Post by cudgel
I recently re-rolled, and was absolutely amazed to encounter so many people who hadn't touched
any configuration options. This is intended to present reasonable options I think most new players would benefit from, that break from the game's default choices, including video, sound, and interface options.
- Video Options
The first thing you want to do, if you haven't yet, is configure the game resolution to match the native resolution of your monitor. For simplicity's sake, whatever resolution your desktop is currently in is most likely your native resolution. To determine this, in Windows XP, right click the desktop, choose "Properties", and then select the tab "Settings". It will be listed under "Screen Resolution" and will be similar in format to 1280x1024. - Next, I suggest enabling the "Use UI Scale" check box, and moving the slider all the way left, to "Low". Obviously, if the resulting UI is too small for you, you're going to have to scale it up.
- Sound Options
Under Sound Effects, uncheck "Error Speech". These are the annoying little phrases your character spits out every time you attempt to do something you can't... yet. I've yet to talk with anyone who wasn't happy to not hear that ever again. - Interface Options
This is the real meat of this post. To configure these options, you'll need to enter the game, and choose "Interface" from the menu you get when you hit the ESC key. You'll note that on the left hand side of the Interface Options menu, there are section headings. Those section headings are as follows:
Controls
Enable "Sticky Targeting" - Enable "Use Equipment Manager"
- Combat
Enable "Attack on Assist" - Enable "Auto Attack / Auto Shot"
- Enable "Auto Self Cast"
- Enable Cast Bars "On Targets"
- Enable Cast Bars "On Nameplates"
- Enable "Target of Target" -- Always
- Display
Enable "Buff Durations" - Objectives
Enable "Instant Quest Text" - Enable "Automatic Quest Tracking"
- Enable "Automatic Quest Progress Updates"
- Enable "Advanced Objectives Tracking"
- Social -- defaults are OK
- Action Bars -- defaults are OK
- Names -- defaults are OK
- Combat Text -- defaults are OK
- Status Text
Enable "Player" - Enable "Pet"
- Enable "Party"
- Enable "Target"
- Enable "Experience Bar Text"
- UnitFrames -- defaults are OK
- Camera -- defaults are OK
- Mouse -- defaults are OK
- Help
Enable "Enhanced Tooltips" - Once you have enabled all these options, choose ok, then restart the game.
I'm definitely looking for feedback on this. Are these options actually sane for new players, or have I rolled with them so long that I just recommend these out of habit? Anything I missed? Anything that shouldn't be there?
Post by cudgel
The first day I played the game my boyfriend did my settings and chose "invert mouse". Do most people not choose that setting? I'm so used to it now I can't play other games without it. Apart from that everything looks great, though I think auto self cast is more of a personal choice. Or am I clueless on everyone using that one as well?
Interesting info on "Invert Mouse"; now that I think about it, pulling back on the mouse has meant "up" to me since I learned to play
Zaxxon in about 1983 -- clearly it was habit forming. Does anyone else have an opinion?
I included "Auto Self Cast" because I've had the following conversation one too many times:
New paladin: "Wait, you mean, to heal myself, I have to target myself first? Really? How can I fix that?"
Me: "Enable Auto Self Cast -- but remember when you want to heal someone else, you're going to have to target them."
New paladin: "Awesome, now this works the way I think it should!"
Still hoping for more feedback, particularly from beginners to know if this was helpful!