It seems like a lot of the discussion / mods here have been focusing on displaying the current state of a DK's runes, rather than trying to focus on where in the rotation the player is. I like the Guitar Hero style, but what if it were ability icons that were scrolling down, rather than runes? I'm at work ATM, so I can't play around with images, but...

Let's say that the user enters their rotation as PS -> IT -> HS -> HS -> OB -> DC.

After one full rotation (assuming 6 GCD = 9 sec), the runes would have the following cooldowns:

U: 1sec
F: 2.5sec
B: 4sec
B: 5.5sec
F: 7sec
U: 7sec

So ignoring DC for now, the UI would look like (each line is 0.5sec of travel, <> is a highlighted spark or skill icon, [] is not highlighted):

Note that IT and OB have runes available at the same time, so they appear at the same level. However, since IT is next in the rotation, once another second passes and the player hits PS, the display would move OB several seconds out due to the U rune having just been used. It would look like:

Obviously there'd be some interesting code to get rotation resets properly detected, and you'd want to be able to switch between rotations easily for AoE pulls, etc. but the core idea would be to remain focused on the abilities, and not have the player always doing the runes available --> abilities available conversion in their head (yes, I realize that good players will be able to do this conversion quickly after enough playtime with the class, but this might help lazy players like me . Additional columns could have disease timers (perhaps integrated into the column for the ability that will refresh the disease - this would let the DK know when a disease would get clipped or is going to fall off).

There are too many factors in the perfect rotation being broken, the most prominent ones being trash that dies quickly and bosses where you need to stop DPS and move for a long period.

The rune -> skill conversion is what makes the class interesting, and assuming a mod could properly do that for me, I wouldn't like it.

If anybody would like help writing a function or random code segments, feel free to PM me. I won't promise that I can get any problem solved, but I would be willing to try. I don't have much experience with UI coding, but the back-end functions would be fine (e.g. the quoted radial problem).

I'm using Icehud's runes-addon for tracking runes. It shows if a rune is available to use or not, and that has been working fine so far.

What isn't working though is tracking of plague timers. I'd like to have only two timers visible for current target: one for Frost Fever, another for Blood Plague.

I tried DoTimer, but the configuration options were the messiest I've ever seen and the working logic was beoynd my understanding. Does anyone happen to know if there's some simple solution for plague tracking?

I'm currently using Classtimer which is pretty nice but I'm also thinking about writing another Disease tracking addon that works with my RunePack addon. It will show the 3 diseases (Unholy gets an extra) and possibly some simple alerts when proc based abilities become available like Sudden Doom.

I used to cleave to Classtimer like it was my best friend, but since returning for WoTLK, I've noticed the description on both Curse and WoWInterface saying that it was extremely incomplete in what it would track, especially for Deathknights. Is this inaccurate?

Classtimer has the 3 diseases I need to track plus Bone Shield and Horn of Winter so If there is something it is missing it doesn't matter to me.

Thank you very much, Classtimer seems to do the job. It shows only the buffs/debuffs I want to without any extra fuss, it's easy to configure and doesn't get in your way.

I would like to see something like this for runes:



It's sleek and simplistic, visually clear, and is evidently designed to be placed right under your player on the screen. I find that as a DK i spend a lot of time looking at my rune and runic power status, so having that information right in the middle of my screen would be great. I like this method because it shows separate rune cooldowns, death runes and what rune slot they are taken, and still doesn't take much space. Another thing I'd like but couldn't really mockup very effectively would be some type of fade-in effect for runes regening. ie, the closer to full a rune is, the less translucent and more vivid the colour is. I'm still debating on what the best way to display runic power would be - the obvious method being just to use another similar bar, but with a number in the middles instead of the rune symbol. I would be very grateful if someone could base a rune mod design on this, because I haven't gotten my own lua skills to this level!

My rune design is pretty much exactly that. My earlier illustration wasn't that great thought.
I'm working on it, althought it will take a while (because I don't know LUA yet...).

Rune Pack has been well received and I really like it the way it is so: I started sketching concepts for my next addon, Deathboard: the Death Knight dashboard. It will be a small display area that will include a Runic Power number just like the one in RunePack, a Disease tracker and an area to see what DK procs are up like Cinderglacier and Sudden Doom.

First just the addon:
ImageShack - Image Hosting :: deathboardhb9.jpg

This is the addon on top of RunePack with a bunch of comments about how each area works.
ImageShack - Image Hosting :: deathboardanobo8.jpg

I'm planning on not including it because it is a passive debuff if you have the talent and one disease is up it will always be there. Unless there is a mechanic that says otherwise.

Clarification: Is there a game mechanic that would make your diseases go on but not Ebon Plague?

The mechanic is that one target can only be afflicted by one ebon plague at a time. In other words, if 2 unholy DKs attack one target and puts up diseases, one will get all 3 up, and the other will only get two (no ebon plague). Then next time diseases get applied it could switch or stay the same. I don't know the details for telling if one replaces the other, or refreshing your own vs refreshing some elses, etc. But, it is definitely true that only one ebon plague can be active on any given target at any time no matter how many DKs are attacking it.

Regarding notifications of procs. I know that MSBT already includes rune strike ability, but is there a way to configure MSBT or ClassTimers mod to notify me visually or via audio signal when Glyph of SS procs? I've been paying attention to my ClassTimer bars when they refresh but sometimes I do lose track with everything that is going on. So having secondary notification would help.

This is interesting. I have seen this in game but didn't realize what it was.

Suppose your tank is an unholy DK you start DPS and Ebon Plague is already on the target. You still get all the bonuses of Ebon Plague as if it is your own right? IF you still get the same bonuses and it is always there what is the point of tracking it separately?

No, only the person who applied Ebon Plague gets the benefit, which is why it is bad to have more than one Unholy DK in a group.

However, I'm not sure if showing that Ebon Plague is up is useful information. If you're the only Unholy DK then you'll always have yours up, and if you're not then sometimes you will and sometimes you won't, but will you ever change what you do based on that?

I started using Classtimer to track the disease timers, but I've had an issue where the timers disappear even though they're still up. I assume this is a bug with classtimer itself, but does anyone know if its specific to DKs right now, or has anyone else even seen it?

I've been using filters with OpenRDX to show me large timers for self buffs (Horn of Winter, trinkets, IBF, etc), my two diseases (anything else like Ebon Plague, Stroke, Death Grip, etc, seems really unnecessary), and self debuffs, all in the same area. For triggers I've been using MSBT.

Your proposed Deathboard has some interesting things to it. I really like the trigger system you have there, although I don't particularly like the typeface (but that's easily changed).

I think it would be useful to have an "on/off light" for Rune Strike, as putting it in text would be way spammy for tanks, but looking at your action bars to light up doesn't work well either (assuming you're not just macro'ing it into every attack, which I've found can seriously screw you at times).

The disease timers seem pretty nice, only providing a number at three seconds, but I don't think they look very good graphically. The red and blue outline seems like too much, the Blood Plague/Frost Fever icons are distinctive enough in my eyes.

Some kind of indication for Horn of Winter would be nice. I currently have my OpenRDX icon timer and an MSBT trigger when HoW fades, but it's kind of sloppy. The trigger will launch if another DK uses HoW, and there's not much to tell me it's about to be down before it goes down.


If you want to go further, you could include indicators for things like Blood Tap, Empower Rune Weapon, Howling Blast, etc. If displayed intelligently it could be very nice, though you run the risk of it simply becoming too much clutter with the more you add.

Are we sure about this Ebon plague interaction. The tootltip text implies that you get the 3% crit for having the talent whether the debuff is up or not. And if it increases disease damage and magic damage for everyone attacking then why would it matter if it is yours or not?

I'm also using IceHUD's Rune display. It was easy to enlarge it and place it directly beneath my character's feat so I can easily see when they're on CD.

I personally find that graphical elements like scrolling runes, while neat, tend to be distracting. My goal is to be able to see which runes are available and remaining time until used runes become active. That's the information that's relevant to us from a play perspective. Fading/flashing runes with numbers on them meet this need perfectly for me.

As for tracking Plague timers, I use NeedToKnow. I highly recommend it. It's very clean and simple to use.

Ebon Plaguebringer has two effects:

When this is on a mob it increases disease damage taken and magic damage taken. All players receive this benefit.

Ebon Plague counts as a third disease (just like crypt fever). When your application is on the mob it increases the damage of your strikes and other abilities whose power is boosted by the number of your diseases on the mob. If there are two Unholy DKs in the raid, one will have their Scourge Strike's power boosted by Blood Plague, Frost Fever, and Ebon Plague, the other will have their Scourge Strike's damage boosted only by Blood Plague and Frostfever.

This gives a passive 3% crit and anyone who specs for the talent receives its benefit regardless of the number of other Unholy DKs.

The 3% is valid for whoever spec'd the talent. The part that gets missed by one person is the bonus damage applied to scourge strike and blood strike, as well as the DoT damage itself.