Recommended UI tweaks?

[Carbajal]

Edit to add list of potentially useful info at the top:

UI modifications

• Preferences > Controls > Auto-loot on right click
• Preferences > Controls > Enable area loot
• Preferences > Controls > Ability action queue > 1.0
• Preferences > User Interface > Auto skip movies (individual preference, doesn't seem to do anything though)
• Preferences > User Interface > Enable quickbars
• Preferences > User Interface > Disable cover bar (individual preference, I keep it enabled)
• Preferences > User Interface > Display Subtitles for Conversations (useful if you spacebar through quest dialogue)
• Preferences > User Interface > Enable Companion Comparitive tooltips
• Preferences > User Interface > Use Operations Frames as Party Frames (more condensed and lets you move it around your screen)
• Preferences > Graphics > Window mode > Windowed (if you use dual monitors and want to be able to swap apps without losing SWTOR)
• Preferences > Nameplates > Nameplate on Enemy NPCs

List of slash commands:
http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=20669
http://www.reddit.com/r/swtor/comments/ ... mand_list/



Hi all, I'm one of your guests from Arion (care of the SWTOR guild fuck up relocation program). Having never played WoW, I find myself a little lost with the UI. I'm hoping the people here can give me some help, and without the crap I'm sure to get if I post on a more public forum.

So here are the tweaks I've already done. This is from memory, so I can't be explicit. I was actually planning on playing tonight, but apparently the servers are down until midnight.

• Enable auto loot
• Enable area loot
• Enable health bar above enemies' heads

Here are my questions I can't for the life of me figure out. Help!

• How to tell who has aggro?!?
• No /target_previous optoin?
• Moving UI elements around
• What the heck is this focus target thing I see in the options?
• Only way to tell who the tank is targeting is to /assist them?
• Is there a list of commands somewhere? I'm used to typing lots of commands (/camp <charactername>, /groupoptions, /raidinvite, etc), but have no idea what the equivalent is in SWTOR

Can anyone answer my questions, or suggest other tweaks to the default UI settings that would be useful? Also any WoW/SWTOR specific techniques I should know about would be very helpful. I'm feeling like a complete noob, but I'm sure it's because the info I'm used to having is presented in a differnt way, and I just need to learn where to look.

[Blackferne]

[quote="Cajal"rba]Hi all, I'm one of your guests from Arion (care of the SWTOR guild fuck up relocation program). Having never played WoW, I find myself a little lost with the UI. I'm hoping the people here can give me some help, and without the crap I'm sure to get if I post on a more public forum.

So here are the tweaks I've already done. This is from memory, so I can't be explicit. I was actually planning on playing tonight, but apparently the servers are down until midnight.

• Enable auto loot
• Enable area loot
• Enable health bar above enemies' heads

Here are my questions I can't for the life of me figure out. Help!

• How to tell who has aggro?!?
• No /target_previous optoin?
• Moving UI elements around
• What the heck is this focus target thing I see in the options?
• Only way to tell who the tank is targeting is to /assist them?
• Is there a list of commands somewhere? I'm used to typing lots of commands (/camp <charactername>, /groupoptions, /raidinvite, etc), but have no idea what the equivalent is in SWTOR

Can anyone answer my questions, or suggest other tweaks to the default UI settings that would be useful? Also any WoW/SWTOR specific techniques I should know about would be very helpful. I'm feeling like a complete noob, but I'm sure it's because the info I'm used to having is presented in a differnt way, and I just need to learn where to look.[/quote]

No definitive way to tell who has aggro besides incoming damage. As a tank I try and pull the mob in such a way it should be facing me and everyone else is on the other side at his back to watch aggro.
Tab and Shift+tab allows you to cycle through targets and go back to previous target in the cycle iirc.
UI cannot really be moves.
Focus target is useful for keeping an eye on your CC target or some special assignment. In WoW my wife would use it sometimes for special healing assignments. As DPS/CC in wow I would use ti to watch my polymorph target.
Not sure on tank assist.
The website has a "user manual" but not sure if they have a comprehensive list up of all /commands.

[Carbajal]

No definitive way to tell who has aggro besides incoming damage. As a tank I try and pull the mob in such a way it should be facing me and everyone else is on the other side at his back to watch aggro.
Tab and Shift+tab allows you to cycle through targets and go back to previous target in the cycle iirc.
UI cannot really be moves.
Focus target is useful for keeping an eye on your CC target or some special assignment. In WoW my wife would use it sometimes for special healing assignments. As DPS/CC in wow I would use ti to watch my polymorph target.
Not sure on tank assist.
The website has a "user manual" but not sure if they have a comprehensive list up of all /commands.

Thanks for the reply. I guess the UI is just really primitive at this point. Hopefully that won't last long. I can't imagine doing a hard fight without being able to tell the instant aggro switched and to who. Focus target seems sort of silly, although maybe not in SWTOR since it seems no class can lock down more than 1 target. I guess I"m used to doing either zero crowd control or locking down up to 8 unlinked targets. Maybe I just haven't been in the right situation to use it yet.

So running instances, do people just target and kill whatever they want? That's pretty much what we did the one instance I ran (Essesels), but that just seems like a total cluster. If the mobs had very many hp or hit worth a damn, people would have been dying left and right.

[Blackferne]

Esselles and Black Talon (Sith side equivalent) are the intro to flashpoints. Give people a taste but the bar for success is pretty low. You could go in with four of anything any spec and do fine for the most part. Hammer is where stuff gets real requiring a tank and a healer as the core of a group.

[Furiel]

No definitive way to tell who has aggro besides incoming damage. As a tank I try and pull the mob in such a way it should be facing me and everyone else is on the other side at his back to watch aggro.
Tab and Shift+tab allows you to cycle through targets and go back to previous target in the cycle iirc.
UI cannot really be moves.
Focus target is useful for keeping an eye on your CC target or some special assignment. In WoW my wife would use it sometimes for special healing assignments. As DPS/CC in wow I would use ti to watch my polymorph target.
Not sure on tank assist.
The website has a "user manual" but not sure if they have a comprehensive list up of all /commands.

Thanks for the reply. I guess the UI is just really primitive at this point. Hopefully that won't last long. I can't imagine doing a hard fight without being able to tell the instant aggro switched and to who. Focus target seems sort of silly, although maybe not in SWTOR since it seems no class can lock down more than 1 target. I guess I"m used to doing either zero crowd control or locking down up to 8 unlinked targets. Maybe I just haven't been in the right situation to use it yet.

So running instances, do people just target and kill whatever they want? That's pretty much what we did the one instance I ran (Essesels), but that just seems like a total cluster. If the mobs had very many hp or hit worth a damn, people would have been dying left and right.

In the higher level instances especially at this point you need a group that is going to work together and mark targets. It's very similar to WoW in this way, which I don't think you played Carb, but in WoW people who had a CC ability could only lock down 1 mob so targets would get "marked" and the tank would give a kill order and CC directions. ToR has marks as well, so it'll likely become standard practice to do the same to help control the fight.

For example, say it's a 3 mob fight, the tank marks them target, fire and saber and says lift saber, kill target then fire, that means the Consular uses their CC ability on the one with the lightsaber mark above it's head and the tank grabs the other 2, with the first target being the guy with the target above his head, then you kill the guy with the fire mark, then finally kill saber once the tank breaks CC. It's all about communication and strategy and it becomes old hat pretty quick. Over time the different marks will get fairly universal meanings as well so like 6 months from now you won't even have to talk once the marks go up because everyone will know that mark X means this type of CC by this class or that it dies first, etc.

Also one tip I can give you Carb that really helped me with my UI setup is enabling the side quickbars. I don't remember where they are in preferences, but if you enable the side quickbars (you can have either one or both up) it gives you that many more clickable spots available to you. I just have the left one enabled and I put my class buffs, quick travel, my speeder, sprint, etc on it. Basically anything that I use occasionally but don't want to have to dig out of my ability book when I use it, I put on the side bar so it isn't cluttering up my combat bars. When you get into the mid twenties and above it's INCREDIBLY handy if you haven't done it already.

[Dood]

No definitive way to tell who has aggro besides incoming damage. As a tank I try and pull the mob in such a way it should be facing me and everyone else is on the other side at his back to watch aggro.
Tab and Shift+tab allows you to cycle through targets and go back to previous target in the cycle iirc.
UI cannot really be moves.
Focus target is useful for keeping an eye on your CC target or some special assignment. In WoW my wife would use it sometimes for special healing assignments. As DPS/CC in wow I would use ti to watch my polymorph target.
Not sure on tank assist.
The website has a "user manual" but not sure if they have a comprehensive list up of all /commands.

Thanks for the reply. I guess the UI is just really primitive at this point. Hopefully that won't last long. I can't imagine doing a hard fight without being able to tell the instant aggro switched and to who. Focus target seems sort of silly, although maybe not in SWTOR since it seems no class can lock down more than 1 target. I guess I"m used to doing either zero crowd control or locking down up to 8 unlinked targets. Maybe I just haven't been in the right situation to use it yet.

So running instances, do people just target and kill whatever they want? That's pretty much what we did the one instance I ran (Essesels), but that just seems like a total cluster. If the mobs had very many hp or hit worth a damn, people would have been dying left and right.

In the higher level instances especially at this point you need a group that is going to work together and mark targets. It's very similar to WoW in this way, which I don't think you played Carb, but in WoW people who had a CC ability could only lock down 1 mob so targets would get "marked" and the tank would give a kill order and CC directions. ToR has marks as well, so it'll likely become standard practice to do the same to help control the fight.

For example, say it's a 3 mob fight, the tank marks them target, fire and saber and says lift saber, kill target then fire, that means the Consular uses their CC ability on the one with the lightsaber mark above it's head and the tank grabs the other 2, with the first target being the guy with the target above his head, then you kill the guy with the fire mark, then finally kill saber once the tank breaks CC. It's all about communication and strategy and it becomes old hat pretty quick. Over time the different marks will get fairly universal meanings as well so like 6 months from now you won't even have to talk once the marks go up because everyone will know that mark X means this type of CC by this class or that it dies first, etc.

Also one tip I can give you Carb that really helped me with my UI setup is enabling the side quickbars. I don't remember where they are in preferences, but if you enable the side quickbars (you can have either one or both up) it gives you that many more clickable spots available to you. I just have the left one enabled and I put my class buffs, quick travel, my speeder, sprint, etc on it. Basically anything that I use occasionally but don't want to have to dig out of my ability book when I use it, I put on the side bar so it isn't cluttering up my combat bars. When you get into the mid twenties and above it's INCREDIBLY handy if you haven't done it already.

Is it bad if I understood almost none of Furiel's post?

[Furiel]

No definitive way to tell who has aggro besides incoming damage. As a tank I try and pull the mob in such a way it should be facing me and everyone else is on the other side at his back to watch aggro.
Tab and Shift+tab allows you to cycle through targets and go back to previous target in the cycle iirc.
UI cannot really be moves.
Focus target is useful for keeping an eye on your CC target or some special assignment. In WoW my wife would use it sometimes for special healing assignments. As DPS/CC in wow I would use ti to watch my polymorph target.
Not sure on tank assist.
The website has a "user manual" but not sure if they have a comprehensive list up of all /commands.

Thanks for the reply. I guess the UI is just really primitive at this point. Hopefully that won't last long. I can't imagine doing a hard fight without being able to tell the instant aggro switched and to who. Focus target seems sort of silly, although maybe not in SWTOR since it seems no class can lock down more than 1 target. I guess I"m used to doing either zero crowd control or locking down up to 8 unlinked targets. Maybe I just haven't been in the right situation to use it yet.

So running instances, do people just target and kill whatever they want? That's pretty much what we did the one instance I ran (Essesels), but that just seems like a total cluster. If the mobs had very many hp or hit worth a damn, people would have been dying left and right.

In the higher level instances especially at this point you need a group that is going to work together and mark targets. It's very similar to WoW in this way, which I don't think you played Carb, but in WoW people who had a CC ability could only lock down 1 mob so targets would get "marked" and the tank would give a kill order and CC directions. ToR has marks as well, so it'll likely become standard practice to do the same to help control the fight.

For example, say it's a 3 mob fight, the tank marks them target, fire and saber and says lift saber, kill target then fire, that means the Consular uses their CC ability on the one with the lightsaber mark above it's head and the tank grabs the other 2, with the first target being the guy with the target above his head, then you kill the guy with the fire mark, then finally kill saber once the tank breaks CC. It's all about communication and strategy and it becomes old hat pretty quick. Over time the different marks will get fairly universal meanings as well so like 6 months from now you won't even have to talk once the marks go up because everyone will know that mark X means this type of CC by this class or that it dies first, etc.

Also one tip I can give you Carb that really helped me with my UI setup is enabling the side quickbars. I don't remember where they are in preferences, but if you enable the side quickbars (you can have either one or both up) it gives you that many more clickable spots available to you. I just have the left one enabled and I put my class buffs, quick travel, my speeder, sprint, etc on it. Basically anything that I use occasionally but don't want to have to dig out of my ability book when I use it, I put on the side bar so it isn't cluttering up my combat bars. When you get into the mid twenties and above it's INCREDIBLY handy if you haven't done it already.

Is it bad if I understood almost none of Furiel's post?

About what I expect from you rummy

[Vespasian]

To compare items for companions.

Preferences > User Interface > (Scroll down) Tooltip > Enable Companion Comparative Tooltips.

[Carbajal]

Thanks for the explanation Furiel (did you have a toon named furiel in eq2? I don't remember). That makes sense, but seems to make for less dynamic encounters. Maybe I'll feedback it. It also doesn't help with the who-has-aggro issue. I feel crippled without that, on dps, healer, or even tank. It seems *less* important in SWTOR than eq2 since the incoming damage isn't so spikey and I haven't encountered any mobs with frontals yet, but again that makes for simpler encounters. I guess I'll keep playing and hope it's just a case of me being unfamiliar and not that it's actually inferior game design.

There are plenty of things I do like, but the few things that irritate me are really irritating. I can't believe they don't have a target previous option, but target switching seems much less important so I guess that's ok.

One of my favorite things is that mobs can't hit you if they don't have line of sight. I got an even level champion mob down to 70% the other day solo with no companion by ducking in and out of cover (not smuggler cover, but actual obstacles in game). That was a lot of fun, even if he did slaughter me.

Is there a way to update my original post? I figured I'd update it with the other tips people added (so people don't have to read the whole thread to get the useful tips) but can't figure out how.

[Blackferne]

I believe you can modify your own posts. I'll double check later on permissions to be sure.

Sent from Nar Shadaa using Tapanudo.