New UI woes
by Alex Ziebart 
Mar 22nd 2008 at 3:00PM
I have a confession: I've been mostly using the basic, vanilla UI for as long as I have been playing WoW. I do use mods, I'm not crazy, but the basic unit frames and action bars have served me pretty well.It's not that I dislike custom UIs, or even that I do like the basic UI. The base interface has done its job, from level 1 in Northshire Abbey to level 70 standing on top of Illidan's corpse. It took that Illidan kill to make me realize that I did it the entire way using a supposedly inferior UI. I could do so much more! I could streamline everything, I could open up space on my screen, remove unnecessary information, enhance the necessary stuff...
Wow, this has turned out to be quite a task. My experience with these things is minimal, and I'm not always the most organized person in the world so I couldn't make myself a proper layout if I tried. Even worse is I need to redesign my UI on all of my characters because they all use different things. What's important to my Shadow Priest isn't important to my Protection Paladin, and what's important to her isn't important to my Rogue.
I picked up PitBull and Bartender for my UI needs, and they're somewhere between "amazingly useful and simple" and "so customizable that my head wants to explode." They're good and all, but I almost feel empty without the UI I've been looking at for years now. I sort of miss the Warcraftian decor around the action bars and unit frames, but I'm sure that if I hang in there I'll adjust. What's worse is I'm not used to my buttons being where they are, so my fingers fumble hitting my hotkeys simply because the buttons don't look like they are what they used to be, even if they are.
It's a strange experience, the game I've played since 2004 seems rather foreign though the the game itself wasn't changed by my new UI. I may yet go back to the Blizzard UI or just try something more simplistic. Any recommendations, suggestions? Maybe any other raiders that use the base interface so I don't feel like such a darn scrub?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Durante Mar 22nd 2008 3:10PM
While I'm only raiding SSC and TK, I still use the default UI because I do like it. Its familiar, gives me all the info I need (as a hunter), and I just plain like the way it looks. Just because everyone else in your guild has a custom UI doesn't mean you have to.
Finnicks Mar 22nd 2008 3:11PM
I hate the standard UI, and love Bongos2.
http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/5945/wowscrnshot021708144757yh2.jpg
My list of addons is quite staggering, but I love them all. I have four windows (using the default chat window UI, tho), and my bars are moved all over the place. I have four bars down along the bottom, one bar is organized into 2 rows of 4 and sits on top of my menubar for items and such. One tiny bar is vertical between that and my main bar (I keep icons on that with long cooldowns so I can watch them). I also have a bar split into 3 rows of 4 that's right in the middle of my metaHUD player/target frame addon for quick and easy access to usable quest items and such.
csarcops Mar 22nd 2008 3:14PM
I just wanted to say I sympathize; I recently redid my UI as well with a bar mod and new unit frames (Bongos2 and X-Perl) and I too was overwhelmed at first. So many options, so much clicking on and off figuring out which check box does what...it took me literally a couple hours to get everything arranged the way I wanted. But I tell you what, I'm glad I did it. Playing on a laptop means I need every inch of screen I can get, and my new minimalistic UI does an outstanding job of giving it to me.
I really don't look forward to setting up everything for my countless alts though... *sigh*
Tisen Mar 22nd 2008 3:19PM
I have to say i too have never changed from the original UI. Ive tried some of the other ones before but it just seemed like so much effort to get them to my liking with all those customizable options when I already had a working UI installed. Also being a protection warrior I don't need a lot. As long as I could see the target and who he was targeting i was fine. I did use other mods though just not UI ones btw.
Sargentd Mar 22nd 2008 3:39PM
My UI is posted here. I'm Luminesce. Ever since I started using mods I couldn't get enough of them. It's gotten to the point where I will nearly stop playing after a patch just because everything has gone haywire. The more mods you work with the better you get at configuring. Agreed, I don't need everything I have but I still love and use almost all of them for all my numerous alts.
http://www.wowinsider.com/2007/09/25/reader-ui-of-the-week-luminesce/
npm Mar 22nd 2008 8:59PM
I also truly dislike the builtin UI. It is so clunky and configurable, it must've been designed by Amish programmers (the joke being that the Amish eschew technology).
I'm so pleased that the addon programmers have stepped up to the plate and delivered wonderful addons. Still, I wish Blizzard would update the interface, maybe buy some of the ideas from these addon authors and take ownership and support them.
achefsalad Mar 22nd 2008 4:08PM
What UI's are good for moonkin and ele. shaman
Amanda Miller Mar 22nd 2008 4:07PM
I didn't start using addons (except MobInfo2) until I'd been level 70 on my main for awhile. For my action bars, I chose Trinity Bars, and I like it, although I doubt I'm using it to its full potential.
The bars themselves look very much like the ones on the default UI, except I've moved them around and created spaces to separate categories of abilities.
I have not found anyone to convince me that I need a bag addon yet. I have my system for organizing my bags, and it seems to work fine for me. I would finally like to try Auctioneer, but my install didn't work, so I'm going to wait for 2.4.
I also know for a fact that two of my good friends in WoW use the default UI. So no, you're not alone!
mitchellangelo86 Mar 22nd 2008 4:26PM
If you miss the old warcraftian feel of your old UI, i reccomend you check out Sunn Viewport Artwork (http://www.curse.com/downloads/details/5784/). Granted I dunno how your UI is set up, but this is pretty sweet too.
Tim Mar 22nd 2008 4:28PM
Why, oh why, is there an option for 100% black behind party windows and not the same for raid windows? I hate having to add additional mods, but as a healer, I need to be able to see the health bars as clearly as possible.
Hoggersbud Mar 22nd 2008 4:50PM
My UI modding first came in with Cosmos. It showed me there were some options to improve things. But y'know, I'd like to pick things for myself. So I've been dinking around with various options. Pitbull and Trinity Bars were too much. Bartender3 and Xperl have worked for me. I do like me some round buttons they're good.
It is hard to get my different classes and needs to work together though. Sometimes I need different things, and figured out what....can be a headscratcher.
I wish I had the mad skills of those folks who get frankly aweseome UIs, but I'm just trying different things and hoping to get what I want.
mrobin604 Mar 22nd 2008 4:55PM
I used to mess around with bar mods like flexbar, DAB, and Trinity, but after having to spend ages resetting my interface up after patch days when they addons were broken, I decided to go back to the vanilla interface. As I am not primarily a button clicker, this didn't bother me too much. However, inspired by some raiding videos, I have recently decided that I want a cleaner interface screen. So, I have started using Bartender3 in order to get some screen real estate back.
My new approach to bar mods is as follows: Make sure your bar groups correspond to the default interface, and make sure that your buttons are in locations that make sense should you have to switch to the default UI on patch day. So basically ive taken the first 3 bars, shrank them and arranged them in a 2x6 pattern, and stacked them in a block in the bottom of my screen. Actions are placed in the same bar that they were placed on the original UI. 2 more bars are placed at the right of my screen, right where they are in the default UI, but smaller. My one concession to non standard modding is having my 6th bar be a mouseover popup, but that one is just for non-combat abilities anyhow.
Dahk Mar 23rd 2008 9:59AM
Xperl is similar to Pitbull, but is a hell of a lot easier to set up. Also I would reccomend something like Bongos to arrange your action bars.
Above all else, just stick with it. A good ui takes some time to build and get used to, but in the end, it's worth it.
Jason Mar 22nd 2008 6:15PM
I use Photek and DHUD2. Both take a few days to really start o mesh well for my play style but I get sick looking at the default UI now that Ive spoiled myself with pretty buttons and cool crap.
Here a link to me in a horrid horrid av, Was there setting up my raid icons.
http://img149.imageshack.us/my.php?image=interface3ll6.jpg
Sl0th Mar 22nd 2008 7:49PM
I used the standard one for a long time, but got a bit tired of them. I wanted more room on my screen than it afforded. So I switched to Bartender3/xpearl and haven't looked back.
Addons in general though... I've been trying to cut back. Its adversely effecting my poor underpowered computer which kills me sometimes in raids. Not to mention it takes forever to llog in a character sometimes.
Justin Mar 22nd 2008 9:21PM
My favorite UI of all time is an all in one package that lets you customize all of your characters for what they are. less addons for auction mules, or all the raid addons you need minus a couple of minor ones.
http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info6311-MazzleUI.html
Azurogg Mar 22nd 2008 11:04PM
My guild downed Illidan last month and I use the standard UI.
jurandr Mar 22nd 2008 11:45PM
A few of my friends swear by their custom UIs. They have all sorts of extra information.. dps.. threat... auctioneer... It's not even funny! As a challenge, I dueled each one of them, me on default UI, them on their custom. They did pretty well, each fight being rather close, occasionally one would win. Then, we all hit Alt+Z (hide interface) and dueled. I won every single one. My friends had become so relient on information you wouldn't normally acquire, that they don't really know how to play the game! If you can't play alt+z, you don't have any real skill to show off.
Pavid Mar 22nd 2008 11:46PM
I'm in the same boat as you. I tried to customize my UI because I didn't want to feel like a nerd and I wanted it to look cool when I made a pvp vid or posted screen shots. I kinda felt like people wouldn't think I'm "leet" if I didn't have a crazy but cool looking UI. I felt it was almost as essential as picking good music for a pvp vid.
So I downloaded a crap load of addons and when I logged on it was insane. Everything was pretty much stacked on top of each other right in the middle of my screen. The options for many addons are not user friendly. Simply moving something on my screen and then figuring out how to lock it there took 10 minutes. And then once I figured that out I could never arrange all the crap on my screen to make it look fresh or cool. I suck at decorating my pad with moving furniture around and I suck at making my UI look cool.
I also found that my reflexes were all messed up. Nothing is where you remember it. When it started to effect my performance in pvp I got rid of it right away and went back to the standard UI. I said screw it. If Laintime and Drakedog used the basic UI then so can I. And their videos looked sick because of the simplicity.
I think overly crazy UIs can actually take away from your video. Many people leave complaints on pvp videos that their UI sucked and ruined their viewing experience. So I've kept my UI as simple as possible and only use a cooldown addon, a class indentification addon, itemrack and proximo. That's it.
Pavid Mar 22nd 2008 11:51PM
And I forgot to add that addons can create lag and crashes. That's too risky for me in the arena. I also worry that some of these addon sites could infect my computer with a virus. And every time there's a major patch my guild chat is filled with complaining about how their UI is totally screwed. Not something I have to worry about.