AddOn Spotlight: Priest, mage, warlock addons
by Mathew McCurley 
Apr 15th 2010 at 7:00PM
Welcome back to the Addon Spotlight miniseries on class-specific addons. Last week, we took a look at a few specific addons for the paladin, death knight and the shaman. This week, we're forging ahead with three more classes: the warlock, the mage and the priest. If an addon is recommended that isn't particularly useful for your specialization, fear not! This type of Addon Spotlight will happen again in the future. Let us commence the celebration of these three fine caster classes and their addons.
Green means go
Back in vanilla WoW, my main was a raiding priest. The name of the game back then was healing, and you were crazy for doing anything but. So I grew up in World of Warcraft as a tank and raid healer during fun times in fun places such as Molten Core, Blackwing Lair and beyond. Shadow priests were second-class citizens when it came to DPS. By the time shadow got its due, I had already been so ingrained to the healing lifestyle that the world of DPS never caught up with me. In addition, the guild needed paladins for the then-upcoming Burning Crusade, and I heeded the call. The shadow priest was forever lost to me.
Some readers sent in some awesome suggestions for shadow priests, considering my experience playing as one is limited. The one that caught my eye was a little addon called ShadowGreenLight, a comprehensive variable calculator that lets the user know whether or not it is worth it to cast Shadow Word: Pain yet during a boss encounter. ShadowGreenLight works by taking into account raid buffs, internal cooldowns, procs, talents and even encounter-specific buffs. It spits out a green skull if Shadow Word: Pain can be cast with maximum efficiency. Little addons like this are, again, some of my favorites, as the guesswork is essentially taken out of a spell with a huge amount of potential. Your DPS might even get a little better, too!
ShadowGreenLight also works for warlocks and their Corruption spell. While I have warlocks in the queue next for an addon, ShadowGreenLight is a freebie for you too. Once again, all raid buffs and debuffs are taken into account to tell the user whether or not to use Corruption yet. Green icon means go -- it's that simple.
Download ShadowGreenLight at [Curse].
Not my forte
Warlocks are another one of those DPS caster types I have little experience with, but from years of playing WoW, I have gleaned much information about the class and their mechanics. One thing that I've learned is that the best warlocks are masters of their cooldowns, durations and DoTs. When I put out the call for warlock addon help, the overwhelming response was ForteXorcist.
After doing some research on ForteXorcist for my Sexycooldown column, I knew something was special here. There are just so many utilities in this package that I was floored. ForteXorcist includes a soulstone tracker, summoning UI element, shard counter, healthstone tracker, spell and DoT counter, and spell and cooldown timers. The bars look a bit overwhelming at first, but any experienced warlock could grapple this stuff pretty easily. The options are simple and straightforward, and bars are configurable enough to suit any UI motif.
If you are a warlock and currently do not have a spell tracker and DoT timer, ForteXorcist is a great tool for bringing you a lot of the information you can use to hone your craft. Do not be intimidated by the number of timers -- it all gets easier as you practice.
Download ForteXorcist at [Curse] or [WoWInterface].
Last but not least
My next character is going to be a mage. I'll definitely need some guidance on that a little later, if anyone has some awesome advice. In the meantime, let me give you mages a little help in the form of another cooldown and spell tracker made specifically for you. A good mage friend of mine recommended Scorchio! 2, a mage-specific cooldown and ability tracker that monitors mostly everything a mage needs to worry about. Scorchio! 2 features simple bars that track many mage abilities, including Improved Scorch, Living Bomb, Winter's Chill, Slow, Polymorph and many others across multiple targets. In addition, the addon tracks other abilities such as Mirror Images and Clearcasting to get the most out of these abilities.
Scorchio! feels like a great central hub for most of the information a grouping and raiding mage needs when dealing with so many cooldowns and abilities. Scorchio! is constantly being updated and changed, and according to my secret mage sources, feels very comprehensive in regards to the information being presented. I do hope that Scorchio! is able to help many mages grab hold of their abilities and make life just a little bit easier.
Download Scorchio! 2 at [Curse] or [WoWInterface].
Three more classes down, and only four classes remain. Hunters, druids, rogues and warriors will be (barring unforeseen circumstances) rounding out the first edition of class addons.
Let's end with another staff pick from my recent foray into the internal WoW.com email list. You guys seemed to enjoy this segment on the last Reader UI of the Week column, according to the email response that I received. This staff pick comes from Kelly Aarons, artist extraordinaire and creator of WoW.com's very own Byron the Tauren Rogue. Kelly writes:
"Deadly Boss Mods -- teaching noob raiders like me to not stand in stuff!"
Deadly Boss Mods is one of those addons that I really cannot live without. With many different events going on around me, including my own inability to not stand in fire most of the time, Deadly Boss Mods makes the world work. I don't know what it is about fire -- the alluring, crackling sound, the delightful burning smell or even the beauty of the dancing flames ... I digress. Also, I need a battle res.
The first thing that many of you will comment is, "How on earth is Deadly Boss Mods a pick when everyone should already have it?!" Well, everyone doesn't have it. Sad. Be a thoughtful and good citizen of the WoW community, and give every newbie you meet the good grace of three pieces of fantastic advice: First, get Deadly Boss Mods. Second, don't Death Grip mobs off the tank -- it's a taunt. Finally, to join my guild and get awesome loot, just press Alt-F4.
That's it for this week, addon junkies.
Addons are what we do on Addon Spotlight. In case you missed it, the first installment of our class addons series happened last week. You'll love it. And remember, Addon Spotlight is fueled by viewers like you, so if you have a mod you think we should take a look at, email Mat at mat@wow.com. Filed under: AddOn Spotlight, Achievements
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Zhiva Apr 15th 2010 7:07PM
No mention of Decursive?
Chris S Apr 15th 2010 7:07PM
Deadly. Boss. Mods. If you don't have it, you're crazy. That addon alone has saved me from wiping raids and instances many times. GET IT.
Kaphik Apr 15th 2010 7:14PM
I prefer Big Wigs. Same idea, though.
Viper007Bond Apr 15th 2010 7:33PM
Deus Vox is vastly superior to both DBM and BigWigs.
jfofla Apr 15th 2010 7:42PM
When people say "WOW is easier than it used to be" I wonder if they consider all the ADD Ons we use to make it that way.
Hollow Leviathan Apr 15th 2010 8:04PM
Boss fights are worlds harder than they used to be. But they're harder because they're complicated, not because every single one of them is a gear check that requires 40 people to have gear from the boss that comes immediately before it. The number of people who downed C'thun before Naxx40 came out is probably proportionately equal to the number of people who have completed Yogg+0 before ToTC was released.
Bvannas Apr 16th 2010 1:31PM
I must be crazy then, I stopped using DBM recently, short moment of cold turkey after coming off it. After that, raiding is more relaxing now Im not being shouted at every second by the oppressive nanny of DBM.
Then again, it isnt for everyone, but I was surprised how much information the normal UI gives you in polite notifications.
Tom Apr 15th 2010 7:16PM
I find Deus Vox Encounters far superior to DBM, and I'm glad I made the switch!
Stephen Apr 15th 2010 7:47PM
I actually run both. DXE catches things that DBM doesn't and vice versa. I use DXE's bars, arrow, screen flicker, etc. with DBM's sounds and center screen warnings. It's a good mix, but takes a little balancing to get it working right.
Modpapa Apr 16th 2010 12:01PM
I agree, Deus Vox is much better than DBM or BigWigs--took a little setting up to suit me but I love it now!
Arkkis Apr 15th 2010 7:30PM
Big fan of ShadowGreenLight! Very helpful
McGuffer Apr 15th 2010 7:38PM
Actually I'm going to go against your column here (which normally I love). You got some advice from some bad locks there since it seems all the baddies are using Forte these days.
It's a great addon at first look the problem is it's crazy hard to set up and just is info overload with stuff you don't need to be watching for many and also is a huge bloat on resources for those on less than perfect systems.
I have to say that needtoknow is much better for a lock. You monitor your dot durations catch procs and cooldowns and you do it all with a much lighter easier to set up and more durable addon that Forte. But that's just my two cents
sherekhan88 Apr 15th 2010 8:09PM
They're not bad locks/players for using a more complicated Addon. If they can make it work for them, then they're not 'bad' at all, are they ?
lemur Apr 15th 2010 7:42PM
Necrosis is fantastic for warlocks. It has DoT timers included, a shard counter, a button for life tap, and spell and demon menus. LOOVE it.
Piisuke Apr 15th 2010 7:44PM
Forte is actually a handy addon for all classes, not just Warlocks. It has bars for every class, every spec and loads of things to customize. It does take some resources, but it definitely a nifty addon.
As for mages, next to Scorcio! I'd probably say Mage Nuggets.
Frank Apr 15th 2010 8:24PM
/seconded.
also cryolysis3 (or lunarsphere, which is updated more recently, but is basically the same thing)
vanye111 Apr 16th 2010 11:54AM
MageNuggets is the one I was just going to mention. i find it far more compact that Scorcchio, and it works on any caster (it doesn't show timers and alerts, but will at least track haste, sp, & hit rating).
Stephen Apr 15th 2010 7:57PM
I got rid of Forte a while back. It's just WAY too bloated and overdone, IMO. I now use Power Auras for all of my Warlocky needs and it is WONDERFUL. It just requires that you know your class to set it up so that you can program in what things it needs to look for.
Daedalus Apr 16th 2010 7:44AM
This is exactly what I was going to suggest. Forte seems like it should be great, but in 6 months of tinkering with it, there was always something I wanted it to do differently that it just couldn't be configured for.
Power Auras Classic has let me set up warnings for exactly what I want, when I want, how I want. It didn't take me very long to figure out exactly how to do what I wanted, and tweak it down to the closest detail.
As for the rest of Forte's stuff: soul shard tracking, health/soul stone tracking, etc, I use Necrosis LDC.
Soulestream Apr 16th 2010 8:42AM
I have to agree. I installed forte and it had way too much information. Instead of spending an hour removing/moving stuff I setup PowerAuras(which did take some time to figure out the setup) and ButtonTimers and I love the combination. PA for all my buffs/debuffs/reminders and ButtonTimers for my DoTs works well for me.