Will Blizzard increase our Action bar size?

[Hethor]

but there are 5 action bars in the standard UI, and the main bar has 6 pages on it. no addons needed.

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 optional bars, one main bar, and i'm pretty sure that the optional ones put the spells on the 2-6 bars

[Armond]

<-- This is someone who laughs at WoW PvP for its terrible design, but still knows enough about it to talk on the subject (to a point, at least).

because with the high level mage armor skills, you almost never see a mage bothering to use fire ward or frost ward. and when was the last time a mage bothered with amp or damp magic?

^ This is not.

[Janaa]

Do you use every single spell you have and need it on your main action bar?
If yes: use Bartender. More space than you could need.
If no: You have no valid point.

Neither of your answers are valid or relevant. OP's point that many more spells have been added to the game and action bars not increased is perfectly valid as it's true. His post is regarding default action bars - he's already quite well aware that there are bar mods he can use - but that's not what the post is about. It's a valid question - why haven't blizz updated action bars themselves with two (now three) expansions adding new spells on top of bars that were set up for Vanilla?

I don't use every spell my class can possibly use, all the time. However, the ones I rarely use, I don't want to have to pull out my spell book to quickly cast it in mid-battle because that once-a-week situation has come up where I need it. I use four bars of bound keys and two bars of unbound - less commonly used - spells. Even with that setup, I still don't have every ability I use sitting on action bars. And then theres trinkets and potions in the mix as well. For speed, nobody wants to have to open up a bag just to drink a potion in the emergency situations where you really need it. (In fact, people don't seem to pot anymore - just cry if they don't gear a life-saving heal at the last second).

And on my engineering toons.. all those abilities and trinkets and potions - PLUS 3-4 engineering items we use all the time.. Popup mods like OPIE are great for this. However, that wasn't the OPs point. OPs point was that BLIZZARD THEMSELVES have done nothing to address this fact.

Direct your teenage angst elsewhere, and stick to topic.

[Negrido]

because with the high level mage armor skills, you almost never see a mage bothering to use fire ward or frost ward. and when was the last time a mage bothered with amp or damp magic? Duh any spell has a clear purpose, you could say Sentry totem has a clear purpose, to spy on an area your not physically at, is it ever used? no.

.....I use shadow ward....I dont want to see it go away....

[Armond]

I don't use every spell my class can possibly use, all the time. However, the ones I rarely use, I don't want to have to pull out my spell book to quickly cast it in mid-battle because that once-a-week situation has come up where I need it. I use four bars of bound keys and two bars of unbound - less commonly used - spells. Even with that setup, I still don't have every ability I use sitting on action bars. And then theres trinkets and potions in the mix as well. For speed, nobody wants to have to open up a bag just to drink a potion in the emergency situations where you really need it.

This, to me, is a sign of bad design. There shouldn't be nine billion buttons to push, regardless of whether or not you have the screen space to store them all. At least when Guild Wars did it, they didn't allow you to take more than a handful of buttons at any point in time.

[muto]

Personally, i'm content with default action bars. I like them more than anything else i've tried thus far.

Me too, you can't train an old dog new tricks

[Pokemaster]

Bartender is great, allows you to create you spacial bars, like 4 buttons for buffs

[kumduh]

I use bartender on my main, but I highly dislike it. All my alts have it turned off.

[whetherman]

I think raidframes are a bigger priority for default UI. At least make them groupable.

Oh my god this. If i could get the WoW standardized equivalent of Grid without the addon space , i would stop making fun of the blood elves. Well, the straight ones.

[kiliaan]

Neither of your answers are valid or relevant. OP's point that many more spells have been added to the game and action bars not increased is perfectly valid as it's true. His post is regarding default action bars - he's already quite well aware that there are bar mods he can use - but that's not what the post is about. It's a valid question - why haven't blizz updated action bars themselves with two (now three) expansions adding new spells on top of bars that were set up for Vanilla?

I don't use every spell my class can possibly use, all the time. However, the ones I rarely use, I don't want to have to pull out my spell book to quickly cast it in mid-battle because that once-a-week situation has come up where I need it. I use four bars of bound keys and two bars of unbound - less commonly used - spells. Even with that setup, I still don't have every ability I use sitting on action bars. And then theres trinkets and potions in the mix as well. For speed, nobody wants to have to open up a bag just to drink a potion in the emergency situations where you really need it. (In fact, people don't seem to pot anymore - just cry if they don't gear a life-saving heal at the last second).

And on my engineering toons.. all those abilities and trinkets and potions - PLUS 3-4 engineering items we use all the time.. Popup mods like OPIE are great for this. However, that wasn't the OPs point. OPs point was that BLIZZARD THEMSELVES have done nothing to address this fact.

Direct your teenage angst elsewhere, and stick to topic.

If you're having problems with having to have buttons for potions/trinkets and what not then i'd suggest autobar, keeps everything that isn't really a spell out of your bars and its very customizable. As for the OP's point, you may not need or want addons, but they are useful and while Blizzard has done nothing to address the fact, its not really that pressing of an issue for most people. I only use two bars plus autobar, granted my two main classes don't have that many buttons, but still. Also what exactly would they bind the other buttons to? The 12 button works well because it simply fits across the top of most keyboards, they could add a button to ~ or backspace, but honestly I don't see the point.

[Kimbur]

It would make more sense, for people who don't like using addons. There could just make the buttons smaller and increase the amount.

[Asparuch]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGH8fvUsENM

Some UI Changes in Alpha...but who cares ´bout Bliiz default bars? Take TukUI and be free .)

[Janaa]

If you're having problems with having to have buttons for potions/trinkets and what not then i'd suggest autobar, keeps everything that isn't really a spell out of your bars and its very customizable. ...

Thanks - don't get me wrong, I'm not actually having any problems managing. I was simply pointing out that fallacies in the post that I quoted. He was trying to dismiss OPs point, with a response which didn't address what OP said. OP knows there's bar mods. OP wasn't complaining about lack of bar mods. He was questioning why Blizz hasn't addressed a shortfalling in their UI design.

Blizz has progressively taken on more and more ideas from mods and brought them into the main UI. They've done a fairly good job of some of them. I understand OPs bafflement with why Blizz hasn't done anything with action bars, like they haven't created a good standard replacement for OmniCC or even made halfway decent raid frames despite the game being out for quite a few years now.

[Kraddark]

No official word on the actionbar but they are doing a ton of UI changes.

IMO they dont really need to do it. Situational abilities or abilities with long cooldowns should be off on the side bar and the abilities you have a need to use a ton should be on the main. PvE :each class really only has like 4-6 buttons, some being cooldowns
PVP :meh, separate the good from the bad!

id rather they spend more time fixing my class.

[Apples8pie]

Blizzard keeps adding new spells, but the action bar ui never has improved to compensate for this action.

I agree, the way the action bars are now, it requires an addon to access all of my macros and spells >_<

[Asparuch]

id rather they spend more time fixing my class.

/win

[tilgare]

The issue I have as a druid is that both bear and cat have action bars tied to them... so I either have to live without bear and cat abilities in the off chance that I need them (bash mob in Frostmourne room, taunt blood beasts on Saurfang) or I have to work around in screwy ways which limits the bars I can use.

Bartender does make life easier. I like having gear sets on my bars, pots, flasks, food, hearth, port, offensive, healing, and utility spells, etc. I'm not OUT of room with all 10 bars, but if I could set up my bars how I want to, I surely would.

[Daginni]

The fact that we are so dependent on Add-ons like Bartender is because Blizzard won't upgrade their interface to work to game demands. Sure they put a few knockoff of Add-ons into their interface every so often, but they are never as good as the original.

[Hemlia]

l2 use key bindings...

[Warrek]

I do agree that it needs a change, I also wish they would separate resizing of different parts of it instead of all of it as a whole. I like to have my action bars small and my raid ui big but as things are at the moment they all go together >_<

I've been able to cramp all my spells and abilities into the first 3 bars (main, bottom left, bottom right) using macro's that change the ability I use depending on the modifier (like alt, shift, ctrl) that way each button on the action bar contains 4 different spells.
I highly recommend this technique if you're like me and like to have all your spells, even the situational ones, on your bars at all times yet don't want them to occupy any extra space That and key binds <3

-User of the default UI since vanilla.