Ace2 & Addons

Addons, world of warcraft just isn't the same without them. Some well known locations for finding addons include Wow Ace, Curse Gaming, and Wow Interface. There's also Inc Gamers, which used to be ui.worldofwar.net up to some point in recent times, but i'm sort of boycotting that one... They've had a "lot" of curious security issues with their advertisements, and some of the admins are less than helpful. Anyway, use at your own risk. A very big thing lately is using libraries to cut down the memory usage of your addons. Ace2 is the most well known and most used ones currently. Basically it's a package of calls and utilities which offers functionality for all your addons to call. In theory this would reduce the size and memory as mentioned a line ago. But the actual gain is pretty marginal from what i see. Basically it works like this : Ace2 gives you Function A+B+C these functions are each 10K in size (just theoretical numbers here, bear with me) Addon1 gives you Functions D+E Addon2 gives you Functions E+F Addon3 doesn't know how to use Ace2, so it gives you Function B+C+D You'll immediately see that Addon1+2 are (in theory) smaller than Addon3. The first 2 addons would each have to include A+B or B+C, resulting in a total memory usage of 2*20+20 : 80K, but thanks to Ace2, they only use 30+20+20 = 70K If you only had Addon3 however, then perhaps it wouldn't even "need" function A, because it doesn't use that function anywhere, and thus would be using less memory without ace, than it would if it had included Ace. Anyway, since Ace2 is as big and versatile as it is, and there's so many addons out there, you'll eventually end up with an Interface folder filled with dozens and dozens of useful things. The advantages of using a shared library like are soon become quite clear even to the inexpert of mathematicians. Sadly not everyone is aware of it yet, if you are one of those people i recommend you continue reading. Next, there's a thing called "CosmosUI". It's basically the same as Ace2, but much smaller, and supports less addons. Also, since Cosmos and Ace2 are not compatible, you'll want to pick and choose 1 and leave the other. I'm using Ace2 myself as it receives more support, frequent updates, and has a whole huge load of addons available for download. There really isn't much point in getting Cosmos unless you want to upload data to thottbot. And i don't think a great lot of people bother with that anymore. So, that's a whole load of information that you probably didn't find to greatly useful, or better yet, already knew. Let's get to the juice shall we? Previously, there was: CT_RaidAssist, CT_Mailmod, CT_Barmod, CT_whatever. CT_RaidAssist is replaced by oRA2 CT_Timer is replaced by a useful addon to FuBar called, you guessed it Fubar_TimerFu CT_UnitFrames is replaced by either PitBull, or AG_UF CT_BarMod is replaced by Bartender3 CT_Mailmod i stopped using as blizzard added a rightclick to add stuff to mail functionality, and now allows you to add up to 14(?) items. Alternatively there's Gmail or Postal. Also: * Titan, a nice menu bar on the top of your screen is replaced by FuBar, RepairFu, AmmoFu, etc etc. There are more plugins for * Fubar than there are for Titan and they don't all come with the default package so you can pick what you want instead of having it stuffed down your throat each time you want to update. * KHTM Threatmeter, is replaced by Omen. There's a whole load of arguments in favour of 1 or the other, but in the end you'll just want your entire guild using Omen due to compatibility issues. * Gatherer, is replaced by Cartographer * NaturEnemycastbars, is replaced by ClassTimer * DotTimer is the absolute most horrible piece of spammy fucking trash you'll ever find, do your raid a favour and use classtimers. * DeadlyBossmods is replaced by Bigwigs. * Damagemeters can be replaced by half a dozen different things, personally i use Recap. And i'm sure i missed some few. Just look trough the ace2 directory, or ask on their forums. I'd recommend downloading the WAU, or WowAceUpdater for this purpose. Yes it's an external .exe file, but seems to do the job. You'll need to download ace2, and several libraries to go along with your addons and this is the easiest thing to get those with and keep them updated. Mind you, i was content enough with CT before i discovered this whole Ace2 thing. But once you start replacing addons, it's hard to stop. Currently i'm running at an estimate of 100 odd addons (way too many i know) and my addon memory usage is around 22-25 Mb on average. Recap tends to eat quite a bit on long raid nights but that's about the only one. I do use a modified version of CT_RaidTracker for raid tracking purposes, but it's a standalone mod which doesn't require you to keep the bulky CT_Core on your computer. It's a rather memory intensive one, but there aren't any real alternatives that i can recommend instead of it. Now, i mentioned Cartographer a bit ago, there's a nice plugin for it called "Cartographer_Route". Insane. I have no other words for it. Just get it. It was listed and described on this post on Mmo champion, and i've been using it ever since. Insane. go get it. Can't be arsed to click the link? Even though you know you will eventually anyway? Bah! Ok, here's what it does. You've used Cartographer or Gatherer before, and got a nice big database on your worldmap and minimap which contains all your best and secret farming spot for just about every resouce in the game. Adamantite, Black lotus, Gas clouds, Terocone you name it, it's on there. This plugin grabs that map, and then calculates the fastest / shortest path that will take you past every single one of those herbs, metals etc. Sounds cool eh? Indeed it is. But, that's not all ! It actually "draws" that line onto your minimap so you can see where you're going. It works ok if you don't have a flying mount, but in Outland it shines ! I've gone and farmed a whole bunch of primal water, primal shadow, primal air last night. I'm not uninstalling this addon ever. It's great for making money. You going to click that link now? I figure you will. Some More addons Outfitter Can be replaced by ClosetGnome(ace2) supposedly, but i haven't gotten around to trying it yet. It allows you to easily equip / unequip your gear, tank gear, dps gear, naked, etc. RatingBuster Ratings confuse you? Get RatingBuster. This addon will tell you exactly how much % haste, crit, hit etc you receive at each level from all the available ratings. DrDamage This is a replacement for the old TheoryCraft addon, it'll show you DPS, DPM, HPM and much more. Sadly this is mainly a caster addon, but definitely worth getting. Yata Shaman only. It's all your totems combined into 4 easy to access buttons. Not as great as architotem, but still all good. Comes with timers too. Capping Must have addon if you ever do any battlegrounds, shows times left on flags, helps turning in trash in AV and more. Super Inspect(smurfy) Supposedly there's another alternative called Examiner but i haven't had time to try it yet. PingPong Ever wanted to know which retarded spaz keeps pinging the map during raids? Get this addon and you'll be able to kick him in the nuts. BigBrother On the subject of kicking retards, this addon will tell you which of the dps warriors keeps whirlwinding the sheeped, shackled etc adds. eCastingBar One of the few non-ace addons i stil got. It allows you to customize, move, etc all the castbars. I'm well aware there's an alternative (the name escapes me for the moment) but this thing is pretty lightweight. SellValue I'm suprised blizzard hasn't added this by default seriously. It'll remember the value of any item you've ever tried to sell to a vendor. Get it. You'll thank me later. OneBank Merges all your bank slots into 1 easily accesible bank box. OneBag Does the same for your personal bags. Just have a look trough the WowAceUpdater, i'm sure you'll find plenty of other playthings. And if you're really stuck just have a poke at the Ace2 forums.