Addon Spotlight: ThinkTank sets you up for tanking fast
by Mathew McCurley 
Jun 9th 2011 at 8:00PM
Tanking in Cataclysm has simultaneously become the most reviled and most desired role players can choose. The random Dungeon Finder and Cataclysm's change in mechanics has created an odd world for tanks to live and thrive in, one of dependence and expectation. Blizzard's goal is to make more players into tanks, through the inclusion of tanking-specific heirlooms as well as rewards like the Call to Arms bag feature that launched with patch 4.1, providing extra rewards to players who chose to queue up as a much-desired tank. For the most part, Blizzard's efforts have been working well.
During deep contemplation, a state which I frequent a lot these days, it dawned on me that I would love to be able to give new and budding tanks a list of resources for user interface tips to make their tanking lives easier. What better way to introduce more tanks to the game than by taking some of the mystery of the tanking UI out from the shadows and make a recommendation for a tank UI? So I began to search the internet, looking for the right UI to recommend for players who want to make a tank alt or for new players interested in the vital tanking role. Let me introduce you to ThinkTank.
Think. Tank.
ThinkTank is a complete UI overhaul optimized for large widescreen resolutions, including plenty of addons and configuration settings that tanks could use or need. Your cast bar, chat, raid frames, and more will be replaced with a trendy, cool setup that emphasizes transparent addons, large viewing spaces, and small raid and group frames. One of the best parts about ThinkTank are its priorities.
Actually, priorities in terms of information needed is one of the biggest aspects of tanking late game in WoW. Letting a UI overhaul like ThinkTank take care of some of that can bring down some of the barrier to entry for tanking and ease in new tanks to the job. ThinkTank works for all tanking classes but is especially optimized (this is a phrase now) for paladin tanks, of which there are many.
Resolution
For those of you out there with nice, big widescreen monitors, ThinkTank is optimized for 1680x1050 widescreen setups. Do not let this deter you, however. You can easily resize and rescale each addon down to the size you need or want it to be once you get things running. The default setup can be made to fit other resolutions as long as you are okay with a few personal tweaks here and there. Notice how there is plenty of empty space where pieces could be pulled together for smaller resolutions.
While ThinkTank's general setup is fine, some of the addons, including SatrinaBuffFrame, are not currently supported by the addon's creator. Other options exist, however, and any addons with similar functions will work perfectly. Raven, for instance, works much like Satrina and is my replacement of choice.
Addons come and go, so I would not discount the entire addon/UI package for just having one or two in there that might not be perfectly up to date. There is even a list of recommended addons and mods to go along with the general setup for players who want just a bit more functionality but don't know where to turn.
Setting up ThinkTank is easy. There is a handy quick installation guide on the WoWInterface page that even has pictures! I do love pictures.
Don't be afraid
Don't be afraid to tank. After my stint in Warhammer, tanking became my new love, and I would never turn my back on it. You're a crucial member of the team, gain lots of leadership experience as the first body in battle, and your queues are instant! What more could you ask for? Hopefully, those of you who have had trouble with tanking UIs in the past can move forward with a budding tank now with a little help from ThinkTank. Godspeed, young tanks. May you have a bright future blaming your healers.
***REMINDER***
ThinkTank is a total UI conversion addon compilation, and will change your setup from fonts to addons. Make a backup of the folders that ThinkTank changes so that you can go back to your old UI if ThinkTank isn't for you. Copy the WTF and Interface folders and put them somewhere else. You have been backing up, right?
Before you open up WoW, open up ThinkTank's Config.wtf file (at the top of the zip directory) and at the top, change the top entry to SET locale "usEN" for English. This should cure up the "swapping everything to German" issue some people were having.
Download the ThinkTank UI compilation for tanks at [WoWInterface].
Addon mailbag, you say? Alrighty.
Hiya,
I'm pretty happy with my UI, but as I'm now playing on my shaman more and more, I've found myself wanting an actual separate Big Red Button for Bloodlust.
A brief google search has shown there are several executive stress toys which are usb BRBs, but I'm not sure if they would be compatible or bindable with the wow UI.
I understand that there are a variety of UI helpers for people with diminished physical capacities, and I was wondering if I could adapt something to suit my (mildly nefarious) purposes.
Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
A lazy shaman.
Thanks for the email, Lazy Shaman. I would think that any USB big red button would be able to be mapped to a key, and then that key could be mapped to a Bloodlust/Heroism macro. Then you'd be able to smack that big red button for massive Bloodlusts. Hit the button harder for more harder Bloodlusts.
Look for a USB big red button that has key mapping or key selection as one of the features, and you should be set. Alternatively, you could do a USB foot pedal for foot-stomping Bloodlust action.
I often die and wonder what killed me. I look back in the "What happened to me" section in the chat box but i can never find out. Is there an add-on that will track this a little more clearly?You are looking for Obituary (for raids) or Death Note (for personal use), both wonderful little addons that will tell you what killed you and how much it hurt you. They are charming little addons that provides great information and has some hilarious side effects in letting everyone in your raid know how badly you screwed up (with Obituary at least).
Addons are what we do on Addon Spotlight. If you're new to mods, Addons 101 will walk you through the basics; see what other players are doing at Reader UI of the Week. If there's a mod you think Addon Spotlight should take a look at, email mat@wowinsider.com.
Filed under: Add-Ons, AddOn Spotlight
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
dj.clayden Jun 9th 2011 8:09PM
While Obituary is nice for reporting deaths in raid, for the OPs request, I'd advise Grim Reaper or DeathNote (I choose to use the latter), this allows you to see everything that happened to you, prior to each death. I only use it sometimes but I believe you can scroll back 20secs+, and you can toggle the display to show buffs gained/lost, healing recieved, etc.
The list of deaths can also be sorted by time they occurred, or by player (it shows deaths for everyone in party/raids). The display of each attack consists of the time stamp, the spell name (hover over to see tooltip), health after it occured (showed as a bar, hover over for detailed health info), and the change in health.
Mathew McCurley Jun 9th 2011 8:16PM
Added in Death Note. I absolutely love that addon and it completely slipped my mind.
Mark Jun 10th 2011 3:10AM
What Lazy Shaman needs is an Awesome Button, programmed to send keystrokes instead of words. Very easy to do. http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2011/04/the-awesome-button.html
Backer Jun 10th 2011 8:23AM
Recount is pretty good for that purpose, too. You can get some detailed information from the "Deaths" window.
MacAndy Jun 10th 2011 1:19PM
I'll second what dj.clayden said above: Death Note tracks everyone in the raid, not just me. Events are filterable and sortable. A very nice tool for a quick post mortem analysis of what went wrong.
After a wipe, I'll often go back and look at what happened to key personnel in the seconds before they died. Sometimes I find that it was, indeed, my fault. ;-)
Sleutel Jun 12th 2011 11:30AM
I like Acheron for this, personally. I can see everything that happened to everyone in raid and in combat log range (incoming damage, heals, buffs, debuffs, etc.) for a set amount of time before their death. I've been using the addon for probably a few years now, so it's possible it's been surpassed by another, but it's always worked well for me.
Necromann Jun 9th 2011 8:25PM
My warrior, whose main spec is prot, but hit 80 today and I was wondering how to improve his ui. I run pretty much the sane ui while lvling toons and then pick it up later.
Michael Martine Jun 10th 2011 12:44AM
Go to YouTube and search for ropetownx tank and watch that dude's videos about tanking philosophy and UI setup.
tgrhwke Jun 9th 2011 8:28PM
Now if I could just learn how to switch out whole addon compilations on the fly; i.e. Tank, Heal, DPS setups. lol
Delerowen Jun 9th 2011 8:57PM
Addon Control Panel allows you to save addon setups for different roles, toons, etc.
talkaboom Jun 9th 2011 9:25PM
You could also use Reflux, which can store addon settings to different profiles.
Jae Jun 9th 2011 9:03PM
I'd use this if I could figure out how to make it English!
MusedMoose Jun 9th 2011 9:04PM
I tried out tanking a while back, and it stressed me out because there were too many things to keep track of, with the life of the group depending on me keeping track of them. I'll look into this addon, maybe give it a shot. Thanks for the info. ^_^
lwoodya Jun 9th 2011 9:05PM
I actually recommend ObituaryN over at wowinterface. It lists, in chat, the last 3 damaging hits that lead to death instead of 1 (Obituary from curse linked above).
Artemisian Jun 9th 2011 9:05PM
For deaths, I find Recount serves just fine. It probably has less functionality, but it tells me what killed someone, and that does me!
Mike C Jun 9th 2011 9:39PM
I seriously never had any problems tanking with only Tidy Plates. That is of course if you're using Nameplates which you should. Nameplates are one color (of you choosing) for 3 situations: Got Aggro, Losing Aggro, and Lost Aggro. You can resize them. When you have established aggro the plates lose opacity. When you lose aggro the plates of those targets gain full opacity and get bigger. It's all customizable.
Strangiato Jun 10th 2011 12:07PM
I have to second this. I only started tanking regularly in Cata after being too scared or feeling overwhelmed the one or two times I tried it previously. Now I'm main tanking in raids!
Tidy Plates / Threat Plates makes it easy mode to see what you have aggro on and what you don't. This is the single most important thing to stay on top of as a tank and it's easy with this addon.
The rest of it is just knowing your class. Interrupts, Taunts, AOE moves, what your highest thread attacks are etc. and the best way to learn is by doing and a little bit of research on the Internet. If you're are 85, get your ilvl up to 329 or so and tank REGULARS first. There will be plenty of room for error and you'll get to learn your rotation / priorities in a fairly stress free way.
loop_not_defined Jun 10th 2011 11:18AM
< TidyPlates! Definitely recommend it for anyone considering trying tanking. I'm pretty strict about adding more addons to my list, but I consider this one a "must have".
loop_not_defined Jun 10th 2011 11:19AM
Hah....I get the < symbol right and completely forget to add the 3...
Luotian Jun 9th 2011 9:57PM
Hey McCurly! Do you have any tanking addon suggestions that aren't a complete UI overhaul? My sister is starting to tank, and she's really uncomfortable changing so much. What addons would you suggest that might make her life easier without moving, say, her action bars? Much as you hate them, I know XD. Still, anything you have to help a brand new paladin tank would be awesome-sauce.