[Shipoopi]

there's not a single thing that i'm missing out on and i can see things around me. dynamic?

[Kazeyonoma]

It's just about personal preference, Fame does something similar. I could essentially get rid of all of my bars (hide them) because they're all keybound anyways, I just like seeing their CDs so I know when to use them.

[loquatious]

Crowded because its more information

I have my UI designed around the principle that important stuff is near my toon on the screen - help keep my attention on the fight and away from the edges of the screen.
So much like yours my tag, target, target of target, castbar, and Scrolling combat text are in the center of the screen.

I have added debuff filter to put the key debuffs right in the middle as well, that way i can see if thunderclap / demo shout / devastate need to be refreshed.

The bottom of my screen is chat / omen / toolbars with less commonly used but essential items/skills. Since I dont stare at the bottom of my screen I dont mind it crowded.

The left is for the raid / party frames so I can see health/mana/ and aggro.

I use Aloft for AOE Tanking so that puts a crapton of nameplates on the screen but its the only way i've found to manage aggro in a 5 man speed run where you dont mark.

I have MSBT to remind me about shield slam & key cooldowns + its a way to help me monitor incoming damage/heals/debuffs.

All this makes for a crowded display but in a raid tanking situation I dont really want to give up on any of these.


I have an action bar at the top with key cooldowns so i can monitor them.

[Shipoopi]

Source: loquatious Crowded because its more information I have my UI designed around the principle that important stuff is near my toon on the screen - help keep my attention on the fight and away from the edges of the screen. So much like yours my tag, target, target of target, castbar, and Scrolling combat text are in the center of the screen. I have added debuff filter to put the key debuffs right in the middle as well, that way i can see if thunderclap / demo shout / devastate need to be refreshed. The bottom of my screen is chat / omen / toolbars with less commonly used but essential items/skills. Since I dont stare at the bottom of my screen I dont mind it crowded. The left is for the raid / party frames so I can see health/mana/ and aggro. I use Aloft for AOE Tanking so that puts a crapton of nameplates on the screen but its the only way i've found to manage aggro in a 5 man speed run where you dont mark. I have MSBT to remind me about shield slam & key cooldowns + its a way to help me monitor incoming damage/heals/debuffs. All this makes for a crowded display but in a raid tanking situation I dont really want to give up on any of these. I have an action bar at the top with key cooldowns so i can monitor them.

that just it, i have everything you just described and this is what my ui looks like. with everything on screen at once it'll be busier than the snapshot i took, but i still see people that have 300 buttons showing, 12 different chat logs, and 45 player frames. its not needed. i have 2 bars hidden completely with keybinds on them, a mouseover bar with consumables and tradeskill stuff, skills bound to extra buttons on my mouse etc.

you two might want to look into two addons, ClassTimers and CooldownTimers2(if its been fixed) or CooldownWatch. ClassTimers will add timers for key buffs/debuff/whatever, good for rend/demo/tclap/sunder. CooldownWatch/timers will add a little pop up bar for each skill you use that goes on cooldown.

[Kazeyonoma]

I use OmniCC which tracks my cooldowns by displaying them over my buttons themselves, that's why I don't hide them.

[Nez]

I think its really just a matter of preference. Most of my things are across the bottom and on the sides leaving the center clear expect for SCT callouts that I want to show.

I think the most important thing is to have easy access to things you want to keep track of while tanking and to be comfortable with where that info is.

[Bloodwraith]

It depends all on what you prefer. I used to have a very crowded UI. But it looked pretty cool to me so I kept it. I ended up dropping it for arenas though because I prefer a more minimalist style UI so I can see more on my screen.

[downset]

mine is more crowded, i only have the most important things keybound on 15 or so keys around WASD, the rest i mouse click if i need them, works better for me than too many keybinds

also i found i absolutely need to put my bars on screen in the same layout as the keybindings, so when watching cooldowns, i actually see all my abilities as they are in relation to my fingers this makes it a lot easier to twitch react when something procs or comes of cooldown or has enough rage

its counter intuitive to have all bar buttons on a row if your key bindings are not

[Shipoopi]

Source: downset mine is more crowded, i only have the most important things keybound on 15 or so keys around WASD, the rest i mouse click if i need them, works better for me than too many keybinds also i found i absolutely need to put my bars on screen in the same layout as the keybindings, so when watching cooldowns, i actually see all my abilities as they are in relation to my fingers this makes it a lot easier to twitch react when something procs or comes of cooldown or has enough rage its counter intuitive to have all bar buttons on a row if your key bindings are not

ive been playing with the same keybindings for 3 years. trust me, its not hard.

[Shorty]

"for three years" -- that for me sums up why you can do this. I've only been playing 2 years, only key bound after 6-9months I guess. Tbh it's all a matter of personal preference, if you can play at 100% of your ability with a minimilistic UI so what if someone else has a UI that looks like its been thrown together by a five year old

It's good to know what addons are around for those people wanting to go minimilist but showing a nonraid/party UI it's going to be less busy than most of the UIs people show as they are screenshotted to show all addons and a large number of buffs/debuffs/cooldowns/deadly boss mods etc.

[Kayella]

To be honest, my crowded UI comes out of a fanatic addiction to mods... oh and the fact I raid lead, so I need a lot of information for that.

[Tobius]

Why the uncrowded UI's?

[Omok]

Here's my UI, I like everything near the bottom of my screen with most of the combat information in the middle. Works for me.

[downset]

you certainly can get used to anything

but putting your bars in the same visual layout as the keys you press make it easier to learn them, UI design fact

it certainly is a personal preference, especially if you feel your UI works for you, i would just suggest to players who have trouble adapting too using the keyboard for their core abilities instead of the mouse to try and represent the same order on screen as on the keyboard, certainly helped me a lot, the first couple of weeks i also played wow like i would play monkey island i only started to adapt because of bartender giving me visual representation of the keys i had too press

if you already play easy, keep doing it, if you have troubles give it a try...

[Kazeyonoma]

This thread is going places.

It just happens to be the WoW Forums.

Closed.