DrainingSouls.net

I mentioned WWS in my last post and how it’s the best system for keeping track of raid data that I’ve come across. The greatest thing about it is that it allows everyone in your guild to look at the data for each raid and doesn’t require that everyone be running damage/heal meters.

If you want to take a look at a raid report, here’s a link to a recent Karazhan run my Alliance guild did. (Note: Reports for free accounts are only hosted for 15 days, so that link won’t stay up forever. I’ll try and update it in the coming weeks.

The first thing that you need to know about WWS, if you want to start trying it for yourself, is that it’s technically not an addon. Instead of installing a WWS program to run in your WoW client, what you do is tell the WoW client to write all of the combat data into a combat log. WWS then parses that log, pulls all of the relevant data from it, and puts the report up on the Web for you to peruse.

The simplest way to turn the combat log on is to type /combatlog in the chat window. That will tell the WoW client to start a WoWCombatLog.txt in your WoW/Logs directory. When you want to turn it off, simply type /combatlog again. As simple as that is however, it can get tiresome to turn it on and off every time you zone and re-zone. I recommend using the Loggerhead addon to make things easier. It allows you to tell it which instances/zones you want a combat log for, and then automatically turns it on when you enter that zone.

Now that you know how WWS works, here are the rest of the steps you need to do.

1) Go to the WWS website and register an account. If your guild is starting a raid in 5 minutes, you can skip this step for now, but you do have to have an account before you can post a report.

2) Make sure you have Loggerhead installed and running, or manually turn the combat log on once you’re in the raid zone.

3) Raid. Kill. Heal. Get phat lewtz.

4). Once you’re done raiding, exit WoW. When you quit the WoW client, it writes a few more lines to the combat log to basically say “The End”. If you upload the combat log while still in WoW, WWS won’t be able to read it corrrectly.

5) Head back to WWS, and use their Java client to upload the log. Once it’s done parsing the log, it’ll host it automatically, and give you the web address to check it out.

6) ???

7) Profit!

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Here are some great WoW-related sites I’ve come across lately. Enjoy!

Warcraft Bloggers is an aggregation of lots and lots of different WoW blogs. If you have a WoW blog, or are looking for some additional reading material, make sure to head over there and check it out.

Be Imba! is a great tool for grading your character’s gear, gems, enchants and talent spec, and finding where you can improve things. It pulls your character data from the Armory, and then recommends enchants, gear upgrades, and gives advice on what you can do to be more effective given your talent spec. In a word, it’s totally freaking awesome.

Wow Web Stats is a free service that allows you to record raid/dungeon data (damage, heals, etc.) and post it on the web for your whole guild to check out. It works somewhat differently than most damage meters, so it might take a bit to get used to, but it’s easily the best system that I’ve ever used. I’m going to write a guide on how to use it, and should have that up shortly. (Quick Note: As I write this, WWS is currently down, but I bet things will be up and running again soon. EDIT: It’s now back up.)

Kaliban’s Loot Lists has been on my sidebar and Blogroll ever since I started this blog, so you might have seen it before, but I don’t think I’ve ever actually given it a mention like this. Easily one of my favorite WoW sites, it lists all of the great gear in WoW, broken down by class, and tells you where to go or what to do to get it. For instance, if you have level 42 Warrior who needs a new helm and sword, then you can go to the pre-BC Warrior page and find out what your options are. This is truly an excellent site.

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I’ve never been totally happy with the standard UI. It’s rather utilitarian, doesn’t really look all that great, and it can get a bit cluttered (especially in a raid). I’ve tried a few times to change things around and upgrade it, but I always get overwhelmed with all of the choices out there and end up throwing in the towel and going back to the standard settings.

I was inspired recently though, by some discussion on my realm forums and by Lassirra’s new look, to try my hand at things again. This time I’m going to go at it more slowly and deliberately so I don’t get overwhelmed, and I won’t give up till I’m happy with how things look!

Here are a couple screenies to show where I’m starting from. I want to show how things look in a raid, but didn’t have any good screenshots already, so I just hopped into an AV for a quick minute.

Raid, not in combat.

Raid, in combat.

You can really see how cluttered things get, especially when I’m in combat. I’d like to open up the screen some so I can see more of the game and not have hotbars, raid frames, and addons in my field of vision. Also, in an attempt to keep things simple, I’m going to try and use the same UI for each of my characters as much as possible. Some individual tweaks are inevitable, but I’d like to keep things as simple as I can.

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