Would you play an MMO with no stats on screen?

If, in PvP or PvE, you cannot see the heath bar of the enemy nor their buffs or dots. The only clues to deadly attacks is behavior. No visible countdown timers on your bar and no addons to work around these either.

This is how many RPG games are today. I wonder why MMO's have not gone this way? Seems to me that it would really help for immersive fighting. Is this a bad idea?

 

Elder Scrolls Online has a very minimalist UI and can be played without anything on the screen if you like. I played it that way quite a bit. There were a lot of players who used addons to provide the info that was missing, but I never felt the need. I eventually compromised and had the UI up but, again, it was very minimalist, nothing like other modern MMOs.

 

I would think this is because most MMO has to find mass appeal (be easy to play/learn and grab the attention on the fly). So for those who casually game in an MMO, it might be easier to have stat bars and visible indicators pop up to notify them. Where as if you're buying an RPG game, you'd expect the buyer to want to play and learn the game so maybe you don't need those visual clues as much?

 

I like info, and floating damage numbers and so on. It lets me know what is working and what isn't working.

I'd like to be able to increase the sizes on parts of my UI (larger damage numbers, larger hotbar, etc) as I play on a huge 57 inch TV screen, and some of the UI looks quite small to me.

 

Their is a fine line between immersion and going over board. Once their are more weapons with various stats would you like it if the stats were hidden and you had to just guess if that sword your paying 250 k gold for is worth it or did you just get robbed for a cheep sword? Sure it adds a measure of immersion... but I believe it would also add a lvl of annoyance.

 

I like the idea of not knowing how strong an enemy or npc is before initial attack.

When combat is initiated, at that point I would like to see what I got myself into with a visual of total enemy hit points, how much damage is being done, which spells are working and which ones are being resisted. I think it is important to see damage numbers in order to understand your class and capabilities better.

 

on this side of the rift there is no such thing as that. so i already do play that game.. i go to the other side, so i can get those health bars...

 

attacking a person or an entity is based on assumption that it will bleed like you and die. Do you have preconcieved ideas about a person you shoot in an FPS game? they don't have a health bar. and yes. their max health is 100. So, only way this would work in an RPG is if the combat system would be completely different. No auto attack - hack and slash like Warband - its fair.

 

RG initially wanted there to be no health bars for your targets for immersion. Early builds were like this. People screamed they wanted more feedback and so we got it. I wonder if we'll be able to turn it off.

 

Inforceing what you have said everyone's Max health is different in SotA counting numerbers while trying to fight would tell me nothing and be more of a anoyance then watching my my skill bar so i know what iv been dealt. if a person hates seeing health bar by all means have a option to toggle it off

 

thats what i'd like honestly. as fully customizable an experience as possible, that doesn't detract from someone elses gameplay style choices.
that way, they can have their fun while i have my fun.