Show all scenario parties by default (will help new players)

[Omegus]

The Problem

If you play the game without add-ons then when you are in scenarios the game only shows your own party, and not the other 1-5 parties also in the scenario. The core UI actually has options to show the other parties while in a scenario but they are so hidden/obscure that most people - new or not - don't even realise the option is there. The instructions to show those parties are:

1) Press the white flag icon by the minimap:

Spoiler:

2) the "Scenario Parties" window will display. At the top of each party is a checkbox. Ever wondered what that box does? It displays the party data in a window identical to how warbands are displayed by default. These are all unticked by default. Tick all 6 boxes as the game is smart enough to hide empty parties:

Spoiler:

3) Like magic, the scenario parties are now displayed and newbies (especially newbie healers) without add-ons can see everyone's health. The image below was in a scenario.

Spoiler:

This is great, but as said above it is turned off by default.

The Solution

I have found the offending line of code in Mythic's default interface files. In "interface\default\ea_scenariogroupwindow\source\scenariogroupwindow.lua", line 335 is:

Code: Select all

local pressed = ScenarioGroupWindow.GroupWindowSettings.floatingVisibility[index] or false

This line says to either use the value saved from previous scenarios, or if no value has been saved yet then default to false, i.e. hidden. To fix this, the line should be modified to:

Code: Select all

local pressed = ScenarioGroupWindow.GroupWindowSettings.floatingVisibility[index] or true

This will show them by default for new players (or rather, new characters).

Impact on Existing Characters

None. This setting is not only saved between scenarios but is also saved between logins, so all existing characters should have the visibility of those windows set to false/hidden by default and changing the line above will not affect this. All that will happen is that if you make a new character (or delete all of your UI settings for an existing character) and join a scenario then you will need to turn off these windows once, assuming you're not importing a UI from another character that already has them hidden. You then don't have to worry about it again.

Also, the setting is saved per-character so you don't need to worry about making new characters and have the change above mess up your UI on your existing characters.

The upside is that new players making their new characters will have access to the full scenario group information by default, which is a Good Thing. Telling new players to install a giant add-on pack like Enemy just to get this information which is available in the game (just very well-hidden... no pun intended) shouldn't be the main answer, especially when there is already an existing option which can be made far more visible (again no pun intended) with a trivial change to the UI code.

[ashton007]

I completely agree man. Early lvl/nub heals really don’t know how to heal out of party. It’s a l2p issue but most of the time they don’t know what they’re doing wrong.

[navis]

Looks like a good improvement for non-enemy users.

[Omegus]

Bumping this as we have a huge wave of new players who likely have no idea there's built-in group frames in scenarios.

[Omegus]

Irregular bump as it's a one-line fix which will make the experience of new players so much better rather than immediately subjecting them to Enemy.