As I'm sure you have figured out by now - this is my guide to add-on's/modifications for World of Warcraft. Keep in mind that this is primarily based on my preferences and so forth, however I can say that I have tried a large quantity of different addons for many different parts of your user interface and game. And if you like what you read here, stay tuned for next entry as I suggest my favorite additions for the Titan Panel addon. Don't forget to give thumbs up (or down)!

Introduction

There are a lot different parts that make up your GUI/UI (Graphical User Interface) in WoW. You have your action bars, your bags, your character selection/group/raid menus, your chat window, mini-map and so forth. All of these features can be modified to fit your play-style or to make your play time easier with a simple installation of an addon.

There are plenty of all-in-one packs that will install a ton of "premier" addons with one zip file. However, I find that this is very clunky and they tend to add more things that you'll never use then things that you will. I prefer to take it one addon at a time. This little featurette should include a lot of information on addons in general. From installation to suggested addons, it's all here.

Where to start?

First I suggest you get yourself some sort of solid frame to put the rest of your addons around. What this basically means is that there are a lot of basic "template" type addons that allow you to add things onto them themselves. For instance I use an addon called Titan Panel. This places a bar along the top of the screen (or the bottom, your choice) that displays all sorts of interactive information. Such as your frame rate, total gold, percentage of damaged equipment and an estimated price of repairs, among other things. In addition this addon lets you download other addons that are programmed to fit into the Titan Panel. An example is the Guild addon for Titan Panel. It displays the amount of guild members online on the bar and when moused over shows you who is online. Also allows you to click on this display to automatically bring up your guild panel. There are a whole slew of addons developed by community members that are made to fit into the Titan Panel framework. Anything from friends, guild, event calendars, honor/mark trackers, etc.

The reason I like to use addons like the Titan Panel is that it gives me a ton of features that are easy to get to, without taking up a whole lot of room on my GUI. It also has a high rate of support by other developers (other than the people who came up with Titan Panel itself) so that there are a lot of extra features available to download once you have your default panel up and running. Even popular mods such as AtlasLoot and Cartographer have special addons that will allow you to place quickly accessible shortcuts on your panel.

I for one think the Titan Panel is a must have for any player, casual or hardcore.

Installing Addons

You might be saying, "That's great Ribs, but how the heck do I install an addon?"

Well, friend - that's simple. First you download your addon, they are generally in a zip file of some sort (Zip, rar, etc.) If you don't have a way to unpack these files just download WinRAR, it's free (google it). You'll want to open up your WoW directory first and navigate to your "Interface" folder. (e.g. C:\Program Files\World of Warcraft\Interface) In this folder you will find your "AddOns" folder. If you don't have one, simple create it. Once you have your AddOns folder open and ready you extract your addon from it's zip/rar file into this folder. A quick way to do this is to right click the file, hold the click and drag it with your right click into the open folder. Letting go will bring up the drop down menu, and you can choose "Extract to here".

Walah, should be good to go. If this fails, then you are probably having issues with the addon and you should contact the developer. Now to get to modifying...

What else should you add(on)?

Well first off, these are suggestions, you may or may not want these addons. Additionally all of these can be found here at Curse.com and if that fails then head on over to http://wowui.worldofwar.net

QUESTHELPER There is a reason why this is listed first and in all caps. It's simply a MUST have addon for veterans as well as new players. It adds a whole slew of professional quality features to your game. Markings on your map/mini-map for quest objective locations, arrows, ant trails, the whole she-bang. And on top of that it's so well done it will seem like your game was MADE that way. Your productivity in game will increase by at least TRIPLE. Your leveling will go by with such ease as you speed through the normally sluggish questing process!

AtlasLoot/Atlas This mod allows you to see a compiled (linkable) list of interactive items that all bosses in the game drop as well as items sold on vendors (such as PVP gear and Badge of Justice items). You will find that very few people live their WoW lives without this one. Additionally if you get the "AtlasLoot Enhanced" version you will get the original "Atlas" as well that is a map system of all the dungeons and raids in the game with detailed numbering/lettering that keys you to where certain items/quests/bosses are within it. Making it easy to navigate your way through those pesky dungeons.

Bagnon Obviously this is an addon that modifies your bag system. Instead of having several separate boxes for each bag, the bagnon addon combines all of your bags into a "bank-like" box. It's customizable from color to row/column sizes. This may throw many people off who are used to using the separate bags to keep their items in a certain order. The key features of Bagnon however is the search feature that allows you to find those pesky quest items in your bag through a search bar. It makes upgrading bags a bit tedious but other then that I think that given enough time you will not regret this "upgrade".

Ganklist This is one of my personal favorites, however one of the more unecessary addons I have. Basically only of any use to those of you who play on PVP servers the Ganklist mod connects you to anyone else in your guild who has the addon. As you play (and get ganked) it adds names to a database list as these people kill you. In addition it adds these names to your guildies (who are online at the time). As you play on you will be able to see if people are on your "ganklist" so you can get that sweet sweet vengeance, whether it be for a friend or for yourself.

Violation (Damage Meter) Not necessarily a "needed" feature, the damage meter has however become a standard addon for most WoW'ers. This allows you to keep track of you and members of your group/raid's damage (DPS) among other things such as heals, damage taken, heals taken, and other tidbits. The primary feature however is your report ability. This posts in the channel of your choice the list of whatever list (such as Damage Done) to your party, guild, whatever. If nothing else this allows you to show everyone how amazing you are compared to them. You will get a lot of requests for posts of Damage Done. I find that this is actually a handy addon when you know you should be at a certain place with your damage output. This way you can correct it if it's off as you progress. There are other damage meters out there, however Violation is my favorite.

Omen Threat Meter Threat meters will be a must have addon once you hit 70 and start raiding. This allows you to read how much threat your attacks are causing. A very key feature for you DPS'ers out there to make sure you don't surpass the tank and pull aggro. Keep in mind that you as well as the other person, needs to have the same threat meter. Omen is the most popular and widely used so you should be fine with this.

FloTotem I originally found this totem when I was in need of some major space for all of my totems. However since then I have discovered that this amazing action bar addon is great for any class (especially Shaman's Totems and Hunter's Traps). What this adds are four sections of spots for actions/items/etc. In addition to this they are color coded (changeable colors) and can be moved to anywhere on your screen. I personally replaced my bottom left/bottom right action bars with this addon, but it can easily be sized down and put atop them. You can also change their alignment (from horizontal to vertical) among other things to do with positioning.

Conclusion...

These are just a few of the addons that you can get for your WoW GUI. Trust me there are a whole slew of addons for your game that are amazing! So go ahead, check them out. I hope this helps!

Additional Tips/Info

Keep your mods upgraded - be sure when Blizzard upgrades your game that your addons aren't broken. Your primary addons should be kept up to their latest release at all times otherwise the next patch may break them. If this happens just give the developers time and I'm sure they will fix it in no time with a new release version of their own.

You can tell if your addons are out of date by clicking your addons button on your character selections screens.