Hello, Ability Powered gamers! Today’s Addon for Accessibility is for all you World of Warcraft guys questing through Azeroth. It’s called Quest Announce 3. Quest Announce 3 does exactly what you think it does. It tells fellow party members what your progress is on a quest as you quest together through Azeroth.
How Would This Addon Help with Accessibility?
What makes this a good accessibility addon though? It makes quick updates to your party members. For Ability Powered gamers using on-screen keyboards, typing can sometimes takes a little time. This can slow down questing, and a lot of the time you’ll be asked “Did you finish that?” Since the addon automatically announces the progress your making as you quest, you won’t have to worry about taking time out to tell your party members!
Easier Questing for All!
Don’t take my word for it though! Check out Quest Announce 3 today, and let me know what you think. What are some of your favorite questing addons? Leave me a comment and we’ll check them out on Addons for Accessibility!
Hello, Ability Powered gamers! I’ve bought Mojang’s Minecraftfive times.You read that right, five! I have it on PC, Playstation 3. Playstation 4, Xbox, and now mobile. You would think I would be a Minecraft professional, but I’ve never really played a decent game. Why? One word: accessibility.
Locked-In to Minecraft
As most of you know I’m a mouse only gamer. I can’t really use console controllers anymore and only play with a mouse on PC. This presents a huge problem with Minecraft since the game locks your mouse pointer in. A locked in mouse means I have no access to my on-screen keyboard and can’t move my character. I could dig down to kingdom come, but couldn’t take a step. Awhile back you guys may have saw me Tweeting about a possible mouse only version of Minecraft that utilizing The Grid 2 software, sadly it didn’t work out.
A New Hope for Accessibility?
This weekend as the free trial of The Grid 2 ticked down, I was really bummed out at the thought of never being able to play this wonderful game. I was working on my new Bluetooth mouse/cellphone combo, trying to get the settings worked out and I saw the mobile version of Minecraft in the google store. What was that on the screenshot? A move pad to move your character around? I was shocked! It contained nice, big squares to move and squat. I immediately downloaded it.
Why No PC Move Pad??
The verdict on whether or not I can play is still out. It was problematic in areas, but I’m still not sure if they’re fixable or not. That’s not why I’m posting this though. My reason is actually to see if anyone could explain to me why a mobile version of a game has a movement system that could make their PC game more accessible, yet isn’t available on the PC? I am just completely confused by this. It’s 2015 and there’s a working system to move a character on a mobile game, but on a computer I can’t move around and punch 8 bit blocks? It’s sad and needs to be changed.
Please Contact Me If You Know!
Accessibility is important. In most cases it’s easy to integrate. In Minecraft’s case it’s even already designed and working on a mobile version. Isn’t it time it was an option in the full game? Check out our Opinioncolumn for more accessibility thoughts from myself!
Hello, Ability Powered gamers! This week’s Addon for Accessibility is a World of Warcraft addon for all you guys questing throughout Azeroth. It’s called QBar (Quest Item Button Bar), and it’s wonderful for all those quests out there with items you have to use to complete a quest. When you get a quest with an item that needs to be used, the item is automatically added to a toolbar on your screen. Why is this a good thing for accessibility? It reduces a lot of unnecessary mouse clicking. You don’t have to open your bag to find the item to hotkey it yourself! Now you can have it open anywhere on the screen. Instead of needing to mouse to the default quest objective list on the right and you can left click instead of needing to right click. It’ll even add any objects that begin a quest, too!
QBar: a Breath of Relief
I initially got QBar to test for you guys, but after using it for the video I quickly feel in love. I will be adding it to my arsenal of must have addons. But don’t take my word for it, check it out on CurseForge and let me know what you think! Are you looking for other accessible World of Warcraft addons? Check out the Addons for Accessibility section for more!
Hello, Ability Powered gamers! Today, I am sharing with you guys a little more than I have been totally comfortable with, but I think it’s for the best. When I post guides or tips I naturally get a lot of people asking why I don’t just get a gaming mouse and keybind abilities to the extra buttons, or try other helpful suggestions? I definitely appreciate all the proposals I get, because that means everyone is troubleshooting problems which is basically what I do here at Ability Powered. I always just tell people that the way I play I can’t really use the side buttons despite having a Razor gaming mouse. I thought I should go into a little more detail on exactly how I do play World of Warcraft (WoW).
How Do I Play World of Warcraft?
I use a Razor Hex mouse for a few reasons. First, it’s small and fits my hand well. It’s just comfy. Secondly, it doesn’t require much movement to be able to move a large distance on the screen due to its high dots per inch. It is also has really good precision. Perhaps you of the best features it has is a dip where your finger rests to click. This helps me keep my finger where it needs to be. My WoW guildie actually suggested and got me my first Hex and I’ve been a huge fan since.
WoW Clicking Assist Programs
Another thing I do is keep accessibility programs on-screen with World of Warcraft in windowed mode, so I can get to them easily. Programs like Windows‘ “On-Screen Keyboard” and ClickAid make a big difference in Azeroth for me. On-screen keyboard allows me to type in-game and works as a second toolbar that I can choose from based on where my mouse is on the screen. ClickAid also helps when I need to right click and I am unable to.
World of Warcraft’s In-Game Accessibility
I also use a lot of WoW’s Interface options. I use Move Pad, left click to interact, auto loot, and open loot at mouse pointer features. There’s actually tons of options in WoW. Another thing I play with are addons for WoW. There’s actually an addon for just about every part of the game! If you’d like to learn more about these addons check out our Addons for Accessibility!
Minimizing In-Game Movement
When I play I generally take my time. I keep things slow to minimize mouse movement as much as possible. For example, when I’m questing I usually wait on enemies to respawn instead of running around competing to get kills. This doesn’t mean I tag every kill when it spawns. I share quest objectives with anyone in the area and tag the ones near me. Even sharing kills, I still get the occasional whisper calling me a camper. I just ignore them and carry on.
How I Enjoy World of Warcraft & Hope to Keep Enjoying It
With a combination of all these things there is not a lot of Azeroth that I have problems with. My only requests would be rotate buttons on the Move Pad and maybe the return of /follow to the battlegrounds. Although the Move Pad change is definitely the most important! I hope this explains a bit better my setup for playing WoW. Everyone has a different system, so leave me a comment and let me know how you play! Also let me know if you want to see more of how my setup works out in Azeroth here!
Hello, Ability Powered gamers! This week’s Addons for Accessibility is for all those World of Warcraft Player versus Player (PvP) lovers out there. It’s called Battleground Targets. With Battleground Targets you can easily target members of the opposing faction without the need for excessive mouse movement. Battleground Targets adds a list of every enemy to your screen as a battleground starts. Clicking on a name makes that enemy your target. The reason I think this adds additional accessibility is because it counters a problem I encounter during PvP.
Battleground Targets’ Thorough Options
PvP is all about movement in many cases. If you have mobility issues in Azeroth, such as slower mouse movement or get easily fatigued, you already know how frustrating it is to chase enemies around the screen. Battleground Targets completely eliminates this by providing you a stationary list to click. The options are also very friendly to anyone looking for added accessibility. Not only can you adjust health bar sizes to meet infinite needs, you can also move it anywhere on the screen. It will show you a ton of information about the enemy team like how many tanks, healers, and damage dealers they have without needing to go click the battleground information screen. It will also show you who is in range and who they are targeting. You can also see if they use/have used a PvP trinket.
Helping to Dominate Your Enemies!
All and all this is an amazing addon, but don’t take my word for it! Check out Battleground Targets on CurseForge and let me know what you think! Tell me in the comments how you liked it, and if it was able to help you dominate the battleground! If you have an addon you would like to see on Addons for Accessibility let me know and I would love to check it out!