Addon Spotlight: Geist
by Mathew McCurley 
Jun 10th 2010 at 1:00PM
Thursday can only mean one thing -- addons. Earlier in the week, Excellence's UI from Reader UI of the Week made prominent use of Geist, an incredibly useful addon that begged to be in the spotlight. Action bars are an important staple to the World of Warcraft user interface, and most addons in this category are all about changing the attributes of mostly static bars. Geist takes a different approach to action bars, potentially being a full action bar replacement or an augmentation onto existing action bar setups. Click now!
I am sorry that I lied again. Power Auras advanced sessions will be done soon. Honest. The good news is that I get to introduce you -- or in many people's cases, reintroduce you -- to Geist. Geist is a simple but ingenious addon that creates a 25-button action bar underneath your mouse cursor whenever a user-selected button is pressed. Action bars appear where your cursor is! Amazing! In its simplicity, Geist presents the user with tons of options and use cases for all types of classes and roles.
Geist reminds me most of oPie, another excellent addon, but with button clicks instead of directional selection. Having the ability to call a large block of buttons under your mouse cursor is an awesome convenience, and since the buttons act like action bars, they can be filled with literally anything, from macros to abilities.
Let's talk use cases. Tanks routinely macro abilities like Shield Wall, Divine Protection and other defensive cooldowns to buttons or an easily accessible action bar for quick use. Geist can be used as a defensive cooldown one-stop shop. Press the button to make Geist appear and select your defensive cooldown. Since the bar appears where the cursor is, access is
instant. If you aren't a key binder, Geist might be the solution for you.Mages! Who doesn't love mages? Stalwart, brilliant and squishy like a marshmallow, mages provide the world with DPS, portals and food. Let's talk portals. Geist could be used as a portal and teleport repository, appearing on command with a single button press. Not only does this free up space on action bars, but you never have to open your spellbook to find a specific portal spell. Geist might be the helpful addon for you, mages!
Trade skills! Keeping your trade skills off on a separate menu of action bars seems to be the thing to do, especially when you're working your interface for maximum screen real estate. Geist can help! Just set a trade skill button, pop open the Geist window and all of your trade skill abilities are ready to roll.
Did I mention that Geist works with ButtonFacade, potentially my favorite addon ever? I didn't?! Geist works with ButtonFacade by installing an extra plugin found on WoWInterface here.
Give Geist a try. Addons with a simple and straightforward approach and function are usually the most deceptive in terms of how much they will surprise you. Geist is versatile and helpful in its simplicity. Use the comments to sound off with your own ideas and use cases for this helpful addon.
Download Geist at [Curse] or [WoWInterface].
Download Geist - ButtonFacade (ButtonFacade support for Geist) at [WoWInterface].
How about a mailbag or two to wind us down for the week?
Hey Mat,
I currently use Healbot and it works just fine for me so far. I have heard some people that use Grid for healing and swear by it. I was wondering what the difference is between the two. I find Healbot to be a godsend when healing. I know at least two people in my guild that don't use a heal UI at all and just drag out raid frames to do it. I find this to be ridiculously difficult to heal that way myself.
Thanks,
Dave
Thanks for the email, Dave. Healbot and Grid are completely different approaches to the raid frame genre of addons. It's funny, because Healbot is a healing addon first and a raid frames addon second, whereas Grid is the opposite. Here's a quick rundown on the differences between healing with Healbot versus Grid.
Healbot is a self-contained healing package, for the most part, that allows you to set different spells to mouse clicks and various conditional mouse clicks (Shift Click, etc). For a druid, for instance, click could be your main healing spell, like Regrowth, and the next clicks down the line are for other spells. This allows healers to have instant access to all of their arsenal of spells with just mere clicks, as opposed to button presses, action buttons and targeting. Healers have all of the targeting they need just by hovering the mouse over an injured player's raid frame.
Grid is a raid frames replacement, at its core. What makes Grid stand out are its built-in raid notification system, small footprint and customizable nature. Grid gives you a lot more than healing information at your fingertips, like who in the raid has aggro. Plug-ins can enhance Grid's effectiveness, and when paired with powerful addons like Clique, Grid can provide all of the functionality of an addon like Healbot but in a different style and package. Personally, I would try out both sets and style of addon and choose for yourself. At the end of the day, your skill as a healer will trump any addon, but addons are definitely a huge boon to the healer community.
Thanks for the email, Jay. Of course I take email suggestions. I pour over lots of emails every day from addon suggestions and comments to Reader UI of the Week submissions. Please, send me any and all of your suggestions. Addons are a very unique brand of "product" since the entirety of the addon's success is created by user feedback, word of mouth and a solid product. Advertising is a very small part of an addon's lifestyle. Word of mouth is how I find most of the addons I spotlight, and word of mouth was how I chose my first addons to use. The more emails that I receive, the better the column is, frankly.Mat-
I have a suggestion for Addon Spotlight. Do you take suggestions for spotlight columns?
Jay
Thank you all for reading! Stay tuned for next week. There might be more Power Auras! Who knows? Not me. Also, if you love all things me, I am a regular guest on the WoW Insider show with Sacco and Rossi.
Addons are what we do on Addon Spotlight. How are you guys enjoying HudMap? It's totally awesome, right? It takes a little getting used to, but you'll get it. Be ready for AVR's destruction! 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: Add-Ons, AddOn Spotlight
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Anhydrous Jun 10th 2010 1:04PM
Grid? HealBot? How's about poor, forgotten VuhDo? I've found it to be waaaay better than the other two.
OldPossum Jun 10th 2010 1:08PM
I tried both Healbot and Grid briefly. Both were unsuitable for my task+play style. Vuhdo wins.
Talarashne Jun 10th 2010 1:23PM
Yeah. I used Grid for awhile. Switched to Healbot for awhile. I've made the transition to Vuhdo. I find it far superior to either of the two. It gives you the complexity you get with Grid right out of the gate, and then some. There's stuff you get in Vuhdo that you just don't get in either of the others, plus the developer for it is constantly improving it. gotta love an active developer on an addon.
Faith Trust Jun 10th 2010 1:46PM
I haven't tried grid or healbot, but the moment I installed vuhdo it became my standard healing add on.
Outis Jun 10th 2010 3:53PM
Same as Faith Trust =D
wyldchyld337 Jun 10th 2010 3:59PM
XPerl and Clique work for me. VuhDo was too much and wasn't worth the time to spend on all of my various characters/classes. with XPerl, I have all of my raid frames in the lower-middle section of the screen and can assign any number of abilities through Clique.
Cale Jun 10th 2010 4:00PM
He did it on Jan 10th.
Aloix Jun 10th 2010 4:19PM
+1 started with VuhDo and sticking with it. I think I used Grid in vanilla, and used Pitbull raid frames sometime in the interim, but yeah, I love VuhDo and recommend it at any opportunity.
So many people I run with use Healbot (cringe) and it would be nice to be able to give a List of Reasons Why VuhDo is Better.
Since I've not used Healbot, and unfortunately I have only seen it as having a bit of a 'bad' reputation, I would like something more constructive than 'Healbot sux yo'.
Ideas?
blissfire Jun 10th 2010 7:44PM
I actually went with Healbot first, and then Grid and Clique, mostly because they were more well-known, established and seemed the standard. I never really took to them, but I gave then-newbie VuhDo a last shot, not expecting anything better, and was so, so happy. I even use it on my mage for instant decursing and on my Spriest for emergency bubbles, my tank for easy Righteous Defense, etc.
Best addon ever.
Spazmoose Jun 10th 2010 8:45PM
@Aloix
"So many people I run with use Healbot (cringe) and it would be nice to be able to give a List of Reasons Why VuhDo is Better. "
"Since I've not used Healbot..."
I feel like the "(cringe)" without having used Healbot is unwarranted. Also, I have used all of the mentioned options (Grid+Clique, Vuhdo, & Healbot) and have personally found that only Healbot fits my healing preferences, my play style, and my UI preferences.
Vuhdo was close to meeting my needs, however, I found that the setup took more time than it was worth for me, as well, it basically called duplicate functionality that was offered better by my normal raid frames (PitBull).
Grid + Clique never seemed to "click" for me, perhaps it was the ugly raid frames (yes, I know you can change the look), but it seemed like to much setup time again.
Healbot's spell setup, and click-cast interface works well for my preferences, especially with the fact that I can easily disable it, or move it out of my way quickly, as I am a main-spec DPS.
My personal preference is Healbot, but saying something is better, without ever trying the alternative is just plain ignorant in my opinion.
Hollow Leviathan Jun 10th 2010 11:20PM
I tried Healbot, found it to be confusing (the opposite of what most people say), changed to Grid, which was functional but barebones, not enough abstraction from the technical aspect of setting things up.
I tried Vuhdo and now it's my party and raid frames on every character. I love seeing who has aggro and being able to taunt or decurse at a click on my tankadin, &c. It took very little time to set up. I just wish it had profile functionality so I could easily port over setting between characters.
c0.ff.ee Jun 10th 2010 11:31PM
@Hollow Leviathan
VuhDo does have portability between characters. You simply go into the .. umm.. 3rd last tab? (I stopped using it the day after I installed it) and you can save your profiles there. Save one and call it .. say.. "Leviathan".. Then load up another toon, and in the same tab, you can load the newly saved profile. You can edit the profile and it applies to everyone who uses it, or you can rename and save it so that each character has different abiliteis and layouts - based on your first "Leviathan" profile.
I just found that Pitbull was OH so much more configurable, and with Clique behind it, I have not foudn anything I can not do that I woudl want to do.
Aloix Jun 13th 2010 4:06PM
@ Spazmoose - do you use raidframes AND healbot at the same time?
I just use VuhDo as my raidframes. Whether I'm DPS (MS) or healing, which I do less than 10% of the time.
One thing I've read somewhere is that Healbot is lacking in customizable Debuff display. Can anyone confirm that? That alone would be a reason to avoid it imo.
Duffman Jun 27th 2010 1:09AM
@Aloix
First off, forgive my decrepid L key, it likes to add an extra space for some reason. I need to look into that...but on to my response.
For the most part, if you're sti l l using raid frames and any kind of hea ler addon, you need to check yourse lf. Second, there is a wonderfu l litt le addon ca l led Decursive that needs no customization at a l l, ready to be used out of the box. S lap Hea lbot and Decursive side by side and a l l your hea ling/decursing/antidotes/magic remova ls wi l l be easy as pie.
I tried VuhDo and I was rea l ly confused about it. I didn't understand how to make it work correct ly, and since I knew how Hea lbot worked, I stuck with it and it has served me we l l on my priest and my shaman. And back when OS was sti l l big (as in, your DPS/HPS/tanking abi lities mattered, not some number attached to your gear), someone mentioned I shou ld get Decursive due to the fact that was I a mage. A mage in OS = curse remova l bonanza.
Ever since then, Decursive was my go-to remova l addon and Hea lbot has been my go-to hea ling addon. I tried the C lique+Grid combo and it just took up too much space.
jon Jun 10th 2010 1:08PM
For healing bars, check out VuhDo! its like Grid+clique but better than healbot and grid, at least imo.
Crimpshrine Jun 10th 2010 4:55PM
+1 for VuhDo. Former Healbot user... healbot is just not customizable enough. Former Grid+Clique user... configuring the two of them was way too much work. VuhDo brings a happy medium between them.
As for the main article's suggestion to use Geist for mage portals... any Mage considering that should check out the Mage Nuggets addon instead; it does all that for portals (with zero configuration needed) plus is a great cooldown timer and proc notifier.
The one Geist idea I liked was using it for trade skills, which I really have needed to remove from my action bars for the longest time.
realityworx Jun 10th 2010 1:12PM
I don't get it ... so it takes you now 2 button presses to do what 1 did before?
Baba Jun 10th 2010 1:19PM
I guess it's main attraction is as a space-saver for non-combat use (e.g. mage portals, boss tactic macros, mounts etc). That's what I'd do anyway, it'd have too much potential to mess up in combat methinks, especially as it pops up under your mouse. :/
To anyone else, do the actionbars 'collide' with each other to prevent overlapping? Because that could be stressful if you accidentally pop up the hidden bar whilst tanking and can't hit a cooldown until you realise what's just happened.
epsilon343 Jun 10th 2010 1:20PM
Not necessarily. Sometimes there are spells that are useful in certain circumstances but don't need to be on the action bar the whole time. So instead of cluttering up your screen with all these buttons you can keep it just a second away from what you want to do. And since it lets you bring up the buttons at your exact mouse position it can let you focus on what you need to see instead of hunting around for a button on your screen.
Eyhk Jun 10th 2010 2:48PM
Situationally useful spells and abilities that don't need to be key-bound or shown on the action bars is most likely the use for it. For my own purposes, oPie does a wonderful job as well. Anything regarding defensive cooldowns should definitely be keybound and accessed at a moments notice unless you like planning your CDs in advance and know exactly when you will use them.
One use I can find with this is actually keybinding a lot of regularly used abilities to the hidden Geist bars and only actually looking at the bar when you need to, although I'm not sure if that is possible. Even though my most crucial abilities are all on my main action bar, I hardly every look at them since they are all keybound and memorized. It might actually save space to hide the bars completely and only bring them up when you have some need for it. I'll try it out tonight and see how it works.