Color-Coding Enemy Nameplates is Returning in Midnight

Posted 2025/12/02 at 12:48 PM by Squishei

Via the WoWUIdev Discord, they are currently okay with this workaround and the article has been updated.Color-Coding Enemy Nameplates

Enemy Level

Elite Status

Casting Status

Level 92: Boss

Level 91 & Elite: Lieutenant

Level 90 & Elite: Melee Mob

Level 90 & Elite & Has is Flagged as a "Paladin": Caster Mob

Level 90 & Elite & Has Interruptable Cast:
The nameplate would only flag to a caster on the first interruptable cast.

This is only possible with a special script and is not available out of the box.

PlatynatorBlizzard is Allowing Thisaddon philosophy3. Simplifying enemy names (e.g. "Healer"), cast names ("Frontal"), or colorizing unit nameplates based on priority

Reasoning: While this functionality may seem somewhat benign at first, it has played an important part in reducing the challenge level in end-game content over the last several years, particularly in M+. For most of WoW's history, learning which enemies were the highest priority or what to do when a certain spell is being cast has required knowledge, built up through practice and research. But when addons are able to call out exactly which enemies to kill first, which casts to interrupt and which enemies to run away from, that knowledge is no longer necessary. With that knowledge and mastery no longer required, we must compensate through other means in order to maintain a satisfying level of challenge for players. Larger packs of enemies become the norm, as do shorter cast times on lethal spells. Essentially, we are forced to replace mastery and knowledge gained through time with twitch gameplay that punishes players who aren't using addons and/or have slower reaction times. We recognize that our current naming approach does not always provide enough clarity, especially with longer creature or cast names, so we are also working on ways to address this on the design side for Midnight.

APIs Affected: APIs that allow addons to identify specific enemies and enemy spellcasts are the primary ones that need to be locked down to prevent this behavior.no competitive advantage

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Comment by andreev1989W!Comment by mysticalosI know what changes are going to be in beta 4Comment by ArtanisITAMaybe you shouldn't have posted this in the rare possibility this flew under the radar until it was too late to break it at least for Season 1?Comment by MmmmhashWill be nice if it makes it to Live 12.0Comment by avenirelet us color nameplates with dots on them or spriest is going to be insanely unfunComment by TarsoTo be short: Next Beta they will restrict the ability on certain stuff again so this cannot be made.Comment by ArixanYeah this is getting broken, probably in the next beta patch. It's only possible by using nearly every trick and functionality that Blizzard has specifically set out to prevent addons from doing in Midnight. I'm not even sure why an addon dev bothered wasting their time by coding it, given how many statements by Blizzard have said this kind of thing will not be allowed.Comment by AtiaensWhy? They stated they dont want it (sadly), so they will just break this. It's literally just a ^&*! off ego thing to try to add stuff that's not supposed to be in the game, and it's exactly this what led to blizzard deleting weakauras and co.Comment by LinaoriNameplate colors are accessibility.Comment by yamix00I had assumed they couldn't change it mid combat and that's why they hadn't. Surprised it took this long.Comment by TOMRUSEven more cool addons are about to be broken. WoW devs are absolutely clueless and incompetent an they gonna ruin the game with all those addon "changes".Comment by alstadiPlease blizzard let's keep at least this way of coloringComment by ixnorpBlizz should take out the ability to identify "Caster" but the rest is fair game. The mob levels appear and have always appeared on the default UI. This simply makes them a little more obvious. Changing it like this is still very much in line with Blizzard's stated philosophy.Comment by TyneicYeah this is getting broken, probably in the next beta patch. It's only possible by using nearly every trick and functionality that Blizzard has specifically set out to prevent addons from doing in Midnight. I'm not even sure why an addon dev bothered wasting their time by coding it, given how many statements by Blizzard have said this kind of thing will not be allowed.Comment by cloudkinWild how Blizz has negative resources to deal with the non-stop spam of RMT services and listings in Group Finder but we colour some nameplates and gg it goes bye byeComment by RoxloxBlizz trying to destroy retail even further.
Players trying to safe it.
Clown world.Comment by wowlover1987Blizz will see this and remove it.

There is no way they want to make the UI better.Comment by VinceVegaDo people actually think blizz is unaware of anything unless wowhead posts about it?
Also their reasoning is good. Thank god they stay Strong. Hate how the Game ia nearly unplayable without a bunch of addons right now. Fractillius for example. Or how instantly you have to Switch targets in m+ or you are dead If Not reacted in 0,25 Seconds.
Sure IT IS fun for some. But the vast majority wants t play wow and Not a Souls likeComment by SunabubusI have big hopes for nameplates. The logic of player nameplates works weird.
- in non pvp situations enemy name cutomization is restricted. So if you are in Dalaran, and you're alliance, you can't see the horde druid's name in druid orange color. You can't customize it, so their names is the default barely seeable blue text.
- in pvp situations you can see their class colors. So if you go into battlegrounds, suddenly if the enemy is a druid, you can configure it to show it orange etc.
This doesn't make any sense. I really hope they will do something about it.Comment by EpicBKAMGuys, dont hesitate to start using this addon now, it's working on retail AND midnight alpha, and the dev is clearly only adding feature included with midnight.

Atm, it'll probably stat as a feature in game and they will mb add something similar in the ingame nameplate (without addons).

Don't hesitate to go on the Plusmouse discord to see his whole work

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