Post Your UI

[Kaitain]

The problem with the default UI is this:

It was made over a decade ago. It fitted the theme of the game and fulfilled the brief (usable and helpful for a large majority of players), but as soon as the very first groups of people started to play in Vanilla endgame, it became clear that while the default UI worked ok for basic gameplay, for advanced things it fell very short. Over time, WoW has become an endgame game, and that means that for a big chunk of players the default UI does not meet their needs.

This is something that Blizzard has never had to fix because they had the fantastic foresight to make a flexible addon system. They didn't need to improve the UI because the community could do it themselves. Over the years some addons and some community made UI alterations have become part of the default UI. The current raid frames for example are a vast improvement on the Vanilla frames. Core frames being movable without the need for an addon. Spell alerts. etc.

However, the basic design of the in-combat UI has barely changed in 10 years. That's not to say the Blizzard has done nothing to improve the UI in that time; much of the non-combat UI and panels have seen a lot of changes. Even simple things like search boxes are vital modernisations from the clunky original designs. But it has become clear that Blizzard's policy is to not update the combat UI, or the overall look and feel, at all. Perhaps they think they nailed it first time 10 years ago. Perhaps they want WoW to look like 2005. Who knows.

For my part, the reason I love changing the UI is because I think that the UI of a game is a vital part of how it feels to play it. The UI is not in the background, it's not an afterthought. When you play other games that have come out in the last few years you can see that those games obviously employ some really passionate and dedicated UI designers, and it's a stark contrast to what WoW has. The interface can be a part of what inspires you to play. That's why even when I'm not subscribed, I still regularly check this forum. It's up to the community to provide great modern UI designs, because Blizzard has all but abandoned it.

[Ishtara]

Basically what Kait is saying to those who are content with using the default wow Ui is ............... "bye felicia."

Seriously though, great response <3

[Madstrike]

Since my sub ends today, guess i'll post my UI here before i go back to not worrying about WoW for a few months: http://i.imgur.com/cBg6e2E.jpg

Base is elvUI because i have better things to do than look at stupid LUA code(already look at code all day at work) so here's a preemptive "abloo abloo ELVUIs aren't real UIs".

[Deleted]

No, there are many UIs that are cleaner and just plain better at consolidating useful information into an easily accessible area. The default UI is frankly unusable for high end raiding unless you spend a significant amount of time adapting yourself to it's terrible layout. Even then, you'll need to expand more mental effort keeping track of everything than you would on a better, cleaner, UI.

And whether it looks tacky or not is subjective anyway.

I can track all my cooldowns, my health, and my raid's health/mana, the rest is on keybinds, so I don't really get the problem.

[OOMM]

I can track all my cooldowns, my health, and my raid's health/mana, the rest is on keybinds, so I don't really get the problem.

Meta gem proc/cd, cape proc/cd, glove proc/cd, trinket 1 proc/cd, trinket 2 proc/cd, weapon enchant proc/cd, 2 piece proc, 4 piece proc, skull banner proc/cd, bloodlust proc/cd, doomguard uptime, threat, damage, healing, encounter specific timers, encounter specific alerts. These are just the ones I have off the top of my head. Not to mention general clarity of information presentation - absorbing all of this information while doing your highest dps and completing encounter objectives.

[Drayarr]

I...err...nevermind!

Since we're talking about old ui stuff and i mainly lurked the UI threads on wowace/wowuigallery/ej/etc (wait, i still only lurk! ), i guess i'll ask: Is this(these?) bar texture that Care uses available anywhere? It was always pleasing to see it used!
example1: http://www.wowuigallery.com/bb-galle...7-27-28-08.png
example2: http://www.wowuigallery.com/bb-galle...910_193515.jpg

EDIT: nevermind x 2 , think i found it. Back to lurking, yay!

I want that rogue UI...

- - - Updated - - -

Here is one of my history times UIs (2008). I'd love to remake this.

I MISS THOSE TALENT TREES Q_Q...

[OOMM]

I MISS THOSE TALENT TREES Q_Q...

I took that screenshot because of the talent tree... that warrior is 61/0/0.

[ComputerNerd]

It doesn't display information how I want it to be displayed.

This is a very good point that gets overlooked often.
The default UI does not suit everyone.
No premade UI will suit everyone.

The best UI is one you make to provide the information that YOU need to see.
Not what someone else thinks you need to see.
It doesn't have to be pretty, though that is a bonus.

Edit: didn't see the post by Kait when I typed this.
Bringing up some very interesting points.

[Deleted]

I took that screenshot because of the talent tree... that warrior is 61/0/0.

he really didn't want to miss mortal strike.


trying a different version on my dk. sorta Duke inspired. i usually keep my spam chat in lower right corner.

http://i.imgur.com/OoxspYw.jpg

[magicaldandruff]

The bigger the monitor, the smaller the default UI gets. I don't want to have to move my eyes waaaaay into the upper left corner to have to see my own/target's status, away from the action. Also, tuning the UI scale just makes EVERYTHING bigger not just the frames and I don't want that.

And personally, its just a matter of aesthetics and the default UI just lacks that WOW (also WoW) factor. I'd understand if you were a player that regularly participates in blizzard arena tournaments (where modified UI's are not allowed) but regular joe's just like to have that special something that makes their character seem unique.

Sometimes just adding a single new addon completely changes the game experience.

[Drayarr]

I took that screenshot because of the talent tree... that warrior is 61/0/0.

he really didn't want to miss mortal strike.


trying a different version on my dk. sorta Duke inspired. i usually keep my spam chat in lower right corner.

http://i.imgur.com/OoxspYw.jpg

I remember inspecting people for pugs with 0/61/0 etc.

I like that UI, not something I would use but I like it :P

[Deleted]

Yeah, the default UI is at this point totally adequate for casual play, and it aesthetically fits the game world better than 99% of the ones posted here (including mine); it just doesn't provide you with quite all the information you need to play as optimally as you possibly can, or at least it doesn't provide it in the best possible format.

That being said, I'd personally rather use the default than any other UI package I've ever seen, because literally everyone makes at least one choice that's completely crazy to me.

[Deleted]

Meta gem proc/cd, cape proc/cd, glove proc/cd, trinket 1 proc/cd, trinket 2 proc/cd, weapon enchant proc/cd, 2 piece proc, 4 piece proc, skull banner proc/cd, bloodlust proc/cd, doomguard uptime, threat, damage, healing, encounter specific timers, encounter specific alerts. These are just the ones I have off the top of my head. Not to mention general clarity of information presentation - absorbing all of this information while doing your highest dps and completing encounter objectives.

I can manage all these proc/CD's with just the standard UI.

[Tranklol]

I can manage all these proc/CD's with just the standard UI.

I wasn't aware that you are a world ranking 14/14 heroic raider, my mistake. Please tell me more about how you outperform the world's top players with your default skills

[Shahad]

I can manage all these proc/CD's with just the standard UI.

You can, but it takes more effort and takes your attention away from the important part of your screen. Thus increasing your risks of missing a CD or a boss ability or failing to notice your standing in fire. It's doable if you mod it with weakauras to move the important things back to the center of the screen, but otherwise it's just more effort for less than optimal results. In general, you can't raid at the higher levels with a 100% pure default UI. Unless you're a healer perhaps.

[dementedlogic]

It's not worth arguing, just look at his post history - he's Johnny Casual (not saying this is a bad thing). For what he does there's little/no actual reason to craft a custom UI. Arguing that he'll gain something from using WA2 is going to be received just as well as telling a lifetime clicker that keybinding is going to improve their game.

[Birgwow]

Meh, here's a rogue UI to break the tension

[Arborus]

Meh, here's a rogue UI to break the tension

Beautiful as always. Your UIs really make me want to move my buffs to the bottom right.

[Lyn]

Meh, here's a rogue UI to break the tension

I really like you for using music that's not blocked in Germany this time.

No target frame? Or not finished atm?

The player uf is kinda nice, especially with the cooldown / dot tracking below it. I am not a big fan of that font you use .. but all in all, I like that idea.
What exactly are the arrows left and right of the energy good for? CP?

Maaaaybe I am using a bit from that for my new UFs.

And I really need to know how I can make a video of my UI .. ^^

trying a different version on my dk. sorta Duke inspired. i usually keep my spam chat in lower right corner.

http://i.imgur.com/OoxspYw.jpg

Meh, I want the health bar below my tooltip, too. I can't get it in a clean way :/



(Hooray for ignoring the standard ui guy)

[Deleted]

@OOMPH: YES! That is exactly the awesome UI I meant. I don't know what it is, since it's kinda simple looking at it now, but still brilliant. Also loved the castbar over mana thingy.

@ Birg: COWS CAN BE FRICKING ROGUES NOW?! -.-*

Anyway I always love SOME things about your UI's, like the WeakAuras(?) way of monitoring special buffs with flashy animations. The combo meter you got etc. But I'd never be able to use it myself really.


@ Phishr: Loving the simplicity really, reminds me a bit of a Duke UI that had sex with Lyn or something. Try to get those rounded frames on more elements though, like floating healthbars and DPS meters for example. To create more unity.


@StandardUIGuy: Hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe....ehehehehe.