AddOn Spotlight: MazzleUI
by Eliah Hecht 
Feb 7th 2007 at 2:38PM
This is a big one, and one I've been waiting for for quite some time (about six months, I'd say). I don't usually bother even looking into compilations of mods, since I've found I can always put together a more satisfying solution myself, but MazzleUI may well prove to be the exception. Here's how Mazzlefizz, the author, describes it:
- MazzleUI is a comprehensive, customized user interface for the World of Warcraft that attempts to be clean, symmetrical, provides lots of information, use minimal space and be highly efficient.
Mazzlefizz appears to be something of a genius at attention to detail. For instance, when you install the package and start up WoW, a very solid installation assistant called the Mazzifier comes up to help you set up initial options and things. Once you get things initialized, it becomes clear that positioning and visibility is very well thought out, with most things hidden that can be, but also most things quickly openable. I particularly like the "context menu", a two-page 4x4 square of buttons that holds things like your hearthstone and pet training that you'll want from time to time, but which really don't need to be cluttering up your screen the rest of the time. All this and more contributes to what is really a very attractive UI, which has rather well achieved Mazzlefizz's stated goals of being clean, symmetrical, informative, minimal, and efficient.
I have needed to make a few changes and additions, which is only to be expected. Since I play in windowed mode, I had to bump the font size up a bit ("/cf2 scale 110" did it for me). I swapped out Mazzle's HUD for MetaHUD, and added TheoryCraft, TBag, and WoWEcon. I set FuBar to not auto-hide, since to me that seems to defeat the purpose. I'm still adjusting to this bottom-heavy new interface world, but I suspect I'm going to like it here. So if you're looking for a UI, or if like me you've had your eye on this for a very long time, go check it out. And thanks, Mazzlefizz, for all the hard work.
Download at WoWInterface
Edit: by request, larger screenshots, hosted at wow.com:
My hunter's setup
Mazzle's images: party, raid, combat
Filed under: Add-Ons, Features, AddOn Spotlight
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
twh Feb 7th 2007 5:58PM
I can attest to this, but when 2.0 came out, I put it aside and waited for it to be updated.
This is good news to hear. Thank you.
Flit Feb 7th 2007 3:20PM
I'm not one for complete UI overhauls, but man, that looks sexy.
Ahzriin Feb 7th 2007 5:05PM
I too have been following this for a while and I can't wait to download and test it out tonight. The only thing I'm worried about is how power hungry it will be. I don't want to drop to 10 FPS while running this... so we'll see.
Banda Feb 7th 2007 4:47PM
I usually don't troll, but why bother posting UI compilations that require a 24in screen or 20/10 vision. Cause I'm looking at the screenshots of this on my screen and the buttons are smaller than my arrow and chat text looks like it 6pt font which I can barely read. How about filtering these reviews for something that is reasonable on 1920x1600.
Beyond that it's very pretty, I particularly love the verticle health and mana bars. Though, there doesn't seem to be room for pet skill bars.
Kraki Feb 7th 2007 6:30PM
I used it for the week or so it was available before the 2.0 patch, and its still just as amazing as i remember it being.... simply fantastic
Kahja Feb 7th 2007 3:53PM
Could we get a full size image of this hosted on WoWinsider?
WoWinterface is blocked at my work and I really want to have a look at this gem.
zarmy Feb 7th 2007 4:15PM
I'm not a huge fan of overly excessive UI's. Yes I like my mods, and yes, my UI has to look good, but I am more into the other end of UI's, the minimlaist aspect. Makes life a lot easier in rad situations
Flit Feb 7th 2007 4:20PM
W3rd @2. One reason i like wowinsider is the aspect that i can read it at work.
Roguerhunter Feb 7th 2007 5:13PM
WoW quite Nice I will have to download it today after work!!!
Northwind Feb 7th 2007 5:04PM
@5: Mazzle has provided support for a variety of screen resolutions, the screenshot is just for one particular one. And you can vary the font size as you wish.
Similarly, the screenshot is just the one for the mage class. There are slight variations in setup for each class to handle the peculiarities of each.
This is all done during the initial setup.
Norin Feb 7th 2007 8:30PM
I just DL'd it and tried it out... I like it a lot and could get used to it, but I have three separate locations where I play and I don't feel like supercustomizing them all. -- Trust me, if you get used to Mazzle, you wont be able to play on a normal UI.
The bad thing is that when I tried to revert to my old UI, everything was wonky. My Text block was gone, the combat text block was still there, but non-functional, everything was small and my fonts were screwed up.
So be sure to back everything up if you try this one.
Eliah Hecht Feb 7th 2007 5:34PM
Banda: I'm running it on a 15" monitor (1440x900), and doing just peachy.
Kahja: Check up at the bottom of the post for bigger screenshots -- I edited in some links.
Chris M Feb 7th 2007 5:49PM
It has a visual appeal, but it doesn't look too practical to me. It just seems too 'watered down'. I like having my buttons where I can get to them. It just doesn't feel 'practical' to me... maybe it's because of different play styles.
But.. I digress.
Roguerhunter Feb 7th 2007 6:07PM
Quick question when you download it does it downloaded the same way as any titan add on or does it goes in a different folder....
And do you have to take titan panel off?? or peal classic. Just making sure so I dont download it and get some screw ups..
Byron hulcher Feb 7th 2007 6:23PM
I installed it, and 2 hours later uninstalled it. It's really pretty. It does everything you think wow should when its installed.
But it does too much. I'm fairly new to the game, but even I could tell its over the top. The biggest add-ons i was using were metahud and bongos. This took me an hour to get to a configuration I like, and even after that it was just too much.
There was one thing I liked. The 3D models when you selected an enemy or ally. Is there a standalone add-on I could get for that?
Kraki Feb 7th 2007 6:46PM
to the people who think it doesn't look practical, why don't you give it a try, you'll be suprised.
just go into your world of warcraft folder, rename your interface and wtf folders so if you don't like it you can always go back to what you had before.
Randolph Lee Feb 7th 2007 8:58PM
is there a consensus with the hunters here on which of the 3 major Range helper addons out there is the best to use right now?
RangeHelp (RangeHelp 5.0c) by ralenod (I think the orignal author) at Curse Gaming Last update Dec 24th
Range Help (RangeHelp 0.4 (2.0.3) (Lua fixed 2.0.1)) by Elsia at Curse gameing last update Jan 12th
Nudge (2.0.27156) By Fleetfoot at wowinterface.com last update Dec 12th
also which of them would work the best with this MazzleUI? I have not tried MazzleUI yet as I do not have the time to learn to play a totaly new interfac this week but when I do change I do not want to give up a range helper which seems to be a part of UI Pack I am using now so I assume I will need one of these standalone helpers for MazzleUI Right?
but in any case the question about the best hunter helpers remains... Perhaps we could Have a UI Topic each week as what are the UI addons that a given class likes best perhaps keyed to a galery page so the respondents could show off the set up they use? One Week Mage the next the Druid, etc... sort of like that gerat Druid Level 1 to 20 entry last week (BTW lets have more of these starting a XXXXX XXX and taking him to Level 20 or 30 topics! This will be a big help in deciding on what and where to do as my next Alt!)
Kaelor Feb 8th 2007 1:57AM
If you try this mod and don't like it be prepared to work your butt off getting things back to how they were before you started... so beware, also this mod seemed to be a resource hog, and on a wide screen monitor it was very hard to get everything to fit on screen.... if you think the standard UI is good and just like a few other mods then this is not for u... I run KLH, vendetta, and a few other unobtrusive mods, all I can say to sum this up is that it is a radical change.
greatslack Feb 8th 2007 12:57AM
I downloaded it and tried it for a while, it takes a long time to get used to, as it relocates a lot of information. Personally I just got used to a new interface that I did myself, so I don't think I'll be switching to this one.
White Rabbit Feb 8th 2007 5:25AM
AS soon as I read this I downloaded it and have been using it all day on my hunter and rogue and I love it!
Thanks for the suggestion, WoWInsider! :D