The full addon details can be found here: http://www.upyursh.com/user-interface

My Buffs are always off the the right, and are generally pretty small as I rarely need to track a buff during a raid.

My Debuffs on the other hand are critical in many boss encounters

One of the recent examples of this is during Lord Jaraxxus, where there are two debuffs being thrown around but they require completely different responses from the raider. This is in fact what has inspired this post, we have many melee making similar mistakes but for some reason kitties used to do it a bit in our first raids (I’m looking at tourn,boom,kat & johnie ). On this fight the issue is Incinerate Flesh vs Legion Flame. Now DBM marks up peeps however we have seen marks drop off quickly for various reasons leaving nothing but your debuff frames to help you know what to do. If you have Legion Flame and you dont move, you really screw over people near you (obviously a bigger prob for melee). If you have Incinerate Flesh and move you risk going out of range of heals and either dying or even worse not dying and due to range the debuff isnt healed off causing massive raid wide damage for healers to pickup.

So enter Satrina Buff Frames, now I know their are plenty out there but this is my choice and it’s my blog so

Install the addon found here: http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/satrina-buff-frame.aspx

In game type /sbf config and the following panel will open and by default you will have 2 frames. “Buffs” and “Debuffs”

Buffs

Lets start with buffs, generally these are a lot less important so I move these off the the side of the window

Current Frame: Buffs

General

• Frame Unit: player (we’ll look at how this can be useful later)
• Show buffs: ticked
• Blacklist: ticked

These should all be defaults so no big changes here

Layout

Ok we can set our scale to be something nicer on the screen realestate, I set to 0.7
This is also where you can set the direction of your frame and a number of different options.

If I set the Number of buffs to 40 for example you can see that it now has 2 columns, to avoid this drag the Buffs per collumn to one and the new max will be 30. Set it to that to create 1 long vertical buff frame.

Timers

Set your font as you like and I like to also set an outline, I also like to enable “Color debuff timer by type”

Counts

I set my font to 13, select my font and outline

Bars & Names

I dont use Buff Bars and Names, don’t really see the point.

Ok that should be our buffs done.

Debuffs

It’s important that these are central to your vision so you optimise your awareness. I put mine just above you unit frames (which are bottom of the screen).

Current Frame: Debuffs

General

• Frame Unit: player (we’ll look at how this can be useful later)
• Show debuffs: ticked
• Blacklist: ticked

These should all be defaults so no big changes here again

Layout

Scale is important you need these debuffs to be clear. I set mine to 1.5

Ok now for some smarts, click the “Rows” checkbox and your frame should now be vertical. I also set my number of buffs to 12 (cant imagine a fight where you would have more than that).

Now you can also set where the buffs will grow from. I slide the Buff Growth to the middle so my first first will land there, then progressively get wider as I get more.

Timers

Set your font as you like and I like to also set an outline, I also like to enable “Color debuff timer by type”. Because of where I am I set the timer

position to 0,16 (default is 0,-15)
I also click N/A for Auras

Counts

I set my font to 13, select my font and outline

Bars & Names

I dont use Buff Bars and Names, don’t really see the point.

I think I’m getting much happier with the UI overall here it is;

Key things I have done;

1. Removed the NEED TO KNOW stuff in my LDB and moved it into the LitePanel layout (time,fps,ms,mem,durability) I have built
2. Hidden ChocolateBar in combat
3. Moved DXE around so, main panel now centered, short timers above my grid, long timers to the right, warning in the middle
4. Changed my auras/buffs to be a single column down the right hand side
5. Got GridAlert and dropped Decursive. I’m still going to see how this goes in a fight like Yogg but I’m happy with it so far
6. Got into the oRA2 lua and modified the size of the Tank Frames (I will be posting a quick guide on these changes later)
7. Used coelnameplate (although I find it hard to read sometimes but ill see how it goes)
8. Move target/focus cast bars to be more obvious (right under my own cast bar)

I will also move the tank/cooldown windows to either side of the the DXE panel (as shown by arrows in the screenshot). Also the Skada window is there for some reason, normally that is closed or on the right where there is more space.

So yeah I am pretty happy with the end result, the larger and ‘bunched’ indicators presented the information I needed quickly and easily without needing to take my eyes off of my unit frames while healing. I found my response time to incoming damage was much better so that’s good.

Firstly I found the following grid addons: GridIndicatorCornerPlus, GridStatusRole, GridStatusSanity.

GridIndicatorCornerPlus basically provides you with 3 extra indicators around your current corner indicators, effectively giving you 4 indicators per corner.

GridStatusRole shows you whether someone is a healer, tank, dps etc. Especially useful to know quickly who priorities are etc.

GridStatusSanity is for yogg, can set an icon to show when someone is below a set about of sanity

Secondly I have set my colors back to the default (highlighted color = health loss not the other way around as in my other screens) so that I should be able to see my indicators more clearly.

I also set my Unit Name color to class and set the Healing Bar as non class color, so the grid will be grey.

Now I really wanted a single row of indicators that I could quickly see which hots were applied, soooo I came up with the following;

Note the 4 largish indicators (I increased the size) I have placed my most commonly active indicators on the normal left/right, being LB and Rejuv. Then using the Corner Plus options I added my other two that I want to monitor.

I think added my LB Duration to my top left. Considering I am generally focussing on tanks this should server my purpose

I have also added my mana bar to the right and made it vertical, not sure if i’ll like this or not but we’ll see.

The bright border is the GridStatusRole

What do you think?

It is an Ace addon so you will need to grab it from curse;
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/deus-vox-encounters.aspx

The following is how my raiding ui looks like with DXE enabled.

As you can see DXE utilises timers/bars/alerts but it is really impressive the way they have been implemented. Some of the key features include;

• Automated: Activation, starting, and stopping of encounters is automatic
• Flexible alert system:
  • Customizable timer bars
    • Color
    • Texture
    • Font
    • Width
    • Spell icons
    • And more…!
  • Customizable full screen flashes
    • Duration
    • Transparency
    • Oscillations
    • Color
  • Customizable sounds: Packaged with 11 distinct ones
  • All alerts can be adjusted for all encounters
• Raid Icons: Marking on important events with an icon of your choosing
• 3D Arrow: Directional arrows tells you where to go on important events
  • Two types:
    • Away: Directs you to run from a player or a location
    • Toward: Directs you to run to a player or a location
  • Ability to play a sound when shown
  • Displays your distance, to a player or location, in game yards
• Encounter Pane
  • Boss health tracking gives you more awareness of fights
  • Engage timer tells you how long you’ve been fighting
  • Shortcut buttons provides easier access to common commands
  • Conditions to show the pane only when you want to
• Version Check: View addon and encounter versions of raid members
• Distribution System: Allows you to send encounters to the raid or individual players
• Profile System: Switch settings between your characters
• Modular Design: Encounters are loaded in appropriate zones

I pretty much used DXE out of the box, moved a couple of bars around and was ready to go BUT if you wanted to take the time you could configure not only the general settings like how your bars look etc but also for each encounter which notices/warning/timers are important to you. This could be especially useful if you have a specific ability/task for a fight (interupts on General for example).

A: Encounter Panel

The encounter panel provides enounter/boss timers as well as providing health of mobs. It even worked properly in Beasts (unlike DBM for me). This is also where you can quickly ‘unlock’ various anchors to move your windows around.

B: Long Timers

These are your ‘long’ timers (for lack of a better word), things that are upcoming but you dont need to know immediately.

C: Short Timers

These are your ‘short’ timers, providing information about things that you need to know about in the next few seconds.

D: Movement Arrow

I love this feature, as an example, somebody next to you has gravity bomb it will tell you the direction you should be moving away/to! Definately has a lot of potential to prevent tard moments (which we all have).

What You Cant See

Proximity Pane

which is the equivilent to /range and shows you people who are within a set distance in game yards can be seen below.

Only thing I dont like about this is that the range is set at the profile level rather than the encounter level. I will be posting a comment on the wowace forum about that

Sounds

The sounds take a little bit of getting used to but I personally found them to be more informative (not the same sound for EVERY boss ability etc.

Other Options

DXE also provides a means of blocking other boss mod warnings and also raid warnings etc etc which is a nice thing to have.

Community/Support/Development

The developer is a hardcore raider (his own words) but he seems to be very active in getting encounters sorted as well as is very open to ideas and suggestions from the community.

Summary

In summary I am impressed with the thought and effort put into this and will be sticking with this one until I am given a descent reason to not. I will also be encouraging other raiders to try it too, especially those who consistantly run the wrong direction haha

Go to your WTF\Account\accountname\SavedVariables folder and look for DoTimer.lua and replace it with the following file; DoTimer.lua

Enter Skada found here: http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info12499-SkadaDamageMeter.html

It takes a little getting used to and switching to healing cant be done by selecting a mode (cause it’s not listed for some reason) but their are some really cool features.

• Enemy Damage Taken mode allows you to quickly see who’s on the assigned targets. An excellent example of when this could be useful is Snobolds in TOC

• Fight Segments – ever been half way through trash and wanted to check out the dps/heals for the last boss fight? Well Skada has you covered there too, each fight is automatically split into segments so you can review individual fights!
• Memory – I have been very impressed with the levels of memory being used so far but I will give it a more thorough going over in tonights raid

My main issues come down to the following key things;

1. Lack of Flexability – I find most addons to be restrictive, this is primarily due to the very nature of addons needing to be ‘coded’. The inability to add additional information makes them hard for me to use.
2. Addon Requirements – Some require that more than myself need the addon, even the whole raid in some circumstances.

I have tried several including; Heal Organiser, Healing Groups Sucks & Getting Things healed

In the end I have gone down the path of creating macros for all my assigns. Now some of the fight (especially in Ulduar+) have multiple phases that require complex assigns. Enter MacroBroker, this allows you to create an unlimited (i think) number of macros that are then able to be registered with a Data Broker. For my Assigns I decided to user Carousel (which I have talked about here)

So I setup my assigns in a template using a series of Place Holders for the different tanks and healers that may make up a raid.

The following is an example of my template for Yoggy where our healer channel is 5;

/5 — YOGG
/5 Phase 1
/5 – Standing with Ranged
/5 Tanks – TANKH2
/5 Raid – HOTS1
/5 – Standing with Melee
/5 Tanks – TANKH1
/5 Raid – RAID1,RAID2

/5 Phase 2
/5 RAID1 going into portals, HOT1(backup) – PORTAL (6)
/raid RAID1 going into portal, HOT1(backup) – PORTAL (6)
/5 Stand on marked range from now on!
/5 Raid (focus) – RAID2,HOT2
/5 Dispells (focus) – All Else

/5 Phase 3
/5 – Face away from boss
/5 TANK1- TANKH1
/5 TANK2 – TANKH2
/5 TANK3 – PRIEST1
/5 Raid – RAID1,RAID2,HOTS1
/5 All Should Be Dispelling As Needed!

Basically ever fight will be defined like this, then based on the raid invites I will open the MacroBroker.lua in the SavedVariables folder and do a Replace All for the placeholders.

Then when I login all my assigns are setup and ready to click before the fights

Limitations and Annoyances;

1. Complex assigns mean that the text going into the channel can be throttled by wow, this means you will get a chunk of text and then a few seconds later the rest, not a biggy.
2. Multiple Phases can be annoying in terms of having to scroll up to get Phase 1 assigns etc.

So let me know how you do it

Obviously core component is Grid, which has been specifically designed to be extendable via addon modules so here is the list of my current addon modules for Grid

• Grid_QuickHealth (need QuickHealth library too) – this looks directly at combat logs to get quicker updates of damage and heals.
• GridAutoFrameSize – this will update your grid layout based on the size of your raid/group
• GridIndicatorCornerIcons – allow adding status etc to corner icons
• GridManaBars – adds mana bars to Grid… nice and easy
• GridStatusHots – view Hots as status
• GridStatusMissingBuffs – you can configure this to your liking but it will show you who is missing your buffs (need to select in grid config)
• GridStatusMTs – shows your tank numbers (from oRA2) to your grid window
• GridStatusRaidDebuff – this is a must, contains Naxx/Uld/Col Debuffs (which can be selected too)
• GridStatusRaidIcons – this will add Raid Icons to grid so you can see who’s marked as nipple

Now if you happen to like my Grid configuration you can copy the following into your grid config file here:
{WOW}\WTF\Account\{NAME}\SavedVariables\grid.lua

GridDB = {
["namespaces"] = {
["GridAutoFrameSize"] = {
["profiles"] = {
["Default"] = {
["forcePets"] = true,
["lastLayout"] = “By Group 5 w/Pets”,
},
},
},
["GridFrame"] = {
["profiles"] = {
["Default"] = {
["iconSize"] = 18,
["textlength"] = 6,
["frameHeight"] = 30,
["enableText2"] = true,
["font"] = “BigNoodleTitling”,
["statusmap"] = {
["cornertextbottomright"] = {
},
["icontop"] = {
["alert_raidicons_player"] = true,
},
["iconleft"] = {
["alert_mt"] = true,
},
["border"] = {
["ready_check"] = true,
["unit_name"] = false,
["alert_raidicons_player"] = true,
["alert_aggro"] = true,
},
["iconBLcornerleft"] = {
},
["iconbottom"] = {
["alert_raidicons_player"] = false,
},
["cornertextbottomleft"] = {
},
["iconBRcornerleft"] = {
},
["iconTRcornerright"] = {
},
["iconBLcornerright"] = {
},
["cornertexttopright"] = {
},
["iconTRcornerleft"] = {
},
["text2"] = {
["unit_friendlyname"] = false,
["alert_heals"] = true,
["ready_check"] = true,
["unit_healthDeficit"] = true,
["alert_raidicons_player"] = false,
},
["cornertexttopleft"] = {
},
["iconBRcornerright"] = {
},
["manabar"] = {
["unit_mana"] = true,
},
["text"] = {
["alert_offline"] = false,
["unit_friendlyname"] = true,
["alert_heals"] = false,
["alert_feignDeath"] = false,
["unit_healthDeficit"] = false,
["alert_raidicons_player"] = false,
["alert_death"] = false,
["debuff_Ghost"] = false,
},
["iconTLcornerright"] = {
},
["iconTLcornerleft"] = {
},
["iconright"] = {
["alert_raidicons_player"] = false,
},
["corner1"] = {
["alert_lifebl_stack"] = false,
["alert_lifebl"] = false,
["alert_rejuv"] = true,
},
["icon"] = {
["debuff_Ghost"] = true,
["debuff_disease"] = false,
["alert_RaidDebuff"] = true,
["alert_raidicons_playertarget"] = false,
["alert_raidicons_player"] = false,
["buffGroup_MarkoftheWild"] = true,
["buffGroup_GiftoftheWild"] = true,
["debuff_magic"] = false,
},
["corner2"] = {
["alert_lifebl"] = false,
["alert_lifebl_stack"] = true,
},
["corner3"] = {
["debuff_curse"] = false,
["alert_wgrowth"] = false,
["debuff_disease"] = false,
["debuff_poison"] = false,
["alert_regrow"] = true,
["debuff_magic"] = false,
},
},
["frameWidth"] = 31,
["invertBarColor"] = true,
},
},
},
["GridRoster"] = {
["profiles"] = {
["Default"] = {
["party_state"] = “party”,
},
},
},
["GridStatusMissingBuffs"] = {
["profiles"] = {
["Default"] = {
["buffGroup_GiftoftheWild"] = {
["classFilter"] = {
},
["combat"] = false,
["enable"] = true,
["text"] = “Gift of the Wild”,
["range"] = false,
["desc"] = “Buff Group: Gift of the Wild”,
["yourClassFilter"] = {
},
["priority"] = 90,
["onraid"] = true,
["offline"] = false,
["color"] = {
["a"] = 1,
["r"] = 0.0196078431372549,
["g"] = 1,
["b"] = 0,
},
["buffs"] = {
["GiftoftheWild"] = “Gift of the Wild”,
},
["icon"] = “GiftoftheWild”,
["dead"] = false,
},
["dbVersion"] = 1,
["buffGroup_MarkoftheWild"] = {
["combat"] = true,
},
},
},
},
["GridStatusRaidDebuff"] = {
["profiles"] = {
["Default"] = {
["debuff_list"] = {
["Ulduar"] = {
[62680] = {
["enable"] = false,
},
},
},
["debuff_option"] = {
["Zul'Aman"] = {
},
["Serpentshrine Cavern"] = {
},
["Hyjal Summit"] = {
},
["The Obsidian Sanctum"] = {
},
["Karazhan"] = {
},
["The Eye of Eternity"] = {
},
["Black Temple"] = {
},
["Ulduar"] = {
[63042] = true,
[63050] = true,
},
["Trial of the Crusader"] = {
[67176] = true,
[67223] = true,
},
["Naxxramas"] = {
[28084] = true,
[29310] = true,
[28059] = true,
[27819] = true,
},
["Sunwell Plateau"] = {
},
["Tempest Keep"] = {
},
},
},
},
},
["GridMBFrame"] = {
["profiles"] = {
["Default"] = {
["side"] = “Bottom”,
["size"] = 0.15,
},
},
},
["GridStatusRange"] = {
["profiles"] = {
["Default"] = {
["alert_range_36"] = {
["enable"] = false,
["text"] = “36 yards”,
["color"] = {
["a"] = 0.3454545454545455,
["r"] = 0.36,
["g"] = 0.72,
["b"] = 0.08,
},
["priority"] = 83,
["range"] = false,
["desc"] = “More than 36 yards away”,
},
["alert_range_38"] = {
["enable"] = false,
["text"] = “38 yards”,
["color"] = {
["a"] = 0.3090909090909091,
["r"] = 0.38,
["g"] = 0.76,
["b"] = 0.14,
},
["priority"] = 84,
["range"] = false,
["desc"] = “More than 38 yards away”,
},
["alert_range_25"] = {
["enable"] = true,
["text"] = “25 yards”,
["color"] = {
["a"] = 0.5454545454545454,
["r"] = 0.25,
["g"] = 0.5,
["b"] = 0.75,
},
["priority"] = 82,
["range"] = false,
["desc"] = “More than 25 yards away”,
},
["alert_range_40"] = {
["enable"] = true,
["text"] = “40 yards”,
["color"] = {
["a"] = 0.2727272727272727,
["r"] = 0.4,
["g"] = 0.8,
["b"] = 0.2,
},
["priority"] = 84,
["range"] = false,
["desc"] = “More than 40 yards away”,
},
["alert_range_28"] = {
["enable"] = false,
["text"] = “28 yards”,
["color"] = {
["a"] = 0.490909090909091,
["r"] = 0.28,
["g"] = 0.5600000000000001,
["b"] = 0.84,
},
["priority"] = 83,
["range"] = false,
["desc"] = “More than 28 yards away”,
},
["alert_range_30"] = {
["enable"] = false,
["text"] = “30 yards”,
["color"] = {
["a"] = 0.4545454545454546,
["r"] = 0.3,
["g"] = 0.6,
["b"] = 0.9,
},
["priority"] = 83,
["range"] = false,
["desc"] = “More than 30 yards away”,
},
["alert_range_10"] = {
["enable"] = false,
["text"] = “10 yards”,
["color"] = {
["a"] = 0.8181818181818181,
["r"] = 0.1,
["g"] = 0.2,
["b"] = 0.3,
},
["priority"] = 81,
["range"] = false,
["desc"] = “More than 10 yards away”,
},
["alert_range_100"] = {
["enable"] = false,
["text"] = “100 yards”,
["color"] = {
["a"] = 0.1090909090909091,
["r"] = 0,
["g"] = 0,
["b"] = 0,
},
["priority"] = 90,
["range"] = false,
["desc"] = “More than 100 yards away”,
},
},
},
},
["GridStatus"] = {
["profiles"] = {
["Default"] = {
["colors"] = {
["ROGUE"] = {
["r"] = 1,
["g"] = 0.96,
["b"] = 0.41,
},
["MAGE"] = {
["r"] = 0.41,
["g"] = 0.8,
["b"] = 0.94,
},
["DRUID"] = {
["r"] = 1,
["g"] = 0.49,
["b"] = 0.04,
},
["DEATHKNIGHT"] = {
["r"] = 0.77,
["g"] = 0.12,
["b"] = 0.23,
},
["PRIEST"] = {
["r"] = 1,
["g"] = 1,
["b"] = 1,
},
["WARLOCK"] = {
["r"] = 0.58,
["g"] = 0.51,
["b"] = 0.79,
},
["HUNTER"] = {
["r"] = 0.67,
["g"] = 0.83,
["b"] = 0.45,
},
["WARRIOR"] = {
["r"] = 0.78,
["g"] = 0.61,
["b"] = 0.43,
},
["PALADIN"] = {
["r"] = 0.96,
["g"] = 0.55,
["b"] = 0.73,
},
["SHAMAN"] = {
["r"] = 0.14,
["g"] = 0.35,
["b"] = 1,
},
},
},
},
},
["GridStatusMTs"] = {
["profiles"] = {
["Default"] = {
["alert_mt"] = {
["priority"] = 99,
},
},
},
},
["GridStatusRaidIcons"] = {
["profiles"] = {
["Default"] = {
["alert_raidicons_player"] = {
["priority"] = 99,
},
},
},
},
["GridLayout"] = {
["profiles"] = {
["Default"] = {
["hideTab"] = true,
["anchorRel"] = “TOPLEFT”,
["BorderB"] = 0,
["layouts"] = {
["heroic_raid"] = “By Group 25 w/Pets”,
["raid"] = “By Group 25 w/Pets”,
},
["BackgroundR"] = 0.1019607843137255,
["BorderA"] = 0,
["BorderR"] = 0,
["PosX"] = 290.5600879403149,
["BackgroundG"] = 0.1019607843137255,
["PosY"] = -302.238137059467,
["layout"] = “By Group 5 w/Pets”,
["BackgroundA"] = 0.06999999284744263,
["BorderG"] = 0,
["horizontal"] = true,
["BackgroundB"] = 0.1019607843137255,
["borderTexture"] = “RothSquare”,
},
},
},
["GridStatusName"] = {
["profiles"] = {
["Default"] = {
["unit_name"] = {
["class"] = false,
},
},
},
},
},
["profiles"] = {
["Default"] = {
["detachedTooltip"] = {
["fontSizePercent"] = 1,
},
},
},
}