Patch 4.3: New UI improvements
by Mathew McCurley 
Nov 15th 2011 at 7:00PM
As Blizzard continues to upgrade and tweak the default user interface, new features are added that have their genesis in addons, quality-of-life improvements that players have requested, or just upgrades to existing tech. Hit the jump for a list of new improvements and updates coming to the WoW default user interface.
Players have had bag search for a long time already via popular bag and inventory addons such as ArkInventory, AdiBags, and Combuctor that already allow players to search through their bank and belongings. With patch 4.3, Blizzard has adapted this feature into everyone's user interface with a small search box at the top of the main backpack. As you begin to type in the search box, items matching the full or partial description will be highlighted, while items excluded from the search will dim out.
Let's face it: Dropdown boxes are awful. The reforging user interface has gotten a significant makeover, eschewing the dropdown menus that required extra clicks to view information in favor of a selection menu that looks and feels cleaner and more streamlined. Fewer clicks are good clicks, am I right?
When asking a city guard for directions to one of the new features available in patch 4.3, players will be happy to know that the newest stuff now has a "New" tag and appears at the top of the list. You'll be able to quickly find the reforger, transmogrifier, and void storage, even though they are all now in the same building.
One of the problems with a two-dimensional minimap in a three-dimensional world is that it's hard to gauge elevation or altitude based on a fixed point on a map. Vashj'ir, the underwater starting zone in Cataclysm, is a particularly unique offender, where the entire zone had targets that could be above or below you.
With patch 4.3, a new indicator will appear when you hover over your target's icon on the minimap. A small arrow pointing up or down will indicate if your target is above or below you in elevation. If there is no arrow, it means you are on or near the level plane with your target. I love this addition, and it will hopefully make zones like Vashj'ir and Stormpeaks a bit easier to navigate.
The tracking selection menu on the minimap now has a separate area for townspeople such as repair vendors, reagents, class and profession trainers, and more. By adding a new sub-menu to the tracking menu, Blizzard clears some of the clutter from an increasingly large list of stuff to track. Notice also that the minimap can now track and show archaeology dig sites right on the minimap now -- no more hitting M and then moving two feet forward.
In case you are late to the transmog party and haven't yet seen the new interface, I tossed in a picture of transmogrification, just in case.
There are lots of new changes coming with patch 4.3, and I love the quality-of-life changes most of all. There is plenty to still overhaul on the default user interface, but I'm glad Blizzard works with their UI slowly as to not overburden the players with a whole host of new things that throw us off our game right when a patch hits.
Brace yourselves for what could be some of most exciting updates to the game recently with patch 4.3. Review the official patch notes, and then dig into what's ahead: new item storage options, cross-realm raiding, cosmetic armor skinning and your chance to battle the mighty Deathwing -- from astride his back!
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Brett Porter Nov 15th 2011 7:06PM
The reforging UI update was a pleasant, unannounced update to log into when checking out the PTR a few weeks back. Love it!
mr.finchbretlaender Nov 15th 2011 7:22PM
The addition of the dig sites to the minimap will not only be useful for checking your minimap with; Carbonite and other map replacement addons actually use the minimap rather than the main map, as far as I know, so they will now be able to get updates to show the sites too!
Noyou Nov 15th 2011 8:58PM
@Sam
No. It shouldn't be any taller. Not even a pixel. If you check out your bags now there is a space in between the type of bag and the storage part. The "search" box goes right in there. Should fit without any hassle.
@Revynn - Ian
I never said it was easy or even possible. I just said I wanted a bag upgrade. The main reason they said they wouldn't do it is because they don't want anyone to be able to sell their bags and not have any bag. Obviously they had to write something to get a search function in there. This would have been a good time to give us some extra space. If they rolled it into something cool like a guild perk, they could then regulate 1 type of bag to upgrade. Again, I never said it would be easy or even possible, just something I wanted more than a search function ;)
Noyou Nov 15th 2011 8:59PM
Major reply failure, reporting for duty Sir!
RetPallyJil Nov 16th 2011 12:02AM
You'd love playing on my comp, Drak. I play WoW straight out of the box; stock UI, no macros, and only addon I use is DBM because the world insists I have it.
StClair Nov 16th 2011 1:21PM
@SamLowry:
I'm with you. I've never liked any bag with less than a full row of slots at the top, and try to get a full set of bags all of the same type whenever possible.
Drakkenfyre Nov 15th 2011 7:24PM
Can anyone tell me from the PTR if you can turn the bag search off?
I am one of those people who don't need to search thru my bags. I know where things are. And seeing a search box constantly on my backpack that I can't turn off would piss me off.
raingod Nov 15th 2011 7:44PM
If that would piss you off, a search box is the least of your problems.
Skyrei Nov 15th 2011 7:47PM
I doubt it. I believe that you are (no offense) one of the very few people who wouldn't like the search bar.
SamLowry Nov 15th 2011 7:50PM
Please!
It'll make that row of bags just a few pixels taller and they won't line up with the next row.
Anal-retentive adventurer, reporting for duty.
Noyou Nov 15th 2011 7:55PM
It's barely noticeable at like 200% magnification. In the game it will hardly be obtrusive.
SamLowry Nov 15th 2011 8:01PM
...and if you were wondering, I hated Papa's Brand New Bag because it was two slots taller than the rest of my bags. Never bothered with the 22-slot bags for the same reason.
Fuuuugly!
Drakkenfyre Nov 15th 2011 8:08PM
Every time someone says they don't like a feature, downvote.
I never said it was a bad feature. I just don't want it. If you want it, fine. Just give me the option to turn it off.
I don't need to search my bags. I know how they are organized. And a search box on my backpack without being able to turn it off would piss me off.
Imagine every time you logged in you got a bright, pink pop-up asking you if you want to enter a chat channel. You would probably be annoyed, and want to be able to turn it off, right?
I am tired of things being added that can't be turned off. If you want an option, fine, let the option be turned off if people want. I don't want a clock by my minimap. The option to turn it off was removed. I don't want instant quest text, but the option to turn it off was removed.
I don't want to have to install an addon simply to remove something that should have been an option to begin with.
Bellajtok Nov 15th 2011 8:47PM
Drakken, I really think you're one of the best commenters on this site. You're polite. You answer questions without being a dick. You defend the community. And you're intelligent in your posting.
But on this one, I think you need to calm down.
It's not a lot of space, as people have pointed out. Blizz might very well include a hide option for it, but if they don't, I can't really blame them. If they give an option to hide all the improvements to the UI they make, then they're not really making any progress.
Revynn Nov 15th 2011 8:51PM
Step 1) Go on the PTR.
Step 2) Leave feedback saying "I'd like an option to disable the bag search".
Step 3) Do the same on the PTR forums.
That said, I've never used a bag addon because I prefer to organize my bags myself and after using it on the PTR I really like the feature. Sometimes while I'm rep grinding or mailing crafting mats between alts, things can get a little congested. Beig able to simply put "Ele" into the weary box and have it highlight all the elementium ore in my bags so I can send it to my Blacksmith or "Obs" for the Obsidium ore I'll send to my jewelcrafter makes it very very easy.
Keep in mind that it also works with your bank and GBank. I don't know about your guild, but our GBank is regularly filled up with a lot of useless crap.
SamLowry Nov 15th 2011 8:59PM
But even if it was only one pixel tall, it would still throw off the perfectly gridlike alignment of that row of bags with all the others.
It may seem petty, but I can assure you that throughout the history of RPGs with inventories (going back to Wasteland in '86, if not earlier) I am not the only person who spent a considerable amount of time obsessing over the arrangement of gear in my bags.
Drakkenfyre Nov 15th 2011 9:54PM
Bellajtok, it's not about the space. It's about an option being added to the UI without actually being an option. I prefer clean, uncluttered interfaces. I know some people want a bag search. I do not need one. I do not want something sitting there I will never use, and never be able to turn off.
I am also tired of things being added which we have no control over. A clock was added to the minimap, but an option to remove it was put in. Then later, that option was removed. Instant quest text was made the permanent default option, and now anyone who preferred the old style, which wrote slower, and made a writing sound, are unable to choose that. After every major patch, sometimes it's annoying to have to go in and turn off everything they have added and turned on by default as a "bonus", and things which have no options to begin with are even more annoying. I remember on one PTR everyone was asking why their tooltips were "stupid" because they listed crap like "This does damage. This does more damage than this other spell, but less damage than this other spell", and it was because they had turned on "beginniner tooltips" on by default. The "All bags open by default on a vendor/mail box" thing also annoys the hell out of some people, and not given a choice to disable it.
Add in whatever you want, but give us the option to disable it. Alot of the improvements are copied from addons. If I wanted an addon, I would have downloaded it. Don't force us to use something just because you think it's handy. Let us use it if we want. Simply putting in a "display bag search" option would not hurt anyone.
Revynn, I have tried that. UI changes which had no options I have suggested adding options for. Never happened. And this late in the development cycle, there's probably no way no matter the amount of feedback on it, would it be changed. The patch is due out in about two weeks. They aren't going to pull a UI element, and recode it to allow an option this close to the release.
lilywillylover Nov 16th 2011 1:56AM
I think you're just looking to complain for the sake of complaining. That doesn't look like a cluttered UI at all.
Mehrik Nov 16th 2011 3:45AM
I suspect that at some point Blizzard has to draw the line between their best guesses at what the most people would appreciate based on forums comments and data collected from other sources. They have given us a game that is wonderfully customizable in the UI department through lua scripting. Rather than anticipate the desires of each individual, by adding toggle buttons all over, they have opted to leave it up to the very active addon developer community. I know you're aware of addons as an option, and I know it's not the solution you prefer, but I am trying to see it from the developers point of view. That said, go tell em what you want!
jorge_av Nov 16th 2011 4:09AM
Everyone with all this talk of bag slots being off and a few extra pixels (if even that) for a search bar. I think it's all whining, until I realized I use a bag addon. Ha! If for some reason the addon I use stops working and/or the author stops updating, I would not be able to play. No joke. My addon does not sort my bags for me, all it does is mash all my bags into one large bag and one window. Same for my bank.
I dreaded opening my bags or bank in Cata's beta. I don't know how people can play with bag windows covering half their screen. But if you do, I salute you. I can't and won't. That being said, I'm sure the search bar will fug up my bag addon.