ui-addons
Latest
The Nexus Telegraph: WildStar's addons
Whether you agree with World of Warcraft's approach to interface design or not, it's hard to deny that it's a fascinating case study. It's a game that was released with a broken interface, one that was very decidedly not the optimal way to experience the game... with the expectation that players would develop a better one (which could then be pinched by the developers to improve the core experience). This is pretty unusual now, and it was almost unheard of back in the day. But WildStar is going down the same road of having UI mods and addons in from day one, and it's one of the places that I think taking lessons from World of Warcraft would not only be prudent but downright smart. Including UI modding from launch means that WildStar will have the opportunity to tread down familiar paths. But some of those paths are familiarly awful, and so perhaps the developers could learn some lessons from those who have made these mistakes before. So let's look at the good, the bad, and how we can perhaps get more of the former than the latter.
The Daily Grind: What plugin(s) can you not live without?
I recently returned to Lord of the Rings Online, and one of the first things I did after reinstalling was hunt down all the old plugins I had a couple of years ago. Some are more important than others, but one is basically indispensable. Without TonicBars, the LotRO interface is a horrific jumble of 27,000 hotbars and 127,000 abilities, but with TonicBars these abilities are kept neatly off my screen until I roll over the appropriate button and unfurl the underlying bar. You can also configure the plugin to display a hotbar only when various gameplay conditions are met, like, say, your health dropping below a certain percentage. So that's my indispensable add-on. What's yours? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
The Light and How to Swing It: 3 essential addons for holy paladins
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Every Sunday, Chase Christian invites you to discuss the finer side of the paladin class: the holy specialization. Feel free to email me with any questions you want answered, like why paladins are so awesome. Holy paladins have come a long way from the days of five-minute Blessings and WhisperCast. There's a good kind of complexity that comes from being given choices, and there's the bad kind of complexity that comes from busy work. The developers are constantly streamlining the game and removing outdated mechanics, and I can't complain. Even though addons like PallyPower made our lives easier, the new Blessing system is so simple that we don't need any external help to handle it. Today's holy paladin has different addon needs from the healer of yesteryear. Three of the most important holy paladin addon concerns are unit frames, holy power management, and raid-specific alerts. In Dragon Soul, there are plenty of important things that we need to keep track of. Raid encounters are only going to get more and more complex and chaotic, and we need to be able to quickly get the information we need.
Shifting Perspectives: Amazing addons for feral cat DPS
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Shifting Perspectives for cat , bear , restoration and balance druids. Welcome to our weekly feral cat edition, brought to you by Chase Hasbrouck, aka Alaron of The Fluid Druid blog. Let the face clawing begin! Over the last few weeks, we've covered how to properly gear your cat for raiding in a Cataclysmic world. Unfortunately, all the gear in the world won't help you if you can't establish a good rotation. Today's column looks at some addons that will help you maximize your performance. Custom buff/debuff trackers Let's face it: The default UI is pretty horrible for tracking buffs and debuffs. The interface has vastly improved over time, but it still uses an icon-based scheme, and it appears in the top corner of your display, drawing your attention away from the action. As the feral rotation is very dependent on maintaining a self-buff and enemy debuffs, having a good way to track this information is important.
