UI Tips: Nameplates to Improve your Game
Many people are annoyed by name plates, and let me start off with it wasn’t until I realized the full advantage of using them that I decided to suck it up until now I cant play WoW without them. I have used nameplates now for as long as I can remember simply because they off you so much extra information. For instance with nameplates on it is simple to tell if an enemy player is hiding behind a tree, or inside a building because the nameplate shows even through walls. This allows me to often get the jump on other players or to prevent other players from getting the jump on me. As well when I am playing Arenas I can quickly identify the class makeup of the opposing team because I have enemy name plates color coded to represent their class.
I decided to write this article around that last statement because I was running 2s with a friend of mine the other day in game when he finally got the nerve up to ask me “dude how are you able to identify the other teams classes so quick”. My answer was kind of funny because I said it thinking that nameplates must be something everyone uses and the reply went something like this “Dude do you not know the class color codes?” In which his reply was obviously yes of course he does but the color classes dont show up in his UI and he asked if I was using color blind mode of something in which I /facepalmed in real life because color coding wouldn’t work with colorblind people. My friend isn’t so smart by the way.
USING NAMEPLATES AND SETUP IN WOW
Turning Nameplates On And Class Colors
So lets start off with the basic crawl before we walk method, and talk about enabling nameplates and setting them up to get the most information possible out of them. There are two hotkey methods to turning on nameplates there is control + V which will turn on nameplates for all players including friendlies, and then there is also just hitting V which will turn on only enemy nameplates. I choose personally to only turn on nameplates for enemy players as a Ret paladin in PvP but since I am main specced as a Holy Pally I could definitely see the uses of turning on friendly nameplates if you are a healer. I don’t PvP as a healer though as I like to smash faces way to much, and the Ret Paladin has a reputation of face-rolling all over the place which completely fits my play style.
Now once you have enabled nameplates you will notice that all enemy players plates are colored red which will feed you quite a bit more information, and allow you to make better informed decisions already. You can now see which enemies are low on health which will give you the advantage of picking out the weaker ones first to thin out the opponents, but what if they are all full health? If you have difficulty with certain classes like say Warlocks, then you may want to be able to quickly discern Locks from other classes so what you do is hit escape and go into Interface. Inside the interface options go to the Combat Tab and look for the option “Class Colors in Nameplates” and check it off just like in the diagram below.
Check off the option to add class colors to nameplates
Now when you are running around in Battlegrounds or in an Arena match, each class will be easily identifiable by their class color coding. If you aren’t familiar with each classes color code let me help you out by labeling them here.
- Paladins = A very pretty pink color
- Druids = A bright orange
- Rogues = A sunny yellow
- Death Knights = A deadly red
- Shamans = A deep ocean blue
- Mages = A softer sky blue
- Warlocks = Purple shmurple
- Hunters = A forest green
- Priests = White like they would be anything else
- Warriors = A dirt brown just like the earth they will be laying in if they ever come up against me
That is the basic set up the nameplates that I use if anyone has tips to improve it please let me know because I am always wanting to improve my game leave comments at the bottom of this post on it. For now though since we have gotten you all set up and ready to face the world of pee vee pee with nameplates in your toolkit lets talk about how they can benefit you in the game.
Choosing Which Target By Using Nameplates
Who Do You Think Im Gonna Kill First?
The picture above says it all, who do you think I will choose to take on first in this situation. While there is another horde player nearby in this screen-shot we often find ourselves in a situation where we get ganked by two players, and often we don’t realize that one of them may be low on health unless you take the time to tab target through every players you encounter which I doubt that you do. With nameplates we can quickly see if one player is lower on health than another. As well in this situation I know that I fair much better against Death Knights than Warriors, and since the warrior is low on health instead of allowing him time to beat on me while I take down the Death Knights health I will quickly finish him off, and even the odds a little bit more by thinning out the competition quicker. You see where this is going right? I just snapped a few quick screenies in a BG before I decided to type this so their not blow you mind examples, but I hope you are getting the jist of all of this.
Another example which I didn’t get a chance to snap a screenshot of, and I talked about a little earlier is deciding which class you want to fight. In situations where you are in a large battle and you have a ton of opponents to choose from it is easier to choose targets which you know you have the upperhand on. Every class has their counter class which basically is terribly tuff for them to kill, for paladins the Shadow Priest and Warlocks aren’t the easiest as they are able to range us very easily. However Hunters are at a disadvantage to us, as well as Death Knights, so I may choose to do my best and pick out those classes I know I will have a better chance of making a bigger difference with. This helps ensure you are an all star in the BG’s, and im not saying I always avoid such classes but if I have a choice I will allow someone better equipped to grab a hold of them.
You Can Now See Through Walls
Nameplates are activated by range, and as a benefit to that they will overlay on top of the 3D interactive World on World of Warcraft. So lets say your fighting another player, and your winning the one on one when all of a sudden he stuns you and runs off around a corner, or over a heal to bandage up real quick, and return to take you on. with nameplates the player has nowhere to hide because his plate will still show even if he is behind something. I couldnt find a really great example that wasn’t just cluttered so I decided to use a mottled bore for an example to show you what I mean.
Hes not fooling anyone behind that stone
Their are other applications for this as well such as say you are in Arathi Basin and their are enemies camping out in the tower. instead of running into certain death you can either have a moment to evaluate the situation and prepare, or what for reinforcements to back you up. In any case you will find this attribute will save your but in many situations. Especially those situations where there is one player looking all ripe to kill while his buddy is off hiding behind something waiting for you to attack. As an added bonus you will also be able to preselect characters who are in a room in front of you, or behind a wall.
In arenas this feature is great if you are trying to line of sight someone or run them around a poll because you will always be able to tell where they are at. If you are in dire need to wait for a spell to come off cool down this trick could by you just the time you need.
As you can see nameplates offer a number of advantages and I am sure that I could sit here and cook up all kinds of scenarios. I hope this tutorial will persuade you to give them a try if you are not already using them. I guarantee you that it will make a difference in your game, and I know there are alot of players out there who aren’t utilizing them since its very easy to spot when you watch someone blindly leap into certain death.
ty for this, nice