User:Ogreinside/HealingSetup

=Overview= Update: Must see video guide: WoWinsider

I've had people ask me how my healing setup is, so I wanted to document it here in hopes that it might help someone. Note that none of these are needed for healing, a good healer can use the default unitframes. The mods listed here help streamline the interface to make healing efficient. All they do is rearrange the information already there so you can react quicker. For example, do I really care if someone has a disease, if I can only cure poisons/curses? Most of the time, no. But it might be helpful in some cases.

=Unitframes= As healers, we really are just playing wack-a-mole on unitframes. I like to think of it as DPSing your friends in the opposite direction. No matter  how you look at it, the majority of your healing will be done using unitframes. You see everyone's health, and cast heals on the unitframe that needs it the most. I'll talk about my experiences and my setup here.

History
I've tried a few unitframe mods. Mostly because I like to rearrange my interface, and scale the frames to my desire. For a while I really liked ag_Unitframes. It is clean and simple, and offers a good selection of tweaking. However, I had to use CT_Mod/CT_Raid for raid frames. Sure you can open the default raid frames and pull out groups, but again, I like to tweak stuff.

I had heard that Grid was an excellent unitframe mod before. I tried it but kept getting lua errors just trying to set it up, and the configuration seemed frustrating.

So I switched to X-perl unitframes because it also does raid frames, and has a lot of nice features. It can do things like fade a unitframe if they are out of range, make only your castable/curable buffs show up as icons, and many other nice things.

However, recently I decided to give Grid another shot. Mainly because I read a post on the WoW forums asking how people healed through the Frost Blasts on Kel'Thuzad encounter. This is a critical debuff that can kill anybody it hits, so they need to be healed fast. Deadly Boss Mods announces who was hit, but trying to match a name to a unitframe takes way too long, especially in a 25 man raid. Also, Frost Blast hits anybody in close range to the original target, and those additional targets are not announced. People kept mentioning Grid was a perfect fit for displaying this debuff.

Why Grid
Anyway, Grid is by far the best unitframe mod I've ever used. It is slightly harder than average to setup, but once you understand the basic configuration layout, it really isn't that bad.

So why use Grid?


 * Manage entire raid frames in one window
 * Lightweight and efficient
 * Display only the buffs/debuffs you care about, anywhere on the unitframe

For starters, it takes up much less space than other unitframe mods. Using the default layout, you can display a 40-man raid in about the same amount of space that the default party frames take up. Sure, you could probably scale frames like X-perl to be little squares to look like Grid, but Grid lets you manage the entire raid as one window. With X-perl, for example, you have to manually arrange each group as you like (and CT_unitframes as far as I remember, not to mention the default raid frames).

Grid is also very lightweight. With 16 Grid plugins, Grid still takes up less than 1MB of memory. The configuration, while at first may seem daunting, is actually very straight forward and efficient. No fancy configuration window that hogs up resources, just the straight options you need.

You can display only the specific buffs/debuffs (auras in Grid speak) you care about. Every aura you need is probably available either in Grid, or a Grid plugin. Don't see what you want? You can add anything with a text entry box.

Many additional Grid plugin are available to augment Grid. For example, GridIndicatorText3 adds a 3rd text box to each frame, and GridManaBars shows mana/rage/energy bars.

Grid Configuration
Ok, now that I've convinced you to use Grid, how do you set it up?

Start off by downloading Grid. As I mentioned, there are many other Grid plugins, but just start with the basic Grid for now. Disable any other unitframes for now.

OPTIONAL: I also recommend using Addon Control Panel. This mod lets you load/unload mods without logging out/in. I also use it's set feature to have a set of mods loaded for different situations like "raiding," "auctioning," "leveling" and so forth.

You should see a very small and basic frame with your name in it as such:

First thing you notice (depending on your resolution) is that it seems very small. Also, only a few characters of your name are displayed. These are easy enough to change.

Open the Grid configuration menu. If you use Fubar, it will automatically appear as a menu item. Here is the Fubar menu:

Or you can just open the config menu:

Ok, from now on I'll just list the menu items to manipulate. There really are only the three main options you see.
 * Frame Configures options related to the unitframes. Positions of icons, text, size, etc
 * Layout This determines how the frames are presented, including options for 5-man, 25-man, 40-man, BGs, etc
 * Status This is where you can fine tweak, enable/disable, and generaly manipulate all of the various buffs, debuffs, and other auras.


 * Grid > Frame and adjust the Center Text Length to something appropriate. I use 10.


 * Grid > Frame > Advanced here I recommend enabling Enable Center Text 2 indicator. This alows an additional text field under your name.  You can configure what to display here in Grid > Frame > Center Text 2.


 * Also in Grid > Frame > Advanced set the Frame Height and Frame Width to your liking. I use a height of 50 and width of 60.


 * By default, Grid shows health decrease top to bottom like this:

If you want to change the bars so your health moves right to left like normal unitframes, go to Grid > Frame > Advanced at the very bottom here you can change the orientation of the frame. I have found the default orientation is very nice. It's like a cup draining downwards.

Now that the basic frame is how you like it, you want to start playing around with indicators. By default, the lower left corner shows an indicator icon when there is an incoming heal on that unit, and the Text field changes from your name to a guess as to the amount of healing incoming:

Pretty cool. You can move this indicator to any side you want. Top Left, Top Right, Bottom Left, Bottom Right, and so on. Simply go to Grid > Frame >  and select whatever indicator you would like to show up. As a Druid, I show my Rejuvination in one corner, Regrown in another, Wild Growth in yet another, etc.

I also configure Center Icon to show debuffs that I can cure, Poison/Curse as a Druid. Another good one is Grid > Frame > Border. By default, it has Low Health Warning selected. This is a little misleading, it basically activates when their health goes down, not when it is low health. It is nice though, because as soon as someone loses health, the border flashes a different color.

Play around with the settings and cast spells on yourself to see what you like. When you have a good feel for the basics of setup, feel free to isntall some additional Grid plugins. Here are the ones I use:

I highly recommend GridIndicatorText3 which allows a 3rd text field. I use both Text2 and Text3 to display things like AFK, Offline, Dead, Ghost, Feign Death, ReadyCheck, etc.

Once you install some of these plugins, all indicators (corners, sides) will have options for whatever that plugin provided.

Here is what my Grid frame looks like with all plugins:

This is what it looks like when mana is used:

Here is a 25-man layout with pets:

=Macros=

=Druid Specific= The only additional mod I would recommend is Lifebloomer. It is basically another unitframe mod, but has a unique way of displaying and tracking your HoTs. You can see via a decreasing bar exactly how long until your HoT is finished. I use this to track the main tanks, and for fights like Patchwerk where only healing tanks is priority, this mod is superior to any other unitframes. I am slowly trying to rely on Grid more for this, but the HoT bars really make this mod helpful.

=Stats= Recount WWS