www.upyursh.com is born

well over the last couple of days I have been putting together my new domain www.upyursh.com and have decided as part of this to migrate to WordPress.

A couple of reasons for this;

• Additional Features and Plugins that I couldnt get on Blogger
• Self Host = WIN, I like hosting my stuff and I like having control over it.

So I will be transferring details over and setting up an auto redirect from here.

Head on over :)

www.upyursh.com

Some Cool Stats

Well I haven't checked out my Google Analytics for a long time, but I thought I would post some cool stats (well I think they are cool) about my blog hits.

• 8000 overall visits
• 5000 absolute unique visits
  
• Hits from 84 countries including big numbers of hits from; USA, Canada and Australia; as well as lots of small numbers of hits from; Guam, El Salvador, Vietnam, Martinique, Nicaragua & Georgia

I never dreamed that my blog would be viewed by such a large and wide spread audience :) thanks for everyone's support :)

What Achievements Made you Crazy?

Well last week I was travelling and my work laptop just couldnt handle dal let alone raiding so what else is their to do? Those annoying achievements that take you all over the world haha

Well with Midsummer I decided to do;

• The Fires of Azeroth
• Desecration of the Alliance

While I was at it I thought why not go for, World Explorer

I unfortunately became slightly obsessed with finishing it, I managed to get over half done while I was travelling but figured I NEED to finish these so spent a fair bit of time over the weekend.

Now I have a new title (i'll probably never use haha) but I can sleep again haha

So my question is what achievements have you gone mad over and needed to finish?

Updated User Interface

Well it's been a while since I posted my UI, so I thought I would take the time to write up some of the changes I've made and a quick overview of what I have built my ui the way I have.


As you can see my objective for my ui is to create a minimalist view that presents the most important information from the inside (where my toon is) out. I of course am a raider so as much as possible is either hidden or set with a mouseover opacity change (like Dominos).


The above is a breakdown of my ui, the blue frame highlights my focus and contains the following essential, important modules highlighted in red.

• Grid - I use grid although HealBot is supposed to be good as well. I added a couple of Grid addons to place corner warnings for stacks etc too and invert the colors! Makes it so much easier to see who needs heals I think (see my config guide).
• Decursive - great for single click (left or right) decursing/cure poison, I use this for dispell intensive fights like Yogg. When I don't need it gets hidden :) I know some of you would say "Why do you need a second unit frames?". I have found that decursive allows me to dispell much quicker than Grid + Macros.
• HotCandy - I think this is a real essential for a HoT based class like druids, will track your LB stacks etc, I've tried many different things but keep coming back to HotCandy, one day i'll just stop trying and stick with this gem.
• Dominos with ButtonFacade - I use this small dominos bar to highlight my primary spells that have cooldowns, namely; Wild Growth, Nature's Swiftness, Swiftmend, Innervate, Tranq and Rebirth. It's used as a reference and I do not use it to click etc.
• Quartz - Cast bar filled with win, I have grown to really appreciate this cast bar addon, it is especially useful for us Aussies who have latency issues, a nice presentation of when you can start casting your next cast makes it really great for those 'heads down healing' occasions.
• SatrinaBuffFrame - I have SBF split into 2 frames, this central frame is used for debuffs. The reason I have it in the centre is to ensure I dont miss anything important, this is especially great for fights like General where you need to be watching your stacks :)

The next 'ring' of addons are about presenting information that is not 'critical' to my raiding.

• oUF Nivaya - I have dropped Pitbull, I feel that PB was overkill for what I wanted, ouF really works well and it is light. Nivaya has the advantage of a ui to modify the appearance and move things around. Reality is that I use Grid to know even my own health which is why my unit frames are not in the top list :)
• Doom Cooldown Pulse - this is a cool mod that will prompt you as key abilities come off of cool down. This is a great trigger to hit spells like Wild Growth :)
  
• Prat - Chat customisation, I have prat setup to also announce important messages in our healer channel to the centre of my screen, calls about people being down etc.
• CowTip - I turned this on the other day, so far I like but not sure if it's too much info for my everyday need.
• Recount - Damage/Healing Meters, some guilds ban these because people tend to try to top the lists so use this with smarts, fact it's a great tool for breaking down your performance and comparing it to others but nobody cares too much about being up the top of the list as long as your assigns don't die!!
• Minimap Button Frame - MBF is cool, it grabs all the icons around your map and puts them into a frame that you can move around, the idea again is to remove the stuff you don't need to see all the time.
• Chinchilla - Map movement/customisation
• RangeDisplay - displays the range of your target and focus etc.
• Autobar - is a great dynamic bar mod that will give you all you need. Very neat!

Other modules that arent visible but still very useful.

• Deadly Boss Mods - must have for raiding, timers and notices etc
• oRA2 - A CT_RaidAssist alternative, another requirement for raiding in most guilds
  
• Minimalist - does a few things like hiding chat rubbish and buttons etc but also automates a few painful things like repairs and selling grey items.
• Postal - replaces and enhances the wow mail system, much better
• WIM - adds a nice chat interface for whispers similar to MSN
  
• ArkInventory - consolidates bags and also allows viewing all yours toons at the same time.
• Cartographer - world map replacement
• QuestHelper / Better Quest /QBar - are my quest addons of choice, QuestHelper is used for levelling, Better Quest is used for replacing the quest log.

Would really love to hear what people think of my ui and the approach I have taken.

Addon Review: ForteXorcist

I really like the idea of this addon, I was previously looking for a way to show me which spells where available and not on cooldown; Wild Growth, Swiftmend etc.

I found ForteXorcist over the weekend and the idea is great, the mod looks great and it does what it says it does :)

http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info7532-ForteXorcistForteWarlock.html

I however ended up removing it for a couple of reasons;

1. The icons group up and it makes it difficult to see when they are all coming off cooldown at a similar time
2. The spell timer didnt seem to play nicely with stacks of lifebloom etc (jumping from 1 to 3 to 1 all the time)
   
3. It didnt really meet my core requirement in that I am wanting to clearly see what spells I have ready to cast.

All in all the module seems like a well designed one, it does what it is supposed to do well however it's not for me.

I've gone back to having my bar of spells above my grid (nice and small) where I can see if a spell is up or if it is on cooldown (and how long till it's up).

What I really want is a mod that will present my spells effectively hiding spells that are not available.

Any ideas?

Addons: Equipment Manager Enhancements

The new(ish) Blizzard Equipment Manager is fine, the reality though is it is missing some of the key features that other outfitters have/had. Although i'm a bit of an addon junky I do prefer to use standard features where possible. When outfitter announced they would not be developing (that may have changed again since but who keeps up with it all) on the back of the changes to the terms of use dictated by Blizz I decided to give the Blizzard EM a go. This is a nice quick post to highlight a couple of small yet very nice addons by Tekkub that make the standard equipment manager more useable :)

EquipSetUpdater
http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info13578-EquipSetUpdater.html

Basically this adds a new button to your Blizzard Equipment Manager for updating your sets, basically removes the annoying prompt warning you you're about to overwrite a set :)

Crossdresser
http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info13577-Crossdresser.html

This is a great little addon, basically you set your default set for each spec and when you switch specs in the game it will auto enable that set. No more healing in moonkin gear for me!

A little down time

Well over the weekend I'll be doggy sitting for dads 2 puppies (not that they are still puppies) so will be having some down time from wow, this could be good :)

DKP & being Master Looting

Well I have recently started to assist on raid nights with Healing Assigns as well as being Master Looter when needed.

I thought I would outline how I manage this and person this could assist others with their own ML responsibilities. My priority when implementing these mods and processes was to avoid alt-tabs as much as possible. As it stands I do not need to check websites/spreadsheets or anything else like that.

A bit of background; I have done a fair bit of web dev work in the past, primarily dealing with php/mysql etc so some of these things may not be achieveable for others but if you need some advice I'm happy to help :)

Our guild website uses bbdkp and I have made a few mods for this as well;

• DKP Export - I have built a function that will export the current DKP table into a lua file that can be picked up by the WebDKP Addon.

• WebDKP Import - I have also built a WebDKP Import admin module that picked up the WebDKP Addon lua (that includes who got what item for what cost etc) and loads in all the items against the selected raid.

Non DKP Mods

• Raid Signups - I have built a customised Raid Planning addon for phpbb that allows creation/management of signups. User notices when they haven't signed. Raid Planning from admin panel and export of the planned raid into a lua file that can then be picked up by phpRaidViewer

• Registration Changes - I have made the site only allow registrations for those people who exist in the blizz armory. This means I dont need to manage access to strictly because if your a guild member you can see all forums (with the exception of officer forums etc)

Ok back to what the post was really about :) When I'm Master Looter I do the following (it's important to note that we use a DKP Halves system);

• Prior to a raid I download the latest DKP table and overwrite my WebDKP.lua in my SaveVariables folder

• When a looting round commences I load my WebDKP > DKP Table (please note I have not yet looked at the bidding system)

• use /rw to call for psts when somebody whispers me to advise they are interested I click their name on the DKP table (highlighted in blue below). I then make sure that I'm sorting by DKP and the highest selected player wins the item. I do a quick calculation to work out the cost being half their current DKP total and then award the item to them (using the standard ML functions - right click on item - select toon)

• WebDKP then will prompt me with a dialogue for the awarded item to provide a dkp cost, I enter the amount and hit OK

At the end of the night all loot has been recorded with their costs in the WebDKP.lua file. I go to our forums and because we want to add the nights DKP to the total after the purchases (i.e. If I start on 100 DKP and get 1 item my DKP should be 50 at the end of the raid, then I get awarder 30 DKP for the night so new total is 80) I do the following:

• Create Raid and only add a Non-Raider to the list

• Click Import WebDKP, select the raid (that was added derrrr), copy in the entire contents of the WebDKP.lua file and hit Import.
  

• Edit the Raid and add the attendees, making sure you remove the Non-Raider from the list

Screenshot of the Week

this is my with my 4T8 set and my new staff (although the staff was an offspec role I think it looks cool)

Tranq & Wild Growth: Often Forgotten and Misunderstood

A comment on my prioritisation post made me think that perhaps this was a worthwhile topic for a full post :)

Lets start with Tranquility, this is clearly the spell that is often forgotten. I think that many druid are a little reluctant to hit that button, it's such a great spell and it does have that 10 minute cooldown.

Firstly 10 minutes really isn't that long, if you progressing through Ulduar this basically means you can use it every 2 attempts (not taking into consideration trash). I guess a simple way to look at this is if you go more than 2 bosses without using it then your not getting much out of it :)

Secondly I personally use tranq as a catch up spell, it is a great spell, can be a little mana hungry but is a great way to catch up on heals if your raid is taking a lot of damage or you happen to be down a healer or two.

Wild Growth on the otherhand has quickly made its way into the basic play style of many resto druids.

Fact is that Wild Growth is considered a "smart spell", meaning it should target those who are in the greatest need of your heals. Even post nerf (intro of our cooldown), it is a powerful raid heal which has the potential to take up a large percentage of your heal stats.

Their are still some druids out their not using the spell to its full potential and I recommend you have a play with it.

Also it should really be even more powerful in 10man content as your healing half the raid!

MMOUI - Minion Beta

Well I have been waiting a long time for this and it has finally happened, the beta of the Wow Interface Addon Updater is here and as big kev would have said "Im Excited"


I have been following this project for some time now, even prior to the release of the "Premium Curse Client", and it's great to see that not only have they put in the effort (despite preasure) to get it right and ready for beta.

Just quickly I ended up removing the curse client all together, I can put up with one at a time updates but I found that a lot of my addons were either being reset (reinstalled) or they were being updated with 'odd' results. Some of this may have actually been the addon developers doing something funny but last thing I needed was stuffing around with addons 5 minutes before a raid.

I'm still at work now but when I get home i'll be installing it and having a look.

Ill post some more info in the next couple of days :) Have a day off tomorrow so may not do it then haha

Quick Tips & Warnings

• This is a BETA for a reason, if you're wanting to a completely flawless addon updater, wait till the final releaseis ready.
• Backup your Addons/WTF folders (just in case) :D

Druid Skin Changes

Well I wont be able to grumble about anything Blizzard has or hasnt done. I am eager to see how the Tree forms can be changed if at all as it's based on hair color for bear form.

Posted last night not a day after my post about some of this stuff (I'm not so narrow minded to believe my blog had anything to do with it but it's nice to dream) ;

In our next major content patch, druids will find a host of new textures for two major forms, cat and bear. There will be five different designs for each of these forms for the Horde and Alliance. Night elves can choose to change their cat and bear look at any time by visiting the barber shop and changing their character's hair color, while tauren will be able to change which look they use by switching skin tones in the barber shop -- a new feature for tauren in the next major content patch. Given that there are more hair colors and skin tones than unique form looks, some colors and tones will overlap with these new textures. The hair and skin colors chosen will, in most cases, correspond with the color seen in the look of each form. Some similar colors that may share a particular cat texture will not necessarily share the same bear texture.

We'd like to share with you this new art for each form and faction in four installments. So without further ado, our first preview is for the five new textures of the tauren druid bear form. We'll also show the current form design so you can easily see the extra detail and textures of the new art. Work continues on new looks for the remaining druid forms and we hope to add them in future content patches.

Full story here: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/underdev/druid-forms.html

Update: Really sounds like tree is not in line for a change /sigh

New art for two druid forms, cat and bear, are coming in the next major content patch. As this has been a much-anticipated update for druids, we'd like to give you a first look at the fresh designs.

Screenshot of the Week

This is from our raid last night :)

4T8 and Spell Prioritisation

Well got my 4T8 set last night, although I'm still using Valorous Nightsong Handguards but I will swap that out later :)

I saw a big jump in Rejuv heals (which is to be expected) from 8-13% to 20-25% but it also required a bit of a shift in my healing style or more specifically my spell prioritisation.

I dont think that my heals when I'm healing tanks (this is generally my assign) will change that much, I will have an extra tick and also (in theory) a bigger Swiftmend so that will be good for oh crap moments (like Ignis flame jets).

I'll use Mimiron as an example because this is a real all out, as Matt would say heads up method, and is a real indication of whether you've got your prioritisation right.

While healing I ask myself these questions in my head while i'm healing for Mimiron we are primarily looking at the right hand side of my little brain chart :)


In summary where there is raid damage being taken I decide if I'm expecting more damage in the next second or so, if so I get my 'best for the cast time' spell off, being Nourish.

If I'm not expecting more damage I choose regrowth, it has a slower cast time but does have the bonus of a hot.

If there is minimal damage or currently no raid damage I will use rejuv across the raid.

It's worth noting that throughout this process I am hitting Wild Growth whenever it is available and I can afford the use of a GCD :)

On the other side of the chart, my tank healing, I wont use Wild Growth too much on a boss encounter i either; dont know well enough, or I know is going to be a hard slog on mana (i.e. General).

On a side note I was promoted to a Sub Officer last night :) was pretty excited about the whole thing :)

On another side note, just a quick shoutout to Sydera who blog on World of Matticus who I noticed comment on my last post, I was excited to see your name there as I read your blog frequently :)

"Is Tree Form Fun?"

Well we had a vague question asked of us on the wow forums by Ghostcrawler and I thought I would take the time to quickly give my opinion on the matter; I am a little one sided because I really dont pvp that much so my points are more about making us trees feel special :)

"This is an open question to the community. Is druid Tree of Life form fun?"

He goes on to assure us (or torment us depending on how you look at it) that no major changes are on the way for us trees.

There were quite a few comments and suggestions, for my 2 cents worth the primary issue with Tree form is it's common, boring, ugly appearance. I personally have no problems that I cant dps in form etc but some do :)

my points as posted on the forums were;

• Post Death Effects - loved this idea, the concept that people can get a minor heal by standing near our body is pretty cool but doubt that will ever happen
  
• Some Old Look - the main thing i dislike about tree form is when running with multiple trees we all look the same.. makes me feel like a social sheep.
• Skin Customisation - the ability to customise our skins, hang stuff from our branches, have birds living in our limbs etc would be really cool.

The general feeling from a PVE point of view is that people love the healing style and idea of changing into a form however they would like to pretty themself up and be unique. For all the male troll hunters out their you can still find differences in appearances between them, not so with us poor druids.

These points really apply to druid in general, bear form, cat form and travel forms too :) I'd pay a stylist some money to give me the latest french branch styles :)

G9 and G13 Update

Well I was just posting a comment about how I use my G9 and G13 on plusheal.com and thought that it may be worthwhile to post a quick update.

If you haven't already check out my original post:
http://upyursh.blogspot.com/2009/03/g9-g13-review-and-mappings.html

I have found that my response time and awareness has increased a lot since using these two gaming tools. I do not go key hunting any longer as my primary 6 key binds are quickly and easily at my fingers, without having to dodge movement keys.

The use of the thumb stick means that I can be moving and planning my next heal without needing to move my fingers around. The stick has also very quickly become the norm in my play style incorporated with mouse-movement too.

I am yet to explore the comprehensive macro functionality (one-click-healing) as I personally like the flexibility of changing my healing/spell priorities.

The only thing I have changed in my mapping since my original post is I have filled in the 2 TBA buttons, 1 with Escape and the other hotkey'ed to my mount macro.

I think all in all my improved awareness can be put largely down to utilising these two tools. I have also done a lot of work on my UI to present the information I need when I need it but my response time has improved enormously!

Twitter Pressure

Well I am weak and can not resist the Twitter phenomenon any longer

Screenshot(s) of the Week

Well I think I will regularly post a favourite screenshot for the week. Being the first I have a couple that I like so Ill post more than one, because I can!

Ulduar 10man - General


H-VH - Kirin Tor Achievement

New Guild

Well one of the only thing I have not done in the game is form my own guild, so on my alt Gaidon I have started a guild with a good friend called Tarmon GaiDon. Those who have read Wheel of Time will know that this is translated to "the last battle" or something similar :)

It's really a casual guild for now but I look forward to eventually growing it into a raiding guild, even if it is 10man content on a single night a week or something.

Shameless plug but if you have any alts on Khaz'Goroth that want a friendly place to park look me up :) Nothing serious but would like to be looking at getting some 5man content in the next few weeks.

http://tarmongaidon.wowstead.com

Good Night :)

Email Subscription Now Available

I have just setup my feedburner for my blog, you can now subscribe to receive email notices when I update my blog :)

25 Man Ulduar Quick Tips Continued

This is my Quick Tips Continued :)

Ignis the Furnace Master
Prior to the nerfs this fight was pretty tough, we now tank Ignis in the water and the adds are tanked off to the sides and the raid stacks up behind Ignis. The priority here is on speed and timing. We usually have 2 Pally's and myself on the Main Tank spamming, the hits get very hard towards the end (30K each) so be on your toes.

Make sure you have a RaidDebuff mod (i use a plugin for Grid for this: http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/grid-status-raid-debuff.aspx )

Primary Abilities
Scorch - Where we tank him this is not a big problem but just make sure you arent staying in it if the tank looses control of Ignis for some reason.

Flame Jets - Big Stomp basically, causing a debuff for 2600/sec. Your raid healers should be able to easily get everybody up during the debuff. Be sure to not be interupted as you will be spell locked for 8 seconds. I've been on Tank Heals, and have been saving my Swiftmend for Flame Jets, so when Flame Jet cooldown is getting close I cast (or top up) the Rejuv on the tank, while in the air cast Swiftmend.

Slag Pot - Have at least 1 dedicated healer who prioritises the Slag Pot victim, with other healers helping out when they can. Important that people in the slag pot help themself too, if you've got heals, health pots or a health stone use them!

Kologarn
Kologarn is really an awareness fight, be ready to move quickly from Eyebeams. For healers face the door, no need to face the boss at all. We position ourselves one person per square with healers given priority to squares closest the door.

Primary Abilities
Stone Grib - Randomly pick up 3 raiders, make sure you have people focussed on keeping them up.

Focussed Eyebeam - Randomly targets a raider and tried to blow the hell out of them, kite the beam out of the door, try not to run through the raid, and other raiders be sure to move off your square to allow the victim through.

Auriaya
This is an interesting fight but difficult to explain, once the sentries are down we basically stack on the boss unless the Feral Defender is low, stun it and then move the boss around to avoid the Seeping Feral Essence (Void Zone). Rinse and Repeat 4-5 times depending on your dps. Key is to move prior to the Essence spawning otherwise you will die.

Keep your hots up on the tank and max heals especially on the pull as all tanks will take big hits from Pounce.

Freya
All about add management, make sure you make the kill order very clear to your dps. Dots should be used carefully as to not kill the adds you dont want killed. Be aware the lashers have no threat table so you ARE going to get hit, they do little damage unless your unlucky (like I was a couple of times) and get 5-6 on you.

In Phase 2 mushrooms will spawn, it's important to get under them or you will be spell locked.

Their is a lot going on and no doubt it will take you a few attempts to get this fight right but once you've got it it's easy enough. From a healing point of view, nothing too much to worry about, just stick to your assigns and keep your hots up on the tanks :)

Hodir
This is another awareness fight, in a nut shell you should keep moving through as much of the fight as possible as to avoid Biting Cold debuff.

Avoid Icicles falling and when Freeze is called jump onto the large white circles that formed from the larger falling iceicles. If you're too slow you will need to be freed by your dps.

You should jump once on the white area as i've heard reports that running in will not always recognise that you are ON the area.

Thorim
This is a real prick of a boss, basically two seperate fights where one group will stay in arena and the other will run a gauntlet. I've only healed arena so can only really comment on that, basically a shed load of adds will form, we group up in the middle circle (avoiding chain lightnight from towers) and tanks pick up the adds outside of the circle. My role has been to keep hots up on our 3 tanks, mana can be an issue for rest assured that Phase 2 where Hodir comes down is pretty easy.

Their will be a lot of adds, if they start coming into the main group then just avoid the big guys, they cast a whirlwind that will clean us healer types up.

Phase 2 is pretty simple, throughout the fight you will see a chain of lighting coming from the towers to Thorim, move away from the chain as it will explode (wider than the original chain) and kill most people caught in it. The width of the explosion is directly related to the distance thorim is from the tower, so tank him in the middle

I expect this week to have Mimiron down so will post details when we do :)

Addon Watch: Doom CooldownPulse

Well I was looking for an easy way to be notified when my abilities come off of cooldown, this is especially useful for spells like Wild Growth and Swiftmend.

After trying out several addons, some of which seemed ok, some just didnt work for me, I found this little gem; Doom CooldownPulse.

Basically your spell icons will pulse (configurable in terms of where & how) where you set it up to when your spells are available to be cast. Doesn't do anything like try to cast or anything but a very useful prompt without having to watch your bars.

/cast Fishing

Just thought I would post my little fishing macro. Will definately encourage other fishers to give you your space haha

/use [mod] 1
/stopmacro [mod]
/run SendChatMessage(GetRandomArgument("once i caught a fish thiiiiiis big", "it's a lovely day for it", "missus is expecting dinner...","dont cross my line","","","","","","","","","","",""), "SAY", nil, nil)
/cast Fishing

So I have the Fishing Hat that acts as a Lure heance /use 1 but you can replace that with a Lure apply macro just keep your [mod] in there.

all the blanks mean you wont SPAM every cast :)

Simple Usage
1. hold a modifier down to apply your lure
2. normal click will say a witty comment and then cast Fishing

I also got my first Runed Stormjewel last night
enjoy :)

Fishing: /y It's a nice day for it huh

Well Fishing may or may not be the most frustrating aspect of wow, but in saying that the reasons for going through the pain have increased.



The new fishing dailies offer some excellent rewards including some great gems and in WOTLK it's a lot easier to level up, although still mind breakingly boring. You no longer have to fly all around the world to find the best place to fish. Simply travel to Howling Fjord (Horde to Vengeance Landing and Alliance to Valgarde), grab all the lures you can and go nuts.

The gems from your dailies are being sold for 1300+ on my server but that will drop as more people get them.

Some examples of the Epic Gems;

• Bold Stormjewel


• Brilliant Stormjewel


• Delicate Stormjewel


• Regid Stormjewel


• Runed Stormjewel


• Solid Stormjewel


• Sparkling Stormjewel

Well worth the few hours it takes to get your fishing up and running

The other aspect of fishing is it offers an additional method of farming your buff foods for raids, and you'll make lots of friends with your Fish Feasts

Ulduar 25 Man Quick Tips

Well I have spent a fair bit of time in Ulduar over the last week and have to say I'm impressed! Bliz has pulled out some tough content and interesting fights.

I thought I would post some quick tips for people out there;

Razorscale
Make sure you have your camera zoomed out as far as you can handle, if you havent already run this command in console

/script SetCVar("cameraDistanceMax", 25)
/script SetCVar("cameraDistanceMaxFactor", 2)

This will allow you to zoom your camera out a lot further than the default.

The reason you want this is that you can see the fireballs coming :) If your healing you can cast your big heals (or rejuv + swiftmend) on the people it's hitting to reduce the chances of double fireball deaths. Also selecting Razorscale can assist in working out when he's casting.

Matticus has posts a great little guide for the fight so I wont rehash perfection :P
http://www.worldofmatticus.com/2009/04/17/healing-ulduar-razorscale/

XT-002 Deconstructor
This one was pretty easy overall from a healing point of view just be aware of LoS if you are healing the bomb debuffs, our melee were running back up the stairs and I asked them to stick to the left hand side of the stair case so I could get to them without following them up.

Iron Council
Awareness is the key here I think, I suggest getting a module to show your Range (I suggest RangeDisplay) and set it to show Stormcaller Brundir as it's important to stay 40 yards away.

I set Brundir as my focus and have RangeDisplay show his range in the middle of my screen.

Ill post more as we work through the bosses :)

Other than that it's simple stay out of the crap on the ground and sky stuff :)

Progression... I like it

Well last night I got my first look at Ulduar and ill talk about that a little later, this post is really about progression.

A bit of background, I signed up for wow well into BC so missed the majority of progression. I was also a Non-Raider well into the LK expansion due to work and family commitments, so I missed a lot of the first kills (although I managed to get in for KT and Maly first kills - lucky me) but the strats had been worked on prior to this. It has only been since my partner started studying at uni that my schedule opened up enough to allow me to put my hand up for a raiding spot, I refused to put my hand up if I couldnt commit 100%. So I am now a raider which is great! :)

Soooo all that means that this is my first true progression content, the first time i'm looking at never before seen content with a group of people, the first time working through failed strats and dying to the max.

I have to say it's refreshing, to be honest with you all, I have been feeling a little bored with wow in the last few weeks, a couple of things kept me going;

1. was the promise of the above :)
2. was getting my toon to a level where I could give the above a good shot
3. was helping out a friend with managing her guild (where my alt sit)

Ulduar has re-energised me I think, not so much because it's bloody hard (and it is at the moment while we are working on our strats), but because I'm a part of this with a group of people I have spent a fair bit of time with over the last couple of years.

So for those people who are going to give Ulduar a crack some quick tips which should be obvious if you're in a guild who is able to get through some of this content

1. Bring Shed Loads of Buff Food - you'll be dying consistantly until all the strats are out, I'll be farming whenever I'm not raiding but you may be able to just buy it
   
2. Bring your Flasks - you'll be dying consistantly until all the strats are out so flasks will end up being much cheaper AND with the changes they should be cheaper
3. Bring your Reagents - they cost sfa and especially in 10man content you may be the only person of a particular class
   
4. Bring your Patience - people will stuff up, you will wipe, people will say "what the hell was that" alot!
   
5. Bring your Sence of Humor - have a laugh when you do something nub but make sure you dont do it again haha
6. Have Fun - if you not having fun the time to /quit this stuff is great stuff so enjoy it
   

3.1 /sigh

well 3.1 hit, i updated all my mods, removed a couple that were causing issues, went to my local trainer and paid my 1000g for Duel Spec and then HIT ULDUAR!

1 shotted the first boss without too much drama (could see the lead up to the boss being boring after a while)

Then on our 2nd attempt on Razorscale and the server shutdown :(

On a plus I did note the following:

1. I managed to get myself 72 talent points (part of the reason for shutdown I'm sure)
2. Mana wasn't a massive issue for me so far so thats good news, I was keeping my LB up on a single tank without major concerns, will try for 2 tanks and see how that goes haha
   

Preparing for 3.1

Well 3.1 is finally here, I suggest you do the following:

1. Backup your Interface and WTF folders tonight (zip them up or something).
   
2. Run the BackgroundDownloader.exe from your wow folder tonight - this will download the patch, it's 700mb so if your expecting to jump straight into a raid tomorrow night (as my guild is) you'll need the patch down before you turn on your comp when you get home
3. Update your addons - do one tonight and then just before your raid starts up
4. Disable any modules not essential for your raiding (especially if they havent been updated). Luckily the majority of my mods are 3.1 ready :D

I'm really keen to see how the "Lifebloom Nerf of 2009" and the "Mana Nerf of 2009" really affects my gameplay. Again the mana one shouldnt have a BIG impact on me as I dont do the ooc5sr dance too often, but the Lifebloom changes (I said nerf above but it's not REALLY a nerf but a change to how it should be used) may affect me more. Time will tell!

Bring on Dual Specs!!!

Have a good night off. "Family Night" as some may say haha

Upyursh User Interface Setup Guide

The following is a World of Warcarft User Interface Setup Guide that I wrote up while I was redoing my UI.

This is the final outcome :)

Curse Client

I will be using the Curse Client to install my addons as I go, it's really up to you if you want to use this tool but since the latest version came out I have been very happy with the performance
and the application in general.

Go here to download: http://www.curse.com/client/

The Curse Client will not only make the installation of Addon's
easy it will also keep them updated :)

Client (Vanilla) User Interface

The following is my clean UI, no addons or modifications.

Core Modules

This list is probably highly debatable but the following are
modules that I consider to be 'Core' to my game play, they include;
Unit Frames, Bar Mod, Minimap Mod, and a couple of others which are
nice to have :)

Installation

You can install these in a batch and we will then configure them
all together too.

Pitbull 4
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/pitbull4.aspx

While still in Development, I find this to be by far the best Unit
Frames around, the configuration is piece of cake and I think they've
done a great job on this one.

Dominos
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/dominos.aspx

there are a few addons out there for
this but I like Dominos. I also use several tools with it as shown
below.

OmniCC
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/omni-cc.aspx

Show's cooldowns in
your Action Bar

RedRange
http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/fileinfo.php?id=4166

Unfortunately this one isnt listen on Curse so go to WowInterface for
it. This simply makes your buttons red when your target it out of
range.

Button Facade
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/SearchResults.aspx?q=ButtonFacade

Really a cosmetic thing, makes the buttons pretty :D

Chinchilla
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/chinchilla.aspx

Minimap customisation :) move, change shape etc etc

Minimalist
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/minimalist.aspx

Does a few things like Auto-Repairs etc
but also allows customisation of your chat frame. Very small but
useful addon.

MinimapButtonFrame
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/minimap-button-frame.aspx

This is really a nice to have but it helps clear up your minimap, basically moves all your minimap icons into a frame you can move, hide etc.

At the end of that your Curse should look something like this:

Configuration

Now it's time to do all the configuration of these modules. The screenshot below shows how it looks prior to any customisation.

Ugly huh!?! this is where a lot of people would delete all the addons :) but we'll push on.

Dominos
First thing to configure is Dominos,which is the main cause of the confusing screen :) Find the MBF From and left click on the Dominos icon to enter the configuration mode.

You will see all the bars fade a little and you can now make the changes
you want.

Hide the bars you do not want, for me that is;

• Action Bars 4-10

• XP

• Bags

• Class Bar

To hide the bar simply “click” your wheel mouse (not roll but click) on the bars you do not want. I also like to move my additional bars to the top left to make it easier. Move the other bars around as you like.

Bar Setups

Right Click on the “Menu” Bar to load the options window.

• Menu

  • Set the following:
    

    • Columns: 1

    • Scale: 60

    • Faded Opacity: 0 ← this means that when your not mousing over it it
      will be hidden.

  • Move this bar to the button right of the screen :)

• Action Bar 1 and 2
  

  • Set the following:

    • Scale: 75

• Action Bar 3
  

  • Set the following:

    • Spacing: 20

• Vehicle

  • Set the following:

    • Scale: 75

• Pet
  

  • Set the following:
    

    • Scale: 75

    • Faded Opacity: 0

Once done hit Exit

Button Facade

This is really just a way to make your bars look nice.

• Right Click on BF button

• Use the following settings:

  • Skin: Adorn: Light Square

  • Gloss: 100%

Click OK

Chinchilla
Type /chinchilla into the chat window to load the config menu.

Go through and set the minimap up how you like it. You can also drag and drop it as needed

I used the following:

• Appearance

  • Border Style: Gloss

  • Shape: Square

  • Size: 75%

Notice I have moved the map to Bottom Left.

• Coordinates
  

  • I untick this option as I will get these through another module later
    

• Show/Hide
  

  • Untick

    • Mail

    • North

    • Voice Chat

    • World Map

    • Zoom

Minimalist
Type /minimalist into the chat window to load the config menu. Go through and set the options up how you like it.

I used the following:

• Automation – Leave as default

• Chat (ticked)
  

  • Fix Arrow Keys

  • Hide Buttons

  • Mouse Scrolling

  • Move Input Box

  • Reduce Chat Clutter

  • Time Stamps

MBF

This is pretty self explanatory so I wont waste my time, I basically have the window sitting above my
minimap and then hide it when I dont need it.

Pitbull
This is going to be the hardest configuration you will do but the new Pitbull makes it real easy.

Basically we will create a few different layouts.

• MySelf

• MyTarget

• PetsFocus&Targets

• RaidUnits

MySelf

• General

  • Width: 200

  • Height: 40

  • Scale: 100

• Bars

  • Disabled
    

    • Cast

    • XP

    • Threat

  • Height

    • Health: 12

    • Power: 2

    • All others :1

• Texts

  • Name

    • Location: Outside-Left

    • Size: 195%

  • Class

    • Location: Outside-Left

    • Size: 100%

  • Health
    

    • Location: Right

    • Code: Health: Absolute and
      Percentage

  • all others removed

• Auras Disabled

MyTarget

• General

  • Width: 200

  • Height: 40

  • Scale: 100

• Bars

  • Disabled
    

    • Cast

    • XP

    • Threat

  • Height

    • Health: 12

    • Power: 2

    • All others :1

• Texts

  • Name

    • Location: Outside-Right

    • Size: 195%

  • Class

    • Location: Outside-Right

    • Size: 100%

  • Health

    • Location: Left

    • Code: Health: Absolute and
      Percentage

  • all others removed

• Auras Enabled

PetsFocus&Targets

• General

  • Width: 100

  • Height: 20

  • Scale: 100

• Texts

  • Name

    • Location: Left

  • all others removed

• Auras Disable

  
  

RaidUnits

• General

  • Width: 80

  • Height: 20

  • Scale: 100

• Texts

  • Name

    • Location: Left

  • all others removed

• Auras Disable

See this page for more details on how
to setup PB4 (rather than me revisiting)

http://upyursh.blogspot.com/2009/02/pitbull-4-in-review.html

Non-Core Addons

These addons you dont NEED but they make life easier.

WIM
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/wim-3.aspx

Really nice mod that allows you to manage your whispers in an easier way, also helps to not miss any whispers too.

No Config needed, it just works out of the box :D

ArkInventory
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/ark-inventory.aspx

Consolidates all your bags and bank slots into single windows. Can also be setup to group and auto-sort your items but out of the box achieves what we want.

AuctionLite
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/auctionlite.aspx

Helps with your auctioning, I generally only run this on my shopping toon but up to you :)

Cartographer
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/cartographer.aspx

Instance maps and world map love, no config needed

Fizzle
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/fizzle.aspx

Just gives you your gear color in your character and bag screens, nice to quickly see how many purples you are wearing, no config needed

LibQuickHealth
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/project-14303.aspx

Is supposed to speed up your UnitFrames and how they pickup when group members take damage, no config needed

Quartz
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/quartz.aspx

Quartz is a great Cast Bar addon that clearly shows latency and when you should be hitting your next spell. Very useful!

Type /quartz to open the config menu and play with it to get the best out of it for yourself. I just use my own cast bar and my targets.

RangeDisplay
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/range-display.aspx

Simple mod that shows the distance from your target and/or focus.

Right click on the Range Display areas (focus or target) and set your fonts and preferences.

I hide focus and just use Target.

SatrinaBuffFrame
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/satrina-buff-frame.aspx

Allows customisation of the Bliz Buff area. Scale/Move and more.

Type /sbf options to open the window

I have 2 setup, 1 for buff one for debuff. This is the default but I make some changes.

Frame 1

• No of Buffs: 40

• Buffs per row: 2

• Reverse Order: Yes

Frame 2

• No of Buffs: 20

• Buffs per row: 1

• Show in Rows: Yes

• Reverse Order: Yes

Tipsy
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/tipsy.aspx

Move the Tooltips window wherever you want it :)
type /tipsy show to get the window to move where you want.

Multishot
http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info9590-Multishot-Screenshot.html

Nice little addon that takes screenshots whenever you level, get an achievement or down a boss.

No configuration needed.

Raiding Addons

The following are mods that are essential if you plan on raiding.

Deadly Boss Mods
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/deadly-boss-mods.aspx

Raid alerts and warnings for all instances

No configuration needed.

LoggerHead
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/loggerhead.aspx

Automatically enable Combat Log for instances. Useful if you use a website like WWS to analyse your performance

No configuration needed.

Omen
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/omen-threat-meter.aspx

Threat meter is all I need to say, essential for DPS.

No configuration needed really but I do get rid of all backgrounds and borders.

Recount
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/recount.aspx

Recount gives you ingame stats like dps\damage\healing etc.
No configuration needed.

oRA2
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/ora2.aspx

Raid module especially useful if you are leading/assistant
No configuration needed.

Misc Addons

These are misc addons that are useful to some classes.

HotCandy
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/hotcandy.aspx

Shows your hots in a list to allow you to easily see who needs a refresh of Lifebloom or something similar.

Type /hotcandy to get your options like whether to lock the window etc.

Innervator
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/ivtr.aspx

Warning when Mana is low to remind you to use Innervate
No configuration needed.

AutoBar
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/auto-bar.aspx

Autobar is a dynamic bar that is will update based on what you have in your
bags and your class\scenario.

Type /autobar and click “move the bars” to move them around. I get rid of all the other bars and just stick with my general. I remove Quest Items as they dont work the best anyways and tick on Fading

StatBlockCore
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/stat-block-core.aspx

SBC presents LibDataBroker data. The other modules also install their own but I disable most of them. I use the following additional addons as well.

• StatBlock_Durability

• StatBlock_FPS

• StatBlock_Latency

• StatBlock_Memory

• StatBlock_Money

• Broker_Currency

• Broker_Location

• Broker_Regen

• Broker_SocialState

• SimpleMarker

Healing Addons

Decursive
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/decursive.aspx

Useful for any class that can decurse etc. Presents warning and click casting to quickly get rid of those pesky curses and poisons.

Grid
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/SearchResults.aspx?q=grid

Grid is a Raiding UnitFrame addon that presents information in an easy to use format. It can be extended with a number of addons but I use the below.

I use grid with the below:

• GridIndicatorCornerIcons

• GridIndicatorCornerText

• GridManaBars

• GridStatusHots

• GridStatusLifebloom

• Grid_QuickHealth

My configuration how to can be seen here: http://upyursh.blogspot.com/2009/02/grid-configuration.html

Final Screenshot

So this is how it looks for my Hunter
and Druid.

Upcoming UI Guide

Well I'm about to leave home to start my travel to Albury-Wodonga (for work) so I have copied over my wow files to my laptop. Tonight I will clear out all my Interface\WTF files and start from scratch. The main reason being I'm going from a big 24" wide-screen monitor to a laptop monitor.

It is a good opportunity to produce a step-by-step guide to downloading and installing all my must-have mods. So once that's all done I'll post everything up :)

25man Naxx and Maly pictures

Well I uploaded a few screenshots from Wednesday's guild run :) Thought I would like them here, some look cool :) you can see all my screenshots in full size here

To 4P or not to 4P.. that is the question

Well last night I finally picked up my 4P item, so I now have Shoulder, Chest, Hands and Legs. I really wanted to get Head as it's better than my current head item... but I'll try work on that later :)

Basically this post is about when it's worth using the teir gear for the 4p bonus and when is it not. I have Spaulders of Catatonia which are best in slot, so it got me thinking about when it's worth not using the tier gear for 4P bonus.

I think my plan will be that while Tank Healing I will equip the tier gear for 4p bonus for the boost to nourish. As you may or may not know the 4p bonus for resto druids is a 5% bonus to healing done by nourish per hot up on the target. Now obviously on a fight like patchwerk a druid is usually rolling, Lifebloom, Rejuvination and Regrowth and hit Wild Growth when it's off cool down on the tank(s) (i dont think WG counts as a hot for these purposes but I could be wrong). So thats at least a 15% increase to the healing done by Nourish, sounds sweet right.

Now when I'm raid healing I do not have many hots on ALL the raid so the bonus will not be of much use at all. Without hots the bonus does not come into affect so I will most probably switch out the Shoulder for the better non-tier Spaulders of Catatonia. I will also look for a replacement piece for one of my other slots as 2 is as good as 3 with the bonuses, but only if I can get my hands on another item better than the tier gear.

No Stock UI

Well their is a new blog on the scenes that definately 'tickles my fancy'.


It's a blog dedicated to mods and user interface stuff so check it out.
http://www.nostockui.com/

mawson lakes internet petition is up

On the back of my last post I have setup a new website for the mawson lakes internet cause.
Please log in and sign :) It would be much appreciated.

When/If I get 10000 signs (or more hopefully) I will forward the report to Local/State Government and Telstra.

mawsonlakesinternetpetition.orbitservices.net

Mawson Lakes - South Australia: internet makes me cry a little inside

Well I've been having a few issues with my internet lately and thought I'd have a whinge! I live in Mawson Lakes, South Australia ... the "technology hub" of Adelaide (apparantely). For those who dont know Mawson Lakes is a relatively new area in Adelaide, is organised by Delfin and for most parts is a great place to live.

That is however until your trying to get reliable high speed internet access, you see in the infinite wisdom of the company in charge of setting up the original infrastructure (telsta) they chose to go the easy road and installed old technology and RIMS instead of a genuine exchange with quality lines to the various "areas" of mawson lakes. Instead they created a fibre connection from an exchange several kilometers away and then installed RIMS around the place to provide phone lines and internet access.

The problem with this is that RIMS do not handle higher speeds of ADSL such as ADSL2+. I went from an old area (Prospect) with ADSL2+ at 21mbmps to an area I could get an unreliable ADSL connection. The best I can currently get is a 512k connection which SHOULD be fine, but it seems to me that on busy nights the net comes to a grinding halt causing sever latency in game and occasional disconnections from the server.

The more questions you ask about how are they going to solve this the less response you seem to get from them, it's becoming something that annoys me all day haha

G9 & G13 Review and Mappings

Well I got my G9 Gaming Mouse and G13 Advanced Gameboard. Im am bloody happy at the moment :)

just a bit of a learning curve for my game play but that's cool :)

G9 Gaming Mouse
http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mice_pointers/mice/devices/3053&cl=au,en


For me the cool stuff with this mouse include the additional buttons that can be clicked by my thumb (I was previously using a 2 button + wheel mouse) and the ability to on the fly.

Mappings
Wheel Mouse Up



Wheel Mouse Down


Thumb Button 1


Thumb Button 2
Jump

G13 Advanced Gameboard
http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/gaming/pc_gaming/mice_keyboards/devices/5123&cl=au,en&WT.ac=mb|819||hp&creative=12137|G13



This is probably the single biggest change in my gameplay since I stopped click-casting. It is great fun.

First off I decided to not go for a traditional WASD mapping for my movement keys, instead utilising the stick for my movement, combined with mouse movements.

Now to my mappings :| this may take a while haha



My fingers primarily sit on G10-12 and primarily move to G3-5 for my oh crap buttons.
G15-19 are for my wicked dps spells haha

Summary
In summary both devices are true to their 'Gaming' names and I believe are great pieces of equipement. I hope that by removing the need to use 4 keys for movement my reaction time to get important heals out should improve.

I am sure their are plenty of other similar products out there... in saying that I'm excited by these ones and happy with my choice!

New Toys

Well my Logitech G13 Advanced Gameboard and Logitech G9 Gaming Mouse have arrived and I'm hooked :)

I will be posting a full review and setup soon :)

Macro Basics

I thought I would post a quick guide on macro creation as this is something people may not have done before or understand.

Step 1 - Access Macros Screen
Hit Escape to see the game menu and click the "Macros" button



Step 2 - Create a New Macro
Click the "New" but and a new little window will appear


Step 3 - Name and Pick and Icon
type in a name that is meaningful for you and select an icon. If you pick the "?" the icon will be the default icon for the first spell\ability\object relevant in the macro.


Click "Okay" once that's done.

Step 4 - Create Your Macro
now this is the hard part, you can either work on your own or download one from websites.


Breaking down the example here;
#showtooltip will mean when you mouseover the macro it will should be Tooltip for the relevant spell. If you put a spell name in it will show that tip, if not will show the first spell\ability etc.

In this macro it will trigger the use of your trinkets if they are available and then cast Arcane Shot.

Step 5 - Add it to your hotbar
Easy peasy, just drag and drop the macro icon to the toolbar of choice, this can then be triggered via your hotkeys :)


Wowwiki has a vast range of macros that are both general and class specific so have a read of that :)

T8 Resto Piece Bonus

Well I was reading about this the other day and it's pretty cool stuff

Item - Druid T8 Restoration 2P Bonus -- Increases the healing done by your Swiftmend spell by 10%.

Item - Druid T8 Restoration 4P Bonus -- Your Rejuvenation spell also instantly heals your target for its periodic healing amount.

First time I read this I got a little excited as I thought the 4P was saying that it instant healed the total Rejuv amount then ticked but it is really just that the first tick is instant. So you are effectively getting a 1.5-2k instant heal then rejuv ticks as normal. Still tasty and something I'll be working towards come 3.1

I think I'm Happy now

Well after much tweaking and playing I think I'm happy with my new UI.


This is the breakdown of how my UI is split up. I decided to hide my bottom bars as I know the mappings well enough now anyways and also place a bar up the top to highlight my cooldowns so I can quickly and easily see what of my cooldown spells are available. May add my rebirth in there too later.



Modules;

• SatrinaBuffFrame - Allows you to move and customise the Buff Frame.
• HotCandy - I think is a real essential for a HoT based class like druids, will track your LB stacks etc
• Grid - I use grid although HealBot is supposed to be good as well. I added a couple of Grid addons to place corner warnings for stacks etc too and invert the colors! Makes it so much easier to see who needs heals I think (see my config guide)
  
• Decursive - great for single click (left or right) decursing/cure poison.
  
• RangeDisplay - displays the range of your target
  
• Dominos with ButtonFacade - Dominos is an action bar addon while ButtonFacade makes them look purty
• Minimalist - does a few things like hiding chat rubbish and buttons etc but also automates a few painful things like repairs and selling grey items.
• Minimap Button Frame - this mod is cool, it grabs all the icons around your map and puts them into a frame that you can move around.
• Autobar - is a great dynamic bar mod that will give you all you need. Very neat!
  
• Chinchilla - Map movement/customisation
• Recount - Damage/Healing Meters, some guilds ban these because people tend to try to top the list so use this with smarts, fact it's a great tool for breaking down your performance and comparing it to others but nobody cares too much about being up the top of the list as long as your assigns dont die!!
• PitBull Unit Frames 4.0 -Upgraded from 3 and very happy with the new configuration etc (see my review/guide).
• QBar - used to dynamically display your quest items in a bar (Autobar doesnt do this the best.
• SLDataText - provides game stats and info in text on your screen (used to replace FuBar)
• Skinner - This is what makes it all look nice really and added the black bar across the bottom.
  

Other modules that arent visible but still very useful.

• Deadly Boss Mods - must have for raiding, timers and notices etc
• oRA2 - A CT_RaidAssist alternative, another requirement for raiding in most guilds
  
• QuestHelper - this is great for leveling but I recommend turning this off while raiding, can be resource hungry and cause performance issues.
• Postal - replaces and enhances the wow mail system, much better
• WIM - adds a nice chat interface for whispers similar to MSN
  
• ArkInventory - consolidates bags and also allows viewing all yours toons at the same time.
• Cartographer - world map replacement