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April 27, 2009, 10:39 AM
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#1 (permalink) |
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A beginner's guide to UI?
Been playing a lock for 3 years now, but never used any of the beatiful UI's that just about every else seems to be using. I move with the mouse and all my spells are keybound within easy reach of my left hand, took me quite some time to set that up though and I'm lazy by nature and suspicious of becoming dependent on addons. So apologizies since I'm sure this question has come up before (even though search didn't yield what I was looking for), but is there a guide how to create a simple an clean UI without 20 mods that is easy to set up and maintain? |
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April 27, 2009, 10:59 AM
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#2 (permalink) |
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Re: A beginner's guide to UI?
I am not sure if there is an actual guide, even though there should be, lol. but here is a quick "ramble" about UI. If you want a good UI it's going to require some addons, but you dont have to have 100 of them to achieve what you are looking for. there are a few essentials though. First you need Bartender! thats the most important. if you don't have this, and you don't know what it is; This addon allows you to make up to 10 customizable bars that can be moved anywhere on the screen, resized to any size, fade in and out, the whole shabang! you also get seperate pet bars, stance bars, vehicle bars, etc. definitely a must for a good UI. Next, Learn how to write some macros, that will clear up alot of your Button, for example, i have a Macro that when i hold down CTRL and click it, it creates a healthstone, but if i just click it without holding CTRL, it uses the Healthstones. i have that same setup for my spellstone, and my soulstone. so that saves 3 extra buttons right there. Now if you are interested in Unit Frames. which i think are pretty important. i use XPERL. it takes a while to get used to it, but i promise once you install it, and run it for a few weeks, you will absolutely love it. the interface to set it up is very easy to read and figure out, it's not a bunch of slash commands, there are buttons and arrows and stuff. Either way it is worth it, Xperl will allow you to resize your character window, you can customize your health and mana bars, and move them anywhere on the screen. This is the Addon that you may have seen on videos where the player have a moving character picture; you can choose not to use though. you can also put a percentage on your health and mana and tons of other stuff! there is quite a bit involved with it, it took me a couple days of messing around to get it to look exactly how i wanted it, but it works like trial and error, getting it looking good, then when it does something you don't like, go back and fix it, and sooner or later it will be perfect. it may take a while but i prefer it 10 fold over the Blizzard Unit Frames. I also use Mappy. it is an addon that makes your map square and resizable. this makes it easy to fit in the top corner of your screen, and it takes up less space so you can see more of the game itself. and lastly i use fubar. it's that black bar you see on the top of everyone's screen that gives gold info, FPS (frames per second) bag info, location info, there is an endless amount of crap you can put on it. so there ya go, there are 4 addons and a macro lesson that will get you on your feet to a better looking UI. most important is bartender. if you have that you will find yourself in a much better boat then you were. then work your way down the list  if you go to Curse.com - WoW Addons WAR Addons Gamer Blogs Forums you can search up all of these addons, and just check them out to see what they do and how they work, you may find that you don't have to become Dependent on them, but you will really prefer to use them over the UI that is standard with the game. I personally prefer a UI that is very small and out of the way, i would much rather look at the game than the buttons and chat windows. i have most of my buttons really tiny, but viewable, and binded to keys. my map is small and my unit frames are small, i do have two chat windows, one for everything, and the other for whispers, guild chat, and party chat; but they are small to and out of the way. i setup bartender so most of my buttons will fade if i do not have my mouse hovered over them. that keeps the game more viewable. and my chat windows are the same, the backgrounds are faded so when there is nothing typed in them, they are practically invisible. but of course it is all personal preference, that is the point of having these addons so complex and customizable, that way anyone that uses them can achieve what they are looking for when it comes to their UI Hope this helps.
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iK Last edited by Ikabod; April 27, 2009 at 11:20 AM.. |
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April 27, 2009, 11:06 AM
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#3 (permalink) |
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Re: A beginner's guide to UI?
i have only been a warlock for about a year. i decided to just try the most popular ones. if they did not suit me. I turned them off or unloaded them. I am trying Carbonite, dotimer, omen and titian panel right now. Each one does different things. As an affliction warlock, I am getting to like dotimer for sure. everone is different. they really do make it more fun if you get the right ones. |
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April 27, 2009, 11:13 AM
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#4 (permalink) |
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Character Info
Kiralyn 80 Human Warlock Mal'Ganis US PvP Guild: Self Titled Profile: Blizzard Armory Talent Spec: 0.13.58 |
Re: A beginner's guide to UI?
I've never really seen a guide for something like this, and that's probably because it changes too fast. Different mods get updated, have their settings change, or stop functioning. A real guide for something like beginning UI would be outdated on a patch-by-patch basis, if not faster. However, there is hope. Back when I first started modding my UI, I jumped into Cosmos. For you young-uns, this was probably the first major UI compilation. I pulled a ton of addons together, did some initial configuration for you, and basically made it easy. You installed, told it your base resolution, and you were good to go. I started with this, but quickly realized there was a lot of trash I didn't need. I started disabling junk like fishing mods, non-warlock mods, and various other things I didn't use. I got my feet wet by adding a couple warlock-specific mods to what I already had and learning to configure them. After going through the install cosmos update, delete crap, re-tweak what I like routine, I decided that a pre-made compilation wasn't going to work. I took what I liked, and started building from scratch. I haven't looked back since. My recommendation is to find a compilation and get used to being able to control a lot more of what you are seeing. Find what you like and what you don't, and get your feet wet configuring different add-ons. When putting together my setup, I go a step at a time. First thing in is a bar mod, and I get my buttons set up the way I want. After that is unit frames, and then chat windows. From there the rest is little stuff like DoTimer, my minimap, and MSBT. Keep in mind that most mods are pretty friendly to configure. Some more advanced things like PitBull and Grid can get very, very advanced it you want them to, but getting something simple together even with those isn't terribly hard. The hardest part my far is deciding what you want, and what will work best for you.
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Hell, it's about time. -Tychus Findlaw |
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April 27, 2009, 11:15 AM
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#5 (permalink) |
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Character Info
Zamp 80 Blood Elf Warlock Stormreaver US PvP Guild: Elusive Profile: Blizzard Armory Talent Spec: 3/13/55 |
Re: A beginner's guide to UI?
These are the ones I currently use; ForteTimer Bartender4 Omen Grid Recount Necrosis Power Aura MSBT For PVE i bound a macro for Life Tap with Arcane Torrent (Blood Elf) for the extra 6% mana it gives. I don' deal with unit frames like Xperl, Pitbull ETC because I think their to bulky, and take too long to setup, so Grid Raid Assistant works fine for me. |
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April 27, 2009, 11:44 AM
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#6 (permalink) |
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Character Info
Luxury 80 Blood Elf Warlock Deathwing US PvP Guild: Addiction Profile: Blizzard Armory Talent Spec: 54/0/17 |
Re: A beginner's guide to UI?
Moved your thread. =] I think a guide of this nature would be very helpful. A good UI is essential to a lock's ability to perform.
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April 27, 2009, 12:04 PM
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#7 (permalink) |
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Character Info
SpackaBrain 80 Undead Warlock Spinebreaker Euro PvP Guild: Meatball of War Profile: Blizzard Armory Talent Spec: 0/14/57 |
Re: A beginner's guide to UI?
I think it would be quite hard to write a guide of this sort as everyone's tastes are different. For example, I love my UI but many people that have seen it say it's too cluttered and they can't understand how I can play with it. I'm one of those people who just has to have everything to hand and therefore I have 4 full action bars at the bottom of the screen with my chat window and map/bags either side. Others go for a more minimalist approach with action bars that auto hide etc, I couldn't get away with that. The best advice I could give is just go with what you like. Just because the best Warlocks all use necrosis or whatever doesn't mean you have to. Trial and error will lead you to a UI that suits you
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April 27, 2009, 12:17 PM
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#8 (permalink) |
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Character Info
Zamp 80 Blood Elf Warlock Stormreaver US PvP Guild: Elusive Profile: Blizzard Armory Talent Spec: 3/13/55 |
Re: A beginner's guide to UI?
Yeah it would be extremely hard to put together a UI guide, the only way I see doing that is to rate most popular UI's from good use to bad use. |
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April 27, 2009, 12:22 PM
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#9 (permalink) |
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Character Info
lilsteele 80 Human Warlock Terenas Euro PvE |
Re: A beginner's guide to UI?
wowinterface has quite a few UI compilations that you can download and install and that (are supposed to) look great out of the box. They tend to come with many individual addons however so once patch-time starts things can get messy. If you want to build it yourself, e.g. along the lines that Ikabod suggested, take your time. The moment you install the addons and log in, things will look totally messed up, i.e. you may end up seeing 20 objects just on top of eachother, or just nothing. There are a lot of "add-ons" that just add something, e.g. threat meters or damage meters. These are usually easy to install and don't tend to break stuff. The other sort of addons are those that replace parts of the Blizzard UI, e.g. bartender for action bars, or pitbull, xperl for the health bars and other UI elements. Setting such addons up properly takes a lot of time... make sure you know how to log out without anything to click on! |
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April 27, 2009, 12:23 PM
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#10 (permalink) |
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Character Info
Luxury 80 Blood Elf Warlock Deathwing US PvP Guild: Addiction Profile: Blizzard Armory Talent Spec: 54/0/17 |
Re: A beginner's guide to UI?
I think a guide would entail the basic components of a complete UI. The most well known addons used for said components. A basic start off section on how to configure addons. Then a basic design philosophy section where you'd talk about the different styles and the aim and purpose of each.
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