Summary
- World of Warcraft Patch 11.1.7, Legacy of Arathor, will introduce UI changes to reduce player dependency on add-ons.
- The new Rotation Assist feature in Patch 11.1.7 gives suggestions during combat for players new to a class.
- The developers are considering including more add-on features in the baseline game to prevent add-on dependency.
World of Warcraft game director Ion Hazzikostas confirmed that Patch 11.1.7, Legacy of Arathor, will include more user interface changes in its continuing efforts to reduce player dependency on add-ons. One of the planned UI changes coming to World of Warcraft is a Rotation Assist feature designed to give players trying out a new class or specialization some suggestions on what to do during combat.
The planned UI changes will follow some features that were added in Patch 11.1.5, Nightfall. Along with additional accessibility options, World of Warcraft also introduced the Cooldown Manager to give players a way to track spells and abilities without needing an add-on such as WeakAuras. The Cooldown Manager changes with each class and specialization, and gives players some timers that show when specific abilities, such as the Paladin's Avenging Wrath or the Mage's Time Warp, will be ready to use again. However, the Cooldown Manager currently does not allow World of Warcraft players to pick which icons are shown in it, nor does it currently allow icon repositioning.
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With the revamped Children's Week now underway, World of Warcraft's lead developer discussed future UI changes in development. During the April 30 episode of WoWCast, World of Warcraft game director Ion Hazzikostas sat down with content creators Dratnos and Maximum to discuss how add-ons are viewed by the development team. Hazzikostas also revealed that Patch 11.1.7, Legacy of Arathor, will introduce the Rotation Assist feature.
World of Warcraft Announces Rotation Assist and UI Changes For Patch 11.1.7
Rotation Assist is modeled after a popular World of Warcraft add-on called Hekili, which gives players ways to highlight or change their abilities to fit a situation, including single-target and area-of-effect (AoE) battles. The Rotation Assist feature would give players unfamiliar with a class or specialization a way to ease them into it by consolidating core skills into a single button. The single-button option would add a slightly extended global cooldown to compensate.
Hazzikostas also detailed how add-ons shaped encounter designs across a variety of difficulties, including raids and Mythic+ dungeons. He acknowledged how some high-end content requires add-ons to optimally play World of Warcraft, which can take the fun out of the game. Hazzikostas stated that, while Blizzard continues peeling back how much information add-ons can track, the developers are considering making more features currently available via mods, such as BigWigs, DBM, and Details, a part of the baseline game.
However, Hazzikostas reassured World of Warcraft players that cosmetic add-ons will still work as they do now. According to World of Warcraft's 2025 roadmap, Legacy of Arathor is slated to arrive later this spring. Hopefully, players will not wait too long to try out 11.1.7's new features.
World of Warcraft
- Released
- November 23, 2004
- ESRB
- T for Teen: Blood and Gore, Crude Humor, Mild Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol, Violence (online interactions not rated)
- Developer(s)
- Blizzard
- Publisher(s)
- Blizzard
- Engine
- Unreal Engine
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer
- Cross-Platform Play
- pc, ps
- Cross Save
- yes
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- MMORPG
