Current: White / White / White / Red
Suggested: White / White / Orange / Red
It'll both feel good for the Annie player feeling 'lukewarm', and help convey 'threat' to the enemy team in terms of visual colors. Right now the visual thematics suggest that 3 stacks is 'safe' when everyone playing as or against Annie understands that this is definitely not the case.
RiotCaptain Gameplay61 votesIt's already one of the loudest ways to convey stack count - adding a third color would only make it even louder. Additionally, there is a line between "Exposing hidden information" that was Annie's stack count, and explicitly instructing the opponent what to do against Annie (ie: adding a danger ring around her for Tibbers range).
A warning color treads a bit too close to the latter, while also increasing the noise on her Healthbar such that it is not worth the potential value gained.
Cynika33 votesBut they gave the 3rd yellow color to vlad's crimson rush bar. Why does he warrant the extra warning to opponents but not annie?
TheSlogs2 votesBecause Vlad's damage is broken af right now.
Stand in my X7 votesHe isn't doing more damage than before...
Ruin Lance9 votesvladimir does less damage than before
Ragnarokio1 voteshe has higher potential burst.
Ruin Lance6 votes"potential burst" assuming you get hit by his extremely telegraphed E and empowered Q. trust me anyone who isn't fucking stupid is going to walk away before you can get that 3rd Q off, and they'll also stand behind minions because fuck your E.
Icestar11863 votesIn his defense, the only ways to dodge the E are "Stay far outside your attack range" or "Hide behind the minions that he now has enough waveclear to get rid of." I'm not saying it's impossible to avoid or anything, but Vlad's E is nowhere near as weak as some people seem to think.
Kuroi861 votesIt's possible the added counterplay could be too strong, but it doesn't negate the fact that if Vlad hits his spells, you're going to be hurting.
That said, the added counterplay could be too much atm.
ForeverLaxx2 votesIt doesn't matter what that potential is when it's never allowed to impact anyone.
GLockWisE1 votesMan you can't make good arguments @riot they aren't going to reply to anything else on this thread now x(
RiotCaptain Gameplay12 votesBark bark bark bark bark
Cynika1 votesLol dank meme bro :P
Everelda1 votes[{quoted}](name=Beluga Whale,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=ZZs4uxFO,comment-id=0003000000010000,timestamp=2016-05-06T03:08:31.360+0000)
Bark bark bark bark bark
on another note since people arnt satisfied with the GIAAAAAAANT HEY IVE GOT STUN! banner under annie's health now you could always say well people werent satisfied lets remove it cause people are too lazy to count to four (except jhin)
Hyrum Graff1 votes[{quoted}](name=Beluga Whale,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=ZZs4uxFO,comment-id=0003000000010000,timestamp=2016-05-06T03:08:31.360+0000)
Bark bark bark bark bark
Bark Wahlberg?
DafTennant19 votesStab in the dark here, but maybe it's because Vlad doesn't have mana on his resource bar? Another thing Beluga Whale talks about is "noise", so maybe the extra colour wasn't as noisy on him since there are only two resources to look at instead of three.
Cynika1 votesI can understand the clutter factor for Annie, but part of what beluga mentioned was how they want to avoid instructing opponents how to play against you.
Vlad's Crimson rush bar gives all the information the opponent needs to make sure vlad is never performing optimally. It turns yellow when it's about to come up and it has a slider that tells you exactly when it's coming off of CD.
MrBuffington2 votesVladimir only has a few seconds to use his empowered q, so the lead up is much more important. He also doesn't have mana, so there is less visual noise.
Spaceman5pff3 votesAnnie doesn't have a tiny restricted window of opportunity to work with on her stacks, though. When vlad fills that bar he has just a moment to use it. It is pretty important to make it clear when that window is about to start.
Auroramancer1 votesYou don't see those colors at the same time. With Annie's white-orange-red, you see all 3 at once.
TroyTheUnconquer1 voteswell for one, Vlad doesn't rely completely on his Q's to do anything at all whereas Annie rely's heavily on her stun to kill people, putting Annie's Stun and Vlad's Q in the same category is no where near the same. Also the fact of clutter and all those other good points everyone brought up
Cynika1 votesHe kind of does though, out of 3 q's, half the damage is from the empowered 3rd q. Not to mention the fact that pretty much all of his sustain (the thing that he's based on, and needs more than ever with health cost on e) is put on the 3rd q. You can't spam ult in lane.
RiotCaptain Gameplay4 votesHis uses the normal resource bar instead of a (rather bulky) additional secondary bar that both increases the size of the standard HealthBar and partially obscures the mana bar.
Cynika4 votesOk fair for Annie.
I know I said this a lot throughout the thread so far, so I'm sorry for beating a dead horse lol, but vlad's crimson rush bar really gives too much information. It would be nice to just have solid white bars indicating his stacks (turning red when he has crimson rush) instead of the sliding white to yellow to red bar he has right now, also showing his q CD. Make the opposing laner have to pay at least a little attention to counter play vlad, instead the current spoon feeding of info :(
RiotCaptain Gameplay6 votesThe decision here was that both Vlad and his opponent should always be aware of and playing around his Crimson Rush timings. Its possible we are giving away excessive information that mostly just makes Vlad feel impotent. I'll pass your feedback on to the rest of the team, thanks!
ThaddeusMike1 votesThis seems weird. Isn't Crimson Rush just straight up less impactful than Annie Stun? I get clunkiness and clean lines, but it seems obvious to me that game play and coherent design should be primary, with cleanliness serving to enhance them, rather than the other way around.
DeathBurst3 votesI agree with this post ^
Especially, the CD part is really a bit too much imho. Show the full stacks only, not the gradual increase that is proportional to remaining CD.
MunchCrunchLunch1 votesvlad doesn't really nuke your team with an aoe stun burn dot
Cynika1 votesI mean we can talk about how yes, different champions have different skills. But the point I'm trying to make here is that vlad's crimson rush bar gives wayyyy too much information to the enemy. Essentially to the point of instructing the enemy on how to play against vlad at every point of the game, which is what beluga was saying riot wants to avoid.
Please take away at least the sliding aspect of the crimson rush bar (that tells everyone the exact cool down of q) and I'll be a happy/ier camper :)
Ultîma2 votesThat's a genuine question here though - the overall threat of Vlad's crimson rush is WAY lower than Annie's potential AOE-team stun. She can absolutely dictate the outcome of a teamfight with her tools, whereas Vlad can get a good trade. There would be a lot more value in a stun bar on Annie rather than there is for Vlad's rush, or Shyvanna's ultimate... There doesn't seem to be a reasoning. Either establish some guidelines and be consistent or get rid of it (or do like Vel'koz and have it so that only the concerned player sees the passive).
Zedex1 votesLol, playing against Annie more then once its quite easy to understand that at 3 stacks shes prepping for her stun on you...How would this literally make anything worse except make it easier to see...Why is that an issue against one of the most basic and binary champions in the game? Why does she need complexity? Garen gets none, and hes a "starter" champion.
Igotlazy1 votesIs it possible that the bar could at least be a bit more stylized to suit Annie? Mentally I've already associated it with Jhin, and if they're both (Annie and Jhin) on the enemy team it could get a bit annoying.
Velzard of Koz1 votesWhen we're at it, will her bar be changed for colorblind mode? I have different colors for Jhin bar and different for her. As If hers was the same in both modes.
Evewynn5 votesOr yellow; vlad's bar turns yellow when he is getting close to max so it would make sense for Annie as well.
RocketRelm1 votesI know I had an alternate version of "White / Yellow / Orange / Red", but I felt like it would conflict with my point about the third stack being specifically crucial. Either would be good though, I think.
LankPants1 votesI think it would look good if each block had an individual colour, so in the fully filled bar the colours would be White / Yellow / Orange / Red with each block taking an individual colour. It would make it super easy to know exactly what Annie's stacks are at a glance.
Jonheath2912 votesI like this a lot, I feel they should do it to Jhin too, since they got the bar from him :)
ViashinoWizard9 votesThe difference is that Annie can go instantly from 3 stacks to stunning with her Molten Shield, while Jhin always has at least a second between firing his third and fourth bullets.
Malix Farwin2 votesWhining and complaining when you have a bar, wouldn't be surprised if you stilled cried about something if this somehow went through.
The Deckowner1 votesi feel like soon rito will put a stacking bar on every champion that has a stack mechanic.
Nahara1 votes
bloodmoth1 votesI actually have to agree with this idea, seems like a very elegant solution to a small clarity issue.
Even if it was just a slight tint or a different colored border.
I must say though, that if it was only red on the last, that would be slightly useless as annie can combo straight from 3 -> stun, but the orange / red tints i think would work great.
Hazyninja4201 votesIf you have ever been near 
when she has 3 stacks you learned very quickly that it is a dangerous game you are playing. I learned this my 1st week of gameplay. No need to make it clearer as most players have already learned their lesson. Those that haven't probably never will.