UI Building

After watching Ensidia's Algalon 25 kill, I became inspired to finally make a custom UI. Munken's UI looks exactly how what I really want, so I decided to give it a go and download his. Mind you, I have shunned custom UIs for four years, mainly due to the fact my prior computers were barely able to run WoW. It didn't help that every patch caused UI users to break down and cry in frustration, and that was a contributing factor to remaining content with the standard interface.

First of all, I use a lot of buttons, considerably more than what Munken shows. I have every single action bar up in Blizzard's UI in order to accommodate everything I "need" - after all, I play this game for more than just raiding, so I want everything I use on a regular basis close at hand. However, even then I have to use extra bars from zHunter for my Aspects, Traps, and pet spells. I like having all my of my similar abilities together, and that just doesn't happen cleanly.

Second of all, he has a LOT of mods in that UI. Things like PallyPower (WTF?) to QuestHelper (seethe....) and FishingBuddy. I pruned a lot of frivolous things. He also had BigWigs, which frankly surprised me. I didn't notice it until Ulduar 10, when all of my usual Deadly Boss Mod warnings were now placed directly over my toon. I ended up having to restart WoW and move DBM back into my Addons folder, deleting BigWigs.

Thirdly, I'm still a big suspicious of new cooldown and spell timers. I like the spell timers in ForteXorcist, but, despite my initial reaction of "oooo shiney!" to the cooldown bar, I decided I enjoyed PowerAuras better. I tossed Khathas' Hunter Timers in favor of the new spell timer - I like it because it tells me who my mobs are on.

Fourthly, I'm trying out one bag for my inventory/bank. Hold me. My OCD is going off the roof because nothing is separated into nice neat spaces anymore. Strangely, I'm not someone that freaks out that my peas are touching my mashed potatoes, but with regard to my spells and items, everything has to be grouped and distinct. I haven't opened my bank yet. I'm scared to.

Finally, I am trying the PitBull/Grid combo for party interface, and I'm still undecided. I'm very torn between having so much information I want at my fingertips, and being able to see what I need to see. It took me a bit to find the cast bar, which is hidden underneath the health/power bars, so I'll have to fix that later. I admit to being a big Grid fan now, though I would swap it in a heartbeat for something that didn't have to be square.

And here it is:
I'm actually considering fooling around with Bartender some more to remove a couple rows of bars in favor of just making them longer.

Suggestions are most welcome.

Last night I became so flustered with it that I almost reverted back to my old UI, but I told myself I'm going to find a comfortable place and do it for a week.