Screenshot Identification 101

[GizzleBizzle]

Screenshot Identification 101

Identifying screenshots is quite easy if you know where to look. Some detective work and general knowledge about WoW is needed to be sure. That is why I've decided to share my knowledge in this guide. Though still not perfect, it allows for efficient screenshot identification at a first few glances and I hope it can help more people become involved in the Project. The guide consists of step-by-step description of every screenshot element that can be used to identify a screenshot and some difficult, hand-picked example of the logic used to determine the patch of a screenshot.

[Methodology]

1. The icon tray The first thing I look at is the icon tray located on the bottom right side of the UI, next to the bags. Though it cannot tell the specific patch of this screenshot, it narrows down the search to a particular timeframe right from the start.

a) The Ancient Era Screenshots with five, misalligned (with some room in the left) icons in the tray have mostly archeological value. They are from alpha versions much earlier than 0.5.3 and little (if any) value is present in them. These screenshots automatically get the "version older than 0-5-3" tag in the archive.

b) The Green Bug Era This is the good stuff. Screenshots with the green bug icon are the most valuable for the Alpha Project as they were taken shortly before, during or shortly after the 0.5.3 patch. This icon tray covers the following patches:

• 0.5.4
• 0.5.3
• one (verified), possibly two (speculation, need further proof) patches before 0.5.3

c) The Question Mark Era With the launch of 0.5.5 the green bug icon was changed to a question mark. This UI covers the following patches:

• 0.5.5
• 0.6
• 0.7 Though these patches three patches span many months, other UI elements give enough information to accurately distinguish between them with ease.

d) The Pink Talent Era 0.8 Was the start of the new talent tree system (for warriors and mages first) that could be accesed with the pink icon between the spellbook and the quest log. A word of advice - to my knowledge this icon appears when reaching lvl 10, so 0.8 screenshots without this icon can happen as the character will be underlvled. This tray covers the following patches:

• 0.8
• 0.9

e) The Arrow Talent Era As of 0.10 the designated talent button was changed to the arrow talent icon people may recognize from retail versions of WoW. This Tray covers the following patches:

• 0.10
• 0.11
• 0.12

There are also two problematic trays that can be encountered x) The doppleganger This tray has two book icons. This was an addon estimating mobs' health. The earliest screenshots I have encountered appear in 0.5.5. What patch it is exacly must be deducted from other parts of the screenshot.

z) The pinkster The second tray has both the pink talent and the green bug icons. It neither means that it's from 0.8-0.9 or 0.5.3-0.5.4 era. It is from patches before 0.5.3 and should automatically get "version older than 0-5-3" tag.

2. Party Frames After quickly establishing a timeframe it's time to get into the details

If the character has crossed swords instead of a lvl when in combat - automatic patch 0.12

If any of the party member's frame shows only the health bar -> earlier than 0.5.3.

If an alliance/horde symbol is seen next to any party member's portrait -> 0.7 or later.

If party members are in a raid group -> 0.10 or later.

Classes Mages, Priests, Warriors, Paladins and Warlocks were available in 0.5.3. Another clue can be determined by different classes present in the screenshots. If shamans are present -> 0.5.4 or later If rogues are present -> 0.5.5 or later If druids are present -> 0.6 or later If hunters are present -> 0.9 or later NOTE - There were cases of Blizzard allowing some gaming press sites access to classes, that weren't available yet. Caution is required when determining patches from classes alone, especially from screenshots with watermarks.

Level Just like classes, levels of players in the screenshots can give clues, as the cap was gradually increased with each patch. Patch 0.5.3 -> LvL 25 cap Patch 0.5.4 -> most likely Lvl 30 cap (patch notes state, that blizzard removed lvl 27+ items from characters in order to make characters weaker to test the upcoming content like a typical lvling character, not geared-out twink) Patch 0.5.5 -> LvL 30 cap Patch 0.6 -> LvL 39 cap Patch 0.7 -> LvL 45 cap Patch 0.8 -> LvL 50 cap Patch 0.9 - LvL 55 cap Patch 0.10 -> LvL 60 cap

3. Chat Chat offers valuable information when it comes to distinguishing between 0.5.5 and 0.6 screenshots - item links. These are the colorless old item links. They were present since patches not uncovered yet to 0.5.5.

These, colored item links were first introduced in 0.6 as a part of "Advanced Chat System" NOTE - As I understand it, the first possibility to use the advanced chat system (and new item links) were originally a toggle function before it became a standard. Therefore there may be some 0.6 screenshots, where this function hadn't been toggled. From my experience this happens for the first 2-3 weeks of 0.6 and shouldn't cause much disruption. Other method of veryfing it is being developed to make it simpler to recognize.

Skillpoints It means this screenshot is either from patch 0.6 or onwards. Patch 0.6 changed the skillpoint system so that characters could earn skillpoints about every ~450 exp.

4. Combat Log Here usually lie information about 0.5.5, 0.6 and 0.7 versions. This is the information from the Rested System introduced in 0.6. There were 5 levels, each changing the colour of filled experience bars:

• Exhausted (25% of exp from killing mobs)
• Fatigued (50% of exp from killing mobs)
• Normal (100%)
• Rested (150%)
• Well rested (200%) They would adjust gained experience, mentioning the rested level after killing a mob. NOTE - Combat log mentions all rested levels except "normal", but then this system can be easily noticed with the experience marker. That system was simplified in 0.7 into 3 rested states:
• Tired (100% exp)
• Normal (150% exp)
• Rested (200% exp) Just like it was in 0.6, gaining experience while being on "normal" doesn't mention it in the log. The system was again changed simplified into the system people may recognize from 1.12.1 with only two stages (Normal/Rested)

Four-Colour vs Multicolor combat logs Thecolor of information listed in combat logs differ depending on patches. The old combat log using 4 colours:

• White for the actions of our character
• Red for actions of our enemy
• Yellow for error messages of our character
• Green for actions of our minion (and when a party member dies)

Starting with 0.7 a different style of combat logs can be seen Where all party members' actions can be seen in green.

Starting with 0.8 there are also combat logs with different colours. Where party member's actions are seen in blue.

Whether it's a part of customizable Advanced Chat System mentioned above or a completely separate thing is not known right now. However it is nice to bear in mind that these things became more and more prelevant during starting from those patches.

Falling damage & Experience loss Falling damage was introduced in 0.5.5 and carries over to all subsequent patches until retail launch. Every time falling damage is taken, it is registered in the combat log.

There was also an option to retrieve a corpse at a spirit healer for a bit of experience loss. It was also introduced in 0.5.5

Action Bars In case of doubt It's good practice to research the history of abilities present in the character's action bars. Official Blizzard Patch Notes contain valuable information on when new abilities were introduced or how their lvl requirements or functionality were changed.

5. Screenshot name Screenshots taken from particular versions of WoW clients contain the date of their creation. It can be seen while using the Project's Archive. They usually use the inferior (American) format, which would be MM/DD/YY - in this case the 20th of April, 2004

It may sound like a done deal but I would advise using this information if we need FURTHER proof, not the only one. The reason is some screenshots were reposted on websites and others had their dates manually changed by their owners. One can never be sure if he's working on genuine or fake data. I usually leave this bit as a last step to be sure that everything is in order.

Timeline of patches: 0.5.3 - 12.12.2003
0.5.4 - 15.01.2004
0.5.5 - 18.03.2004 0.6 - 13.04.2004 0.7 - 15.06.2004 - Mailboxes added 0.8 - 07.07.2004 0.9 - 17.08.2004 0.10 - 18.09.2004 0.11 - 29.09.2004 0.12 - 11.10.2004

6.Timelining Instead of working on only one screenshot, many screenshots of the same character can be used to retrace his WoW journey or find additional data to support identification. If one screenshot can't definitely tell what patch it is, try finding others.

[Practice] It's time to use our knowledge. Lets go step by step.

• The icon tray has a question mark icon, which means the screenshot was taken anywhere between 0.5.5 and 0.12. Quite a wide range.

• The party frame shows Valconeyes at lvl 15. The level alone tells us nothing. Combined with the tray, however, tells us, that we can remove patches 0.8, 0.9, 0.10, 0.11 and 0.12 from the list as reaching lvl 10 he would either have the pink talent icon (patches 0.8 and 0.9) or the arrow talent icon (patches 0.10, 0.11 and 0.12)

• 3 patches left on the table - 0.5.5, 0.6 and 0.7.

• There aren't any item links in the chat so we cannot say for sure at this point if it is definitely 0.5.5 or subsequent patches.

• Valconeyes has killed a monster, but because he is in "Normal" state, he doesn't get bonus/negative experience (and therefore information about added/subtracted experience isn't shown in the log) However, if this was patch 0.6 or 0.7 we could see a marker on his experience bar representing when his "Normal" state will become "Fatigued" in 0.6 or "Tired" in 0.7.

• Though it's a lead, we can't really say it's from 0.5.5 yet. Valconeyes could have aqquired so much "Normal" experience, that he would become "Fatigued" or "Tired" on another lvl.

• All data in it is either red or white, even when showing party members' actions. This means it is the earliest version of the combat log which was present in 0.5.5 and 0.6. It's safe to cross out patch 0.7 from the list.

• The screenshot's name says it was made in 0.5.5. Can't really be sure if it wasn't manipulated.

• Searching through the archive yielded another screenshot of this character. Based on the combination of old item links in the chat and the question mark icon in the tray it can be instantly identified that it is patch 0.5.5. The search is over.

Most of the time screenshot identification isn't as hard as the example. A big chunk of them can be identified with relative ease. However I really wanted to show how to handle things when the case is really tough. I hope you will find this guide useful and I wish you luck in learning/uncovering more interesting things about alpha/beta stages of WoW.

If You ever have problems identifying a screenshot, holler at me (GizzleBizzle) on the Alpha Project's discord