Addon Spotlight: Grab Bag 3

With Cataclysm a mere four days away (and a super-special live WoW Insider Show tomorrow), excitement is at an all-time high. It has been a while since we've had this level of excitement, and believe me, I have not been immune to it. I've been pouring over quest progression, making wish lists for gear in Atlastloot, and just generally anticipating an awesome Cataclysm launch. I still can't believe it's happening so soon.
People seem to enjoy the grab bag Addon Spotlight features, especially when they find something brand new that changes the way they play WoW in some fashion. This week, I've got a diverse grab bag for you. We're going to look at one addon used for interface customization, a pet/mount addon you might not have heard of, and something for you paladins out there.
As with the other grab bag Addon Spotlights, I like to choose a little something for everyone. Here are three addons that I think are masters in their class and can provide some pretty rich additions to your interface.
Kong Automatic UI Hider
The infamous Dalaran UI (soon to be the "city" UI? Orgrimmar/Stormwind UI?) is a holy grail for many interface tinkerers. The less interface on your screen during periods of exploration and hanging around, the more rewarding your experience, especially for checking out the awesome new architecture and zones in WoW and in Cataclysm in just a few days. Sometimes you just don't want certain elements of the user interface to show up at all.
Kong Automatic UI Hider is an awesome addon that takes care of hiding interface elements for you. Using Kong, you can set pieces of the user interface to hide on many different conditions, including entering or exiting combat, health percentage thresholds, casting status, being in a vehicle, and on mouseover. Obviously, mouseover is one of my favorite conditions, because I love hiding pieces of my user interface that are rarely used, like trade skill bars.

Finally, Kong has lots of macro conditions that can be set to show or hide user interface elements. For instance, you can show certain UI elements while in your primary spec and hide them in your secondary spec. It's one of those addons that goes as deep as you want it to and is helpful in more situations that you could imagine at any given time. I wouldn't even label it an addon -- Kong is a tool you should have on hand.
Download Kong Automatic UI Hider at [Curse] or [WoWInterface].
GupPet
Are you one of the many who picked up some new companion pets this week at the pet store? Did you preorder a Cataclysm collector's edition and need a nice, easy way to keep our Lil' Deathwing constantly to brag to your friends? Have you updated your mount macros to take into account flying in Azeroth after Cataclysm hits? Why not check out GupPet?
GupPet, for me, is an evolution in addon use. The features GupPet provides used to take about two or three different addons for me to get all of that functionality. I was just comfortable with those addons and let them remain separate. With Azeroth changing and flying being introduced, as well as some new minipets coming in, I figured I would overhaul the system a bit and get one addon to finally deal with my cluttered mess of a pet and mount interface. I was introduced to GupPet.

Download GupPet at [Curse] or [WoWInterface].
KA Holy Power
Last but definitely not least, I have a gift for you paladins out there. I was once like you, playing my paladin for the entirety of The Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King. Alas, the paladin has been put on the back burner. You will not be forgotten, paladins.
After surviving an original revamp to the class weeks before launch and class upheaval during The Burning Crusade, paladins have now endured the holy power addition. KA Holy Power is a very simple addon with a devious amount of customization for all of your holy power needs.
The graphics for holy power are spectacular, in my opinion, and KA Holy Power doesn't forget it. You can choose between the runic graphics or just plain boxes to display your holy power, move and scale the graphics anywhere on your screen, and play a sound and animation when maximum holy power is reached.
KA Holy Power is simple but sturdy. I couldn't ask for more. Here's a video of it in action, in lieu of a screenshot:
Download KA Holy Power at [Curse].
Filed under: Add-Ons, AddOn Spotlight






Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Serynda Dec 2nd 2010 11:06AM
Pally holy power? HearKitty addon is awesome. :)
Saeadame Dec 2nd 2010 11:07AM
I will definitely try Kong =D.
For the KA Holy Power, if you already have Power Auras it's probably easier to just set up something for tracking your holy power on there. There are a couple images that come in three parts, and mine is a shield-thing on top of my head that does left side, right side then HUGE SHIELD THING BAM. It's quite lovely.
dpoyesac Dec 2nd 2010 3:24PM
I installed Kong after reading this post. It is officially the bestest addon ever.
Krytture Dec 2nd 2010 11:20AM
Is there an addon that lets you move the World PVP thing? I have my buffs running across the top of my screen, centered, so whenever I enter a zone that puts the PVP counts up there, they are sitting on top of my buffs. I just want to move that.
Bapo Dec 2nd 2010 11:33AM
MoveAnything might, not sure though
Buran Dec 2nd 2010 11:40AM
Try the MoveAnything add-on:
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/move-anything.aspx
I keep it loaded not to base my entire interface around it but to do things like move the default quest tracker (which I'm stuck with until the thirdparty quest log replacement I use gains support for the new "on the fly" quest turn-in system) out of the way. I customized my UI to the point where it no longer fits in like it does with the stock UI. With MoveAnything? No problem!
Paurixote Dec 2nd 2010 11:47AM
Chinchilla lets you hide/move world PvP stuff, but not the "Heroic Attempts" thing that shows up in the same place, causing the same problem. I have been unable to get Kong to hide either.
Raven31211 Dec 3rd 2010 4:00AM
Move anything will indeed allow you to move that world pvp frame. However, it took me quite a long time to find where it was listed. And now the exact name of it escapes me, but it is listed under the Miscellaneous section. So try those that until you find it. It is there. Also chinchilla minimap has an option to turn it off.
Jon Dec 2nd 2010 11:20AM
I have to second Hearkitty. It's become increasingly useful for both my pally and druid. Hearing the tones really helps in the rotation and knowing how/what you need to use next.
Mep Dec 2nd 2010 11:23AM
Kong and GupPet look great!
Nex Dec 2nd 2010 11:56AM
there are no more Slow mounts.
any old sow mounts ride at fast speed now as long as u trained it.
SunGod228 Dec 2nd 2010 12:21PM
I love GupPet I discovered it after I ran into problems with livestock suddenly not working.
My favorite feature is the macro which mounts and dismounts just like you had an individual mount added to your taskbar. Which livestock and other addons did not do since they only put you on the mount.
Never heard of Kong though, really excited about that!
Ronin Dec 2nd 2010 11:25AM
I've been using GupPet ever since Minipet didn't get updated for 4.0 (or whichever patch that was). Even though Minipet looks like it might be updated now, I haven't looked back. Not to say there's anything wrong with Minipet, I just enjoy the greater functionality with GupPet, including the fact that I can use it to summon a random mount as well.
Buran Dec 2nd 2010 11:46AM
I used to use GupPet until it started falling apart -- most people can't seem to reproduce this but it stops showing mount names correctly, would summon slow mounts instead of fast ones (before normalization, this was a problem) and would often summon ground mounts instead of flying ones (still a problem if I'm in flying-enabled zones and want to fly).
I saw one or two corroborating reports of the same, saw no suggestions other than "clear your cache", and kept having the same problem even after I cleared the cache.
I switched to RandomCompanion, which does exactly what GupPet does. The UI isn't quite as nice, but it does the job and it does it right, so until whatever broke GupPet (maybe another addon, who knows?) is fixed, or until I decide to bother to try again, RandomCompanion works fine for me. The only thing I still need to do is figure out how to get it to summon a ground mount if I hit Shift+F1 in a zone that allows flying, so that I'll be able to stay grounded if I want to in Azeroth once flying is enabled there. (F1 currently calls a random mount).
Tinious Dec 2nd 2010 11:39AM
Can anyone confirm if Kong plays nice with Bartender4?
jmccance Dec 2nd 2010 12:16PM
How about "Capital UI"? It has the advantage of sounding like it should be served with scones and a cup of Earl Grey.
Also, it should always end in an exclamation point. E.g., "This add-on greatly improves my Capital UI! in ways I couldn't have imagined."
Nyold Dec 2nd 2010 12:17PM
Sorry for a noob question, but is there an addon that lets you move the chat window? I'd like to put my action bars right where it is. I was wondering if the Kong addon above would do that.
vanye111 Dec 2nd 2010 12:28PM
No addon needed. Simply right click on the general chat tab, and click on the "Unlock" option. You should be able to then drag it to where you want it. Click and lock, and you're set.
Pyromelter Dec 2nd 2010 12:38PM
Get Prat or Chatter. Both allow you to move the chat box, and the blizz default chat box and options continue to be absolutely terrible.
Other than that, you can get MoveAnything. But that would be like slapping a good pair of tires on a ford pinto, when someone is giving you a porsche for free.
Concord Dec 2nd 2010 12:25PM
Much as I love these pet addons, what I really need is something that mimics the "bestform" function from the venerable Druid Bar addon. Any suggestions? What I want is to be able to press ONE button that mounts an appropriate mount (ground or flying) if i'm standing still, does flight/travel form if I'm moving and aquatic form if i'm swimming.