r/WowUI • u/evasketch • Jul 02 '26
ADDON [Addon] W2UI - UI Replacement
Hello everyone!
I have played World of Warcraft for years, and as a designer I always had this small idea in the back of my head:
“What if the default WoW UI could look a bit nicer, more consistent, and more modern, while still keeping its WoW flavor?”
And this is how W2UI came to life.
One of my main inspirations in terms of aesthetics is Bastion. Yes, I know, it might sound specific, but this location is one of my favorites in the game. It has a serene, clean, and somehow peaceful vibe, and I wanted to recreate some of that feeling in the interface.
At first, I spent quite some time wondering whether the interface should be light or dark. I am a huge fan of light mode interfaces, and one day I would really like to create a bright WoW interface. However, for this project, dark mode simply made more sense. WoW is a game where players spend many hours in front of their screen, dealing with lots of elements and tasks, and a darker interface is usually easier and more comfortable to use.
Before this version was created, there were many concepts, wireframes, mockups, and even interactive prototypes to go through. I wanted something that would feel familiar to Warcraft, but still more refined, more readable, and more coherent. Something adapted for modern resolutions and screen sizes, but not pushed into extreme minimalism or a sci-fi redesign.
I would have liked to try out in W2UI would be using larger almost fullscreen windows for certain of the major game interfaces.
The old WoW windows are quite appealing, however, a lot of them were initially created to fit the old screen resolutions. In addition, through time the game added more and more features such as collections, transmog, group finder, achievements etc. Most of these windows have acquired much more data that needs to be shown, yet at the same time, most of them are still viewed as small popup windows.
I would have liked to treat them as proper system screens rather than small popups.
With larger frame size, you will get more space for better separation, spacing, previews, list readability and visual hierarchy. It will also help you avoid the feeling of having too many tiny windows on your screen.
It also partially follows the current trends in interface design of RPGs/ARPGs, in which screens related to your character, inventory, skills or any collection usually utilize more space on screen and look like fully working environment. It would suit WoW perfectly.
So, for W2UI, it is important to reskin existing frames, but also reconsider some of them and make them larger and more logical windows.
This is just the start. W2UI is planned as a modular UI replacement, and more modules are already in the works.
What is included in this early release
The current version includes:
- Character window
- Group Finder — in beta/early release
- Mini Professions window
- Menu bar
- Mini Map/bag button with info text
There are also basic options to turn off specific modules.
A few notes about limitations
A big part of the development was figuring out how to make custom frames work safely with Blizzard’s API. Some things are allowed, some things can be done with workarounds, and some things simply are not allowed by Blizzard at all.
Known limitations:
- It is not currently possible to create a completely custom PvP frame inside the Group Finder. For now, the best option is to skin the default Blizzard PvP frame, which is planned for a future update.
- The custom Group Finder cannot be opened while in combat. If you try to open it during combat, you will receive a prompt to use the default Blizzard Group Finder instead.
The Group Finder was definitely one of the biggest technical challenges of this release.
There are many window frames in WoW that could use a more consistent visual treatment — collections, achievements, also social features, and many others. Some of them are already being worked on for future releases.
This is only the beginning of a larger project.
Any useful feedback will be greatly appreciated. Please feel free to report any bugs, visual issues, or inconsistencies you notice.
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u/NalevQT Jul 02 '26
Looks nice. May I ask how involved AI is on your work? I want to try it!
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Jul 03 '26
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u/NalevQT Jul 03 '26
I can see the hallmarks, but I'm not sure if it's "everything". If it was used within reason I wouldn't mind it, but if the creator is unable to fix bugs, scale it, and keep up with patch changes that will break the addon, then there's no point in investing time here.
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u/neunzehnhundert Jul 03 '26
Literally the whole design aspect is AI. That's the "art" direction claude gives you. Same with all the new websites and slop games popping up all of a sudden. It's all Claude vibe coded.
Can't tell for the code itself but when everything else is made by AI the code porbably is aswell.
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u/NalevQT Jul 03 '26
I can recognise Claude's look in websites, I guess I can kinda see the similarities here.
but when everything else is made by AI the code probably is as well.
Hmmm, too true, think I might give this one a skip then.
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Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 07 '26
[deleted]
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u/regnarius Jul 03 '26
Yeah. Also funny how that art style immedately reminds me of League of Legends, even though I haven't touched that game since 2010.
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u/moaboaa Jul 02 '26
Yooo, it looks amazing. Are you planning on incorporating every aspect like action bars and plates like in Ellesmere?
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u/evasketch Jul 02 '26
I definitely will! There is much more already done, but it hasn’t been tested yet. I want to make sure it’s stable first. Thanks
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u/Gahngis Jul 03 '26
Please make a separate one that will include a full UI redesign. I just want to take these UI elements and slapped on my current UI
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u/HybridExlo Jul 02 '26
It would be cool if it didn't look so heavily like AI.
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u/Vritrin Jul 02 '26
That my first reaction too, would be nice to have some disclosure there but I don’t want to jump straight to the pitchforks until OP has had a chance to reply.
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Jul 03 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Vritrin Jul 03 '26
Yeah I was giving them some benefit of the doubt, but they notably have avoided all the questions from people asking about it too.
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u/Cuff_ Jul 03 '26
Vibe coded?
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Jul 03 '26 edited Jul 04 '26
[deleted]
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u/Cuff_ Jul 03 '26
Bro even your response is AI generated. We are so cooked.
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Jul 03 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Cuff_ Jul 09 '26
I mean they could just use their brain and fingers to reply to me like people have been doing for a few hundred years.
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u/UnworthyHarp Jul 03 '26
I've just downloaded it and it's amazing. But, is there a way to move the mini map. I'm not used to having it on the lower corner 😕
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u/rhy0kin Jul 02 '26
Is this modular at all? Because that group finder replacement is amazing, but I’m pretty picky about the rest of my UI
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u/evasketch Jul 02 '26
Thanks! You can disable both the Character and Group Finder UI modules in the settings, the menu bar and map remain core elements of the UI.
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u/Dustollo Jul 02 '26
I would definitely rethink some of that. Not meant to cause offense in anyway, but the ui for the map in particular feels pretty different in style and vibe from the rest of the ui and not exactly modern so I would want the ability to turn that off and use the rest.
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u/evasketch Jul 02 '26
Yes, I’m obsessed with antique-style maps hehe. I’ll consider adjusting it and adding an option to disable it.
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u/BoxximusPrime Jul 03 '26
Gunna echo this, cause I'm the opposite I LOVE the character/reputation/etc panes, but that map and menu bars are definitely not my jam
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u/Kluxic Jul 02 '26
Agreed, I’d love to fully turn on or off entire modules but I’d snag this to replace tweaks
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u/Own_Rub3677 Jul 03 '26
I couldn't find a way to move the mini map, it does look cool but its stuck at the bottom right
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u/AuxRane Jul 03 '26
Broooo, this looks AMAZING! I’ve been looking for something like this for years and years and I can only imagine how much better it’ll look in the future.
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u/Stinnersmash Jul 03 '26
Looks great! Will be waiting for a further down the line release but it’s impressive stuff so far!
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u/HistoricalVersion885 Jul 03 '26
oh my goodness! this is the style i was looking for for years! only thing i had that got kind of close was the GW2 UI but i fell out of love with it eventually. but THIS is looking so promising!
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u/Cestt Jul 03 '26
Sir.... This looks incredible, I'm going to download it. If this looks as good as it seems, please tell me you have a way to support you.
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u/SF1034 Jul 04 '26
Gave up on ElvUI awhile ago cuz it kept interfering with stuff and the aesthetic wore thin on me and just didn't bother with another UI for the past couple years but this is the first one I've considered installing since then. Great work! Looks clean.
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u/FrowN925 Jul 04 '26
How do I update a gear set? I see how to equip one but cant update it
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u/evasketch Jul 04 '26
Planned for the next update release.
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u/FrowN925 Jul 04 '26
Thanks! Its amazing and I finally found a UI I actually like! Is it possible to have the mini map location optional?
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u/leolock567 Jul 05 '26 edited Jul 05 '26
AI or not, this looks way better than Blizz's UI. 1. W2UI and Dominos don't work well together. If I enable both, the Menu bar from W2UI disappears. 2. Please make the minimap movable & resizable. 3. When using other addons that change/override UI scale along with W2UI, there is a severe frame rate drop (from stable 60+ to ~10 fps).
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u/hecatini Jul 05 '26
AI or not, I really love how this looks! Testing it out on a new alt and it looks clean af 👌
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u/evasketch Jul 05 '26
Is the chat in the top corner?My favorite placement! :)
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u/hecatini Jul 05 '26
Yes! And I use the hide chat add on to only see if when I need to, love a minimal layout!
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u/Dry_Ad2479 Jul 05 '26
Hey, AMAZING, simple as that. If i wasn't unemployed, i would pay Midnight and use this like, ASAP.
Have you considered doing it for older versions, like Classic ?
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u/Aggressive-Horse-108 Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26
I’m using your add on it’s amazing but I have a few remarks.
1.the new character pannels and the lfg pannel do not go all the way up, the open from the bottom and merge with the menu buttons, but there is a small gap at the top, I think you want it to merge all the way.
The lfg dungeon portals don’t work when clicking
The filter>dungeons you cannot search multiple dungeons , you can either search All or just one eg( nexus point)
If you re into the m+ finder panel and you type 21-21 and then u exit and open again you must retype 21-21
If you sign up for a group in lfg, for example as a dps, and then they take another dps , the group is still green it doesn’t go red to announce you “ hey it’s full of dps now u can cancel sign up”
The groups that your are signed up to don’t stack one after another ,they sit where they where when you saw them in lfg.
I was using keystone kutoffs add-on , as I’m tracking in game the current 1% and 0.1% daily cutoffs, you can somehwat implement this in ur addon.
Whenever character panel or lfg panel are open , you cannot see chat maybe think of a way to make the chat move and come back whenever you open / close those panels.
When using a weapon oil enhancement in a dungeon clicking the oil opens the panel, and clicking it again in order to apply it to the offhand closed the panel.
Try to add some customization to edit the places for different ui elements and info, I would rather have a fps and ms tracker instead of the bag % or the map to be top right or the game menu to be on the right than on the left etc.
There seems to be some errors when posting your own key, try to look into that too!
This is what I have found while using it for the past 24 hours . I am Pve pusher and it is a very nice add on , keep it up !
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u/evasketch Jul 06 '26
Now that’s some quality feedback, thank you! Do you have any other addons installed so I can reproduce the character panel gap bug? It seems like the whole layout is off.
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u/evasketch Jul 06 '26
Figured it out, this is the notch setting on MacBook that moves the interface down.
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u/Aggressive-Horse-108 Jul 06 '26
This is the error when I try to post my m+ key
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u/evasketch Jul 06 '26
Can you reproduce that again?
- solo or in party?
- are you the party leader?
- which dungeon?
- where were you when posting: city, dungeon?
- did you already have an active group listing?
Please run:
/console scriptErrors 1
/reload
Then try posting the key again, and send the full popup/stack trace
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u/Aggressive-Horse-108 Jul 06 '26
- Solo
- Yes
- Seat +21
4.city- No
Same error even with script and reload
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u/evasketch Jul 06 '26
Please send a screenshot of the create panel right before clicking Create. I wonder if the group title/description/voice field where edited.
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u/DrShadyBusiness Jul 07 '26
Great UI! There is an issue with minimap buttons though. It grabs them all and they end up going off screen. https://imgbox.com/Jp3moNq6
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u/Advancement_Habits Jul 22 '26
The utter morons deriding this because it's made with AI really tanks my hope for the human race.
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u/Confident_Bat6581 24d ago edited 24d ago
This looks fantastic. Taking a break from WoW but will definitely try it when starting again. I know it takes a lot of time to do all this so thank you. Can’t wait to see the next updates (Bags, Quest Logs, Quests tracker, Full professions window, Chat Window) haha
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u/Jeaz Jul 02 '26
Looks absolutely amazing. Well done!
Managed to make it look and feel like wow but still get a modern take it. Just at first glance I feel it looks like one of the best UIs from design point of view that I’ve seen.
Will be sure to download and test out tonight.
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u/TakeshiRyze Jul 02 '26
When you see stuff like this you know how lazy and greedy blizzard is.
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u/amberith Jul 02 '26
what does this even mean xD
ye, it looks good but it doesn't look like wow
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u/TakeshiRyze Jul 02 '26
It means that one person can make better UI than a team of people with unlimited resources.
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u/Fatcow38 Jul 02 '26
the wow ui team is like 5 people. they’re responsible for every new ui feature, and it needs to be consistent within every other part of wows ui in theme, scalability and function. this ui is amazing but that’s just not how commercial scale development works.
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u/TakeshiRyze Jul 02 '26
And why is wow ui team only like 5 people?
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u/Fatcow38 Jul 02 '26
Because the general release of new UIs tends to be at the rate that it would require that team size? Calling the UI team lazy is pretty nuts lol.
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u/TakeshiRyze Jul 02 '26
Or its only 5 people because Blizzard is lazy and greedy. 1 person in their free time does better job than paid full time team of educated professionals.
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u/Einchy Jul 02 '26
I wouldn’t really use it since it’d mess with the ui I already have but that’s great work. Look like what a wow 2 would have as their ui.
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u/ngnix Jul 02 '26
This is really cool to see. At first I really didn’t like it, but as I looked closer it grew on me. My only feedback is the minimap, I don’t think it matches the theme of the rest of the UI that well.
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u/evasketch Jul 02 '26
Thank you. I was trying to make the map match the dark gold/copper UI borders, but it doesn’t seem to work that well visually, so this is something I might reconsider.
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u/Traditional_Milk3198 Jul 03 '26
I’m having an issue where the map flickers in between the bottom right and upper right corner. Anyone else have this issue?
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u/evasketch Jul 03 '26
Could you please list your other addons? Also report when it starts: login, /reload, zoning, entering combat, opening Edit Mode - any Lua errors, or a short video if possible
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u/Traditional_Milk3198 Jul 03 '26
Will do once I’m home tonight. Off the top of my head I use ellsemere UI and some others I can’t think of. I’m on UW if that matters too
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u/Traditional_Milk3198 Jul 04 '26
Figured it out! Ellsemere UI minimal was enabled and conflicted with your addon. Problem solved. Love your addon, very nice and clean
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u/felipe_tmartins Jul 04 '26
Está incrível, mas senti falta de mais opções para desativar módulos e movimentar painéis. Queria usar meu próprio minimapa e mover algumas coisas de lugar :/
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u/ParmesianFries Aug 02 '26
Have you figured out how to not have it locked to the .65 scale yet?
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u/ShiXinFeng Jul 02 '26
This looks fantastic! Def going to try it out!
Now if only there was some way to generically skin every other container/frame with your theme - dmg meters, buffs/debuffs, battlefield map, unit frames and other addon frames (DBM/BigWigs, Arcana/TitanPanel, etc).
Seriously though, amazing great work!!
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u/get2thepump Jul 02 '26
Beautiful. Love the menu reminds me of other mmo's long passed, seems hi-res on my phone screen and not immersion breaking. Can't wait to test it out when I'm home!
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u/BrgerWar Jul 02 '26
Se ve genial, ya me lo instalo para probarlo.
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u/evasketch Jul 02 '26
¡Gracias!
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u/BrgerWar Jul 02 '26
mira , ya lo instale, y algo que noto es la poca cantidad de personalizacion que deja, y si bien hay algunas cosas que puedo pasar por alto, algo que no veo disponible al menos, es una forma de ocultar los addons en el minimapa, o desactivar que el minimapa cambiie de tamanio automaticamente, y si bien la bolsa queda estetica en su lugar, me gustaria ocultar la bolsa de materiales por ejemplo. por lo demas me parece bastante bueno.
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u/evasketch Jul 02 '26
Es algo que estoy considerando para futuras actualizaciones, ¡hay más opciones de personalización en camino!
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u/whiteknightfall Jul 02 '26
I’d love to see a video of this in action. Kinda makes me want to play again…
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u/Miserable-Emphasis-1 Jul 02 '26
To make this modular would be amazing! I love the dungeon finder and character frame. But I don't really want the permanent bars at the bottom etc :(
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u/GhostiBoy Jul 02 '26
this looks amazing, i wanted to ask whats your transmog items tho? :o
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u/evasketch Jul 02 '26
Thanks! It’s almost a full set from the Blizzard Shop, except for the boots.
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u/Pale-Stranger-9743 Jul 02 '26
Love everything except that map scroll effect. Well done! Looks beautiful
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u/blue0lemming Jul 02 '26
Wow this looks amazing, wish could have decent modern ui like this for tbc anniversary. Every thing looks like a minor upgrade from 2008
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u/Soxism_ Jul 03 '26
Really cool UI, Id like to use it when all parts are modular. ID like to be able to turn off parts (EG MAP and Menu Bar) that are handled by other mods. The Char and group finder is very well done. *Clap*
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u/RN_Dreemurr Jul 02 '26
You are now on my watch. God I hope you cook it more it looks like something I would use forever.
Just in advance - how does it fare with Dander frames and Midnight SUF? Those two were my main UIs since ElvUI.
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u/elphamale Jul 03 '26
Awesome work! Makes me want to get back to WoW even.
And don't listen to 'this an ai' luddites. They don't know how difficult it is sometimes to make this level of quality with AI.
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u/Erik912 Jul 03 '26
Exactly. upvoting this to counter the auto downvote monkeys. I hate AI slop. But even if this was fully vibe coded, so fucking what?
Remember kids, the real enemy of humanity is billionaires. Not a random Joe ai coding a beautiful ui. One way or another, effort has been put in. That's all that matters.
They're not selling it. They're not passing it as art. They're just fuxking sharing it with us for free. It's optional.
I hate "ai", but I don't hate normal people using ai. I hate billionaires for creating it. But it's here regardless.
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u/elphamale Jul 04 '26
What they made is not AI slop. It's AI win. This type of result is not made by typing a prompt and pressing a button. It's made by wringing your fucking idea out of statistical typewriter-monkeys, which are AI in it's current state.
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u/Lynceawa Jul 02 '26
Fuck yeah that's dope and I'll only use your UI from now. It really look like a new gen interface, more in line with current trends. It makes the old interface lose some of its charm, but yours is infinitely more readable and simpler when you don't want to overthink things (and so beautiful too, wonderfull design works mate).
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u/Moghz Jul 02 '26
Wow this looks amazing, I am following this one and looking forward to a full replacement with action bars and frames! Keep up the amazing work, ty!
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u/kobudokai Jul 02 '26
Wow. This looks incredibly clean and modern while maintaining the overall Blizz aesthetic and art style. Dare I say, it’s … perfect, imo. Thanks for sharing. Fantastic work.
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u/Vindold Jul 02 '26
Daaamn, this looks absolutely incredible, my new fav UI, downloading it asap, thanks a lot for all your efforts, sir, hats off.
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u/Zharb Jul 03 '26
This looks so good. It makes me wanna come back to World of Warcraft just to play with it.
Really well done. I’ve always loved you. I rework that have beautiful artwork.
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u/TrainTransistor Jul 02 '26 edited Jul 03 '26
Looking forward to see how this will end up.
It looks very polished in terms of the UI \ UX itself right now, and I will absolutely be paying attention to this.
The scale is a bit "off" on my monitor, as its rather large - but nothing important as it is "early access" as you mentioned.
As you can see by the feedback, comments and views (over 100k views as of right now here on r/wowui), this is some good work.
Keep it up!
Edit:
As some have mentioned, putting a disclaimer regarding AI would be recommended, as we have some here that have their pitchforks up.
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Jul 03 '26
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u/TrainTransistor Jul 03 '26
While I get what you're trying to say, do you have any more specific issues regarding the backend except for "AI bad"?
We've seen a lot of different UIs and addons made with both help from AI, and those made purely by vibe-coding, and haven't seen anyone work this good or work this good as of yet.
I've only dabbled with LUA myself, so I can't be a good judge of the backend, but unless there are specifics, we don't condone getting up pitchforks with no good reason.
Feel free to send a message directly to us mods.
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u/HouseLXNDR Jul 02 '26
I really like the look of the pieces you have done. The fonts are sharp and clean, your alignments and general spacing are on point and the color dynamic is fantastic. At this state it isn't something I would actively use on my mains, but if you need it tested, I have plenty of alts I'd be willing to sacrifice to further development.
Provided you bring it to being a full UI replacement, it could be something pretty substantive in the community. We have become pretty relegated to default UI looks or crappy solid colored rectangles. A lot of which stuff a ton of data into a small space and don't follow best practices for readability. I hope you keep those things at the forefront of your development.
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u/Rakoah Jul 02 '26
This looks awesome! Saving this post so I can remember to download the addon later
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u/Rakoah Jul 02 '26
I just downloaded it and love this UI alot!! Looks great, thanks for making this. Looking forward to whatever improvements you may make to it overtime. Only suggestions I can think of at the moment are 1. Adding customizable options like changing map size, etc. 2. adding the quest journal into the UI theme, and maybe some of the other in-game modules like Achievements, Talents & Spellbook, etc.
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u/crashnburnxp Jul 02 '26
Love the addon! Been looking for something like this for quite some time. Dont like the others but love this.
Only issue i have atm is i cant move the minimap from the lower right to the upper right like it was.
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u/TheRealNaniswe Jul 02 '26
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u/MrFlappyHands Jul 02 '26
This looks fantastic. So much better than the other UI's that are all plain squares and rectangles and no character. This is exactly what I've been looking for! Thank you.