[lnkForumImage]
TotalShareware - Download Free Software
Usa Forum
 Home | Login | Register | Search 


 

Forums >

alt.games.warcraft

UI clutttered and I can't find my way around it!

peter

1/22/2012 10:38:00 AM

Why is it that when one of my characters gets to about level 30 or
thereabouts the UI gets cluttered and almost unmanageable?

My newest creation, a shaman level 27, is so confusing to play that I
get killed whilst I'm looking for the right key to press.

There must be a way out of this, can someone advise me what it is?
Other than to give up the game because I'm rubbish at it, that is!

Peter

--
It is necessary for the good man to do nothing for evil to triumph.

Attributed to Edmund Burke 1729 - 1797
15 Answers

Matthew

1/22/2012 5:05:00 PM

0


"Peter James" <peter@pfjames.co.uk> wrote in message
news:1ke9p9e.1qu76lwvbhvb0N%peter@pfjames.co.uk...
> Why is it that when one of my characters gets to about level 30 or
> thereabouts the UI gets cluttered and almost unmanageable?
>
> My newest creation, a shaman level 27, is so confusing to play that I
> get killed whilst I'm looking for the right key to press.
>
> There must be a way out of this, can someone advise me what it is?
> Other than to give up the game because I'm rubbish at it, that is!
>
> Peter
>
> --
> It is necessary for the good man to do nothing for evil to triumph.
>
> Attributed to Edmund Burke 1729 - 1797



IMO the shammy is the craziest toon to play with all the buttons
I use several UI add-ons from dominos to FloTotemBar; which is a great
totem add-on tells me what totems have up you can arrange what totems for
what call spell you want


John Gordon

1/23/2012 7:15:00 PM

0

In <1ke9p9e.1qu76lwvbhvb0N%peter@pfjames.co.uk> peter@pfjames.co.uk (Peter James) writes:

> Why is it that when one of my characters gets to about level 30 or
> thereabouts the UI gets cluttered and almost unmanageable?

Is the clutter coming from addons, or just the standard UI?

--
John Gordon A is for Amy, who fell down the stairs
gordon@panix.com B is for Basil, assaulted by bears
-- Edward Gorey, "The Gashlycrumb Tinies"

pfjames2000

1/24/2012 10:03:00 AM

0

John Gordon <gordon@panix.com> wrote:

> In <1ke9p9e.1qu76lwvbhvb0N%peter@pfjames.co.uk> peter@pfjames.co.uk
>(Peter James) writes:
>
> > Why is it that when one of my characters gets to about level 30 or
> > thereabouts the UI gets cluttered and almost unmanageable?
>
> Is the clutter coming from addons, or just the standard UI?

Just the standard UI. By level 30 there's a prolifieration of buttons
all of which need parking somewhere and all totally confusing when some
enemy troll leaps at me out of the shadows. The important ones I can
memorise, but where are the minor but important buttons like anti-spell
or heal or some other control It's whilst looking for it I get "zapped"
and then need to start all over again.

Peter
--
It is necessary for the good man to do nothing for evil to triumph.

Attributed to Edmund Burke 1729 - 1797

Catriona R

1/24/2012 1:03:00 PM

0


On Tue, 24 Jan 2012 10:02:51 +0000, pfjames2000@googlemail.com (Peter
James) wrote:

>John Gordon <gordon@panix.com> wrote:
>
>> In <1ke9p9e.1qu76lwvbhvb0N%peter@pfjames.co.uk> peter@pfjames.co.uk
>>(Peter James) writes:
>>
>> > Why is it that when one of my characters gets to about level 30 or
>> > thereabouts the UI gets cluttered and almost unmanageable?
>>
>> Is the clutter coming from addons, or just the standard UI?
>
>Just the standard UI. By level 30 there's a prolifieration of buttons
>all of which need parking somewhere and all totally confusing when some
>enemy troll leaps at me out of the shadows. The important ones I can
>memorise, but where are the minor but important buttons like anti-spell
>or heal or some other control It's whilst looking for it I get "zapped"
>and then need to start all over again.

Try to arrange your spells so those you think you'll want to use all
the time are in one place, ones you'll want quickly are in another,
ones you'll only use rarely, another, if that makes sense. I set all
my characters up with most-used damage spells on the 1-5 keys, quickly
wanted interrupts or aoes just above them, heals on the far end of the
bar, and lesser used stuff on sidebars, my healing/mana potions are
always on the same bar, etc etc. Makes it easier switching between
characters to have everything in a similar place so I know where to
start looking.

Shamans are a pain due to totems though; the inbuilt totem manager is
good for making a set that you'll want regularly, but for quick use, I
ended up getting a mod to add an extra actionbar for all the totems I
might want in a hurry (earthbind, grounding, elementals, and the
like), and don't want to have to waste time clicking through menus to
find them. At lvl 30 you should have plenty of actionbar space to be
able to just create a section of your actionbar for them without
needed an extra bar though, there's not so many spells that your bars
should all be full yet, just sounds like they need to be organised so
you know roughly where to look.

Btw, you can reduce clutter by removing spells you'll never use - if
you're elemental, you've got no use for Primal Stirke, for example,
while enhancement isn't going to use Lava Burst much. I tend to leave
spells like that in a corner out of the way where it's available
should I want it, but generally I could just remove them from the bars
entirely and never notice!
--
EU-Draenor:
Sagart (85 Undead Priest) Tairbh (85 Tauren Druid)
Buinne (85 Troll Shaman) Eilnich (85 Blood Elf Warlock)
Ruire (85 Blood Elf Paladin) Balgair (83 Human Rogue)
Dubh (80 Orc Death Knight) Rosad (73 Human Warlock)

neithskye

1/24/2012 2:49:00 PM

0

On Jan 22, 5:37 am, pe...@pfjames.co.uk (Peter James) wrote:

> Why is it that when one of my characters gets to about level 30 or
> thereabouts the UI gets cluttered and almost unmanageable?

I understand exactly what you mean.

I like to keybind everything, and around that level I run out of keys.
I'm short with short fingers so can't reach that many keys in the
first place. I just really hate clicking spells. Need bigger hands!

> There must be a way out of this, can someone advise me what it is?
> Other than to give  up the game because I'm rubbish at it, that is!

Two bits of advice. One, as you level, some spells will be replaced
with newer, better spells. Remove spells you never use from your
action bar.

Two, you could try an action bar addon like Bartender or Dominos. I
use Dominos. It's an action bar replacement. It gives you several
action bars you can configure however you want: size, spacing,
horizontally, vertically, etc. Then you can move them around. So, for
example, on my new Mage I have one action bar with "health" items -
potions, food, mana gem, etc. I have this set to vertical on the right-
hand side of my screen. Things I use infrequently, but don't want to
have to open my Spellbook to use, such as Conjure Food, Molten Armor,
etc., are on another, separate action bar, in the lower left corner of
my screen, away from my main spells, so less clutter. You could have
one action bar with Frost spells. Another with Arcane spells. And so
forth. Then keybind the things you use the most.

--
Jill

steve.kaye

1/24/2012 3:21:00 PM

0

On Tue, 24 Jan 2012 06:48:35 -0800 (PST), neithskye
<jill_bookerGREENEGGSANDSPAM@hotmail.com> wrote:

>On Jan 22, 5:37 am, pe...@pfjames.co.uk (Peter James) wrote:
>
>> Why is it that when one of my characters gets to about level 30 or
>> thereabouts the UI gets cluttered and almost unmanageable?
>
>I understand exactly what you mean.
>
>I like to keybind everything, and around that level I run out of keys.
>I'm short with short fingers so can't reach that many keys in the
>first place. I just really hate clicking spells. Need bigger hands!

Or you could get a keypad like the Nostromo N52
(http://store.razerzone.com/store/razerusa/en_GB/pd/productID.221675100/categoryI...)

It has 15 keys, a mouse wheel, a d-pad and a thumb button to be
configured how you like.

I have it configured so the four arrow keys move my character which
leaves me with ten buttons for action buttons (I use 15 as my push to
talk key). Those ten buttons can be modified by the D-pad which gives
me a total of 40 action buttons right at my finger tips - I don't move
my hand at all whilst I'm playing. I also have my action bars set up
in the same kind of shape as the key pad and the buttons change based
on which way I move the d-pad so that they reflect the action that is
going to be cast when I press a button.

I have non-combat buttons on another toolbar so that I can click them
with the mouse.

It works very well for me. The one drawback is that you obviously
can't use it to type in chat so you need to reach over it, to your
normal keyboard, to do that. I'm an unsociable bugger though so I
don't type much :P (the people that I talk to most have voice chat
enabled)

steve.kaye
--
Jelan, 85 Priest Clokk, 81 Druid Belugar, 76 Warrior
Miho, 84 Rogue Jengu, 81 Death Knight Mingan, 76 Shaman
Kibbs, 83 Paladin Jaille, 80 Warlock Yopp, 73 Hunter
[ Ravenholdt-EU (Horde) ] Aloola, 70 Mage

S U N risr

1/24/2012 3:37:00 PM

0

On 1/24/2012 9:48 AM, neithskye wrote:
> On Jan 22, 5:37 am, pe...@pfjames.co.uk (Peter James) wrote:
>
>> Why is it that when one of my characters gets to about level 30 or
>> thereabouts the UI gets cluttered and almost unmanageable?
>
> I understand exactly what you mean.
>
> I like to keybind everything, and around that level I run out of keys.
> I'm short with short fingers so can't reach that many keys in the
> first place. I just really hate clicking spells. Need bigger hands!
>
>> There must be a way out of this, can someone advise me what it is?
>> Other than to give up the game because I'm rubbish at it, that is!
>
> Two bits of advice. One, as you level, some spells will be replaced
> with newer, better spells. Remove spells you never use from your
> action bar.
>
> Two, you could try an action bar addon like Bartender or Dominos. I
> use Dominos. It's an action bar replacement. It gives you several
> action bars you can configure however you want: size, spacing,
> horizontally, vertically, etc. Then you can move them around. So, for
> example, on my new Mage I have one action bar with "health" items -
> potions, food, mana gem, etc. I have this set to vertical on the right-
> hand side of my screen. Things I use infrequently, but don't want to
> have to open my Spellbook to use, such as Conjure Food, Molten Armor,
> etc., are on another, separate action bar, in the lower left corner of
> my screen, away from my main spells, so less clutter. You could have
> one action bar with Frost spells. Another with Arcane spells. And so
> forth. Then keybind the things you use the most.
>
> --
> Jill

Not to take it OT regarding your vertically challenged fingers...but I
use small, round simple gaming USB plug in keyboard on the side of
regular keyboard I can't live without, and I'm 6'1....with the hands
that go with that sized person I guess? lol.... But it's simple,
inexpensive and comfortable and takes no time to relearn or get used
to...It's made by Wolfking and you might want to check it out. Your
palm rests in one spot, never moving and your fingers can reach all the
keys you need, including modifiers without issue. That and my 8 button
mouse and I never touch my regular keyboard except for chats...Linked a
pic below, but you can find it cheaper.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E1...

neithskye

1/24/2012 4:32:00 PM

0

On Jan 22, 5:37 am, pe...@pfjames.co.uk (Peter James) wrote:

> Other than to give up the game because I'm rubbish at it, that is!

You're not rubbish.

I find that there is a lot of . . . external information, if you will,
you need to know about the game. For older people, such as myself, who
did not grow up with computers, and who are not exactly computer
savvy, it can be difficult.

When I started the game I was completely lost. I'd only ever played
D2: LoD, and treated WoW like that game. Well, you can't quite take on
10 mobs in WoW like you could in D2. I couldn't kill anything. It was
so frustrating.

I just happened to have a co-worker who was a hardcore raider who knew
I was starting the game. She'd drop by my desk and ask how things were
going.

I remember one time I just lost it. My first character was a Hunter,
and I had just spent the entire previous night trying to do *one*
quest. My Hunter was level 8, and you didn't get pets back then until
level 10. It was some quest involving tightly-packed furlbogs, whose
repsawn rate was atrocious. I had to melee (with a gray weapon, I
believe (no Heirlooms back then and this was my first-ever toon, so I
had no money to buy anything)), because if I backed up, I'd just back
into another mob . . . or a respawn. I died and died.

My co-worker sent me a big, long email, telling me what to do, what
quests to take, and so forth. She included links to Web sites, such as
Thottbott and Wowhead. I'd never heard of these places. I'm not a
computer person. I don't "surf the 'Net". How am I expected to know
this?

This is why I rather take exception to people who say that practicing
in dungeons will make people get better. Yes . . . but up to a point.
Practicing in dungeons is not going to suddenly magically bestow upon
me the knowledge that there are things called "addons" from somewhere
callled "Curse", or how to download them, or what file to place them
in, or perhaps that, as a healer, I might find the addons "VuhDo" or
"Healbot" helpful. Perhaps the younger generation who know computers
would know this, but for some of us, it's not exactly intuitive.

If it wasn't for that co-worker, I would have quit years ago in
frustration. But I visited her sites, which led to other sites, and so
forth.

So don't get discouraged. That's why there are so many WoW Forums and
groups and Web sites . . . because there is just so much to learn.

--
Jill

ting

1/24/2012 9:36:00 PM

0

On Jan 24, 9:48 am, neithskye
<jill_bookerGREENEGGSANDS...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> I like to keybind everything, and around that level I run out of keys.
> I'm short with short fingers so can't reach that many keys in the
> first place. I just really hate clicking spells. Need bigger hands!

I solved this problem by shifting my movement keys to ESDF. That gave
me 4 more keys in easy reach, which turns into 12 more keys, once you
factor in shift/control modifiers. I bound easy to press keys to
instants and hard to press keys (like a modifier + a pinky key) to
spells that had a casting time.

Additionally, I moved all non-combat spells to the right side of the
keyboard. Left hand was combat related activities, right hand was non-
combat/in-town related activities, with a set of "dead" keys in
between, to make sure I didn't accidentally hit a non-combat ability
during PvP.

After a while, you still run out of bar space though. That got solved
via macros. Even just 6 character specific macros frees up 12 button
slots (ie, 18 individual spells becomes 6 macros). Set the macro icon
to "?" and icon/tooltip will even change as you press the modifier
keys. Below is a typical macro.

#show
/cast [mod:shift]spell2;[mod:ctrl]spell3;spell1

With multiple characters, I clustered abilities together on similar
keybinds. For example, spell interrupt uses the same keybind,
regardless if the actual interrupt is kick, skull bash, counter spell,
wind shear, spell lock, or silence.

I know a lot of people went with an UI addon once they ran out of
buttons, but after getting burned by UI addons going out of date, I
just stuck with the default UI and macros, especially now that macros
are saved on the server. All of my addons now are "nice to have" ones
that I can live without should the addon break.
--
// T.Hsu

John Gordon

1/24/2012 10:26:00 PM

0

In <1ked7wq.1ldtw3g1c0756oN%pfjames2000@googlemail.com> pfjames2000@googlemail.com (Peter James) writes:

> > > Why is it that when one of my characters gets to about level 30 or
> > > thereabouts the UI gets cluttered and almost unmanageable?
> >
> > Is the clutter coming from addons, or just the standard UI?

> Just the standard UI. By level 30 there's a prolifieration of buttons
> all of which need parking somewhere and all totally confusing when some
> enemy troll leaps at me out of the shadows. The important ones I can

Are you using a button for every spell and useful item? You don't need
to do that. Just concentrate on the spells you use in combat.

I don't know what spec your shaman is, and there are a lot of spells you
won't have at level 30, but here is the "main" actionbar for my Elemental
shaman:

1 Lightning Bolt
2 Flame Shock
3 Chain Lightning
4 Lava Burst
5 Hex
6 Wind Shear
7 Healing Surge
8 Thunderstorm
9 Earth Shock
0 Earthquake
- Unleash Elements
= Healthstone

Most of these spells are ones that I use all the time in combat.

Spells I use somewhat often but not all the time, such as Tremor Totem and
Fire Elemental, go in the bottom-left or bottom-right actionbar. A few
of these have their own keybindings, but most don't.

Other spells or items that I don't use very often, for example Ancestral
Recall or Ghost Wolf, are in one of the the right-hand actionbars and don't
have a keybinding.

I hope this helps.

--
John Gordon A is for Amy, who fell down the stairs
gordon@panix.com B is for Basil, assaulted by bears
-- Edward Gorey, "The Gashlycrumb Tinies"