Surgeon General (SG) is what I settled on, after trying a couple others. Here is a shot of the configuration screen, courtesy of Curse.com (click to enlarge):

SG is fully LibDataBroker-compliant, and supplies a little blue “SG” button that sits in my Fortress bar. Clicking that button opens the configuration screen. From there, I can select the Instance:

and once I’ve done that, select the boss for whom I want to assign healers:

If all your healers are within range, the Auto Fill button will plug them into the slots on the configuration screen. And while the capability isn’t there yet, the developer has told me he is working on incorporating communication between SG and CTRaid/oRA2 to auto-fill the tanks as well, which will make SG even simpler. (I think he’s been waiting for this review, which I told him last month I was planning.)

Once these steps are done, it’s fairly simple to fill in the assignments. You can even do a whole wing of Naxx at a time, if you like.² Click “Save” and the assignments, although not necessarily the people assigned, are saved. You can hit “Esc” to close the window, or click the Close button. Bringing the window up again with the “SG” button will restore everything you entered for this session (unless you reload your UI).

I should point out that if you correctly spell the healer’s name, his or her class symbol will appear to the left: You can see the Priest’s staff head next to my name in the screenshot. Then, should you need or want to reorder the list, simply drag the icon!³

As we move past Patchwerk and on to Grobbulus, I would erase the Patchwerk assignments, then click the “Enable” button for the Grobbulus column. Before each subsequent boss, uncheck the boss just downed, enable the next column, and so on. On a fight such as Malygos, you may in fact want to have different assignments for each phase (especially for Phase 3). SG easily supports such a configuration.

Note the “Report” checkboxes at the bottom center: Before you pull, it might be a good idea to let everyone (especially the healers!) know the assignments. When you click the Report button, you get something like this:

The first four lines are to the raid; the last four are to the healer channel. Note the healer is listed first, then his or her assignment. Where multiple healers have the same assignment, all are listed together. So for this successful 25-man one-shot of Sartharion, three of us (Holy Priest, Shaman, Paladin, respectively) were assigned to raid heals; our Discipline Priest on the main tank, and another holy priest on the add tank.

In summary, Surgeon General is a compact, simple-to-use, highly effective tool for assigning raid healers. My guild has come to rely on it, and if I’m a little slow on getting out the word, even before we start buffing, I start getting queries in raid chat, healer chat, and whispers. (Tanks, it seems, don’t generally care who is healing them, as long as they know someone is.)

One final note: I alluded to having discussed SG with its developer, and I have. And in fact, Brimmstone has since become an active commenter here at the Aerie⁴. I’ve found him to be extremely approachable, and very eager to work with the healing community to improve SG. So thanks, Brimm, for a great tool, and I look forward to using SG for as long as you keep developing it!

Add-On Review: Surgeon General is a post from: Kestrel's Aerie

 

Introduction

For the past little while, one of my most-viewed articles is a comparison review I did of FuBar and Titan Panel. I’m not certain why this particular post is getting so much attention lately, although I suspect it’s because a lot of players are redoing their WoW user interface (UI) in light of the changes in 3.0.2 and Wrath of the Lich King.

So for those of you using my earlier article as a basis for a decision on which modular add-on to use, STOP! I’m no longer using nor advocating FuBar (or Titan Panel, for that matter). For the reasons why, read on!

While researching add-ons in preparation for 3.0.2, I discovered a modular system based on the Data Broker Library (LibDataBroker). There is a thread at WoWAce describing this new interface. If you’re familiar with the add-on developer, Tekkub, he has even more information at his site. One of the simplest explanations of Data Broker I’ve seen comes from another add-on developer, Zhinjio, at WoWAce:

For those of you new to using LDB based plugins

LDB stands for LibDataBroker. This is an addon-independent framework for displaying data about something in-game. It allows you to choose which addon you want to use to display the data. However, the addon, ‘by itself’, cannot do anything. There are several options out there for displaying LDB based plugins, and you can choose whichever you like.

What and How

Essentially, LDB allows you to use FuBar plugins or Titan Panel modules or DataBroker add-ons—or any combination of the three!—and display them in almost any fashion you like. The one key to remember is that no DataBroker plugin displays on its own (similar to how FuBar and Titan work: you need the FuBar or Titan Panel base module to display any of the addons).

So why DataBroker? If you take a look at Tekkub’s article, linked above, he makes this point:

LDB-based addons still use the display-plugin design, the key difference is that plugins are not tied to a specific display addon, and vise-versa[sic]. Any LDB plugin should work with any LDB display. You’re no longer forced to use a certain addon to display your plugins.

There are a number of options for displaying LDB plugins, and Tekkub’s wiki has a fairly comprehensive list. Some, such as Fortress (which I use and strongly endorse) and StatBlockCore, are for displaying add-ons. Others, including ButtonBin and Tekkub’s own MakeRocketGoNow, are "quick-launch" platforms for various addons. And, if you are firmly wedded to FuBar or Titan Panel, you can continue to use them with LDB plugins. Titan Panel now includes built-in support for LDB; if you want to use FuBar, you’ll also need to get Broker2FuBar.

For those of you (like myself) who have FuBar mods you can’t live without, there is also a FuBar2Broker add-on to enable (most) FuBar plugins to function under LDB, without installing FuBar itself. One FuBar plugin I’ve found that doesn’t work this way is FuBar_PetInfoFu. However, I’m willing to live without it in light of this very significant piece of information, again quoting Tekkub:

Minimal overhead. 74.7 KiB of deep embedded goodness. FuBarPlugin and all the libs it requires can run you upwards of 500 KiB. That’s a lot to throw in every one of your addons when all you want is a little minimap button that opens your config panel… and a lot for the user to load up when they’re planning on hiding your button.

The Kicker

Before 3.0.2 (and before I started using Data Broker), my add-on overhead was on the order of 80-100 MiB. Today, it’s in the 40-50 MiB range: a 50 percent reduction in memory use, and a nice performance boost, as well. An added bonus: Using Fortress as my LDB display engine, my layout looks almost identical to what I had under FuBar!

Your Turn!

So are you convinced yet? If you’re using LDB plugins, what are some of your favorites? And if you aren’t, are there any questions I’ve left unanswered? Let me know in the Comments, or even email me through my Contact form.

Move Over, FuBar: There’s a New Sheriff In Town! is a post from: Kestrel's Aerie