The
official World of Warcraft website updated recently with an addition to their
Under Development section. Call it a preview, reminder, whatever you want. They've added a listing of
all of the new UI features coming in
Patch 3.1, and I'm willing to say that there's more UI additions in this patch than in any content patch before it. Am I wrong? Possibly, but I can't remember this much coming all at once before.
If you've been following WoW Insider since patch 3.1 hit the PTR, not much of this stuff will be a surprise to you, we've tried to cover the UI additions as they were pushed onto the test realm. Regardless, the new UI page details all of the following:
- Talent Dual Specialization
- Equipment Manager
- Updated Objectives Tracker
- Looking For Group Improvements
- Queueing for Battlegrounds From Anywhere
Go on, give it a read, and make sure you're not caught off guard by all of the shiny new UI elements slapping you in the face the day you load up patch 3.1. You can also check out the galleries below that we've done previously, which will walk you through a few of these things. If you're the type that likes surprises? Well, don't look at them!
Tags: battleground-queue, battlegrounds, bg, bg-queue, dual-spec, dual-talent-spec, equipment-manager, lfg, looking-for-group, objectives-tracker, patch-3.1, ptr, ptr-3.1, ptr-patch-3.1, public-test-realm, talent-dual-spec, ui, under-development, wow-patch-3.1, wow-ptr
Filed under: Patches, Wrath of the Lich King
Mar 17th 2009 at 4:00PM 
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
bundee Mar 17th 2009 4:05PM
"Am I wrong? Possibly, but I can't remember this much coming all at once before."
Way to fact-check :P
Nintendwarf Mar 17th 2009 4:07PM
What is going to happen to all the BG Que NPCs?
bundee Mar 17th 2009 4:12PM
and what happens when you queue up as a group, but are in different areas of the world?
Josh Warner Mar 17th 2009 6:03PM
And where do you return to after the BG is complete? I assume you go back where you were. This has to be part and parcel of the "ghetto hearth removal" initiative, as BG hearths were the other way to get what amounted to a free hearth.
Craig Mar 17th 2009 4:08PM
They should've used ItemRack's hover-selection mod to the character panel in making the equipment manager. Does the EM also have a minimap button for quick gear swaps like IR?
Instead of finding the gear in your bags and right-clicking or dragging to equip, hovering over a specific slot and seeing the available items for that slot you have in your inventory is more intuitive. (And faster, IMO)
Tural Mar 17th 2009 4:11PM
Holding Alt and hovering over a character window item slot will show you all items you're carrying that can be put in that slot, clicking them will equip it. It has the feature you are describing in 3.1.
Tural Mar 17th 2009 4:20PM
Follow-up:
http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/4167/wowscrnshot031709161727.jpg
This is what you're wanting, yes?
It's also shown on the official site:
http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/underdev/images/ui/item02.jpg
Craig Mar 17th 2009 5:20PM
Thanks Tural, that's excellent news!
Jeff Mar 17th 2009 4:09PM
Stuff like this makes me so thankful that I only started playing WoW recently. I've just gotten a character to 70 and it was such an easy and fun experience; and now that stuff like this is going to start mattering, its going to be made easy.
This game really has improved so much its run, I can't wait to see what Blizzard's next MMO is like-- when we can see revolution, and not just steady and positive evolution.
bundee Mar 17th 2009 4:17PM
I've been playing for a while. (I was about level 40ish when BC hit) and let me tell you, boy has this game changed. A lot of seemingly intuitive stuff just wasn't in the game, although in your heart you knew it should be. An example is how if you were mounted, it would give you an error when trying to board a flight path rather than dismounting you automatically. Tiny perk, but things like this show how the game has become more user friendly over the years.
Braundo Mar 17th 2009 4:24PM
I really like the feature that makes the quest items clickable on the quest tracker. Too bad I don't use the built-in quest tracker. Oh, well.
Nick S Mar 17th 2009 4:31PM
The new LFG system is a massive improvement. Tank, Healer, or DPS. It's such a simple idea, and yet so amazing...
Alkaios Mar 17th 2009 4:39PM
Won't end the "LFM FOR LEET KARA PUG PSTTT" sh!t on trade, but it's a huge improvement for classes like druids and paladins, and classes that are confused for tanks at times like DKs and warriors.
Also Shamans and priests, but who plays them anyways =)
Tirris Mar 17th 2009 7:23PM
" Also Shamans and priests, but who plays them anyways =) "
i do >:(
sankto Mar 24th 2009 1:39PM
i do too >:-)
/flex
Nathan Mar 17th 2009 4:46PM
Will the LFG tool allow you to select 'any' dungeon / raid?
Presently it filters those within some range of your level, which is nearly useless. I have a number of dungeon quests that I never got around to completing and now they are not available in the menus.
Considering that you get achievements for completing dungeons / raids, any of them should be selectable, or at minimum, any that you have in your quest log.
Can you join the LFG channel without first having to select a dungeon / raid you have no interest in running? This is in large part due to not being able to select any dungeon / raid. Often I pick something I don't want to run, only so that I can join the LFG channel and ask for people to run something I have in my quest log but doesn't appear in the tool menu.
Elmo Mar 17th 2009 4:48PM
I'd like to know what's up with the Troll Warlock?
AZShizzle Mar 18th 2009 7:38AM
Me too! I always wanted to make a warlock like that, but the game doesn't allow me.. QQ
Radiophonic Mar 17th 2009 5:18PM
1,000g for dual-spec...wtf
Muse Mar 17th 2009 6:00PM
I'd still like to see a blizzard-designed healer's UI. If nothing else for some kind of guide how to set up my own. I don't have a degree in graphics and layout, or psychology, and most UIs other players make seem to fall either into the "so spartan you can't do anything but the most basic" or "so cluttered you can't see your character".