7.26.2007

Addons

I think I'm going to do as Ego and make a certain day(s) blogging days. Before was just general spew that came to my mind, now I'm looking towards planning out my posts.

So I'll make it a point to update at least every Wednesday, with a quip on Fridays/Saturdays if work allows.

I've had lots of work lately + parents = blog in the dust. Not a good thing. I like this blog. /pat


So what I'm going to talk about today is simple. The Blizzard UI for WoW is great, but I like having just a bit more versatility and customization with a game I spend butt tons of time on. Initially I was a CosmosUI type gal, but I was getting bored with the general look. I wanted something with a bit more shiny to it. Plus, since I was starting to heal, the basic crap I was supposed to have (What's DeCursive?) was hard to find updated for BC.

Ow.... sunburn. I haz one.

Anywho! A few experiments later, and we have this as my current healing set up. If you want some more action shots, then look no further than here and here.

But let me break them down for you.

Bartender3
This addon lets me put my actions bars where ever I want. This was cool because I was feeling all caged in with Blizz's default layout. It also gives me the chance to hide bars I don't feel the need to see, or make bars only visible on mouse over, etc. It's pretty nifty. It's what lets me have all my buttons in the middle.
I know, not really all that conducive to healing, but I like not having to click on my heals. My mouse is already clicking on my target, that's a precious second or two for a heal if I'm clicking all over the place.

FluidFrames

This is the addon I currently use to move things like my toon's picture/info around as well as other frames in the game. It's a bit buggy, so if you've got something better, then have at it.

SmartBuff/SmartDebuff


Welcome to the meat and potatoes of my healing!
I love this addon.
The little frame you see there is what I use to heal. It shows me who I need to heal when and it even clues me in to how much mana the mana users are down.
I don't need to click on anyone's toon, click once to target someone or just right click on someone's box and it casts Renew (if you're a druid, it's Rejuv). It Right Click casts whatever HoT your toon is capable of. Which is pretty sweet. If I don't want to stop targeting the tank, but the rogue/druid/whoever needs a quick HoT, right click and forget.
It's awesome.



The picture above is the SmartDebuff frame. When something Debuff's someone in the raid and it's either a Magic or a Disease, then SD lights up the persons box with either a red R (for Alt+Rightclick to Dispel) or a blue L(for Alt+Leftclick to Abolish Disease). Again, I don't need to stop targeting the tank to dispel another party member, which makes this very sweet. And you can also turn on/off the class colors. I think I took these pics at two different times Oo.

Smart Buff is kinda fun too. I like it because it gives me a sound and visual reminder that my Fort or DS or Inner Fire is almost up, time to rebuff. And it'll use my middle mouse button wheel to cast the buffs, on me and depending on the setting, anyone in my party too. So yea, pretty useful.

The only draw back I have with SB/SD is this: I don't know what the debuff is or how many different debuffs are on a target. So if your Lock friend Casts Unstable Affliction on the mob, who then reflects it back at them, they better HOLLAR! Because I'll dispel it right quick, and now they're silenced for however long it lasts. -.-

Yea, it's not game breaking, but it is annoying.

Also, keep in mind the examples I put up are custom to me. You can customize it for your own game play. Don't like clicking on someone's box to target them? Then you can turn it off. But that means a Left Click on a box is now your HoT.

Natur EnemyCastBar





Also a very useful addon. This lets me know exactly when I need to reapply my HoTs (and gives the added bonus of letting me know when Inspiration goes away ^.^). Not only does it show your spells, but also anyone near by. Yes, I said nearby. Sometimes, it can be annoying, but generally it isn't. (Middle of Shat and I see the creation bar for 50 million bandages... time to fly!)

In Kara, it's really nice to know when the trash mobs are going to respawn on your heads, so I'd say this is practically a must have. ^.^

MendWatch


This one is new and ZOMG I hearts! Finally something that lets me know where the Frisbee is! It's awesome. You must have as a lvl 70 priest.
No.
Don't argue.
:P
Get it. Seriously though, while I love the sound and the fact that it's visibly bouncing back and forth between people, sometimes you lose track of it, don't know if it's expired in the heat of battle. And it def helps in keeping you mana efficient! Why recast PoM on your tank if they just got it back?

Why haven't you DL'd it yet?!

KLH ThreatMeter
Kitty's Wowinsider article mentions why KLH is great for hunters. Here's why you should have it:
If you see red anywhere near the top of that list, please remember, FADE IS YOUR FRIEND! ^.^ Hell, Fade should be knockin' boots with your fingers every 30 seconds in a massive fight.
But it's always good to know where you are in threat and also it gives you an idea of who might need the next major heal if someone is shooting beyond the tanks.


So, that's what I use.

Sorry if this isn't way indepth, but I figured if you wanted that, you can read the Curse gaming schpeel. ^.^

Toodles for now!

7 comments:

Mera said...

I know a paladin who also loves addons - she uses Healbot, which works on a similair 'mouseover + left click = flash heal; mousover + right click = other spell' etc - she does very well out of it as she can see what other heals are incoming as well - tends be high for healing & overhealing.

Grid + Clique are also supposed to be goooood for healers.

I like Xperl tho, and i put my focus frame next to my target frame - keep MT on focus, and he is easy to find again.

Mera said...

And after looking at your screen shots - HOW MANY addons do you have to get 100 n whatever megs of memory used - mine dies when it hits 60 or so, makes me relogg.

Tami Parker said...

Mendwatch is delicious. <3

Is it just me, or does Frisbee no longer stack twice on a target? I haven't had a chance to group with another priest to test my theory out in a few weeks, thought I'd see if you knew.

Also, you get like...five billion love points for using the term "Frisbee".

Aaaaand I'm satisfied that your blog isn't gathering cobwebs, so I shall be linking to you on Ego. =] I hope you don't mind! (Sorry I didn't do it sooner, but I don't want to go link crazy - I want to make sure I only link to useful stuff. *grins* )

Doogie2K said...

I've been looking for EnemyCastBar for a while. Thanks for telling me what it was called. Also, I'll echo what Mera said about Grid + Clique. It's popular in our guild, and my Rogue friend's Holy Priest alt lives by it.

For players who aren't always cogniscent of their health/mana (*Warrior guiltily raises his own hand*), ArcHUD is also good. Shows your health/mana/cast bar, your opponent's health/cast bar, and on Hunters, it shows your pet's Health (and maybe Focus) bar in there, too. Nice and compact. Also, I use XPerl for my frames, though your mileage may vary.

Tami Parker said...

I'm currently using xperl, but I may have to change to pitbull. xperl is currently not showing me changes in PET health bars.

Not a huge deal for raiding, where I don't see pet bars anyway, but when grouping, I need them. My common companions are hunters and warlocks.

Stephi said...

@Mera - My hub uses CEasy Healer and it works for him. But he also uses SmartDeBuff for his curses/poisons, and to me that's just not good enough.

I'll check out Healbot though, I'm always looking for something new and interesting ^.^

As for Grid - I've tried it, but while it's cool to see those numbers and what not, not being able to Rclick Renew was bugging the shit out of me. I may just use it as a visual aide if I find something better than SB/SD though. And I'll definitely look at Clique, never heard of it before.

As for Xperl, meh, I might try it. Maybe. XD One a day I don't feel like doing anything but playing with addons.

And as for my usage, I let it go up to 128Megs. I have a nifty PC, my latency isn't bad at all (unless my ISP is being retarded)

@Ego
/blush
Weee! Linkage and luff points! I love the tone, info everything about your blog and happy to see that you like it here ^.^

As for the Frisbee stacking, I haven't been in a group yet with another priest, but I will def experiment! Inquiring minds need to know Oo

@Doogie

I do use ArcHUD! Zomg, I can't believe I forgot it! Hrm... This pic shows it highlighted, but I'll find a link for it and add it to the post ASAP ^.^

And I love ArcHUD on my Druid/Rogue. It's awesome for combo points and other things like how fast I'm dying/mobs dying.

It's a definite plus to my WoWing.

Doogie2K said...

I forgot about combo points! Yeah, when I played my Druid that was kind of cool. The little 3D model of your target is also neat. Seeing the spiders in Kara that big is both funky-cool and scary-creepy.

Outfitter is also handy if you play multiple roles. With two clicks (or a keypress) I can swap to tanking gear for five-mans/emergency duty, then back to DPS gear to resume face-owning.