Posts with tag castbars

Each week, WoW Insider's Mathew McCurley brings you a fresh look at reader-submitted UIs as well as Addon Spotlight, which 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.

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.

Each week, WoW Insider brings you a fresh look at reader-submitted UIs as well as Addon Spotlight, which 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, Gnosis makes things complicated, in a good way.

There is a place that exists past the rocky reaches of the Blade's Edge Mountains, across the sacred plateaus of Ogri'la, and beyond the void, untouched by the spoiling hands of the Burning Legion. That place is configuration heaven. Here, addons like kgPanels and Stuf unit frames dance together in unlimited configuration. This is a place of endless ordered chaos, more options than humanity deserves held together by a thin thread of creativity. Gnosis dwells in configuration heaven.

Quartz did the cast bar right -- there was little else that I really needed from a cast bar addon that Quartz wasn't the most capable at doing. Complicating a user interface element while also providing legitimate information in new and user-friendly ways is a hard balance to strike. Gnosis complicates things plenty, but it does so in a very smart fashion. There is a lot to learn here, but the effort is worth it.

Each week, WoW Insider brings you a fresh look at reader-submitted UIs as well as Addon Spotlight, which 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, make your castbar round?! Whaaaaat?

Addon Spotlight fans, rejoice! The first installment of your favorite column for 2011 is here, and we're going to start off with a good one. Take a seat, grab a hot cup of tea, and settle in for some addon goodness.

In the middle of writing Addon Spotlight for this week (which will become next week's), a friend of mine shot a link across the interwebs to me via instant message. "Here's an addon I think you would like," he said. Well, "like" is an understatement. I love CursorCastbar not only for the functionality that it brings but the aesthetics of a radial castbar. This is exciting.

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 everything broke, so let's fix it.

Addon Spotlight is going to do things a little differently this week. We've just come off a fresh, new patch, with loads of new abilities, content and system mechanics. Rather than focus on one or two addons this week, I want to give my readers a rundown on some of the crucial addons we all know and love, making sure you know what to update, considering some addons are taking the drive out of the car, so to speak. In addition, I'll give you some alternatives to addons that might not be functioning perfectly right now, tell you which addons are just being naughty and try to get you back on track before the weekend.

Each week, WoW.com brings you a fresh look at reader-submitted UIs. Have a screenshot of your UI you want to submit? Send your screenshots, along with info on what mods you're using and some background information, to readerui@wow.com.

Happy belated Mother's Day, moms. That's about the best I can do for mothers as the addon/UI columnist, unless someone develops a mom addon. Anyway, another week and another reader's user interface. This week we get to take a look at some simple art, give some castbar recommendations and tips, and talk way too much about minimap placement. Let's get to it, shall we?

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, can we dethrone Quartz as king of cast bars?

The cast bar addon/mod holds a special place in my heart, mostly because it was the last addon I got on board with. We will never really know why the cast bar was the last bastion of the WoW stock user interface for me, most likely because I was a healer, but eventually the tide turned. For a while, I let my cast bar live in my unit frames, below my health and mana, as a compact little meter that was happily minimal and out of the way. Something changed, though, and I suddenly realized I wanted a more full featured cast bar. Today, we talk about the king of cast bars, an alternative to the king (The Queen? Rival Nation of Castbaria?), a quick discussion about DoT timers and some reader mail. Let's get rockin'.