10 WoW Addons You Simply Can't Live Without
August 24, 2009 at 09:08:52 AM, by Steven Martinez
Since our ancient ancestors walked upright nearly two million years ago, competition has been a fixture of our race.
Likewise, the thirst for a competitive advantage has continued unabated. It has consumed people's lives, caused wars, and irrevocably altered national past times. It has consumed people's lives, caused wars, and irrevocably altered national past times. Thankfully, those of us who compete in a virtual arena are spared these indignities...or so we think. Join us as we discover the tools people use to maintain a competitive advantage in what is arguably the world's most popular online game - the World of Warcraft.
1. QuestHelper
If raiding is seen as the true measure of a player's PvE capability, then leveling effectively is the prerequisite. Questhelper brings the cacophony of quests under a manageable umbrella, and uses quest requirements, travel times, and flight paths to map out the most efficient way to level. All this and you even get a handy arrow telling you where to go. It used to have a nifty /find feature, to locate nearly any NPC or Mob that dropped a specific item in the entire game. Unfortunately, that feature has been disabled for some time. Although it's not perfect, considering that WoW has around 10,000 different quests, it's very effective and invaluable if your goal is to level as quickly as possible.
2. Deadly Boss Mods
Deadly Boss Mods (DBM) is an incredible tool for keeping track of dungeon bosses, many of which have a complex web of timers and phases. This handy add-on calls out boss actions in a raid warning format, and keeps a steady timer of special abilities like Onyxia's breath weapon. It's invaluable for those who want to concentrate on playing their class to the best of their ability without neglecting the special circumstances that surround nearly every boss encounter.
3. Bartender
Curse.com, the quasi-official repository of WoW add-ons, lists 170 separate add-ons to organize your action bars. I've used a significant portion of those in my quest to find the perfect action bar organizer, and I found it in Bartender. Bartender allows you to order up to ten separate action bars of twelve buttons each, for a total of 120 actions. You can even change their size, position, orientation and visibility on the fly. This holds true for all the secondary bars, like the XP bar, reputation bar, Micro menu, bag bar, stance bar, vehicle bar, and pet bar. The opportunities are endless, and it's obvious the creator, Nevcairiel, went through a lot of trouble making the add-on as versatile as possible. Another excellent feature is the ability to assign key bindings by hovering over the button and entering the desired binding. Our only detraction is that action bars sometimes lose their relative positions when you change the size of the game window. It's a trivial matter considering how much Bartender does right, but it's important to mention. Altogether Bartender is effortless and powerful, and is simply an addon we can't live without.
4. DoTimer
Any good player needs to know what their buffs, debuffs, HoTs, DoTs, and Cooldowns are up to. A great player needs to know how the entire party or raid is faring. But how do you keep all that information on screen? DoTimer is actually four add-ons in one. It manages all the above, plus Notifications, which provides visual, audio or text responses for nearly any situation. Want to notify the raid via raid warning when Faerlina frenzies, DoTimer can do that. Flash the screen red when the main tank loses Beacon of Light? DotTimer can do that too. The best add-ons start simple, but have incredible depth.
DoTimer allows ultimate customizability in determining what shows up where, and how it's presented to you. An impressive tool that we can't do without.
5. Auctioneer
The Auctioneer's creator, Nechckn, says it best; Auctioneer Suite provides you with the tools and data necessary to make those difficult auctioning decisions with ease. It performs this task in several ways, one of the most obvious being a rework of how auctions are displayed on the page. Auctioneer delivers more auctions per page than the standard UI, as well as more information per auction. Also, you have a number of sorting options not previously available, like viewing by single unit buyout price, and a comparison of how expensive an item is compared to previous auctions. Auctioneer has an incredible scan feature which takes a snapshot of the auction house and develops mean prices for nearly every object. From there, an experienced auctioneer can make purchases or sales when the market is favorable. It can make numerous auction posts in quick succession, memorize the price you normally post items for, and even give advice on how to treat an item to receive maximum benefit. Looking to sell some level 80 greens? Auctioneer may advise you to disenchant the items instead and sell the materials for a profit. This article only touches the surface of an incredibly deep addon, and it's evident that the creator's have some hefty math under their belts. If you're interested in making some money without fighting in the field, taking your place on the auction house floor is an excellent alternative.
6. Skada
Skada is a fairly new damage/threat meter, but we recommend it here for a number of reasons. First, it's very light on processing power. Other add-ons provide similar functions in an arguably friendlier interface, like Recount, but they put a significant load on your client. Skada provides efficient memory use through aggregating data differently. It's also context sensitive, so in a battle it can show current threat in the group, but once battle is over you get a handle readout of damage or healing done. It also provides the normal reports, like enemy damage taken/done, debuff uptime, and the like, but those aren't as useful to most players as threat and damage. An excellent add-on that has some growing to do, but we like it already.
7. Grid
Oh Grid, how your unassuming exterior hides a powerful internal system. Grid is probably the Mercedes E55 AMG of add-ons. It looks just like any other luxury car, until it tears past your throaty Corvette and all you see is taillights. Grid is a raid organizer and a healer's friend. No add-on that I've had the pleasure of encountering looks so clean and provides so much information without making your head spin. On the surface is looks like a few boxes, but it has incredible depth. You can program Grid to respond to any buff or debuff in the WoW universe and show it in the corner of a player's box. For instance, I use Grid as a Holy Paladin to return what player has Beacon Of Light, which players have a poison, disease, or magic debuff (for Cleanse) and how everyone is doing health-wise. I also use a subaddon called GridIndicatorCornerIcons, that displays the actual buff icon in certain situations. Other add-ons, like VuhDo, can provide nearly as much information, as well as do some things that Grid can't, but Grid presents it in such a clear and concise fashion that you don't lose focus in the heat of battle. It's important to note here that I don't use Healbot, because it takes all the fun out of healing. For those of us who have the distinct honor to heal for their raid, you take all the fun you can get!
8. LushGearSwap
Lush is a nifty add-on that attaches to Blizzard's new equipment manager, allowing you to swap gear automatically, deposit or withdraw sets from the bank, as well as update sets in seconds. I used to use an add-on called Outfitter to great effect, and it is more fully featured than Lush. However, Blizzard's UI is steadily improving and it's time to move to the "less is more" philosophy of add-on management. It's a sad fact that players need to carry multiple sets of armor around, and it's a hassle equipping it all piece-by-piece. Lush makes that process into a single button press, and in most cases, even eliminates that. An excellent, lightweight addition to any fashion-friendly player.
9. ArkInventory
Although all-in-one bag managers are common, I only recently heard about ArkInventory. The feature that makes it so valuable is the ability to presort items by their intrinsic qualities. The end result is BoP armor sets in one section, craft items in the next, consumables further down, and so on. It goes very deep in customizability, allowing you to choose what items go where and how those items are presented on the screen. Let's face it, the bag system is ancient and it can make finding the right item a chore. ArkInventory even includes a search function to great effect, and can keep quest items in an easily manageable area. A very powerful add-on that once you use, you'll find it hard to live without.
10. RatingBuster
This is the perfect case of loving an add-on so much that you can't bear to let it go. Anyone who has ever used this add-on knows what I'm talking about, and those that haven't soon will. Let me paint you a picture. Your raid has just downed a boss after an intense fight, and a piece of armor drops for your class. As the masterlooter asks people to roll, you frantically scan your current gear to see if it's an upgrade. It can be hard to tell sometimes under that pressure, and the last thing you want to do is deprive your guildmates of an item they may sorely need. With all the talents and rating conversions flying around nowadays, it can be tough to make that decision on the fly with absolute surety. Enter RatingBuster. It provides an instant breakdown of how this item compares to your current gear -and get this - it even accounts for talents, buffs, enchants, gems, and racials! An easy example is an item for a Death Knight that provides less Attack Power but more Strength, which translates into Attack Power. RatingBuster will give you the absolute gain, instead of making you do frantic math. Gear upgrades should be a warm, peaceful time, and RatingBuster keeps it that way. An absolute must-have.
If you're rookie to the game or a seasoned veteran, the add-ons we just described can bring your play to the next level. All of these programs are made from different people around the world, but we brought them together for a single reason. They exist to cut through the awkward button presses and bring you closer to what you enjoy. I was able to speak to a number of players on the successful Horde guild Taco Stand Bandits on the Haomarush realm. The guild leader Goby, and his first mate Foul, were quick to point out that their love of an excellent taco was only surpassed by their dedication to winning. There, an Alliance player could get a taste of how the other half lives, and learn the tools the veterans use to win. Because as every WoW player knows, this game is serious business.
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Comments
Benjamin at 15:26, August 13, 2010
The addon that shows wether theyre online or not is called "_Corpse".
Hinenuitepo at 14:54, October 14, 2009
Joe, I'd strongly recommend Carbonite, which I myself just started using. It's better than Questhelper for questing, is much more lightweight, and also delivers so many more functions (it's gathering/map elements are unparalleled).
Steve Martinez at 20:39, September 12, 2009
Hey Joe! I use Grid, which will say in their box, "Offline," if they're offline. It's not related to mouseover though, so you're probably thinking of something different.
Joe at 21:17, September 09, 2009
What's the addon that when you scroll your mouse over someone dead it shows a small black box showing if their online or not.. so you save time not rezing them?