I have Epilepsy, this season is a problem

This is quite serious so I’d appreciate a fix quick. I love Diablo 3 and the franchise for that matter. But the element changes in the season keep changing the lighting too dramatically and it messes with my epilepsy. Could you please have an option to turn off the lighting changes in the elements please? I tried contacting support but it won’t let me submit a ticket. If anyone has time to read this, please try and submit a ticket for me or something. THanks!!! <3

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This issue is currently being addressed. A number of people have brought up complaints not just about the video changes screwing with their hardware, but others (myself included) complained about the lack of forethought in regards to folks with visual issues or neurological issues (epilepsy being one of them). I know for me personally, the snow graphic being used gives me an instant headache and nausea thanks to motion sickness. The lightning effects make me have that same, weird vibration sensation that I had after a concussion once, whenever I tried to focus too hard on anything (like reading, or watching tv, or looking at the computer). It’s definitely a big problem.

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Thanks for covering it and getting the info out. I was on the phone with family and stopped mid message!

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Y’know this subject was used to troll around the forum for as long as Diablo 3 existed.

I’m pretty sure epileptics are generally advised to stay away from these kinds of videogames in the first place, because EVERYTHING is shiny and flashy.

It’s more likely someone finds some aspect of the game displeasing, and true to nowadays mindset, is looking for a way to enforce their demands in changing it.

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Have you seen the screenshots of how egregious the lighting changes are due to the season theme? There are literally screenshots of the entire game field being almost black, with the only visible thing being the theme’s spell effect. You can’t see your hero, the map, the mobs, pools of badness on the ground to avoid. Literally nothing. And the difference between normal lighting and during-theme-proc lighting is massive.

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I don’t have epilepsy and it’s a problem even for me. The noise, the effects, the darkening screen, it all messes up with my head to a point I’m starting to get headaches. Glad they’re addressing the issue.

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While I don’t personally have an issue with it, I can also say I have never seen this amount of complaints.

It’s not just because of the mechanics of the theme, which is obviously subjective, but it is surely causing a lot more distress than any game should.

We wouldn’t have so many posts about it otherwise.

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If you have epilepsy remember to stay away from PoE :smiley:

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I am impressed over OP playing D3 at all with epilepsy. Think it’s one of the games I have played with most flashes and things going on on screen.

Even I am overwhelmed sometimes, and I work daily with programming LED strobes (among other things).

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what about blue filter glasses, do they avoid flashes and epilepsy? I know that is not the solution we are looking for but I want to know!

would be great to just have an option to disable it.
adjusting my eyes every 20 secs is triggering migraines.
Thanks so much.

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Seems like if you have epilepsy - all of Dance Dance Diablo 3 would be a problem.

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Oh my goodness, how DARE people with disabilities enjoy a hobby that up until the release of this season, hadn’t been problematic!

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It depends on the person. Most of D3 has “known” flashing spell effects. A player can opt to:

-not use skills that are flashy/bother them
-change graphics settings on their monitor or vid card software

The issue here is that the Season effect is way above and beyond the normal level of flashing D3 has. Even some people without epilepsy are having headaches, motion sickness, dizziness, etc.

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Additional context, great.

Talk about being a Richard. I also have epilepsy, and while I’m not suffering siezure triggers behind the seasonal effects, I do find them to be over the top. The darkness that accompanies some of them is stupid. If I wanted to play a game with this kind extreme in lighting I’d be playing POE. I can turn my volume off for the crappy audio, it’s be nice to have a toggle or slider to to control extremes in brightness.

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Agreed. I won’t let my daughter play this season because of the theme and she has epilepsy. I have to log off sooner than I wish because the theme does trigger migraines. Those aren’t fun. and I have the blue light filters on my glasses and it doesn’t help.

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Epilepsy is no laughing matter and pity the poor moron that thinks it is.

BLIZZARD tends to listen to health, privacy, TOS and issues that affect people in general.
I doubt any company will ignore this. They should kick their own rear if they do.

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There are also different triggers for seizures, different lighting and flash patterns. If you’ve never had an eeg hooked up and sitting in a room in chair having a strobe flash different patterns…you shouldn’t speak.

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For me it’s the constant change in overall map lightning / brightness / darkness every time an effect pops in. If the map was already dark, it gets darker (with the Toxic bombs / rain thing), if the map had a orange / red’ish hue to it (like the Arreat Crater map) then it gets SUPER red with the fire effect, when it’s bright like the cold regions of Act 3, it gets even brighter with the snow effect. And that keeps on going every minute or so, non-stop.

That’s not to mention how most of the effects are just plain useless since I keep moving with my character. The toxic bombs rarely do anything since it’s randomly hitting the ground. The fire effect is a complete joke moving at a snail’s pace, the lightning is extremely obnoxious and always striking in front of the character creating some chaotic patterns of light when in hectic battles, and the big snow ball moves slowly and is about as useless as the fire effect.

All in all, for me, so far it’s the worst unique Season effect they came up with. I’d rather go back to the ‘Assign any item in the Horadric Cube’ effect since it’s a lot more useful for actual gameplay and didn’t screw up with the game visuals every minute or so.

I did actually stop playing this Season because of all this. If they come up with some update to disable the effects at least visually then I’ll give it another try. But if the changes are minimal I’ll just skip until the next Season, no biggie.

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