Blizzard has modernized some parts of the WoW Classic Era and TBC Classic anniversary realms user interface

Over the last week, Blizzard implemented user interface changes to World of Warcraft Classic realms and The Burning Crusade Classic anniversary realms that specifically affect the look of character name plates and raid frames, and also affect all Classic realms including Era, Season of Discovery, and Hardcore.

Blizzard has communicated these user interface changes, it feels more like a modernized update to the Classic world and we’ve broken down what they are, how they affect the game now, and what changes could be in store for the future.

What are the changes and why were they made?

• Raid Frames
  • Added options to select health bar color and background color
  • Added options to show or hide dispellable debuff indicators
• Edit Mode
  • Added Layout Template, Opacity, and Aura Icon Size Options
• Nameplates
  • Added option to color friendly or enemy nameplates based on player class color

There were also bugs affecting the size of the aura icons in the edit mode preview and the item comparison tooltip always showing that were fixed but the main thing really stands out is that the appearance of nameplate and raid frame are more in line with the styles used in World of Warcraft Midnight. This is intentional, as Blizzard explains that all World of Warcraft Classic servers and realms, regardless of progression or state, share code with retail World of Warcraft. Whenever a Classic release occurs, its code mirrors the corresponding current version of retail WoW (Classic 2019 shared code with Battle for Azeroth, TBC Classic anniversary with The War Within).

After hearing unhappy player feedback, Blizzard provided some chat commands that don’t roll back the UI to pre-update versions but add some extra modifications, and plan to make these settings as part of the Options menu in the future:

• Nameplate Class Color (Enemy Units):
  • /script C_CVar.SetCVar(“nameplateShowClassColor”, 1);
• Nameplate Class Color (Friendly Units):
  • /script C_CVar.SetCVar(“nameplateShowFriendlyClassColor”, 1);
• Disabling Raid Frame Dispel Highlights:
  • /script C_CVar.SetCVar(“raidFramesDispelIndicatorOverlay”, 0);

So, what’s the overall goal here? From a development standpoint, this shared code provides the easiest route for Blizzard to support and maintain each game in the long run despite the differing aspects of their time-locked state. The downside here is the permanence of the UI changes integrated that have no real visual rollback option. Sure, Edit Mode exists and has a Classic pre-set, but even that itself is a tool from the retail version and its existence in Classic is still a shift to the modern day.

Could Blizzard be moving to fully integrate retail WoW UI into Classic? Maybe, but since the appeal of Classic is the nostalgic, old-school look and feel, it’d be a bad overall move to do that and it makes more sense to preserve that aesthetic where possible.