action-bars
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Patch notes for Final Fantasy XIV's 1.19a update unveiled
Patch 1.19 is still fresh in the minds of every Final Fantasy XIV player; it was a big change for the game that ushered in a lot of welcome additions and improvements. But not quite everything was ready for prime time when the patch went live, leading to the promise of a patch 1.19a with a few more features. With the patch having just gone live, patch notes for 1.19a have understandably been released, and the latest notes should continue to make players happy with several further updates beyond the obvious elements held over from 1.19. Aside from the addition of the third beastman stronghold and the implementation of levequest history evaluations, the patch will bring the long-desired feature by which the game remembers your bar layouts when you switch classes rather than forcing you to re-arrange bars each time. There have also been several bugfixes and price reductions on several vendor-sold items across the cities. While this latest bridging patch won't be the game-changer of its predecessor, it should still be welcome when the servers come back online from the patch process.
Dev Watercooler: Ghostcrawler discusses the number of player abilities
In his continuing conversational blog series Dev Watercooler, Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street (lead systems designer) muses about the number of abilities players have, what the sweet spot is in terms of quantity, the need for all classes to have a viable AoE rotation, and the difference between rotational abilities and situational abilities. From a game design perspective, this might be the coolest Dev Watercooler yet. Read this full Dev Watercooler after the break, or check out the other Dev Watercoolers with Ghostcrawler: Dev Watercooler: Expertise and hit for tanking Dev Watercooler: Interrupts Dev Watercooler: Critical hits
Addon Spotlight: 4.0.1 updated favorites
Addon Spotlight focuses on the backbone of the WoW gameplay experience: the user interface. Everything from bags to bars, buttons to DPS meters and beyond -- your addons folder will never be the same. This week everything broke, so let's fix it. Addon Spotlight is going to do things a little differently this week. We've just come off a fresh, new patch, with loads of new abilities, content and system mechanics. Rather than focus on one or two addons this week, I want to give my readers a rundown on some of the crucial addons we all know and love, making sure you know what to update, considering some addons are taking the drive out of the car, so to speak. In addition, I'll give you some alternatives to addons that might not be functioning perfectly right now, tell you which addons are just being naughty and try to get you back on track before the weekend.
Reader UI of the Week: Maritime's UI
Each week, WoW.com brings you a fresh look at reader-submitted UIs. Have a screenshot of your UI you want to submit? Send your screenshots, along with info on what mods you're using, to readerui@wow.com. Welcome, friends, to another exciting edition of Reader UI of the Week. Reader UI is all about finding interface setups from WoW.com loyal readers, showcasing them and learning a thing or two from our fellow enthusiasts. In this edition, I've decided to pinpoint two interesting features about an admittedly feature-rich interface and go a little analytical. The interface shots show you more than I could say about addon placement, so some analysis was in the cards. Also, people wanted to see a view port interface. You can't say I don't listen to my peoples. Let's get started!
WoW Rookie: Basic add-ons
New around here? WoW Rookie points WoW's newest players to the basics of a good start in the World of Warcraft. Visit WoW.com's WoW Rookie Guide for links to all our tips, tricks and how-to's. Last week, we talked about how add-ons add zing to your game, and we explained how to download and install them. We hope you spent time poking around some of the major mod sites and found some things that caught your eye -- but if not, we're back to fill you in on some of different types of mods along with some of the most popular add-ons that will streamline and enhance your game experience. What are the major kinds of add-ons? The bulk of what most players consider to be WoW's "must-have" add-ons falls into some half a dozen loose category types.
Addon Spotlight: Dominos
Many people who don't otherwise use mods much use a bar mod, since Blizzard's default bars are quite limited. Back in the day it was Flexbar or Trinity; nowadays it's usually Bartender or Dominos (but oh, how I miss Flexbar). Dominos is the successor to Bongos, so if you used Bongos in the BC era, you'll probably be at home here, although it's missing a few features that the author found troublesome and not worth it. It's also the bar mod I use on all my characters (along with Autobar, which I'll discuss in a future Spotlight). The goal of Dominos is to be simple to configure, yet powerful enough for most situations. It also uses the default action bars, so any bars you have set up already in Blizz's interface will port over fairly seamlessly, and things like tooltips work just fine. It also works just fine with vehicles, which are prominently featured in many Wrath quests. Most of the options are hidden away in the bars' individual configuration frames, which are accessible by right-clicking a bar while in config mode (/dom config). A bar can be made as many buttons as you want it, they can go horizontally and vertically, any size you want - all the options you'd expect from a modern bar mod.
The Creamy GUI Center: Action bar break down
Each week Matthew Porter contributes The Creamy GUI Center, a column aimed at helping you enhance your WoW experience by offering an in depth guide to addons, macros and other tools we use to play WoW, along with commentary on issues that affect how we all play.As my first column, I wanted to start out with a review of action bar addons. WoW's default UI (User Interface) is built around the action bar and for many is the cornerstone for their interactions within WoW. Comparatively speaking, Blizzard's default UI is elegant and user friendly when contrasted against many other MMOs on the market. In fact WoW's two newest competitors, Vanguard and Lord of the Rings Online, both mimic Blizzard's design to varying degrees. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery after all. Blizzard's UI doesn't overwhelm the user with information or complexity, which can be a barrier of entry to new players. Its information is displayed cleanly, however its faults lie in the fact it's rather inefficient, and nothing about it can be moved or resized. The action bars are a decent size and buttons are easy to click using your mouse, but it's rather sprawled out taking a lot of screen space including the unnecessary art. For those content with the default layout or who prefer using key bindings, Blizzard's action bars get the job done.For a lot of users, this isn't enough. There's always room for improvement. Blizzard being the smarties that they are, gave us the freedom to add usability that they never even thought of through the use of addons. (Sometimes to unwanted effects, hello decursive nerf.). You may crave a customized playing field, or a clean and efficient layout, or maybe you just want to express yourself by creating your own UI for that personal touch. To accomplish this let's take a look at three addons that offer different ways to do the same thing: create and manage action bars.
AddOn Spotlight: Bongos
I'm just not a fan of Blizzard's default action bars in the WoW Interface. I find them to consume far too much screen space, and I never could get used to scrolling between bars for different tasks. As a result, I've been trying different action bar replacements since I learned that the UI was customizable. After going through CT and Discord, I happened across Bongos.Bongos positions itself as a simple and quick action bar replacement, and in this mission it succeeds with flying colors. Upon installation, the entire default action bar area is replaced with a small stack of 10 action bars, a pet bar, a class bar, your bags, the main menu, and a few other bongo elements, depending on your choice of installed pieces.Looking for the latest version of Bongos? Check out our Patch 3.0.2 addon list for all your latest update! Patch 3.0.2 "Echoes of Doom" has landed and WoW Insider has you covered. From patch notes to talent guides for every class to fixing your addons to 5 easy achievements you can snag right now. Make sure to check out the latest news.
