norn is very wise in the way of WoW UI. Let me show you how, with some of his teachings, I was able to refine mine into an observational awareness microscope.
Doom's Current UI, conveniently taken in last night's raid learning Atramedes.Different shot showing combat text, target + target of target frames, shadow spec hot-keys, how "my debuffs only and make them easier to see" work, ability cooldowns from omni-CC, grid debuffs, etc. Also the quartz bar, that red bit at the end shows my assumed lattency and when I can safely auto-queue my next press.Frames are Shadowed Unit Frames, allowing simple, straight-forward frames with a slightly refined edge. Notice no character portrait on myself and I'd remove my name if I could. Classes are reduced to a single distinct color: this is universal, so it's alright. Having a giant (Priest) tag on myself is pretty useless unless I am stricken by a memory that can only go back ten seconds.
I have my own buffs shown, but cap it at one line and give priority to my own: all I should EVER need to know is whether or not I've remembered to put up Inner Fire/Will, Fortitude and Shadow Protection. Vampiric Embrace and my Orb/Empowered Shadows status if Shadow, and a quick reference for my 20 stack spell-power trinket. It sounds complicated, but once you have the settings in place it's that way forever: at a glance, easy to use.
I have my target's debuffs/buffs set even more sternly: only my debuffs applicable show up, because it doesn't matter that the two hunters in the raid remembered their serpent sting(it'll show in shitty DPS if they don't, I guess.) I just need to know that I'm rolling my DoTs properly.
Favor a central view. Where does my target bar appear? To the immediate right of my personal bar! Not at the top of my screen, in a corner far away from where I should see whether or not my character is standing on a giant circle made of FIRE! This also puts them near my important hot-keys, which I have OmniCC so that their cooldowns appear as counting down digits on the buttons, so I never guess when my shit's off cooldown with the stupid default "the button fills itself like a clock but once it's almost done you can't quite tell when it's there!"
Side-note: always display your targets HP with Percentage and whatever else, but percentage is key because you need to know when you can Execute/Hammer of Wrath/Shadow Word Death AND when he does a percentage based phase change(Argaloth.)
Hotkeys are done with bartender4(I think) and they save/change based on my dual-spec(incredibly useful.)
OK, now my hot-keys. First off, if you study them closely, you should notice a very clear distinction: anything I
need to cast as reactionary or primary is within 1-5, shift 1-5, or keys around WASD. I used to play with keys further than 5 on the default number-line, but that was stupid: I was a rogue with kick at hotkey 7, which meant that when I needed to make a
split-second reaction in a 1.5 second gap of opportunity, I wasted several split-seconds stretching my hand for a chance to fucking miss and hit 6! Now, across every character with an interrupt(or like, a dumb stun/silence to replace it), I put that on the X key. Pictured here, I am in Heal-Spec and need my only interrupt(Chastise) to morph into heals I use primarily, so it's in the 1 key and SW:P is there for rare needs(Ozruk, PvP.) It'd be Silence in my Shadow Spec.
Now, there's also a split between my hot-keys to odd keys that are very distinctly further than the 5. Like... J for Guardian Spirit, Shift + \ for Light-well, fucking num-pad - for my chakra? This is just personal preference. I consider these keys I have to "think" to use. Lightwell has a 3 minute cooldown or so, I'm stuck in my Chakra state for like 30 seconds, etc. I also have even my more vital but very esoteric skills in obscure hot-keys: Mind Contrl is ] in both specs, because it won't come up that much but when it does I sure as fuck better not be clicking it.
I also have clickies because laboring for new hotkeys can be tortuous after a certian point. Also, quite frankly, all my clickies are either Fire-and-Forget(Fort/Shadow Protection last an hour, Inner Fire/Will 30 minutes), or Big Thinkers, like Hymn of Hope/Divine Hymn: even if I panic and consider using these, it better be a situation where I can throw up an 8 second channel and
do the right thing.
Also, my keys here are slightly outdated: I have Goblin Bank Access and Singing Sunflower on bars over there, but it's a waste. I also have gaps: those are represented by Vampiric Embrace and my off-the-cuff positioning of a Healthstone and my recent use of Archaeology shovel: I leave blank spots on that bar because when I get a daily quest to use a quest clickie, I drop it on that bar(or even swap it with a hot-key like R) so I'm not an idiot opening my bag for ten seconds looking for the quest doo-dad.
Finally, note some smartly set hot-keys here for double-duty: G for dispel, shift-G for mass-dispel. Makes it easier for muscle memory, am I right? ` for Mind Spike, Shift ` for Mind Sear: both spells I should only cast in specific situations as Shadow, but not situations that are unusually rare.
OK! That was a lot of talk about buttons, but in case you're on the wrong side of the debate,
hotkeys are always faster than clicking, however, if you can get by on clicking, good on you. You'd just be EVEN FASTER with hotkey discipline.My chat window may be slightly too big, but I can adjust that on a whim so it barely matters. I use Prat or Chatter, I forget which, but I can click on and copy/paste links from chat and other cool shit. I also use the SA-specific goon add-on TheAddon, which is only meaningful if you play with us: it allows those funny emoticons!
At the top of my screen is TitanBar. It's very minimalist and useful, even if slightly bugged(I bought 22 slotters made from the old Warlock Shard bags, so it assumes I never upgraded past my initial 16 slots!) It displays the time, my durability and estimated repair cost, my cash on hand across all characters(I've made some big purchases recently!), my leveling efficiency(I should disable that as I've capped, whoops!) and my coordinates, which are very useful if say, King Krush is up and I need to give specific details to a Hunter Buddy.
OK, now what are those magical windows in the right corner? RECOUNT. I have Recount's death window open because it is
the single most useful tool a raid leader can have. That big "why'd I die" window on the left? It recounts the specific details of the last several seconds of my life! It'll tell you shit like whether or not the Main Tank went twelve seconds without a single heal, whether or not you did eat that tic of Sonic Breath, and that I let my sound bar get retardedly high and died to Atramedes' pulsing AoE!
It can do break-downs this indepth with DPS, healing, damage taken, who actually fucking interrupts, ETC. all sorts of stuff. If you are not using something like Recount, you may be robbing yourself of information you need. Or not. Mostly, it's just a great DPS benchmark(reading Healing meters is a bit trickier, lest you end up with useless information that makes you look stupid when you yell at a healer.)
Next to it is Omen. A threat meter, plain and simple. Most of them are now so uniformly good(and the base UI has one) that you can pick to suit your tastes. If you are a DPS that doesn't understand why the boss turned around and slapped you or why that one monster broke loose from the AoE pack and shoved his foot up your ass, get this.
Next up is Grid. Grid is just a simple substitute for heal-frames and one of the many ways to more efficiently play whack-a-mole. I'm still fiddling with a good place to put it(I ended up putting it closer to my center view in later attempts) but you get the idea: you need instant access to who is in range and to be able to select them, period. The default UI has come a LONG WAY towards offering an option for this and it's not half bad. Notice that if I'm not in range(40 yards) of a party member, their box is dulled out. It also plasters the most imminently important dispellable buff that *I* can dispel on their box. Fusion Punch would take priority over Not Fusion Punch, etc.
Big thing: if you have good raid-frames that adjust based on your group size, you can remove party frames entirely. Huge space saver. Also, party frames are usually loaded with unnecessary shit: pet name, portraits, buffs, how much fucking focus/energy they have... at MOST, you should give a shit whether or not your fellow healers are low on mana.
I use the base map or if I can be bothered, Chinchilla. Don't use SexyMap. Some addons use unnecessary resources: and you can often discern which ones! If your super whacky Mario sound effects pack is badly written enough, yes, it will negatively impact your system performance and reactions.
Note that even if you think my UI is cramped in some ways, I can adjust anything on the fly rather than deal with it. It suits me for now, so I can just shrug: I can shrink the Recount, Omen and chat boxes as I wish, or even adjust the size scale of my buttons. I can toggle what information titan-bar displays.
Other addons not displayed in action are...
WIM(Wow Instant Messenger): Get this or something like it and you'll never again be burdened by trying to find a whisper after a ten minute boss fight. Automatically puts people on hold when you're in combat, etc.
Deadly Boss Mods: If you don't use a boss mod YOU ARE THE WORST RAIDER WHAT THE HELL. If we were fighting Atramedes in this screenshot, I'd see cooldown bars next to my mini-map that show shit like
[Sonic Breath: 0:26]
[Searing Flame: 0:41]
And they wind down and empty... and here's the best part...
When they get to a value I can designate(15 seconds for now), they move to my center view, positioning themselves right above me + target portraits! Holy shit! How can I miss what's about to happen!?
It gets better! It announces things as they happen! It plays sound effects that are context sensitive! Am I the target of Sonic Breath? It automatically places a Skull over my head and on my client only it plays "RUN AWAY STUPID!" along with a brief horn of urgency toot! And it displays a combat notification near the top of my screen just to give all relevant information!
SONIC BREATH ON: BANKSHOTNow I can like, click on my grid real quick and hit power word shield and swoosh, he gets a Body and Soul boost for running! Wow!
And it can do some more things, but DBM is so fucking pivotal for basic information. It doesn't run the fight for you, it helps prevent you from being caught with your pants down while you guess. That boss is about to cast Empowering Clusterfuck, I'd better wind up the AoE heals!
Auctionator: Get auctioneer, get this, who cares. But only a chump doesn't have an addon automatically scan and list the other current and relevant prices of a good he's putting up for sale.
Postal: god the base mailbox sucks. lets you auto-open all your mail, among other cool shit
NPC_Scan: really cool auto-scanning thing: if you're flying over butt-fuck Northrend and a rare is under you, it will produce a picture you can click to target it, blare a horn to wake you the fuck up, and mark it with a symbol. Basically it's always scanning to let you know when Buttbeard the Frenzied has spawned, go get dat rare.
Awwwww!: Let's you play the Super Mario death noise when you die. Cute. :3
Quartz: It's a cast bar mod(I have cast bars set to appear near their respective frames, and I have a small bit of extra space next to my target frame for target of target and a possible set for /focus) with a ton of cool options. It even displays your guesstimated latency vs the server input, so you can hit the next button in your rotation before your cast finishes and queue it up seamlessly.
MikScrollingBattleText: Combat text display mod: this "frames" my central view of my character, so I can see what I'm doing(heals, damage) to my right, what I get hit by to my left(heals, damage), and see buffs/debuffs occur at the top. And I can set the trajectory they fade in and out and move at, so they don't get in my way.
oGlow: I think some default bag mods have this. All it does is surround an item in my bag with a relevant glow: green for common, purple for epics, etc. Incredibly useful when you try to discern a shitty green quest reward to vendor from your off-set gear in your bag.
Tidy Plates: When you hit V or Shift V, it adjusts what you can see over an enemy's head or an ally's head, for clicking/picking their ass out of a crowd. Healers should use Grid or other raid frames to save somebody, but DPS will find this immensely useful for picking the one mob out of five you need to CC/interrupt or you want to tab-DoT to cheese DPS meters with.
OK That was crazy long but there you go, these are the thoughtful touches I've put into my UI and it does account for why I react to and dodge fire a second before some other people are even aware something special happened, or why I can "know all" about which DPS ate the thing he wasn't supposed to.
It's also not be-all end-all, don't just flat copy me and expect the same results/comfort, but give them a try if you like and understand why they work as well as they do.
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Topic: User Interfaces and Add-ons (Read 5768 times)