Everlu's shot is quite nice and illustrates something that i've been wondering. With nameplates showing (our) target debuffs, is there really a need for a target frame?
I guess to check on target buffs, perhaps? I'm starting to think it's becoming surplus...
EDIT: sorry, was replying while hurrying to go to work. I know that Everlu's 'main' frame is the target frame. I was just talking in a general sense
Last edited by Madstrike; 2014-08-22 at 01:28 PM.
Boss nameplates regularly go out of screen real estate, regardless of how you pan your camera. For two the nameplates all mostly update only if you mouseover the character for adds (dot trackers, raven, etc. all work regardless of this functionality). The icons/trackers are also regularly moving around your screen (if it's trash/adds) or being reorganized if it's a lot of mobs re-organizing themselves around the tank, so they don't remain in a static area.
Nameplates are really there to see a mob, determine it's health and be able to select it on a whim.
Nameplates tend to move around a lot in combat, which can make it hard to keep track of them sometimes. Having a static place to look for your current target is a good backup.
I pretty much only use nameplate auras for multidotting mobs when I'm levelling, if I'm raiding I tend to use boss frames for multidotting.
I've been working on another UI mainly because there is so little to do in-game these days. I like my UIs to be functional, efficient and attractive but free from all the useless bells and whistles a lot of UIs have these days so Ive tried to go for something a bit different using simple textures, shapes and colours (with a bit of flare thrown in!).
Haven't quite finished it yet so any suggestions are welcome (other than the usual formatting and alignment issues!).
Feel free to check out my other videos in my YouTube channel and critique away!
Honestly I have thought about ditching the target frame for other characters for the last year or so. During trash 90% of the time I look at nameplates to monitor health, but boss nameplates run offscreen too much for sure.
One of my guildies wants to run LFR with me this weekend, so I'll replace the minimap and try to wrap up making boss timers look good so I can get a video.
Last edited by Everlu; 2014-08-22 at 07:20 PM.
As far as I can tell, you don't have any way to track important trinket/weapon procs, Bloodlust uptime, potion and important raid/pvp debuffs (on you and your target) that is easily accessible in the middle of combat. That's one of my main gripe, not just with your UI but with a lot of UIs in this thread as well. Other than that it looks very good and it's very nice and clean.
Fair point - perhaps I missed out the pertinent point about that character only being level 81 so its not fully fleshed out yet for endgame, merely for levelling. However buffs and debuffs on myself and my target are at the top of the screen, and important raid buffs and trinket procs are easily integrated when the time comes, probably as another progress bar below my health bar as well as with the help of boss mods (BigWigs being my choice!).
Important information can easily be accessible without it being splashed all over the UI like a painters radio
Mostly just a preference thing, I suppose. I personally dislike having to look up from my HUD to know, for example, how long silence has remaining on my target, or how long my sprint has left. I also heal a lot, where buffs and debuffs are a bit more important (knowing when a tank's defensive has run out, etc), so that biases me too. But it's a very nice UI, I really like it.
Went through some big changes. Shouldn't have uploaded my last pic since I knew I wasn't going to like it like that.
Before: http://i.imgur.com/t1gO7Uw.png
After: http://i.imgur.com/uEpYJAl.png
Also, yay for weakauras: http://gyazo.com/9ad5f27ee326fd0ed15d185b28337329
I normally go for static icons and images, feel like trying to actually put in effort this time round so this is a start
Still doing small iterations but I'm really happy personally.
Last edited by Akurenia; 2014-08-24 at 03:22 PM.
Kenjai, that looks like a great improvement. On the aesthetic side of things, I might suggest flipping the spell icons on MSBT over to the left side so the tight gridlike alignment you have going on is maintained. On the functional side, does putting boss timers all the way in the corner work for you? Or do the short time bars pop up more in the center?
Last edited by Everlu; 2014-08-25 at 01:12 AM.