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Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Virtual selves, RP, (Roleplaying) All the World's a Stage

When you decide to roleplay, a whole new world of imagination opens up to you -- soon you realize that all the World of Warcraft is a stage, and all the orcs and humans merely players. Michael Gray fills in this week for David Bowers to talk about how you can handle delicate subjects while achieving your roleplay goals.

I can't speak for anyone else, but one thing Momma always warned me about is that there are a few topics you just don't talk about over dinner or in polite company. Sex, drugs, money, politics. If you're like me, your sweetheart gives you that look if certain subjects are brought up. "Don't even get started," that look warns me.

I admit, I can be a powderkeg about feminism, racial equality, and general "do the right thing" subjects. But these issues do come up during the course of roleplay. There are more than a few victims among WoW's characters, and there are certainly some bad guys who'd do despicable things.

If you're going to play with hot-topic issues, there some things you can do to help keep everyone's sensitivities in mind.

Continue reading All the World's a Stage: Delicate subjects, handle with care

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nUI is a user interface replacement. 100% standalone code designed to feel like Bliz meant the UI to look this way. nUI removes a ton of clutter from the display, provides detailed targeting information, an integrated HUD, cooldowns and more.

In the long run, it is intended as an alternative to a pile of add-ons such as custom unit frames, custom action bars, HUDs, minimap mods and so on. It is *NOT* the intention of this mod to be compatible with every other mod that exists. In many cases, it is the intention of this mod to replace other third party mods with a single tightly integrated and efficient mod.

There are many features built into nUI, please take the time to read this description and notes so you are aware of the available features and options! In addition, I do try to keep accurate notes about changes made in each release and known bugs. Please review patch notes and known issues when you have questions.

Currently supports integration of MobInfo-2, Recount, Omen2, KLH Threat Meter and Threat 2.0

Your contribution of $5, $10, $20 or more to support the ongoing development of nUI would be greatly appreciated. Click here to make a donation now, please?! Baby needs new shoes. ~smile~

This is the first public Beta release of nUI. It is known to have some issues and feedback is requested. Please bring your comments, suggestions and bug reports to the author's attention at one of the official support sites listed below or via e-mail to

Contacting the author directly...

* E-mail: kscottpiel@gmail.com
* Web site: http://www.scottpiel.com

Official nUI support and distribution sites...

* http://wowui.worldofwar.net/?p=mod&m=6444
* http://www.curse.com/downloads/details/12907/
* http://wow.curseforge.com/projects/nui/
* http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/fileinfo.php?id=9108

Official nUI public forum...

* http://www.wowinterface.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16845

**** Your donation to support continued development of nUI would be greatly appreciated! ****

Baby needs new shoes. ~smile~

Current Features...

-- No dependencies
-- No third party add-ons
-- 100% Original stand-alone code.
-- Greatly reduced screen clutter
-- Integrated unit casting bars w/ latency
-- Advanced targeting info... Pet Target, ToT, ToTT
-- Detailed HUD including player casts, cooldowns and more
-- Integrated in-HUD threat meter (see notes)
-- Advanced player casting bar with latency and GCD
-- Integrated cooldown counters, OOM and OOR indicators
-- Integrated range to target calculation
-- Integrated buff/debuff displays for all units
-- Integrated buff countdowns
-- Integrated mouse wheel minimap zoom-in and zoom-out
-- Integrated mouse wheel scrolling of chat and combat log
-- Integrated world coordinates and in-game clock
-- Integrated user interface reload "/nui rl"
-- Integrated support for MobInfo2 (mob health and data)
-- Integrated support for Recount (damage meters)
-- Integrated support for Omen2, Threat 2.0 and KLH Threat meters
-- Automatic faction watching
-- Automatic management of MiniMap buttons
-- Expanded battlefield map
-- Adaptive buff/debuff display based on target reaction

============ INSTALLATION NOTES =============

There are no special installation requirements for this mod. Like any other mod, download the ZIP file and unzip its contents (with directory names intact) into your World of Warcraft "interface\addons" directory... for Windows users that typically that would be

* C:\Program Files\World of Warcraft\Interface\AddOns

There is no configuration required. However, you can use /nui to get a list of the slash commands nUI understands (also documented below)

The only special consideration during installation is what mods, if any, you have currently installed that nUI will be replacing. nUI has several key feature sets that may require you to disable mods you already have installed. If you have a mod installed that provides...

* custom casting bars
* customized action bars
* a HUD (heads up display)
* Out of range, out of mana indicators
* Cooldown watchers, buff/debuff frames
* Minimap button managers / button bags
* customized unit frames (player, pet, target, etc)

... then I would suggest you consider disabling them to use the ones built into nUI.

See INSTALL.txt for more detailing installation instructions

============ Dashboard Scaling ================

By default, the nUI dashboard should exactly fit across your screen's width. The "gap" between the left edge of the chat window frame, the right edge of the information frame (where the battlefield map and bag bar are at present) and the bottom of both of those regions should be equal.

If you have open air to the left or right of the dashboard or part of the chat frame and information frame (as well as the bag bar) are chopped off, then you will need to adjust your nUI scale. By default, nUI should accurately detect your screen resolution and fit itself neatly within the display area.

If you find the nUI scale calculated incorrectly for the display resolution you use, or you have a burning desire to make nUI smaller, you can correct that by using the slash command "/nui scale {n}" where {n} is some number between 0.5 and 1.5 -- the higher the number, the wider the nUI dashboard will become and visa versa. You can use "/nui scale 0" to return to the default scale for the current resolution at any time.

============= MINIMAP BUTTON FIX ==============

If you encounter non-Blizzard minimap buttons that the button bag does not manage, please leave me a note with the name of the mod that causes the problem and I'll try to fix it in the next release. It also helps if you e-mail me your WTF\Account\{your account}\SavedVariables\nUI.lua file as it contains logging information I can use to identify the button. You can e-mail me at kscottpiel@gmail.com

============= PLAYER CASTING BAR ==============

I bring this up as a separate subject because some people are unclear on what all the "action" is in the HUD's player casting bar...

The player casting bar is made up of four components: 1) the player's own spell casts and channels which is the main part of the bar. 2) Directly above the player's casting bar is the smaller pet casting bar 3) Immediately below the player casting bar is what some describe as "a ball on a string" which is the global cooldown indicator (GCD) and, 4) at the bottom of the player casting bar is a blue latency bar.

The two key items in the bar are the GCD and the latency bar. The GCD is critical... as long as it is being displayed, you cannot cast another spell of any type. Once you get used to seeing the GCD out of the corner of your eye, you'll become adept at casting your spells efficiently without spamming the keyboard (or mouse). Learning to time your spell casts will actually improve game performance over spamming.

The latency bar is the most valuable to you in terms of getting the most bang for your buck when casting spells. Without getting technical, there's a time delay between when you press a key (or click) to cast a spell and when Blizzard actually starts the spell cast and notifies you back. That delay is "latency" and you can use it to your advantage. In short, if you know the delay between when you click to cast a spell and when Blizzard becomes aware of your click, then you can actually cast your spells early and get away with it. That is what the latency bar is for.

If you pay attention, you'll notice the latency bar actually moves slightly ahead of your casting bar. That "lead" is the time delay between when you start a cast and when Blizzard becomes aware of it. Presuming the GCD has expired, if you watch the latency bar you can actually start your next cast the instant it finishes even though your last cast appears to still be underway.

You make your next cast based on when the blue latency bar finishes rather than the actual casting bar. Using this casting strategy will actually allow you to squeeze off more casts in less time than without the latency bar.

Learn to feel the GCD and to "relax" while the GCD is spinning and be ready to hit your next spell the instant the latency bar expires and you'll find yourself playing far more efficiently.

============ THE INFORMATION PANEL ============

In the lower right corner of the nUI dashboard is an information display panel. This panel is intended to give you easy access to information while preserving valuable display area.

The panel is controlled by the information mode button located directly above it. By default, when you first install nUI, the button will be set to

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Expansions, Classes, Death Knight, Wrath of the Lich King

We all know by now that Death Knights are the new class being added with Wrath of the Lich King. And, what's more, they're the only class being added with the new expansion. Skudo (Altar of Storms) doesn't like that much, and would rather see Shadow Hunters or Demon Hunters added.

Posts like these are common enough, but Nethaera showed up to add some clarifying candlelight. First, she reiterated that Blizzard isn't closed to the idea of adding more classes in the future. But what she really seems to strive to get across is that adding a class isn't easy.

There's a lot that goes into creating a new archetype for players to operate, play, defeat, vanquish, and exploit for every bit of Warcraft goodness. There's balance to consider, and the need to make each class play in unique ways. Heck, we all spend enough time arguing now about whether the existing classes are even balanced. Can you imagine what it's going to be like with a brand new class added?

So these things take time. Assuming that Blizzard's team pulls off Death Knights well, I'm pretty sure we'll see more new classes in later expansions. Let's see how the first new class goes, before we put our eggs in new baskets.

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