Return of the addons to Azeroth
by Mike Schramm 
Dec 13th 2006 at 12:21PM
My guild headed back to raiding last night (seems a lot of guilds are taking a vacation lately, with the patch and the expansion giving a one-two punch to the PVE game), and while BWL wasn't quite ready for us-- the Razorgore orb was bugged, and our MT couldn't see a pet bar for him-- we finally got back in the groove in MC. We'd been at a loss with new specs and a lack of our usual mods, but tonight, with various means and instruments, we were able to finally down some of our old farm targets and pick up some epic gear.Decursive, as I said last week, was the big one. Apparently it was number one on the devs' hitlist, and for good reason, because it definitely took a lot of work out of cleansing decurses (like the one Lucifron throws out). But we've found alternatives that are "good enough." One of our mages now swears by Grid, an addon that works with 2.0.1 (I haven't tried it, but it comes highly recommended). And even more people benefited from this macro, posted in the Forums. It seems that if you create a macro that says "/cast [target=mouseover] Remove Lesser Magic" (or whatever decursing spell you want to use), you can then run your mouse over players or their raid icons while spamming the macro button, and you've got a reasonable facsimile of what Decursive used to do. In fact, this is even better-- Shaman (like myself) can create a mouseover Purge macro, run your mouse across a group of enemies in PVP while spamming the button, and never have to put up with a buff or renew spell ever again.
Speaking of my Shaman, when I asked for help last week, you all gracefully answered. I was extremely frustrated with the changes to addons (I lived by all the extra info redHeart gave me), but when I finally tried out and used Clique, I finally felt back at home. It's simple to set up and use, and makes things almost as easy as they were pre-2.0 (the author even has a video up showing how simple it is to use). Finally, the brand new version of CTRaid, 1.621 (I think that's the third version they've released since the patch) finally gets rid of that extremely annoying "clicking" noise the patch added to raids. A few things are still bugged in a few raid instances, but finally, raiding is getting back to normal.
Filed under: Patches, Tips, Tricks, Add-Ons, Instances, Quests
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tyler Dec 13th 2006 1:07PM
We had the same problem last night on Razorgores orb - no pet bar would appear. We found the problem was actually CT Mod causing it. We had the controller simply remove CT completely and he had no problems. Same applies for classes with pets; if you've already got your pet out with a pet bar, you wont get a second one; so dismiss your pet :)
Sylythn Dec 13th 2006 3:35PM
Now we just have to wait for the auctioneer guys to finish up exams in order to get a working version of that...and the economic recovery can begin. Prices have been WAY out of whack lately, and there's been even less stuff offered on the AH than before.
GamerJunkie Dec 13th 2006 1:36PM
Sometimes I wonder if Blizzard actually plays the game or they hire a bunch of leet players to participate in the testing of their instance designs.
For those Spam curse/disease encounters. I don't think it is easy to decurse someone stacked with 2-3 curses in a 40 man raid with less than 4 cleanse bots.
If those curses don't stack so quickly, I think it is do-able without decursive to manually cure the whole raid but with tanks and rogues constantly being cursed or dotted its too much for healers and cleanse bots to respond..
ChrisM Dec 13th 2006 1:24PM
A new bar mod I have been using since Discord Action Bars(DAB) has been incompatible to the latest patch is Bongos Bar Mod.
http://wow.curse-gaming.com/en/files/downloads/21673/
It's very clean and easy to set up. There seems to be a great deal fewer bugs than DAB had. Also there is another mod being updated now for us Mages called Arcanum. Once it's back to it's full glory of pre v2.0.1 all mages will be using it. It saves a great deal of useless buttons.
You can keep up to date on that mod @
http://aenema.zykworlds.net/arcanum/forum/index.php?sid=93347d8fcabe5fc724f18bf14f6b5397
I will be testing out that decurse macro and addon tonight.
Argent Dec 13th 2006 1:26PM
grid + clique is an astounding combination. i was still sorting out some of the bugs in the new mods last week in our AQ/naxx raids, but in last nights twemps clear, i was defintely rocking it with my heals and dispells.
i, for one, don't miss decursive one little bit.
decae Dec 13th 2006 1:37PM
As for the Razorgore orb, if you cant see the bar, don't forget the regular pet commands still work.
CTRL 4 breaks an egg, CTRL 7 i believe is the AE ... cant remember the other one. If you can remember where it was on the bar, you should be good to go!
We did RG last night (Shaded Visions on Norgannon-H)
A slow start until we figured out which CTRL commands did what, but we got em!
Druid dude Dec 13th 2006 2:00PM
We have been using one called SmartBuff. It has a component called SmartDebuff that is very cool. Its still a bit buggy, but even so it rocks. Once the developers of it iron out a few things, it will get even better.
Jeremy Dec 13th 2006 4:39PM
i agree with your mage. grid is amazing (and even more amazing for healers)
freehugz Dec 13th 2006 5:25PM
So if the lack of mods makes the game harder does that mean that the game now requires more skill? and that people complaining don't have the skill to pull it off? ...just a thought
Dan Dec 13th 2006 9:33PM
I hate the number of people that equate mod usage to a lack of skill.
I use tons of mods. These mods help to display data to me in a method I prefer, and help me cast spells in a way I prefer. It has nothing to do with skill - I am still casting the same spells and healing the same targets as you. Why do you folks that don't use mods seem to hate on us that do?
StillWaters Dec 14th 2006 1:43AM
Using mods is not a question of skill. Its more like increasing the efficiency of your class while doing the same job. Sure you can decurse a 40 man Raid by individually selecting each target and decursing. Now we know that in fights invoplving decursing, the curse gets applied multiple times. Lets say a fight lasts 5 minutes and curses happen every 30 sec. So in effect, decursing without mods will involve 400 mouse clicks to select targets and 400 key clicks to cast decursing. No question of skill. But imagine doing it fight after fight, week after week. Its still the same skill, but it becomes monotonous and boring REALLY FAST. Now if we can use a macro to elimiate the mouse clicks required to select targets, or addons to do that, all it does is save us the time. Its still the same skill, you have to know when to decurse. Add ons like decursive, etc are not cheat or hacks or skill removing mods. All they do is present the information and layout in an easier to use format and make it more use friendly to do your class's job. You are still the one doing the decursing, not the macro or the mod.
Brim Dec 14th 2006 9:29AM
would the following macro work?
/castsequence [target=mouseover]decurse, Abolish Poison
Thomas Dec 14th 2006 11:57AM
I've trashed easily 50 mods that previously worked well. Happily I've found replacements for most. Lost Random Watcher for loot rolls, found Lootster a much better mod. Lost CT Bar mod - gained Trinity Bars. FlagRSP even got an update as did Eloquence - mods I had used long ago. Now for Auctioneer to get fixed up.
Personally, I use mods that assist in my playstyle. I have mods for RP purposes (The above named two as well as an Emote mod and Guild Greet mod), bookkeping assist (Auctioneer, Gatherer, some Titan mods), and others for general purposes (Arc Hud, Trinity Bars, etc). I wouldn't use a mod if it cheated or did multiple things that I should be doing.