Monday, May 25, 2009

How to add Debuffs to Grid

This is just a basic walk-through on how to add specific debuffs (or buffs) to Grid.
I personally do not use the extra addon GridStatusRaidDebuff, though I have heard many raid leaders say they love it. If you'd rather select your own specific debuffs for Grid to show, read on :)


Addings Debuffs to Grid:
  1. In your Grid Menu (either the drop-down menu from the screen icon, or access by typing /grid config), select Status.

  2. In the Status menu, select Auras.

  3. In the Auras menu, type the appropriate debuff name in the "Add new Debuff" window. You can see this in both the Grid Config panel and in the drop-down menu, as shown below.


  4. Type in the EXACT name of the buff or debuff you wish to see, such as "Sara's Blessing" or "Frost Blast." Buffs are positive things like Thorns and Mark of the Wild; debuffs are hurtful things.

  5. Now that you have added the debuff as a status, you can set its specific options to your liking by selecting it in the list of added debuffs:


    The color setting can be used to control transparency of the debuff's icon, and/or the actual color of the debuff's box if you wish to add it to a place on your grid frame that does not support showing the actual graphic icon (in the default Grid package, there is only one place that supports icons, but other positions that just set a little colored box indicator).

    The priority will control whether this debuff is shown over another debuff or alert you have set in the same frame for that player, and you can filter the classes to not show this debuff if you wish.

    The range filter will keep the debuff from showing on your frames if you are out of range of the person. Showing the duration will only work if you plan to set this debuff as the "center icon" in your frame: it will add a timer for the debuff's remaining duration.

    Unchecking the "Enable" will, of course, disable the debuff from ever showing on any of your frames.

  6. Now that you've added the status to Grids' "library" of available statuses, it is time to add it to your frames and choose where you want it to appear. From Grid's main menu, select Frame.

  7. My preference for showing most debuffs is in the Center Icon frame. To do this, select Center Icon from the Frame menu, and then put a checkmark next to your selected buff(s) and/or debuff(s). You may select more than one in this list, but remember: only one can show up at a time. Each of these status' priorities (configured in the status menu) will decide which is shown over another if multiple buffs and debuffs occur at the same time: the highest priority will show. If two or more have the same priority, then Grid will choose the oldest one to show.

    ** Alternatively, you can add the statuses to a different frame, such as to a corner or to the Border. This will change the color of the border or corner box to the color you selected in the debuff's Status options. If you set it as the "Health Bar," it will change the color of the person's health bar to match the debuff. Again, priorities will decide which status added to that frame are shown over the others!**

  8. Congratulations, you've now added a debuff to your grid frames!


My personal center icon in the frame settings uses the following debuffs:
  • Buff Group: Mark of the Wild (only out of combat and if missing. Added using GridStatusMissingBuffs)
  • Debuff type: Poison
  • Debuff type: Curse
  • Ready Check (added using GridStatusReadyCheck)
  • Boiling Blood (Saurfang)
  • Burn
  • Death Plague
  • Dominate Mind (Deathwhisper, Yogg)
  • Frenzied Bloodthirst (Lana'Thel)
  • Frost Blast (Kel'Thuzad)
  • Frostbolt
  • Fusion Punch (Iron Council)
  • Gaseous Bloat (Putricide)
  • Gut Spray (Dreamwalker)
  • Harvest Soul (Lick King)
  • Impaled (Marrowgar)
  • Inoculated (Festergut)
  • Instability (Sindragosa)
  • Necrotic Plague (Lich King)
  • Pact of the Dark Fallen (Lana'Thel)
  • Pyroblast (I hate Molten Colossusesses!)
  • Saronite Vapors (General Vezax)
  • Swarming Shadows (Lana'Thel)
  • Unbalancing Strike (Thorim)
  • Unbound Plague (Putricide)
  • Volatile Ooze Adhesive (Putricide)
  • Wounding Strike

Each of my chosen debuffs (and the MotW buff group) has a "color" setting of gray with 50% opacity. They show up in the center of the frame as their own graphic icon, but at a 50% opacity so that I can still easily see the health bar underneath, as shown to the left.

You can faintly see the "skull" icon in the top left corner of the warrior's frame, which is telling me that he has been marked with a skull. This is an extra Grid addon module, GridIndicatorCornerIcons along with GridStatusRaidIcons.

I also use GridIndicatorCornerIcons with the following:

Raid Icons

Top Icon (top right corner left):
Essence of the Blood Queen
Frost Beacon
Gas Spore
Mark of the Fallen Champion
Recently Infected
Sara's Anger
Storm Power
Plague Sickness


Bottom Icon (bottom left corner right):
Gastric Bloat
Infest
Iron Roots
Rune of Blood
Sara's Blessing
Squeeze


For Sanity on Yogg Saron, I use an extra addon called GridStatusSanity. More on it here.


Other Grid Addons that you can use for adding graphical icons to new spots in your frames include:

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

GridStatusRaidDebuffs is really great. I picked it up with my current Grid Project (one week, and I'm still with it and haven't had an overwhelming urge to chuck my PC out the window or move back to X-Perl) and I really like it. It is important for me to know who is affected by everything in the raid. While this may seem like information overload for many, I need to know what is going on! What I do like about GRID is that I can prioritize those things that are most important for ME to know about to cleanse, while still keeping track of everything else =)

I opted to use my healthbar colors to show me poisons and curses, so that it is really obvious with everything going on in my grid what I need to deal with.

I do have a question though. I added Sara's Blessing to my debuff list and it works like a charm, showing me the icon for those affected by it. I have tried to add Sara's Favor to both my buffs and debuffs in an effort to know who is afflicted with this (mostly so I can yell at them to move out of the middle if needed), and I cannot for the life of me get GRID to show this buff. Have you had this problem Kae?

Anonymous said...

And of course, by Sara's Blessing, I mean Sara's Fervor =P

Kae said...

*nod* yep, the usefulness to raid leaders is why I commented on the extra addon in the intro :)

Far as Sara's Fervor is concerned, I haven't tried adding it, yet (it doesn't apply a DoT, so I personally ignored it). It looks to be a buff just like Sara's Anger and Blessing, so theoretically it should work for adding raid buffs/debuffs just like the Blessing and Anger.

Confusing. I'll try adding it this week and see what happens!

Anonymous said...

With the number of times this morning I've typed "Sara's Favor", I am going to double check my GRID tonight to make sure that I've not simply mis-spelled the buff =)

I did add it as both a buff and a debuff, trying to see if it will pick it up. If I didn't flake out and it is correct in my GRID, it is most definately not showing up.

Anonymous said...

"Each of my chosen debuffs (and the MotW buff group) has a "color" setting of gray with 50% opacity. They show up in the center of the frame as their own graphic icon, but at a 50% opacity so that I can still easily see the health bar underneath, as shown to the left."

Could you tell me please where the settings are to set the colour and the opacity like that? I'm looking for them but for the life of me, I can't find them.

Kae said...

Under the status -> auras menu, for each debuff/buff at the top of its own menu there's an option to set the color. Click on the color to alter it, and right of the color box (above the cancel button) there should be a vertical slider. The top of the slider if fully opaque; the bottom is completely transparent. Setting it halfway will give you 50% opacity :)