February Waypoints
Added 2023-02-01 02:17:02 +0000 UTCQ: What did the plate say to the glass on Valentine's Day?
A: Tonight, dinner's on me.
Macroergonomics
Recently some improvements were made to the Tradeskill window's automation to include familiar swaps along with gear sets and mounts, to simplify getting into and out of your tradeskill spec. Naturally the question was raised: Can we leverage that feature to create some kind of macro-of-macros for a complete one-button swap, without using the Tradeskills window?
For example, imagine clicking one Icon Bar button and automatically loading up a total spec of your choosing that includes gear, mount, familiar and the appropriate sidekicks (not sure what they are officially called -- the Peafowl, etc.) It might also make sense to add an AA spec as an option in a compound macro, if possible.
The Tradeskills window automates Adventure and Tradeskill specs, but a separate feature could give us additional slots for Experimentation, Harvesting, or any other purpose you might have. Keep an eye out in February to see what we come up with!
Out of Sorts
Here is a request from Darq Side member PiousVenom, who wondered if we could somehow sort the Upgrades page in the spellbook to make it easier to decide on the next upgrade. Right now we can search for specific text, or sort by Level and "Progress" (number of days to upgrade). Otherwise it's just one long string of spells at all levels from 125 to 1. Even a way to separate Ascensions from regular spells would help.
The spell (Knowledge) book is a bit tricky to work with, and we're not exactly batting a thousand with other feature requests in that area of the UI. But this will definitely get some attention in February.
On the Map
The recent rollout of Map window customizations was not 100% trouble-free, but I think it's in good shape at this point. As I mentioned in the server message, the next utility version will simplify choosing how you want to receive DarqUI-customized map components, if at all.
The reason for an early manual update was to ensure the DarqUI code doesn't interfere with EQ2MAP, which a majority of players use. Dipping a toe into the EQ2MAP universe is a bit like dancing with a porcupine, but I think we now have a good feel for how the two UIs will impact each other.
And just to be clear:
- If you do not use EQ2MAP, choose Standard from the gear icon next to Map when you check for updates.
- If you use EQ2MAP and don't want the custom controls, check the Skip checkbox next to Map when you check for updates.
- If you use EQ2MAP and you want the extra controls, choose EQ2MAP. In this case you'll want to add eq2ui_mainhud_map2.xml to your Ignore List so it doesn't get overwritten when you check for EQ2MAP updates.
Here's an interesting and ambitious new concept from the idea machine also known as Naviaz. Most players who are considered hardcore or hardcore-ish are familiar with ACT and the many ways in which it can enhance combat-oriented gameplay. (It also runs the risk of turning a player into a DPS bot, blindly focused on bar charts instead of enjoying the game. But that's a rant for another day.)
As important as peak raid/group combat performance is, and as complicated as character stats have become in recent expansions, it makes sense that some kind of statistic analysis -- Crit Bonus and Crit Bonus Overcap for example -- would be useful in measuring the effectiveness of stat changes during encounters.
Ultimately what I'd like to see is an ACT plug-in that overlays a statistics graph over the DPS/Defense/Threat/etc graph of an encounter so you can see the effects of CB and CBO on your performance over the duration of the encounter.
Can DarqUI make something like this happen? We can already build code that inserts selected real-time stats from the Stat Monitor into the chat log that ACT uses. I've never done an ACT plug-in, but we should be able to provide stat data to ACT in all the right places.
If you already know your way around the plug-in system and feel like poking around with it, by all means feel free to message me. ACT is the route I would prefer to take, since it already knows how to deal with encounters. Even if it turns out that interfacing effectively with ACT is not possible, we should at least be able to use the utility to do something useful with the data. This may take more than a weekend ;)
DarqUI 2K/4K
Recent developments aside, there is an interesting 2K/4K update on the boards right now. As always it's not guaranteed to be publishable until it's finished, but the first pass is looking very optimistic. I don't want to give too much away, except to say that we may be navigating into some uncharted waters.
Thank You
Thanks to you, DarqUI continues to evolve as the most customizable add-on ever available for EverQuest II, and I hope DarqUI's premium feature set has inspired you to play the game in new ways. For our new and long-time patrons alike, your valued membership goes in a straight line toward development time for building out the UI to your specifications. I'm looking forward to working on the above items for you in February, and there might even be a couple of other small QoL items we can drop in as well.
It's been surprising to see so many of our members switch to the annual plan that just became available this month. I did the annual thing with my EverQuest II accounts years ago, which made a lot of sense because I know I'll be playing for the foreseeable future. And with the discount, it makes an already minor entertainment expense even more reasonable.
If you haven't considered it for your Patreon membership, I invite you to take a look. There's two months free if you take advantage of the option. Either way, I'm proud to have you as a member of the Darq Side.
