Looking for UI help....

[Astynax 24]

Hey IV community! I'm a new-ish 90, and have never really raided before. I'd like to get into it, and think a good UI setup helping me with cooldowns, timers, etc. would really help me. I've seen elite UIs, but honestly, I have no idea how to set them up, and can't find a decent video explaining it, or anything else similar. Anybody here willing to help me out, or know of a good tutorial for this kind of thing? Thanks in advance!

[Haedon 0]

Download Elvui, affdots and deadly bossmods and u are pretty much sorted, if u wanna move stuff arround all options are ingame, dunno if micscrollingbattletext is included in elvui but its also nice to have.

[Kazistrasz 216]

ElvUI is definitely a good thing, and you can find a lot of videos on ElvUI setup on Youtube as well as a lot of help on their forums. Get that from tukui.org

 

AffDots requires virtually no setup and is your best friend. The only setup you need to do is enable the focus window, decide on a color scheme that you'll know, and decide how many of the things you do or don't need shown.

 

WeakAuras is about the best thing since slice bread. There's very little another addon can do that WA can't. That said, it's the most complicated addon here. There are a lot of videos on Youtube for this one too, and there's a lot of WA strings available here (especially in Locky's thread) or on MMO-Champ that you can save yourself time in copying. Of course, I find the best way to do it is to just get in and start making WAs until you can do what you want to do.

[Lockybalboa 618]

Use ElvUI till you learn how to make a real UI, then make a real UI.

 

Difference? 

 

ElvUI is a set of WalMart steak knifes, useful, cheap, quick and will get your dinner made.

 

Self made, when done right, is a set of hand forged Chef knives. Full tang German steel, solid oak handles carved and sanded so they fill your hand down to the lines and creases. Ice water hardened for that extra bite, still more flexible then a French Ballerina but harder then a Russian winter. Sharpened on a whetstone by a master swordsmith, able to cut through the toughest roast just by being pointed in it's direction.

 

Look at a lot of UIs, then spend a few hours playing around with them. Trying new addons, discarding ones you don't care for. Over time you'll gain understanding as to what your needs are, your strengths and weaknesses, what addons really help and what addons just get in the way. Don't be afraid to ask for help or ask if there is an addon that does "random thing" chances are someone will know an addon that does it, or how to make addons work together so that they do. 

[Omaric 246]

Those are some pretty fancy analogies.  Now what would you consider base UI?

[Rakupenda 15]

The plastic utensils they give you on airplanes...and no knives. Gotta cut that shit with the back of your even crappier plastic spoon.

[Lockybalboa 618]

Those are some pretty fancy analogies.  Now what would you consider base UI?

 

[Kazistrasz 216]

Snap part of the edge of your plastic spoon and you'll have an edge you can actually cut with.

 

Basically, your own custom UI is like a set of Wusthof knives, but you know what? Those amazing knives only offer a very small advantage over your Walmart knives (as someone who uses Wusthof, I can say this). If you can see the information you need to see in a quick, accurate, and efficient manner and track what you need to track, then your UI is meeting your needs.

 

Do follow Locky's advice, though: look at what other people do, then spend a few hours (or a whole day), putting yours in a way you think will meet your needs and adjusting it until it does meet your needs. ElvUI is nice, but the addition of WeakAuras and AffDots is what will complete your ability to see information you need to see. ElvUI is just going to make things look pretty and give you a good way of handling everything together.

[Omaric 246]

Don't you think a titanium spork is a little too badass for base UI?

[Lockybalboa 618]

Don't you think a titanium spork is a little too badass for base UI?

 

I've healed with the base UI, it's not *bad* just a little underwhelming.

 

I would also say that you NEED redundancy. I have installed and updated at all times at LEAST two addons per function. PowerAuras AND WeakAuras, DBM AND BigWigs, Bartender AND Dominos, etc. I only have one of each on at a time, but I have both ready to go incase my preferred one breaks/is missing a odd thing that I need. 

 

Also, you NEED http://www.curse.com/addons/wow/acp ACP lets you turn off/on addons from inside the game. No logging out/in. Just a UI reload.

[Astynax 24]

Woah, So many great comments. Thanks to everybody who replied. I'm definitely going to spend a day building my UI soonTM. I've got some addons (Aff dots, bartender, Skada, omen...) But I've been experiencing weirdness when I want to move my bars, and the base UI getting in the way, namely the bar overlay. I haven't got ElvUI yet, since I'm having issue finding it on curse, but I'll definitely spend a while tomorrow working with these to get my UI up to snuff. One of my major issues has been tracking dots and DS cooldowns, which I've managed to fix slightly already. Thanks to everyone involved, much appreciated! =)