There are some questions in life which have no correct answer.
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Ginger or Mary Ann?
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Which is your favourite Beatles album?
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Would you rather fly a Hammerhead, Starfury or Viper Mark VII?
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Given that the Bengals are the fifth best football in team in the state of Ohio, what is the order of the first four?
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Which was the worst sequel: Superman IV: The Quest for Peace or Highlander 2: The Quickening?
Click to see the screenhots of the RK and Minstrel set up above larger.
Since the world don’t move to the beat of just one drum, what might be right for you, may not be right for some.
The same approach applies to how you set up your graphic user interface (GUI; pronounced gooey) for LOTRO or any other game. The way you lay out your quickslots and hotkeys is your business. I’m not trying to tell anyone how to play their class or how to set up their computer, but this is how I have my screen configured.
Where the last article was a general background on healing, this will focus on my specific setup, so it will probably be a lot more boring and some of what I do will probably conflict with the way you have set up your user interface.
Arrange Your GUI
If you look at the screenshots of both my minstrel and RK’s setup, you’ll see that I leave many of the basic elements in the same places. The radar is in the upper right, and the quest tracker is right below it. I leave the fellowship/raid vitals on the left side.
To move elements around your screen, press CTRL + \ (it’s on the row between the enter and backspace keys) and it will show all of the elements that are available for you to move. Then place everything where you think it works best. If you’re not a rune-keeper or warden, move your attunement bar and gambit panel to some far corner of the screen. For my RK, my screen looks like this.
You can re-size elements by going into your options (CTRL+O) and then clicking on the "UI Settings" button and then scrolling all the way down to the bottom to "UI Scale". Almost all of the elements can be magnified or reduced depending on how you like it. For healing, I almost always dial up the Fellowship/Raid vitals to make the green bars bigger.
What I have done is to lock quickslot bars #1, #2, #4 and #5 to the screen. Bar #1 is docked at the bottom. Bar #2 is placed vertically on the left side of the screen and bars #4 and #5 are on the right. I have bar #3 tied to my shift key and it has skills on it that I don’t use in combat (“Track mines”, “Return to . . .”, housing, milestones, etc.).
I also have the Palantir and Mouse Cursor Highlighter Advanced plugins installed (although I didn’t have them turned on for the turtle screenshot).
Keyboard or Mouse
One of the comments in my first article asked whether I use a keyboard or mouse. I use both. Kind of. For me, getting the right gear has been extremely helpful with regards to the way I interact with the game (and I don’t mean grinding skirms and superior third marks to get the Helegrod set). My comments about computer hardware come with the caveat that none of this stuff is cheap. If your budget won’t support extra hardware, then your play style will differ from mine.
To start, I play on a desktop computer with a full keyboard. I have discarded a factory keyboard and replaced with a Microsoft Sidewinder X6. I bought this keyboard mostly for the backlighting feature, but it’s also got 6 2-function macro keys as well as multi-media controls. You can also move the keypad from the right side to the left side based on your preference.
I have actually removed the keypad and it sits on a shelf because I use a Logitech G13 gameboard, which features 24 buttons and a directional control. To make my life easier, I have many of the controls on the main quickbar and bar #1 mapped to the buttons on the G13, as well as the ASWD directional controls. Generally speaking, I control all of my combat/DPS actions through the G13, which you can see from where the icons are placed (marked as #2 on the screenshots).
I should also mention that I started out with Razer Nostromo Gaming Keypad (back when it was the Belkin Nostromo N52te; Razer has since bought the rights to produce the device from Belkin). I switched to the G13 when I found out that there weren’t enough buttons on the Nostromo for an MMO. The Nostromo is a fine device to use for FPS games, but I like the 24 buttons on the G13, as opposed to the 16 on the Nostromo. On the down side, if you have small hands, you will find yourself reaching for some of the buttons on the G13.
Bar #2 is almost exclusively for healing. This is marked as #1 on the screenshots. The reason for me keeping all of my healing buttons on the same bar is that I use a Razer Naga mouse. In addition to being able to adjust the mouse sensitivity, it features the standard four buttons plus scroll wheel and then another 12 buttons which you can program with macros.
There are 12 spots on the quickbar and 12 buttons on the mouse. Not a coincidence, I suspect. So I have placed the healing skills I use most (Bolster Courage, Inspire Fellows, Chorus of Salvation, etc.) in the slots that are easiest for my thumb to reach. That way, when I am in healing mode, I can do so by touch and without having to use the mouse for anything other than movement.
For skills that I don’t use in my regular rotation, I put those over in the #4 and #5 quickbars on the right side of the screen (marked as #3 on the screenshots).
Quickslot Setup
If you compare the setup I use for my minstrel and my RK, you’ll notice that I try to keep similar skills in the same spots. That’s no accident. There’s a lot of muscle memory and repetitive motion that goes into the playing the game. I think that when you alt and change roles, it takes a few minutes to adjust your mindset to whatever you just started playing. For example, I’ve found that when I swap from my minstrel to my champ or hunter, for a little while, I will still be watching the group’s green bars, even though there’s nothing I can do about them and that’s not my job any more.
I try to set up the quickslots for all of my characters with the same basic format so there is as little confusion for me as possible when I alt. For example, my health and power pots are ALWAYS in the same slots, so when the poo hits the fan, I’m don’t have to think to myself, “Self, where the hell did you put the athelas?” and can just hit the button to use a green pot.
For wounds, fear, disease and poison, I use the Palantir plugin which provides a button which will activate the appropriate potion (marked as #4 on the Igash screenshot). Other plugins you can use for pots are Buff Bars and Tonic Bars.
Another setup I use is I bind the fellowship maneuver colours to a hotkey combination. That way I don’t have to try and hit a button on the screen, which can be kind of confusing if a lot is going on and my mouse cursor gets lost in the fire, lightning and other poo that drops.
This is a technique I stole from a buddy of mine. Each of the colours is marked as one of the cardinal directions, which I then bind to shift and the corresponding ASWD key.
- Red = north/Shift+W
- Green = east/Shift+D
- Yellow = south/Shift+S
- Blue = west/Shift+A
When a conjunction comes up, I wait my turn and hit the appropriate key combination. This is especially helpful in the more complicated CJs like Wings of the Windlord or Dawn on the Deep. It took some getting used to, but now it makes hitting a CJ much, much easier.
As I said before, how you set up your screen is your business. Some people don’t like clutter and others want every plugin that’s available from LOTRO Interface. Some people write macros for every possible scenario they can think of, and others just mash buttons. For me, it took a lot of trial and error to find a setup that I find playable–which I am still experimenting with, by the way–and that’s part of the fun of the game to me. It’s all about your own personal preference, because it takes different strokes to move the world.
The way I would answer the questions above are:
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Mary Ann
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Magical Mystery Tour
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Viper Mark VII (with the Cylon-vulnerable CNP upgrade removed)
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1: Mount Union Purple Raiders, 2: Ohio State Buckeyes, 3: Massillon Washington Tigers, 4: Canton McKinley Bulldogs
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The last one is actually a trick question; true Highlander fans adamantly deny that the second movie ever existed and insist that Highlander: The Final Dimension is the direct sequel to the classic 1986 movie and that Highlander: Endgame is the third film in the series.
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September 23, 2011 at 10:33 am
First off there was only one Highlander Movie. Anything else was a mass hysterical illusion and was never actually made.
Now on to the article. It’s nice to see someone else using the g13. I picked one up a while ago and am just now starting to try to set up my key bindings. I’m having a hard time getting everything I need in combat onto the key pad though and haven’t found the best solution yet but I will.
Anyway, great article and it gave me some ideas for working on my current setup.
September 23, 2011 at 11:05 am
nice article, UI set up is a bit of an obession of mine, hence all our blog articles on it!
On minor addition, many EU keyboards are slightly different and the # key is where they / key is, including both of our current keyboards, whichs means that the default to move you UI elements about is cntrl + # instead.
Keep up the good work!
September 23, 2011 at 11:12 am
Help is the best Beatle’s album (and film).
On your minstrel setup don’t you find your target assist is too far away from your raid vitals or do you just hotkey your assist target? For PvMP I often click over to my assist target to add a piercing cry interrupt on a defiler or call of second age (power permitting) if I get a random warspeech skill unlock from healing. I keep my raid assist dead center slightly above my palantir arcs.
Having the naga I prefer using all hotkeys and this just keep my hotbars docked and shrunk to be very small but to where I can still see cooldown time.
Good article. I still meet people that don’t know you can move around your UI or that the Razer Naga exists.
September 23, 2011 at 11:14 am
Beatles*
September 23, 2011 at 11:17 am
I almost never use the target assist when I’m healing; I just stand around and watch the green bars.
A trick for healing I use is to target the boss and spam the heal buttons; skill target forwarding will heal the main tank and group heals will take care of everyone else. Similarly, if I’m playing a DPS class (RK or hunter), I target the main tank or main raid assist and skill target forwarding will direct all attacks towards the group’s target.
September 23, 2011 at 12:30 pm
Very good points. Target forwarding is a must. I employ that strategy on all PvE groups where the tank will(should) be the main healing target. I was more talking about PvMP where heals are much more likely to go out to squishy minstrel/hunter/RK types getting targeted by the craid. PvMP fights generally don’t last as long as a PvE boss fight so I often have extra power to throw out some DPS before one group or the other wipes.
September 23, 2011 at 11:24 am
I’m one of the oddballs I guess, mouse wise. I use a Logitech G-5 and prior to that, a MX-518. I came to LOTRO from years of flight sims and competitive first person shooters and old habits die hard. So I clicky clicky a lot, which makes MouseCircle a must.
Other than that, this article contains a lot of wisdom. All the stuff we need to have onscreen, skills, pots, food, scrolls & hope… and for us Cappies, alternate weapons and emblems for buffing… Anything that doesn’t need to be onscreen during a fight shouldn’t be. Excellent points for thought, Vraeden!
September 23, 2011 at 11:35 am
I like that mini setup. My heals are on the main bar, and I always have trouble following everything. Binding keys 1-5 (my main healing skills) to a vertical bar will be something new, but I’m going to give it a try.
I use vertical bars on my LM for debuffing/buffing already, but those are clicked skills.
I’ll tell you what I would like. I would like a plugin that adds my minstrel to the group ui. I’m often so busy fosuing on other’s green bars that I forget about my own.
September 23, 2011 at 11:58 am
Love the article nice setup, strongly recommend the Daimon Mini 4 http://www.lotrointerface.com/downloads/info133-DaimonUI.html Really gives you a lot more screen realestate when you only have a 17 inch laptop or below. G13 is also crucial imo, would recommend anyone with laptop to get one, or else risk your laptop’s ASWD button like I did… I had a lower A button due to the excessive use… Though the mouse I use is the G700 it just looks cleaner and doesn’t stress your thumb too much and got the same amount of buttons, also it could be wireless for non-gaming usage etc.
Side question… is there a plugin, or in game thing that allows you to see target’s cast bar? I find it very hard to interrupt people when you are healing that is…
September 23, 2011 at 12:02 pm
I use Logitech G-15 keyboard and a Logitech Performance MX mouse currently, used older Logitech keyboards, they really are great. As to UI, one thing I don’t like to do is have my macros set up all over the screen, I’m more of a “central” key layout sort of guy. I’d go nuts having to look on the far left screen, then far right screen then down screen if I happened to forget a key stroke combo for a macro setting.
September 23, 2011 at 12:05 pm
Oh and Mary Ann, The White Album, Viper, don’t care about the football one and like most I like to delude myself that only the first Highlander movie was made.
September 23, 2011 at 12:38 pm
Just curious, what are you wearing on your RK? That looks sweet!
September 23, 2011 at 2:23 pm
It’s the level 25 Barrow Warrior’s armour (everything except the helmet), the Winged Circlet, cosmetic-only RK double satchel, and the Flames of the Deep cloak, all dyed black.
The Barrow Warrior’s set is probably my favourite heavy armour in the game, and I just think it’s funny to see an RK in heavy armour.
September 23, 2011 at 12:54 pm
Multiple Highlander movies? What a crazy imagination some people have, pffttt… there can be ONLY ONE!!!
September 23, 2011 at 1:33 pm
Well, there were two, but then the first one chopped up the second one with a sword…
September 23, 2011 at 1:30 pm
A couple tips I would add to the mix:
Once you have the layout the way you like it, save it so you can easily restore it should you accidentally move things later. Enter the following command into the chat window (replacing [filename] with the name of your layout):
/ui layout save [filename]
Later, you can restore the configuration using:
/ui layout load [filename]
Since I frequently switch between my laptop and desktops, I have saved a “desktop” and “laptop” layout. Since the command to load a different layout is so long, I have added alias to simplify that command. You can do this with the following command:
/alias ;[characters] [command]
In the next two examples, I use ;ll (short for Layout: Laptop) and ;ld (short for Layout: Desktop):
/alias ;ll /ui layout load laptop
/alias ;ld /ui layout load desktop
Now, when I log in to my desktop after using my laptop, I can just type ;ld into the chat window and everything will shift to the right place on my screen.
I have also created ;sd and ;sl layout to simplify saving updates to each layout…
Thanks for the great writeup!
September 23, 2011 at 1:31 pm
BTW, credit goes to Alphaman for posting the layout load and layout save tips in one of his LEAD articles a few months back.
September 23, 2011 at 7:24 pm
With the G510/G15/etc I like to macro the load ui and load plugin commands to a key so smash a bunch of macro keys when I load up and am good to go. Would be nice if layouts/plugins could be stored on lotro server so jumping to between computers wasn’t such a hassle.
September 25, 2011 at 1:05 pm
Great advice, I keep multiple UI layout saves myself. I tend to keep notes as to what each one is used for in a text file that is on my desktop shortcuts where I also keep other character notes. Lately I’ve been tweaking around the UI layout on my creep characters to better fit my usage style.
September 23, 2011 at 6:59 pm
As someone planning on rolling a serious healer for the first time once RoI drops, I find your articles extremely helpful. Although, now you’ve got me wanting a gameboard. I have a naga and love it and my laptops keyboard has been driving me crazy lately. I’ve got space issues in my gaming area so a gameboard might solve my problems.
September 23, 2011 at 9:14 pm
a gameboard is really worth investing if you have a laptop I can vouch for that. HAHA.
as to the setup G13
Ctrl is joystick up Alt is Joystick right, joystick down is shift that way all the buttons I ever need are all on the gamepad, and if I ever need to play without the pad I wouldn’t have to rechange the keycombo.
and gives you a wide variety without having to reach, all the other buttons are set toward things that you push occasionally, nostromo is better at FPS but for everything else… G13!
September 23, 2011 at 10:18 pm
Abbey Road. Definately.