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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsAddon Spotlight: 4.0.1 UI improvements
by Mathew McCurley 
Oct 28th 2010 at 5:00PM
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, we discuss some of the UI changes in Patch 4.0.1.
Did you all have a fun time watching the BlizzCon coverage over the weekend? Exciting times, yes? Surprisingly, there was a pretty big user interface announcement amidst the hectic lore discussions, log-in screens and worgen cinematics. We'll get to that in time, of course.
Patch 4.0.1 brought some awesome new features to World of Warcraft that many people have emailed me asking about. What's the deal with built-in Power Auras? Have you seen the new raid UI and raid frames? Was there something about Atlasloot? All of these things will get answered today, as we take a look at some of the new stock addon and UI features in the WoW stock user interface. I'll even give my own little review of things. Sound good? It better, because this ship is setting sail right ... now.
Let's start off with a differentiation -- Blizzard has not included Power Auras into World of Warcraft. Blizzard has implemented, however, a very capable and gorgeous ability notification system with patch 4.0.1, with original art and sounds, that let players know in a very Power Auras-esque fashion when certain abilities are ready to be used or a trigger has gone off. Power Auras has a level of complexity that this system does not, but for most p
eople, what the wonderful interface guys over at Blizzard have included is about 95 percent of what Power Auras was being used for.What this illustrates, for me at least, is that the core functionality of Power Auras really appealed to the designers' gameplay philosophy going forward with Cataclysm -- simple, easy-to-understand, clear-as-day reminders that abilities are ready to use or some new benefit is being bestowed upon your character, without the need to install or setup an addon for such a simple notification. Power Auras isn't going away, however. Like I said before, there is a level of complexity in Power Auras that allows you to use some amazing rules and conditions to show the information that you want.
A new raid frames and UI
The WoW stock UI raid frames and UI has always been lackluster. Perhaps the game just took a different direction than the interface team could anticipate. Who knows? Raid frames have been the domain of addon creators since Cosmos. Blizzard has decided to give raid frames another go, as well as attach a new raid interface, in the new patch.
We can see that the new stock UI raid frames are inspired by the Grid/Vuhdo/Healbot genre of raid interfaces, with configurable blocks for player information. For the player who does not want to use addons or wants a simple Grid-type raid interface, the new WoW stock frames are getting closer to what we should expect.
One specific option, however, is available to turn your regular WoW party frames into something resembling the raid frames, much like how many people use Grid to show their party as well as raid. This is perhaps the most important customization option, since it allows you to completely remove the old party style interface if you so choose.
The new raid user interface, however, is a nice little control panel offering raid leaders a quick way to offer ready checks, role checks (people can set their own roles as tank, DPS or healer), mark targets and plant the new raid flares. Raid flares are probably my favorite new feature; you no longer need an engineer to craft marker flares to show people where to stand. It works wonders on Festergut, let me tell you.
Built-in Atlasloot and abilities coming in Cataclysm
In a surprising move at the Raids and Dungeons panel at BlizzCon, Blizzard has said that in the new Cataclysm instance map interface, a boss' loot table, abilities and lore profile will be available to the player. Finally, we do not have to run into a boss and die horribly to see what he does, and explaining boss abilities will be much easier when everyone has the descriptions right in front of them.
What does this mean for addons like Atlasloot? To be honest, not much. Atlasloot, as well as other addons that replicate or enhance default UI functionality, will add things that you cannot get in the basic setup. Wish lists and loot browsing in Atlasloot is awesome, and from what we hear about the Blizzard version, it will still be a basic configuration. Personally, I love my item wish lists. Addons that do more than the default will continue to do more, giving you resources in game you might have otherwise not had access to.
So, there's your look into some of the new UI functionality for 4.0.1. For some of you, some of your addons have become obsolete or less intriguing. Others will remain committed to their custom experiences. Despite how you feel about the new additions, it's nice to know that Blizzard's UI team is clued in to what players want and how to create their own brand of addon-like community inspired additions while still keeping things simple, allowing the addon creators to control customization.
Addons are what we do on Addon Spotlight. If you're new to mods, Addons 101 will walk you through the basics; see what other players are doing at Reader UI of the Week. If there's a mod you think Addon Spotlight should take a look at, email mat@wow.com.Filed under: Add-Ons, AddOn Spotlight
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 3)
Boobah Oct 28th 2010 7:08PM
The biggest problem with moving to Bazooka (or any other LDB addon) is that even with FuBar2Broker and a FuBar dummy addon some of the FuBar addons just don't play well.
On the other hand, this is less important since FuBar itself doesn't play well with 4.0. The point, really, is that you're going to be left looking for replacements for some of your more venerable FuBar plugins, some of which don't exist and some of which don't do as much as the FuBar equivalents.
Cbeefman Oct 28th 2010 7:08PM
i have replaced it with chocolate bar and i'm LOVING it
Sicadastra Oct 28th 2010 7:33PM
Another vote for LDB (I like Chocolate Bar). It may take some searching, but you'll find everything you had in FuBar exists in broker format these days (plus more!). There are several articles around the interwebs about making the switch and if I recall, Mat also did a column on migrating.
jfofla Oct 28th 2010 6:45PM
It is so funny so many of you think the raid frames are huge. They are exactly the size I used to use for GRID, so they are perfect for me.
Sicadastra Oct 28th 2010 7:29PM
Macro question: With the new proc alert system, abilities will light up on your buttons when they become available or have some special purpose, i.e. Explosive/Arcane Shot during Lock n Load. Awesome, however it doesn't work when that ability is part of a macro, at least in a simple macro (i.e. /cast ability and /use item in one macro). The ability icon for example shows up when it's listed first in that macro, is there a way to get the alert as well?
istaro Oct 28th 2010 8:02PM
My guess is a) no and b) they're working on it. The reason I think that is that one of the "known issues" for 4.0.1 is "Ravage cannot be used in macros," which is presumably tied to the fact that Ravage (Ambush for cat druids) is now tied to a proc like the ones you mention. I assume they're working on a fix for that and hopefully said fix will also allow macro buttons with these abilities to light up.
Jorges Oct 28th 2010 8:39PM
"Buff and debuff settings, aggro and a host of other alerts for raid frames are absent, left to the addon creators to work their magic."
The buff/debuff settings are nonexistent, but it shows little icons for them. Also, it shows when someone has a disease, poison, magic etc; shows aggro, incoming heals, health numbers.
Pretty much everything you need, it does. The only complain I have is the size. And the inability to move them wherever I want when I choose the sort by group option.
Elrandir Oct 28th 2010 9:04PM
1280x1024
Methuus Oct 28th 2010 10:02PM
Is there any website or something that lists all the built in aura notifications?
I have a warrior I don't play very much and this thing keeps coming up and disappearing before I can scrub over the buffs to figure out what it is.
jordanmcguigan Oct 28th 2010 11:09PM
Auras:
USELESS - Because I didn't configure them and there's no text (or icons that are the same as the ingame icon, common in Power Auras configs) - I don't know what half of them mean! sure they look pretty but why does "clearcasting" show up as a wreathe of leaves for a druid? First off, I'm going to cast a spell regardless of clearcasting and second neither one implies the other. Second by the time I see that clearcasting has been applied even with 40ms, due to the client/server nature I've already casted another spell. With lifebloom no longer returning mana, there's no specific spell you should cast with clearcasting proc anyhow either :(
The Raid Frames
The only reason I don't hide them completely hide them using HideBlizz is the Rolecheck (which doesn't have a slash command like readycheck) - which I only use in pugs, and flares.
It doesn't provide nearly as much information as my grid, which blizzard managed to break a lot of by getting rid of Ace2 (they changed enough that old stuff will break, like basic things like getting and setting globals and the this pointer)
It is absolutely horrible if you are a healer. It shows irrelevant buffs and the debuffs aren't obvious enough when you need to dispel them, and you actually need to mouse over them to find out what kind of debuff it is. There's no hot timer capacity. They update very slow.
I don't really care that much though, most of my grid still works, but unfortunately they BROKE all buff addons, and it doesn't seem like they will work in the near future, or possibly for the next year, because it's so hard to cancel buffs via an addon now in the way Blizzard provided addon developers to do it with.
Forreststump Oct 29th 2010 9:25AM
Thanks to Paultab for those resizing macros. I still have one gripe that prevents me from dumping Healbot for the lighter-weight Clique + stock raid frames:
No HoT timers on the HoT icons.
/headdesk
Dameblanche Oct 29th 2010 11:41AM
I am not too enthusiastic about the new spell alert system. It's very nice that it exists, but for some spell procs the graphics look so hideous that I'm thinking of going back to something like Power Auras. I don't need a lumpy white cloud the size of a pregnant kodo to be able to see that a spell has procced, and certainly not 3 pregnant kodo's blocking my view. (I am looking at you, Frost DK procs and frostmage procs).
Dreadful Oct 29th 2010 7:00PM
For the people having trouble with raid frames, X-Perl finally got updated yesterday and it seems to be working pretty well! :) Enjoy!
Hory Oct 30th 2010 5:07PM
Must have update to Gatherer/Cartographer/Routes! Please.
Maalin Nov 4th 2010 4:08PM
One complaint I have about the spell alert system is that it alerts me to things that are still on cooldown. I end up wasting time either trying to cast something I can't or double checking the icon cooldown. Anyone know if they're planning to fix this?