Better Know an Interface Element: The minimap
by Eliah Hecht 
Dec 14th 2006 at 9:18PM
Today I would like to take a look at WoW's UI -- not any of those newfangled mods, but the default UI, the one that Blizzard wrote. We'll start at the top-right corner: everybody, say hi to the minimap!As far as I've been able to determine, the minimap hasn't changed since I've started playing the game (circa patch 1.4 or so) -- until now! Yes, as I'm sure you've all noticed by this point, patch 2.0.1 introduced a new minimap button, one to open the world map (it's the one in the top-left corner of the minimap pic to the right, all looking like the Atlas button). I was rather confused about this for quite some time, until I realized that they had to take the world map button off the micro-buttons at the bottom of the screen to make room for one for the new LFG interface. But the micro-buttons are a topic for another post.
Besides the obvious -- getting a quick sense for your surroundings, which direction you're facing, and the like, the minimap also serves as a convenient location for buttons and notifiers of all sorts. Presumably inspired by Blizzard's placement of the day/night indicator, tracking indicator, and new mail notifier, as well as the minimap zoom controls, authors of early mod compilations (Cosmos, CT) tended to tack their configurator buttons onto the minimap. The trend has continued, of course, to this day; in fact, I've been having trouble recently finding space for all the buttons I have up there (and Buttonhole hasn't been updated yet). I understand why the mod authors do it: many people are scared off by having to memorize slash commands and keybindings, so a clickable minimap button makes the mod seem a lot more friendly. Still, it can get a bit overwhelming when you're as much of a mod addict as I am.
Mod icons, player orientation, surroundings check. Can there be still more to the minimap's marvelous moxie? Yes! In fact, my favorite minimap functions have yet to be mentioned. To wit: little gold dots and little arrows. I can't tell you the number of times a gold dot has pointed me to a NPC whose location I'd completely forgotten that I had to turn a quest into (doesn't happen so much these days, as I have most of the game memorized, but the BC's just around the corner, folks). Furthermore, of course, there's the gold dots that tell you there's a flower or ore vein nearby. Complaint: why can't we track a mob type and a resource type at the same time? They have different icons in the minimap, even! It just ends up making it so my gathering Hunters almost never use their tracking skills. /sigh. The little arrows that point you to nearby towns and/or your corpse are neat too, though in a not-overly-useful way.
As far as the graphic design elements of the minimap go, not much to say. It's consistent with the WoW UI's overall antique-by-way-of-Disney style, of course. It's an interesting choice to make it circular, and see Square Minimap if you don't like it that way. The day indicator is a little too bright, tending to overwhelm dark map tiles (like in the screenshot). I have never known anyone to use the minimap close box, since it's such a useful thing to have open, but I suppose more options never hurt anyone. I do like the little "N" for north at the top of the map. It's pleasantly non-interactive, and it subtly reminds you that the minimap has a fixed orientation (some games' minimaps don't).
Most elements of Blizzard's UI, in this player's humble opinion, can be replaced by superior add-ons. Is the minimap one of them? I'd say not. There is Square Minimap, but honestly, I think that looks ugly. There's very little wrong with the default minimap, and so it earns the honor of being the only one of the main UI elements that is usually visible on my screen while I'm playing (the default unit frames and action bars are so inadequate; but that's a topic for yet another overly long post).
My grades for this element:
Functionality: A-
Irreplaceability: A
Attractiveness: B
Overall Grade: A-
[This is a test post of sorts. I am, among other things, a bit of a design geek, and so I thought it might be interesting to do a feature where I examine various bits of Blizz's interface. Please let me know in the comments if you want to see more posts like this or not. Also, if you have any favorite/least favorite bits of the UI that you think might make good post subjects.]
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Features
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Monigote Dec 14th 2006 10:58PM
You guys seem to be scraping the bottom of the barrel with your posts recently... (If you don't have anything worthwhile to say, just hold on till BC. BC spoilers are also good :P )
Monigote Dec 14th 2006 10:59PM
It was a failure of mine not to read the italicized words. I apologize. Either way, you can see my opinion. Constructive criticism: Reviewing good mods/addons are always useful? But I think its easy to say most people who read this site won't gain much from reviews of the default UI. I wonder what the actual ratio is for people who use the orginal UI as opposed to mods and what not... There would seem to be a correlation between UI and skill/enthusiasm/hardcore-ness (whatever you want to call it).
Felsir Dec 15th 2006 2:19AM
Don't forget you can click inside the little map, a marker will briefly appear in all your party member's maps. Useful for pointing at things on the map.
isobelle Dec 15th 2006 2:30AM
the ONE thing i liked about guildwars was the ability to 'draw' on the minimap... guildwars instances tended to be pretty contrictive mazes for the duration i played it, and it helped to be able to drawa line going 'around' the mountain for your party to follow.
noobs were so amazed at this skill they would invariably draw penises and the like, but once the novelty wore off, it would settle down. that would be an awesome addon for BGs.
and seriously? the sun icon is too bright? d00d, get outside, even pictures of the sun hurt your eyes now...
Tigraine Dec 15th 2006 4:16AM
I agree to #1,#2 ..
Anyone reading this Blog here is probably already deep into Addons and UI Modifications, having seen so many addon spotlights that it doesn't makes sense to talk about the default UI.
The Default UI is so damn simple to understand, I played since closed beta and had never troubles with the interface. I guess making a good howto on Discord would make a lot more sense than this.
move on.. we don't expect 100 posts per day here, we expect something interesting.
Milka EU-Khadgar Dec 15th 2006 5:52AM
I actually quite liked the musings on the interface - like the fact that there is an element of the UI so good that no one has managed to improve on it. Then again, I like art and design myself and welcome a bit of diving into a post that isn't just like all the others. Come on, if you criticised this - this is at least better than some of the random images of "rainy day in Azeroth"!!
Morkins Dec 15th 2006 6:41AM
I think, instead of reviewing the default UI, maybe talk about why it is 'so inadequate' compared to certain mods. I for one hate mods. The two times I've tried to set up Discord I've totally screwed up my settings and had to spend ages trying to sort it out.
I like the default UI. I like the style and it does everything I want it to, so I don't see the point in changing it with mods.
Care to prove me wrong? Then THERE is your next topic for discussion:
'Why Morkins the Wonder Tank should get educated and use mods, the fool' :P
Larawen Dec 15th 2006 7:21AM
I'm in the same boat as Morkins, when I'm soloing the only mod that i 'need' is some sort of all in one inventory viewer. Outside that nothing else, for me, is really needed.
Ronintsu Dec 15th 2006 8:10AM
I was leveling up my new Warrior the other day, last night actually, and I had to find a quest item (Evershine in Dun Morogh)...Man was I glad to see a deep golden beacon of hope pop up on my minimap; they evidently added a function to search out quest items it wold seem because I certainly don't recall ever seeing it before 2.01.
Fellsmith Dec 20th 2006 8:31AM
Add me to those who use the default interface exclusively. I enjoy knowing how to get more out of the default UI since I'm not going to use mods, so keep up the good work.
Perambulator Dec 15th 2006 9:47AM
Actually not everyone who reads this Blog is as "uberleet" and knows about every mod and feature that exists. I appreciate postings like this and I'm sure everyone could use a reminder every now and then. Case in point is the earlier posting a few days back about people who've played the game for years and not known about holding down the "shift" key to auto loot a corpse. My vote is to keep up posts like this. So what if not everyone reads them? - that happens now anyway with posts that aren't about the UI.
Heike Dec 15th 2006 9:58AM
I actually liked this, it was a nice change of pace and interesting to think about. I'd definitely keep reading the series.
Bunkai Dec 15th 2006 9:55AM
You can ask anyone in my guild and they'll tell you that I'm a mod-o-holic. However, overall, the UI that I use is the default UI.
Generally speaking, the mods that I use add some kind of automation to my daily grind so that I'm not clicking myself to death while I play, but very little about the default UI is altered. I use CT_Mod but no BarMod or BagMod pieces, and I use Titan Panel, which gives me the top and bottom status bars for various pieces of information and UI scaling, and since my main is a Shaman, I use Call of Elements (possibly the greatest totem mod of all time, but has a dependency not yet updated for 2.0).
I show my 2 right action bars, I show my right and left bottom action bars, the default action bar (with the gryphons still visible), and I'm forced to use the CT_Mod BuffMod now because it's been integrated into the core and you can't turn it off, at least that I've seen.
My wife uses almost no mods at all (CT_RaidAssist and Call of Elements) and if you were to look at our UIs side by side, they look very close to the same other than the extra action bars that I have showing (which is a default feature).
BTW, I like the UI element discussion. Roll in some mods(and possibly their screenshots) that change the look/feel of the element that you're talking about, and you'll have a good column.
Thanks.
DrBonez Dec 27th 2006 6:54AM
I like this post.
With all the whining about how blizz got this and that wrong it's nice to see a post that says they can still get it right.
And a discussion on the rest of the default ui is well in order as blizz does tend to intergrate mods into the system (all be it slowly) maybe it's time to look at what they've done right and where real improvements can be made.
My vote goes to keep up the discussions.
I'll be reading.
Vexion Dec 15th 2006 10:40AM
Personally, I enjoyed your examination of the minimap. I agree that it is the only piece of Blizzard's UI that isn't replaceable.
I'd like to see you review the default pieces of the UI, and then describe/show how you have changed it with mods. Maybe start with the Unit Frames or Action Bars since those are pretty major parts of the UI.
Trippy Dec 15th 2006 5:55PM
As a mage if I had to only rely on the default UI action bars I would simply lose my mind. I have so many spells I need to be able to see and use that clicking the arrows up and down would drive me insane.
That being said I love the mini map with it's yellow dots telling me where quest NPCs and items are and where the heck my body is when I die in an unfamiliar area. Not to mention being able to see nearby party members especially in a mountainous or hilly area, which is soooo difficult when you play a gnome.
Thomas Dec 17th 2006 9:17AM
I enjoyed this article, actually. While I didn't learn anything new, I do read this site's posts for the articles and resultant comments. I think this could easily be a weekly article. Blizz's UI has many features that most people really aren't aware of (ever checked the Interface options fully?). Keep it up!