Addon Spotlight: Stop spending and start saving with NazScrooge
by Mathew McCurley 
Feb 9th 2012 at 9:00AM
Addons can be surprising little fellows, breaking out of the perceived boundaries of what is right and easy and giving us something more intelligent or behavioral. These, my friends, are the really special addons, addons that change some aspect of the game that doesn't really affect your character as much as it affects you.
Behavioral addons are all around us. DBM is a behavioral addon because it changes the way you react to situations through audio and visual cues. There are new interactions between you and the information that are not happening for your character in-game. What about Auction House addons that force you to conform to a series of clicks each time you hit town, further changing your behavior based on the way the addon works? Interesting.
NazScrooge
Our addon for this week is all about saving money the old-fashioned way -- saving money. NazScrooge is an addon that acts as a virtual lockbox for your in-game gold. Gold never actually gets deposited anywhere and has no weight in WoW, a departure from the EverQuest golden era, so saving money in a separate, physical location was not an option. Virtual locations are plentiful, however.
If you've missed the days of physical monetary deposits and still want to have a separate location to save your cash, this is the addon for you. NazScrooge lets you set many different types of depositing including fully manual, automatic based on percent, or all money after a certain amount be put into savings. The final option is my favorite, because I have a full wallet understanding on my character, which is 4,000 gold. Any gold over 4,000 gets deposited into savings.
When the savings is done automatically for you, appreciation for automation becomes quickly apparent. You'll soon understand why putting your savings money away from your own eyes is incredibly helpful in actually learning to save money in game and in real life. In fact, it becomes a game. Ask Fox or Basil -- watching that number go up is a game to them. It gives them pleasure.
It's time to get real
Did you want LibDataBroker support with NazScrooge? Well, too bad, it's in there anyway. Your opinion didn't even matter! You wanted commands? Here are some commands! Type /scr to open it up, type /scr withdraw "goldamount" takes out the cash, /scr deposit "goldamount" puts it right back in. Hit /scr display really, really hard to see all that sweet cash you're saving. Epic.
Here's one of the emails (and a testimonial) that first alerted me to NazScrooge. As you will see, this email confirms what we have all just witnessed -- money-saving power supreme:
As a suggestion for money saving addons, please consider mentioning NazScrooge.Saving money has never been easier, so start saving your gold. You just know there are going to be rockin' mounts and pets and stuff in Mists of Pandaria soon, so you're going to want to hit the expansion running with the cash in hand. Make the money now so you can enjoy it in the future.
I love this addon because I tend to want to spend money on whatever tickles my fancy but I also don't seem to be able to save money.
With this addon, I know that it is easy to pull the money out, but it forces me to confirm that it is worth spending the money on. Now, thanks to this mod, I have the money for epic flying on 6 of my 10 toons which is great since I only have 6 toons which are eligible for epic flying.
I feel like we might have all learned something today ...
Download NazScrooge at [Curse].
How about we take it all home with an email from the Addon Mailbag?
Hey MatThanks for the email, Matt. Your problem has a simple solution. Many cast bar timers have an options called tradeskill merge or an option that sounds an awful lot like that. This option, once enabled, will combine all of your crafting into one bar, giving you the amount of time it will take to complete the entire task. Castbars and Quartz have this mode for sure. So not only did you hit me with a question that I have an answer for (which always makes my day), but you might even have an addon that already does just what you need in your arsenal.
My name is also Matt (Except with 2 T's). I've been playing WoW now for nearly 7 years and I've been reading your column regularly for...well, I don't know exactly how long, so I'll just say a really long time, and leave it at that. Anyway, I was just wondering if you knew of an addon that will tell me how long it will take to craft certain things. Like, for example, lets say I need to convert 40 stacks of Netherweave Cloth into Bolts of Netherweave, is there an addon that will tell me how long it will take for that to finish so that I know how long I can be AFK without being away too long and wasting time that I could be crafting something else (like Nehterweave Bags)? Was just curious. It seems to me that if anyone would know whether or not an addon exists it would be you. Thanks in advance, and I look forward to hearing back from you.
Regards,
Matt
You might also be interested in a similar feature -- flight timer bars. Flight timers know the distance and time that each flight point in the game travels and takes to complete. You can hop on a bird from one place to another and your cast bar will double as a timer for the flight. Now you'll know exactly how much time you have to go to the bathroom before landing in Booty Bay.
Dear Mat-Thanks for the email, Chris. One of the best ways I've seen permanent buffs being shown alongside a SexyCooldown-esque bar was to get an addon like Raven. Raven is a more traditional bar or icon version of a buff/debuff tracker with the added bonus of turning on and off stuff you don't want to see. You could create a window for just buffs that have no duration, put that off to the side, and turn off all of the other Raven windows. Then you would have a permanent buff tracker, and it runs pretty light.
Love your column, I spend more time customizing my UI than playing, thanks in no small part to you. I've been using SexyCooldown for not just cooldowns, but also buffs for me and my target. I'm loving this setup, but it doesn't show "permanent" buffs like mounts or auras. Do you know of any low profile addons that will show me permanent buffs? If the buffs can be shown on something like SlideBar, that would be even more awesomerer!
- Chris
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 1)
slim1256 Feb 9th 2012 9:36AM
I'll second the recommendation of Raven.
I use that to track all my buffs, debuffs, and cooldowns. It's fairly simple to set up, it's very easy to move stuff around, and it's performed its job admirably for me.
cromahr Feb 9th 2012 9:40AM
Regarding crafting times: I think in my case, Quartz does display the overall amount and the amount for each item in the "cast bar" for crafting.
So when I e.g. make fortune cookies, I simply queue them all up (loving skillet...that addon made crafting so much more convenient...even buys the required mats, like parchment, from a vendor), then take a look at the bar, seeing something like 3:00 left, and go alt-tab or make some coffee...very nice not having to keep checking back.
ennuilg Feb 10th 2012 8:02AM
As you mentioning Skillet buying required mats, I have a question - does anyone know of an addon which withdraws required crafting mats from your bank? ie: You queue up a load of stuff, go to the bank and get a button to just take the required stuff out and nothing else? Unless I'm missing something obvious, I've never found this functionality in any crafting addon.
Smashbolt Feb 10th 2012 8:12AM
I haven't really tried using it yet, but if you're already using TSM (TradeSkillMaster), it has a "warehousing" module that shows profession things when you open your bank/gbank.
Like I said though, I have no clue how it works yet, and if you're not using TSM for its auctioning abilities, it'd be way overkill to install just for that feature.
alvl Feb 10th 2012 12:48PM
Skillet or gnomeworks? I use gw and am very happy
zEagleEye` Feb 9th 2012 11:23AM
Hi Mat,
I've been using WeakAuras for some time at a friend's recommendation and liking it.
How would you compare WeakAuras with the other, heavier, addons?
Lillyth Feb 9th 2012 11:36AM
Question about NazScrooge: What happens if the add-on gets "broken" by a patch. Does all the gold just disappear into the ether or would it just show up in your normal bags?
Moeru Feb 9th 2012 11:50AM
It doesn't do anything with the gold, it's still there. It just forces you to confirm purchases over your limit.
Asmor Feb 9th 2012 11:43AM
I think the recommendation of saving money for Mists of Pandaria is actually a bit reckless.
Historically, every WoW expansion has significantly devalued gold. In Vanilla, one gold was actually significant, and saving a thousand gold for your epic mount was a real achievement. In BC, a thousand gold for flying wasn't nearly as bad, in wrath it was pretty easy, and these days a thousand gold isn't much at all.
If you actually care about preserving the value of your money, then you're better of investing in something whose value is tied to scarcity or effort. For example, argent tournament pets, since they're only going to get more rare as fewer people grind those dailies, and they'll always be a chore to get.
And if you don't care about preserving the value of your money, then just spend it.
Amaxe Feb 9th 2012 12:19PM
Well, it is good to have some money tucked away of course for MoP. But then with the inflation of Cataclysm, the number of virtual millionaires make that a moot point. What we'll need money for is:
Class trainers
Tradeskills
New flight skills
How much we'll need is unknown until Blizz starts making announcements of course.
In past xpacs, 5-10k gold was considered a safe amount to get started. No idea if that is realistic or not for MoP.
Telrik Feb 9th 2012 1:39PM
Does anyone know if there's an addon out there that tells you when you're still wearing your Chef's hat.. or your Inscribed Ring of the Kirin Tor.. or any of the other things that I've been found wearing during raids?
bookworm13 Feb 9th 2012 2:06PM
I'd suggest you use a equipment manager like Outfitter. It takes some time to intially setup an outfit and keep it up to date, but then you can set a hotkey or automated script to change to your desired setup when you need it. Perfect example is having a fishing gear set and an raid gear set. A bonus with Outfitter is that if you change an item from your established gearsets, it will change its icon to show you that you're not wearing the full set (e.g. it will show you the icon for the Kirin Tor ring if you have that temporarily equipped).
Rhamona Q Feb 9th 2012 10:20PM
There is one specifically for the Chef's Hat. Didn't they just talk about it last week?
Tri Feb 10th 2012 8:06AM
The built in gear manager is pretty simple to use and it works well enough. Just make a raid gear set in that, and pull a link to your action bar. Before the raid, just click that button, and you know you'll be in correct gear :)
Edymnion Feb 14th 2012 4:54PM
I use Power Auras to track when I am in a group with my fishing pole equipped. I don't know if it could be done to track that ring or the chef's hat, but it works great for the fishing pole.
(For those with power auras, simply tell it to track when Fishing is available to cast, as that ability only becomes available when you have the pole equipped.)
Jebediah54 Feb 9th 2012 5:06PM
I have a question about TidyPlates. Recently I've noticed a severe frame rate drop (down to like 1-2 FPS) when I'm in LFR. Looking at the memory usage of addons at that time shows TidyPlatesWidgets to be up as high as 30MB, but when I run the trash-collector my frame rate stays the same. Does anyone else experience a similar thing or do you know of a fix? I've tried re-installing a couple of times from both WoWInterface and Curse to no avail.
Saeadame Feb 9th 2012 5:35PM
Hmm... well I don't use just TidyPlates, since I use Tidy Plates: Threat Plates, but that set up doesn't seem to have any problems. Maybe you could try one of the addons like that which modify tidy plates? Unless you're super attached to just tidy plates, in which case I can't help, sorry =(.
Jebediah54 Feb 9th 2012 8:31PM
I do use Threat Plates actually, "Widgets" is part of the base TidyPlates addon.
Smashbolt Feb 10th 2012 8:22AM
The memory used by an addon will only affect your run time performance if you're maxing out the amount of RAM you have and it has to start using virtual memory. WoW uses a lot, but unless you have only 1GB of RAM, it's almost impossible to max out. What really matters is the CPU cycles used and the amount of processing done for each event.
Tidy Plates may still be the culprit - though I'm having no problems using the same combination. Look for an addon profiler and use it to see how much CPU time is being consumed. by each addon. Since it's happening in combat with a lot of people, likely culprits will be combat log analyzers (mostly DPS meters and buff trackers), floating combat text addons, and unit/raid frames.
If it is Tidy Plates, you could try checking to see if you have it enabled to show buffs/debuffs and cast bars on units that aren't your target. I recall this being marked as a CPU-killer.
Edymnion Feb 14th 2012 4:58PM
I have a couple of addons I want to get, but have yet to find anyone else that has written them. Being a computer programmer by trade, I might as well just make them myself. Does anyone have a link to a quick guide or reference on how to code wow addons? I can see that it uses LUA, so I can be looking into that, but some basic stuff on "this is how you interact with the different chat functions, here is how to interact with a loot box, etc" would be very helpful.
The addon I really want to write is something I'm thinking of calling "Trash Collector". It would check to see if you have autoloot on, then look at what you're looting to prevent you from picking up certain types of trash items. Like anything under 1g that doesn't stack, or anything that does stack that vendors for less than 5s each.
Basically, I do a lot of old content on higher level toons, and I really don't want to be picking up rusty weapons that aren't worth the bag space to vendor, but I do want to be able to pick up things like cash and cloth (or really valuable trash items). Without having to go back to manually looting everything.