Raidleading / Tanking UI - Need Help!

[Riemu2k3]

Hi,

first of all, let me apologize if I placed this in the wrong thread or forum. I'm a "Progression" (10/16 HC) Tank and Raidleader of a german 10-man guild. I have a hard time finding UIs that fit my purpose with the focus on raidleading and tanking. I've noticed that there is a Healer UI Thread and a General UI thread, but no thread for my "Niche". I couldn't really figure out where it fits in and so I figured I'd just try it with a new thread. Maybe there are other players out there with the same problems and this will be helpful to them. I'm at the end of my UI making skills and turn to your for help.

Here is my UI (it's a couple of month old, but hasn't really changed much):



Updated - 01.03.2013:



I've tried to create a UI that's focused on "seeing everything" in regards to raidleading, calling stuff etc. and tanking / performing my job.

I use the following Addons (only the ones needed for raiding):

- Bartender4 (tried dominos, but bartender was simplier to setup and stuff)
- BigBrother (For potions/flask checks/interrupts etc.)
- Bison (Use it pretty much only for the large debuffs I need for tanking)
- Clique (So I can combat ress / deathcoil heal / safeguard quickly)
- DBM (tried bigwigs couple of times, but didn't really like it)
- Grid + GridManaBars + GridStatusRaidDebuff
- MikScrollingBattleText (So i have better control over the dmg/heal i receive as a tank)
- Omen (Important as Tank - it's only visible infight and trades places with recount out of combat)
- OmniCC (for button countdowns)
- oRA3 (Raidleading)
- pError (Filter those error messages, its still on the screenshot, but has been filtered now)
- PhönixStyle (Raidleading)
- RaidSlackCheck (Raidleading)
- Quartz (Castbars)
- Raidachievement (Raidleading)
- Recount (Raidleading - need to see who performed/didn't on a try by try basis)
- Shadowed Unit Frames (only ones I really liked out there)
- TidyPlates
- TipTop (Tooltip)
- WeakAuras (use it for pretty much all procs / boss abilities / stuff I need to track)

Updated - 01.03.2013:

- Deactivated Blizzards Power Auras / Spell Alert
- Moved from DBM to BigWigs (less clutter, more customizable)
- Shifted around Bars / Scaled down some thing (Debuffs, Weak Auras etc.)
- Increased GRID to have a better awareness during combat, debuffs etc. für Raidleading
- Moved from Omen + Recount to Skada. Still same settings, Threat infight and Damage/Healing out-of-combat
- Removed some other cluttery addons, moved them all in Leatrix Plus (like pError, TipTop, Turnin etc.)
- Skinned the Minimap with Mappy (couldn't find a more lightweight addon)
- Grouped my Raidbuffs with Blizzard Settings, makes it easier to see if something's missing
- Removed Healing received from MSBT, so I only see Damage taken / Absorb / Block and Stuff
- Wrote some more Weakauras to keep track of things (like the missing sunder on my screenshot above the target frame)
- I macrod my pulltimer with bigbrother buffs, so I can check if everything is buffed during my 10 seconds pull countdown. Works out nicely.


--------

Problems I have with my UI:

- I feel that it has become cluttered over the times cause of all the stuff I added on for Raidleading and such
- Buff Bar: I don't need to see them in fight and stuff, but need to check if everything has been buffed before I pull. Haven't found a nice solution for that yet.
- Bison: It's no longer being updated but I need something to show me larger Debuffs. Haven't found a "not-so-big" alternative yet.
- I fear that my UI takes up lots of Memory, is there anything to optimize?

--------

I like my UI, but I've noticed that I start to miss stuff which for me means It's time to change something.

Also, I just can't that feeling that I can optimize the shit out of it but I can't for the life of me figure out how

Can you guys help me?

What addons are other raidleaders / tanks using?

How do you setup your UI to raidlead properly?


Thanks alot!

Greets

Riemu

[Deleted]

Hey there,

i am pretty much in the same spot and my UI looks similar for many parts. Some suggestions from my side:
- sunn viewport: create a black frame at the bottom of the screen, where the chat, grid and 1-2 actionbars are in. This makes the whole visible part of the game much smaller and gave me a feeling of more overview.
- RBS (RaidBuffStatus) for checking all buffs
- consider deactivating the Combattexts (Miks...). It sounds strange, but 1-2 years ago, as parrot was bugged due to some blizzard patch shenanigans i turned it off and did never reavtivate it. Scrolling combat text does not give you any information you really need, but it makes the whole UI looking chaotic and can stress you
- the ora3 part looks overloaded. Teach your raidmembers to coordinate CDs by themselfes. Healer should manage and call raid CDs like Hymns, Tranqs ie. Each member should use his own def CDs by himself and Tank-CDs aren't really needed to survive, so healers should generally throw them by themselfes.
- consider using a spellflash/rotationhelper/weakauras priority bar for dumpen the time you spend for decisionmaking in the rotation.
- delegate main tasks (calling timers, repositioning etc.) to any healer/ranged DD. Times where tanks only stand there for being hit are over. Active mitigation and general awareness is the main task of a MT in MoP. So the times, where the MT was the best raidleader, because he has the most "idle-time" are over.

Hope, this gave you some ideas. If needed, i can post my UI, when i am at home in the evening.

[Malcanthet]

Have you tried using ElvUI at any point? Things like debuffs on your own frames can be made to any size you like which would eliminate an add-on like Bison for example.
Have tried Skada instead of Recount?

The benefits with ElvUI is that you can configure it to your liking in the ingame config. New textures can be added to the textures folder if you have found one you particularly like. I personally switched from Mik to xCT+ a while back and haven't looked back.

I suggest you check tukui.org and see if you find something there you like.

[Deleted]

Imho premade UI packs are a pain as raidleader/MT. You really lack quick individial adjustments. I need to create or reposition some UI elements on the fly or spontanously. Maybe ElvUI has changed meanwhile, but i remember a paladin in my guild, configuring his ElvUI for 3 days to match his requirements and everything was reset with the next update...

[Malcanthet]

These days updates won't change your in-game config. Well, unless there is major code rewrite but you always get plenty of warning for those. Respositioning on the fly is easy, in my opinion at least, just done the moveui and Bob's your uncle. Plus you can run with several profiles, as many as wish to be honest.

I can't say if it's easier these days, I switched to Elv after using various personally lua-edidted TukUI edits.

Then again it's all prefrence. I've known tanks and RL's who have no issues with Elv. Everyone's head works differently in terms of what they need and when/where they need it in a UI. I was just offering one solution, what the poster chooses is up to him/her.

[Deleted]

Have you tried using ElvUI at any point? Things like debuffs on your own frames can be made to any size you like which would eliminate an add-on like Bison for example.
Have tried Skada instead of Recount?

The benefits with ElvUI is that you can configure it to your liking in the ingame config. New textures can be added to the textures folder if you have found one you particularly like. I personally switched from Mik to xCT+ a while back and haven't looked back.

I suggest you check tukui.org and see if you find something there you like.

look at his interface.... it is almost Elvui

Riemu2k3 just make one yourself so you can go as far as you want and not be stuck on Elvui prepack just use google to search for nice ui's to get ideas.
after you done this just clear your interface folder and FTW folder from your wow install directory log in ( blizzui ofc)
then you start by in your case bartender4 config it to your hand then use maybe pitbull 4 to get your unitframes in ( has tons off configs )
the good thing is when you use curse client you can update your addons every day on elvui manueel and pray it wont override your setting or you can start all over again

[Seiken3]

Hey there.

Can't give you much advice on the addons, but I can only recommend you get yourself an officer that covers some of your job. The Less addons you need to run(just to keep people in place) - the better.

[Malcanthet]

look at his interface.... it is almost Elvui

I beg to differ. Mine looks like this and is nothing like the posters:


Although I agree, the best is of course if you can write your own from scratch. But not everyone can, nor has interest in, learning the workings of lua coding.

Elv doesn't override settings today (unless you've dabbled in the lua code). It may do if there is a huge re-write of the code, but that is not an exceedingly common occurence.

[Riemu2k3]

Thanks for all your input so far!

@ElvUI: I don't really like UI packages that much. I have Single Addons and manage them with Curse Client. Many of our Raiders use TukUI or sth like that and on every Major Content Patch there are problems like the Ui not working for the first day or so. I rather have the standalone Addons so I can manage and tweek them myself or even replace one if needed.

@DorfSchrat:

I totally agree with you. Premade UIs just dont fit Tank/RL purposes - at least i haven't found one yet that does. Would love to see your UI!

@Viewport: I've tried viewport management in the past, but I didn't really like it. I cant play with black or any kind of background. Messes me up quite badly :-)
@RBS: Sounds nice! I just realized that big brother brings buff management and I use it for announces on combat start. Just need to bring das big brother buff window in my Pull Makro/Timer I guess, so I can check it during the 10 seconds windows. If I have to click it or anything like that, I tend to forget about it. So putting that in the Pull Makro should work nicely.
@Miks: I guess, deactivating it so I don't see my incoming damage at all would work. You can roughly guess about how much damage you lost with the HP bar. Not really sure if it works out, but I guess i'll just give it a try.
@ORA: I've already cleaned it up and removed tank cooldowns and such. Only see the Raidcooldowns now and I kinda need to. Sometimes it's just better to know that hymn / manatide has been dropped already when I see my healers with low mana so I dont have to ask around if its already on cooldown and stuff like that.

@Skada/Recount: Used Skada in the early days and didn't like it much - but maybe it has been improved now. I guess, I could trade 2 Addons for 1 with removing Omen and Recount. Can I configure Skada so I see threat infight and damage/healing outfight at the same place?

I've also removed QuickTurnin, bChat, pError, TipTop and replaced it with Leatrix Plus. Seems to do the trick just fine for my needs.

Still having problems with Bison though (lightweight alternative, currently being supported, to move/resize my own debuffs and possible hide/regroup my own buffs)

--

would love to see more raidleader / tank uis to get some inspiration.

All in all, I'm quite happy with my UI and how things are setup - so I'm not looking to do things from scratch.
Just looking for some tweaks or optimization ideas to maybe remove some clutter or optimize some things to reduce memory / addons in general

[Hotsforyou]

Thanks for all your input so far!

@ElvUI: I don't really like UI packages that much. I have Single Addons and manage them with Curse Client. Many of our Raiders use TukUI or sth like that and on every Major Content Patch there are problems like the Ui not working for the first day or so. I rather have the standalone Addons so I can manage and tweek them myself or even replace one if needed.

@DorfSchrat:

I totally agree with you. Premade UIs just dont fit Tank/RL purposes - at least i haven't found one yet that does. Would love to see your UI!

@Viewport: I've tried viewport management in the past, but I didn't really like it. I cant play with black or any kind of background. Messes me up quite badly :-)
@RBS: Sounds nice! I just realized that big brother brings buff management and I use it for announces on combat start. Just need to bring das big brother buff window in my Pull Makro/Timer I guess, so I can check it during the 10 seconds windows. If I have to click it or anything like that, I tend to forget about it. So putting that in the Pull Makro should work nicely.
@Miks: I guess, deactivating it so I don't see my incoming damage at all would work. You can roughly guess about how much damage you lost with the HP bar. Not really sure if it works out, but I guess i'll just give it a try.
@ORA: I've already cleaned it up and removed tank cooldowns and such. Only see the Raidcooldowns now and I kinda need to. Sometimes it's just better to know that hymn / manatide has been dropped already when I see my healers with low mana so I dont have to ask around if its already on cooldown and stuff like that.

@Skada/Recount: Used Skada in the early days and didn't like it much - but maybe it has been improved now. I guess, I could trade 2 Addons for 1 with removing Omen and Recount. Can I configure Skada so I see threat infight and damage/healing outfight at the same place?

I've also removed QuickTurnin, bChat, pError, TipTop and replaced it with Leatrix Plus. Seems to do the trick just fine for my needs.

Still having problems with Bison though (lightweight alternative, currently being supported, to move/resize my own debuffs and possible hide/regroup my own buffs)

--

would love to see more raidleader / tank uis to get some inspiration.

All in all, I'm quite happy with my UI and how things are setup - so I'm not looking to do things from scratch.
Just looking for some tweaks or optimization ideas to maybe remove some clutter or optimize some things to reduce memory / addons in general

ElvUI is not really a "pre built package" It is a single add on that is written from the ground up. I raid lead and am the Main tank for our guild. ElvUI combined with DBM and Raid Buff Status are irreplaceable. The flow of information that i get from ElvUI is perfect.

Skada: You can configure it to make multiple windows for threat/dps/healing. Much better than Recount and not so memory intensive. With my UI you can see that i have it embedded in the right chatbox when in raid. ElvUI Skins does that.

The only bad thing about ElvUI is that it is not available on Curse. They do have their automatic updater for the UI though so it works out well. I have been using ElvUI since Wrath. If i can answer any questions about it let me know.

Here is my UI:

[Daniie]

Just to the part of your buffs section here is a WeakAuras string provided by Fragi of Paragon which shows all the buffs you and your raid can have and the ones you don't have highlighted in red.

Here's a SS of his UI taken from Paragon's forum: http://www.paragon.fi/sites/default/...14/fragiUI.jpg

http://pastebin.com/MBSvP5QN - Raid buffs ( Mastery, stats, stamina bottom right corner )

No disclaimer to any of this just showing him what he can use when tanking

--

Also with your problem with Bison have you tried Aura Frames before? :: http://www.curse.com/addons/wow/aura-frames

I use this when tanking to enlarge my debuffs and move them to where I want them and I also filter any buff I get that's longer than 45s so it ignores flask and bear form etc. but shows trinket procs and Heart of the Wild etc. (I use Power Auras for most of these anyway but it saves clutter).

[Deleted]

Problems I have with my UI:

- I feel that it has become cluttered over the times cause of all the stuff I added on for Raidleading and such
- Buff Bar: I don't need to see them in fight and stuff, but need to check if everything has been buffed before I pull. Haven't found a nice solution for that yet.
- Bison: It's no longer being updated but I need something to show me larger Debuffs. Haven't found a "not-so-big" alternative yet.
- I fear that my UI takes up lots of Memory, is there anything to optimize?

--------

Most of the useful space is from 1/3 to top of the screen (except fire on the ground mechanics - obviously should not be obstructed). Therefore that 2/3 of the screen should be left for really useful stuff: procs, debuffs etc.
Advise: move more stuff into the bottom and/or on the sides (vertically). Move the map and get a nice addon for it too. Get Satrina Buff Bars and get rid of that god-awful size for debuffs (wtf?!) and the rolling buffs (I doubt you really need those as well).

Here's a SS of his UI taken from Paragon's forum: http://www.paragon.fi/sites/default/...14/fragiUI.jpg

That size! :O

[Deleted]

These days updates won't change your in-game config. Well, unless there is major code rewrite but you always get plenty of warning for those. Respositioning on the fly is easy, in my opinion at least, just done the moveui and Bob's your uncle. Plus you can run with several profiles, as many as wish to be honest.

I can't say if it's easier these days, I switched to Elv after using various personally lua-edidted TukUI edits.

Then again it's all prefrence. I've known tanks and RL's who have no issues with Elv. Everyone's head works differently in terms of what they need and when/where they need it in a UI. I was just offering one solution, what the poster chooses is up to him/her.

OT : What's the font you are using if i may ask?

[Daniie]

@SirRaven

I don't personally tank anymore but having larger debuffs can sometimes be a good thing. When I DPS/heal in raids I just make an aura for a specific debuff on me per encounter but if you're lazy it can be good to enlarge them so you can easily see what they are and their duration.

[Xanafriel]

Could try Raven for buff/debuff management.
Also I would disable the default blizz spell alerts, weak auras gives you way more options to get these notifications.

[Malcanthet]

OT : What's the font you are using if i may ask?

Tukui Pixel and Arial Narrow are the only ones I use.

[Riemu2k3]

Hi,

I have tweaked my UI a bit over the past few weeks - thanks to all the great feedback in here.
So, here's what I've done:



- Deactivated Blizzards Power Auras / Spell Alert
- Moved from DBM to BigWigs (less clutter, more customizable)
- Shifted around Bars / Scaled down some thing (Debuffs, Weak Auras etc.)
- Increased GRID to have a better awareness during combat, debuffs etc. für Raidleading
- Moved from Omen + Recount to Skada. Still same settings, Threat infight and Damage/Healing out-of-combat
- Removed some other cluttery addons, moved them all in Leatrix Plus (like pError, TipTop, Turnin etc.)
- Skinned the Minimap with Mappy (couldn't find a more lightweight addon)
- Grouped my Raidbuffs with Blizzard Settings, makes it easier to see if something's missing
- Removed Healing received from MSBT, so I only see Damage taken / Absorb / Block and Stuff
- Wrote some more Weakauras to keep track of things (like the missing sunder on my screenshot above the target frame)
- I macrod my pulltimer with bigbrother buffs, so I can check if everything is buffed during my 10 seconds pull countdown. Works out nicely.


So, what do you guys think? Any feedback is much appreciated!

Greetz

Riemu

[Riemu2k3]

Nobody has any feedback left? :-(

[Deleted]

Phoenix Styles is amazing for Raid Leading tool as is Hermies.