My Tankadin UI Guide, Part 2
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV
In Part 1 of my UI guide, I talked about the frame layout and action bars. Now, I'm going to go into some of the other addons that help me assess the situation and react appropriately.
I've often compared Tanking to driving a car. You are constantly checking a hundred things at once : your speed, whose behind, in front and to the side of you, how far you are from your exit, what's on the radio, tiny, almost imperceptible corrections to keep your car between the lines, etc, etc.
It's similar with Tanking. You have to check the position of the Boss and often specific parts of the boss like a tail, the position of your raid, your threat rotation, the overall threat situation, what big nuke the boss is winding up, what your buff/debuff situation looks like, etc, etc.
Information Overload (PowerAuras)
What I need more than anything else is information. By knowing what is going on and what's coming, I can figure out what I need to do to give my raid the best chance of success.
My eyes are going to be drawn to the middle of the screen where my character is. What you see here is two different addons, SCT and PowerAuras, providing me some great at-a- glance information.
The blue text is SCT showing me that Anub'arak just missed me. If he had hit me, I'd see a number showing me how hard I was hit. This is helpful for communicating to the healers how much I'm being hit for, which can be critical information for them as we learn a boss.
The green number to the right is my incoming heals. I can see that our Priest just hit me with a 20k crit heal. Nice job, Black.
Around my toon, you can see 3 concentric circles. One is orange, one is green, and one is white with diamonds in it. These circles are the work of Power Auras.
The Orange circle is telling me that I have Divine Protection available to use. When I hit Divine Protection it goes to Red and shows a little countdown for how long I will be under Divine Protection. Then it shows another countdown for the cooldown.
The Green circle is letting me know I have Sacred Shield up. That green circle goes away when Sacred Shield falls off. This happens once a minute since I'm speced into Divine Guardian.
The white circle with the diamonds is telling me that Divine Plea has fallen off. It's basically a giant 'Hit Divine Plea, you noob!' sign.
Power Auras needs a little setup, and you guys know, I'm not into set up.
Luckily, it has an Import feature where you find a Power Auras string and import it into the mod.
Here are the Power Aura settings I use. These are courtesy of poster, Magnilda on the Maintankadin forums. Just copy the text below the title and paste into the box that comes up when you push the Import button in Power Auras.
I've included some of the ones I use. If you go to the thread you'll find many more, including some for Retribution.
One note, I had to change the texture of the Divine Plea one because it was a little too intense.
Yellow - Divine Plea not active
gcd:bofalse; soundfile:st; owntex:bofalse; b:nu0; anim1:nu4; duration:nu0; g:nu0.42352941176471; thresholdinvert:bofalse; ignoremaj:botrue; opt2:nu0; speed:nu1; stance:nu10; icon:stInterface\Icons\Spell_Holy_Aspiration; size:nu1; torsion:nu1; multiids:st; stacksOperator:st=; realaura:nu1; mine:bofalse; optunitn:bofalse; x:nu0; inverse:botrue; begin:nu0; off:bofalse; isdebuff:bofalse; textaura:bofalse; timer:bofalse; target:bofalse; combat:nu1; wowtex:bofalse; groupany:bofalse; customsound:st; timerduration:nu0; exact:bofalse; threshold:nu50; unitn:stOnly for raid/group.; bufftype:nu1; party:bofalse; aurastextfont:nu1; stacks:nu0; isenchant:bofalse; focus:bofalse; customtex:bofalse; raid:bofalse; isdebufftype:bofalse; texture:nu11; buffname:stDivine Plea; anim2:nu9; opt1:nu0; r:nu1; randomcolor:bofalse; y:nu0; alpha:nu1; aurastext:st; customname:st; texmode:nu1; symetrie:nu0; ismounted:bofalse; targetfriend:bofalse; sound:nu0; isinraid:bofalse; finish:nu1
Red Cross - Forbearance (with timer)
gcd:bofalse; soundfile:st; owntex:bofalse; b:nu0.015686274509804; anim1:nu4; duration:nu0; g:nu0; thresholdinvert:bofalse; ignoremaj:botrue; opt2:nu0; speed:nu2; finish:nu2; icon:stInterface\Icons\Spell_Holy_RemoveCurse; size:nu0.10000000149012; torsion:nu1; multiids:st; stacksOperator:st=; realaura:nu1; sound:nu0; optunitn:bofalse; off:bofalse; symetrie:nu0; begin:nu1; x:nu0; texmode:nu1; timer:botrue; customname:st; target:bofalse; timerduration:nu0; wowtex:bofalse; groupany:bofalse; customsound:st; combat:nu0; y:nu30; randomcolor:bofalse; unitn:stOnly for raid/group.; bufftype:nu2; r:nu1; aurastextfont:nu7; stacks:nu0; opt1:nu0; focus:bofalse; customtex:bofalse; raid:bofalse; isdebufftype:bofalse; texture:nu25; anim2:nu0; buffname:stForbearance; isenchant:bofalse; party:bofalse; threshold:nu50; exact:bofalse; alpha:nu1; aurastext:st; textaura:bofalse; isdebuff:bofalse; inverse:bofalse; ismounted:bofalse; targetfriend:bofalse; mine:bofalse; isinraid:bofalse; stance:nu10
Blue - Sacred Shield (cast by me)
gcd:bofalse; soundfile:st; owntex:bofalse; b:nu0.95686274509804; anim1:nu1; duration:nu0; mine:botrue; optunitn:bofalse; multiids:st; opt2:nu0; speed:nu1; finish:nu1; anim2:nu0; size:nu1.0799999237061; torsion:nu1; r:nu0.51372549019608; stacksOperator:st=; realaura:nu1; ignoremaj:botrue; y:nu5; x:nu0; symetrie:nu0; begin:nu1; off:bofalse; texmode:nu1; icon:stInterface\Icons\Ability_Paladin_BlessedMending; textaura:bofalse; target:bofalse; timerduration:nu0; wowtex:bofalse; groupany:bofalse; customsound:st; combat:nu0; inverse:bofalse; buffname:stSacred Shield; unitn:stOnly for raid/group.; bufftype:nu1; exact:bofalse; aurastextfont:nu1; stacks:nu0; threshold:nu50; focus:bofalse; isenchant:bofalse; raid:bofalse; isdebufftype:bofalse; texture:nu16; thresholdinvert:bofalse; sound:nu0; customtex:bofalse; party:bofalse; g:nu1; customname:st; alpha:nu1; aurastext:st; timer:botrue; isdebuff:bofalse; randomcolor:bofalse; ismounted:bofalse; targetfriend:bofalse; opt1:nu0; isinraid:bofalse; stance:nu10
Green - Sacred Shield
gcd:bofalse; soundfile:st; owntex:bofalse; b:nu0; anim1:nu1; duration:nu0; g:nu1; thresholdinvert:bofalse; ignoremaj:botrue; opt2:nu0; speed:nu1; stance:nu10; icon:stInterface\Icons\Ability_Paladin_BlessedMending; size:nu1.1399999856949; torsion:nu1; multiids:st; stacksOperator:st=; realaura:nu1; mine:bofalse; optunitn:bofalse; x:nu0; inverse:bofalse; begin:nu1; off:bofalse; isdebuff:bofalse; textaura:bofalse; timer:bofalse; target:bofalse; combat:nu0; wowtex:bofalse; groupany:bofalse; customsound:st; timerduration:nu0; exact:bofalse; threshold:nu50; unitn:stOnly for raid/group.; bufftype:nu1; stacks:nu0; aurastextfont:nu1; party:bofalse; customtex:bofalse; focus:bofalse; isenchant:bofalse; raid:bofalse; isdebufftype:bofalse; texture:nu16; buffname:stSacred Shield; anim2:nu0; opt1:nu0; r:nu0.62352941176471; randomcolor:bofalse; y:nu5; alpha:nu1; aurastext:st; customname:st; texmode:nu1; symetrie:nu0; ismounted:bofalse; targetfriend:bofalse; sound:nu0; isinraid:bofalse; finish:nu1
Orange - Divine Protection Available
gcd:bofalse; soundfile:st; owntex:bofalse; b:nu0.070588235294118; anim1:nu1; duration:nu0; g:nu0.41960784313725; thresholdinvert:bofalse; ignoremaj:botrue; opt2:nu0; speed:nu1; finish:nu3; icon:stInterface\Icons\Spell_Holy_Restoration; size:nu1.3799999952316; torsion:nu1; multiids:st; stacksOperator:st=; realaura:nu1; sound:nu0; optunitn:bofalse; off:bofalse; symetrie:nu0; begin:nu3; x:nu0; texmode:nu1; timer:bofalse; customname:st; target:bofalse; timerduration:nu0; wowtex:bofalse; groupany:bofalse; customsound:st; combat:nu1; y:nu0; randomcolor:bofalse; unitn:stOnly for raid/group.; bufftype:nu7; r:nu1; aurastextfont:nu1; stacks:nu0; opt1:nu31; focus:bofalse; customtex:bofalse; raid:bofalse; isdebufftype:bofalse; texture:nu16; anim2:nu0; buffname:stDivine Protection; isenchant:bofalse; party:bofalse; threshold:nu50; exact:bofalse; alpha:nu1; aurastext:stlolol; textaura:bofalse; isdebuff:bofalse; inverse:bofalse; ismounted:bofalse; targetfriend:bofalse; mine:bofalse; isinraid:bofalse; stance:nu10
Red - Divine Protection Active
gcd:bofalse; soundfile:st; owntex:bofalse; b:nu0.066666666666667; anim1:nu2; duration:nu0; g:nu0; thresholdinvert:bofalse; ignoremaj:botrue; opt2:nu0; speed:nu1; stance:nu10; icon:stInterface\Icons\Spell_Holy_Restoration; size:nu1.4599999189377; torsion:nu1; multiids:st; stacksOperator:st=; realaura:nu1; mine:bofalse; optunitn:bofalse; x:nu0; inverse:bofalse; begin:nu1; off:bofalse; isdebuff:bofalse; textaura:bofalse; timer:botrue; target:bofalse; combat:nu1; wowtex:bofalse; groupany:bofalse; customsound:st; timerduration:nu0; exact:bofalse; threshold:nu50; unitn:stOnly for raid/group.; bufftype:nu1; party:bofalse; aurastextfont:nu1; stacks:nu0; isenchant:bofalse; focus:bofalse; customtex:bofalse; raid:bofalse; isdebufftype:bofalse; texture:nu16; buffname:stDivine Protection; anim2:nu0; opt1:nu0; r:nu1; randomcolor:bofalse; y:nu0; alpha:nu1; aurastext:st; customname:st; texmode:nu1; symetrie:nu0; ismounted:bofalse; targetfriend:bofalse; sound:nu0; isinraid:bofalse; finish:nu1
Tomorrow, we'll look at the rest of the information Addons that make up my UI.
Part II
Part III
Part IV
In Part 1 of my UI guide, I talked about the frame layout and action bars. Now, I'm going to go into some of the other addons that help me assess the situation and react appropriately.
I've often compared Tanking to driving a car. You are constantly checking a hundred things at once : your speed, whose behind, in front and to the side of you, how far you are from your exit, what's on the radio, tiny, almost imperceptible corrections to keep your car between the lines, etc, etc.
It's similar with Tanking. You have to check the position of the Boss and often specific parts of the boss like a tail, the position of your raid, your threat rotation, the overall threat situation, what big nuke the boss is winding up, what your buff/debuff situation looks like, etc, etc.
Information Overload (PowerAuras)
What I need more than anything else is information. By knowing what is going on and what's coming, I can figure out what I need to do to give my raid the best chance of success.
My eyes are going to be drawn to the middle of the screen where my character is. What you see here is two different addons, SCT and PowerAuras, providing me some great at-a- glance information.The blue text is SCT showing me that Anub'arak just missed me. If he had hit me, I'd see a number showing me how hard I was hit. This is helpful for communicating to the healers how much I'm being hit for, which can be critical information for them as we learn a boss.
The green number to the right is my incoming heals. I can see that our Priest just hit me with a 20k crit heal. Nice job, Black.
Around my toon, you can see 3 concentric circles. One is orange, one is green, and one is white with diamonds in it. These circles are the work of Power Auras.
The Orange circle is telling me that I have Divine Protection available to use. When I hit Divine Protection it goes to Red and shows a little countdown for how long I will be under Divine Protection. Then it shows another countdown for the cooldown.
The Green circle is letting me know I have Sacred Shield up. That green circle goes away when Sacred Shield falls off. This happens once a minute since I'm speced into Divine Guardian.
The white circle with the diamonds is telling me that Divine Plea has fallen off. It's basically a giant 'Hit Divine Plea, you noob!' sign.
Power Auras needs a little setup, and you guys know, I'm not into set up.
Luckily, it has an Import feature where you find a Power Auras string and import it into the mod.Here are the Power Aura settings I use. These are courtesy of poster, Magnilda on the Maintankadin forums. Just copy the text below the title and paste into the box that comes up when you push the Import button in Power Auras.
I've included some of the ones I use. If you go to the thread you'll find many more, including some for Retribution.
One note, I had to change the texture of the Divine Plea one because it was a little too intense.
Yellow - Divine Plea not active
gcd:bofalse; soundfile:st; owntex:bofalse; b:nu0; anim1:nu4; duration:nu0; g:nu0.42352941176471; thresholdinvert:bofalse; ignoremaj:botrue; opt2:nu0; speed:nu1; stance:nu10; icon:stInterface\Icons\Spell_Holy_Aspiration; size:nu1; torsion:nu1; multiids:st; stacksOperator:st=; realaura:nu1; mine:bofalse; optunitn:bofalse; x:nu0; inverse:botrue; begin:nu0; off:bofalse; isdebuff:bofalse; textaura:bofalse; timer:bofalse; target:bofalse; combat:nu1; wowtex:bofalse; groupany:bofalse; customsound:st; timerduration:nu0; exact:bofalse; threshold:nu50; unitn:stOnly for raid/group.; bufftype:nu1; party:bofalse; aurastextfont:nu1; stacks:nu0; isenchant:bofalse; focus:bofalse; customtex:bofalse; raid:bofalse; isdebufftype:bofalse; texture:nu11; buffname:stDivine Plea; anim2:nu9; opt1:nu0; r:nu1; randomcolor:bofalse; y:nu0; alpha:nu1; aurastext:st; customname:st; texmode:nu1; symetrie:nu0; ismounted:bofalse; targetfriend:bofalse; sound:nu0; isinraid:bofalse; finish:nu1
Red Cross - Forbearance (with timer)
gcd:bofalse; soundfile:st; owntex:bofalse; b:nu0.015686274509804; anim1:nu4; duration:nu0; g:nu0; thresholdinvert:bofalse; ignoremaj:botrue; opt2:nu0; speed:nu2; finish:nu2; icon:stInterface\Icons\Spell_Holy_RemoveCurse; size:nu0.10000000149012; torsion:nu1; multiids:st; stacksOperator:st=; realaura:nu1; sound:nu0; optunitn:bofalse; off:bofalse; symetrie:nu0; begin:nu1; x:nu0; texmode:nu1; timer:botrue; customname:st; target:bofalse; timerduration:nu0; wowtex:bofalse; groupany:bofalse; customsound:st; combat:nu0; y:nu30; randomcolor:bofalse; unitn:stOnly for raid/group.; bufftype:nu2; r:nu1; aurastextfont:nu7; stacks:nu0; opt1:nu0; focus:bofalse; customtex:bofalse; raid:bofalse; isdebufftype:bofalse; texture:nu25; anim2:nu0; buffname:stForbearance; isenchant:bofalse; party:bofalse; threshold:nu50; exact:bofalse; alpha:nu1; aurastext:st; textaura:bofalse; isdebuff:bofalse; inverse:bofalse; ismounted:bofalse; targetfriend:bofalse; mine:bofalse; isinraid:bofalse; stance:nu10
Blue - Sacred Shield (cast by me)
gcd:bofalse; soundfile:st; owntex:bofalse; b:nu0.95686274509804; anim1:nu1; duration:nu0; mine:botrue; optunitn:bofalse; multiids:st; opt2:nu0; speed:nu1; finish:nu1; anim2:nu0; size:nu1.0799999237061; torsion:nu1; r:nu0.51372549019608; stacksOperator:st=; realaura:nu1; ignoremaj:botrue; y:nu5; x:nu0; symetrie:nu0; begin:nu1; off:bofalse; texmode:nu1; icon:stInterface\Icons\Ability_Paladin_BlessedMending; textaura:bofalse; target:bofalse; timerduration:nu0; wowtex:bofalse; groupany:bofalse; customsound:st; combat:nu0; inverse:bofalse; buffname:stSacred Shield; unitn:stOnly for raid/group.; bufftype:nu1; exact:bofalse; aurastextfont:nu1; stacks:nu0; threshold:nu50; focus:bofalse; isenchant:bofalse; raid:bofalse; isdebufftype:bofalse; texture:nu16; thresholdinvert:bofalse; sound:nu0; customtex:bofalse; party:bofalse; g:nu1; customname:st; alpha:nu1; aurastext:st; timer:botrue; isdebuff:bofalse; randomcolor:bofalse; ismounted:bofalse; targetfriend:bofalse; opt1:nu0; isinraid:bofalse; stance:nu10
Green - Sacred Shield
gcd:bofalse; soundfile:st; owntex:bofalse; b:nu0; anim1:nu1; duration:nu0; g:nu1; thresholdinvert:bofalse; ignoremaj:botrue; opt2:nu0; speed:nu1; stance:nu10; icon:stInterface\Icons\Ability_Paladin_BlessedMending; size:nu1.1399999856949; torsion:nu1; multiids:st; stacksOperator:st=; realaura:nu1; mine:bofalse; optunitn:bofalse; x:nu0; inverse:bofalse; begin:nu1; off:bofalse; isdebuff:bofalse; textaura:bofalse; timer:bofalse; target:bofalse; combat:nu0; wowtex:bofalse; groupany:bofalse; customsound:st; timerduration:nu0; exact:bofalse; threshold:nu50; unitn:stOnly for raid/group.; bufftype:nu1; stacks:nu0; aurastextfont:nu1; party:bofalse; customtex:bofalse; focus:bofalse; isenchant:bofalse; raid:bofalse; isdebufftype:bofalse; texture:nu16; buffname:stSacred Shield; anim2:nu0; opt1:nu0; r:nu0.62352941176471; randomcolor:bofalse; y:nu5; alpha:nu1; aurastext:st; customname:st; texmode:nu1; symetrie:nu0; ismounted:bofalse; targetfriend:bofalse; sound:nu0; isinraid:bofalse; finish:nu1
Orange - Divine Protection Available
gcd:bofalse; soundfile:st; owntex:bofalse; b:nu0.070588235294118; anim1:nu1; duration:nu0; g:nu0.41960784313725; thresholdinvert:bofalse; ignoremaj:botrue; opt2:nu0; speed:nu1; finish:nu3; icon:stInterface\Icons\Spell_Holy_Restoration; size:nu1.3799999952316; torsion:nu1; multiids:st; stacksOperator:st=; realaura:nu1; sound:nu0; optunitn:bofalse; off:bofalse; symetrie:nu0; begin:nu3; x:nu0; texmode:nu1; timer:bofalse; customname:st; target:bofalse; timerduration:nu0; wowtex:bofalse; groupany:bofalse; customsound:st; combat:nu1; y:nu0; randomcolor:bofalse; unitn:stOnly for raid/group.; bufftype:nu7; r:nu1; aurastextfont:nu1; stacks:nu0; opt1:nu31; focus:bofalse; customtex:bofalse; raid:bofalse; isdebufftype:bofalse; texture:nu16; anim2:nu0; buffname:stDivine Protection; isenchant:bofalse; party:bofalse; threshold:nu50; exact:bofalse; alpha:nu1; aurastext:stlolol; textaura:bofalse; isdebuff:bofalse; inverse:bofalse; ismounted:bofalse; targetfriend:bofalse; mine:bofalse; isinraid:bofalse; stance:nu10
Red - Divine Protection Active
gcd:bofalse; soundfile:st; owntex:bofalse; b:nu0.066666666666667; anim1:nu2; duration:nu0; g:nu0; thresholdinvert:bofalse; ignoremaj:botrue; opt2:nu0; speed:nu1; stance:nu10; icon:stInterface\Icons\Spell_Holy_Restoration; size:nu1.4599999189377; torsion:nu1; multiids:st; stacksOperator:st=; realaura:nu1; mine:bofalse; optunitn:bofalse; x:nu0; inverse:bofalse; begin:nu1; off:bofalse; isdebuff:bofalse; textaura:bofalse; timer:botrue; target:bofalse; combat:nu1; wowtex:bofalse; groupany:bofalse; customsound:st; timerduration:nu0; exact:bofalse; threshold:nu50; unitn:stOnly for raid/group.; bufftype:nu1; party:bofalse; aurastextfont:nu1; stacks:nu0; isenchant:bofalse; focus:bofalse; customtex:bofalse; raid:bofalse; isdebufftype:bofalse; texture:nu16; buffname:stDivine Protection; anim2:nu0; opt1:nu0; r:nu1; randomcolor:bofalse; y:nu0; alpha:nu1; aurastext:st; customname:st; texmode:nu1; symetrie:nu0; ismounted:bofalse; targetfriend:bofalse; sound:nu0; isinraid:bofalse; finish:nu1
Tomorrow, we'll look at the rest of the information Addons that make up my UI.
Comments
I love this mod soooo much. Thanks for posting the aura texts, may have to steal a couple of those for Tolecnal.
Love the blog!
Skarlarth and Company
Medivh