IceShadow's recommended WoW addons

One question that comes up frequently is what addons are recommended for use in World of Warcraft. I will give my advice here.

Introduction to Addons

First, what are addons? Addons are programs that modify the user interface in World of Warcraft (WoW), using a Blizzard-approved scripting language. They are NOT a breach of the terms of service for WoW, and as long as you use the correct method of installing addons, you know that you're not running afoul of any requirements that Blizzard sets forth. If they don't want an addon to do something, they'll simply remove the ability of the scripting language to do it (and this has happened several times in the patches for WoW).

To install an addon, you should ALWAYS download a .zip, .rar, or some other compression format. NEVER install an addon from a .exe, unless you are CERTAIN of its source (and even then, it's iffy). Executable files can have hidden keyloggers and other nasty software piggybacked on the install, and it's not safe to install from them. To actually install the addon, just unzip the file into your World of Warcraft\interface\addons\ directory. You should now see a little red button that says "Addons" in the lower-left hand corner of the character selection screen. NOTE: After a patch, addons will often still work, but Blizzard has them disabled by default. To re-enable them, you must check the "use outdated addons" checkbox on this screen.

Where to get Addons

There are several websites that allow people to upload the addons they create and share them with other players. The more prominent ones are here:

• http://ui.worldofwar.net/
• http://www.wowinterface.com/
• http://wow-en.curse-gaming.com/files/addons/
• http://files.wowace.com/

A word on Ace2

Ace2 acts as a set of libraries for the scripting language World of Warcraft addons use (LUA). It has become a very popular tool for addon creation, and like all popular things, comes with some controversy.

Many people who use Ace2 to program are rather vehement about the superiority of using Ace2 as opposed to coding without it. They claim that while the interface takes longer to load (and I can attest to that part, as my loading screen takes a good 60-120 seconds for me, now), the game will run faster with Ace2 addons, giving players better pingtimes and/or framerates. Personally, I can't compare...my framerates can drop, but I have a LOT of addons installed, and I don't know if non-Ace2 addons would fare better or not. I do know that Ace2 has one big advantage over non-Ace2 files: WowAceUpdater.

A lot of authors of Ace2 programs use the URL above to distribute their addons. There is a utility, called WowAceUpdater, that allows you to quickly update all of your addons that use the above URL to distribute all at once. It is an executable, and as such you should be VERY careful as to where you download it, but if you get it from an official site you SHOULD be safe. Being able to update a majority of your addons with one button press is EXTREMELY useful as you run more and more addons, and I personally look for Ace2 versions of addons for this reason.

Addons that I use

I will link to the homepage of whatever addons I can find homepages for; others can be found at the above links.

General Use Addons

Guild Event Manager (homepage): An addon that does in-game scheduling of events such as instance runs and raids, and allows people to sign up for them. This is EXTREMELY beneficial to any attempt to organize guild events. It's rather buggy and can have some strange effects (since it's done peer-to-peer instead of on a dedicated server), but it's better than the alternatives we've tried to use.

CT_Mods (homepage): CT has an entire mod package that you can pick and choose from. I highly recommend CT_RaidAssist (gives you a bunch of notification/UI changes to your raid windows, and also has a one-button debuff removal), CT_RABossMods (more notifications for use during boss fights), CT_MailMod (gives you a mass-mail tab on your mail window as well as a mass-pickup button for your inbound mail), CT_QuestLevels (adds a level to each quest that the game bases the quest difficulty from), and more. Personally, I download the entire package, and then disable the mods I don't want on the character screen. This allows me to update the entire thing easily, without deleting out the folders of addons I don't care for.

Sanity Inventory 2: Gives you a searchable, sortable box for your inventory, a button to compress stacks down as much as possible, and gives you the ability to see what's in your bank, bags, on the character, or in the mailbox for any character that you've checked in the past. EXTREMELY handy for people with lots of alts and mules.

Auctioneer (homepage): An addon that scans the auction hall (you have to do this manually, and it takes about 10 minutes or so to do) and stores the pricing. If you scan often enough (daily or so is best), it will recommend pricing to you for auctions based on current auction hall trends. INVALUABLE for someone who sells a lot of things on the AH and wants to do it quickly but at a price they will actually sell.

Gatherer (homepage): An addon that stores the location of each node you mine/herb collect/treasure pickup/fish/other nodes, and displays them on the minimap and zone map. Great for miners and herbalists to have, as these things respawn in the same locations.

MobInfo-2 (Curse-Gaming link): An addon that shows a lot of information about enemies you fight, including their estimated HP (based on damage done to them and their current health %), and stores what all they drop.

Nurfed DKP (Curse-Gaming link): Shows DKP totals in-game (for raiding).

Raid Attendance (Curse-Gaming link): Gives you a cut-and-paste-able box of everyone currently in your raid (for raiding).

CensusPlus (homepage): An addon that will do a /who on the entire server, broken down by levels so as to get everyone (takes 4-5 minutes, usually) and stores the information. It graphically displays it, and you can see how many of each level, race, and guild affiliation are on your server (given enough time to build a good database). You can also upload the information stored to the database at the website, and thus browse other people's information on the website.

Outfitter (Curse-Gaming link): An addon that allows you to set up different gear sets, both whole sets and accessories. Allows for quickly switching between gear between fights, such as to switch into fire resist gear and back. It also allows you to set up sets for specific occasions, such as sets for when you mount (carrot-on-a-stick, spur boots, riding enchant gloves), changing stances as a warrior, when you enter or leave battlegrounds, equipping your Argent Dawn commission in the Plaguelands, etc. VERY handy.

Fizzwidget's Adspace (homepage): An addon that will show a tooltip if a recipe can be bought at a vendor, along with which vendor you can purchase it at. Great for filling out your trade professions at the auction hall...just search for recipes you don't have, make a list of them, and then figure out which you can buy (for less inflated prices) at various vendors around the world, and which you'll have to buy off the AH or get incredibly lucky with a drop to get. It also helps with various token systems in the endgame, telling you what is needed for what rewards.

(more to come)