AddOn Spotlight: Fizzwidget's Trackmenu
by Eric Vice 
Aug 21st 2007 at 9:30PM
Do you suffer from buttonitus? (I'm amused that word didn't trip a spell-check alert.) Symptoms of this dreaded disease include having more spells and abilities than you have buttons, exploring assorted action bar add-ons that allow you to have more buttons than the default UI, and overall general frustration. Although this plague is not limited to a single class in World of Warcraft, hunters in particular have it worse than most.
In addition to the usual combat abilities, the shots, the traps, and whatever other profession-based buttons a hunter may have setup they have an added burden: tracking skills. I'm pretty sure it's safe to say that nobody can track as many different kinds of things as hunters, especially if the hunter is a miner or herbalist as well, or even a dwarf.
So, listen to me hunters (and others). Look at your action bars and all the tracking skills you have hot-keyed there. Now describe to me in a hundred words or less (in the comments section if you wish) the happy dance you will launch into if you could reclaim each and every one of those buttons and use them for something else. Allow me to introduce you to Fizzwidget's Trackmenu.
Installation of the add-on could not be simpler. Simply open it in your archiver of choice and extract the folder into your \Addons folder as per usual. Then launch World of Warcraft and look where the tracking indicator used to be on your mini-map. In it's place is the Trackmenu button. Click this button, and a list of all your tracking skills will drop down allowing you to make a selection. Unless there are some you want to hot-key you can now safely remove all your tracking abilities from action bars.
Enjoy one of my absolute favourite add-ons. You can look forward to further reviews of other Fizzwidget products in the future. He's got what you need!
Filed under: Dwarves, Hunter, Herbalism, Mining, Add-Ons, AddOn Spotlight
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Poxus Aug 21st 2007 9:59PM
for me, as a Hunter, this is the best tracking addon out there.
Baluki Aug 21st 2007 9:59PM
I'd hate to be an Herbalist/Miner Dwarf Hunter.
RogueJedi86 Aug 21st 2007 9:59PM
This would be nice for me too. I hope it's not just for Hunters. I'm a Dwarf Paladin with 2 gathering professions for money. So I have Sense Undead, Find Herbs, Find Minerals, and Track Treasure. This addon would be a nice way to clean up 4 buttons for me.
Buttonitis deserves its own Breakfast Topic. I know I'm a Chronic sufferer from it.
Brommon Aug 21st 2007 10:09PM
@3 - You're in luck! It's sensetive to any detection ability, not just the hunter ones. :)
Also, the summary got wrong one important detail of this mod for people who like to keep their UI clean - It actually doesn't add a new button to your UI at all! Rather, it uses the existing circle on your map that shows your active tracking ability. It just seems so obvious to turn that thing into a tracking switcher now...
Anyway, glad to see Gazmik and his fizzing widgets are getting some notice, though, Eric! Half my mods come from his emporium - he's got something for everyone! (And more importantly, all his gadgets are very focused. They do one thing and do it really well, with clean, minimalist UIs that work with, not against, the default UI whenever possible.)
dixonij Aug 21st 2007 10:11PM
I think this is a part of MazzleUI... and I love it as and easy way to turn on my mining/undead tracking on my paladin.
Eric Vice Aug 21st 2007 10:12PM
@4 You're right. I've corrected the mistake. Silly me. It's been so long since I played without the add-on that I don't remember what life without Trackmenu was like!
RogueJedi86 Aug 21st 2007 10:18PM
Now this Eric Vice is someone I can trust. He's a famed Dwarf Rogue, so I know I can trust him as a fellow member of the Alliance. Random, sorry. :P
RogueJedi86 Aug 21st 2007 11:09PM
Hm, how does this work when you die? Since the tracking icon disappears on death, how do you click near the minimap to re-activate tracking?
Gazmik Fizzwidget Aug 22nd 2007 12:18AM
Thanks for the link, WoW Insider!
@8: TrackMenu modifies the behavior of the default UI's tracking icon so that it doesn't go away when you have no tracking skill active -- it changes to an "X" icon instead. That way you can still click or mouse over it to get at the menu.
Oh, and in case anyone seeing this article feels like adding to the great big piles of mail for the top two feature requests I get about TrackMenu (making a movable button instead of hooking WoW's static icon, and making similar menus for hunter aspects or other groups of spells), let me head you off now... I'm working on something that should satisfy both desires.
Zbeebs Aug 22nd 2007 12:45AM
I've been using using this add-on for months now and find it absolutely essential, especially on my, yes, mining dwarf hunter. And since the tracking icon is always there, the red X is a great reminder to turn tracking back on after you rez.
And as long as Fizzwidget himself is here - I'd love to see a similar tool for hunter traps :)
Bogrum Aug 22nd 2007 1:08AM
I like bc_TrackingMenu better... it's much less intrusive.
http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info5668-bc_TrackingMenu%5BTBC%5D.html
enkafiles Aug 22nd 2007 1:50AM
I use Venantes (http://wowui.incgamers.com/ui.php?id=3304) myself;
it has a Tracking menu but also has menus for
1. Pet-related stuff
2. Traps
3. Aspects
... and a couple of other buttons of varying usefulness (mount/unmount, hearthstone, drink, eat).
Hate having to play without it when I'm on another computer. ^^
I only have to use my hotkeys for the stuff I need in battle.
chris Aug 22nd 2007 4:44AM
I use an add-on called Zhuntermod. Not only does it replace the tracking buttons it also replaces the aspect buttons and all the pet related buttons (Feed, res, heal etc). There is even a strip button for those unfortunate times that your feign is on cooldown
I recommend it for any hunters.
Tridus Aug 22nd 2007 6:11AM
This is a great mod, because as mentioned, it doesn't actually add a button to the UI. All it does is change whats already there to be more function.
Love it. :)
Galipan Aug 22nd 2007 6:51AM
My happy dance would consist in a back flip and then a /love for you Mr.Vice. I cannot tell you how those tracks cause me problems for raids by not having space for certain abilities for certain encounter, making me constantly be changing my UI.
Thank you!!
p3ngu11 Aug 22nd 2007 7:52AM
ZHunterMod is better, times infinity.
Corrodias Aug 22nd 2007 4:38PM
1) bc_TrackingMenu is not less intrusive. It does the same damn thing, except it doesn't have icons for the tracking skills, only using text.
2) ZHunterMod is only better than Trackmenu in the same way that Fruit Baskets are better than individual, perfect Apples.
Levi Aug 23rd 2007 1:24PM
I use ZHunter for just the tracking menu. It is one button that expands to show all of your tracking abilities with a right-click, or tracks what is displayed with a left-click. You set up your primary and secondary tracking abilities, and it will toggle between the two when you click the button. Works pretty nicely.