April Waypoints

So I'm having breakfast at the Ihop when a spring chicken and an Easter egg walk in at the same time. The server says, "Okay, which of you is first?"

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Hello my Peeps!

Here are some things we'll be working on in April. (We have more feature requests on the boards than what you see here, but I didn't want to put all my eggs in one basket.)

Okay, I'll stop. :)

And just a reminder, these are potentially upcoming features. The screenshots you see are from a test installation at Darq Side HQ or from the requesting member's system. When a new idea becomes a feature available for download I'll let you know here.

Add Three Tiles to Stat Monitor (Sephy)

Reapp's Statter plugin for ACT is becoming even more popular among players since adding the option to display combined stat charts for multiple players who join the same Statter channel. Raid forces and serious groupers can now evaluate comparative combat performance beyond simple DPS and HPS numbers using the expanded feature.

New Darq Side member Sephy's raid force is using the plugin successfully, but he approached me with a strong argument for adding more tiles to improve charting analysis. In this case the majority of raiders monitor Crit Bonus, Potency and Fervor. Depending on class and role, the other slots are configured with various other stats specified by the raid team.

Right now we are doing some limited testing with a Stat Monitor that has three extra tiles at the bottom, monitoring the three stats mentioned above but without any bells or whistles beyond simply reporting the stats with overcap to Statter.

I know there will be a number of players who would like to see the extra stat slots, but the effect on game lag, chat lag and server latency must be carefully tested at scale before we can publish additional slots. Sephy has already reported some potential chat lag when all nine stats are firing for multiple raiders, so this is one of those feature updates where we're hopeful, but also keeping a very close eye on it.

Sequential Group Member Target (Bytepirate)

Here's a neat idea that I bet you'll find indispensable if you play a class that puts single-target buffs on everyone in the group separately or, like Darq Side member Bytepirate, if you are responsible for handing out hearts/shards/temps/etc to each member of your group. We're working on some new internal commands that you can use by themselves or in a macro to switch to each member in sequence and cast a buff or item for each.

Bytepirate had been using /target_next_pc which is already a game command, but the results can be unpredictable. Target_next_pc won't target group members exclusively, and your target must be in line of sight. So no hearts for the groupmate who happens to be standing behind you. The new custom commands should fix that.

We're also working on parallel commands for targeting group pets sequentially, which is a bit more challenging. Bytepirate has a unique and clever way of using these macros, and when we publish the feature I'll tell you about it.

Track Harvestables on Harvesting Helper Window (Wilbur)

This new Harvesting Helper option comes from Darq Side member Wilbur: Replace the Help icon with a control that opens the Track Harvestables window. I started using this on one of my shiny hunters while building the feature, and I don't think I'll ever change it back to the Help icon. Look for this new convenience in April.

Threat Alerts when you lose aggro (Saraphim)

Years ago my raiding director (a Wizard with several itchy trigger fingers) asked for an alarm bell whenever his threat went above a certain level. The answer is Threat Alerts, a prominent feature of the DarqUI Threat window. But what about the other way around?

Of course when a tanking fighter loses aggro it rarely goes unnoticed, but Darq Sider Saraphim asked if we could use Threat Alerts in reverse to sound an alarm when aggro drops. Anyone who plays a tank class knows you can't keep your eyes glued to the threat meter constantly, so I think an audible aggro warning is a great idea. An indicator of this type doesn't depend on communication with the game server, so you'll hear the sound instantly on your system.

As it turns out, adding this feature to Threat Alerts doesn't involve changing any controls in the Window Manager. Using a modified Threat window, Saraphim simply sets the threshold to 100 and the window detects that alerts should occur when aggro is lost rather than when it is accumulated. Tank classes watch for this useful update in April.

Gear Buff Macros: Alert sound when buff drops off (Viktore)

In a similar scenario, member Viktore asked if there is a way to alert the player audibly when a self-buff applied through a Gear Buff Macro drops off. The answer is yes, and Viktore is now using a test version of the Gear Buff Macros window where the last icon (#12) has an alert sound.

In this case we do need to make some changes to the Window Manager, which will be fairly tricky since the GBM setup page is already completely filled with controls. It's not yet decided whether all 12 macro buttons will be able to set an alert or just the last one, but we should have something for you before too long.

Auto-seek Target with Target Tag (Tune)

Here's an interesting idea that should turn out to be valuable for raiders and serious groupers. You already know about the very cool custom Auto-seek feature that finds and locks onto target types that you select -- enemies that give AA XP, quest update NPCs, mobs with specific names. But Darq Sider Tune asked in Discord if there was a command to target an enemy that has a specific target tagging icon (skull, shield, sword, etc.)

There's no game command that I'm aware of that does this, but I can imagine a group or raid leader using the tagging system to make encounter choices on the fly, then instructing the appropriate members of the party, i.e. "Group 2 DPS switch to the sword mob" or "offtank on the skull," etc. instead of fumbling with the mouse or filling in macro target names, party members would simply click on the correct Icon Bar icon and the target switches to the matching enemy.

I have a model for this feature started on the boards right now, and as long as there are no surprises we should have something published soon.

Thank You

Everything we do here at the Darq Side is possible because of you. I say it all the time: our members are part of the project. As you can see above, our membership is indeed full of players with great ideas large and small. We look at every one of them, and in many cases those ideas show up in your game window.

We are blessed to welcome a number of new and returning members to the Darq Side, and if you are brand-new to the UI I hope you'll take a look at some of our tutorial videos, the growing list of premium features, and other interesting collections of posts and videos. There you'll find literally dozens of ways that DarqUI improves your valuable game time. For new and seasoned members alike, our goal for you is always first-class everything for just a few pennies per day. Thank you, and Happy Easter!