I’m always working on improving my game play and I thought I might share some of the recent changes I’ve made on the off chance that someone might find this useful. Also, I’d love to hear any feedback/suggestions from others in the guild!

1. I’ve customized my UI so that my focus is normally at the lower center of the screen (where all the action usually occurs). I personally feel that the stock UI is slightly hard to use because I would constantly have to scan from the health bars at the top left to the buffs/de-buffs at the top right, down to what was happening in the center and past that to my cool-downs at the bottom.
   
   
2. I’ve remapped my key-bindings so that a lot of my shortcuts are near the “WASD” keys which I used to move. I was surprised at how well this worked. For example, I now use ‘SHIFT-D’ to ‘Cleanse’ and I’m faster at it then I ever was before.
   
   
3. I’ve started using “hover” macros for healing and some buffs (like BoP). This allows me to hover my mouse over the screen avatar or the unit frame to cast these spells. Once I got used to this method, I found it shaved precious time off my previous method of clicking to select and then pressing a key to heal. Another method that I hear works very well is to use a mod such as Clique.
   
   
4. For raids, I’ve added the Grid mod to my UI. I use this for 10 man Kara runs up to 40 man AV runs. Grid has helped me in two ways: First, I find the layout amazing for allowing me to easily scan for those who need a heal. Second, I’ve adjusted the setting in Grid so that the box for anyone out if range is set to an alpha value of 25% - this works REALLY well in situations like Alterac Valley, where I can now instantly know who is in range for a heal.
   
   
5. I’ve added a shortcut to a down-ranked Holy Light. Even though down-ranking has been severely nerfed, this can still be very useful to keep Light’s Grace and the Libram of Absolute Truth active, without spending the mana on a full heal if it is not required.
   
   
6. I’ve learned that thanks to the new Spiritual Attunement ability, Lay on Hands can be used on myself if I am out of Mana to gain some back.
   
   
7. I joined VS, where the healers really rock and can carry me when I make dumb-ass mistakes!
   
   
   Please post any tips you may have discovered!

I saw that you had put up some UI shots. It doesn't look like they show your Grid setup, which I would very much like to see.

Some other healers have raved about Grid. I've never been able to get it configured the way I want it. So I'd love to see/hear what you've done.

I saw that you had put up some UI shots. It doesn't look like they show your Grid setup, which I would very much like to see.

Sure thing! I just recently added Grid, so I'll try and get some shots up this weekend.

I remember Kharthis having some cool interfaces setup pre-bc. I'm always nervous going that route, but I suppose at some point I should smarten up the placement of stuff in my ui.

We had a raid healing thread going a few months ago which you may find interesting.

http://www.victorious-secret.org/forums/showthread.php?t=9122

I saw that you had put up some UI shots. It doesn't look like they show your Grid setup, which I would very much like to see.

Some other healers have raved about Grid. I've never been able to get it configured the way I want it. So I'd love to see/hear what you've done.

Here's mine. The Kara shot is newer, but mostly only surface changes; the FLK shot has Grid in a 25-man layout.

Uwilldiez?

I don't know if I could heal someone with that name.

That's his paladin's name. His warrior is Uwilldie. His mage is Arcanepwning. He's a nice guy, but kind of a one-trick pony re: larping larping loud noises.

Whew, good thing there's no on in this guild that types in all caps & larps!

So, here's what I want grid to show me:

1) Who has aggro
2) How much health a person is down
3) Buffs I've cast & debuffs I can remove
4) If a person is receiving an incoming heal
5) Who is in range

Possible? No?

Yes to all.

1) I have aggro set as a red dot in the upper right corner.
2) I have two lines of text in each box -- the top is their name, and immediately below that is the health deficit.
3) Fortitude is bottom left dot, spirit is bottom right dot, shield is bottom center dot. Disease and magic are both full frame borders, so they stand out better. I have fort and spirit set to only display if they're missing.
4) Incoming heals are center left dot.
5) Out of range is alpha-shifted, like Kharthis's.

Seriously, this shit is crazy-customizeable. Eight dots, three center text boxes, borders, colors, center icons...

Aro wins for sexiest UI I've seen.

Show me.

I'm giving Grid another shot. Here's a problem I have.

I have Grid set up to tell me if Prayer of Spirit is missing. But in a group, I might cast Prayer of Spirit or Divine Spirit on a person. If I just put DS on someone, then the little "They are missing PoS" message won't go away.

Any way to fix this?

Also, if anyone else is going to try Grid, you may want to read this:

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.html?topicId=1272277641&sid=1

2) I have two lines of text in each box -- the top is their name, and immediately below that is the health deficit.

Oh that's a tremendous help, thanks so much for mentioning that!

I saw that you had put up some UI shots. It doesn't look like they show your Grid setup, which I would very much like to see.

Ok, I uploaded 2 more. One from our 10 man Kara run and one 40 man AV.

I'm giving Grid another shot. Here's a problem I have.

I have Grid set up to tell me if Prayer of Spirit is missing. But in a group, I might cast Prayer of Spirit or Divine Spirit on a person. If I just put DS on someone, then the little "They are missing PoS" message won't go away.

Any way to fix this?

I found that this is fixed by using the GridMissingBuffs add-on.

I'm going to give Grid + Clique a try. More here:

http://warcraft.fibergeek.com/?p=343

2) I have two lines of text in each box -- the top is their name, and immediately below that is the health deficit.

OK, I was able to activate the second line of text, but I can't get anything to show up there other than the player name again. That is, I selected the checkbox "health deficit" for the "2nd line" option and it doesn't show up.

Go to status -> health -> health deficit and set the health threshold to 100%. By default it only shows you a deficit when it is really, really big.

Go to status -> health -> health deficit and set the health threshold to 100%. By default it only shows you a deficit when it is really, really big.

Yup, that was it! Ty!

I've been using Klik (which is the replacement for Clickheal) and I think it has more options to it then Clique. And I use X-Perl for my UI.

X-Perl's raid interface actually shows blizz style buff and debuff images for everyone who has them. It also changes the color of the character box if they have a debuff you can remove.

I usually set it up so that the groups are separated by class instead of group which allows me to focus better on the tanks.

OK, here's one.

I've been using Grid + Clique for about 10 days now and I'm liking it.

I still haven't quite relearned all of my casting reflexes. I frequently have to check a little print out above my screen. "What's fear ward again? Oh, right Ctr+Alt+Left click!" But eventually the new casting reflexes will lodge themselves in my brain.