Knowing when your healer's under attack

Jzar · 03-10-08, 07:26 AM

Hey guys, I just started using my druid to tank things, finally. (Nobody started asking me to tank things until now I'm finally L40...) So, I've discovered that I never notice when my healer's under attack. Sure, he can call out for help, but he shouldn't have to if I'm a good tank. (Which I'm not, but I'm trying to be...)

I assume this is a very old problem, and I'm sure some addon could help. I found TargetOnMate (http://www.curse.com/downloads/details/3632/) on Curse's site, but (a) it doesn't work with MSBT and (b) it doesn't work for your raid, only your party. Anybody here know of a better mod for the job, or want to make one, or have any advice for me?

break19 · 03-10-08, 08:01 AM

Originally Posted by Jzar

Hey guys, I just started using my druid to tank things, finally. (Nobody started asking me to tank things until now I'm finally L40...) So, I've discovered that I never notice when my healer's under attack. Sure, he can call out for help, but he shouldn't have to if I'm a good tank. (Which I'm not, but I'm trying to be...)

I assume this is a very old problem, and I'm sure some addon could help. I found TargetOnMate (http://www.curse.com/downloads/details/3632/) on Curse's site, but (a) it doesn't work with MSBT and (b) it doesn't work for your raid, only your party. Anybody here know of a better mod for the job, or want to make one, or have any advice for me?

Most unitframe mods have an aggro warning feature. aguf and pitbull both will recolor raid/party member's healthbar to be red if that person has aggro. xperl gives the frames a red border. etc etc.

If you want simplicity and ease of configuration, I would suggest either xperl or ag_unitFrames. The easiest and lightests of the three is aguf. For extreme configurability, Pitbull is tops. It is, however a bit resource-heavy, but it is extremely customizable. Xperl is a comfortable middle-of-the-road.

Pusikas · 03-10-08, 08:13 AM

One thing that I currently like about pitbull is the fact that it shows incoming heals. Especially nice when tanking - tells me whether it is time to hit the panic buttons, or if all is fine and dandy.

I kinda dislike X-Perl, but it is one of those addons you just have to try out. People either hate it, or won't use anything else.

As to notice healer-aggro... if your unitframes do not show aggro, or if you still miss it in the heat of the battle, you can put your healer on /focus. Move the focus frame to some prominent place, like right next to your target or so.

And another thing... when tanking, it really helps (me) to scroll out as far as possible, and / or to pull the mobs to a spot where I have a good overview of the situation. Also, turning the mobs around, so that your are facing your healer has the added advantage that you can easily charge a mob running to the healer or to some other squishy. If the squishies are in your back, you have to turn around before the charge. And advise your healer and other ranged professions to keep a distance from you. They wil not draw aggro as easily (having to surpass your threat by 30% instead of just 10% to get aggro), and it gives you more time to react.
You do not always have enough room to set it up this way, but if you do, that helps a lot. Also, moving backwards while turning the mobs around is a nice way to cluster the mobs together and hit them all with swipes. If you just pull with faerie fire and stand there like a rock, chances are that they will stand around you in a way that prevents swipe from hitting all of them.

robthedude · 03-10-08, 11:02 AM

When I tried my hand at tanking I found Tank Alert to be a great help.
It displays name, class and what they're being attacked by, and colours the text according to urgency. ie: red for clothies, orange for leather-wearers etc.

Does require you to familiarise yourself with your party member's names, so you can jump to their defence quickly, other than that it's perfect

Jzar · 03-10-08, 09:15 PM

Well, X-Perl shows it, but not very noticeably. FYI, I am one of those people who can't use anything BUT X-Perl.

But I'm looking for something that will actually alert me, not just provide that info.

Tank Alert is good, and though I haven't tried it yet, it sounds like it might be a little spammy for my tastes. I'll give it a shot tonight, though.

I'll probably just end up making my own mod to do it just right, as soon as this semester is over. I'm thinking of something that will let you add any number of party / raid members to the list of watched players, and will alert you when they take a certain amount of damage over a certain amount of time.

All members of a raid end up taking damage at one point or another, I don't want to know when they're taking damage, just when they're taking enough that it's probably something I need to stop. Is this method of thinking fallacy? Should I just get Tank Alert and trust what it's telling me?

By the way, I really appreciate the good tanking insights you guys have provided. Keep it coming if you have any more for me.

Oakayam · 03-10-08, 10:26 PM

I use Pitbull with banzai module mostly because I like to customize my unit frames. As a tank I don't usually have my eyes on party frames anyway. I haven't tried Tank Alert myself. I prefer to have my scrolling text to be "eye catching" - limited to fewer events and easy to read. My advice for tanking?

1) Learn to use your camera controls. Usually you want to turn the mob's back to the party so you can keep an eye on them and have good view of the fight. All your meele dps should be at the mob's back as well.
2) Learn the instance so you know where to pull, what mobs should be CCed and when and where to expect patrols.
3) When you tank multiple mobs you will switch targets. I keep my ToT frame in the "field of vision" ( lower half and near the middle of the screen) to give me piece of mind. I also have a macro to intervene my ToT on my warrior for quick action. On the druid I'd do something similar with Feral Charge ( i assume you are feral spec ). This is a matter my preference.
4) Mods... hmm.. I don't use any per say to do what you are asking. What I use:

I like Aloft to cusomize the name plates but its basic function is available in default UI. Simply press V to show you enemy name plates.
I use Omen to monitor threat. It can also be done by KLHThreatMeter
And to keep track of my cooldowns I use JIMsCooldownPulse. Some ppl may find it not to their liking as it is a bit noisy but thats my preference.

Happy Tanking