Accessibility and Controller Support in Dragonflight Group Interview Excerpt

Live Posted 2022/11/20 at 2:00 AM by Archimtiros

recent group interviewJez from Windows CentralJez from Windows Central:
I'm curious about controller support, because with the rise of the steam deck and a bigger emphasis on accessibility and stuff like that, increasingly I'm seeing, requests for add-ons that support controllers and there's controllers with paddles and all that kind of stuff, but traditionally World Warcraft has been a mouse and keyboard kind of game. With renewed emphasis on the UI and improving some of the core aspects of the game, does official controller support ever come up within the engineering team? And, if so, what are your thoughts on that?

May:
We've, we've been actually working on supporting player control, for a little bit now. I think the first time we introduced that was 9.2? I think maybe getting that a little bit wrong, but it is something that we're actually working. For us, a lot of this comes from wanting to make the game much more accessible. So accessibility is our main goal when it comes to control support, and this is an ongoing effort from the engineering team trying to make sure that we are actually supporting controllers. That is working currently correctly with a lot of our different inputs.

I know that engineering has been working very closely with our UI team too, to actually make sure that everything that we're doing, it actually feels very natural for people. They've been working out how the UI is going to be displaying some of these controllers. For Dragonriding, for example, we've actually been trying our best to actually be tested and making sure that it just feels good to play, but it is definitely an ongoing effort and something that we're very excited about to be able to provide to people.

Jeremy:
We have some awesome accessibility experts on the team. Huge thanks to them for constantly pushing us in this direction. We've made some great accessibility improvements in Dragonflight. We put out a whole blog post about it. Very happy with all of those improvements. They include improved support for our players that find it easier to use controllers, but also we've gone through the UI with an eye towards things like what font we're using and what colors are we using, and making sure that all those are accessible or at least provide the maximum number of options to players that we can. Also on the Dragonriding side of things, we recognize that Dragonriding isn't for everybody and it's relatively difficult to control your way through in some ways for some players. So we've provided a way for players to turn themselves into a whelp and ride along with other players in that way. They can still get to places and experience the follow experience that they were used to without having to do the swooping diving and Dragonriding. So something that we're always thinking about. And again, huge shout out to the accessibility team that has really been headlining this effort. They've been doing an awesome job and it's great to be able to bring these improvements to the players.new user interface options

Comment by BravejohnIts funny that you have chosen a spec that does not have ground target spells! lets see someone with controller play fire mage on aoe, or any other classes that have regular use of ground target spells!

I still dont understand why they dont let us macro these spells and use them ...

Removed/Comment by TerijakiI still dont understand why they dont let us macro these spells and use them ConsolePortComment by KalkatakLongtime controller user due to RSI here, just adding my 2cents.

I really like the new features for Interact and Action Target; removes a lot of work that was needed to play before, though they're not for everyone.

I'm an active member on the Consoleport discord (the big controller addon that deserves more credit, and from where the headline image for this article comes - the default UI has no such interface) and the features get talked about a lot:

Action Target is great, but doesn't pair well with the Target Scan Enemy (Hold) binding, which is the best way to hard-target with a controller. It seems Bliz may have routed the feature through it, so Target Scan doesn't override the soft target as one would expect.

The Interact key is my favourite feature, but many users still prefer the old Consoleport version that could share a binding with spells or Jump through clever use Conditions.

The Hold to Cast feature is currently unuseable with Bar addons (Consoleport has a Bar module) because Bliz have tried to limit it to keyboard presses only, which seems like a very odd decision on their part.

The default controller support is nice, and it's great to see updates for it, but I still wouldn't dream of playing without the Consoleport Addon, which doesn't get the recognition it deserves.Comment by KalkatakIts funny that you have chosen a spec that does not have ground target spells! lets see someone with controller play fire mage on aoe, or any other classes that have regular use of ground target spells!

I still dont understand why they dont let us macro these spells and use them ...

Comment by KalkatakI find the biggest hurdles to controller play are:

- The UI; it's just not designed for controllers, easier to use the mouse usually.

- The lack of any tutorial for controller play; it's nice that support is there but there's no walkthrough or anything for new players or people wanting to try out controller. Or even much mention ingame or on the official sites that it is an option.
It all has to be looked up or asked about on discords / forums. And if you somehow miss Consoleport in your googling, then you're in for a hard time.

And the biggest
- Other players.
Many players cannot imagine how playing on a controller is possible, or think it inherently worse than KB+M, so any mention of being on one often leads to a kick from a pug group :(

It does take practice, and some creative thinking, to perform well on controller. But it is very doable - I play M+ and Raids and do just fine, my brother Tanks high-end keys and Raids and does brilliantly.
Movement is far easier, and (especially with paddle controllers) our many keybinds are easier to reach while moving. I have 96 binds, all at my fingertips, and all useable with my thumb on the movement stick, I'd applaud any KB+M user that can equal that without turning their hands into pretzels.

But many people reject what they don't understand. :(Comment by sixfifteenaccessibility and stuff like thatComment by lierox90I wish he showed mythic sanctum of domination healed with controlled, oh wait, that would be disasterComment by MetalchicMany players cannot imagine how playing on a controller is possible, or think it inherently worse than KB+M, so any mention of being on one often leads to a kick from a pug group :(Comment by KalkatakMany players cannot imagine how playing on a controller is possible, or think it inherently worse than KB+M, so any mention of being on one often leads to a kick from a pug group :(Comment by immoralsoulIts funny that you have chosen a spec that does not have ground target spells! lets see someone with controller play fire mage on aoe, or any other classes that have regular use of ground target spells!

I still dont understand why they dont let us macro these spells and use them ...
Comment by JotaRandomThey have been doing a good job... but the game is still TOO MUCH reliant on a mouse, from entire skills and rotations up to bosses mechanics to not get wiped and not forget the menu itself

they have a long way to go but is still plausible to fix those problems... but other might need a new expansions to get fixedComment by zugzugzuugso how do we push big keys with people using a controller ?Comment by yager05No matter how much ppl want to sugarcoat it here, just like how a controller player facing a keyboard+mouse player in a shooter shows, the two are just not even in the same universe. I might start a witchhunt with the hot take, but IMO this is just now worth it. Hamstringing and handicapping yourself like that is dumb. You don't eat soap with a fork either. Just doesn't work like that.Comment by Brautiwursti will absolutely not have a single controller player in my groupComment by Formlessso how do we push big keys with people using a controller ?Comment by Formlessi will absolutely not have a single controller player in my groupComment by FormlessNo matter how much ppl want to sugarcoat it here, just like how a controller player facing a keyboard+mouse player in a shooter shows, the two are just not even in the same universe. I might start a witchhunt with the hot take, but IMO this is just now worth it. Hamstringing and handicapping yourself like that is dumb. You don't eat soap with a fork either. Just doesn't work like that.Comment by Formlessi will absolutely not have a single controller player in my groupComment by PrincessAwwI wish he showed mythic sanctum of domination healed with controlled, oh wait, that would be disasterComment by SnooglesI have been playing WoW for almost 18 years,
a few years ago i switched over to Controller and I never went back.
This changed my gaming experience a LOT.
In fact i dont think i would still be playing WoW if i had not discovered Consoleport.

I never post here normally but on this topic i really had to say
that only this addon makes the game playable on a Controller.

Several times so far when i saw changes made by Blizzard about
Controller-friendliness i tried them out but every time i went back
to Consoleport shortly after because theres no way they even come close
to the job Consoleport is doing.