I've played WoW since 2006, and I love D&D and RPG's like Fallout, Elder Scrolls, Starfield, etc.
I have never really done any "RP" in WoW, yet, each character I play has some "head cannon" that I tell myself. And when I fight mobs, or explore new areas, I've always wanted to know more in-game stuff about those areas and mobs.
About 2 months ago I decided to do a passion project for myself to track my characters journey, and I launched this for Classic WoW. I figured there might be some other WoW players who would like that RPG aspect, and decided to share it on Curseforge.
And now I have ported it to Forever Beta and have been working on it here, so if you'd like to try it, you can!
Not-so-quick Summary:
Addon Name: Forever Field Journal
This addon records the mobs you study (more on that below), places you discover, quests you complete, and milestones in your character’s journey. It has two sections: (1)Field Notes and (2) Chronicle. (A third section for adding players is TBD if I can get their dang models to persist between sessions)
(1) Field Notes: Mob Lore
Each mob "subject" has tiers of lore ranging from 1 tier (for say, Boars) to 5 tiers (eg Defias Brotherhood) that is taken from WoW Wiki entries. You can unlock lore by killing a mob or by using Observe. I added Observe as a non-combat way to learn about mobs. The mechanics are similar to fishing!
Your first kill or successful observation unlocks Tier 1. Each later kill or successful observation gives you a chance to unlock the next tier:
Tier 2: 5%
Tier 3: 2.5%
Tier 4: 1%
Tier 5: 0.5%
A "subject" (ie, mob.) can also be a group of related mobs, such as Plainstriders, rather than one individual NPC. Its page shows your unlocked lore, kills and observations, and the places where you encountered the mobs. "Subjects" you haven’t discovered appear as "Not Yet Observed".
(1a) Observe: A Non-Combat Alternative
Target a mob and click Observe beside its target frame. This begins a 12-second interaction with a timing mechanic similar in spirit to fishing: one of three tools glows, and you must click the correct one. A successful observation counts toward lore unlocks just as a credited kill does.
(1b) Field Notes: Exploring Zones
Field Notes also tracks named subregions as you visit them, so Goldshire in Elywnn Forest, Valley of Trials, etc. You can select a zone to see its discovered places and their descriptions, then select a subject (mob type) to read its lore. The current beta build has entries for 18 zones and ~180 mobs.
(2) Chronicle: Your Character’s Story
Chronicle is the 2nd aspect of the addon. It sorts your records into chapters by character level. It logs completed quests, level milestones, and deaths. Level entries include short reflections and death entries record the location and identify what killed you.
Some quests have custom-written Field Journal entries. For newer quests added in Forever that I haven't been able to add yet, the addon saves the text shown when you accept the quest and uses it in Chronicle after you complete it. It cannot retrieve acceptance text for quests completed before that feature was installed.
Now, one of the COOLEST parts, imo. The left page of a Chronicle chapter shows two 3D snapshots of your character’s appearance at its level milestones, including the gear you were wearing at the time. So you can visually see the progression of your character! The right page contains the written entries (such as completed quests, level up, deaths, ect, for that level bracket). The last chapter, for level 60, is called Forever.
***TRANSPARENCY***
I am a full time grad student and father, and I as much as I want to use my DM skills and creatively write entries for the addon, I also want to actually use it. The mob lore entries and summary entries that are written to the journal (when you level up for example), although are taken directly from the WoW Wiki and quests that reference them, were written by AI. I haven't been able to review them all yet, but I have gone through a lot manually. I am also using AI for coding, as it's been 10 years since I used C++ and my only up-to-date skills are with MATLAB. If you are not okay with this, I totally understand. I'm not looking to get anything out of this other than sharing a fun project with our community.
State of Readiness: Addons posted under this flair must be fully functional and ready for use.
AI Disclosure: If AI was used for code, text generation, or assets, you must include an "AI Disclaimer:" in your post detailing its usage. Purely AI-generated, emoji-heavy slop descriptions will be removed.
UI Screenshots: If your addon features UI elements, your post must include screenshots. Posts failing to show UI elements will be deleted.
Code Quality: We audit addons using Ketho's WoW API extension. Poorly optimized code, unnecessary global variables, or undisclosed AI usage will result in removal.
Users: If you encounter missing screenshots for a UI addon, severe performance issues, or undisclosed AI text/code, please report this post.
I really love the bestiary in Field Journal! I have a suggestion for making the field study minigame a bit more interesting.
Right now, Observation, Field Sketch and Set Trap seem to work pretty much the same way: wait for a button to light up and click it.
What if each successful action triggered a small optional challenge that rewards you with bonus Knowledge?
Set Trap: After successfully setting a trap, you have 60 seconds to kill the targeted creature for a big Knowledge bonus.
Observation: Observe the creature fighting for 10 seconds without attacking it yourself. This could include watching it fight another player or your pet.
Field Sketch: Keep the creature targeted while standing still for 5 seconds without entering combat, as if you're actually sketching it.
Completing these challenges would reward additional Knowledge, while failing them would still grant the normal amount from the initial action.
I think this could make studying creatures much more engaging, since each action would encourage a different kind of interaction with the world instead of just clicking buttons.
The nice thing is that it wouldn't require any additional creature-specific lore, text or artwork. Just a few simple mechanics using existing gameplay.
When I first started this addon, I thought it would be fun to learn some lore and motivate some grinding. But I've recently gone through and changed up a lot of the lore, and having done so, it's easy to see how most of the interesting lore about mobs isn't something that the character would learn by killing or observing.
Most would need to be acquired knowledge. Which got me thinking. In D&D, if a player wants to learn more, they go around and ask people or read books.
So what I've been working on is creating a dialogue option with NPC's that the player would need to find and speak too, to unlock that lore.
That way it's more immersive and isn't just grinding mobs and instead get's players to go to parts of town or speak with NPCs they wouldnt normally interact with.
Also, if the player is having a hard time finding the correct NPC based on the hint given, they can approach ANY npc and ask like "hey, do you know anyone who might know about these wolves?". Some NPCs will, some wont. But you'll find one who can tell you exactly who to go talk to.
I was actually thinking about getting rid of the observation mini-game completely, because you're right, it doesn't add anything, and now without the emphasis on grinding, really wouldnt be needed.
I could however, find appropriate lore entries that would require a great deal of studying, and change the observation mini-game to studying. But, I'd have to think on that more.
I appreciate your feedback! I'm actually trying to stick to something more simple that reminds me of a D&D journal I'd keep for my character (or that something my in-game character would actually know/write about themself, aka, "Field Drawings" of monsters, "Self Portraits", etc), and not like a statistical sheet.
I really appreciate you giving it a shot too. Cheers!
thematically I liked it, and all those ideas you mention I'd love to see in there too. I didn't see an option to make my own notes which would be nice. Tracking an epic quest line would be a neat feature too to document the bread crumbs that led to where you are in the current quest too, fitting into the aesthetic you have. Tracking the first time visiting major new places like zones, towns and cities.
I really appreciate the aesthetic of not being a pure statistics data display journal, so please keep that if you continue development, I think that's something unique to your addon I've not seen elsewhere.
I didn't see an option to make my own notes which would be nice.
How do you imagine that would look? An additional tab up top, like "Musings" (or some other RP name)? Would it be unlimited pages of text, unorganized? Would there be a need for additional tabs or custom bookmarks?
I just downloaded it. A bestiary in WoW always was something I longed for, having to observe the beasts to learn more about them sounds great. Maybe you could improve on that, like special entries for Rare mobs.
Although I put in my transparency that I originally used AI for the lore entries, I am indeed going through them manually now to confirm accuracy and re-write their entries in comparison to their Wiki pages. I'm also in the middle of a restructure process for the mob lore tiers.
For mobs lore, I'm trying to balance:
- What could the character learn about the animal from hunting it (aka killing or observing)
- What could the character learn about the mob from "RP" scenarios (such as reading books, or overhearing chatter in the tavern, etc)
- What cool lore would the player enjoy reading, without breaking the immersion of the first two bullets
But this process is taking a while since I'm doing it by hand. However, I plan to have the starter zones done this weekend. So keep an eye out for the update!
•
u/AutoModerator 10d ago
Developer Requirements for Releases & Updates:
Users: If you encounter missing screenshots for a UI addon, severe performance issues, or undisclosed AI text/code, please report this post.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.