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    Monday, April 20, 2009

    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 :)

    Thursday, April 16, 2009

    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

    Wednesday, April 15, 2009

    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

    Tuesday, April 14, 2009

    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

    Saturday, April 11, 2009

    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.

    Sunday, April 5, 2009

    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 :)

    Saturday, April 4, 2009

    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

    Thursday, April 2, 2009

    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.

    Wednesday, April 1, 2009

    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/