Fine, if you want the full detailed reason why it is a bad idea I will be happy to outline it for you.
The first decent argument you could pose against health bars is they fly in the face of realism. They ruin the immersion of the game correct? I get it but then we should eliminate in-game music too right? It’s not like there is a full orchestra following you around the map. So where do you draw the line between authenticity and immersion? This is a bottomless rabbit hole because it is effectively endless and unobtainable. The Devs have to make these decisions with other obtainable aspects in mind and not based around realism.
The second argument for the removal of health bars is they promote strategy. Players will have to infer health information and make better decision right? Again I get it but you are promoting passive play versus aggressive play. Note sure how much health an enemy has, much easier to stay behind a wall and take pot shots hoping for a kill. For a mobile game, aggressive play is the intent. Not everyone has 20 minutes to play out a match taking sniper shots at each other around corners.
Now let’s talk about the reasons why health bars promote better game play.
Health bars help distinguish hit damage and player information. So whether you are using a longarm from a distance or shotgun up close how do you know that your shot hit the enemy? Specifically, what visual ques are available that let you know what you did was good and reinforces that behavior? Other than them falling over dead there really isn’t any in the game currently. So if you wanted to go this way you would have to add particle effects, hit sounds, damage visuals (ie smoke) to confirm that you actually hit and caused damage.
But even with all those effects, sounds, and visual ques added in you still don’t know how successful you were. First, because there is no way to currently distinguish the player level in game. The difference between a 1-star guardian and a 6-star guardian is a ton of health. So you are getting headshots with longarms but some guardians go down with 2 shots and others go down with 10 shots. Were you shooting poorly or was it just a heavily leveled mech? No way to tell and this will add to player frustration levels.
Secondly, you would have to eliminate critical damage in the game. For example, you happen to be
facing the same mech two matches in a row. You drop in with 3 body shots, Woot! Next round you shoot him 3 times and turn to face the next mech only to get blasted from behind. He didn’t die and you don’t know why. Well you happened to critically hit him in the previous match and not in this one so you didn’t do as much damage.
Critical hits are one thing but now factor in weapon range. The closer you are the more damage you do but as distance increases damage decreases up to a set distance when it falls off entirely. In this case
you hit someone 3 times but from 3 different distances. How are you suppose gauge their damage? It might take 1 more shot or 10 more shots to bring them down. No way to know so you passively stay behind a wall.
The reason registering damage and gauging player information matters is because it boosts feedback and decision making. Whether to be aggressive and commit to a 1 on 3 or to tactically fallback in a 2 on 1. It adds excitement or panic. Overall it intensifies game play and makes it fun.