EQInterface Forums - View Single Post - What makes a Caster UI?

First of all, I play an Enchanter as my primary. Secondly, I run on an older machine, and cannot use the higher screen resolution settings without experiencing unacceptable lag.

1. Most Enchanters use the mouse a great deal to pick targets. An Assist hotkey is literally worse than useless for an Enchanter doing CC work. Thus my left hand operates the keyboard for movement and hotkeys, and my right stays on the mouse (well, trackball...).

I need all the controls I commonly use to be available on the screen, and concentrated in one area of the screen. Since I am right-handed, this means I prefer the lower-right corner.

2. A buff-bar that displays the name of every buff is absolutely a necessity.

3. Filigree and nonfunctional eye-candy is right out. Screen space is at a premium already, and it's especially aggravating if I have to drag my mouse across that extra 10 pixels 100,000x each fight.

4. I have enough of the hotbutton-triggered AA abilities to be annoyed by having to also put clicky-items in hotbutton slots. I also don't want to have to deal with the wasted space of having EVERY inventory slot on the Hotkey window. Fortunately, I know just enough XML to customize my Hotkey Window to show just the slots for which I have clicky gear.

5. Egad. I REALLY HATE Title Bars on windows. More wasted space, but it's worse than that.

a. Title bars aren't even pretty. Give me filigree any day.

b. If I still need a sign that says "This is the Group Window" after 4 years of EQ, trust me, my UI is the LEAST of my problems.

c. If you hit the wrong spot with the mouse, you end up dragging the stupid window around. Unacceptable.

6. I like a spellbar with a large active area to make it easy to trigger spells via the mouse. Again, displaying spell names is a necessity, not a luxury.

>---------EDIT-----------<

7. I do NOT like the cast gauge and target gauge combined. I need to be able to see the target's hitpoints at all times, and may well need to abort a Mez mid-cast if the target's hitpoints are dropping.

8. I'm not really overly concerned with my hitpoint bar. That's the Cleric's problem.

While this is an exaggeration, it's not much of one. Either my spell lands, and I live, or it's interrupted/resisted and I die. Staring at my HP bar is a distraction from assessing the situation. I'd rather see that extra MOB approaching than see my hitpoint bar bouncing up and down.

I put the casting gauge up by my hitpoint display. That way I can see them both at once, since the casting countdown is what I always end up comparing to my hitpoint total.

09-11-2003, 10:47 PM	#10
eidolonfaer A Gray Wolf Join Date: Dec 2002 Posts: 9	My 2 copper pieces... First of all, I play an Enchanter as my primary. Secondly, I run on an older machine, and cannot use the higher screen resolution settings without experiencing unacceptable lag. 1. Most Enchanters use the mouse a great deal to pick targets. An Assist hotkey is literally worse than useless for an Enchanter doing CC work. Thus my left hand operates the keyboard for movement and hotkeys, and my right stays on the mouse (well, trackball...). I need all the controls I commonly use to be available on the screen, and concentrated in one area of the screen. Since I am right-handed, this means I prefer the lower-right corner. 2. A buff-bar that displays the name of every buff is absolutely a necessity. 3. Filigree and nonfunctional eye-candy is right out. Screen space is at a premium already, and it's especially aggravating if I have to drag my mouse across that extra 10 pixels 100,000x each fight. 4. I have enough of the hotbutton-triggered AA abilities to be annoyed by having to also put clicky-items in hotbutton slots. I also don't want to have to deal with the wasted space of having EVERY inventory slot on the Hotkey window. Fortunately, I know just enough XML to customize my Hotkey Window to show just the slots for which I have clicky gear. 5. Egad. I REALLY HATE Title Bars on windows. More wasted space, but it's worse than that. a. Title bars aren't even pretty. Give me filigree any day. b. If I still need a sign that says "This is the Group Window" after 4 years of EQ, trust me, my UI is the LEAST of my problems. c. If you hit the wrong spot with the mouse, you end up dragging the stupid window around. Unacceptable. 6. I like a spellbar with a large active area to make it easy to trigger spells via the mouse. Again, displaying spell names is a necessity, not a luxury. >---------EDIT-----------< 7. I do NOT like the cast gauge and target gauge combined. I need to be able to see the target's hitpoints at all times, and may well need to abort a Mez mid-cast if the target's hitpoints are dropping. 8. I'm not really overly concerned with my hitpoint bar. That's the Cleric's problem. While this is an exaggeration, it's not much of one. Either my spell lands, and I live, or it's interrupted/resisted and I die. Staring at my HP bar is a distraction from assessing the situation. I'd rather see that extra MOB approaching than see my hitpoint bar bouncing up and down. I put the casting gauge up by my hitpoint display. That way I can see them both at once, since the casting countdown is what I always end up comparing to my hitpoint total.