Cataclysm Beta: Updated user interface elements

- character panel
- leveling up
- spells and professions book
- trainers
- quests
Just be warned that there are going to be a few possible quest spoilers in here, so you may wish to skip over this if you want to remain unspoiled.
Your character

Check out the new character pane! All of your stats are now in a collapsible area and have been moved over to the right side.
When it comes to leveling, here is what it looks like whenever you gain a new level. It'll be big and bright. Not only that, it will also tell you what new abilities will be available to you. This will save you a few trips back to the class trainer. Personally, during some of the earlier levels, I like to learn new spells every second or third level. Anyway, not only will you learn when new abilities and talent points will be available to you, but if you're eligible for different battlegrounds, the dungeon finder, riding types or glyphs, it will alert you here and in your chat window.
And you can click the "You've Reached Level X" to see the entire list of what will be available to you.
Professions
Here you can see the addition of the new professions tab in the spellbook. Buttons to access the various recipe panels can also be found here. And yes, those same buttons can be used for hotkey purposes. Information about the two main professions will be at the top (like blacksmithing and mining in this example), and all secondary professions are listed below. If your character hasn't learned them yet, there will be a message telling you to go see a trainer. Otherwise, it displays the amount of points your character has along with access to the different recipes.
For recipes, the recipe list looks a little something like this. You'll notice it hasn't really changed a whole lot. The search box and filter gets a bit of a minor face lift. What really got changed is that white arrow with the "3" next to it for the Fire-Etched Dagger. Crafting professions like tailoring and blacksmithing can now give multiple skillups when you're creating certain items. The recipe panel now tells you how many skillups you can get if it exceeds one skillup point. In this case, creating the dagger here will provide three skillups.

And you can click the "You've Reached Level X" to see the entire list of what will be available to you.
Professions

Here you can see the addition of the new professions tab in the spellbook. Buttons to access the various recipe panels can also be found here. And yes, those same buttons can be used for hotkey purposes. Information about the two main professions will be at the top (like blacksmithing and mining in this example), and all secondary professions are listed below. If your character hasn't learned them yet, there will be a message telling you to go see a trainer. Otherwise, it displays the amount of points your character has along with access to the different recipes.For recipes, the recipe list looks a little something like this. You'll notice it hasn't really changed a whole lot. The search box and filter gets a bit of a minor face lift. What really got changed is that white arrow with the "3" next to it for the Fire-Etched Dagger. Crafting professions like tailoring and blacksmithing can now give multiple skillups when you're creating certain items. The recipe panel now tells you how many skillups you can get if it exceeds one skillup point. In this case, creating the dagger here will provide three skillups.
Spellbook
Any abilities that your character can use or have not learned yet will also appear in the spellbook. In the spellbook below, you can see a new ability is ready to be trained, and the player is informed to go visit a trainer to gain access to it. Any lower-rank iterations of an ability have been removed. The spellbook only shows the maximum rank.

Diggin' the new trainer UI? The left one is for your skills and the right one is for professions. The entire interface just looks cleaner over all. The visual icon, the name, level requirements and costs to learn are listed in an easily scannable format. Anything your character can't learn is greyed out.

Not quite sure who your targets are? If there's a specific, named NPC you need to go after and kill, you'll find that the quest UI has been updated to display a model of who you need to go find. In the shot above, I think it works the same way when you're looking for friendly NPCs.
Not only that, a new remote quest system is now in the game. In other words, you can receive and complete quests without having to hustle back to the quest giver. When you're ready to turn in a quest, you'll see an alert that notifies you of it.
Your minimap also provides an arrow directing you to the first quest in your quest tracker. Try to start with the quests that are closest to you, to make the process easier.

And lastly, you can see the new PvP panes. The left tab allows you to queue for standard battlegrounds. The conquest tab lets you try your hand at rated battlegrounds and arenas. The last tab enables you to create your own arena team without having to visit an arena master.

There are a few more UI elements that are new, but these are the big ones that caught my attention. If you want to see more, go ahead and check out Kody's excellent wrap up over at World of Raids. Stuff like the guild perks pane have not been implemented yet. Hopefully we'll see those sometime in the near future.
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm will destroy Azeroth as we know it. Nothing will be the same. In WoW.com's Guide to Cataclysm, you can find out everything you need to know about WoW's third expansion. From goblins and worgens to mastery and guild changes, it's all there for your cataclysmic enjoyment.
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Reader Comments (Page 4 of 4)
MusedMoose Jul 2nd 2010 7:00PM
So he named his beard Diane, so what?
:P
Randy* Jul 2nd 2010 3:53PM
The revised character pane looks interesting with the nice background and all, but when will they make the model in the dressing room scalable so we can actually see what that new item will look like on us? :(
Eternauta Jul 2nd 2010 3:59PM
Indeed =)
I love the new UI!
Furlover Jul 2nd 2010 4:34PM
These look very promising. Should make levelling up my new worgen slightly more interesting!
Hih Jul 2nd 2010 5:04PM
This really is gonna be like WoW 2.
Dreyja Jul 2nd 2010 5:06PM
I'm looking at this and I still don't want to give up hope that they haven't upgraded the older models here. *** whow, lame sentence*** x-p
Uhm... Does he look smoother to you? Am I just wishing so hard that I'm seeing what I want to see?
I love the changes though!
Dreyja Jul 2nd 2010 5:08PM
hope that they HAVE upgraded.... /facepalm. ;-p
Zhiva Jul 2nd 2010 5:09PM
Why does not Mining have Smelting?..
Artificial Jul 2nd 2010 6:26PM
Apparently in past miners all have smelt, but in the new expansion, gnomes have installed running water in most places, so it's less of an issue...
dodgeballer2005 Jul 2nd 2010 6:03PM
In the words of MS Paint Adventures:
"sh**, let's be santa"
Dragonrose Jul 2nd 2010 6:45PM
What's remote questing?
Artificial Jul 2nd 2010 8:02PM
It's when your character notices the obvious next step for herself in the field, rather than having to run back to some questgiver to tell her the obvious thing to do next.
mcrowling Jul 3rd 2010 12:19AM
Its so beautiful. I think my eyes are starting to tear up
Klown Jul 3rd 2010 1:05AM
I kinda like the new windows except the quest window looks like the npc window takes up a lot.
Calok Jul 3rd 2010 9:08AM
Some of the change are cool, but some of it makes me worried the game is being dummied down too much, remote quest turn in, and being told when a spell or skill is available, why not just have our character auto level while we are afk? Makes me worried.
oneraindrop Jul 3rd 2010 9:07PM
Oh yes, nobody's modding the game to do those exact same things... nobody at all.
C4G Jul 3rd 2010 6:34PM
Holy frick, this looks like the Aion character interface!