New focus frame, threatmeter, quest sharing in the PTR UI
by Mike Schramm 
Sep 15th 2008 at 3:30PM
The PTR for 3.0.2 went up over the weekend, and there were a few fun UI tweaks in the patch notes worth mentioning again here -- stuff that far down in those long, long notes usually gets overlooked in favor of all the class changes above it, so let's throw the spotlight on what the new UI will offer.First of all, as previously mentioned, both the new calendar and pets systems are in the game, along with that spiffy new achievements system. But there's more new stuff -- while focus is already usable on the live realms, Blizzard is implementing "a focus frame key" -- like a shift key that will let you target your focus target just for a spell's cast instead of switching back and forth all the time. And there is now an "aggro warning" in the game -- the first traces of Blizzard's official threatmeter we've known was coming for a while.
Sharing quests is easier on the PTR -- you can now share quests with party members at any distance, and even in raids, just by linking the quest into party chat. And one of the biggest small changes in the game will help out raid leaders and healers wanting to avoid the "PvPlague": players will get a timer showing when their PvP flag is set to drop. Small UI changes like this often go unnoticed in the patch notes in favor of the much more discussed class nerfs and buffs, but they go a long way towards making the game a lot more fun to play.
Filed under: Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Blizzard, Add-Ons, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Mnaz Sep 15th 2008 3:46PM
The PvPlague has been gone for ages, you drop PvP when you enter an instance
Tap Sep 15th 2008 4:15PM
Not that I care much (as I don't PvP much and never grief), but if you can de-PvP by entering an instance, can't you kill someone and run into an instance and avoid any revenge? Though, I guess there's always been bubble+hearth.
moptop Sep 15th 2008 3:40PM
you can also link your profession as well. i.e. what you can and can't craft.
Cup of Squirrels Sep 15th 2008 3:40PM
You may have made sharing quests easier, but why is the quest log still so damn ugly?
Extended Quest Log is oddly very buggy, but it makes it so much nicer to look at. It's the only addon I use purely for aesthetics.
The changes here are absolutely ace though.
Mike Sep 15th 2008 4:04PM
Doublewide + Lightheaded!
Cup of Squirrels Sep 15th 2008 4:26PM
I owe you one!
matt Sep 15th 2008 4:31PM
QuestLongList + Lightheaded for me
Balius Sep 15th 2008 3:52PM
Threat Meter is absolutely necessary; no DPS class can do their job in most of the game without one. It isn't a matter of want or not, you NEED it in order to play. That it was so long coming always seemed odd to me.
The PVP flag is a similarly odd thing. It dropped on a timer, but that timer was never visible.
ryuzaki90 Sep 15th 2008 7:57PM
Well the problem was... for the longest time they didn't want to expose the mechanics of the game. More-so for the sake of making it a deep experience to play than anything else. With the coming of all the theorycrafting, and mods doing it anyway, they started having to design encounters with threat being much more involved.... this was a slow spiral from, say, MC, to Sunwell/BT. They've now backed themselves in to a corner where gameplay is SO reliant on it that they really need one internally.
Ekimus Sep 15th 2008 4:36PM
Quick tip, unflag PvP and hop a flight path. It will drop the flag without the timer.
Useful for raiding on a PvE server...
Eh? Sep 16th 2008 9:03AM
I beg to differ that you NEED a threatmeter.
I have used all the different threat meters currently available and have found all of them extremely inaccurate at best, even when everyone has one installed and working properly. I can't tell you how many times I have seen people pull threat while still showing as being under the tank's threat.
In addition, I found all the bars horribly distracting as I found myself watching them opposed to paying more attention to my surroundings. Not only did I end up pulling threat MORE often but I found my performance dropping, all because I was relying on an inaccurate box to tell me when and how much to DPS.
When I got rid of my threat meter and relied on knowing my own limits compared to the person tanking in addition to paying attention to my surroundings, not only did my DPS go up (way up) but I began to rarely if ever pull threat.
But meh, I doubt people put this much effort into playing, people are lazy....
(btw, I play a shadow priest, double threat ftl)
Eh? Sep 16th 2008 9:05AM
I beg to differ that you NEED a threatmeter.
I have used all the different threat meters currently available and have found all of them extremely inaccurate at best, even when everyone has one installed and working properly. I can't tell you how many times I have seen people pull threat while still showing as being under the tank's threat.
In addition, I found all the bars horribly distracting as I found myself watching them opposed to paying more attention to my surroundings. Not only did I end up pulling threat MORE often but I found my performance dropping, all because I was relying on an inaccurate box to tell me when and how much to DPS.
When I got rid of my threat meter and relied on knowing my own limits compared to the person tanking in addition to paying attention to my surroundings, not only did my DPS go up (way up) but I began to rarely if ever pull threat.
But meh, I doubt people put this much effort into playing, people are lazy....
(btw, I play a shadow priest, double threat ftl)
Eh? Sep 16th 2008 9:06AM
ARGH
double post crits me for 10k
I die.
Broken comment system cackles cruelly, wondering who its next victim will be....
Balius Sep 16th 2008 11:40AM
Shadow Priests don't have a threat dump, so you don't really need to know when you're getting close to use it. Hunters, rogues, mages, and warlocks, in order to do the most damage, need to use theirs just as they start to overtake the tank but not before doing so. If you're intimately familiar with a particular tank, you can begin to get some idea what your relative threats will be, but if he misses or you get an unusual series of crits, that's thrown out the window.
Threat meters being inaccurate is why I was surprised at the lack of first party threatmeters. Gleaning information from the combat log and doing the math with approximations of formulas that might be used in game is not an ideal solution.
Gazmik Fizzwidget Sep 15th 2008 3:54PM
IIRC, there's an even better solution to PvP flags spreading through your PvE raid like a virus... I believe I heard at one point that your flag will now automatically drop if you enter an instance.
Kaphik Sep 15th 2008 3:54PM
I hope they changed up the in game threatmete, i.e. allowed you to turn it off at will. The last time I played beta (my comp crashed on me two weeks ago), you could not make any changes to the in game threatmeter. It got annoying quickly.
Tap Sep 15th 2008 4:15PM
Still only 25 quests max in your log? Seems like a lot, but I'm always wishing I had more.
vlad Sep 15th 2008 4:39PM
gg skramm. you just noticed this?
Tasty Sep 15th 2008 4:42PM
You may not have noticed that on PVE servers, above the flag which shows you are tagged for PVP there is a countdown timer!
Tasty Sep 15th 2008 4:44PM
Rofl, should of read the entire post. sorry :)