Addon Spotlight: Community choice #3
by Mathew McCurley 
Dec 23rd 2010 at 3:00PM
Oh, WoW Insider community, you always pull through for me. This week, we're doing another Community Choice Addon Spotlight highlighting some of your favorite addons.
When I'm not ranting about Tol Barad, I'm writing about addons. What that means is I get to read a lot about addons and people's impressions of them. It's nice, once in a while, to have you guys recommend something for me to feature. Hey, this whole column is all about getting information to you guys, so it's a real boon to the community to have your input as well. Remember, you can email any addons you think deserve the spotlight to mat@wow.com.
Shadowed Unit Frames
Satomii and I are on the same page with regards to Shadowed Unit Frames. I could never really get into some of the more robust unit frame mods out there, mostly because I don't usually have too much information in them other than health and simple buff and debuff tracking. My unit frames have self-applied buffs and debuffs larger than others over the enemy's unit frame, and that's pretty much all I've ever needed.Hey Mat, I'm an Alliance paladin tank, and recently I've been trying to find a unit frame addon that's easy to set up and has the same functionality as X-Perl. I love X-Perl, but recently it's been buggy and not often updated. I tried Vudho, Pitbull, Grid, and Healbot, but all of them were either missing a piece of the puzzle, or ludicrously difficult to set up (I'm looking at you, PitBull). Simply put, Shadowed Unit Frames is clean, lightweight, and frankly, has the nicest set-up and options page of any unit frame addon I've ever seen.
Cheers,
Satomii the Tank
I love Shadowed Unit Frames because it's simple enough out of the box but deeply customizable if you're into that sort of thing. You have every unit frame available to customize: raids, groups, arena and more. Frames can also be faded in and out depending on activity for the avid minimalist. My favorite feature, however, is that making each bar look identical is incredibly easy by configuring multiple frames at once, instead of doing each separately. Love it.
Download Shadowed Unit Frames at [Curse] or [WoWInterface].
Hi Mat,
I have a lot of friends from various realms and my Real ID list is getting pretty big because it takes three lines for each friend. I was looking for an addon that would display only their names, with optional information in a nice, compact frame. Since I'm also a TitanPanel user, I hit up WoWInterface and found my new favorite friends addon, TitanPanel Social. It's only in beta, but I've been loving every second of it.
Thanks,
Venny
If you're a TitanPanel user, you've already experienced the awesome addons you can slot into the bar and how much information can be at your fingertips despite the addon's being so compact. Enter TitanSocial, an addon that I had hoped people would write in about, because I've wanted to talk about it ever since it was first linked to me. Community choice wouldn't be complete without an addon that can help you manage your friends, after all.
I used TitanSocial when it was still in beta, and the addon worked competently then and hasn't given me any trouble since it released. Titan Social contains a massively customizable interface showing you who is online, from guild members to Real ID friends, giving you quick and basic information any way you want it. The addon is modular, so you can turn off guild, Real ID, or friends independently of each other.
Anything that manages my friends information better than the regular interface can is cool in my book. One day, I'm hoping for a simplified friends window that does something like TitanSocial, giving me all the information in one line opposed to the bulky way it's done now. Great suggestion for the community spotlight, Venny.
Download TitanSocial at [Curse].
Marking bar
Hey, I just wanted to write you about a new addon I found on Curse called Marking Bar. It combines a lot of the features of other popular marking addons, and my guild loves it and can't live without it in the new instances.
Thanks,
~Michelle
I've been looking for something like this for awhile, especially with the advent of the new raid
control panel. Marking Bar's no-nonsense approach to easy marking and raid flare selection makes the addon quick to use and compact enough to have out all the time on your interface. Kind of like when you have a kitchen appliance on the kitchen counter versus keeping the thing in a cabinet underneath the sink -- you're never going to use the damn thing unless it's in view at all times.Marking bar lets you mark mobs, drop the new raid flares, and perform ready and role checks for your raid. It's simple, compact, and just plain works.
Download Marking Bar at [Curse] or [WoWInterface].
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)
Pan1c42 Dec 23rd 2010 3:19PM
I've been looking for a way to make marking easier. That appears to have been made for me. Also Titan Social looks like a good replacement for TitanGuild.
Guy Dec 23rd 2010 3:19PM
another option to the unitframes in my opinion is stuf unit frames can make them nice and clean, but that is my opinion ( it takes a bit longer to set up but worth it for a light weight frame) i do like marking bar, i will have to try it out. and i have not used titan panel since tbc been using fubar for a while till it stopped getting udated and i just got rid of it all together. will probably have to get it a try. almost finished with my ui 8.0 so these changes seems good.
Nipah Dec 23rd 2010 7:37PM
Stuf is my current frame addon of choice... I spent a long time using Gypsy (a looooong time ago) and then Pitbull.
With a handful of custom LUA tweaks to add things like showing my current XP/max XP, better pet happiness (and pet XP), and icons to show when I'm resting/in combat (because I didn't like the default ones), I'm always happy with what I can get done with Stuf.
That being said, I can never keep my UI looking the same for more than a month or so... I tend to enjoy trying out new layouts almost as much as I enjoy playing my Shaman...
Shelly Dec 23rd 2010 9:00PM
I have tried stuf and scrapped it in favor of pitbull. At the time the unit frames wew not updating frequently enough on stuf and I was used to the quickness of xperl. (Xperl had its own problems that seemed to be fixed with cata content.) After a short stint again with xperl, ended up going to pitbull for the similar functuinality of stuf but with less fluff (imo) heck... been days since I have been in wow, can't even remember if I decided upon anything.
Overall, there are lots of uf addons that are good and most each has something someone can't do without. I love that I have choices.
And similar to nipah I tend to change my layout monthly or so, tossing out some addons just to try others.
The marking bar, gonna have to check up on that one, last addon I was using broke.
ecwfrk Dec 24th 2010 4:31AM
I use Perl Classic UF. Nothing too fancy, nice skin, everything I need, very little that I don't. Things it doesn't do (or doesn't do the way I want) are provided by separate addons.
Cautha Dec 24th 2010 11:07AM
I switched to chocolatebar once fubar stopped being updated, it's pretty much exactly the same addon.
szilagyi Dec 23rd 2010 3:26PM
Is there any sort of PVP add on out there which does something like this:
Visually list (maybe like a raid grid?) all combatants on the other side of a battleground, and separate them by class, so you can conveniently click on/focus on certain people without having to pick them out of a crowd?
I'm thinking something like this could be good for helping to target healers and stuffing them with curses and d00m faster. No idea if that sort of add-on would be against any rules.
Pyromelter Dec 23rd 2010 3:30PM
Shift-spacebar brings up the scoreboard, which will show all the allies in blue, hordes in red, and has an icon by their names so you know what class they are. Once the bg has started, you can sort by damage or healing done (or other things like HK's or KB's). That's usually how I identify the healers in bg's.
szilagyi Dec 23rd 2010 3:31PM
I was hoping for something a little less massive and obscuring than the scoreboard.
Ian Dec 23rd 2010 3:56PM
Targeting players in a fixed group will be dependant on them having a unitID.
Party, Raid Members, Arena, Arena Opponents, etc all have those, but not opponents in a battleground, so no what you want is not possible.
Class Coloured Nameplates etc should help once in nameplate range to identify classes, but unless you are going to check for the presence of buffs through powerauras, or as I am sure some can do, show specific ones on the nameplates then you are not going to have any easy way to identify them.
Personally I tend to go by the mana pool, since a high mana pool on a druid if not a moonkin will make it resto, same with paladin making it holy though it is less obvious with a shaman, again the presence of water shield maybe from the previous suggestion.
Pyromelter Dec 23rd 2010 3:26PM
Marking tip:
Cataclysm brought a change with it, allowing you to mark targets while solo'ing now. (Used to be just in party or raid). Can really help if you have a mob targeted but can't find it. Toss a blue square on it, it will light up even if it's out of LOS.
Marking bar sounds like a really good addon for those types of things, and with the new dungeons requiring cc, everyone should have a target marking addon.
Daz Dec 23rd 2010 4:46PM
Amazingly useful tip, no longer will I have to carry around a shadow jade focusing lens on each of my alts just to find the damn chief skeleton that a farmer wants me to kill.
Rufio Dec 23rd 2010 6:33PM
Voted up up up!
Jeremy Dec 23rd 2010 7:29PM
You've been able to mark on your own (not in a party) for a while now, way before Cataclysm. I remember using it to mark the truesight guards in capital cities while I was sneaking around on my rogue so I'd know when to stay out of their way as they patrolled.
Nipah Dec 23rd 2010 7:39PM
I used this feature to find those tricky Rogues in Dalaran for the Thanksgiving holiday event...
/who Rogue
"Ok... StabbityStab is in Dalaran..."
/target StabbityStab
"... ok, they're near me somewhere..."
*mark StabbityStab with an orange circle*
"On top of the fountain? Clever girl..."
*cocks his turkey gun*
Asaron Dec 25th 2010 1:07PM
That's nice, but what i really want is the ability to set marks for me personally even when I am in the group. I'd like to be able to mark allies in BGs or whatever I want to be able to indentify without those marks intruding on the UI of everyone else in the group. Not seen an add-on that does that, is it impossible?
Erogroth Dec 23rd 2010 3:27PM
My top addons:
1) Baggins - Best bag addon ever. It takes a bit of know how to setup by it will organize your bags into categories and automatically sort them for you. Check it out
2) Stuf UI - Very customizable unit frame mod. I used Discord Unit Frames for years until it finally died. Stuf was the perfect replacement and allows me to do everything I want such as 3D models and Vertical bars.
3) Macaroon - Bar addon. I love Macaroon because of how much control I have over everything. You can do paged bars, stance bars, pet bars, everything! you can put each button into a different state such as action, macro, or pet. You can have as many bars as you want with as few or as many buttons as you want on each. This one's home page in on wowinterface.com
Aanye Dec 23rd 2010 5:00PM
+1 for Stuf, +1000000 for Baggins. The bag/category options are so powerful that my bags really became set & forget throughout Wrath. When Cata dropped, I was able to make a bank bag for all my Wrath gear and tell it not to "open with all bags".... Poof! All the clutter was gone from my bank! I love that addon so much!
As for the bar addon, *cough* I use Dominos. I guess they're all about the same though. :P
Erogroth Dec 23rd 2010 5:21PM
I have tried dominos, bartender, and many others. If you like fully customizable and powerful macaroon is the way to go. I used to use Dominos predecessor (can't remember the name) but they dumbed down dominos too much for my liking.
Erogroth Dec 23rd 2010 5:23PM
Macaroon also allows for status bars, bag bars, and your menu bar. Status bars give you things like your XP bar, breathing bar, and fatigued bar. Also cast bars can be made as well all though I use Ice hud for that.