Death Knight Attention/awareness/courtesy/and MODS Guide

No one can really teach you how to be alert and attentive to what is going on. But do not deny the importance of these attributes; you can have great gear and a good understanding of what you want to do for DPS purposes IN THEORY. But the moment your attention wanes and you die from fire, or you tunnel vision on your resource management and die from fire, or you stare at the debuffs running on the mob and you die from fire, the fact of the matter is that YOU ARE STILL DEAD FROM FIRE.

With that said, here's a couple of things you can do to alleviate your eye and brain stress.

- Grab a mod that will allow you to modify the displays of what you're fighting. I use X-perl unit frames (There are many different kinds, but I find X-perl easy to use), and the VERY large debuff icons that appear around the mob's portrait make it very easy for me to keep track of my DoT's. I also place my target frame next to my rune/RP bars so I have much less space to keep switching back and forth between.
- Grab a mod to change your runes/RP displays. I really dislike the Blizzard set-up, so I use Runewatch (Again one of many examples). With its customizable rune displays and the fact that I can place it anywhere I please, it has drastically increased my ability to attend to my rune cooldowns.
- Grab a mod that will allow you to keep track of your own DPS numbers. Mods such as Recount are reasonably accurate in keeping track of your own personal comparisons (Although Stasis and WWS are probably some of the best, if more complicated to use). It's good to have an actual DPS tracker to see what you're doing compared to your peers. You shouldn't really pay attention to it in the middle of a fight, but it is good for your own learning after a fight is done.
- A mod that was suggested by Thrakcson for managing your DoT's, http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info10749-EllipsisMulti-TargetDoTTimers.html

Conversely, shutdown any extraneous mods that may detract from your ability to see what is going on. If you cannot see half your screen and die from fire, then you are half-blind and DEAD. Do not try to make excuses for things that are within your control, such as screen visibility.

However, no mods can compensate for having a distracting environment and/or poor attention span. You need to stay focused, stop taking frequent AFK's, not get derailed from the main focus just because you saw something shiny on a random pillar nearby. You are engaging in a group-oriented, social task. Please treat it as such, meaning think about the people you are playing with.