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Addon Spotlight: Your addon questions
We haven't had an Addon Mailbag in a while, and the questions starting to mount up. The poor undead lady you see in the header is getting quite flustered about having such a full mailbox, so it seemed like a logical time to address the task at hand. If you have a question, do stick it in the comments or send me an email! Let's get started with a very simple question that took me an inordinate amount of time to answer: Chester writes: I loved your article on getting started with weak auras. I have a question though, how do you make the box showing the graphic transparent? I followed your mindbender example but it showed the box as opaque. I would like to see only the graphic show up like in power auras classic. thanks for any help! It took me a really, really long time to find this option, which was, quite frankly, rather annoying given that it's on the front page of the options screen.
Gamescom Raid Q&A with the Devs: Nerfs, the raid finder and more
You may have spotted Monday's post on how to design a raid, which was the first half of the Gamescom 2012 Raids and Dungeons round table with Ion Hazzikostas and John Lagrave. The second half of the Round Table was a Q&A session in which many interesting questions were asked, shedding light on some hot issues as well as simply providing a little more insight into the Blizzard Encounter Design Team's creative processes. Again, these aren't verbatim quotations from Ion and John, as I simply can't write that fast, but the overall statements are accurate representations of their responses. Are there any encounters Blizzard have had to alter or leave out due to technical constraints? There was a boss leading up to the Lich King who you had to heal (Valithria Dreamwalker), and that was a huge challenge for their existing technology. If you think about it, Ion explained, up to that point, every healing spell in the game was designed to be cast on a friendly target, that is to say, a player. So the devs were faced with the task of reworking every healing spell in the game. They didn't want players to only be able to use certain spells on her, as that would have been bad, so they redid every healing spell. The technical team changed the game's design so that the boss basically became a raid team member. Ion and John explained that it's all about working out creative ways to implement the designers' ideas.
Blizzard unveils patch 4.2 Dungeon Journal Preview
One of the more exciting GUI elements coming in patch 4.2 has to be the new Dungeon Journal (formerly the Encounter Journal), a tool that allows you to research basic elements about various boss fights, the bosses' loot tables, and their abilities. Blizzard answered some questions about the feature 2 months ago, but the only way to get a real feel for the Dungeon Journal was to log on to the PTR yourself and take a look, which our own Matt Low did last month. With patch 4.2 likely to drop next week, and with the Dungeon Journal undergoing some minor tweaks since its launch, Blizzard has decided it proper timing to give us all an official preview of this great new tool. The preview shows and explains the different aspects of the Dungeon Journal, from the sortable gear listing to boss mechanics. The latter aspect -- boss mechanics -- has proved to be quite a controversial feature amongst those who worry the information contained therein will ruin bleeding-edge progression. Though it's unlikely to quell those concerns, Blizzard once again addresses them in the preview: 4.2 Dungeon Journal Preview Our goal is to give a solid foundation for taking on the boss, a general sense of how the encounter will play out, and some context to the abilities, without taking the place of creating independent strategies. source For those interested, we have the full preview available after the break.
Addon Spotlight: Better PUGs with RobBossMods
Each week, WoW Insider brings you a fresh look at reader-submitted UIs as well as Addon Spotlight, which 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, RobBossMods helps new players get the dungeon information that they need. Rob Boss Mods was brought to my attention during a quick PUG run of Zul'Aman that I wanted to get out of the way on then-main, now-alt paladin. I've had notoriously bad luck with items dropping in ZA for my paladin, but with the new changes, healing the place has not been too bad. However, there are still players out there who have not fully completed runs of the place, and I've seen tanks, healers, and even DPSers drop group when someone expresses the simple notion that they might not have been to this particular dungeon before. Enter RobBossMods. Think of this addon as reporting Recount to your group, except with boss strategies. Hopefully, the proliferation of addons such as RobBossMods will rip the stigma away from being new to instances and facilitate easier grouping. In my opinion, anything that makes players feel more comfortable in the content is a good thing.
