What is NEEDED in a good UI?

[lefse]

I have tried many different UI's and UI packages over the years. I was wondering what the MMO-Champ community feels is important in a UI.

I feel that a good unit frame, threat meter, and boss mod are needed. A bar mod is aesthetically pleasing, but not needed.

I am using a castbar mod for latency and weak auras for proc tracking. Anything else you guys feel are mandatory?

[ComputerNerd]

How people prefer to see timers/cooldowns will vary from one to another.
Means something like WeakAuras can be substituted for one of many others.

Threat can be tracked via other means, on some unitframes, on some nameplates or simply sound/text notifications.

I would not call any single addon mandatory, though some if used well are pretty hard to find good alternatives to.

[shanthi]

Means something like WeakAuras can be substituted for one of many others.

Blasphemy! :P

[lefse]

Maybe I should have said, what do you feel you need to know to be an efficient raider.

[jovian2]

Unit frames to keep things tidy and to better track any timers, Bar mod to prevent a bloated UI, and a Boss mod for obvious reasons.

I like to use Cast Bar mod(Quartz) because I prefer a larger and more visible bar. However, I'm not sure if others find it necessary.

[Thundertom]

I really don't need to see for how much stuff heals or damages. I don't use scrolling combat text addons. They IMO provide useless rows of numbers that serve little purpose.
I use Weakauras to track important procs, but not every single combat proc (like trinkets or weapons). I have my WeakAuras let me know visually when the stars align, so I know when is a good time to burst (Trinket Proc+Weapon Proc+Enraged+Colossus Smash off CD) but not every proc individually, they only provide screen clutter.

I pretty much use the stock UI+WeakAuras and DBM. The Stock UI has improved greatly and provides enough information.

The rest of my addons provide out of combat help, such as bag sorting, summon a random mount and summoning a random companion pet when out of combat.

[Tokas]

tellmewhen
castbars
postal
recount
bagnon
shadowed unit frames
atlas loot
move anything
and that's about it, my addons that are absolutely needed for me
p.s. not using boss mods

[Jalopy]

Centralized information.

At the end of the day, that's what matters.

[Deleted]

I just want to be able to track what dots/debuffs are on my target and what isn't.

[Deleted]

different for each person
I use
Elv, Power Aura's Classic, DBM, Tidy Plates
Dont need anything else.

[Spl4sh3r]

I think the important part for me in a UI is the placement of the abilities. Though I am good enough with just the standard UI, it has everything I need. Then you add the essential addons such as DBM, got no other that is required.

[Deleted]

Deadly boss mode, ELV UI, Weak auras & ForteX

Works fine for me, and ofc I have some extra for farming/bgs etc. (NPC_scanner, postal, bgtargets etc. All of those is amust if you do farming or bgs)

[Deleted]

I'd say this:
- something that changes the appearance of health bars (shown with 'V' if you didn't change that keybinding) like Aloft or the integrated version from elvUI.
- cooldown count text (really simple but important to me)
- Deadly Boss Mods (if you like to raid) or something similar.
- Gladius (if you like to play arena)
- (my personal favorite) Power Auras Classic. This gives me the opportunity to make icons/effects appear on my screen whenever important things happen. I pvp a lot, and made myself a warning whenever my enemy got Divine Shield, Hand of Protection, Deterrance, Ice Block... stuff that make him immune for physical damage. This is so great to not miss any of the small buffs on your screen that are so damn important to not miss.
- something that tells your party when you interrupted someone or when you do a major cooldown. This is so much easier then making macro's. RSA is a great addon for this!

optional:
- different unit frames. (As long as I can move them to the middle I'm fine already, and since that's possible now with blizz ui, why wouldn't you use that)
- threatmeter or damage meter. (both completely useless if you know how to play, but some people like meters.) (I myself always had to watch my recount meter when i was raiding, just for the sake of pleasing myself when I got rank 1 dps again trolol;-))
- atlas(loot). It's a great addon to have, but really not needed to perform better in pve or pvp.

[vesseblah]

Maybe I should have said, what do you feel you need to know to be an efficient raider.

For DPS:

- A way to know which of your abilities are up and which are coming up in next five seconds
- What the boss will do in the next 10 seconds
- A way to know you're standing in bad shit and need to move immediately
- Enemy/focus castbar if you're assigned to interrupt something

That is the bare minimum you actually need to know. Raid frames, threat meters and all of that is purely optional.

[Byniri]

Bartender is fantastic.

[S7orm]

- frame (oUF, ShadowedUF)
- timer (NeedToKnow)
- action bars (bartender/domino)
- castbar (acb/quartz)
- a Pee meter (recount, skada)
- boss mod (DBM, BigWigs)

you're good to go with this

[Cattleya]

Depends on the role and class. I'm a mistweaver monk and I do fine with only a boss mod and the default raid frames, though I use skada as well for less relevant reasons.

Other classes however would probably want to use more than that.

[Deleted]

imo the default UI is perfectly fine (when adjusted properly) with the exception of the way it displays dots, or just target buff/debuffs in general. The way it displays your own buffs is also sub optimal, having short duration procs mixed in with passive auras is super messy.

Default UI + something like fortexorcist to track dots and procs (or Weakauras or equivalent) is all that I'd consider mandatory for me to be able to raid.

[Aridn]

The only mod I find "necessary" (used loosely) is OmniCC or similar CD timer. Everything else can be done without for me.

[Terridon]

For DPS:

- A way to know which of your abilities are up and which are coming up in next five seconds
- What the boss will do in the next 10 seconds
- A way to know you're standing in bad shit and need to move immediately
- Enemy/focus castbar if you're assigned to interrupt something

That is the bare minimum you actually need to know. Raid frames, threat meters and all of that is purely optional.

TBH a way to know you stand is bad is called eyes, but overall i agree.
Might add something to keep track of trinkets. Means a lot if you can apply dots/bleeds/diseases when the procs are up at their highest.