Below are some details of interface options I've found particularly useful and newer players may not be familiar with. These are all part of the default game user interface and can be found in the Interface Options menu. Please note that this is not an exhaustive explanation of every feature.
Controls:
* Sticky Targeting - check this box and you will not accidentally lose your selected target by clicking somewhere else on the game field.
* Auto Dismount In Flight - checking this box will make it so you will automatically dismount from your flying mount if you try to do something you can't do while mounted. This is a default action for land mounts but is optional for flying mounts.
* Block Trades - check this to prevent anyone from opening a trade window with you. Useful if you get a lot of random people trying to open trade windows with you uninvited. If you check this box you will need to be the one to initiate trades.
* Open Loot Window at Mouse - this will make the loot window appear directly under your mouse cursor when you loot a body. Nice for quickly grabbing loot if you do not have Auto Loot Corpse selected or you bypass it with the <shift> key.
* Auto Loot Corpse - instead of opening a loot window and clicking on all of the loot on the corpse (or pickpocket window or herb or mining node etc), you will automatically receive the loot.
Combat:
*Attack on Assist - checking this makes it so that if you acquire a target by using /assist (or the "F" key, by default while a friendly is selected) then you will start attacking it automatically.
* Auto Attack/Auto Shot - mainly for hunters, checking this box will automatically switch you to auto attack a target when it gets too close for your autoshot.
* Auto Self Cast - very useful option that makes it so that if you try to cast a spell (healing, buff, bandage, etc.) and you have no target selected or the target can not be effected by that spell, it automatically applies it to you. So instead of clicking that bandage, getting the blue hand and then selecting yourself, as long as you don't have another friendly player selected it will automatically apply the bandage to you.
* Target of Target - Checking this allows you to see who that monster is targeting or you can see who your tank is targeting. In my opinion this should be set as a default to on since it is so important and useful.
*Cast Bars (on targets and/or on name plate) - checking one or both of these will allow you to see the casting bar of your target as well as the name of the spell they're casting. So now you can see what your enemy is casting and how long until that spell is cast!
Display:
* Buff durations - check this and you will be able to see how long your buffs are going to last.
* Rotate Minimap - this option causes your arrow in the minimap to remain stationary and rotate the map around it while you turn.
*Screen Edge Flash - If you are playing the game in full-screen mode (as opposed to a windowed mode) then the edges of your screen will flash when you enter combat.
*Detailed Loot Information - if seeing everyone's roll for loot in a group annoys you, then uncheck this box and you'll only see who won.
*Show Free Bag Space - check this to see a number on your backpack that indicates how many empty bag slots you have on your equipped bags.
Social:
*Mature Language Filter - this is where you turn on or off the chat filter for mature language.
* The other options in this section are pretty straight forward and help with some basic ways to configure your chat window. More detailed configuration can be accomplished through the chat window's menu.
ActionBars:
*These options place additional action bars on the bottom and right side of your screen. Very useful as you collect more skills and items you want to be able to access on the fly. These bars don't have any keys mapped to them by default, but you can assign keys to them in the Key Bindings menu.
Names:
*These options control what names you see in the game. If you don't want to see player titles, or you only want to see enemy names, you can check these boxes to get that effect.
Combat Text:
*Setting the options in this section will allow floating text to be displayed in front of your character (just like when you do damage to a monster) but can give excellent information such as alerting you when you enter combat as well as how much damage you are taking and how many heals are landing on you (even who they came from!).
Status Text:
*These options allow you to see numbers or percentages on health and mana/energy/rage bars as well as your experience bar. Enemy targets will only show a percentage in their health bar regardless of how these boxes are set.
Party & Raid:
*Hide Party Interface in Raid - checking this hides the usual party portraits while you're in a raid freeing up that space for other uses. I check this box and then use the space to hold the group pull-outs from the raid window, which allows me to see the whole raid instead of just my group.
*Dispellable Debuffs - If you pull out the raid groups from the raid interface, then checking this will allow you to see which of those members have debuffs on them that you are capable of clearing.
*Range in Raid Interface - checking this will help you notice which members of the raid are far away by dimming their health and secondary bars. Great for knowing who might be out of healing range.
Mouse:
* Click to Move - check this box and your character will move to any spot on the game that you right-click on. Right-click a spot on your screen and you will see a small glowing circle which your character will automatically run to without you having to do anything else. You can stop the automatic movement at any time by moving your character using some other method (both mouse buttons, arrows, WASD keys)
I have most of these options configured, and I don't use any third-party user interface modifications. Not everyone likes all of these options so I encourage new players to try them out for themselves and explore the flexibility of the default UI.
Mon Sep 22, 2008 3:22 pm