Video preview of the new Calendar system
by Eliah Hecht 
Aug 26th 2008 at 2:00PM
Originally set to go live with Wrath of the Lich King, the calendar system is one of the biggest UI changes coming, and we now know that it's going to happen in the big pre-LK content patch (which will probably be numbered 3.0 or so). This nice video will take you on a tour through the interface.
So what features will we be getting in this long-awaited calendar?
- Pre-existing events, like holidays and raid lockouts, will be on there by default. You can select what sort of events you want to see on your own calendar.
- Any user can create events viewable to their guild and/or to a user-selectable list of invitees. Events can be of various categories, like "PvP" or "Raid."
- If you send someone an invite, their calendar icon (on the minimap) will flash. They will then be able to RSVP to the event with whether or not they're coming.
- Events to which people have RSVPed show the total number and number of each class; very handy for raids. You can invite people to a party or raid straight from the calendar interface if they're online.
Pretty much all you could ask for, really. The only feature that I haven't heard anything about that I would want is a web interface to the calendar; it would be nice to at least be able to view events without logging into the game, and the Armory would be a natural place for that sort of thing. And the ability to send invites, while excellent, does open the door to yet another form of spam (which can be reported in the interface).
Overall though, it is an excellent addition to the guild tools in the game, and, along with guild banks, really should have been in from release. But at least it'll be here soon.
Filed under: Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Heilig Aug 26th 2008 2:04PM
This is basically a built-in version of Guild Event Manager, which has been a required addon for some time. It's awesome and I can't wait to drop one more addon when this goes live.
Nick S Aug 26th 2008 4:12PM
Yeah I had actually forgotten that there wasn't a calendar built into WoW... I saw the announcement and went, "New calendar system? I thought there was one already..."
Then remembered...
deviationer Aug 26th 2008 2:16PM
finally
Perderedeus Aug 26th 2008 8:36PM
It seems to lack the option to post an event and accept sign-ups for, instead having the Invite option. It would be nice if they could work in the sign-up feature as many guilds use the GroupCalendar mod for this very purpose.
Kothmia Aug 27th 2008 12:16PM
(I'll admit, haven't watched the video yet) but this is my concern. I don't want to have to mail my guild/raid members when I post events. Our guild uses group calendar, and I typically post the dailies every morning, so that folks have an easy place to see where they are. If I had to send out invites to all of our 70s (soon to be 80s) to give them access to a raid entry... blech. I much prefer the "if you post it, they will come" model...
Ichthus Aug 26th 2008 2:20PM
Made of win. I'm waiting to see what add-ons people will make to enhance it.
Kerryk Aug 26th 2008 2:24PM
Any chance it will show the heroic daily and the daily battleground for the day? That would be a handy feature, I would think.
rogue Aug 26th 2008 2:28PM
This is going to be the next target of gold selling spammers, I can tell already. I hope there's an easy way to report spamming of calendar invites like you can report spam in chat.
rogue Aug 26th 2008 2:29PM
Helps to read every sentence, doesn't? Self-owned.
Kyrra Aug 26th 2008 2:29PM
Thanks for posting my video WowInsider. :)
Evita Aug 26th 2008 2:51PM
Bucwild does wowinsider!!
This is the second time RHOT has starred in WoWInsider... Go Go Murloc Hats!
Kyrra, I'm so sorry that I got you that Beta Key. We miss you in raids! Why won't you arena with me anymore? Come back to us! Help us! Stop leveling that Druid! We can run Nexxus 36 times when it goes live! Resist!
Rihlsul Aug 26th 2008 2:51PM
No no, thank YOU for making it, then. I've been dying to find out how that was going to work.
nim Aug 26th 2008 3:53PM
Thanks! No wonder I can only find you on the beta realm... ;)
JT Aug 26th 2008 2:35PM
Question:
Will it only subscribe to your guild's calendar, or will you be able to have cross-guild calendars like you can in the Group Calendar addon.
I ask because my guild shares a raid schedule with a bunch of other guilds.. so unless this one does that, I'm probably going to have to stick to Group Calendar.
Which would make me sad. :(
Kyrra Aug 26th 2008 2:38PM
The "Mass Invite" functionality only works within your own guild. You could manually enter the names of other people you want to invite.
dawnseven Aug 26th 2008 2:41PM
Same question as JT. We have an alliance with another guild and all of our raids are joint. Right now GC lets us share a calendar. I would love to know if the new one will allow us to do the same.
Darin Aug 26th 2008 3:33PM
I don't have first hand experience, but it looks like you would invite someone from the other guild and make them a moderator. Then they can mass invite the people in their guild. Having to have a Mod from each guild to send out the invites.
Kyrra Aug 26th 2008 4:13PM
Interesting idea Darin. I'll see if I can get someone to help me test that out.
Duco Aug 26th 2008 2:43PM
As I mentioned before, what would be really great is if they have a CalDAV interface to the calendars. CalDAV is the internet standard for syndication of calendar information. Most calendar apps like Outlook and iCal can use it to integrate with other calendars, as can quite a few mobile devices.
Narlic Aug 27th 2008 12:58PM
If I could stamp this idea directly into the cortex of blizzard developers, I would do it immediately. Failing that, I'll just have to say +1.