Wednesday, November 10, 2010

The New Guild Interface

Patch 4.0.1 brought about many interface changes. Among the most notable, the guild window has had a complete revamp and now integrates some useful tools to the framework that can be easily overlooked.

Reorganization

The old two tab guild window has been reorganized with a drop down menu containing four separate categories. The old format of player location and guild rank have been placed into each of their respective drop down items: Player Status and Guild Status; both of which remain largely unchanged.

Though this new dropdown approach is not quite as fast as tabbing between the two panels in the old guild window, it's a necessary evil as a couple new features have been added to the guild window that allow for more information at a glance.

If you're looking for the old "show offline" option, it's moved to the bottom of the frame, and works with each of the four tabs.

Achievements

One of the two new tabs in the guild window is the achievements tab, which lists each player's total achievement points and their rank in the guild. Every wonder who plays the game way too much? You can probably find out in this tab!

Any Jewelcrafters Online???

Without a doubt the most useful tab in the new guild window is the tradeskill tab, a tool that has largely flown under the radar with the release of 4.0.1.

The new tab allows you to view not only a list of all guild members and their tradeskills, but clicking on a player will bring up that player's tradeskill window complete with all recipes that player knows.

This tool will take much of the hassle out of finding a crafter in the guild for whatever reason. Instead of asking constantly in guild who can craft the new belt or leggings recipe, or who can cut a strength/hit gem, players can simply head to the tradeskill tab in the guild window and find a crafter themselves.

Guild Information

The Guild Information box has been upgraded from it's own button, to it's own page on the guild window. Located on the bottom of the window, this tab now contains much more than a simple text box for random guild information.

The guild message of the day and guild information box (where ventrillo or teamspeak information is often stored) now reside here alongside a dedicated box for guild events set up through the calendar. This will allow players in guild that use the in game event calendar to see a quick list of upcoming events without clicking through all the dates in the calendar, giving a handy birds-eye view of upcoming activities.