Addon Spotlight: Daily Grind
by Mathew McCurley 
Mar 3rd 2011 at 1:00PM
Dailies, dailies, dailies. Dailies are the perpetual new WoW hotness at this juncture -- but really, dailies have been in since The Burning Crusade, introduced in full force during one of the greatest content patches with the Black Temple and then kicked up a notch during the Isle of Quel'danas. We've never really seen a decline in popularity of dailies, as they have been a mainstay in the game for over four years of content.
Today's addon for spotlighting purposes is a nice little tool that not only stays out of your way but adds a little functionality to your daily grind. Coincidentally, the addon is called Daily Grind. Are you looking for an addon to manage some of the clicking and dialogue for all things blue exclamation mark? Read on.
Daily quests have polarized the world of Azeroth. Some people love dailies, and some people hate them. My personal preference has been in flux over the course of three expansions. The Burning Crusade showed us the potential of the daily as a moneymaking machine, as well as a reputation builder for factions like the Netherwing and the Shattered Sun Offensive. My love of dailies waned when the Argent Tournament came to town and whenever I wanted to gain reputation again with Ogri'la on a new character -- not enough dailies or too many complex ones easily stifled an otherwise smooth experience.
Cataclysm's dailies are a mixed bag. I greatly enjoy the Tol Barad Peninsula set as well as the Dragonmaw dailies (for you Alliance, I'm assuming you have a set of similar Wildhammer dailies) but am less enthusiastic about the Therazane daily set. That, however, is the glory of Cataclysm, in that there are many different aspects of the same element in many different places, giving everyone something to enjoy.
Adding on to dailies
Daily Grind is a very interesting addon, mostly because I didn't really consider dailies to be needing such a feature. The more I used Daily Grind and let it work its magic, the more I came to appreciate the new features it brought. Simple at its core, the addon works one of two ways -- you can choose to let the addon sit empty, awaiting your own completion of dailies to add to its database, or preload in completed dailies.
What does it do? Well, a few things. First, Daily Grind allows you to read the quest text of the daily you are accepting the first time; then it adds the quest to its list. You will never need to read the quest text again, and it will automatically accept the quest when you come into contact with it. Second, Daily Grind has an extended feature called the reward list that picks a preferred reward from your dailies if there are multiple rewards, choosing the reward for you and auto-completing the quest.
While I was working on some Argent Tournament whatever-it-is-we-do-over-there-these-days, I had let Daily Grind know that I always wanted the bag with the gold in it over the reputation writ -- and lo and behold, the addon saved me a couple of clicks. Not too shabby.
There is also a blacklist feature that will ignore certain quests, for whatever reason; just add that particular quest's name to the list. You'll never auto-accept that specific quest. Let's say you absolutely hate Walk a Mile in Their Shoes. Actually, let's not talk about that.
I like Daily Grind because, like another one of my favorite addons, Automaton, it stays out of my way. Yet even though it is innocuous and hidden, there is still enough under the hood to customize and tinker with that I appreciate the work. Go try it, especially if you're a dailies hound like I am.
Download Daily Grind from [Curse].
Mailbag? Mailbag.
Thanks for the tip, Andrea. Yes! This email speaks truth. The new GearScore, now called Playerscore, is an all-new beast. The addon now looks at gear integration and raiding progression trackers, and it even hits the right spot with a totally modular design. If you are in the market for an addon like GearScore, you probably already have the new Playerscore.Mat,
The new and improved addon Gearscore, now named Playerscore, looks really cool and useful. I thought I would send you a request for a write up on it.
Thanks,
Andrea
Personally, I like the new philosophy that they are going for with the new Playerscore stuff. The GearScore fervor has died down considerably during Cataclysm, and as the expansion continues onward, the time will come when more people will be available for raiding content. When that happens, I'm sure the fervor will ramp up again -- but I think this time around, we're all going to be smarter about this particular aspect of the game, especially since Blizzard has out and out given us a solid gear number to aim for in dungeons and heroics.
GTFO is a pretty cool addon, I admit. I'm wondering if we should do another set of raid-essential addons, since I'm pretty sure GTFO can take a spot on a list such as that. What do you guys think are some of the best additions to a raid essentials list?I can't remember if you have already covered this one - but GTFO is an awesome addon.
The addon provides an audio warning when standing in "bad stuff" - something particularly important to avoid doing in Cataclysm lol. It probably has some configuration options, but honestly I use it just as it came and it does a great job.
As a healer, it's super nice to not have to take my eyes off my raid/party frames. When the alert sounds - I merely move until it stops and I am good to go.
Tuff
See you guys 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@wowinsider.com.
Filed under: Add-Ons, AddOn Spotlight
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Sky Mar 3rd 2011 1:09PM
I really don't see the need for GTFO since you can see incoming damage and their source if you are using any scrolling combat text addon. Unless, you've completely tunnel visioned into your meters/cooldowns/grid you should be able to notice if you are standing in something bad.
Bapo Mar 3rd 2011 1:33PM
I could see it being useful in a cluster f*ck situation, or if the mobs aoe was the same color as a healers aoe ability. I just tend to run out of stuff, unless I see green numbers, then I run back in :P
Devin Mar 3rd 2011 1:37PM
Yes, but sometimes by the time you notice that you're taking a s#@$ ton of damage it's either too late or someone has blown mana on a quick heal to save you, whereas an addon like this can tell you before the damage gets up there; plus, audio queues are always nice for those times you do get tunnels vision. DBM has this built in though, so I don't see a need for it myself.
Smitten Mar 3rd 2011 1:44PM
GTFO has become an essential addon for dungeoning/raiding in my guild. Depending on a user's graphics settings, some of the ground AOE is not easy to see. That, coupled with all of the new AOE healing abilities ("ack! something on the ground! run!"), makes for a sometimes interesting situation. The sound that GTFO makes is unmistakable-- and in some cases the addon warns you even before the damage starts.
Sir Broose Mar 3rd 2011 1:49PM
When standing in melee range, especially in a large raid, it can be difficult, at times, to know what the hell is going on, with all the spells blasting around you and other animations going off plus the fact that you have to stand so close to the boss, that he/she pretty much engulfs your screen. DMB and GTFO type warnings make a huge difference. Maybe their not a big a deal for casters, but I definitely use them as fury.
Lemons Mar 3rd 2011 2:09PM
That addon sounds awesome. I hope it has an option for custom sounds. I would like to hear "danger Will Robinson. Danger!" or even the Onyxia raid wipe guy saying "get out of the center!"
Neirin Mar 3rd 2011 2:32PM
I'd say that 90% of the time this addon is completely unnecessary (and mostly unnecessary the rest of the time) except that I've tunnel visioned more times than I can remember. It's like an alarm clock waking you from your dreams of internet dragons and reminding you of the reality that is the fire currently roasting your boots.
ruggerjj Mar 3rd 2011 1:09PM
As much as you hate that Walk a Mile In Their Shoes quest, all you have to do on that escort quest is wait on the steps coming up fro the cells. Farson will run all over the place and not aggro anything. Then as he comes back into the courtyard area...follow after him.
Leroy Mar 3rd 2011 1:14PM
If only it were that simple. The problem I always ran into was that he would take off running out of the keep without finishing his dialogue steps. It seemed to have something to do with when others were finishing their quest and their guy was getting on the horse, my guy would think his horse was leaving and take off after it. Very annoying.
zweitblom Mar 3rd 2011 1:20PM
The trouble is that the annoying part starts AFTER that with the seemingly countless possibilities the quest could fail and did fail to complete. The running around inside the castle was only a very minor inconvenience compared to that.
Bapo Mar 3rd 2011 1:26PM
that's if you're lucky and he doesn't chase after an invisible horse, or just stand in the same place for over 5min....
Sir Broose Mar 3rd 2011 1:51PM
There were a lot of buggy-type issue with that quest, where even if you did stand a wait as you describe, sometimes he would never come back. He would wander off and vanish.
The Angry Intern Mar 3rd 2011 2:16PM
I've just always been irritated with him going "I don't remember they way out" Every time I just want to shout at my computer: "I just came in here to rescue you, don't you think that *I* might know the f**king way out?!?!?!?"
vocenoctum Mar 3rd 2011 3:29PM
I had him randomly despawn once or twice but just got another guy and no problems. He'd often chase after a phantom horse from someone elses quest, but I'd just follow him and he'd return and get his own horse and no problem.
Mind you, since he doesn't agro, it was a lot easier to stealth through on my rogue ignoring everything. :)
Leroy Mar 3rd 2011 1:11PM
Playerscore is a great addon. It's a shame that some people write it off because of their dislike for GS.
The ability to quickly and easily see all of your gear, ilvls, gems, and enchants at once, as well as a true equipped ave ilvl is quite amazing when looking at others or even yourself. If I get a new piece of gear and forget to enchant or gem, Playerscore is right there to remind me. They did an amazing job reworking that addon.
Jeff (Not that one ^ ) Mar 3rd 2011 1:24PM
I used Playerscore for a while but then deleted it because it wouldn't keep itself off of my screen. If I have to hide something once? Fine. Twice? Okay. Three times? You're gone.
Leroy Mar 3rd 2011 1:42PM
Odd. It is part of my player tooltip, but other than that I only see it if I inspect or type /gs.
Neirin Mar 3rd 2011 2:17PM
That seems like something a simple /inspect could handle without all the hassle of running an extra heavy-usage addon and all the headaches that might bring (i.e. not updating info properly, UI issues like the guy above who can't get it to go away, one more thing to update on patch day).
Bads are bad regardless of gear/achievements and are pretty easy to identify after 30 secs of fighting. I have yet to encounter someone who was mediocre enough that I'd want to gear check them but not bad enough that I wouldn't kick them outright. Maybe I'm just a nice guy though? (doubt it)
Jeff (Not that one ^ ) Mar 3rd 2011 2:19PM
I couldn't make the over-sized hammer go away (even after checking the appropriate options boxes) so I made the entire addon go away. I don't miss it.
Ian Mar 3rd 2011 2:28PM
We write it off with good reason.
There have been several scoring addons been and gone, but the entire mechanism is a failure for the reason of trying to attribute that information to a score or a number.
I do not care how they wrap it up, the point is we should make judgements on more than just numbers.
We are losing the ability to know how to make that decision ourselves, relying on what have been fundamentally flawed addons and if gearscore or anything prior to that has failed to get it right then I have no faith in that doing so either.