http://us.battle.net/d3/en/forum/top...677?page=6#120

The decision to go with the colors chosen for Hatred and Discipline was made very carefully, and after a good deal of deliberation. In a lot of instances, it came down to what wouldn't work, as opposed to what would work.

White and black, for example, would be bad. One purpose of the color scheme is to ensure it's very readable when your focus is on the game world and not the UI. Given the dark vibe of Sanctuary and the way the UI fits in with that feel, black simply wouldn't pop out at all. It'd be much more difficult to track your Hatred (which is the resource you'll be managing most frequently) peripherally when background colors are so frequently on the darker end of the color spectrum. Just the same, the suggestion of white for Discipline seems only to stand in contrast to black which, again, just wouldn't work.

Hatred was given a deep red color to give it plenty of distinction from barbarian Fury, plus red is just an angry color (refer to my avatar and personality). We also mixed in a bit of black with the red to further push Hatred toward the demon hunter's color kit.

Now, given that both resources are displayed in a single globe, it's really important to us that the colors effectively oppose one another. Unlike the color red thematically fitting Hatred, Discipline isn't a concept that has such a universal color representation. As such, the most important thing becomes readability. And the best way to make sure Discipline stands apart from Hatred is to make it color opposite, which is blue. White could have been used, but it would overpower the red-colored Hatred due its value strength (we want the values to be close together) and white doesn’t support the notion of these concepts being opposed to one another. And once again we mixed in some black with the blue to fit with the demon hunter color kit.

So Sixen, with all of the above perspective and design thinking in mind, is there still a strong feeling we should change these resource colors? Before you answer that, I'll also note that the colors of Hatred and Discipline do tie in thematically to many of the demon hunter's abilities. You'll see a lot of abilities that cost Hatred have red hues, while Discipline abilities have a blue and sometimes purplish effect (purple wasn't chosen for the resource orb since it shares red properties).

While I await Sixen's answer to my above question, I'll ask everyone else: should the beta be delayed further for Sixen so we can overhaul the resource orbs and color kits for demon hunter ability effects?

The bottom line is the look of the resource orbs is easy to pick at when you stare at them in the article I wrote, especially given you can't currently play the game to find something else to discuss. But their colors weren't chosen under the idea that you'd be staring directly at them -- they were chosen so you can effectively manage your resources peripherally while focusing on killing lots and lots of dudes!

TLDR:

- The current colors were chosen so you can easily distinguish them while focusing on the game world.
- Red is a color of anger, perfect for the Hatred a demon hunter feels for adversaries.
- Blue is more a color of calming, reflecting the Discipline a demon hunter has for advanced combat tactics and strategies.
- Sixen is a weirdo.