I was asked if I’d be interested in writing a “Dear Young Me” letter for the Easterseals’ Letters to Thrive Tumbler. I thought, “Sure! That’ll be EASY!” In reality it was extremely hard! There’s so much I could’ve covered. There’s a lot of advice I could’ve used growing up. It was also really hard looking back and remembering young me’s thoughts and how self-conscious I could be about things.
Letters to Thrive for Myself
From a gaming aspect, I wish I would’ve joined World of Warcraft sooner. I gained so much confidence since arriving in Azeroth, and have touched on some reasons why this is in my “Dear Young Me” letter. Maybe I should write one solely on why Warcraft is so important. Check out the letter at: http://letterstothrive.tumblr.com/post/123375560132/dear-young-april
What About You, Dear Viewer?
What advice would you give your younger self? Are there things you wish you would’ve done differently? Let me know in the comments below! Find more Shortly on-goings in our Short Notes!
Hello, Ability Powered gamers! On this week’s World of Warcraft addon spotlight we are looking at AutoRepair. AutoRepair is exactly what you would expect it to be. You can have the addon automatically repair your gear whenever you open communications an Non-Player Character (NPC) offering equipment repairs.
AutoRepair Settings
There are settings available to specify whether you would like the addon to use your gold or use repairs offered by your guild. Once you enter your preference, the addon will continue to use this source to automatically repair your gear any time you click an appropriate NPC. This helps reduce mouse movement needed for a job that you are constantly doing in-game. Just type the following commands to get everything set up:
/ar ownonly – repairs only from your own gold.
/ar guild – tries to repair from guild bank, then tries to repair from your own gold.
/ar own – tries to repair from your own gold, then tries to repair from guild bank if you don’t have enough gold for repair.
/ar guildonly – only uses guild bank for repairs.
/ar off – disables automatic repairs.
AutoRepair Awesomeness
You can get Auto Repair on the Curse website. This addon saves me tons of time while raiding or general PvE activities. How do you feel about AutoRepair though? What is your favorite addon that helps you make Azeroth more accessible? Leave me a comment below so I can help share addons for accessibility with the Warcraft community! Find more Addons for Accessibility check here!
Hello, Ability Powered gamers! On this week’s addons for accessibility spotlight we are looking at the World of Warcraft addon: Bartender4. With this addon gamers can add extra action bars, place action bars anywhere on the screen they are needed, and scale all in-game bars to a size that the user needs for easiest access. You can customize your toolbars virtually any way you need them!
Bartender4’s Bars!
Being able into position action bars anywhere on the screen lets you reduce your mouse movement needed for various activities within Azeroth. You can have them near enemy nameplates, at the top of your screen near your on-screen keyboard, near party user interface… anywhere! Scaling down helps reduce mouse movement between buttons and scaling up helps make bars more visible. This addon is great for many different needs of many different gamers. You can get Bartender4 on the Curse website.
Beloved Bartender4
I personally adore Bartender4 and constantly use it for my everyday Azeroth activities. What is your favorite addon that helps you make Azeroth more accessible to you? Leave me a comment below, so I can help share addons for accessibility with other Ability Powered Warcraft gamers! If you’re looking for more Addons for Accessibility check here.
Hello, Ability Powered gamers! The Ability Powered team has been taking a look at Klei’s multiplayer masterpiece Don’t Starve Together. From the point of view of a mouse only gamer, this game has been absolutely amazing. It starts in full screen mode, but can quickly be changed to windowed mode so you can access your desktop with ease. There many options available including a wide variety of key bindings. You can assign key bindings to play this game with any controller setup you would like! Another option that I thought was important to mention is the fact that you can scale the user interface (UI) to make it larger or smaller depending on your needs. A smaller UI means less mouse movement required.
What Can’t You Do with Just a Mouse?!
The gameplay is equally impressive as I have yet to find anything in the game that I cannot do with solely my left mouse button. You hold it down to run, interact with objects, and navigate menu options. There are instances where right clicking is helpful, but unnecessary such as eating food. Instead of right clicking, you can also eat by dragging a stack of food over your character and pressing the left mouse button. Combat can sometimes be a little tricky as it requires quicker clicking to attack, run away, and then repeat. There are many different ways to make combat easier. With the use of traps or bodyguards, frantic clicking can sometimes be completely avoided.
Dodging Don’t Starve Fatigue
The likelihood of fatigue is a little hard for me to explain. Since this is an online game you cannot pause it. Day and night cycles keep the game constantly advancing. This means your character will be becoming hungry and since it is dangerous (actually deadly) to get caught in the dark without a fire. This makes it dangerous to just take a break and stay in the game.
Surviving Don’t Starve Together
This is a survival game, so early on there is a lot that must be done in order to support yourself. Later in the game when you have established a secure base, have a large supply of food, ect., the game becomes much more friendly. This is great in case you need to just stay at your base and rest from time to time. Something else that will reduce fatigue is to host the server yourself and create a custom game. This allows you the power to adjust the settings to be more friendly for a slower play style. There are many different options to you reduce fatigue even though it’s a survival game.
Don’t Starve Together for Everyone
Overall the game play has been fun, although at times difficult. Not because of settings or accessibility issues, but because it is a survival game and intended to give you a challenge. The multiplayer aspect of the game makes it even more enjoyable since now you can play with your friends. The possibilities with this game are endless since it has options for Player versus Player (PvP) also. Playing Don’t Starve Together with your friends could be as simple as just trying to survive with each other, or as complex with user made rules utilizing the PvP option and the custom map settings. But don’t take my word for it, check out Don’t Starve Together on Steam! You can also watch our stream for more multiplayer fun or check out more of our Accessibility First Looks!
Warcraft is a very accessible game, but sometimes there’s a little something that can be made even better with an addon or two. While some Massive Multiplayer Online games refuse to allow community made addons, Warcraft is addon friendly! There are addons for everything from questing to boss fights, and for that I’m thankful.
How I Began Using WoW Addons
I love healing. In my early days in Azeroth, I was always afraid to try it though. There’s so much clicking between using different spells and targeting different people all while moving out of mechanics. I didn’t think I could do it. Someone suggested I try an addon. I tried a few and after some trial and error I found Healium. It was perfect for me!
Why a Warcraft Addon Spotlight?
I want to help more people find those perfect fits. Starting soon I’ll be spotlighting addons and showing how they make Azeroth even more accessible to the community. So, Ability Powered gamers, what is YOUR favorite addon? What part of Azeroth does it help? Questing? Raiding? Daily chores? PvP? PvE? Let me know in the comments below. Your suggestion may be featured on an addon spotlight soon! Check out more Ability Powered news here!
What advice would you give your younger self? Are there things you wish you would’ve done differently? Let me know in the comments below! Find more Shortly on-goings in our Short Notes!