Wildstar Nameplate Addons Roundup
Welcome to our weekly WildStar Addon Spotlight! This week we've got the spotlight on a bunch of nameplate addon replacements! From the original BijiPlates, to it's spiritual successor OptiPlates, and many others like nPrimeNameplates, MinimalistPlates and RazorPlates, and even tweaks to the default nameplates in SteadyPlates, and finally, a nice way to add perspective to them in PerspectivePlates.
Today we're taking a look at nameplate addons! There's quite a few options and you may be wondering what all the fuss is about, and it basically comes down to one aspect of the default Carbine nameplates that almost all the replacements change. It's a pretty simple change and it all comes down to how the health and shield bars are shown. Carbine choose to implement a single bar look with the health shown to the left while the shield part is nudged up on the right side. It's this single bar approach that has caused addon authors to break those two aspects apart and show them as two separate, easily readable bars.
Let's take a look at each of these addons separately, and first up we have BijiPlates. Fortunately, I did a pretty in-depth look into BijiPlates as our first addon spotlight for WildStar and you can read about BijiPlates here. Keep in mind that the original author for BijiPlates has decided to call it quits, but the community did come to the rescue and it is currently being updated by CasstielCupcake and Aukmoo.
That being said, OptiPlates is a direct fork of Bijiplates by Baerdurid and it contains everything that BijiPlates does and more. The main difference between the two is that OptiPlates is currently being updated and maintained much more frequently and Baerdurid is working hard to implement new features like scaling based on unit type. He's also open to suggestions you may have, in-fact, the name OptiPlates for the fact that it is full of options and also that it's been highly optimized to run smoothly and efficiently.
nPrimeNameplates by user NyanPrime, is another great option. It's highly customizable with all the usual options like scaling, font control, options for the layout and more. nPrimeNameplates touts its performance, design and easy configuration. While it may be easy to configure, it does lack some options like different colors for guild members, which does come standard in the default Cargine nameplates. That being said, it's still a viable alternative to using the default nameplates and it still offers more customization than using the default nameplates and it's smooth animation and performance sure make it look great.
If you're a fan of the default UI and want to keep your addons looking like the default addons but offer more customization than look no further than RazorPlates by Dhyzk. It's also worth noting that RazorPlates is the only nameplate addon replacement that also shows your targets resource bar, which can come in handy in PvP. Like all nameplate replacements, it's highly customizable and it also has a minimalist skin that some folks really like. RazorPlates is also one of the most customizable nameplate addon replacements. You can change just about any aspect of it including changin the color of just about every aspect of it.
One of the folks who stepped in to keep BijiPlates updated, Aukmoo, also has his own nameplate addon called MinimalistPlates. Due to BijiPlates having performance issues, Aukmoo decided to create his own nameplate addon to run more smoothly. Be warned though, it's currently still in beta, but I'm sure Aukmoo would love to have more folks testing it!
Finally, I would like to talk about two more addons that aren't exactly replacements, but augment your nameplates. First we have SteadyPlates by Jos_eu. SteadyPlates doesn't replace the default Carbine nameplates, but it enhances them with further information including threat and interrupt armor. Since it's not a total replacement, you'd probably think that it has minimal amounts of customization, but you'd be wrong! SteadyPlates boasts some of the more expansive customization options including separating the health and shield bars. If you like the default look of the nameplates, but want to change some colors or add some extra markers or cast bars, SteadyPlates might just be the addon you are looking for.
Lastly, this next addon isn't even a nameplate addon itself, but it augments nameplates in what might seem like an unusual way, but really adds some depth and perspective to the world. PerspectivePlates by Blaaznar does this by adding, wait for it, perspective to your nameplates. What this means is that the nameplates that are farther away are smaller, while the nameplates closest to you are normal sized. For it to work though, the nameplate addon you want to use has to support it and currently it only works with the default Carbine nameplates, Bijiplates, MinimalistPlates, RazorPlates and SteadyPlates. Adding support for PerspectivePlates couldn't be any easier though so check out his project page here and then tell any and all nameplate addon authors you want them to support it!
Final Words
Nameplate addons are always one of the first things people create when augmenting their UI in MMOs and in WildStar, the trend has been to separate the health and shield bars while adding customizable features like castbars, taunt indicators and interrupt armor indicators among other options. Even if you like the look of the default nameplates you can even augment them with added functionality so there's almost no reason to stick with the default nameplates. You should definitely try an alternative to the default nameplates and hopefully our guide to the many options out there will point you in the right direction!