There was a bit of talk around a few weeks back about using addons for healing, and whether they are necesary. I believe Codi began, then Tam and Chas were involved, and also Miss Medicina (I'm sure there were more as well).
Now, I don't really want to join the debate as to whether using addons makes you a bad or lazy healer. I use addons to make the stressful job of healing, easier. Would I still heal if all the addons were broken tomorrow? Probably - I enjoy healing, and people learn fast, we adapt to new situations. Until that day though, I remain an addon fan.
When I healed on my first Druid, far away and long ago before dual specs were invented, I used Healbot. It suited my purposes, but I never really got on with it - it was too big, in the wrong place, and there were things I wanted it to do that I couldn't work out how to.
When I started playing Leesah, I decided to try Grid + Clique. I had already used Clique before and knew how versatile it was, and armed with a couple of good guides (there are plenty out there now!) setting Grid up wasn't too much of a hassle and I found it suited my purposes almost out of the box anyway!
Setting Up
The picture at the top of the post is my current healing UI. Yes, it's in Halls of Stone, because I get that place Every. Single. Day. Random my foot.
The main thing I was aiming for when setting up this UI was to have the most important information visible and as close to the centre of the screen as possible.
The important information includes:
- Unit frames (Grid + Pitbull for self and target)
- Cooldown information (power auras)
- Decursive
- Cast bar (Quartz)
Any other information was moved to the edges of the screen where it wouldn't get in the way.
The Addons
The main healing-related addons visible in the image include the following:
- Grid - In 25 mans this does expand down over the map, but I mostly raid 10-man so it works fine for me.
- Clique - Sets click-bindings to spells that will cast when you mouse-over a unit frame.
- Pitbull4 - Self, Target and ToT always visible. Party frames are only visible in 5-mans, not in a raid. I should really turn them off in 5-mans, I don't really have any good reason why they're there!
- Quartz cast bar
- Power Auras Classic - You can read all about my power aura settings on my page about Power Auras for Healing.
- GCD - the green circle appears when I cast and helps me to see when the Global CoolDown is up. This can also be used in place of a cast bar.
- Decursive - The little squares to the left of the screen light up when a party member has a removable debuff. I could set the Abolish Poison and Remove Curse up in Grid/Clique, but I prefer them separate.
- Mik's Scrolling Combat Text is only really on because I use it for Balance spec. I should turn the heals off to be honest, I never look at the numbers... /makes note to self.
- Bartender4 for buttons.
If you have any questions about setup or any of these addons, please either comment or email me! You are most welcome to leave feedback as well.
Resources
- Setting up Grid - Murloc Parliament has many posts about the subject!
- Setting up Grid - Keeva shows us how to track HoTs in Grid.
- Power Auras for Healing
- Clique - Spell Ranks in Clique and Using Macros in Clique.
