Addon Spotlight focuses on the backbone of the WoW gameplay experience: the user interface. Everything from bags to bars, buttons to DPS meters and beyond -- your addons folder will never be the same. This week, we'll dress you up in my love, in my love, all over, all over.

The Lich King. C'Thun. Yogg-Saron. Kil'jaeden. These are the enemies of Azeroth. Old tier armor sets. Holiday tchotchkes and outfits. Cool-looking shields. ... These are the enemies of your bag space. Outfits, roleplaying gear, sets for all of your different roles -- this stuff starts piling up! Luckily, there are a whole host of addons out there designed to keep your outfits and gear sets in perfect order.

Dressing up in old armor or crazy clothing gives me more pleasure in WoW than it should. In fact, there are some seriously awesome websites out there dedicated to the creation of theme outfits. The Fashionable Gnome, for instance, is one of my favorites. So how can we keep all of these item sets neat and tidy? Let's find out.

ClosetGnome

ClosetGnome was my first outfit organizer. I remember the early days of this plucky little addon, using it to put on full twill in the middle of a raid. Good times for everyone! ClosetGnome provides a nice LDB display, which I appreciate. The trademark funny lines also are still here, which bring back memories. The addon is simple and gets the job done.

Sometimes addons like ClosetGnome surprise you with features you did not really think you'd appreciate. If you are in combat while selecting a new set, for instance, the set will queue up once you are out of combat. ClosetGnome also works in conjunction with BigWigs to allow you to set up equipment sets on a per-boss basis.

This addon might not have been changed in fundamental ways since its inception, but I felt nostalgic. Here's to you, ClosetGnome, the gateway drug to my outfit addiction.

Download ClosetGnome at [Curse] or [WoWInterface].

Outfitter

Want something that can only be described as "crazy robust" in dealing with your outfits? Look no further than Outfitter, a massively awesome gear and clothing set addon that transcends functionality and usefulness. You want gear and item comparisons across different sets of gear? Outfitter has that. LibDataBroker support? Included. Have you ever wanted the ability to optimize an item set based on a stat? Outfitter can make this happen.

Outfitter makes things easy, but the real charm of the addon is the presentation. I like the way Outfitter looks, and if you know me (you do), you know how important style is in addition to function. Outfitter branches off from the character panel in the same location as the built-in Blizzard equipment manager, but opens up so many new possibilities.

Download Outfitter at [Curse] or [WoWInterface].

The Blizzard equipment manager

Has the cataclysm already happened? Have the Firelands frozen over? Am I really going to be talking about one of Blizzard's default user interface modules? I certainly am. The Blizzard equipment manager is a capable and simple way to create outfits and switch on the fly. The interface is super simple and it's built-in, requiring no download whatsoever.

To enable the Blizzard equipment manager, go into the interface menu and select Features. Select the option to enable the equipment manager.

Blizzard's equipment manager is simple -- you can create new equipped item sets and change their icons. If that is all you need an equipment manager for, you can't go wrong with the built-in option. There is one issue with this feature, however, that I find myself running up against occasionally. After a crash, WoW will conveniently forget my item sets, but magically they will reappear. They are never gone forever, just weird lapses in the remembering my gear sets. Other than that, for the simple task of keeping item sets organized, the built in equipment manager does an OK job.

EquipmentManager_SwapSpecs

This handy little addon is great for people with two specs. All SwapSpecs does is attach to the default Blizzard equipment manager and remember the last item set you equipped in your particular spec. When you change to your primary or secondary spec, the addon automatically switches your gear set to the corresponding setup based on your switched spec. It's simple, no-nonsense and works in a similar fashion to ClosetGnome_SwapSpecs (the ClosetGnome version of this addon).

Download EquipmentManager_SwapSpecs at [Curse].

So now go out and frolic in your outfits. Wear some outrageous get-ups to ICC before the world comes to an end. Live a little! Oh, and do remember to watch your bag space -- there really isn't enough of it when you collect outfits.

Addon mailbag

Mat,

Your UI of the Week and Addon Spotlight columns inspired me to overhaul my own UI. I used several of the popular ones, such as kgPanels, Pitbull, Bartender, Power Auras, etc. and a few more esoteric things. I spent one full weekend with all my game time doing nothing but getting it all set up and then continued tweaking for two or three weeks after.

I finally settled in and had just about everything exactly the way I wanted it when disaster struck. While playing this past weekend, WoW glitched/froze/hung up and locked up my PC. Irritating, but it's happened before so I didn't sweat it and rebooted. When I logged in, almost every single addon I had had reset to the default settings and wiped out all of my profiles. Everything was a big pile in the middle of my screen and I had to start over from scratch!

Is there any way, once I finish getting things back the way I want them, to copy the settings and archive them for a speedy restore? I've never had this happen before but now that I know it can happen, I want to be proactive about protecting my work.

Thanks in advance!

Aristaeus, Greymane (US)

Thanks for the email, Aristaeus. I am sorry to hear about your loss. User interface catastrophes like that do happen, sadly. The first thing I would do is go into each of your addons and try setting their profiles to the specific profile you were working in before the crash. Some settings may have saved and it's worth a shot.

Backing up your user interface is a fairly easy process, especially if you want to do a complete folder copy. You will want to make copies of your "Interface" and "WTF" folders, which contain not only the addons themselves but the configurations for those addons. If you ever wanted to go back to the addons and user interfaces when they were copied over, just move those files back into their directories and replace them. Most addons will pop right back to where they were, but you may have to tinker with some of their profiles.

Note: This setup does not work with all addons. Some addons are trickier and have different setup protocols. However, keeping copies of their folders can't really hurt, and in the event of another catastrophe, at least you won't have lost everything. Again, we are all very, very sorry for your loss.

See you guys next week!

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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.

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Tags: add-on, add-on-configuration, add-on-guide, addon-configuration, addon-guide, addons, clothing, equipment-addons, equipment-manager, featured, guide, outfit-addons, outfits, wow-add-on, wow-add-on-guide, wow-add-ons, wow-addon-guide, wow-addons, wow-clothing, wow-guide, wow-rp-clothing

Filed under: Add-Ons, AddOn Spotlight