Addons & You

SaladFork of Omen of Clarity fame posted a list of five questions about Add-ons in the Blogstorming section of BlogAzeroth. Since I'm good at lists, I thought I'd pick up the challenge and go with it.

He asked,

• How many addons do you have?
• What addons can you not live without?
  
• If you met someone new to the game using the default UI, what addons would you recommend they start with?
• What are important qualities you look for when you look for new addons?
  
• How do you usually find new addons? Are they recommended to you? Do you search for them? Are they required by your guild?
  
• What sort of layout does your UI have?

For the number of addons I have, its a pretty strange answer. I was a beta tester for the MazzleUI from WowInterface. Since beginning the beta (almost a year and a half ago now) I have for the most part let the latest build of the compilation dictate what's in my UI. I have added a few things, and replaced some. Those things are GroupCalendar, Omen, Violation, Ogri'lazy and sometimes Auctioneer. I will state clearly, that MazzleUI is not as updated as it once was, and it's so nearly deprecated it's not funny. But I'm not code smart enough to fix it. The absolute things I can't live without are having the 5-man units at the bottom of the screen which makes healing easier and the autoplacement of spells into bars. Those two just rock hard.

The addons I can't live without are, a threat meter (Omen), better Unit Frames (DUF/sRaid Frames), and some bar mod (Bongos).

For a total newbie to UI modification, I'd start them with Mazzle if I could talk them into it. If not, they must absolutely have a threat meter. Useful only in groups (unless playing a hunter or lock), nothing says "Hey, I know what I'm doing" more than a threat meter.

For new add-ons, I always look for the Ace alternative. Since so many of my mods are Ace mods, I like to keep it in the family.

I usually find new add-ons through word of mouth. And for me, "word of mouth" includes reading others blogs and listening to the few podcasts I actually remember to download.

Layout for me, is pretty much built into Mazzle. But I think it's a clean compilation which puts important information in the right places. It keeps the center of the field of view open so you can see the most important thing -- what's going on in game without hiding it behind addon windows.

So, that's my post. I hope this is my welcome back to regular blogging!!

So. Here's a shot of my UI...With the bonus of the bottom of Karazhan included...