Amazing updates to the UI in 2.3
by Mike Schramm 
Oct 13th 2007 at 2:00PM
Tons of amazing gems found in the patch 2.3 notes (Art from our /silly comic called this "the patch that keeps on giving). Here's just a few of the UI-slimming things Blizzard is implementing in the next patch:- Auction House categories have been cleaned up-- no more "Plate > Cloak" categories.
- "Battle Map" is now available for all zones, not just PvP battlegrounds. Does that mean you can pull up the map and see where all players are at all times? Sounds like it to me.
- Game objects that you can interact with now have a glow around them and their name over them. Wow! No more searching for twenty minutes just to find that little switch you have to click on.
- We'll be able to send 12 items in a single mail message! Bye bye, CTMailMod.
- Monsters that need to be looted by people in your party will now have the name of the would-be looter visible in the tooltip. Bye bye, "LOOT YOUR CORE HOUNDS!" Actually, that one I might miss.
- And we've heard that there are big enhancements to the minimap-- bankers, auction house tellers, repair people, and quest givers can now be optionally tracked on the minimap.
- Additionally, fishing anglers will be able to track fishing holes-- but only after obtaining a crate that contains a book from fishing.
Thanks to everyone who sent this in!
Filed under: Patches, Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Girl Meets WoW Oct 13th 2007 2:13PM
It is a mix of awesome and somewhat disappointingly dumbed down, isn't it?
On the other hand, no complaints from me about never having to hear my guild's intentionally obnoxious "Loot Your Core Hounds" song again.
Nails Oct 13th 2007 2:14PM
being able to see potential quest givers on the map would be the biggest change to leveling since the game's inception
brogadorn Oct 13th 2007 7:34PM
The tracker is nice, the mail upgrade is nice, the AH upgrade (being able to put something on for 48 hrs) very nice. I did notice the quest giver and turn in on the mini-map (you get a exclamation and question mark showing on the map, not the golden dote).
Just, why now, this should have been put in one or two years ago, it just seemed like common sense to me. I also know that they look at popular addons and take a cue from them (is that stealing or borrowing? do they ask permission first?) but it just seems like they waited really late in the game to do this.
Minnow Oct 13th 2007 2:20PM
Where is Mankriks wife?
Minnow Oct 13th 2007 2:22PM
Oh right there at that big arrow
Dave Oct 13th 2007 2:24PM
I personally think it's nice that they're finally reacting to the things that people want to see in the game, and the stuff that people don't like. If it doesn't affect the competitive balance of the game, and doesn't make the actual completion portion of the quests any more or less difficult, I think it's a good change. Even putting a big red arrow on an individual quest mob. There's no sense of achievement (I hope) for simply locating a mob. Most of them are stationary, it's not like they're necessarily difficult to find, so perhaps making the single named yeti you need to kill a different shade of yeti isn't a bad idea at all.
As for the other objects, in theory most people's computers are getting better and people are playing in higher resolutions. (I know I've gone from 1024x768 to 1680x1050 in the last year) Every bump in the resolution for a game that was more or less designed at 800x600 makes things increasingly difficult to see if they're tiny, like the stupid Azeroth herbs. They made all the expansion stuff glowy so it wouldn't be impossible to find them (and it makes sense in my mind that if you're a herber and you're LOOKING for herbs, that you should be able to have an easier time with them visually, not just on a minimap). Good changes all around.
The game was made with some relatively prehistoric graphical concepts. It's about time they make an effort at updating them. Hopefully they'll get to work on fixing up Azeroth to actually look as good as Outland at some point as well.
tmklein Oct 13th 2007 2:36PM
lets not forget that no more right click on banker, and select see deposit box.
that was always a pain if you ask me.
Evan Oct 13th 2007 4:38PM
"at what point are we getting a big arrow you can see from halfway across the zone that says 'Kill This Mob to Finish Your Quest'?"
Hmm... you don't mean Cartographer+TomTom, do you?
Or a hunter's ability to track things for grinding quests...
Greengreen Oct 13th 2007 2:43PM
"Wild. The whole thing about interactive items glowing? It's like we're getting "WoW for preschoolers." Don't get me wrong, it'll be a huge help to everyone doing quests, I'm sure, but at what point are we getting a big arrow you can see from halfway across the zone that says "Kill This Mob to Finish Your Quest"?"
You probably use a coords mod and look up your quests on an outside site like everyone else. Do you have connections to one of these sites like wowhead.com or something?
It's a great change long overdue. No more "obtain 6 of THESE from the dark fungus lords over THERE north by northwest of THIS town behind a rock and through the tunnel. You'll need a 'detect fungus lord cloak' crated by Capt. Narru Light Bringer on the northeastern part of THIS valley by THAT outpost. For it to be crafted you'll need to obtain 6 boar tusks obtained by the frenzied hellboars which can be found over THERE east by west of this location. You'll also need 8 tainted blood samples from the Apex Hunters which can be found north of the rebel encampment. To obtain the tainted blood samples you'll need to use this enchanted crimson extractor. May the Light be with you Warrior!"
Hmm. Half the cities you mentioned aren't even discovered on my map yet mr. quest text. Time to whip out thotbot.com and enable my coords mod... Quest system in this game was rediculous.
vlad Oct 14th 2007 9:15PM
the glowing is simply a slightly pulsating brightening of the object (like when you mouse overr it). honestly i hardly noticed it.
i copied my 46 druid over to see how fast i could level. NICE! i had just dinged before i copied her so she only had like 2k xp out of 110,000. needless to say all it took with full bar of rested was 5 quests and 2hrs to go from 46-47.
Green Armadillo Oct 13th 2007 2:47PM
Questgivers appearing on the minimap is one of the few things I miss from my vacation in LOTRO. Walking past questgivers because there was something obstructing your view of the ! doesn't make the game more challenging. Now if only they could include an option for showing under-leveled quests (and allow normal rep gain in the Draenei/BE noob areas).
Anyone have the chance to check whether the minimap thing works with tracking skills? It would be nice not to have to have an entire bar (or addon depending on your preference) devoted to tracking skills on my Hunter.
Grajen Oct 13th 2007 2:56PM
Hasn't battle map been available for all zones for quite a while? At least I have it up:/
Svartalve Oct 13th 2007 3:02PM
@8 I can't confirm that profession/class/race specific tracking is included in the buil-in minimap tracking (cause I took screens of the tracking UI with a level 1 troll) but judging by the options include I think it would be fair to say that they will.
Some of the new UI elements
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14979183@N08/
KitKatDruid Oct 13th 2007 3:10PM
I really like this. This should help me to start getting rid of some of my addons, which, to a player on a laptop with little memory to spare, is wonderful.
Melenor Oct 13th 2007 3:20PM
What is all this "word has it" and "judging from the patch notes" and "we've heard that" about 2.3? Fucking transfer a test character, play a bit, and report back. No more hearsay, or feigned hearsay, please.
Also, maybe it's just me, but I've been able to toggle zone battle maps since patch 2.0. Of course, it doesn't show where people are, and the new implementation wouldn't either. If you've ever bugged in a BG and gotten out of your party/raid, you know it doesn't show anyone. Good luck inviting everyone in a zone to your group.
Necrous Oct 13th 2007 3:41PM
great, i cant wait for my entire custom UI to be broken again.
RogueJedi86 Oct 13th 2007 3:43PM
@#10/Svartalve
Thanks for the screenshots! Very useful to get an idea of what this thing is about!
Some could say this dumbs down the game, makes it too easy, but isn't that the point? One of the big word-of-mouth phrases said about WoW is just how easy it is for a casual player/new to MMOs player to get into WoW. These enhancements will help even more!
(My only problem is how this will clash with Fizzwidget's TrackMenu addon http://www.fizzwidget.com/trackmenu/ )
Lofty Oct 13th 2007 4:27PM
The battle map is available at the moment in any pvp zone, ie. Battlegrounds, Nagrand for Halaa and Terokkar Forest for the towers.
What they will be doing now will be allowing it to be seen anywhere. When your in Halaa and Terokkar at the moment you dont see all the players its just the people in your party, so i believe you wont see everyone in patch 2.3
Horns Oct 13th 2007 5:07PM
This is a battle map:
http://www.shareapic.net/content.php?id=3890610
As Lofty said, it's available in any world areas with PvP objectives, as well as in battlegrounds.
You can toggle showing the battle map with shift+m (default).
feadin Oct 13th 2007 6:00PM
cool adds