What do you like in a WoW video?

[wowunderachiever]

I like watching videos on YouTube about addons I'm thinking about trying. So many of them are outdated or done in ways I don't appreciate much and I decided to try my hand at it.

What kinds of things do you like and not like about these kinds of videos? It doesn't have to be about addon videos - any kind of WoW-oriented instructional videos.

***I am not talking about the PvP gameplay type videos - just guide/instructional type videos***

Do you like them longer (10 or more minutes) or shorter (5 minutes or less)

For a "big" addon or something complex - would you rather one long video that covers everything, or several smaller ones broken down into sections.

Do you want to see some personality, humor, or that sort of thing - or is it better just cut and dried, facts only?

For any addon authors, what kinds of general information about your addon do you want people to know?

Any thoughts and opinions on what makes a quality WoW guide-type video are welcome.

[Chmee]

Shorter is better. If you can't cover everything in five minutes (or less), break it down into multiple videos. Don't just cover what any idiot can figure out looking at the options, make useful suggestions, and explain why they're useful. Personality and humor are good, if they're not overdone. Make sure what you're talking about is easy to see and read. Explain what people are seeing, especially if you're showing combat (which can be pretty hard to follow). Production quality is important.

[Phanx]

I don't watch WoW videos very often, but I've noticed that most of them are basically unwatchable due to their low resolution and general poor video quality. It doesn't need to be full 1920x1080 resolution with pixel-perfect quality, but it shouldn't have massive artifacting all over the place, and things on the screen (such as ability icons) should be generally identifiable.

If your video is about a specific part of the interface (either the default UI or an addon) it would probably be helpful to start out with a full-screen view for context, and then zoom/crop to show only the relevant area for the rest of the video, maybe briefly switching back to full-screen for context periodically if you think it's needed. This way you would not need such a massive video file to keep text and such clear.

If you're doing a voiceover, explain what's going on. I know you said you're not doing PvP videos, but those are a good example of something I think are often poorly done. If you're a hardcore PvPer, then you can just watch some footage of PvP combat and know exactly what's going on. If you're a casual PvPer, or don't PvP at all, you generally have no idea what's going on.

A simple voiceover in these videos explaining why the player did what he did (eg. explaining the PvP strategy) or clarifying what action was taken if it's not clear from the video (due to poor resolution, a specialized macro that doesn't show much in the UI, etc) would go a long way toward helping non-PvP-pros appreciate the skill and strategy of the player and his team.

[Nibelheim]

P.S. Short intro. Nothing worse than a 45 second video clip, where 30 seconds of it is the introduction footage, featuring nothing but animations and effects.

[Moxie]

No music, or no music with a dance rhythm if you must have some. So distracting.

No horrid graphics. It's really, really hard for me to watch a video through when the creator uses clipart in their intro or somesuch.

A clear voiceover, as opposed to the mumbling/words running into one another in a lot of the more popular video series'. In that vein, clear text on the screen without a lot of extra stuff to distract the eye.

[wowunderachiever]

I am surprised to see I am in full agreement with each and every one of the responses so far. Those are my peeves and preferences too.

Odd that so many of the vids on YouTube employ so many of the things we all seem to dislike here.

If any of you addon authors would like me to do a video about your addon (except UI packs) I'd be happy to look into it. If you want to check out what I've done already shoot me a PM and I'll point you to my chan.

Thanks for all the helpful replies...

[Ketho]

I just saw your video of FasterCamera and it's just awesome
I think it looks very clear, simple and straight to the point

Hope your next videos will be even better

myself I also made a video about ScrollingChatText, but it was my first video ever and the quality is low and I didn't know how to narrate a video ><

[wowunderachiever]

Thanks very much Ketho. Glad you liked it. I have plenty of room for improvement still but hope I did your addon justice. I really like it.