Over the past couple of months, Bioware has been releasing small portions of gameplay footage, giving the rest of the world a good idea of how TOR will play, and what it will look like towards the time of it’s release.  As far as gameplay style goes, it looks like the game will behave very similarly to most other MMO’s, combining real time combat with background dice rolls.  With the new gameplay videos out, the heads up display (or H.U.D) has also been shown, however it has not yet been broken down and explained.  In this article, I’m going to attempt to break down the H.U.D from video footage of Star Wars:  The Old Republic and explain each of its components.

So without further a due, let’s get started.

Here is a screen grab that I pulled from Bioware’s third video documentary on TOR.

As you can see, I have narrowed the H.U.D into ten distinct elements, all highlighted and numbered left to right.  As far as appearance, this H.U.D looks very similar to the one from World of Warcraft, in that it seems to contain many similar elements.

Let’s get started!

Element 1:  The Chat Box

In the top left corner of the screen resides this box, which should look fairly familiar to any seasoned MMO player.  By the looks of it, this is your standard chat box.  As of now, all that is residing in this chat box is quest data, however in most MMORPGs, the chat box is your conduit to the rest of the world.  For those players who are interested in exactly what is happening in the game, the chat box frequently comes with a function that will display all combat data, which includes damage dealt, damage received, and critical strike damage.

In addition to information, the chat box is also where one would input commands and “emotes.”  As you can see at the top of the box is the command “/quest. removeall.” By preceding certain words with a slash, the game will react in different ways.  A popular example of this demonstrated in the ability to make your character dance by typing in the command “/dance” in the chat bar.

Element 2:  The Party

Throughout many parts of any MMORPG, it is necessary to “party up” with other players in order to overcome a challenging quest.  Element 2 represents the party bar, where the members of your party are listed.  The party bar also displays some important information that is necessary to keeping track of your party’s well being.

As of now, it appears as if the party bar will include:

• The portrait of the party member
• His/her health bar (the red bar represents the player’s health)
• His/her action bar (the blue bar likely represents the capacity to perform special moves.  Different classes may have different action bars)
• His/her level
• It will most likely include any buffs or debuffs affecting the player

The party bar also works well to provide you with a quick access point for all the information about your party members.  Though it doesn’t spell out every bit of data, it gives you easy access to click on their portrait.  By clicking on their portrait, you will make them your “target” per say, and all of their data will show up in the Target Status Bar (Element 7, listed below).

Element 3:  The Target Ring

This element is very simple, if you see a red ring around the feet of of a player or NPC, you are targeting them and they are your enemy.  Often times it is good to determine your target before entering into combat.  That way you can prioritize who needs to drop first.

Whoever you are targeting will appear in the Target Status Bar (Element 7, listed below)

Now the ring will not necessarily always be red.  In this instance, because the Sith Warrior is in combat and targeting a Republic soldier, the red means enemy.  There could also be a blue (or different colored) ring around the feet of your target, which will likely signify that he/she is friendly.

Element 4:  Player Status Bar

This element shows detailed information about you, the player (or in this case, the Sith Warrior cleverly named DARTHEVIL).  During a combat situation, it is important to be continually glancing at your status to check up on your health and action points.

As of now, the known elements included in the Player Action Bar are:

• The Player’s portrait
• The Player’s health bar (represented by the red bar)
• The Player’s action bar (the yellow bar likely represents the player’s ability to perform special moves.  Different classes may have different action bars)
• The Player’s name and level (Also the [Sith] may represent clan tag)
• It is likely that it will also include any buffs or debuffs that are currently affecting the Player

Element 5:  The Experience Bar

The experience bar is another fairly self-explanatory element of the TOR H.U.D.  In essence, as you defeat enemies and complete quests, the blue bar will begin to fill with yellow from left to right.  Once the bar is completely full, the Player will advance a single level.

Traditionally in MMORPGs, quests are the most efficient and rewarding way of obtaining experience, each one giving a large boost to your experience bar.  The alternative to doing quests is defeating enemies.  When done in excess, this is referred to as “Grinding,” which, from personal experience, tends to get tedious and annoying after a little while.

My recommendation is to pick up a bunch of quests, and on the way to the quest, defeat every enemy in your path.  That way it streamlines the leveling process, which traditionally tends to get a bit tedious towards the final levels.

Element 6:  The “Spell Bar”

Here we have the “Spell Bar.”  In essence, each number is defined by the player and correlates to a number (or symbol) on the keyboard.  Inside each square lies a special attack or “Spell” that can be used, usually depleting some action points from the action bar.  In Combat, the player will rely on their “Spell Bar” to best their opponent by employing strategy in the execution of their attacks.

As you can see, the number three has a partial square drawn around it.  What this represents is a global cooldown.  A global cooldown is the default cooldown between attacks.  Because not all special moves have a pre-defined cooldown period before they can be used again, every move has to first go through a global cooldown before it can be used again.  In World of Warcraft, the global cooldown lasts about one and a half seconds.  This is put in place to prevent the spamming of attacks.

Also, on the “Spell Bar,” it will display the cooldown period necessary for each attack if previously used.  The cooldown period depends on the individual attack and can be anything from a couple of seconds to several hours.

More experienced players will utilize “hotkeys” which can be defined in the option menu.  “Hotkeys” streamline combat and make for more simple access of the harder to reach “Spells.”  Also, there may be the option to spawn more “Spell Bars” on the screen for further customization.

Element 7:  Target Status Bar

This element is very similar to the Player’s Status Bar and it contains much of the same information.  It appears that because the Sith Warrior is targeting a Republic Soldier NPC (Non-Playable Character), there is no portrait, however just the Republic insignia to show the Soldier’s allegiance.

This bar correlates directly to Element 3, the Target Ring.  Whatever player or NPC has the colored ring beneath them is the one that you are targeting, and their information will appear here.  Traditionally, you can target anyone, friend or foe, but you can only attack enemies.

As of now, the apparent elements listed in the Target Status Bar are:

• Target’s portrait (or allegiance)
• Target’s health bar (the red bar represents health)
• Target’s action bar (the blue bar likely represents the player’s ability to perform special moves.  Different classes may have different action bars)
• Target’s name and level (The [fodder] could refer to the Target’s class)
• It will likely include any buffs or debuffs affecting the Target
• The distance from the target

Element 8:  The Menu Bar

This little guy down here looks to be the Menu Bar.

Although it is difficult to make out all of the elements, my guess is that the Menu Bar will include:

• Quest Log
• “Spell Book”
• Options Menu
• Game Map
• Talent Trees (If this game uses them)
• Possibly Inventory

Though the Menu Bar doesn’t have much place in the heat of battle, it is incredibly necessary when trying to strategically build your plan of attack.  From the options menu, you can customize the hotkeys on your “Spell Bar,”  Also, from the “Spell Book,” you can drag and drop your special attacks into place on the bar.

Element 9:  The Mini Map

The Mini Map is the condensed version of the full map that shows only your immediate surroundings.  On the Mini Map, your character is displayed at the center, and any party members are displayed in their relative position.  The Mini Map can also include a number of other important bits of information such as quest locations, or positions of enemies.

It also appears like the function to zoom in and out on the map are available.

Element 10:  The Quest Tracker

The final element is where the game displays your current quest and the objectives required to complete it.  It is likely that you will be able to put more than just one quest on the bar, so that you can have an idea of your main focuses when out in the world questing.  In order to make a quest appear on the quest tracker, you must activate it from your quest log.

Conclusion

So there you have it, as of now those are all of the elements of the SWTOR H.U.D.  It is important to mention however, that although the provided H.U.D. looks to be very competent, the creation of user made interfaces is almost an inevitability.  And once the game is roughly six months in, it will be difficult to find someone using the provided interface.

Also, I found it odd that there is no visible “Inventory” aspect of the H.U.D, perhaps that has yet to be added, or the inventory will be handled in a more unconventional way.  Unfortunately there is no way of knowing until getting some hands on time, which I can’t wait to do as soon as possible!

What do you think about the new H.U.D?  Do you like it?  Could it use improvement?

Let us know, leave a comment.