World of Warcraft Add-ons Guide

OK, well the previous pages have been a good general guide to getting you started on your WoW adventures, but you won't be able to compete with the best unless you know what they do to customise the game.

First off, the basic lay out of your screen is unhelpful if you want to be good at PvP and questing in Dungeons (and Raids at higher levels). Why Blizzard only built-in such limited ways of arranging your screen layout is a bit of a mystery, but thankfully there are game modifications (mods or add-ons) available, which enable us to make the screen far more user-friendly. Currently I am using four, there are lots out there, but I would suggest most are unnecessary. Be careful when picking mods and stick to the sites you can be sure are safe, you do not want to infect your PC with malware. The most comprehensive site for obtaining your WoW add-ons is Curse

I find these very useful: - Bartender4, MoveAnything, AuctionMaster, SpartanUI.

The first thing to do, and you don't need SpartanUI for this, is to reduce the size of the chat box. Right click on the top left of the chat box and unlock it. You will find that you can now move it around the screen. Now let's make it smaller. At the bottom, right corner there is a white triangle like shape, click on it and move the cursor in as far as it will go. That saves a lot of room.

SpartanUI

Is great and is the principal tool to use for customising your WoW interface. To use this, you also need to have Bartender4. Until I discovered this add-on I had used Bartender4 and MoveAnything to make the user interface somewhat user-friendly. This fantastic add-on is what the WoW interface should have been like from day one. It really does make the game a lot easier to play and puts you on a level playing field with most players.

Bartender4

With SpartanUI, Bartender4's principal role is to very easily bind keys for your spells. WoW allows you to do this anyway, but it is just so easy with this tool. All you do is open Bartender4 by right clicking on the lower right dot on the circumference of your mini map and click on "Key Bindings". Then simply mouse over the desired power and press the appropriate key on your keyboard e.g. the number 1 will be your auto fire button.

By doing this I have altered some of WoW's pre-set bindings, meaning I cannot use those keys for moving my character. The idea of this set up is to concentrate on using the mouse for moving the character and the keyboard for giving commands. The pros concentrate on using the mouse for moving the character. My mouse buttons are, through the WoW key binding menu, assigned to moving the character.

When you learn to write macros you will be able to combine spells onto one button. These changes will make the game a lot easier to play.

MoveAnything

Does what it says, although you need to become familiar with using it. It takes a little getting used to, but it is helpful in moving objects that obscure your view. I found it very useful for moving the location of my open bags.

Which reminds me... Bartender4 is set at default to have only one big bag. Personally, I prefer having all my bags, so I have unchecked this option.

Word of Warning

After major patches, you may find that your add-ons don't work and that you will have problems running the game. Blizzard will tell you to disable any mods and try again. Before disabling your mods first tick "allow out of date mods" on the UI page, it will often allow you to play without any problems, but sometimes...

Don't try arguing with anyone in the Blizzard forums about removing mods because you will be told that they are not an official part of the game. I say this not from personal experience, but because I've seen the debates. 

It's frustrating because if Blizzard produced a better interface we wouldn't need the mods in the first place. What's more galling is that removing the mods nine times out of ten makes no difference at all.

World of Warcraft Screen Interface Guide

OK this is where we start getting you on a more equal footing with the experienced player. The World of Warcraft user interface is far too basic for your needs, and you cannot hope to play as well as other people without changing your WoW screen layout.

What you need to do as you accumulate spells is arrange them on your keyboard. The buttons are then bound to the keys using a mixture of Bartender4 (as described earlier) and the WoW key binding menu. Most them I assign with Bartender4 as it is so quick and easy to do.

If you are going to assign some commands to the mouse (and I suggest you do) you must use the WoW menu. For example, I have my middle mouse button assigned to auto move forward (to stop your character (toon) simply press the main left and right mouse "buttons" simultaneously). The mouse buttons can also be given additional roles by assigning them using the shift (or control) key.
You will probably find that it is best to have your more regularly used spells on keyboard buttons where you do not have to move your hand to reach them, especially if you have small hands!

So, use the keys you can easily access with your left hand because (presuming your right hand will be on the mouse) of the need for speed. As I said before the less important spells (the ones you don't need in the height of battle), food, bandages etc. can go in your right-sided bars and buttons, and you can click on them with the mouse.

Macros - This Battlenet site gives a good basic guide on how to create them. It is not a simple matter of combining spells and pressing your button and suddenly the game is automated. You will notice that some spells have cool down periods meaning you cannot just keep repeating the same spell (Well, not if you want to live!). Some of the spells have global cool downs, meaning you cannot, temporarily, use several spells.

So, you need to take this into account when writing your macro. Warlocks have several instant spells that are very important to cast early, and these are perfect for putting into macros as there are no cool down periods. Remember that you can only use one Curse and Bane at a time (you can use a Curse and a Bane together of course) and that if you (or another Warlock) cast more Curses and Banes too early you will be cancelling the first spell before it has run its course.

Another example of the problem in writing good combinations is the Death Knight. As well as global cool downs, you also have the question of whether you have sufficient runic power to cast a spell.

As ever WoWWiki is great for providing information and in this case, it's a macro build for Hunters.  Search around and you will find them for all the classes, but one word of warning; WoWWiki is often out of date, as it relies on voluntary contributions.

There ends the basic guide, I hope my readers will remember that before they read the WoW tips here, that they had been unaware of them. It's always easy to think in hindsight how you would have discovered the tips yourself anyway, but that's not necessarily true and this book gave you the information here and now, and not in a year or two from now.

#World of Warcraft Add-ons Guide #SpartanUI #Bartender4 #MoveAnything #World of WarcraftScreen Interface Guide
 
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