iTZKooPA's Add-Ons (And The War With Them)
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iTZKooPA on Thursday, October 1, 2009 - 15 Comments Tags: Addons, Addons, Recount, auctioneer, autobar, bankitems, ct mod, fishing buddy, gatherer, itzkoopa's addons, lag, questhelper, repairing wow, roguepowerbars
iTZKooPA on Thursday, October 1, 2009 - 15 Comments Tags: Addons, Addons, Recount, auctioneer, autobar, bankitems, ct mod, fishing buddy, gatherer, itzkoopa's addons, lag, questhelper, repairing wow, roguepowerbars 
ZOMG, No Deadly Boss MOBS!? Gkick!Major combat operations in /World of Warcraft have ended. By dedicating a healthy bit of time before bed, and using my own advice, I was able overcome the horrible lag I was experiencing in all of my World of Warcraft endeavors. No more 30% drops in framerates, lost DPS or accidental dives off cliffs to large for a gnome to survive. WoW has returned to normal. Onyxia will rue the day she returned to these lands!
There are a few things that I learned during my hour-plus battle. Most important is that I am absolutely terrible at keeping my add-ons up to date. The majority of them haven't been updated since the Wrath launch patch (v3.0), or at best v3.1. I refuse to use the various auto-updating services because of my fear of hackers, unsavory add-on authors and the notion that such a program will clutter my computer. These ridiculous reasons mean that the blame falls squarely on my shoulders for being lazy. At least suggestions four and five, after already narrowing things down from 1-3 earlier this week, fixed the problem.
In addition to my disorganized /AddOns folder - it in no way reflects the cleanliness of my slop pit house - I came to the realization that I have far too many add-ons. During my campaign to capture the latest versions of my tools, I cut my add-on list from 49 memory suckers to a slim 26 user interface enhancements. It wasn't even difficult, no hard decisions made. Simply, do I use this or not?
Here's my list:
- Auctioneer: This add-on is the key to my financial success in World of Warcraft, arguably responsible for the Mo' Money, Mo' Problems column, among many other one-shot posts. It scans and records data from the Auction House, and automates putting items up for sale at competitive prices. I roll with the suite, which includes numerous supporting add-ons like BeanCounter, Enchantrix, Informant, and Stubby. Norganna's add-ons have proven to be so helpful to me that I have even made donations. Yes, plural.
- AutoBar: An easily customizable and maintainable bar that is populated with all your hot items and abilities, like hearthstones, mounts, potions, food, food with buffs, etc, by default. I set it up to be a third default action bar, just one with collapsible buttons. It's proven to be a clutch addition. Contains class specific bars as well.
- BankItems: Enables player to look at their bank, their alts' banks, and even the guild banks from anywhere. Good enough?
- CT_Basic: The CT_Mod team was the first team to create an ubiquitous collection of add-ons. Some of their tools were so common that they've been enshrined in the Add-On Hall of Fame (Blizzard implementing an add-on's capabilities in the default UI). CT_Basic is still an incredibly useful package thanks to the CT_MailMod, allowing players to loot their mailbox via a 'Select All' button. There is a perfect synergy between it and Auctioneer. I nuke CT_PartyBuffs though. I used to use CT_RaidAssist when I was a raid leader, but no more.
- CT_ExpenseHistory: A good expansion to the basic CTMod package for the gold nuts like myself. Tracks your expenses - repairs, reagents, even mail postage - to see where all that gold went. It's pointless, but I love numbers and finances.
- Fishing Buddy: I used to be huge on fishing, and that's when I fell in love with this mod. It previously automated almost everything about fishing, but Blizzard disabled some of that functionality. I continue to use it mainly out of nostalgia, but also for the tracking (numbers!), and easy casting.
- Gatherer: This bad boy records where you've looted gatherable items (mining, herb and even treasure nodes) and displays them on your minimap. The best part is the ability to share the data with friends, party members and even your guild! I always kill Gatherer_HUD. It's a resource hog that offers nothing but fancy visual effects over the normal add-on.
- QuestHelper: What can I say? I like saving time, and it's even more useful after you've already run through the zones on your first toon. QuestHelper is another mod that has entered the Add-On Hall of Fame due to its ease of use and immense quest database. There are many imitators, but I've found QH to be the best.
- Recount: Allows me to see my mad deeps, overall damage or how many times I die. Recount tracks healing and useless stuff like that too. It doesn't matter how much healing they do, it's never enough and always their fault when someone dies. :p
- RoguePowerBars: You may have noticed that I don't use Deadly Boss Mods (eh GM?). I may have died a few times because of that decision, but I find it to be too informative for my taste. I mention DBM in this RPB snippet because they effectively do the same thing, scream information at you. My justification for RPB is that the standard UI is laid out poorly for rogues (and many other classes). We have so many buffs and debuffs on short timers that need to be kept active for maximum DPS that they really should be in your face. RPB accomplishes that goal superbly. I rarely ever lose my spell rotations since I began using it. That obviously increases my DPS.
Once Solidsagart becomes a raid healer - sometime in November I assume - I'll have to add a few more add-ons to the mix for healing. I still haven't decided between Grid or Clique, but other then new raid frames I can't really see Solidsagart needing anything special. Raid frame changes are her version of RoguePowerBars. I'll likely grab Omen though, something Vanish makes rather pointless. Anyone have additional selections for either toon?
I just realized that only two of my add-ons have anything to do with combat. Everything else is time saving or money making. Maybe I need to get my priorities straight so I can nail 15k DPS on a regular basis.
The whole downside to nuking all of my add-ons was that I lost all of my macros. I don't know exactly how that happened, they are supposed to be server side, but it did. My next task is recreating all of them. Oh, how I don't look forward to finding the correct icons for everything or remember which abilities had which other abilities bound to them...
Reader Comments (15)
"no DBM, /gkick" LMAO!! damn those addons for eating up your memory. glad you found the culprit. I have always kept my adds to a minimum. Mainly because I don't have the machine to handle them. Also, because as you said "do I use this or not?". I have tested various adds, but once it doesn't do what I need it to or if I feel it just clutters things up /remove is what it gets.
Still thanks for the previous post on things to look over when trying to get more out of you puter. Also something to note if you have to do the dreded reinstal. If you have WotLK you only have to use that disc as it has everything up to when it came out. Then all you have the the 3.0+ patches to instal and you are good to go. Also, the internal repair should catch a lot of things, so I definitely recommend doing that before you reinstal.
Just thought I'd throw this out there, Altoholic works just like BankItems, except it's a bit more comprehensive. Very useful if you have numerous alts, as the name suggests.
Oh, and about the macro thing: That is precisely why I do not use macros for abilities. Makes things too complicated.
@iTZKooPA
Grid and Clique are complimentary addons. If you have Grid, then you should pick up Clique for easy + bindings. Grid also works well for mouseover macro's for healing.
The other option for a healer unitframe add is Healbot (some love and some despise, I personally despise healbot and have used Grid + Clique on my druid for as long as I've healed).
@ iTZKooPA again~
use the
#showtooltip
command in the top line of your macros along with the
"?"
image from the choice of macro icons and the WoW engine will replace the macro image with the tooltip's image (i.e. the little stealthy guy for stealth, etc...).
@Sylvie
I know about that trick, but it doesn't work for all the macros. Such as when I want to replace an ability, but the macro launches a different ability first. Such as:
/start autoattack
/cast Mutilate
You get the autoattack icon - because it is first - instead of Mutilate, when I want the Mutilate icon.
Picture caption fail: Deadly Boss MOBS = Deadly Boss MODS...
u don't have to use as long #showtooltip as the move is first
I went the longest time without any healing addons, but around patch 3.1 I broke down and began using Grid because I was tired of dragging out each group's window. I still don't use any macros, though.
Thank you someone else who knows the wonders of RPB. Once I found this add on many months ago it has been the savior of my DPS and once I figured out how to use it to its maximum potential. Every rogue should get this.
I swear by an addon named BaudManifest. It replaces the normal bag interface with a sortable *list* of items. I'm a fairly verbally oriented person, as opposed to graphically, and I find it a lot easier to scan a list for that quest item or buff food I want rather than look through my bags for the right icon.
Take a look at Vuhdo for a healing mod when it comes time.
I Don´t use add-ons.
That makes me a worse player. It most definetely does. I know that...
But i have total control. Which is bad because humans make mistakes and press the wrong buttons. Especially in PVP where, as you know, combat is hectic and fast.
If i´m happy with the decision?
Yes, i am.
One positive side. Not a chance to get my account stolen by someone trying to put his add-on on my computer.
On negative side. My DPS changes a lot according to my awareness or simply my mood.
I once thought about quest helper but now i see WOW is thinking of inserting that in the game. SO i guess i´m set.
I´m playing for the fun not to make my DPS Max out because i just press one button. Where´s the fun in that??
Also the exercise is a killer with so many buttons to press now since i´m level 80 now.
#showtooltip Mutilate
/start autoattack
/cast Mutilate
along with the "?" icon should give you the Mutilate icon.
A very similar list to mine, though I add DrDamage, and various class specific stuff (Necrosis, PallyPower etc) on various toons. (They can be switched on and off on a Per Toon basis on the Addons page - some people don't realise this; check the drop down box in the top left - for example no need for oRA2 on a level 26.)
And BankItems - I use "Armory" (sounds like its similar to Altoholic, but I came across Armory first, and love it). Linking alt's JC recipes when I'm playing my Ench/Tailor main is a godsend. Plus raid status (handy for "Did I do VoA already?" moments) and just about everything
@iTZKooPA About your fear of hackers, just use wowinterface, you just get an email letting you know that an addon marked as your favorite has been updated :D This is the main reason why I switched over from Curse.
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