2.4 Are you ready?

***Cairenn*** · 03-17-08, 09:51 PM

Given how big 2.4 is going to be (mod-wise it's pretty well comparable to 2.0), I figured it might be of benefit for folks to think about it a bit in advance, maybe give people suggestions. With that in mind:

What are the top mods that you "couldn't live without"?
Are they ready for 2.4?
If they aren't, do you have a potential replacement mod in mind?

Tekkub · 03-18-08, 01:46 AM

/em hands Cair an "The end is near" sign scribbled on some cardboard and points her to the nearest freeway offramp.

***Cairenn*** · 03-18-08, 01:52 AM

Inokis · 03-18-08, 02:11 AM

How about someone actually explaining the new combat log/events system. Everything i've read does a poor job at it and to me none of it makes any sense.

Layrajha · 03-18-08, 02:54 AM

YOU ARE NOT PREPARED!

... sorry, I had to

Qwerty55 · 03-18-08, 05:49 AM

No!

But Cartographer is currently the only mod I have. I'm still looking for others.

Layrajha · 03-18-08, 07:51 AM

Originally Posted by Inokis

How about someone actually explaining the new combat log/events system. Everything i've read does a poor job at it and to me none of it makes any sense.

Well, I think the only thing that might cause problems for autodidacts addon authors might be the use of masks. Read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mask_%28computing%29 if you don't really know what I mean, else let me know what you don't understand and I'll try to help.

Llivavin · 03-18-08, 04:31 PM

all of these

>.> well i could make do with out Recount and a few of the fubar ones

but most of these are done via the ace updater so i think i'll be safe >.>

robthedude · 03-18-08, 05:24 PM

just did a quick ctrl-a in my addons folder... '268 items selected'... eep!
ah well, when 2.0 hit I had over 350, and it wasn't as big a deal as folk thought it was gonna be

/pray

Mazzlefizz · 03-18-08, 05:52 PM

Originally Posted by robthedude

ah well, when 2.0 hit I had over 350, and it wasn't as big a deal as folk thought it was gonna be

I hope you're kidding about 2.0. I still have nightmares of being chased down a long hall by a maniac clown, and suddenly being frozen in place because something unknowable had tainted me. *shudder*

Mazzlefizz · 03-18-08, 05:58 PM

Originally Posted by Inokis

How about someone actually explaining the new combat log/events system. Everything i've read does a poor job at it and to me none of it makes any sense.

As I understand it, rather than spew out text that add-ons have to manually parse with regular expressions, WoW will now send structured data to add-ons. So instead of getting

"Mazzle hit Tekkub for 2333 of whoopass damage!"

add-ons will get one of their functions called with parameters like

Source: Mazzle
Target: Tekkub
Amount: 2333
Type: whoopass

It should be much easier to deal with, more efficient and far less ambiguous in certain cases. It just requires some stuff to be rewritten to handle getting the data in a different format.

Layrajha · 03-18-08, 06:13 PM

Originally Posted by Mazzlefizz

I hope you're kidding about 2.0. I still have nightmares of being chased down a long hall by a maniac clown, and suddenly being frozen in place because something unknowable had tainted me. *shudder*

I remember hard times reading other people's code to fix their inessential calls to secured functions (that weren't secured when they coded the whole thing). Like, the targeting stuff that was overused randomly by addons that weren't mainly designed for that (thinking of WSG addons that had an option to target FCs, addons that were supposed to do many things, but had somewhere in the code something to re-target hunters that had feigned death, etc...). Can't remember if the targeting functions were already protected right before 2.0 (requiring user input to be triggered), but I remember these things annoyed me quite a lot, not counting of course the many addons that were just totally outdated

But something of lesser magnitude there.

Tekkub · 03-18-08, 06:24 PM

From a dev standpoint, new combat log stuff == much cheaper tracking of combat events.

From a user standpoint, cool new combat log filters.

***Cairenn*** · 03-18-08, 07:13 PM

Mazzle's description of how the new combat log is going to work is a nice easy quick explanation. For the full technical details that authors want, that's covered in the 2.4 Upcoming API Changes - Concise List thread.

And, you guys have completely missed the point of this particular thread. What mods that you rely on are already fixed (and where can you find the updated versions) and which ones aren't (and what are you going to use in the meantime).

Tekkub · 03-18-08, 07:18 PM

The other thing the combat events gives us is the ability to track the source much MUCH better than before. If you're fighting 5 mobs of the same name, you now know which ones does what damage... and that summoned pet? it was summoned by this mob...

The first things to benefit from this are, of course, damage and threat meters.

digmouse · 03-18-08, 09:49 PM

guess there would be a mess for me....

Llivavin · 03-19-08, 03:48 AM

wow, reading over the API it looks like damage meaters are gonna be somewhat more advanced now ++ pretty much infinate range meaning only one person in a raid will need to have it

and by the looks of it there is gonna be emoticons in some chat addons now ((despite the fact its only the raid icons,hopefully they will change this soon to allow custom textures that come included in addons (Like smiles for instance in WIM) ))

i also see some addons that will go

%t is {skull} when someone sets that target to the skull raid icon.

I'm not seeing to many things that will break (other then the addons that deal with damage but they'll come back even better)

speaking of which: i think that may be my attempt at an addon.

Gemini_II · 03-19-08, 08:28 AM

I'm going to be testing some things on the PTR later (keep putting it off any longer and it'll be too late).

Most addons I use are already 2.4-ready or shouldn't be affected (and most are hosted either here, or at wowace.com). I'm guessing SimpleCombatLog will either need a rewrite or will be obsolete. I was worried about NECB but Bela and team are doing a fine job. As long as X_Perl, Trinity, Cartographer, and Combuctor work, I should be able to manage for awhile.

Gemini_II · 03-19-08, 02:08 PM

So... are the PTR's closed?

If so, I really wish Blizz would inform us of that before letting me download updates for over an hour. I suspect it's going to be one of those days...

erica647 · 03-19-08, 02:16 PM

Originally Posted by Gemini_II

So... are the PTR's closed?

If so, I really wish Blizz would inform us of that before letting me download updates for over an hour. I suspect it's going to be one of those days...

Last I read the ptr is closed indefinitely. I'm just hoping that means they have it ready and we can get it soon.