Power Auras for a HealerFollow

I've always been a proponent of Priests having the information they need to be effective. Getting that array of information in a form you can process quickly is key to being a good healer. Raid frames like Vuhdo, Grid, and Healbot present a wealth of information, but there may be a spell or two you want to keep closer tabs on.

You can put spells like Divine Hymn on your action bar and see their cooldowns, or use other addons to do so. One addon for doing this is Power Auras. Even though I've used it for a long time, sometimes getting it configured properly seems a little tricky.

I'm going to go through an example with PoM, where I position the information directly above my raidframes. That way my eyes don't have to travel down all the way to the action bar (ability should also be on action bar for sensing usability). I've also added additional conditions which you will see.

Here is the basic setup which shows a PoM icon above my Raid frame when it is able to be cast by me.




Ok, that's pretty useful for me, but PoM is a unique spell. Even though it is able to be cast, I may not want to cast it until it has timed out or used up its charges. Below I've overlayed some text on top of the icon to show me that information. I've done this by defining a 2nd aura for PoM, and placed it on top of the 1st.



The other thing I can think of that might be cool, since we've gone this far, would be to add another text overlay for when PoM is on me. I could indicate in Text that SW Death is needed to send it on its way, or simply say "Do it" again to prompt me to recast it on the tank. Here's the settings after I got that working.



I hope this gives you some ideas for other uses. Some that I have used are indicators yelling at me that I was Positive or Negative, or that Spell Reflect was active.

Please note that it is very useful to copy a working aura of the type you need. Simply select the aura that is working, press the copy button, then select Page 1 to put it on the same page of auras. Then you can modify it.

I hope this will get you thinking of uses, and perhaps you will find it as handy as I have.

Edited, May 16th 2010 2:29pm by dadanox

Thanks Mozared. As people can see from your post, Power Auras can display information in many different ways. This includes animation on the effects, timers, and sound. You can do glows, cool patterns, or as I showed, text and icons. You can show when something has happened, or hasn't, when buffs run out, or debuffs go on, or when something is usable or not.

As a 57 year old gamer, I need events to really jump out at me. Healing raid frames help. Power Auras add to that.

Edited, May 16th 2010 6:45am by dadanox

I really like Powerauras. My short cd's are right above my raid frames as well. I include PI, PS and GS with the short cd's in there as well. My action bars are hidden during combat, so I rely on Powerauras for help. The timer function is especially helpful with the longer cd's.

I made a list of a few buffs that I wanted to track, more for shadow since they really don't affect my healing tactics very much. I found that putting these in the "Global effects" section great since they will work with any toon with the add-on.

List of buffs from various sources:
Talisman of Resurgence= Hospitality
Shard of the Crystal Heart= Celerity
Nevermelting Ice Crystals= Deadly Precision (The stacks are different than the actual buff)
Proc from ICC Ring= Chilling Knowledge
Abyssal Rune= Elusive Power
Ephemeral Snowflake= Urgency
Purified Lunar Dust= Revitalized

...and my favorite for nerd-raging:
Aspect of the Pack= Pack (Partial names suffice, you can put in Pack/Crusader to check for either.)

Most of the others are either intuitive or readily ascertained. The proc from the ring started out as some monstrously named buff for all of them, something like "Bonus Effect from Icecrown Citadel Ring- Revered Reputation". I believe they have a different name for each kind now.

I also have one for Shadow Weaving, set to turn off once I get 5 stacks up when I am on Shadow patrol. (Use "invert" ftw!)