Where would I find UI advice for Resto Druid healing?

I've been replacing my UI sections bit by bit, as I discovered what I wanted and which addons would let me do that. I can't say it looks amazing yet, but it's a work in progress. I find drawing it all out on a bit of paper beforehand helps me work out what I think will work.

A lot of addons (eg cast bars or maps) are similar no matter what class/role you play, so although I can't give druid-specific information I'll give some places for you to start looking.

The sites I've found for setup ideas:

• Addons 101 on WoW.com has a lot of starter advice. They also regularly review addons in their Addon Spotlight column. Also check out the Reader UI of the Week there for ideas and tips.
• No Stock UI: advice on most aspects of UIs and addons.

There are also addon packs (which basically include a bunch of addons plus layout), but as I haven't used any I can't recommend specific ones. You can see loads of them in the Curse.com packs section.

I also asked a similar question regarding UIs a while back - the answers might also be of use to you.

I raid hardcore as a Resto Druid, so this is what I would do...

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Grid

This is your most important add-on, as it serves as raid frames, hot timers, dispel alerts, agro alerts, etc. You need four add-ons, they are

• Grid
• GridIndicatorSideText
• GridIndicatorCornerText
• GridStatusHots

Now, to configure it will take some time. First, in-game type /grid config

Click + to expand the Frame options. This will help you choose what you see and where you see it. Go through each section (Border, Healing Bar, Center Text, etc) and check the boxes as follows...

• Top Right Corner (Aggro alert, Buff: My Wild Growth, Incoming Heal)
• Corner Text Top Left (Buff: My Rejuvenation)
• Corner Text Bottom Left (Buff: My Regrowth)
• Corner Text Bottom Right (Buff: My Lifebloom)

This will allow you to see all your buffs on targets as counters, thusly

note I don't have any Lifeblooms up, but if I did, they'd be bottom-right. Also note I monitor who has PW:S so I know the urgency of my heal. Finally, note our tank, rather than his name, it displays +34.6k. This shows that he has a heal incoming (from another healer).

Play around with grid - it is an extremely powerful addon.

Macros

While you're in-game we need to set you up with some mouseover macros. If you've never heard of these, allow me to explain. A mouseover macro will allow you to target someone for a heal, simply by moving your mouse cursor over them, rather than physically clicking on them. The advantage is two-fold.

1. You get to maintain your current target (I usually target the boss so I can monitor health)
2. You save about 0.1 secs. While that's not a lot, over a 5-minute boss fight, that adds up to 20-30 global cooldowns. Think about it - you could get in 30 more Rejuv's than the guy right next to you that still targets manually.

So here we go, take the following steps:

• type /macro
• Click new to create one and name it Rejuv (leave the icon blank)
• type:

(it formats funky when I try to type it out, but make it look exactly like that)

• Now do that for all of your spells (Rejuv, Regrowth, WG, LB, SM, Innervate, Brez, etc)
• When you get to Nature's Swiftness + Healing Touch, type this:

• That macro will allow you to mouseover someone, click your button twice, and cast an instant Healing Touch

Cooldowns

Our next addon to discuss is simply called Cooldowns - download it here and download it now! This is what it does:

See the 2.3m over my Nature's Swiftness button? That indicates to me that my NS is on a cooldown and will be available again in that time.

But, if your bars are at the very bottom of your screen, that just won't do (as your eyes need to be constantly monitoring Grid. Create a new bar in Bartender and move it near your Grid and drag just those abilities with cooldowns you need to monitor.

Other Very Useful Addons

I won't go into great detail about configuration, but the following addons are all near essentials for a great raid healer...

• Pitbull Unit Frames or X-Perl Unit Frames

X-Perl is more user friendly and easier to use, but Pitbull is more customizable

• Bartender

Allows you to customize the crap out of your hotbars

• Recount

Is a damage meter that gives you tons of information and stats on your healing

• Power Auras Classic

An extremely customizable and powerful addon that lets you monitor buffs and cooldowns (alerts you when you have Innervate, Heroism/Bloodlust, etc)

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Overall Interface

In the end, put a lot of thought into your configuration and do what works best for you. This is what I do (here's my overall UI)

You will notice I have all the important information centralized in the middle of my screen. This means, without moving my eyes, I can:

• monitor Grid
• monitor my Cooldowns
• click on non-keybound items (potions, Barkskin, etc)
• view my HP and MP
• keep an eye on my target / ToT / ToToT
• keep the play-field and boss in my peripheral vision
• glance up if I need to focus on the play-field or DBM warnings

This is a blow-up of what I stare at 90% of the night...

Notice, aside from DBM warnings and play-field, I have everything consolidated closely.

Also, AND VERY IMPORTANT, my mouse cursor never leaves this area - EVER. It may save only 0.1 secs to move your cursor across the screen, but that's 0.1 secs that you cannot spare in a Heroic Putricide, for example.

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Conclusion

We all must do what suites us best and everything I've said above is opinion and open to debate. But I have been healing for 5+ years and this UI has taken me that long to develop. My philosophy when developing a UI is to keep these things in mind:

• Maximize the amount of useful information you can give yourself
• Minimize the junk (combat text, etc (note I've since disabled it)); don't distract yourself with crap that doesn't help you 1. to heal better, 2. to survive
• Consolidate everything you need into one compact location
• Minimize the area of your screen where your cursor resides - don't have your Grid frames and your clickable abilities too far from each other

Hopefully this has been helpful.

Epicmedic - < Sometimes There Is Fire > - Icecrown (US PvE)

If you're a fan of UIs that are package deals, you should consider looking at Tukui. It's been coded as a single addon, but contains notable features like Grid, a searchable single bag, fully movable frames for maximum customization, etc. The forums also have a FAQ to help new users figure out how to work with the coding for personalization.

Others have also coded skins for addons like Recount and Omen.

Examples of what you might end up choosing: