Tag Archives: addons

Improve your (poor) DPS using Weak Aura dynamic groups

I’m a healer. That is, I love healing, and I’m relatively good at it (well, I though I was until I had to heal Heart of Fear in my 10 man raid team, and then I felt like the worst healer of all time).

But you can’t always make your way through the game while just healing. Sometimes you have to actually KILL things, be it for dailies, prove your worth in the Brawler’s Guild, or simply because that boss only requires 2 healers.

My guild’s got 5 available healers. And sometimes it’s my turn to try to do a bit of damage. The problem is, I’m not good at dpssing. But fortunately, I have a secret!

This isn’t something that’ll make you become that awesome damage dealer who tops the chart on each and every fight while also taking no damage and doing his part on the CC and kitting jobs. It’s more a “DPS for the noobs” thing.

The trick is to use Weak Aura as a reminder for your entire rotation.

It’s very helpful when you don’t master your dps spec enough to be able to play it blindfolded and with your toes. At each second it’ll show you what you should cast next, so that you can focus on the environment and other jobs without getting lost with your rotation.

So, how do you do it ?

Go to some resource site like Elitist Jerks, or MMO Melting Pot, or whatever your favorite class site is and pick your ideal rotation or priority list.
Download Weak Aura
Create a new dynamic group
For each spell on your priority list, create a new icon, put it in the dynamic group you just created, and translate the conditions in which you should use the ability into as many triggers as you need.
Make sure the icons appear in your priority order within your dynamic group.

And voilà !

For example, I found this priority list for my Elemental Shaman on Totemspot:

Cast Flame Shock IF the DoT has expired or has 1 tick remaining.

IF you have the L90 talent Unleashed Fury, cast Unleash Elements

Cast Lava Burst IF it is off cooldown AND Flame Shock is on the target

IF you have the L90 talent Elemental Blast, cast Elemental Blast

Cast Earth Shock IF Lightning Shield is at 6-7 charges. Note: It is possible to pre-cast this with 3 or more charges if you need to recast Flame Shock shortly (ie: the dot has more than 5 seconds remaining). For more information on Earth Shock use, see the advanced section.

Use Fire Elemental Totem IF the cooldown has expired

Drop Searing Totem IF you have no active fire totem AND Fire Elemental Totem cooldown has more than 15 seconds remaining

Cast Lightning Bolt

As Elemental is my second spec, I chose to simplify the rotation as much as possible and didn’t pick Unleashed Fury nor Elemental Blast, so I don’t care about points 2 and 4. I didn’t choose to pre-cast Earth Shock either as it adds complexity for a minor dps gain, so step 5 is simple. And as I’m the kind of people who forgot to use his cooldowns, I added them to the rotation, so that I clearly see when they’re available.

So here is the final result in Weak Auras :

My Elemental priority list on Weak Aura

Flame Shock, static icon. Show when Action usable (trigger 1) and the dot has less than 4 seconds remaining on the target (trigger 2)
Flame Shock, spinning icon. Show when Action usable (trigger 1) and the dot isn’t on the target.
Lava Burst, static icon. Show when Action usable (trigger 1) and Flame Shock has more than 1.3 seconds remaining on the target (trigger 2), and I don’t have the Lava Surge buff (trigger 3).
Lava Burst, spinning icon. Idem #3 but with Lava Surge buff.
Earth Shock, static icon. Show when action usable (trigger 2) and Lighting Shield is at 6 stacks (trigger 1).
Earth Shock, spinning icon. Idem #5 but with 7 stacks.
Fire Elemental Totem. Show when action usable
Searing Totem. Show when no active fire totem (trigger 1) and Fire Elemental Totem cooldown has more than 15 seconds remaining (trigger 2)
Ascendance. Show when action usable. (So that I don’t forget to cast it in fights when I don’t always use it in conjunction with Fire Elemental Totem)

Note : depending on your triggers, you may want to force the displayed icon (in my case I had to do that for Searing Totem, as none of the trigger is about Searing Totem, and to be able to show Lighting Shield stacks on Earth Shock icon). You can choose that in the display menu. Uncheck “Automatic icon”, and search for the spell you want to use the icon.

During a fight, only actions that you should use soon are shown. In my case, I have to cast Lighting Bolt when there’s no icons. Here’s a random combat screenshot :

Cast Lava Burst NOW !

Here is the Weak Aura import for my Elemental priority list :
da0tDaqjrfKrHesCkKqs3suP2fsiggL4yIILjv5zirttu6AsW2Kk13Kqnoi4CsfnprfW9qc1(evOdkQAHq0dLQYfLq2OGyKqOoPuvntuKBkQKDQQ(jeYqfuTuPsEQYuL0vrrzUIkAVK)kWGfuomQwmL0JrPjlrxgSzK0NvLrJcNgQvlQG61ibZwKBdPDJ43sz4i1XfvGwUqpxLPt11Py7ukFhfvJxQW5PuTEKqQ9liTYOQgxv5ANwgkswksXuee0q1k1kvvRderL6bUcPyeYyPZEiKTq39OSylfqquZD2cAr4HBKQDAqR0oHJIzFXMHwZoIOs9axHuOZmw6KYmf6otVcwqit3IAUZwSg0bnNucLYQgUuBm4OCsOHvucq1oirn8gM4AvefUgZXLod9P0IgXGwJ43dIN(z0ya4hdxHuWcLzOS7cfNTqHIPebeqquZD2SAPgVuvTylbQQHAsowv5YLlxJvv9ZOQwhiIk1dCfsHc9OSZSz7vSLSD3RZIrquZD2cAEe)EquvTsWQHk1QDAqdX57kxHWmM0IaQwwndb7Aop(axRXCcIij7cPgydiUwEwh3iHggZoU1eOr4OWPQ(z0cjXrHqdBmASuqUM5GUauHuZCqWrdP0NJccPM5Gadb7cP2rdP0NJc6BrlcOiIgICVf1Yb0meWgqCnUXBASMZBObmWLGMJrHs5Ama8JHRpLw0snEPQAMdcyt87esTylbQQHAsowv5Y1mheq4OGSQzoi4ObwHuZCqaBd1k3fsTJgyvv7WKxc0pJCn2e)ov1om5LaTH485k)xUCTi8Wns1onOHzBenCPwijokmgnwkOvIVCydH1X2azvJB8MSQXllXoUr4PapIFpiEQQFgv18i(9GOQAUDAq7CUBondbSbexJB8MgydiUwEwh3iHggZoU1eODgRGnG4HhbQ4o0w4fXetAMdcoAiL(Cuqi1meSRrN42HOM5Gadb7cP2zSc2aIpdvQ4o0c6l)QbRMVRQ2rdP0NJc6JGLcwKRziEe)EquvTJgsPphf0hblfSixUCnMJlDg6tPfn7iIk1dCfsU7U4cfYAHYIPSBl9O0swlIAUZ2TgXGwJ43dIN(90kXhDIBVF2grRFIdrQCwiN9Z2ixohnKsbHGJqqijokmgnwkix)EQQzhruPEGRqYD3fxOqwluwmLDBPhLwYAruZD2U18i(9GOQASMZBObmWLGMJrHsTiGQLv7OHu6Zrb9TOzoiWqWUqQ1yobrKKDHudSbexlpRJBKqdJzh3Ac0meSR584dCnchfov1pJwijokeAyJrJLcY1mheC0qk95OGqQHj2G4bcPweqrene5ElQLdOziGnG4ACJ30kbRgQuR2PbneNVRCfcZysUgda)y46tPfTuJxQQM5GachfKvTylbQQHAsowv5Y1mheWM43jKAMdcoAGvi1yt87uv7WKxc0gIZNR8F5AMdcyBOw5UqQD0aRQAhM8sG(zKlxlcpCJuTtdAy2grJtWOCh3iQQHYXev1C70GgDeoW1OJWbU2rJjYLRXllXoUr4PapIFpiEQQFgv18i(9GOQAUDAq7CUBondbSbexJB8MgydiUwEwh3iHggZoU1eODgRGnG4HhbQ4o0w4fXetAMdcoAiL(Cuqi1meSRrN42HOM5Gadb7cP2zSc2aIpdvQ4o0c6l)QbRMVRQ2rdP0NJc6JGLcwKRziEe)EquvTJgsPphf0hblfSixUCToqevQh4kKcf6rzNzZ2Rylz7UxNfJGOM7Sf04gVjRAL4lh2qyDSnqw1WLAHK4OWy0yPqOHXTEAmhx6m0NslAedAnIFpiE63tReF0jU9(zBeT(joePYzHC2pBJC5C0qkfecocbHK4OWy0yPGC9PuvnpIFpiQQMBNg0oN7MtdSbexlpRJBKqdJzh3Ac0oAiL(Cuq)czkyPGM5GGJgsPphfesnZbbgc2fsndbSbexJB8MgR58gAadCjO5yuOuUgDS9IWDHhbw8HBe9TOXaWpgU(uArl14LQQzoiGnXVti1ITeOQgQj5yvLlxZCqaHJcYQM5GGJgyfsn2e)ov1om5LaTH485k)xUM5Ga2gQvUlKAhnWQQ2HjVeOFg5Y1kXhDIBFoNLcNwoeTweE4gPANg0WSnIgUuJjUnost8CnMJlDg6tPfndXJ43dIQQD0qk95OG(fYuWsb5A8YsSJBeEkWJ43dINQ6NrvnpIFpiQQMBNg04Mix7mwbBaXNHkvChAb9LF1GvZ3vvRXCcIij7cPgydiUgIbEYzODgRGnG4HhbQ4o0w4fXetAMd6cqfsTiGQLHIuqlcOiIgICVf1YrkwJWrHtv9ZOfsIJcHg2y0yPGCndb7Aop(axReSAOsTANg0qC(UYvimJj5AgIhXVhevvUC97PQMhXVhevv7mwbBaXdpcuXDOTWlIjM0C70Gg3e5AyIniEGqQDgRGnG4ZqLkUdTG(YVAWQ57QQziyxJoXTdrnchfov1pJgtCB8qdBM4dKRb2aIRHyGNCgALGvdvQv70GgIlIPWdHzmjxZq8i(9GOQYLlxJyqRr87bXtFk1oNZsHl8gM4A9v0VwuxY1pRQACcgL74grvnuoMOQMBNg0OJWbUgDeoW1oAmrUCnpIFpiQQMBNg0oN7MtdSbexlpRJBKqdJzh3Ac0mheC0qk95OGqQXAoVHgWaxcAogfk1meWgqCnUXBAMdcmeSlKAhnKsFokOFHmfSuqUgDS9IWDHhbw8HBe9TOXaWpgU(uArl14LQQzoiGWrbzvl2sGQAOMKJvvUCnZbbSj(DcPM5GGJgyfsTJgyvv7WKxc0pJCn2e)ov1om5LaTH485k)xUM5Ga2gQvUlKY1kXhDIBFoNLcNwoeTweE4gPANg0WSnIgVSe74gHNc8i(9G4PQ(zuvZJ43dIQQfbuTmuKcANXkydi(muPI7qlOV8RgSA(UQAnMtqejzxi1aBaX1qmWtodTZyfSbep8iqf3H2cViMysReSAOsTANg0qC(UYvimJjndb7Aop(axlcOiIgICVf1YrkwJWrHtv9ZOfsIJcHg2y0yPGCn3onOXnrUM5GUauHuUMH4r87brvLlx)EQQ5r87brv1C70Gg3e5ALGvdvQv70GgIlIPWdHzmPDgRGnG4ZqLkUdTG(YVAWQ57QQziyxJoXTdrnchfov1pJgtCB8qdBM4dKRb2aIRHyGNCgANXkydiE4rGkUdTfErmXKCndXJ43dIQkxUCndXJ43dIQQD0qk95OG(fYuWsb5Amhx6m0NslAedAnIFpiE6tPgUuJjUnost88qddtoNtCTZ5Su4cVHjUwFf9Rf1LC9lOQMH4r87brv1oAiL(CuqFeSKTNCnpIFpiQQMHa2aIRXnEtJTzioIOHi3BrnkMI1mheyiyxi1aBaX1YZ64gj0Wy2XTManchfov1pJgt4hdNGjVqdBmWqQuUM5G(AgIlKAMdcoAiL(Cuqi1yBgIR1TgR58gAadCjO5yuOu7OHu6Zrb9rWs2EY1ya4hdxFkTOLA8sv1mheWM43jKAXwcuvd1KCSQYLRzoiGWrbzvZCqWrdScP2rdSQQDyYlb6NrUgBIFNQAhM8sG2qC(CL)lxZCqaBd1k3fs5AuBeFykAq)Ez1IWd3iv70GgMTr04gVjRA8YsSJBeEkWJ43dINQ6NrvnpIFpiQQMBNg0oN7MtZCqGZJpW7cYbn4iukKAGnG4A5zDCJeAym74wtG2zSc2aIhEeOI7qBHxetmPzoi4OHu6ZrbHuZqaBaX14gVPziyxJoXTdrnZbbgc2fsTZyfSbeFgQuXDOf0x(vdwnFxvTJgsPphf0hblz7jxZq8i(9GOQAhnKsFokOpcwY2tUC5Amhx6m0NslAedAnIFpiE63tdxQvep6mgJglf0kXhDIBVF2grRFIdrQCwiN9Z2ixohnKsbFUBIqqr8OZymASuq7ColfUWByIR1xr)ArDP5qhEFTulQQ(zuiiuCHo7mBpeSKT7mwqilcIAUluq)EkKczloBNDNTxHEiGqMIlUtrn3fOuUC97wvndXJ43dIQQD0qk95OG(iyjBp5ACcgL74grvnuoMOQMBNg0OJWbUgDeoW1oAmrUCnpIFpiQQ2rdP0NJc6JGLS90meWgqCnUXBASndXrene5ElQrXuSM5Gadb7cPgR58gAadCjO5yuOuZCqFndXfsn2MH4AfRzoi4OHu6ZrbHuJWrHtv9ZOXe(XWjyYl0WgdmKkLRb2aIRLN1XnsOHXSJBnbY1ya4hdxFkTOLA8sv1mheq4OGSQfBjqvnutYXQkxUM5Ga2e)oHuZCqWrdScPM5Ga2gQvUlKAhnWQQ2HjVeOFg5ASj(DQQDyYlbAdX5Zv(VC5AuBeFykAq)Ez1IWd3iv70GgMTr0WLAfXJoJXOXsHqdRynUXBYQgVSe74gHNc8i(9G4PQ(zuvZJ43dIQQ52PbTZ5U50meWgqCnUXBAGnG4A5zDCJeAym74wtG2zSc2aIhEeOI7qBHxetmPzoi4OHu6ZrbHuZCqGZJpW7cYbn4iukKANXkydi(muPI7qlOV8RgSA(UQAMdcmeSlKAgc21OtC7qu7OHu6Zrb9rWs2EY1mepIFpiQQ2rdP0NJc6JGLS9KlxUgZXLod9P0IgXGwJ43dIN(90kXhDIBVF2grRFIdrQCwiN9Z2ixohnKsbFUBIqqr8OZymASuq7ColfUWByIR1xr)ArDP5qhEFTulQQ(zuiiuCHo7mBpeSKT7mwqilcIAUluq)EkKczloBNDNTxHEiGqMIlUtrn3fOuUC9lwvndXJ43dIQQD0qk95OG(9qOZSY18i(9GOQAUDAq7CUBoTJgsPphf0VhcDMvZqaBaX14gVPX2mehr0qK7TOwosXAMdcmeSlKASMZBObmWLGMJrHsnZb91mexi1yBgIR1TM5GGJgsPphfesnchfov1pJgt4hdNGjVqdBmWqQuUgydiUwEwh3iHggZoU1eixJbGFmC9P0IwQXlvvZCqaHJcYQwSLav1qnjhRQC5AMdcyt87esnZ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And in case you’d want to make a dynamic group for your own priority list, I’d be happy to help. Just ask in a comment below or send me an e-mail : zahia at one more alt dot com.

Click-casting or mouseover macros ?

2 Replies

When healing for the first time, you certainly don’t use mouseover macros or a click casting mod. You just click on an unit frame to select your target and then cast your healing spell with your normal keybinding (or, worse, by clicking the spell on your action bar). This method can work when you begin healing, but it isn’t the most effective. In fact, you have the choice between 2 alternative methods that can greatly increase your reactivity and your awarness.

With both methods, you don’t need to select your target in order to heal. That mean you can keep the boss, or your MT (or even the hunter’s pet if you ever wish to) targetted at all time, allowing you to do a bit more than just healing. If you’d like to use your new “pewpew-while-in-a-healing-spec” talent, interrupt, or do a bit of offensive dispel, this post might greatly help you.

Click-casting

With the click-casting method you’ll need an addon that allow you to bind your spells directly to mouse button. For instance, you could choose to cast Heal when you shift-left click on an unit frame or to cast your dispelling ability when you middle-click. This method is certainly the best for you if you mainly click your spells instead of using keybidings. Personnaly, I don’t like it as you have to hit a modifier for most of the spells, and thus it takes longer than hitting a single keybiding : you’ll need to hit shift+click instead of you hitting “2″. Moreover I find it a bit harder to heal while moving with click-casting.

There are 2 types of addons that allow click-casting.

Vuhdo and Healbot are raidframes addons that allows you to click-cast if you want to, but you won’t be able to click-cast on other unit frames. For example, you might need to click-cast on your current target if it isn’t in your raid group, you’ll have to keep that in mind if you choose Healbot or Vuhdo as your click-casting addon. Also, raid-frames often doesn’t show up correctly when you get disconnected while in combat, and having your mouse-binds broken too can become a problem.
Clique is a standalone addon whhich allows you to click-cast on any unit frames you’d like to. It is often used by grid user as grid doesn’t offer an integrated click-casting solution.

Mouseover macros

Mouseover macros allows you to cast spells on the target you’re currently mousing over by hitting a keyword biding without having to select it. You doesn’t need any addon to make these work. It works on any unit frames, no matter if you’re using an addon or not, and when mousing over characters in the world (except on yourself). If you’re using mousover macros and with a little bit of training you can even heal using nameplates if you need to. This is what I use and in my opinion it has 2 main advantages : it isn’t addon-dependant, and you can easily bind your main spells to single keys without having to use modifiers¹, making your reaction time shorter.

To heal with mouseover macros, you just need to replace each of your spells by a macro like this one on your actions bars :

#showtooltip
/cast [@mouseover, help, exists][] Heal

What it does :

#showtooltip	show the spell’s tooltip instead of just the name of the macro, and show the original spell icon if you choose the interrogation mark as your macro icon.
[@mouseover, help, exists]	If you’re currently mousing over a friendly unit, cast on this unit
[]	Else, cast the spell as normal. That means that it’ll try to cast the spell on your current target. If you have “autoself cast” activated in the interface option, it’ll cast the spell on yourself if you doesn’t have a target. If not, it then show you a glowing hand.

Copy this macro for each of your spells (replacing “Heal” by your spell name obviously), and you’re done.

If you had your spells bound to your keyboard before, switching to mouseover macros should be a very smooth transition. You don’t need to learn new keybind or do something you didn’t do before. You just won’t have to do something you did (clicking your target before casting your spell)

There is one main inconvenience for mouseover macros : you need to create macros for each of your spells. That can be a bit boring when you play a lot of healing alts, as when you’re used to it it’s hard to heal without it. And, if sometimes you want to change the langage of your wow client, all your macros will be broken.²

I hope I succeeded in convincing you to try click-casting or mouseover macros. You can even use it if you’re a dps: it’s great for Misdirection, CCing your focus and all the other spells you don’t cast on your primary target. If you’re not sure which one is the best for you, try both. Be aware that whatever you choose, you’ll need a short time to adapt. Don’t give up! Once you’re used to it you’ll love it.

Of course I do use modifier, but only for “secondary” spells. Not for the one I need to use all the time ↩
That’s why I’m basically stuck to my english clien forever, even if sometimes I’d like to switch to the french client to read quest faster ↩

Top 5 addons to help you manage your alts

2 Replies

1. Bagsync

Bagsync adds useful information to each tooltip

My favorite one, and the one I’m using at the moment. For each item, it’ll record how much you have available on each toon bank, mail, inventory or even guild bank, and it also counts token/currency. You can also search the database for an item if you don’t have the item you’re looking for in your bags.

Pros :

Very lightweight
Take mailbox, guild bank and currency into account
You can search items if you can’t access the tooltip
It works with any inventory/tooltip addon you could want to use

Cons :

Doesn’t track trade skills, talents, daily quests or raid IDs
You can’t access other toons inventory
You can’t access data about other server’s toons

Continue reading →

Is your UI ready for your Cataclysm leveling?

4 Addons you might need :

Mapster

This addon allow you to scale and move your world map. You can also make the border transparent and see the map for the zone you don’t have discovered yet (only if you want to). I find it very useful while leveling. With Mapster, as your world map doesn’t take a lot of space on your screen, you can have it always out and make the most of the quests objectives feature.

Mapster make traveling from quest to quest easy

Ding Recorder

Automatically takes a screenshot when you level up. Nice lightweight addon to keep mementos of your leveling experience, especially if you’re like me and have a bunch of alts.

Quest mover

Allow you to move your quest watch frame. Lightweight and pretty useful if you don’t use the standard UI. I personnally prefer the 1.0 version of this addon. You need to define the position of the frame in the .lua file, but in the newer versions the frame can’t be locked.

To configure the 1.0 version, open QuestMover.lua in you World of Warcraft/Interface/AddOns/QuestMover directory.

You can define the position by changing the numbers on line 2 :

WatchFrame:SetPoint("TOPLEFT", "UIParent", "TOPLEFT", 30, -100)

The first number (30) is for the horizontal position, and the second number is for the vertical position.

You can also define the height of the frame by changing the number on line 3.

XP Bar None

If you use some action bar addon, you might need an addon that provide an experience bar. I suggest you to pick XP Bar None. This addon is lightweight and fully customisable, it can really fit any UI.

WoW Carto : another useful tool you should learn to love

This one is not an addon, but an external program that can show you about every thing you ever want to know about wow. It contains the maps of all continents with notes for any NPCs or point of interest. The french version is especially full and up to date. Last time I checked, the English version had less information, but the upcoming expansion is a good time to get the program and report anything you find out other players might want to know. While leveling, I often used Carto to find some hidden NPC or quest objective, or to clear my way through complicated dungeons (especially useful in Wailing Cavern).

3 UI tweaks you could use

If you’re a raider and didn’t level an alt for 2 years (I know it’s hard to imagine but some people – often warlocks, I don’t know why – just hate alts and are happy with their only character), you might want to change some things in your UI :

Disable any sort of “pass on green” you might have. Some addons can do that, and there is a option allowing you to automatically pass on loot if you right-click on your character frame. There could be some greens you need in the upcoming instances !
Make sure you have a good unit frame addon. If you’re a healer, you could have been using mainly your raid frames to check your own health, and your unit frames for player and target might be relegated in the corner of your screen. You don’t want to level that way, it’d result in painful deaths.
You might want to disable the testing feature for the talent tree. I often forget to click “learn” while leveling, resulting in playing for some time with unused talent point. Not good !

Shared Topic: New mods for Cataclysm

Getting Started with Grid

For the Lunar Festival, Khi from Tree Burglar challenge the
blogging community and asks us to write some guide for new players. Here is mine !

“You’re the Elder. Pretend you’re smart for a few days =P”

So, you’re a new healer. Or you finally want to have some tiny raid frames so you can dispel you fellow raid members. You’ve heard of Grid as a great raid addon, but you have also heard it was hard to set up. You’re right, Grid is a great raid addon. It takes little place on your screen and let you know about anything you want to know, without giving to you useless information.
But you’re also wrong. Grid can pretty well work out of the box, and I’ll give you a short guide to make it usable.

Step 1 : Download Grid

If you’ve never used an addon before, you can download Grid on www.curse.com. But you’ll get the latest version if you go directly to www.wowace.com.
Click on the “download” link, extract the file in the Interface\Addons folder in your World of Warcraft directory. (Depending on the setting you choose when installing WoW, it is generally in C:\Programs\World of Warcraft)

When you then log into wow, click on the “Addons” button at the bottom left of your screen and check Grid.

Step 2 : Getting started with Grid configuration menu

You have now grid running in your interface. You should have a new icon on your minimap, and perhaps one small and ugly square in the middle of your screen.

If you don’t see the minimap icon, type /grid config, and uncheck “Hide minimap icon”.
Now click on the minimap icon. A window opens with Grid configuration menu.The menu is divided in 3 part :

Layout : Here you can choose how the little square are arranged. You can have different size of raids depending if you’re in group, raid, battleground, etc., and you can choose to show pets, main tanks, have vertical or horizontal groups. You can also choose to hide Grid in some raid configurations by selecting “None”.
Frame : Here you can choose the appearance of the little squares. But, most importantly, this is where you’ll choose how information you need are displayed in the square. In base grid, information can be displayed in different ways, called “indicators”. It can be a colored dot in a corner, a colored border, the color of the square itself, a text information or a central icon. You can add more indicators by downloading pluggins.
Status : Here you’ll choose which information you want to see in grid.

To display any information in grid, you’ll need to configure it in Status, and then to choose in which indicator it’ll appear in Frame.

Step 3 : Setting Grid appearance

First of all, you want to choose a profile other than default, else your grid configuration could be erased when you update the addon. You do that in Profile.

To configure Grid without having to be in a group, you need to choose a solo layout. You can do that in Layout/solo. To place Grid in your interface, you want to choose the greater layout you’ll use most of the time. For me it is by group 25.

Now you should see one little square in a rectangular background.

As the square is too small to be easily readable, you’ll certainly want to change its size. This can be done in Frame/Advanced. You can change the scale of the square in Layout, or change it’s form by changing its width and height in Frame/Advanced. In this menu you can also change texture, font, and the size of the indicators. You’ll certainly want to change the corner size as the default one is very small.

Now, you can place Grid where you want on your screen by dragging the “Grid” tab. The background give you an idea of the place it’ll take when you’re in a raid. Make sure you uncheck “lock frame” (in Layout) to be able to move Grid. If the little Grid tab does not appear, check and uncheck “lock frame”, it should appear.

You can also change the background appearance and the spacing between the squares in Layout and Layout/Advanced.

Step 4 : Displaying needed information

The default Grid configuration show most information you’ll need :

magic, disease, curse and poison are shown as blue, brown, purple and green dots of in top right corner and as a center icon (no screen, sorry but level 1 mobs don’t put debuffs !)
name is shown in center text if the target is at full health
Incoming heals are shown as a green dot in bottom left corner, on center text and as a visual heal bar.
aggro alert is shown as a red dot in top left corner
health deficit is shown in center text if the target isn’t at full health
the border change color to show low health warning, low mana warning and your target.
Frame alpha changed if target is out of range, dead or offline.

I still suggest doing a few change to this configuration :

hide the debuffs YOU can’t dispel on the center icon icon indicator. To do so go in Frame/Center icon, and uncheck the debuff types you don’t need.
The incoming heals alert show in 3 different indicator. I suggest you disable at least one of them. (I disabled the bottom left corner)

The border change color to show low health and low mana warning. Personally, I find this information redundant / useless and I suggest you disable it. (You’ll see if someone is at low health, you won’t wait for the border to light up to heal !). It’ll save you one great indicator to show more relevant information (for example, aggro alert). If you want to see an indication of mana, I suggest you download GridManaBar instead (see below).

In the default Grid configuration some specific class buffs and debuffs are already entered in Status/Auras, but they’re not shown. These buffs are Lifebloom, Power Word:Shield, Regrowth, Rejuvenation, Renew, Riptide, Forbearance, Mortal Strike and Weakened
Soul. To begin with, I suggest you enable only your own buffs and debuff, and to check the “Show if mine” option. Then choose the indicator you want and enable your buff. For example, I choose center icon for the Mortal Strike debuff, bottom-left corner for Renew and top left corner for Power Word:Shield and Weakened Soul.

You can add more buffs and debuffs in Status/Auras by entering the exact name in the correct text area. You can use this functionnality to show missing buffs. For example, I want to see a wite dot in the bottom right corner if Power Word Fortitude is missing. To do that, I enter the buff name.

A new line “Buff : Power Word: Fortitude” appeared in Status/Auras. I choose the color, and check “Show if Missing”.

Now I go to Frame/Bottom Right Corner and check “Buff: Power Word: Fortitude”.

Step 5 : Having more from your Grid

Your Grid is now usable. But there are some additional change you’ll certainly want to make before a long time :

Showing raid debuffs : you’ll certainly want some of the debuff raid bosses use to put on your raid to appear in you raid frames. That can be done in 2 ways. The simplest is to download GridStatusRaidDebuffs. You’ll need to update it often to have new debuffs. That’s why I suggest you to download it directly at wowace.com to have the newest version.
In Status/Raid debuff, you can choose which debuff you want to see (you don’t want to see all debuffs, some are not useful and will just hide important information). You can also choose not to show dispellable debuffs (I suggest you choose this option, as the dispellable debuffs are already shown). By default, the raid debuffs are normally shown as a central icon. If not, go to Status/Central Icon and check raid debuffs.
If you don’t want to download a new plugin, you can add each debuff manually. (It also works for any buff/debuff you want to see in Grid)
Setting different priorities allow you to see multiples status in the same indicator : for each grid status, you can choose a priority level. If differents status are displayed in the same indicator, only the status with the higher priority level will appear. For exemple, I chose to have Power Word: Shield and Weakened Soul in the same corner. I chose a priority level of 91 for PW:S and 90 for WS. Thus I see the WS debuff only when the PW:S is consumed.
You’ll certainly want to know how much time is left on your hots. You can have that by downloading GridStatusHots. If you’re a priest, instead of selecting Renew in your renew indicator, you’ll want to select My Renew. Then the color of the hot will change depending on how much time is left on it. You can choose the colors of the dot in Status/My hots/My Renew, as well as the moment you want the dot to change color.

For example, as a shaman, you’ll want the riptide dot to change color earlier than for other hots. I set it to change to color 2 at 4 seconds remaining and to change to color 3 at 2 seconds. When the dot is color 2, I know it is the perfect time to cast a Chain Heal on that target. When it change to color 3, I know I don’t have the time anymore to cast a Chain Heal before Riptide wears off.

Bright pink dot :
Riptide just applied

Red dot : less than 2
seconds left on Riptide

4 to 2 seconds left on Riptide,
time to cast Chain Heal on that target

If you’re a priest or a shaman, you’ll want to see your group mana bars. You can download GridManaBar. This plugin can be easily configured in Frame/Advanced/Mana bar.

There are 2 useful options to set up Grid on your screen:
In Layout, you can check (or uncheck) the option “Horizontal groups”, depending if you want your groups displayed horizontally or vertically. In 25-men raids it won’t make a huge difference, but in 5, 10 or 40-men raids you’ll need to use this option to fit Grid in your UI.
In Layout/Advanced, you can define an anchor for the unit frame. Selecting the good anchor will allow Grid to be exactly where you want, whatever raid setup you’re in. For example, I chose the Top-left Anchor. Thus, the top-left square of Grid will always be at the same place, and the groups will grow to the bottom and to the right.
There are more options to change the look and feel of you frames. Default frame are empty at full health and fill up vertically. I find it great : you can better notice low health people and the vertical orientation allow me to have small frames thus I don’t have to move my mouse a lot. But it can be confusing at first. You can change that in Frame/Advanced.
Frame orientation allow you to have your frames fill up horizontally, like most unit frames.
Invert frame color will allow you to have your frames full at full health, like most unit frames.

I think I summed up all you need to know about Grid to get started. Of course it won’t be the awesome layout you can see on some UI, but you should be able to use Grid and improve your layout to make it fit your needs as you go along.