BlizzCon 2010: Patch 4.1.0 brings enhanced dungeon maps
by Gregg Reece 
Oct 22nd 2010 at 5:24PM
The new information is that they're planning on taking those maps up a notch. Instead of just a stylized skull icon marking where the bosses are on the map, we'll be getting enhanced information about each boss encounter.
This will include a 3D portrait of the boss, a brief bit of lore about why exactly you're fighting them and a list of what all loot drops. While all that is all well and good, this is not where the new features end.
The interface will also give you a listing of what abilities each boss uses. That doesn't mean that you are given the strategy, but instead you'll be able to find out what things to look for during the encounter and react a little faster. You'll know if a debuff will be something that you must cleanse immediately or something that you'll be able to ignore for a moment while healing and then get to when you have a moment. These features will not only be for 5-man content, but will also be available in 10/25-man raids as well as heroic content.
Their reasoning behind this is two-fold. First, a lot of players already tab out to check sites like Wowhead to find out loot and boss abilities. Secondly, when presented with a new dungeon a player doesn't have to have as many things explained by the dungeon guide. We'll see how this develops when 4.1.0 starts to get closer.
BlizzCon 2010 is upon us! WoW Insider has all the latest news and information. We're bringing you liveblogging of the WoW panels, interviews with WoW celebrities and attendees and of course, lots of pictures of people in costumes. It's all here at WoW Insider! 
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Hatchette Oct 22nd 2010 5:27PM
this will do well
Philster043 Oct 22nd 2010 5:32PM
Wonder if this will make the Atlasloot add-on obscure, although it'd still be handy for quick searches while outside of dungeons. Still, it's good that Blizzard is attempting to help players save even more time by doing something like this, and give them an in-game option to look up information instead of always having to go on the internet.
kooda Oct 22nd 2010 5:56PM
Atlasloot hasn't been great lately but I imagine it wont become obsolete because I get the feeling you'll only be able to look at dungeon loot for the dungeon you're in with this feature.
Philster043 Oct 22nd 2010 6:29PM
I suppose most people check Atlasloot when they're specific-dungeon queueing for a particular piece of gear, not while doing the dungeon (since most people are trying to finish the dungeon in record time nowadays). And thanks for subtly correcting me there. Obsolete, obscure... hate how I can type out the wrong word sometimes.
jbodar Oct 22nd 2010 7:20PM
I use Atlasloot a lot for checking Emblem or PVP gear without going to the vendor. So I think it will still be useful.
Luftwaffles Oct 23rd 2010 8:33AM
Atlas loot will still be popular, and here is why. It sounds like these loot lists may not be available unless you are actively in a dungeon and checking the map. Who is gonna want to enter each instance to keep checking the gear lists? And even if these dungeon maps are accessible outside of the dungeons themselves, it's unlikely they will be as conveniant as atlas.
Many people use atlas to find ALL loot, this includes items sold from vendors and faction rewards. Having every item at your fingertips in a neatly organized menus that allow you to plan your gear anywhere, anytime, is why Atlas is nice.
I highly doubt whatever Blizz incorporates into their map will be this utilitarian.
Fifticon Oct 22nd 2010 5:33PM
I actually don't like dungeon maps. I think dungeons should be mysterious labyrinths, where the players' own skill should guide them. Not a guided-rails rollercoaster ride. What's the fun about mysterious unknown adventures, when you bring a cheat-sheet along with you? OK I admit it, I always loved blackrock depths!
it's not that Oct 22nd 2010 5:37PM
New option in Cata:
Not pressing the "M" key in dungeons.
nikdaheratik Oct 22nd 2010 5:39PM
BRD was cool, Scholo was cool, but Sunken Temple/Uldaman/Strat/Mauradon/Dire Maul were all very annoying to navigate. Mauradon was the worst. You didn't need a map, you needed a tour guide to get your ghost back to that place.
Brett Porter Oct 22nd 2010 5:39PM
I definitely understand what you mean. The reason Deadmines is still my favourite dungeon all these years later is it was so awesome at the beginning. That being said, I remember having 3 hours DM runs because not everyone, or even worse, no one, knew what to do or what was going to happen.
I definitely like these changes, and I think will make things better for everyone, not just new folks. I think it also fits perfectly with the idea that Blizzard wants to add things to the core game that people are getting addons for; if you need an addon for something or some use, then it should be in the game already - I believe they said that a few weeks ago.
I think it will be done well, and am looking forward to it.
Luftwaffles Oct 22nd 2010 9:36PM
LOL... hate to break it to ya, but guessing the proper way at a junction =/= skill.
Mephestos Oct 25th 2010 11:28AM
I played WoW in Vanilla from the beta to the release of BC. In all that time, I never once finished BRD due to the the length of time it took, groups getting lost, dropping group, different quests, etc.
I welcome the new changes.
Colin Middleton Oct 22nd 2010 5:34PM
This will remove the need for quite a few add-ons. The more free memory the better. It's all good news so far
Narlic Oct 22nd 2010 6:31PM
Well, yes and no. The blizzard UI takes memory too, and indeed a lot of the core ui runs just like an addon does. So depending on how they implement the loot portion, it could take up the same as (or even more than) Atlasloot. I think that the "Addon memory" number may go down, but the actual amount of memory being consumed by the application will likely stay the same or go up.
Colin Middleton Oct 22nd 2010 6:39PM
A very good point Narlic but at least it will remove the need for add-ons and the constant need to update.
Desmentia Oct 22nd 2010 7:11PM
Not quite "just like an addon", per se. The Blizzard UI isn't Lua source code, it's some compiled form of something, so it doesn't need to be interpreted at runtime, meaning some slight savings on memory and speed.
Narlic Oct 22nd 2010 8:02PM
My Lua specifics aren't as strong as other languages, but I rather believe that it's very similar to Python in that you have a binary form which is the operations to be interpreted by the engine. When an addon loads its .lua files, it effectively compiles said file in-memory into the same binary form. They're both still interpreted (and have some metadata like line numbers and variable names embedded within, as I've had plenty of lua errors from within blizzard ui code) as a bytecode of some sort.
If I liked Lua more as a language I'd consider delving into the spec, but Java and Python are plenty for me ;)
Narlic Oct 22nd 2010 8:09PM
oh, and you can actually get the pre-bytecode-compiled Lua and XML versions of the blizzard UI and its artwork at:
http://us.blizzard.com/support/article.xml?locale=en_US&articleId=21466
The first is the art, the enUS is the actual Lua.
Not sure if this is actually up-to-date for the most recent client patch level.
Rufin Oct 22nd 2010 5:41PM
finally ill be able to go around Mara and WC w/out google images lol
Killik Oct 23rd 2010 7:08AM
WTB Google Streetview for Blackrock Depths!