AddOn Spotlight: Altoholic

AddOn Spotlight takes a look at the little bits of Lua and XML that make our interfaces special. From bar mods to unit frames and beyond, if it goes in your AddOns folder, we'll cover it here. This week we're delving into the world of alts.
If you're like me, you've probably got your 10 character slots on your main server filled out with supplemental characters to help your main. I've got my enchanter/scribe warlock who is only level 65 in order to learn Northrend recipes. I've got my death knight alchemist sitting at 70 for titanium and gem transmutes as well as the occasional flasks and elixirs. After a while, it gets difficult to keep track of what you do and don't have on each character. Sometimes you want to help outfit your alts with better gear only to log them in and find out they've already got a set. What you need is Altoholic.
This is a fairly large and robust addon written by Thaoky. It will keep track of virtually every stat related to your characters as well as inventory tracking. If you're looking for something that's been packed away on some random alt, you don't need to dig through each toon's bank in order to find it. All you do is pop over to the search tab and check Altoholic's database of your stuff.
What it does right...
The inventory management and tracking is great. As shown in the gallery, I can search for cardinal rubies and find out which toons have spare ones, if there are any in the guild bank, and even the transmute from my alchemist shows up to let me know I could make them. It adds a few lines to item tooltips again letting you know if you have any of that item on any other characters. This is handy when going through a recipe for a profession as you can figure out what characters have the items you need.
The profession, skill, and reputation tracking is also really nice. With it, I can go through the available recipes on other characters before hitting the auction house for materials. I can also keep track of which toons are progressing their professions at a decent rate and which ones need some cash or mats to get them caught back up. The interface will even give suggestions of what to work on next at that level for each profession.
If you're in a guild with people who have a lot of alts, it can be a pain to keep track of them at times. Altoholic can talk to other players who also run Altoholic and let you know who their alts are. It will also keep track of their professions so that you can bug them for enchants or glyphs when they're online.
Where it needs work...
Its tracking for comparing achievements, mounts, and vanity pets need some work. It has each of your characters side-by-side across the top with the mount names down the left hand side and icons for that item under each column. It's a lot like trying to read through a graphical spreadsheet with icons being lit up or grayed out. As a colorblind player, it was difficult to see the comparisons at times and could be frustrating if trying to quickly find something. Also, the achievements in the interface were in alphabetical order which caused things like 100, 1000, and 250 Quests Completed to be in a rather awkward series instead of the numerical progression of 100, 250, 500, 1000.
Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up...
Overall, this is an invaluable addon for anyone trying to juggle multiple characters. The ability to reference your other toon's equipment, inventories, and professions at the click of a mouse can save a lot of time and hassle. If you're one of those crazy people with a guild for your bank alt, then you'll be able to keep track of those extra bank spaces much easier as well. For as many features as it offers, it actually has a relatively small footprint taking up about a megabyte and a half of memory for the main addon. I know I'll be using it more in the future.
Where to get it: [Curse] [WoWInterface]
Filed under: Add-Ons, AddOn Spotlight






Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Iamlink Nov 3rd 2009 2:03PM
I adore this addon, it's the only way i have been able to keep track of where all my items and crafting mats are :D
mcbattle Nov 3rd 2009 3:23PM
I absolutely love Altoholic. I've been using it for many months and it's great.
I love that it will tell you how many of an item all your characters have, and even guild banks.
The one problem I've noticed is that it frequently doesn't pick up all of a characters profession recipes. It will have just a partial list of somewhat random recipes, but it is not complete.
Tankin Nov 3rd 2009 2:07PM
Now to figure out a way to parse altoholic data to be used for roster so I can see all the information on the web, away from the game.
Cyno01 Nov 3rd 2009 2:18PM
One of my favorite features is being able to link the tradeskills of your other toons. Very handy for guildies when youve got 4 maxed crafting professions between 3 toons.
Draelan Nov 3rd 2009 3:19PM
I was thinking I'd try this out when I got home, but you, sir, have just sold it to me. I've got maxed out Leatherworking, Jewelcrafting, Alchemy, and pretty close with Inscription, Tailoring, and Enchanting. I can't count how many times a friend has asked me if I can make something and I've had to log over to my alt to check.
If this is as good as it sounds, for a non-raiding add-on, it could rank right up there with Gatherer and Livestock for me.
Xaverius Nov 3rd 2009 2:21PM
"Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up..."
lol - love it.
I love this addon, just lately I've been getting lua errors from it (probably due to me installing other addons and they're conflicting somehow). Generally though, this addon is a wonder and a HUGE help when crafting.
J. Nov 3rd 2009 2:25PM
I'm glad I'm not the only one who got that.
Cydonius Nov 3rd 2009 2:48PM
Chocolate coating makes it go down easier.
Gantrithor Nov 3rd 2009 3:14PM
Stop that I meanut.
Harmeister Nov 3rd 2009 3:23PM
Anybody want a peanut?
WoWie Zowie Nov 3rd 2009 7:06PM
as you wish
Chevela Nov 3rd 2009 2:21PM
This add on is a must for me, having 3 80s, a 75 and 65, as well has two bank alts with guild banks, all with their own professions and storage on my main server alone. It's nice to be able to link, say, the mats needed for Armsman that my enchanter priest can do from my main druid.
I haven't updated it in over a year, since when i did, it seemed to forget everything and bugged out a bit (i restored the old version in my addon folder) but perhaps was due to an error on my part (something about clearing the LUA) and my current version doesn't have the guildmate feature, which i'm not entirely comfortable with.
donjimbo Nov 3rd 2009 2:26PM
A nice addon but way too much memory usage for me, especially if im running a leveling addon like lightheaded on my alts.
ShadowEric Nov 3rd 2009 4:38PM
Its footprint is 1.5 MiB and you're worried about memory? With computers that ship with at least 2 GiB of RAM these days?
Addons don't have memory issues, contrary to popular belief. It's CPU usage you should be worried about, and that's obviously not a problem for an addon that just stores data about your toons.
ragingkittai Nov 3rd 2009 5:27PM
1.5? I've had it running at 20 or 30 before. I stopped using it when I found that something like it is built into Carbonite.
ShadowEric Nov 3rd 2009 7:21PM
20 to 30? That's not the case here. It says in the article above 1.5 as well. It still wouldn't be a problem either way. As to Carbonite, never used it. Other comments here say it does a tenth of what Altoholic can do.
Abedabun Nov 4th 2009 6:35AM
You might want to try ProfessionBook and something like ArkInventory.
shadowdk Nov 3rd 2009 2:29PM
I love this addon, and i have been using it for a while. One of the features i love most, is when i am cutting gems for the AH to send to my AH toon, the addon keeps track of what i have not sold on my alt, where its at and how many i have. I cut 300+ gems, so the addon has made my life easier with its simple strait forward mouseover tool tip.
Hendrata Nov 3rd 2009 2:30PM
One question: can the guild-sharing feature be disabled? I have several alts that I let my guildies know that those are my alts, but I have some other alts that I keep hidden. Sometimes when I'm too stressed to raid and it's raid night, I just want to level up and enjoy soloing away from the guild.
But I do have a lot of alts, so I want most of altoholics' features, except the guild sharing thing.
shadowdk Nov 3rd 2009 2:33PM
guild sharing can be disabled