Reader UI of the Week: Building a better PVP UI

Each week, WoW Insider and Mathew McCurley bring you a fresh look at reader-submitted UIs as well as Addon Spotlight, which spotlights the latest user interface addons. Have a screenshot of your own UI that you'd like to submit? Send your screenshots along with info on what mods you're using to readerui@wowinsider.com, and follow Mathew on Twitter.

Here at Reader UI of the Week, we try not to let calls for help go unanswered. After all, what's this great community without the drive to help one another in our ever-helpful, merry band? This week's call for help comes from a "wishes-to-be-unnamed" denizen of the Bloodhoof server who wants to know what makes a good PVP user interface better than the rest. Talking PVP isn't always my specialty, not from lack of participation but because my UI was never tailored specifically for rated Arena play. However, we're talking general PVP today, which I think I can handle with a little bit of help from you. Yes, you.

A year ago -- seriously, I've been doing this for well over a year now -- I sat down with C. Christian Moore (of Blood Sport fame) and his PVP UI that he was using at the time. That UI was a super-solid template for how PVP players should expect to look at information as well as what PVP players should focus their expectations around. Before you read today's basics on the PVP UI, I'd say read over the article from last year to see a shining example, then continue on with today's topic.

Are we good? Are you all ready to go? Excellent.

The call for help beacon has been lit! What say you, Nameless?

Thanks for the email, Nameless. If PVP is what lies in your heart and beats resoundingly each time you log in to WoW, so be it. We can help you transform your UI into a better PVP beast.

The basics of the PVP UI

The basics of the PVP UI are not unlike the basics of the raiding or questing UI -- it's all about priorities and successfully crafting a user interface that puts PVP priorities first, especially if you're into PVP more than the average rated Battlegrounder or Arena participant. So, what exactly are the basics of the PVP UI? The basics include unit frames, personal buff/debuff information display, team status management, and screen real estate.

Unit frames

The problem that Nameless is having in Alterac Valley, with the nightmare of unit frames that appear for the entire raid-sized cadre of players attempting to take out their opponents, is a common PVP problem. Alterac Valley is the biggest battleground WoW currently sports, alongside the Isle of Conquest, so seeing a full raid of players is not necessarily an uncommon occurrence.

One of the easier ways to deal with such a large battleground is to disable the more personal unit frames for the 40-on-40 matches and replace the output with something like Grid, which doesn't necessarily give you the pinpoint player detail but replaces it with the basics. If you have a range opacity setting on Grid, you can see who is close to you and in need of assistance or heals. If you're a dispelling class, you can easily have Grid display the debuffs you are capable of removing. Heck, even the built-in Blizzard Raid Frame can do all of this, for the most part, and it's sitting right there in your options right now.

XPerl is a nice addon, but for the larger battlegrounds, you might consider turning it off or tinkering with the settings to have it not show up for 40-man content like Alterac Valley or Isle of Conquest. You'll save a lot of screen space and headache while still being able to get pertinent player information like health and debuffs. One of the running themes of a good PVP-centric user interface is clear information gathering and displaying coupled with open screen space, allowing you to see the battlefield.

Personal buff and debuff management

Knowing what has been cast on you is a good indication of what is about to happen to you in PVP fights, especially the arena. Easily getting that information is crucial to reaction times and keeping the flow of battle in your favor. There are a few options for checking out what you've got on you that you'd like to get off. Good PVP UIs have clear debuff detection.

Power Auras is a good way to set up a bunch of buff and debuff notifications if you're the kind of person who benefits from Power Auras' customization options. To be fair, if you're already using Power Auras for this, you don't need to be told how robust it is, but for those of you new to the game, it's a treat. While it's a bit difficult to set up the first time, displaying your buffs and debuffs center screen with Power Auras allows you to react faster in PVP, relying on the same principles raiders do during boss fights.

For those of you new to debuff management and personal buffs, you might want to try out TellMeWhen; it's a great addon for people who want a Power Auras-like experience with less setup. TellMeWhen will display buffs and debuffs, cooldowns, enemy cooldowns, and more. You want a solid grasp on what's coming at you during PVP to maximize your strategic potential.

Team status management

Your team is your lifeblood in the PVP world. You may have 1v1 skills that pay the bills, but you're never going at it alone in ranked matches or rated Battlegrounds. You need your buddies to help you out, and in turn, you need to be at the ready to have their backs as well. Good information management is key to keeping your team alive.

Unit frame addons have the ability to display buffs and debuffs on white or black lists, and you should use these to your advantage to only show the biggest debuffs that have the most consequences to your team's success. Roots, snares, incapacitates, stuns, and disables are all important debuffs that you're going to want to know about as soon as they happen. Set up your action bars so that debuffs display prominently on the character's pane, and adjust the icon of displayed debuffs to be larger than the others so that you can quickly glance and get a feel for the situation.

Screen real estate

If you haven't realized by now, the best PVP interfaces are sleek and space-savvy while still retaining the crucial bits of information that experienced PVPers need to know. Screen real estate is a big deal because without actually being able to see the field of play you will not be able to accurately account for line-of-sight issues, AOE abilities, movement-based spells, and more.

Keep addon use to a minimum and push everything to the outer edges if you can. The center of your screen is extremely important, as are the sides. Peripheral vision is crucial in PVP, since you want a good understanding of what is happening all over your field of view, not just for the guy in front of you. Mage popping out from behind the crates in Dalaran Sewers? You won't know if he is being blocked by unit frames.

Start from the bottom of the screen and move upwards. Don't start at the sides of the screen, which is an easy mistake to make. You're going to want to keep as much clear in order to have that battlefield awareness that you will come to rely on as a dedicated PVPer.

So there you have it, Nameless. I hope these tips help you on your quest to design the perfect PVP user interface for you. There are a lot of PVP blogs and sites out there, and I'd recommend stopping by Blood Sport and The Art of War(craft) to see what else people have to say about interface design as well. PVP is just one aspect of WoW and it's community and gameplay, but certainly not anything that doesn't deserve a little UI love now and again.

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Interested in getting the most out of your user interface? Come back once a week for more examples of reader UIs. For more details on individual addons, check out Addon Spotlight, or visit Addons 101 for help getting started.