Major Release With Patch 8.1.5 March 12
With the release of patch 8.1.5 on March 12th, we will be releasing the next major version of ElvUI, namely ElvUI v11. The main thing about this release is that it will contain our brand new nameplates, rewritten to utilize oUF, the unitframe framework which the unitframes are also built on. This will bring a lot of advantages, and one disadvantage. I will go over that below.

Bad News First
The nameplate settings will be completely reset. Yep, you heard me. While the functionality is close to what it was before (although better now), it is not feasible to try to convert old settings to the new nameplates. It is much better to make everyone start fresh and let them configure the new nameplates to fit their own playstyle. Make sure you give yourself time to play around with the new nameplates. Do not update ElvUI for the new patch 10 minutes before raid and think you can just jump in like nothing happened. Don't be that guy (or girl). You have been warned.

Time For Dessert
One of the major advantages for the end user (that's you) is the increase in performance that the new nameplates will bring. It might not mean much for people with high-end computers, but we're confident that people who generally struggle with performance will feel a difference for the better. Having the nameplates work on the oUF framework also makes it a lot easier for us to bring new functionality into play. In theory, anything we do for unitframes could be added to nameplates as well, or vice versa. In general it should be a much more clean experience for users and for the people who work with the ElvUI code.

Specific Details
Azilroka has been hard at work on this one. He is the main contributor on the new nameplates, with people like Elv, Simpy and Merathilis helping out with code and testing. For the main part you should be able to do the same things that you could do with the old nameplates. One of the new features is the ability to offset most, if not all, elements of the nameplate. Generally when people mention "nameplate" they refer to the health bar. But the healthbar can also be offset. Imagine the nameplate being an invisible and clickable container. All visible elements like health, power, castbar etc. can be offset so that you can have health below power, or vice versa.

I Don't Like It, Can I Use The Old NamePlates?
Nope!:)

Final Notes
While we have tried our best to test every part of the new nameplates, with help from a few courageous users, it is very possible that something doesn't behave as intended. Instead of getting all riled up, you can help getting it fixed quickly by reporting the issue to us. Make sure you test if you can reproduce the issue with nothing but core ElvUI enabled (no plugins), and mention which steps we need to take in order to be able to reproduce it. That will lead to a swift resolution.

We hope you enjoy the new nameplates and the new patch. It might be a lot of changes going on all at once, so let me once more recommend that you log in with plenty of time before raid, so that you have time to set up the nameplates in a way that works for you in a raid environment. Have fun

TL;DR

Interesting. I can appreciate the move to a more robust and efficient code; I like most parts of ElvUI, but nameplates are done better by other addons, IMO. That is, until ElvUI 11? We'll see!

I've been wanting a nameplates upgrade

Many thanks for the very early notice <3

Thanks for the update
Quick question though: Will the look of the nameplates change with this update too or is it more of a back-end thing?

Cheers!

while i love your addon, your plates have always been terrible imho. hopefully this will be like tidy plates and allow custom SHAPE plates so i can get rid of another addon.

Daervon wrote: ↑Tue Mar 05, 2019 8:52 am Thanks for the update
Quick question though: Will the look of the nameplates change with this update too or is it more of a back-end thing?

Cheers!

The look is slightly different I think, but the feel should be the same.

mon1800 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 05, 2019 9:29 am while i love your addon, your plates have always been terrible imho. hopefully this will be like tidy plates and allow custom SHAPE plates so i can get rid of another addon.

It will not be like tidy plates, they will not allow custom shapes.

Our nameplates have something no other nameplates do;
Style Filters. That allows you to customize the nameplates based on a series of triggers->actions. That is not new functionality though, as our current nameplates have those already.

is there a way to test it already ?

Thanks for the heads up of what is a major change, I usually. keep screen shot copies of all my settings, so it's easier to use the same settings for some elements across different UI setups, however it looks like I will not be able to re use my 'old' settings with these changes.
When the patch hits I usually raid the same day, will I be able to delay my ELVUI update until at least the day after or to at least update it at a time which will be more convenient for me to spend the required time to set up the new Nameplates ? Will the UI still function right and as it is now until I instal the update ?