Nameplates in Midnight
Nameplates in Midnight will be given a much-needed overhaul designed to help make certain information easier to view while in combat:
Rarity of Mob (Elite, Rare, etc.)
Total Health of the Enemy
Important Casts and Interruptible Casts
Relevant Combat Buffs and Debuffs
These Nameplates will come with many different customization options and styles that are designed to give the player the freedom to choose what information gets presented and how.
Customization Options
With the initial release of these nameplates, many customization options will be readily available to players:
Size Scale
Sliding bar from 1 to 5.
Buff/Debuff Scale
Sliding bar from 70% to 140%.
Style
Default, Legacy, Thin, Block, or Cast Focus.
Nameplate Information
Health Percentage, Health Value, and Rarity Icon.
Cast Bar Information
Spell Name, Spell Icon, Spell Target, Highlight Important Casts, Highlight When Targeted By Enemy.
Aggro Display
Progressive or Flash.
Enemy NPC Buffs/Debuffs
Mob Buffs, Personal Debuffs, Shared CC
Enemy Player Buffs/Debuffs
Enemy Buffs, Personal Debuffs, Big Debuff
Friendly Player Buffs/Debuffs
Personal Buffs, Enemy Debuffs, Big Debuff
Debuff Padding
Sliding bar from 0 to 50.
Simplify Nameplates
Minions, Minor, Friendly Players, Friendly NPCs.
Nameplate Styles
There are five different styles of Nameplates currently available: Default, Legacy, Thin, Block, and Cast Focus. These different styles adjust the size of the health and cast bars and move around certain text like NPC names, names of casts, etc.
Default (left) and Legacy (right) Style
Thin (left) and Block (right) Style
Cast Focus Style
Highlighting Important Casts and Targeted Casts
With these new nameplates, there are visual options that allow you to see important casts or when you're being targeted by a specific cast. Important casts will have a bright glow effect around the cast bar, while casts targeted on you will have a red border surrounding the cast bar.
Important Casts (left) and Targeted Casts (right) visuals
What Can't You Edit with Blizzard Nameplates?
There are a few things with these nameplates that currently don't have any customization options.
Where text/information is presented (outside of "Style" options)
Color customization options of the bars
Font options
Locations of Buffs/Debuffs
How Do Blizzard Nameplates Compare to Addons?
Throughout WoW's lifespan, there have been mainly different AddOns that offer customizable nameplates, such as ElvUI and Plater for example. When comparing Blizzard's nameplates to the other AddOns, there are a few comparisons to note:
One of the biggest factors currently missing from Blizzard Nameplates is color customization. Certain AddOn profiles allow players to color coordinate certain mobs and bosses depending on certain factors like important interrupts, high health / priority enemies, etc. This is commonly seen in many Mythic+ or Raid Plater/ElvUI profiles.
What makes these other AddOns difficult to use has to do with their settings. Especially when first starting out, navigating certain AddOn settings can be extremely confusing, and is where the Blizzard Nameplates have a leg-up on their competition.
Overall, are the new nameplates in Midnight an improvement from their older counterpart? Yes, absolutely. While certain aspects of these nameplates could use some touch-ups, the nameplates coming with Midnight are looking to be a huge step in the right direction.
