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02-24-10, 12:31 AM   #9
Cidrei
A Fallenroot Satyr
 
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Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 21
You're not the only odd one out WeeBaby. My UI evolves over time as opposed to starting a new one from scratch, with new addons replacing old as I discover new things. Let's take a visual tour of the life and times of Cidrei's (and a young druid named Jazrei's) UI, shall we? Images are numbered with corresponding commentary below to save vertical space.

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

1. September 2005, a little over 9 months after I started WoW. This is the earliest UI shot I have easy access to. I like how I happen to have everything conveniently labeled here. The rather distinctive 3x4 grid that my main actions are in is due to the fact that I'm left-handed, and remapped all of those to the number pad. I leveled Resto, on a PvP server, in vanilla WoW. Talk about fun. (63.6 MB. Remember when 28MB was the limit WoW would allow?)

2. May 2006. I'm 60! I'm also in the full Wildheart Rainment. I was so proud of that set. Check out the Insect Swarm on the Resto druid. This is pretty close to the layout I use to this day. My three heals on the second row there are still in the exact same place. (34.4 MB)

3. May 2007, year and 5 days after the previous shot. I'm 70! The elements of the UI (and abilities for the most part!) are all in the same place (in spite of the switch to widescreen), but the details have changed. Incidentally, you can no longer stand on that fountain that way. You can't even land on it. I have no idea why they changed it. (81 MB)

4. July 2008. I don't have a lot of shots of my druid from this time frame, so here's my rogue, who I was playing pretty heavily at the time. Again, the layout is the same but the details have changed. Also, wtf at my dps. I'm doing the same dps at 80 as I was at 70! That's just wrong. (I'm not overgeared now, but still!) I'd moved to a PvE server by this point. (79.4 MB)

5. May 2009. Back to my druid. As you can see, it still looks basically the same. This shot is extremely busy, but it works a lot better in motion, and I've gotten used to it, seeing as I've used it for oh... 4ish years at this point. The memory usage of my interface topped out around this point. You can see that it's 108.2 MB in this shot. You can blame Auctioneer for that.

6. February 2010. Once more we see the same basic scheme. It's a little simpler now than it once was in some ways, not near as hectic as the previous shot. I've gone up in resolution since then as well. You can see that even in Moonkin, my two primary heals, as well as Moonfire and Shadowmeld are in the same place they have been for the past 5 years. In Tree, even Healing Touch (which I never use) is in the same place. I have no idea how I didn't have that achievement already. (42.6 MB)

What you can't see in these shots is what's going on behind the scenes, and that's where the real changes are taking place. The look of the UI itself is pretty constant, but what makes it that way is considerably different from shot to shot. Of everything visible in these shots, I think MonkeyQuest deserves a shout out for that fact that after 5 years I'm still using it. It's in the first shot, the last shot, and every shot in between, even though you can't see it in the fifth one. It's there, just hidden. Crazyness.

EDIT: That WoW UI Gallery is pretty neat. I may have to set something up there.

Last edited by Cidrei : 02-24-10 at 12:35 AM.
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