World of Warcraft has undergone some changes, big and small, with the Dragonflight pre-patch, and the team is going through some of the ways these changes are applicable to accessibility in World of Warcraft.
When it comes to Dragonflight, one of the bigger recent changes is the overhaul of the UI and HUD for the first time since the original launch. The aim was to reduce clutter on screen, but also to give everyone customizable options that fit various needs. With these changes, the HUD is customizable and adaptable, with options to include more or many fewer options on the screen at all times.
The team also covers the way the new talent and specialization system add to the flexibility and customization, but goes into some of the ways that the new system can be adjusted and made more accessible as needed. For example, there are some chat command options that can be used to access talent and specialization options without having to click through everything manually. These might be more invisible for the average player, but for those that need them, they’re there.
The options menu is another highlight, where previous interface and systems menus have been streamlined, giving access to various settings, including accessibility specific settings.
When it comes to in-game options, it is often true that adding in accessibility options potentially helps everyone, and some of the new features are true in that sense. Things like being able to interact with a key press instead of the mouse, a new action targeting system and dynamic switching based on where you look.
Other settings, including the ability to reduce camera motion will also disable dragonriding FOV changes, and setting “alternate full screen effects” will eliminate dragonriding full screen speed effects.
Many of these options and settings will not even be explored by most players, but having them there does open the experience up.
Read the full dev blog and see some of the examples over at World of Warcraft.
