in your web browser. If you provide text, it’ll go to that page directly (e.g. /wiki Sunrise). You can even shift click to paste a chat code for an item and that works too: /wiki [&abcdefghi]

  • The BlishHUD add-on with:
    • the notepad module (I use this as a TODO list, and a general memory aid)
    • the pathing module (simply less things to remember)

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