User interface

From Guild Wars Wiki

[edit] Panels and Dialogs

• Character selection screen
• Dye Preview
• Equipment panel
• Friends List
• Guild Menu
• Help Panel
• Hero Panel
• Inventory
• Mission Map
• Observer mode
• Options
• Party Search panel
• Pet Control panel
• Quest Log
• Reconnect after disconnect
• Skills and Attributes Panel
• Unclaimed Items
• World Map

[edit] Heads Up Display (HUD)

These items are always on the screen by default. All elements can be hidden by unchecking them in the Options dialogue.

[edit] Chat Window

The chat window is where you type in correspondence to other players. All server, guild, and NPC messages also appear in the window.

You can send your messages to 6 different chat channels:

• All: All players within compass range can read your message. Your name will appear as yellow text, your message as white.
• Guild: Only your guild members can read your message. Your name will show up as green, your message as white text.
• Team: All allies can read your message, including other allied parties in certain missions (e.g. Vizunah Square, Alliance Battles). Your name will have blue color. Members from other allied parties appear with darker blue text.
• Trade: Same as "All". This channel is specifically for trade, selling and buying stuff. Spamming is disallowed. Both text and name will be pink text.
• Alliance: All members from your guild's alliance can read your message. Your name shows up orange, with your guild tag added.
• Whisper: Only one specific person will be able to read your message. Insert that person's name into the left box. When you receive a message this way, a notification ping will inform you. Received messages are white, with the sender's name blue, sent messages are completely green. Names will be put in brackets.

When in observer mode, "All" and "Trade" are disabled. "Team" will be changed to "Observer": Everyone observing the same match will be able to read your message.

[edit] Compass

The Compass or radar is part of the user interface that displays a general map of the location of allies and foes in relation to the player within eyesight. The compass shows cardinal directions, but always centers itself relative to the player.

The compass displays foes as red circles, allies as green circles, and minions/pets/spirits as green triangles. Neutral minions are shown in gray.

The compass also displays a translucent white circle known as the Danger Zone, in which all computer-controlled enemies become "aware" of the player's existence.

The compass itself may be pinged or drawn on by any party member, in order to communicate information such as routes of escape, treasure locations, or items of interest. This can be initiated by any party member by clicking or dragging on the compass map area with the mouse. Some quests and missions will also ping the compass with specific goal locations (usually in yellow). The compass, like the Mission Map, may also be used to order Hero movement with hero flags.

While in a town or outpost, other players will show up as light/dark blue dots on the compass. Players indicated by dark blue are currently in a party whilst light blue indicates that the player is available to join a party.

[edit] Energy Bar

The energy bar is a blue bar that shows the status of a character's energy.

It displays three kinds of information:

• Energy: Current energy points are shown numerically.
• Energy regeneration: Current energy regeneration/degeneration is shown in pips/arrows on the bar.
• Exhaustion: If the character is suffering from exhaustion, the maximum energy is lowered by being greyed out until it regenerates.

• It is important to note that although a character can have negative energy, the energy bar will not display energy values under 0. The bar will display 0 until the character regenerates up to or more than 1 energy.

[edit] Experience Bar

The experience bar is a green bar that shows the percentage of experience needed until the next level. It also has the level of the character listed if the bar is long enough.

If a player has reached the maximum level, 20, the bar instead indicates the character's progress towards his/her next skill point.

[edit] Health Bar

The health bar is a red bar that indicates the status of the character's health. It displays several kinds of information.

• Hit points: The bar displays a numeric value corresponding to your character's remaining life total.
• Regeneration: Pips/arrows indicate how quickly the player is gaining or losing life to regen/degen.
  • Each Pip of regeneration/degeneration on the health bar is equivalent to 2 hit points per second.
  • Health Regeneration and Degeneration is capped at 10 pips in either direction.
• Status: The bar changes color when conditioned.
  • Pink for bleeding
  • Green for poison/disease
  • Purple if you are hexed by a hex that gives life degeneration
  • Grey Section for Deep Wound

[edit] Menu Button

The menu button pops-up a list of various dialogs that you can select to perform certain functions or customize the game interface. The selections presented show an Icon for the item, which can be dragged onto the screen for instant access later, the name of the menu selection, and the hot key for that selection.

The window is organized into 4 sections.

Hero

Inventory

Inventory Bags

Skills and Attributes Panel

Quest Log

Map-Travel

Mission Map

Observe (Greyed out by default)

Friends

Guild

Party Search

Score Chart (Greyed out by default)

Help

Options

Log Out

[edit] Party Window

The party window gives a visual representation of the party's condition. The red bars represent the allies' or party members' health. The health bars may change color from red to green or purple if the ally/party member is hexed or conditioned.

Arrows appear on player's health bars depending on conditions, hexes or enchantments upon them.

• A yellow arrow pointing up will appear if the player/NPC is under the effects of an enchantment.
• A purple arrow pointing down will appear if the player/NPC is under the effects of a hex.
• A green arrow pointing down will appear if the player/NPC is under the effects of a condition.

The health bar changes colors depending on health status, such as regeneration.

• A purple health bar will appear if the player/NPC is suffering degeneration from a hex.
• A green health bar will appear if the player/NPC is suffering degeneration from poison or disease.
• A pink health bar will appear if the player/NPC is suffering from degeneration from the bleeding condition.
• A grey or empty health bar will appear if the player/NPC has died or has disconnected.

Names of Heroes are indented under the player who owns them. This window shrinks and grows when players or heroes are added, kicked or leave. When a hero is available to be added, and the party is not full, and you do not already have 3 heroes, a drop-down list will appear in place of a third (or second or first) hero's name. Party leaders can use this window to kick and invite members. A potential member can also request an invitation by entering the leader of a party's name in the text box beside the addition sign button and pressing enter on their keyboard (or the button). Leaving a party will abandon all other players and henchmen; heroes will stay in your party. If you leave a party where you are a leader, the party is not disbanded; the next player in the list assumes control. The Search button opens up the Party Search panel window.

[edit] Performance Monitor

The Performance Monitor is a small dot in the lower right of the screen that provides the current FPS (frames per second) being displayed and the ping in milliseconds to the server. A low ping generally means better performance and less lag, since it is the time it takes to relay information from the server to your computer. The server IP address is also listed.

The dot changes color from green to red depending on ping. If the ping is high (>750 ms), it turns red. If it is mediocre (250-750 ms), it is orange. If the ping is below 250 ms, it is green.

A Lightning bolt icon in the dot means the client is downloading game files in the background.

[edit] Skill Bar

The skill bar is a part of the user interface that displays icons of the skills currently equipped. They are numbered from 1 to 8, and can be activated by either clicking directly on the desired skill, or pressing the corresponding number on the keyboard.

The skills on the skill bar can only be modified in a town or outpost, though their order can be changed at any time.

• Skills that are being used pulse.
• Skills that are recharging are darkened, and lighten in color in a clockwise direction as they become closer to being available again.
• Permanently disabled skills are grayed out with no clockwise recharge animation.
• Adrenal skills start grayed out and become filled with a fiery glow as the player gains adrenaline. When the skill is completely glowing, it can be used.
• Elite skills have a golden border.
• Skills that require a specific item to function, such as a sword, will be crossed-out until the requirement is met.
• Skills that are locked due to a preview event or because they are PvE-only skills will be grayed out with a lock icon over them.
• A blank skill slot is one that is intentionally empty, and is not intended to be replaced, as opposed to optional, which is used to represent where another skill should ideally fill up the empty slot but there is more than one possibility. During certain missions where skills are assigned to you, some of your skill slots may be left blank. Your skill bar will also have blank slots if you zone with more than one elite skill, this being possible only if you have captured an elite skill.

[edit] Weapon Sets

Weapon Sets allow a player to swap a combination of weapons and focus items or shields on the fly using the F1, F2, F3, and F4 hotkeys by default. Dragging a weapon or offhand to one of the weapon set slots or double-clicking the item in the Inventory window while that slot is active will bind the weapon or offhand to that slot.

[edit] Effects Monitor

The effects monitor displays icons for all effects that the player character is currently under, e.g. enchantments, hexes, conditions or environmental effects. Below each icon is a small bar which indicates how long the effect will last. Shortly before an effect wears off, the icon will start flashing.

[edit] Damage Monitor

The damage monitor displays the source of damage a player received in the last moments in form of skill icons and skill names. A number shows the quantity a player has received damage from that source. The icons are normally displayed for a specific time if the player does not receive damage from the same source again. If the player dies, the damage monitor will be frozen until the player is resurrected. Note that the source of damage received from non-skills are not shown.

[edit] Target Display

The target monitor shows the name of whatever object, character or monster the player currently has selected as a target. If applicable, it will also show profession(s) and level of the target. If the target is not an object, the target monitor will also show the target's health as a red bar. Having no or an invalid target selected will result in targeted skills failing. However, skills that can target one self will automatically be used on one self, if no target is selected.

[edit] Skill Monitor

The skill monitor shows the usage of skills by the current target. It displays the skill's icon as well as a bar that fills upon activation of a skill. During activation this bar is shown in green color. It will turn yellow upon completion or purple if the skill is interrupted.

[edit] District Panel

This panel appears only in outposts. It is usually located in the upper left hand corner and shows what district you are currently in. Districts are the equivalents to what many other mmo rpgs call 'channel'. You can freely change between districts by clicking on the panel and selecting the district you would like to go to. Note that you will leave your party if you have one currently, just as if you're map travelling to another outpost.

If you want to meet friends, and you're both in the same outpost but you can't see each other, it's likely the case that you are in a different districts. Messages in the all and the trading chat channels can be read only by players in the same district.

When you click the panel, it will give you quick access to all districts of the same language and the international district. To change into districts with different languages, select "More Options...". A window with three drop-down-lists will appear in the middle of your screen. The first panel showing the server, the second one for the language and the third one to select which district of that language you want to travel to.

The active district is the current district that has the most activity of active players. This is generally district 1 but is not always so.

[edit] Notes

• You can rearrange the placement of items in your user interface by using the F11 key. The pop up window has tabs across the top, and the tab called user interface will allow you to add/remove certain elements of your interface. F11 will also give you the ability to move the different elements on your screen, as well as re-size them.
• To hide the UI (for example for taking screen shots) you can press Ctrl + Shift + H. Press the same keys to turn the UI back on. Also you can do Shift + PrintScrn to quickly take a screen shot without the interface. Shift + PrintScrn also hides some things that Ctrl + Shift + H doesn't (ex: drop labels)