I hate the default WoW user interface. There, I said it. It has too much crap floating around and it absolutely drives me nuts. As some of you may know, I raid with a guild on Uldaman-US called Fire Swamp Survivors. If you’re serious about raiding (aka you want to make intelligent decisions), then you will definitely find this list of addons helpful. All of these addons can be downloaded from Curse.
Deadly Boss Mods
I can’t stress this addon enough. It’s freaking amazing. It literally throws a big, fat raid warning in your face whenever something important is about to happen. It also includes tooltips and descriptions for every spell that a boss will cast during a fight, as well as countdown timers so you can stay on top of important events. Get it. Deadly Boss Mods can be downloaded here.
Bartender
If you’ve seen a customized UI addon like Spartan UI, you’ve probably seen Bartender in action. Bartender replaces all the default action bars with fully-customizable ones. It allows you to change the location, size, padding, visibility and keybindings of each individual bar. I find this addon useful because I like to stack my action bars, rather than looking all over the place for that rarely-used, but really important spell. Bartender can be downloaded here.
Skada Damage Meter (or Recount)
At some point, you’re going to want to know where your DPS/HPS ranks with everyone else’s, and that’s when you’ll want to install Skada. Skada records all kinds of useful information on a per-encounter basis. Some of the more useful data it tracks is DPS (Damage Per Second), HPS (Healing Per Second), deaths and dispels. Another great feature is that it breaks down which of your spells are doing the most damage so you can adjust your spell rotation for maximum damage. Skada can be downloaded here. Alternatively, Recount can be downloaded here. (Recount is a memory hog, but is loaded with way more features.)
Omen Threat Meter
There’s nothing worse than pulling threat from the tank during a raid. If you do, you’ll probably get two-shotted and, being dead and all, not do any more damage until you’re alive again. And even then, you’re probably wasting a valuable battle rez. A great way to make sure you don’t pull threat is to monitor it with Omen Threat Meter! If you’re on the top, you’re about to pull threat. If you’re about to pull threat, just stop attacking for a few seconds. Easy sauce. Omen can be downloaded here.
BankItems
Sometimes you’re going to need something that isn’t in your bags. BankItems keeps track of what’s in your bank, the guild bank, key rings, currency, everything. It also displays the total quantity of a given item across all of your characters. This addon comes in particularly useful when someone needs a flask during a raid and you’re pressed for time. Open Bankitems, see how many flasks are in the guild bank, cast Mobile Banking and – Boom! Problem solved. BankItems can be downloaded here.
Quartz
Quartz is a fairly customizable addon that allows you to display cast bars for yourself, your pet, your focus and even your target. Cast bars also display a latency offset to allow you to time your next cast more accurately to maximize your damage or healing output. Quartz also comes with this nifty little feature (that I have not yet figured out how to customize) that displays all your buffs/debuffs on your target and the amount of time remaining for each. Quartz can be downloaded from here.
SexyMap
SexyMap lets you move the minimap wherever you want. This addon is jam-packed with options and comes with a handful of presets to help make your UI look awesome right out of the box. I like to move the reputation bar to the top of my screen, but by default the minimap is anchored to the top-right corner of the screen, making them overlap. I mean, come on, minimaps that look like something out of Stargate SG-1 just look cool. SexyMap can be downloaded from here.
Tags: BankItems, Bartender, Deadly Boss Mods, Omen, Quartz, Raid, SexyMap, Skada, WoW
