Addon Spotlight: Grab bag 2
by Mathew McCurley 
Sep 16th 2010 at 7:00PM
You are cordially invited to another wonderful Addon Spotlight Grab bag extravaganza! Next week, I'll be talking about the Cataclysm in-game ability notification system that Blizzard is working on. That would have been this week, if my beta wasn't screwing up and I didn't get all the pictures and potentially video required for a proper post for you fine readers. Instead, you get a grab bag of fun, useful and downright crucial addons that might not be the biggest guys of the bunch, but they definitely do ... something. Plus, "grab bag" is fun to say.
Let me reach into my bag of random addons and pull out some special selections for you! If this column had sounds, you'd hear a rustling noise, followed by some crashing, glass shattering and maybe an air horn.
RedDrake
Cataclysm is coming, so get those achievements from Wrath dungeons as soon as possible before no one wants to run them ever again! RedDrake is an achievement addon that reminds you, upon entering a heroic or raid instance, what achievements you are missing for meta-mount achievements, such as Reins of Red Proto-drake or Reins of the Bloodbathed Frostbrood Vanquisher.
Download RedDrake at [Curse].
Currency
For those of you who do not use an LDB bar, TitanPanel or other bar mod, Currency provides an alternative to common currency addons that appear in LDB formats. Currency's simple task is to show you in a quick list from your minimap of your current currency amounts. The addon shows you, in a simple list, how many emblems, honor points and other currencies that you have. Currency is a simple, light addon that provides a quick look at your currency without the two-click solution to get to the currency tab. Seriously, two clicks? That's so 2004.
Download Currency at [Curse].
HatTrick
Tekkub is one of my favorite addon authors, and it's no surprise that he has come up with this seamlessly integrated and awesome addon that is exactly what I needed. HatTrick moves the toggles for your helm and cloak graphics to the player paperdoll frame instead of deep in the display options. The addon disables the ability to use the display option checkboxes, but really, when they've been moved to the paperdoll, you'll never look back.
How can you not love this addon? On-the-fly checkbox selection of your helm and cloak. I love it, and I want Tekkub to have my LUA babies.
Download HatTrick at [WoWInterface].
Addon Mailbag time! Woooo!
Thanks for the email, Mrs. Hompa. There are a few solutions for seeing who is talking on Vent that I know of. First, while it's not the most economic solution, you could get one of those nifty G15 keyboards from Logitech. The G15 has a small LCD screen that has a Ventrilo plugin built in that can show you who is transmitting at the time. It was cool back when we used Vent. The other option is enabling the Ventrilo overlay, but to be completely honest, I tried it once and it never worked, and just like Lot, I never looked back.Hello hello,
I've been raiding a while with my guild, and while I really like everyone and have had numerous conversations with many guildies in chat, I have a really hard time recognizing voices over Vent! I play on a little laptop, and while everyone tells me I should play in windowed mode so I can see the Vent window, I just can't stand how cluttered and small everything is when I do. I have been made fun of (and probably hurt the feelings of my guildmates) when someone calls out an Innervate or a command and I have to say, "... who, exactly?" I'm like this in real life, too -- I'm a big advocate of name tags! My question is, is there an addon that exists where the names of who is talking in Vent show up in game? That would be so helpful!
-- Mrs. Hompa
My other suggestion is Mumble. I cannot give more praise to Mumble, not only because the sound quality is better and the software features voice normalization (everyone is brought to a common sound level no matter how loud they output), but because of the awesome overlay that just works out of the box. The overlay lives anywhere you want on the screen, has tons of options and can light up the people who are currently talking in your Mumble chat. It's rough to get everyone to switch over, but oh man, is it awesome.
Thanks for the email, Malozing. Your best bet for low CPU and memory usage addons are any addons that have individual modules that you can turn off. Skada is a great example of an addon that works well with modules, as you can turn off the specific types of data that are displayed and parsed for you. Of the addons you've listed, I don't see anything that screams "CPU destroyer." Rather, stay away from addons that are graphics-intensive or just plain huge. Carbonite is a good example of a addon that can kill your performance. Stay away from the bloated guys, and you'll find most addons won't give you too many problems.Hi Mathew,
Quick question: What are some low-CPU and -memory add-ons? I play on an older laptop, I currently use Skada, Grid, Decursive, DBM, Flototem Bar and Auctioneer.
I think you already answered this in one of your mailbags, but I can't remember which one. If I am right, feel free to point me in the right direction.
Thanks. =) I love your articles.
Malozing
See you all next week!
Addons are what we do on Addon Spotlight. If you're new to mods, Addons 101 will walk you through the basics; see what other players are doing at Reader UI of the Week. If there's a mod you think Addon Spotlight should take a look at, email mat@wow.com.Filed under: Add-Ons, AddOn Spotlight
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
niko Sep 16th 2010 7:19PM
HatTrick has always been one of my faves, I'm surprised Blizz hasn't already integrated it into the standard UI by now.
Super-highly recommended n stuff,
Pyromelter Sep 16th 2010 7:23PM
Never heard of HatTrick. Looks like a perfect addon - small, giving great and useful functionality. Going to get it as soon as I get home today. Great find there McCurley.
soundblubb Sep 16th 2010 8:40PM
HatTrick is good, HelmNCloak is good too.
HelmNCloak is for those who use the Equipment Manager.
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/helm-n-cloak.aspx
viendictive Sep 16th 2010 8:42PM
You do not need an addon for this function. A macro is possible and a lot easier than having to deal with an extra addon to so something minimal.
For buttons on your action bars that toggle your head piece/cape on/off, simply make macros with these commands:
For helm: /run ShowHelm(not ShowingHelm())
For cape: /run ShowCloak(not ShowingCloak())
Rakah Sep 16th 2010 11:27PM
hunters have enough to macro without stuff like that. got my macro slots all full up
Neyssa Sep 17th 2010 2:51AM
I just use outfitter for this issue. In outfitter, you can set the outfits to show/hide helmet/cloak. So if you like your tanking hat but not your healing one, its really easy to set up. Although this little addon looks nice :)
Nathanyel Sep 17th 2010 10:09AM
Yep, rather an addon than another two macro AND action bar slots taken.
Todd Sep 17th 2010 2:50PM
"## X-Credits: Based off Ani's Helm'n'Cloak toggle by Ani (aka Sirocco from Blackrock (EU))"
Very nice that Tekkub is refreshing a mod made in 2006, a mod that I still use today and still works fine after all of these patches and updates.
Jesse Felt Sep 17th 2010 5:44PM
I guess I just don't see a point to an add-on for this. I almost never want to see the helm, and in the rare circumstances I do (fishing outfit for example) I have macro's that switch my gear and toggle the setting automagically for me. *shrug*
Tekkub Sep 18th 2010 6:10AM
Rawr!
Blackhorned Sep 16th 2010 7:30PM
As far as low CPU addons go, I find UI overhauls like supervillain or Tek's give me a lot of functionality at low CPU usage at the cost of personalization.
Pyromelter Sep 16th 2010 7:38PM
Tek's... did you mean TukUI?
Blackhorned Sep 16th 2010 7:48PM
yeah sorry, meant TukUI
Stone Sep 17th 2010 12:07PM
I Found a nice program called Game booster. You run it and it will shut down a lot of programs not needed to game IE print spooler. Frees up 100 to 200 MB of ram.
http://download.cnet.com/Game-Booster/3000-18541_4-10913645.html
Pyromelter Sep 16th 2010 7:34PM
To the guy with the vent problem, I'm going to say that this is not your problem, or a vent problem, it's your raid mates' problem. Unless you are a super small guild that has been together forever, it's hard to recognize voices, especially in the heat of battle. This is why in vent, proper etiquette during an encounter should be that you use the 3rd person in regards to those things. "Shamanhealer needs an innervate if one is available." "Discopriest casting Pain Suppression on Tankwarrior."
My example: On a recent BQL attempt, I was not bitten first, and was not going to be bitten second either (helping one of our guildies do the blood infusion quest). My aggro was getting pretty high, over the main tank's, and for me to keep up my dps (which was needed because we were doing it hardmode), I needed some outside aggro dropping help. So I said in vent "Can Pyro get a Salv please?" A few seconds later the off-tank (pally) hit me with his Hand of Salvation. It's just etiquette, if you need an external cooldown or something like that (innervate, salvation, pain suppression, guardian spirit, rebirth) or if you are taking a battle rez ("Pyro accepting battle rez... now!"), you state your name in the third person to avoid confusion.
---
Regarding the other player who was asking about CPU usage, I agree with Mat, the only thing I would suggest would be turning off Auctioneer when in a raid or battleground, because auction mods for some reason keep chewing up memory if you keep them on.
Stephen Sep 16th 2010 8:45PM
^^^^^^^^^^^
This comment should be required reading for anyone who wishes to raid. Period.
For a while I was in a pretty hardcore guild, and this was the norm. People used the third person to refer to themselves, called out cooldown usage and rezzes, etc. When I moved servers, I went to a less hardcore environment. (i.e. people don't get called out for mistakes instead general announcements are made that someone made a mistake, you don't get gkicked if you BRez without permission, that kind of stuff which to me was the norm before) On my first raid, I got chewed out by our raid leader for "clooging vent with useless chatter" because I called out when I cast my BRezes, Innvervated someone else, or had a cooldown that needed dispelled.
Raiding etiquette isn't common, unfortunately. People need to learn if they are going to be in the top raid instances.
Rob Sep 16th 2010 10:57PM
Alot of raiders want the druids to save their brezes, or will call out specific ppl to brez. I for one do not rez the first guy to die unless its its the difference between wipe and success. Rez the 2nd or 3rd guy. Wait until a tank or good dps or another druid is down, then brez. Sometimes (actually quite often) we'll be raiding, maybe a 25, and there will be 2-3 druids, and 5+ calls for brezes go out. How are we expected to rez the really critical people when you asked us to brez the idiot who died in the fire a minute ago?
Manadar Sep 17th 2010 6:03AM
Pyro's tip is a great one. Also, I like the addon Rebirther while playing my druid, one of my healers or raid leading. Gives you an easy way to check what CRs and innervates are on CD, and you can just click on the druid's bar to ask him in whisper to innervate.
Borgthor Sep 17th 2010 5:25PM
Anyone know how to get the dinovo mediapad workng with vent? Pfft G15 isn't all there is...
Sleutel Sep 17th 2010 1:55PM
This this this times a billion. Anyone who calls out for someone else to apply an ability to them *without* specifying who they are had better have a damned distinctive voice--like being the only woman in the raid.
I'm a hardcore raider, so I'd like to take the opportunity to throw in my experience that it is 100% par-for-the-course to speak in the third person when announcing important things on Vent or making requests of others. The guild I'm in now has a lot of people who've been playing together for a long time, and even though I've only been there for a month there are already a lot of voices I recognize--but even still, *everyone* specifies who's talking when it could possibly matter (which tank is taunting, who's taking a brez, who needs Salv, which tank is popping a CD or needs one, etc.).