Mage UI and Add-ons (READ THE FIRST POST)
 

It's been a while since I updated this, but due to some renewed interest, I'm in the process of rewriting this post. If you have any suggestions as to what I should include in it, please don't hesitate to PM me.

THE RULES (IN ADDITION TO STANDARD FORUM RULES):

• Post a screenshot of your Mage's UI. If you're not a mage, go post in another forum or post in this thread
• List of add-ons you use. Short descriptions of niche addons are okay.
• Any comments about how you make your UI work for you. This doesn't mean to talk about how your UI has perfect feng shui. Any comments should be on the functionality of your UI. Please state your points succinctly.
• If you have any individual questions about a UI, use PMs.
• If you need help with your UI, please keep it to PMs or post in this thread
• If you are looking for a particular mod that you don't know the name of, please post in this thread.
• Addon discussion is welcome so long as it follows standard forum rules.

COMMONLY USED/USEFUL ADDONS:

These are the most commonly used addons that I have seen used by mages. It is by no means an all-inclusive list. I will try to keep it updated as this thread grows in size or as addons go out of date. PM me if you think another add-on deserves to be added.

Function	Name	Description
Buff Tracking	Scorchio2	Tracks several mage specific debuffs/CC/power gains
Buff Tracking	Classtimer	Tracks debuffs/buffs. Non-class specific.
Buff Tracking	Power Auras Classic	Provides visual cues to track buffs/debuffs. Highly configurable. Here is a link explaining some of the basic functionality of this mod(albeit for a hunter)
Castbar	Quartz	An extremely popular castbar add-on.
Decursing	Decursive	A popular addon to track and cleanse debuffs on friendly targets.
Stats	Ratings Buster	Converts combat ratings into more useful percentage values.
Stats	Hit Assist for Casters	Tells you your chance to miss a mob/how much hit rating you need or can afford to lose.
Stats	Livedamage	Tells you your current spellpower.
Combat	MiksScrollingBattleText	Can display several different types of combat information in several different ways.
Combat	Omen Threat Meter	A popular tool for monitoring threat on your current target.
Raid Frames	Grid	Highly configurable, modular raid frame add-on. Can be set to do just about anything you want it to do. There is a separate discussion specifically regarding this add-on.
Cooldowns	Ghost:Pulse	Cooldown which pops up icons on your screen whenever it is up.
Combat	Mage Alert	Notifies you when you proc hot streak/missile barrage/brain freeze via sound and fullscreen flash effect.
Buff Tracking	NeedToKnow	Tracks specific buffs/debuffs in a clean bar that is displayed on the screen in a consistent place/color.
Combat	Mage Fever	Another mod to track proc-buffs and mage debuffs.
Combat	Parrot	Similar to MSBT, another combat information addon.
Combat	MyThreat	A lightweight threat tracker. Only shows your threat relative to a target unlike omen which tracks multiple players.
Combat	OPie	Upon pressing a keybind, shows a nifty circle from which you could choose which spells to cast (Think Secret of Mana). It has some presets for mage portals/mage armors.
Stats	WoWEquip	Pretty neat mod that lets you see how stats add up by swapping in and out different gear.
Unit Frames	Pitbull4	Not a mage specific mod, but an extremely popular unit frame mod. This mod has its own thread in the UI/Addon forums.
Combat	Mage Nuggets	A mod which does performs several functions automatically, including mirror image timers, proc monitoring, and SP/crit display, etc.
Combat	ForteXorcist	A mod suite which performs a host of useful tasks such as cooldown tracking, debuff monitoring/filtering/etc.

Pitbull4
Bartender4
Omen
Rating Buster
Sexy Minimap
Ora2
Prat3
Recount
Decursive
MyThreat
MiksScrollingBattleText
Tipsy - to move the Tooltip placeholder
Quartz (only for the LiteStep design, but I'm thinking of putting the bars back in; getting a little tired of Pitbull's cast bar)
XLoot
Pally Power Info - See who to complain to about Pally buffs
Altoholic - For Profession info on my alts
Fubar general mods
Atlas Loot
Big Brother - To see who whirlwinds my sheeps

-Scorchio2
-Xperl
-Button Facade Trinity
-Bartender 3
-CCtimer
-MSBT
-Quartz

I set up Scorchio to play sounds through MSBT so I never miss a hot streak proc. I am also on a laptop and the screen is somewhat small, so I try to make due with what I have. I have recount show up underneath the Scorchio timers. I try and keep the center of the screen open, I have tried putting my and my targets health bars in the middle bottom, but I just can't get used to it.

I cannot imagine a UI without grid. I mean it.
Also almost everyone using grid uses clique for right-click on grid to decurse that player.

Decursive have the advantage of being super easy to configure and, at least for mage, offer built in support for decurse and sheep without hassle. This said, a lot of people use grid as raid frames instead of Aguf, Pitbull or Xperl...

Clique + Grid also has one-click support in that you can use it to sheep hostile targets for mind-control fights and decurse on friendlies. I personally needed some form of raid frames anyhow so the combination seemed an obvious choice and I've never regretted the switch. I think you would find that it is beyond simple to configure as well.

Otherwise, I think all the major add-ons have been listed already and grid/clique versus decursive is a fairly silly debate regardless.

Just want to mention 2 very good lightweight mage addons that have been extremely helpful to my play.

Mage Alert :
Extremely simple mod, all it does it give you a very pleasant sound effect on all kinds of mage procs, like missile barrage, hot streak, fingers of frost etc. It's nice because sometimes you don't have time to watch your buffbars and an audioque is very helpfull.

NeedToKnow :
Also very lightweight and easy to set up. Tracks all kinds of buffs and debuffs on yourself or your target. I use this for tracking everything from trinket procs, LB, Scorch, Icy veins and other usefull stuff to keep track of. Doesn't clutter up your screen and is totally invisible when procs arent up. Note that a fan update have kept this alive so it works with 3.1.


One of the reasons I use theese 2 is that they are very easy and do exactly what I need them to do, nothing more or less. And my computer is old, meaning I prefer not to clutter up my WoW with too many heavy addons.

Solo

Raid

Skada -Damge Meter

Button Facade -Button Skins

TimeToDie -Shows a death Clock

Acheron Death Reports -Shows a Combat log of the Last 10 Seconds before your Target Died

Aloft -Custom Nameplates

Baggins -Bag Mod

Bartender4 -Button Mod

BigBrother -CC Breaker Warning, Shows missing raid Buffs/Flask/Fodd

Buffalo -Buff Mod

BuffEnough -Tells you if you have all avilable buffs

Chatter -Chat mod

CowTip -Tooltip Mod

Clique -For decurseing, Sheeping MC's, and buffing with App/Dampen Magic

EavesDrop - Great Combat Log Mod

ElkBuffBars -Bar Style Buffs and Debuffs

Fortress - Display addon for LDB data feeds

Grid -Raid Frames and more

kgPanels - Panel Mod

MikScrollingBattleText Scrolling combat text

oRA2 -Mt Windews, Raid invites, and more

Outfitter - One click outgfit swaps

PitBull -Unti frames

Quartz -cast Bar

SexyMap -Map Skin

InlineAura -Bar Mod

XLoot- -Loot Mod

I guess I'm a bit of a Ui Junkie. I remember downloading and installing the Comos Package the week after I bought the game, before I hit Level 10. An effective UI is important for maximizing your potential. The Standard Blizzard not only lacks bells and whistles, but basic stuff that makes raiding so much easier.

I'll contribute to the helpfull Mod List.
Buffenough
Scans the raid and checks to see if you have all the available buffs. Very configurable, you can tell if if you prefer Kings over wisdom, or even Add Focus Magic. It even warns you when pallies forgot to take off Crusader Aura, or a hunter has Pack on. Also Checks the duration of your Flask, and Molten/Mage Armor.

These days I'd be lost without SatrinaBuffFrames. I have a frame that shows all the "special" buffs like Hotstreak, etc. In addition, I've started using StUF for my unit frames and even replaced Grid with the ones in StUF, though for no other reason than I wanted to cut down number of addons.

I have question about your raid frames. What mod is showing the raid on the right side of your screen?
And also what are you using for your target frames?

Manly if you don't mind, would you post a screen shot of your UI? Alot of those other screen shots seem far too cluttered for me.

I use just default UI with very few mods but I've never needed more.

Decursive - simply amazing
Omen - required
Cooldowncount - wasn't a fan of the big icon popping up on my screen
MSBT - to handle procs
Recount
Outfitter

I've just pvp'd too long to click. Everything is macro'd for focus targets and the like but I've been leveling my priest so I think getting a grid is going to be a necessity.

Is scorchio2 the preferred mod for scorch and living bomb timers?

Pitbull4 i guess.

If you dont like the shiny stuff of PowerAuras, yes.

As cas said, yea both my raid and target/ToT are all Pitbull4 configured. I'm currently in the process of editing my raid frame a bit to separate groups better (I personally don't like the box look and like things lined up in a single file line).

Well, I use grid for basic stuff such as knowing when people are in range for buffs, when people are dead, etc., but I use Decursive with the mini grid layout it has. The reason for this is that I find it convenient to have the raid layout to the far left of the screen and the decursive grid near the center of my screen so I can click to decurse faster.

If I didn't have a widescreen monitor and if the decursive setup wasn't transparent (when there is no one cursed), then I would go with grid and clique, but for my situation I find this to be a more efficient decursing setup.

I use Grid and Decursive as well. While I do spend the time configuring Grid for many individual debuffs on my healer, I appreciate the no-alteration-necessary approach of Decursive. It just works, for all my 80s, and on my priest it frees up a corner of my frames for other purposes than debuffs, as well as freeing up click types. On a healer, convenient clicks for healing are much more important than convenient clicks for cleansing; as a priest, I already have a confusingly large list of clicks for all my various heals.