Maintained Spells vs Spell Effects

[Thay]

<p><span style="font-size: small; font-family: book antiqua,palatino">Hello.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: small; font-family: book antiqua,palatino">Can anyone tell me why there is both Maintained Spells AND Spell Effects windows in the UI? I find it clutters the screen for no reason. Some effects show in one and not the other (ie from food & drink) and others show in the opposite one (ie. class specific buffs).</span></p><p><span style="font-size: small; font-family: book antiqua,palatino">If I have both windows open they show about 90% of the same info, yet if I keep one completely out of the way and invisible, I miss some data. When both are open and I am in a raid or party with tons of buffs on me the number of icons in each is huge and mostly repeated between the two windows.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: small; font-family: book antiqua,palatino">Am I the only one why doesn't understand why there isn't just one that shows everything? I am pretty new to EQ2 so maybe I am missng something? <img src="/smilies/1cfd6e2a9a2c0cf8e74b49b35e2e46c7.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></span></p>

[Kethaera]

Maintained Spells are spells YOU are casting. Your group buffs, self buffs, DOTs you've cast on mobs, and debuffs you've cast on mobs will all be here. Spell Effects are spells that others have cast on you, DOTs and debuffs mobs have cast on you, item procs, tradeskill counter effects, and many other things that effect your character, including the group and self buffs you have cast, which is why you see some things twice.

[Thay]

<cite>Kethaera wrote:</cite><blockquote>Maintained Spells are spells YOU are casting. Your group buffs, self buffs, DOTs you've cast on mobs, and debuffs you've cast on mobs will all be here. Spell Effects are spells that others have cast on you, DOTs and debuffs mobs have cast on you, item procs, tradeskill counter effects, and many other things that effect your character, including the group and self buffs you have cast, which is why you see some things twice. </blockquote><p> Thanks for the quick reply!</p><p>Yes I understand the difference between the two, I guess my real question though is why is there two? Wouldn't it just be easier to call it "All Current Effects" or something like that and just have one window?</p><p>What is the benefit of separating them?</p>

[Kethaera]

I can think of many reasons for having them separate. First and foremost, if you get in a full group of higher levels that have access to all their spells...yow, that Spell Effects window fills up fast. Having the two combined would be a nightmare for that reason only; if you needed to look and see if a certain buff was up, for instance, it would be insane trying to find it. Having a separate Maintained Spells window is invaluable to my templar, as I keep a close eye on that reactive icon so I know when to cast another one without wasting power by overwriting my previous one before it's finished. On that same line, knowing when your DOTs and debuffs are finished ticking is essential, and you don't want to be hunting through a list of 30 icons looking for one specific one when you're trying to fight. The Spell Effects one is not as important to me, but I do use it to see what kind of debuffs a mob has cast on me, or to see what particular buffs a group mate has put on me. Things that are good to know, but you don't want clogging up your more important maintained window. Like I said, there are many other reasons, and I'm sure others will have more elegant responses than me.

[Bobbubski]

I know this is an old post, but perhaps someone can speak to the cap of spell icons in the Spell Effects window.When I am in a full group w/ a dirge and templar, I seem to cap out my spell effects window.  I like to keep a watch on my tank's 30 sec haste buff so I know when it's active or not, but this particular buff seems to get pushed out beyond the last icons.  I've tried expanding the window to no avail.  Is there another way to allow more icons to be shown in this window or am I SoL?Thanks.

[Fringe]

<p>I would love to see some changes to how these windows work but I wouldn't want them combined since I like to keep my Maintained visible and my Effects on mouseover only.</p><p>1. Icon Limit needs to either be removed, raised or let us "turn off" certain icons that we don't feel necessary for viewing.</p><p>2. It would be nice if Maintained actually showed certain icons that currently only show in the Effects window. Some examples would be Spirit of the Wolf, Food and Drink. If I cast Spirit of the Wolf then it really should be in the Maintained window since it's a buff that I need to Maintain. In other words, there are icons showing in the Effects window that really should be moved to the Maintained instead.</p><p>3. No duplicates. I can't understand, especially with an icon limit, why certain icons should show in both windows. I can understand that they might technically be considered Maintained and Effects at the same time but that's not enough since All Maintained would be Effects. If an icon appears in my Maintained window then I don't need it in my Effects windows. This would make tracking both much easier.</p><p>I just woke up so I hope that all makes sense <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>