Poll: What do you think about the new changes made to global cooldown UI in 1.1.2?

Now you ask us?

There are 2 different factors into making something castable, as I see it: CD and "everything else", which includes target type, range, and resource constraints. I don't think separating "everything else" would add much value.

The goal should be that you can immediately deduce the status of both of those factors (CD and "everything else") with a peripheral look at your ability bar.

The first version only distinguished between "castable" and "not castable" and didn't distinguish whether it was due to CD or due to anything else. This was sub-ideal because it wasn't clear when an ability came off cooldown if you would be able to cast it due to other constraints.

The second version made it clear on the "everything else" category -- lit if there were no "everything else" constraints, unlit otherwise. The issue with the second version was that it was hard to see the CD on abilities with long cooldowns. For abilities that only had a GCD, this wasn't a huge issue because if you couldn't tell you would likely be in the "queue" window, but for longer CD's (especially >1 m) the sliver of a bar left could still mean 3+ seconds left before you could cast the ability, and that sliver was really hard to see unless you were staring right at the ability.

The newest version once again makes it similar to the first iteration, where it is hard to tell if you have an "everything else" restriction on an ability if it is on CD, because the CD graphic also dims the icon (just not as much as the "everything else" restriction does). Additionally, the new graphic is a bit obnoxious with the flashing.

My suggestion on how to fix it would be the following:

1) If the ability is castable immediately, lit up, with a thin non-obnoxious white border around the icon (such that it doesn't appear to "flash").
2) If the ability is not castable due to range, target, or resource constraints, give it a clear red color shift.
3) If the ability is not castable due to cooldown, dim it 50% and do the normal CD overlay that "empties" over time.
4) If the ability is on CD *and* is restricted for any other reason, do both filters (red filter, dim, and the CD overlay).

For an added bonus, if the ability is otherwise castable except for the CD, and the time remaining on the CD is less than the "ability queue" setting, give it a yellow border, so we know if we click on it, it will cast when the ability is off CD.

Another option would be to do the CD graphic for GCDs but anything effected by only a GCD would not lose the white border.

Best option would be to give us the choice to customize the overlays for CD/"everything else" as I would imagine one size will not fit all here.

It was on the PTR. Try testing things out if you want to complain after the fact

I'm a bit worried when it looks like the vocal forum minority is going to design the UI or other aspects of the game.

They're not. If they were - we'd have mods, like other reputable MMOs.

And really, given the output of Bioware's own designers got us to this point, I'd trust anyone else over them.