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WoW 5.0: User Interface Changes in MoP

WoW 5.0: User Interface Changes in MoP By Mimiron My name is Stan, I am 19 years old. Currently I am studying at a University. I am the founder of the FB group which posted Cataclysm news since 8/23/09. I am playing WoW since the release of Burning Crusade. I like writing articles regarding Cataclysm. The most time I enjoyed playing was high-end TBC - Sunwell Plateau.

Today, we will have a look at the User Interface changes, which you'll see in Mists of Pandaria. These changes are already live on BETA. Here is a short compilation of all the changes along with a comparison between the old interface and the newer one.

Character Creation User Interface

Once you login to your Battle.Net account and try to create a new character, you will be surprised. Blizzard has neatly redone the whole creation interface. It now looks better, it's easier to navigate and more intuitive.

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Here we can see the old character creation user interface used up to now. It doesn't do really well when you are choosing details for your character, such as Facial Hair, Face and/or other, you can't zoom in.

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The new interface offers a different animated background for all of the races you want to create. The class choice has been moved to the far right and the gender to the left corner. You can rotate your character on this screen, and when you click on More Info, then, race/class information will appear. They no longer appear on the left by default. You can go either Back, or when you click next (after you choose your race/class, you are prompted to enter a name...

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The new UI offers a detailed zoomed in look, and you can easily scroll on the right of the screen to choose from all the posibilities. On the left, gender choice remains.

Spellbook User Interface

Here you see the old spellbook, with tabs for Professions, Mounts and Companions.

Here is the new spellbook. As you can see two tabs have disappeared. Mounts & Companions tab. Professions remained and specialization-specific spells now are inaccessible. In the old UI you could use all of them.

Talents User Interface

In Mists of Pandaria, the talent system has received notable changes.

All of the not so useful talents have been converted into passive abilities, granted upon choosing a spec. Other spec-specific spells, have been put into talents so that even a lets say, frost mage can use Scorch/Flame Orb with its full potential, making the choice hard and interesting at the same time.

You aren't granted talent points anymore, but instead, unlock one talent choice each 15 levels. (15/30/45/60/75/90). For example at level 15 a mage can choose between Presence of Mind, Scorch and Ice Floes, at 45 between Ring of Frost, Ice Ward or Frostjaw. Each of these abilities are focused to make leveling easier at some point. For example those mentioned which you choose at 45 are intended for better mob control and survival.

This is how the interface looked, when you were to choose a specific specialization for your character. In columns, there are the specs, along with spells you get when you choose a desired spec, with a glyph tab.

The new Specialization tab looks like this. The spell icons are much bigger, even the spec descriptions have changed.

Now let's have a look at the talent tree interface, again, the old one had columns, with specialization-specific spells. You couldn't choose from another tree until you have reached the very end of at least one. Those times are over!

I have really no idea, why is Blizzard always messing with the talents... this is already their third time in a row, where they are completely redoing everything.

Anyway, here is the old interface...

if you compare it will the old one, an extra tab for Specialization has been added and the whole tab now only has interesting spells, no boring passives which you choose to get to the very bottom of your tree in order to choose a more interesting spell.

You also need Tome of the Clear Mind if you want to forget a spell or when you want to be able to replace it with a new one, without having to visit your trainer for a total reset. It's a cheap reagent, pretty much as the one you use to clear your glyphs.

Core Abilities Tab

This is a newly added tab, under your spellbook. It shows you the core abilities for your class with definition to newbie players, recommendations, at what time to use spells your class should use the most.

Dungeon Finder User Interface

This is the old interface.

Here is the new one. It has gained a Challenges tab, got rid of the Valor Point indicator at the top, and was merged with the Raid Finder and Scenarios.

Mounts & Pets User Interface

Mounts and Companions have been removed from the Spellbook tab and have been granted a totally new interface, which you can find at the bottom toolbar.

Here is the new one. It has gained a Challenges tab, got rid of the Valor Point indicator at the top, and was merged with the Raid Finder and Scenarios.

Once you click on it a new interface appears. From this window you can drag mounts to your actionbar, or summon a mount with right-clicking. There is a total amount of mounts along with a list. Mounts are now account wide. This means you obtain a proto-drake on one character and all of your alts will automatically have it. Some restrictions apply: such as class-specific mounts: 'paladin, warlock'...

Pet Journal is an interesting addition too. It is made exactly as the Mounts tab, but is more detailed, because of the pet challenges (not implemented yet on BETA). On the left side you have a list of mounts, if you don't possess them, they are greyed out.

You can search through the mounts easily using a filter.

In the middle there are Battle Pet Slots. You have three of them. The Find Battle button is available, once you reach level 90.

On the right, you can see a 3D model of the pet, along with information, where to find it on the world map, so you can tame it. Below that, is a list of spells it will use in combat.

 

Earlier Articles:

* WoW 5.0: Guide to Monk Healing Part I
* WoW 5.0 Beta: New Music, Maps, Items, and Pandaren Kid Model
* WoW 5.0 Beta: Build 15650 New Models
* WoW 5.0 Patch 15640: New Models, Crane Mounts
* WoW 5.0 New Models: Warrior T14, Monk's Challenge Mode Set
* WoW: Challenge Mode - Armor Reward Models Preview
* WoW: Awesome Mists of Pandaria Models Videos

WoW 5.0: User Interface Changes in MoP

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