1. #1

    UI Newbie Help Wanted

    Ive been playing WOW since its inception. I have been using the standard Blizzard UI. It has many draw backs obviously. I play on a 20" monitor and I am finding I have to look at the top of the screen to either see my rage or health, and look down at my action bars to see my ability procs, this takes me eyes off the actual encounter for a while.

    Can someone point me to a good tutorial link or recommendations for the best add ons. I am a fan of keeping things simple and not having my screen including useless information and timers. I have looked at many UIs but there are so many options I am not sure which one I should start with.

    Also, I am wondering if perfecting your UI takes a long time or is it a simple process?

    I did see an amazing tanking UI tutorial guide last year but I have misplaced the link.

    I am primarily playing on a warrior.

    Id appreciate constructive comments but let the flaming begin.

    Thanks for all the help

  2. #2
    The Patient
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    So if you don't mind what the default UI looks like, you can simply download MoveAnything, which lets you take pretty much anything and, well, move it.

    Many of the UI addons out there are more about people NOT liking what the default UI looks like, so they(we) want something different. Of course along with this comes a lot of trial and error unless you download a "packaged" UI.

    In the end it's all a matter of personal preference. Personally I enjoy tinkering with UI stuff, so I've built a custom one of my own. But at the very least if you're simply looking to have it all at the bottom (or top) of your screen so your eyes move less.... MoveAnything should do the trick for you.

    Hope this helps!

    Heroic progression raider. Incapable of using Saran Wrap.

  3. #3
    Thanks. It does help. Gets me started.

    I have found a UI that I like its teh ElvUI package. I like the black font theme and clean cut corners of it. I am going to go with this one.


    Now: I do need a good ability timer or countdown add on. I used to use EventAlert2 which was AMAZING!. When an important ability proced it would make a ping sound and the icon would flash in front of your eyes. But this add on is no longer supported. Do you know of a similar popular add on?

  4. #4
    Herald of the Titans Varyk's Avatar
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    Here is a list of addons I would highly recommend. I use them all personally.

    Bartender4 (Action Bar mod, lets you rescale them, so they aren't ginormous, although you can make them as big/small as you desire) (I also use Masque/Button Facade to skin them)

    Cooldowns (cooldown managing addon, it's probably the most useful addon I've come across yet)

    Quartz (cast bar mod, comes with bars for You, your target, your target target, focus, and pet/pet target, also a GCD swing timer, it has lag tolerance built in)

    Omen (threat meter, must have for any dps or tank that wants to do any PVE content)

    Dealy Boss Mods (raid encounter addon, shows timers for boss abilities, gives warnings, etc) BigWigs is prettymuch the same thing, people have their own preferences.

    Power Auras (another cooldown, proc, gcd, timer addon, its good for keeping track of prettymuch anything, you can have it make a noise when all of your procs are lined up to use cooldowns, when you need to use a defensive cooldown if a debuff stack is building up, it does everything and more, another one of my favorites)

    Xperl (character/party/raid frames)

    Grid (Raid Frames, another must have for any groups)

    Recount is all well and good, but its not necessary, but most people cant live without it. It's simply a damage/healing/etc meter.

    As far as whole UI packages go, there are quite a few popular ones, most variations of TukUI (ElvUi etc). I can't stand any of them personally, and would rather make my own using many of thr above tools.
    Last edited by Varyk; 2011-11-21 at 05:00 AM.

  5. #5
    I am Murloc! Anakso's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Doogster View Post
    Thanks. It does help. Gets me started.

    I have found a UI that I like its teh ElvUI package. I like the black font theme and clean cut corners of it. I am going to go with this one.


    Now: I do need a good ability timer or countdown add on. I used to use EventAlert2 which was AMAZING!. When an important ability proced it would make a ping sound and the icon would flash in front of your eyes. But this add on is no longer supported. Do you know of a similar popular add on?
    Elvui is quite nice, I use it but have turned a lot of it off, for example all skins apart from the bag skin I have turned off, unit frames, raid frames etc because I like the way elvui looks but not enough for me to want everything to look that way, and the unit frames are very lacking imo.

    I use pitbul 4 for unit frames but you can also try SFU or X-pearl. Grid is my raid frames, I highly recommend using grid.

    EDIT: As for ability timer not 100% on what you mean(CDs, your dots etc?) but in terms of dots, on my lock I use the elvui unit frames instead of pitbul just because elvui has such a good dot and also buff tracker, all my dots show up above the enemy unit frame and all my temp buffs show up above mine, it's really good. if you don't like that try Quartz.

    For tracking Cooldowns I use tellmewhen another good one I think is called needtoknow
    Last edited by Anakso; 2011-11-21 at 04:47 AM.

  6. #6
    The Patient Chloride's Avatar
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    elvui is a good package, I was going to suggest that and Lui both are nice and keep it pretty simple. As for custom UIs its not really that hard. You find what works for you and what you want to improve on and theres a mod for everything so you get it and set it how you like it. Some ideas come from seeing what others do and what works for them but most of it (on my end) has been just making things work for me. Simple yes, but its a process that is never really done.
    Was hit with a nerf bat!

  7. #7
    I am Murloc! Anakso's Avatar
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    One thing I recommend doing is downloading the curse client if you haven't already and just click the "get more addons" tab it will come with a list of every add on that is on curse, which is almost every add on excluding a few packages, it should already be set by popularity but if not set it to list from most popular to least and just scroll down and any add on that sounds interesting click on and click description, then if you want more info you can click the website button and it'll take you to its page on curse, showing you screen shots of it in use etc.

    That's how I find a lot of the add ons I use.

    Example the top 4 most popular add ons
    Recount; DBM; Atlas loot; Omen. Recommend you get at least 3 of them, Atlas loot is really something you only need if you want to know what every boss drops, which comes in handy but not as necessary since the dungeon journal.
    Last edited by Anakso; 2011-11-21 at 04:58 AM.

  8. #8
    I would go with bartender and move anything.
    "If you want to control people, if you want to feed them a pack of lies and dominate them, keep them ignorant. For me, literacy means freedom." - LaVar Burton.

  9. #9
    I hear ya, I hate looking to the top of the screen to see my HP and Resource (Mana, Energy, Rage, Focus)
    So I use RBottomBarStyler, Bartender, Grid, and Pitbull Unit Frames

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