Unit frames evolved in three distinct directions: the streamlined and customizable set including Shadowed Unit Frames, Stuf, and Pitbull a minimalist and occasionally obscure healer box-style including Grid, Vuhdo, and others and a modern heads-up display interface that places unit frame information much closer to player's actual on-screen representation. Blizzard eventually adopted its own version of the Grid-type raid frames which, we have noted multiple times, are better than they've ever been. Grid-style group and raid frames and layouts split off from the unit frames and became the raid frames we know today. Then, one day, a marked shift in the way healers interacted with raids dipped into group play. Originally, the raid frames were included in this package.
Combined, the unit frames include the player frame (your health, mana, energy, portrait, etc.), the target frame (your target's information), the group frames, the target of target (and its associated frames), and the focus target frame. When I talk about unit frames, the first question many people have is what exactly they are. Original unit frame addons were blocky messes of textures and bright blue and green bars. The idea of something like Grid had not even come up yet. There was nothing that I wanted more than a robust group layout of buffs, debuffs, and easy-to-read healths and percentages, with the ability to make it look the way I wanted to. Not least, the unit frames provide some of the most vital information to the player possible - your health.įor healers, from the very beginning, the group and raid interfaces were unable to cope with the sharp skill incline after reaching level 60 cap. There are few addons or types of addon that can take on as many shapes and forms as the unit frames do. I've always treated the unit frames as a centerpiece and counterweight, like a see-saw, using the unit frame's natural duality to its best effect.
Unit frames have evolved significantly over the course of WoW's life, from static, portrait-driven frames to dynamic and animated hubs of information. Everything from bags to bars, buttons to DPS meters and beyond - your addons folder will never be the same. Each week, WoW Insider's Mathew McCurley brings you a fresh look at reader-submitted UIs as well as Addon Spotlight, which focuses on the backbone of the WoW gameplay experience: the user interface.
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