How to get your interface into working order in half an hour: client settings, addons for 7.3.5 and a few macros you will really miss in dungeons.
Settings without addons
- Action bars. Esc → Interface → "ActionBars": turn on the extra bars, otherwise there is nowhere to put your cooldowns and macros.
- Interface scale. System → Graphics: 0.7–0.8 frees up the centre of the screen on a large monitor.
- Numbers on the health and resource bars are turned on in the "Display" section.
- Camera. Type
/console cameraDistanceMaxZoomFactor 2.6into chat — that is the maximum for Legion.
Nameplates
V toggles enemy nameplates, Shift+V friendly ones. Their behaviour is configured with chat commands:
/console nameplateShowAll 1
/console nameplateMotion 1
/console nameplateOverlapV 1.2
/console nameplateMaxDistance 60Show every enemy nearby, stack the plates vertically, set the gap between them and the range in yards. If your screen is cluttered, drop the range to 40.
Where to put addons
- There is only one path:
World of Warcraft\Interface\AddOns\. Inside it there has to be a folder with a.tocfile — for exampleAddOns\Details\Details.toc. An extra nested folder left over from the archive means the addon will not load. - Some addons come as a set of several folders — copy all of them.
- Restart the game. If an addon is marked as out of date, tick "Load out of date AddOns", but what you actually need is a build for interface version 70300.
- The settings live in
WTF\Account\ACCOUNTNAME\— copy that folder before you start experimenting with ElvUI.
Addons for 7.3.5
| Addon | What for | Version |
|---|---|---|
| ElvUI | Replaces the entire interface: unit frames, bars, bags, chat, map | The 10.x branch, 11.x will not install |
| Details! Damage Meter | Damage and healing meter, death analysis | There is a separate Legion build |
| WeakAuras 2 | Indicators for cooldowns, buffs and boss mechanics | The 2.x branch |
| Deadly Boss Mods | Boss timers and warnings | The Legion core plus the raid packs |
| BigWigs + LittleWigs | An alternative to DBM, LittleWigs adds the dungeons | Install it instead of DBM, otherwise you get double timers |
| Mythic Dungeon Tools | Mythic+ routes: trash percentages and pulls | The Legion branch 1.5.x |
| Pawn | Shows in the tooltip whether an item is an upgrade or not | Enter your own stat weights |
| TomTom | Navigation arrow and waypoints by coordinates | Indispensable in Suramar |
| Bagnon | All your bags and the bank in a single window | Bagnon_ItemLevel shows the ilvl on the icon |
| GTFO | A sound when you are standing in a damage puddle | The single most useful addon for a newcomer |
| Angry Keystones | Timer and trash percentages in Mythic+ | There is a Legion version |
Do not install addons with an "automatic rotation": they either do not work at all or they break the client.
Macros
You open them with /m. The limits: 255 characters per macro, 120 general and 18 personal. #showtooltip on the first line gives you the icon and the cooldown. Conditions in square brackets are read from left to right, and empty [] means "in all other cases".
1. Focus and focus interrupt — you interrupt a cast without losing your own target. Substitute the name of your interrupt:
/focus [@mouseover,exists][]#showtooltip
/cast [@focus,harm,nodead][] INTERRUPT_NAME2. Mouseover heal — heals whoever your mouse is hovering over (including on a party frame), otherwise your target, otherwise yourself. The example uses Flash Heal; protective spells cast on an ally such as Blessing of Protection work the same way:
#showtooltip
/cast [@mouseover,help,nodead][@target,help,nodead][@player] Flash Heal3. Stopcasting — without it the button that saves your life gets "eaten" by the spell you are already casting. The classic case is Ice Block:
#showtooltip
/stopcasting
/cast Ice Block4. Trinkets and burst. The trinket slots are 13 and 14:
#showtooltip ARTIFACT_ABILITY_NAME
/use 13
/use 14
/cast ARTIFACT_ABILITY_NAMEYou cannot put together a "rotation on one button": one press means one spell on the global cooldown. It only makes sense to combine things that do not spend the GCD — trinkets and racials like Blood Fury or Berserking.
If you are short on time
- Turn on nameplates (V) and the extra action bars.
- Install DBM or BigWigs and GTFO — the minimum needed to stop dying to mechanics.
- Put together the focus interrupt and the mouseover macro.
- ElvUI, WeakAuras and MDT — once you have found your feet.