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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria news3 makeover suggestions for WoW's default UI
by Mathew McCurley 
Jan 14th 2011 at 1:00PM
However, there are still improvements that could be made, most of them in areas that just haven't been updated in a good long while. I've got a list of three pieces of the UI that I believe could use a makeover.
Battlegrounds
Everything about battlegrounds has been changing for the better lately, with the absolutely awesome Battle for Gilneas (Nordenwatch 2.0) and Twin Peaks. For some reason, however, we are still left with the old, original battleground menu, complete with scroll bar. I am under the impression that scroll bars are nasty design, mostly because I do not have all the options present in front of me without having to do a little digging for information.
What can be done? One of the ways that I think the battleground selection menu could be improved would be to make it a little bit more like the archaeology menu, in which each battleground has an icon in addition to a plain text name. You could keep the window the same size but use icons for the battlegrounds, which open into the bottom window area to display the story, lore, and mechanics of that specific battleground.
Inventory
The bag inventory has been one of the mainstays of World of Warcraft since the beginning and hasn't changed much at all in the course of the game's life. Inventory in general is a hard nut to crack, and Blizzard has done a pretty darn good job with its inventory system. For a long time (and it is hard for me to confess), I never used a bag mod because I could easily arrange my items bag by bag on my own, never letting an addon do the work for me.
Right now, the inventory system that comes default in WoW is satisfactory. It gets the job done, but addons have been bringing some much needed customization to the party.
What can be done? One of the biggest concerns that I have when using the default inventory in WoW is that quest items are sometimes hard to find. ArkInventory, my addon of choice right now for inventory management, allows me to create a bag that places all of my quest items into it. I think the WoW inventory system would benefit greatly from a bag for quest items only, much like how Warhammer Online kept your quest items in a separate place. Not only does this cut down on clutter in your main inventory, but it allows players a little wiggle room when accepting or completing quests with a full or near full inventory. I know that I have had to drop things from my bag when picking up quest items because I forgot to sell.
The second thing that I wish the default inventory system had is an auto-combine feature -- one little button that could be pressed to auto-combine disparate items into stacks. Sometimes I have lost a ton of inventory space because I had no idea some items could be combined because they were hanging around in different bags. Auto-combine would be real nice and probably an easy addition.
Something that has always bugged me about the default player frames is the thinness of the health and mana bars in relation to how important they are as well as the size of the unit frame. Addons solve this problem, of course, but a lot of players love the Warcraft look of the default player and unit frames. I have to agree -- I still think the art is classic, and I used the defaults for a long, long time. However, having the actual plain text number on those thin bars always frustrated me, and in these days of mana conservation and watching those meters even more carefully, things might need to be thickened up.
What can be done? Give players a few options for their user frames. Maybe offer a default, then add in a thicker health/mana bar version for players with less-than-perfect eyesight or who just like a more manageable health bar. I know that Blizzard can purposefully leave out a lot of options due to the prolific number of addons out there that serve this purpose, but the default player and unit frames have always been a sore spot for me.
What do you think is ready for an overhaul on the default WoW interface? Every expansion has granted us some awesome new features for what many consider the best and most flexible user interface in MMO gaming now. I always look forward to new interface additions.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Add-Ons
Reader Comments (Page 3 of 7)
KawF Feb 9th 2011 3:50PM
The reason to why I added class coloring to the healthbar in UnitFramesImproved is simple: it looks good, and I have the memory of a goldfish. The main reason behind the addon however, is however, to simply make the healthbar taller, so it covers the nameplate (actually removing the nameplate, and just showing the name on the bar). There's some added bonuses however like better output of the status text to not cover the entire with of the bar for example. I wish I could post a screenshot here, but there's a few of it on the Curse site.
Nurowyn Jan 14th 2011 1:20PM
Buff icons. Surely it wouldn't be hard to offer an option to reposition/resize them?
The Angry Intern Jan 14th 2011 1:55PM
yep, I use CT_BuffMod to move the location of the default buff icons, mainly because that's where i like to put my quest tracker.
Tripike Jan 14th 2011 2:42PM
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/satrina-buff-frame.aspx
AnAnalogWorm Jan 14th 2011 1:21PM
profession pane needs a serious overhall. being a blacksmith and having a horrible list of 200+ items in front of me every time i open it is very annoying
gboyd Jan 14th 2011 1:45PM
I agree. I am a tailor and have found that every time I need to make a bolt of cloth I need to scroll almost to the bottom for cloth. It's kind of hidden near the middle. Sure I could collapse each category to make it easier to get to, but how about some of these ideas?
1 - Add an option to show only the most relevant crafting items based on our characters level. So we'd only see Embersilk cloth and not Frostweave or any of the others. Nor would we see level 80 or lower items to craft.
2 - Categorize the items in a more intuitive and easier to understand way. Currently I believe there are 2 categories under tailoring both titled "cloth".
3 - I would like to see some sort of user interface that would enable me to look at an item I want to make, see that it requires X bolts of cloth, and craft the cloth directly from that item's screen rather than search for it. I think any item that is needed to be crafted in order to make subsequent items should be handled like this. Such as making ink for glyphs. Of course you'd still need the raw cloth/pigments to make the bolts/inks, but it would simplify the process of crafting those new bracers/glyphs.
Shadowwind Jan 14th 2011 1:48PM
The professions UI DID get an overhaul! Aside from the old collapse/expand options, you can now sort by whether you have the mats, whether it will give you a skillup, by Plate, by 1-hand Axes, or simply type in the search bar and come up with everything that uses Solid Grinding Stones. Once the UI pops open, look to the top right-hand side. There should be a popout bar that allows you to select various options.
Matt Jan 14th 2011 1:55PM
gboyd's 1 and 2 can already be accomplished with the current profession pane ... through filters and/or the search option. I agree about 3. Engineering especially requires you to make some items before you can make the item you actually want.
gboyd Jan 14th 2011 1:57PM
Yes, there was a big of an upgrade, but I don't think it was enough. Sorting by Has Skill Up annoys me actually. I'll see something I like, see I need X number of bolts, but then can't go down to make my bolts of cloth until I uncheck the Has Skill Up option. There is still a lot of clicking, searching, and time spent finding what I need...
I think they could do better.
gboyd Jan 14th 2011 2:04PM
@Matt,
To the best of my knowledge, numbers 1 and 2 cannot be done currently.
Having an option to show only relevant items to your current player level is not the same as "Has Skill Up" or "Has materials" which are the only two options we currently have. What I'm suggesting, is an option that only shows you material you can make within a certain range of your character.
For example. If my 85 Warlock chose "has skill up", and I'm at max level tailoring, I will not see an option to make embersilk bolts as it doesn't not grant a skill up. If I had an option to only show relevant items, It should show me Embersilk as it is part of the cataclysm crafting set, but not frostweave as that was part of Wrath. I could choose "has materials" but that wont show me all the items either, only those I can immediately make. I am suggesting a method to hide craftable items from earlier versions of the game that are no longer of interest to me.
As for number 2. I still don't see a way to organize the items I can make into categories that make sense. Not sure what you mean by it already being in the game.
AnAnalogWorm Jan 14th 2011 2:12PM
i just think that for such a big part of the game they could at least dedicate a bit more space to the professions window. they give more space to achievements. id sooner like to see achievements done in a big long list in a small window than professions. they could easily use the style done in the achievements window with an index done on the left side and the big space to the right to display all the items as you click into each of the headings and sub-headings.
Castor27 Jan 14th 2011 2:16PM
Try Advanced Trade Skill Window. It doesn't do number one exactly but you can sort by item difficulty. This usually puts all items in one pane by their difficulty, Putting all embersilk at the top and frostweave next etc. you can then break it down by slot and subcategory. For #2 it has custom sorting lists you can set it to show things however you want them. You can give items their own category if you want. But the best part is it does exactly what you want in #3. You need to make something that requires 12 bolts of cloth and some thread. If you have the cloth and thread in your inventory you can set the filter to t"have materials" It will show everything you can make with the materials you have even if it is a multi step process. Then decide what you are making click it and click create. it will queue up all the steps to make the item. So it will start with making the bolts then it will make the item. the only thing you have to do is hit the "Continue Queue" button between each step. You can even set it to make multiple items (great for smelting different ores without having to click a ton of buttons).
Fel Jan 14th 2011 2:19PM
Another idea that would be easy enough to do is a "Workbench" pane. You could click a corner arrow to expand a blank list-style pane, then select whatever you want from your full crafting menu and add it to the Workbench. From that point on, no matter what view your main panel is in, you will always have immediate access to the crafting recipes on your Workbench. Saves you all that searching time, and you can combine any material and final product recipes into one view.
Dhoum Jan 14th 2011 2:28PM
Speaking of recategorizing, Engineering has at least THREE categories named "miscellaneous". And don't even start on parts you need to craft in order to craft other stuff, some of which is a part for something else.
wow Jan 14th 2011 3:46PM
What is this. I don't even. How exactly did a post asking for UI upgrades already in game get upranked?
DayDreamer Jan 14th 2011 4:00PM
I'd like a "crafting tree" menu, where I can see everything I need to craft to get the item I want, rather than searching around for each part, and have it cross-profession. (by default hidden if you don't have that profession, but you could open it in case you need to provide the materials or want to look at how much the materials cost on the AH.)
Also, some way of keeping track of how many items I need to build it when it's 2 or more levels away. (I usually get the amount wrong and have to incrementally make stuff and switch back and forth between the items. It's very inconvenient.)
Ray Jan 14th 2011 1:21PM
The ability for healers to have custom BG frames. I'd love for my screen space to be clear, and then when someone within 30-50 yards drops below a set percentage (80% health, for examples), their name and health bar pop up on screen. When there are several, you could have settings that determined how they're displayed (lowest health, class, average incoming damage...).
I'd also like the ability to highlight who I'm pocket healing. I'll keep everyone alive as much as possible, but sometimes there are players who are intelligent enough to deserve more effort.
Lawnday Jan 14th 2011 1:46PM
Oh yeah, that would be perfect. Is there an addon that does it?
shawn Jan 14th 2011 1:21PM
How about a "plain text" variant for those of us who don't want or care about the character portrait on unit frames. A simple block of text that shows health, mana/energe/etc we can move around.
I love the visuals of game play, but generally find UI elements rather distracting, less than usable and most of the time downright annoying and in the way.
I would love to see a non-addon way to simply display UI elements in plain text.
Donhorn Jan 14th 2011 1:22PM
I was thinking the other day that it'd be better to make quest items part of the keyring. There have been too many times to count that I couldn't do one quest or another simply because I didn't have bag space for a quest item. That would also help with finding the quest items in your bags later, it'd be all grouped together in the keyring. (And the way I see it, quest items are "key items" to have right? lol)