I have noticed for a while now that having several nameplates active on screen can dip my frame rate performance, which happens often in instances and cities.
Is there an addon that allows you to trigger individual nameplates for only NPCs or players that you attack or focus? Being able to have only the aggroed NPC nameplates active while playing would help with performance of the game, instead of having all friendly, enemy or both group nameplates active on screen.
No addon needed for this one, it’s already the default option in game. Most people just change it mainly for visability reasons. But if you go into Menu > Interface > Names, and uncheck “Always Show Nameplates”, it will then only show the plate of the targetted mob. 
I appreciate the reply back. Unfortunately my description needs clarification.
I would like to see the nameplates stay on even after highlighting the NPC or target, as long as aggro is active.
I understand the nameplate shows if I have an actively selected target. I want the nameplate to stay on if I have aggro but target another NPC (as long as aggro remains on me), and not for all enemies or allies, but by my own choice.
Ah, I see. Unfortunately I’m not aware of an addon that can do that exact thing for you, but something you can do that will help in instances if you’re experiencing lag is enabling Menu > System > Graphics > Raid and Battleground Settings. This will let you specify lower graphics settings for when you enter them.
Specifically I’d suggest turning down Particle Density, Shadow Quality, Depth Effects, and Environment Detail. It’s paramount to keep Projected Textures turned ON however.
I’ve never heard of nameplates themselves causing video lag, but anything is possible. Do note that no matter what settings you have enabled or disabled, major population centers such as boralus, Dazar Alor, Stormwind, or Orgrimmar will cause lag just due to the sheer amount of players that are active there. Start with these options and see if that helps you out.
You’ve been kind with your replies, so thank you for that. I’m running on a six-
core, 12-thread CPU @ 4.2GHz with a 1080 Ti GPU, so I’m not struggling for frames. I’m just trying to optimize my experience by keeping my frame rate consistently over 100+ fps (particularly while in instances) since I have a 144Hz 1440p monitor.
Any other takers?
Ok, I understand the full picture now. I was assuming from your previous posts that you were playing on an older system. Sorry for that.
Unfortunately WoW just isn’t optimized for that. Nvidia cards especially seem to have a hard time with staying above 100 FPS in the heavy workload portions of this game. On the CPU front, it wasn’t even until last year that multi-thread support was added to the game.
With the game engine itself being designed close to 20 years ago at this point, it’s just something we just have to deal with. Maintaining 60+ FPS is more than doable, but a 144Hz monitor is simply overkill for the game in it’s current iteration. You’ll never not have trouble maintaining those type of frames with the way the game currently is.
Thanks for your insight. I might have to dig into Lua and the WoW API to see if it is even possible to allow persistent individual nameplates. If so, I might have a fun coding project ahead of me.
Given your description of what you’re after, i know a few people that would gladly pick up an addon of that nature.
You may want to ask in the UI/Mod forum as well. I can’t think of anything that does exactly what you’re looking for, but there are a few options for threat plates that might be able to provide a start.