TL;WR (Too Long; Won't Read): Install the addon, type /zthreat, move it somewhere where you like it, type /zthreat again to lock it into position, and enjoy. It will automatically display when it's useful (non-solo content).
Are you tired of looking at extremely lengthy threat meters that show you a lot of unnecessary information? Would you like to know at a glance whether you were high on threat? As a tank, would you immediately like to know who's getting a bit too close to you on threat? Well, I wanted all of those things, so I developed this addon.
Essentially, the addon has two modes, based on whether you have aggro:
DPS Mode (someone else has aggro):
- Shows you who is tanking (it says "AGGRO: <name>")
- Shows you how much threat you have as a percentage of the threat that the current target has
- Indicates your threat level as a color (green: you have low threat, yellow: you have high (>90% threat))
- Indicates the taunted status of the enemy by coloring the name of the person who currently has threat (red if the enemy is forced to attack the target)
Tank Mode (you have aggro):
- Shows you who is currently tanking ("AGGRO: <your name>" since it's in tank mode)
- Shows you how much threat the second highest person on the threat list has as a percentage of your threat
- Shows the name of the second highest person on threat
- Colors the threat percentage based on threat level (red: you are holding aggro well, purple: the second highest on threat is getting close (>90% threat))
- Indicates the taunted status of the enemy (same as in DPS Mode)
That's a lot of information, but it's displayed quite compactly. Examples are king, so here you go:
In the above example, I (Zulunko) have threat and Nymodeus is second-highest on threat. Nymodeus currently has 73% of my threat. Because he has less than 90% of my threat, it is colored red, indicating that I have safe amounts of aggro on the target.
In the above example, I am at 71% of TheRocktor's threat. The number is in green because my threat is under the 90% threshold.
In this example, I am tanking and TheRocktor has generated 92% of my threat. The number is in purple because his threat is approaching mine.
In this example, TheRocktor had a lot of threat and I taunted off of him using Reaver. Notice that the "AGGRO: Zulunko" indicator is in red (showing that the target is currently forced to attack me) and the threat number is extremely high (because TheRocktor actually has 492% of my threat; I only have aggro because of the taunt).
Fringe cases:
- If your threat is absurdly high (200% or more) compared to the thing that has aggro, the threat meter will display "HI%" in yellow. This case normally occurs when something with extremely small amounts of threat taunts the enemy. As an example, this will regularly occur when a bruiserbot taunts. Because the AGGRO indicator will read "AGGRO: Bruiserbot" and the AGGRO indicator will be in red (indicating that the target is taunted), it should be somewhat obvious what's going on. Once the target stops being taunted the threat meter will switch back to actually displaying real threat percentages.
- If you do not have an apparent entry on the target's threat table, the meter will display "LO%". This occurs in a number of situations, but the most prevalent are (1) when you haven't attacked the target yet but it is being attacked by multiple people and (2) when the target has more than 10 people attacking it and you are not one of the top 10 on the target's threat (such as in a raid). (2) is caused by a limitation in the API; the game only reports the top 10 on the threat table (likely to reduce the amount of data the server needs to send to each individual client). (1) only exists as a case because it's practically indistinguishable from (2). The below image shows what this looks like (Slickery has threat and I am not on the target's aggro table because the target hasn't noticed me).
Type /zthreat to put the threat meter in edit mode. After moving it to the desired location, type /zthreat again to take it out of edit mode. It will disappear and, once you're fighting an enemy with someone else (regardless of whether they're in your group), it'll reappear and display information.
Known issues:
- Long names (such as TheRocktor) tend to clip off the edge of the window.
- The threat meter can stay on your screen if your target was engaged and then reset or if he briefly noticed a stalker pass by. Either switching targets or simply deselecting the target will make it disappear (as will typing /zthreat).
Requested features:
- Allow the user to set "Tank Mode" or "DPS Mode" themselves (so DPS Mode doesn't happen for tanks and vice-versa).
- Allow color customization (for example, in case you think red means bad and you think it's weird for red to be a good thing in Tank Mode).
- Make it treat the Bruiserbot differently from other units (i.e. have it ignore the Bruiserbot). I can do this if it really bothers people, so just let me know.
Impossible requests:
- Have a "Healer Mode" where it tracks the threat of the enemy (a boss, for example) without the user targeting the enemy. This is impossible because the API only reports the threat tables of what you currently have targeted.
- Make it update more frequently. This is impossible because the API controls how often the threat table is updated, not me.
I (and quite a few of my guildmates) have found this addon useful in GA, so hopefully others will too. Any and all feedback is welcome.