WoW - The 20 Current Best Addons for World of Warcraft (Comprehensive)

Vrijdag Pages recently wrote a piece about their favorite addons in World of Warcraft. Though it was a good look at addons, it made me consider the way addons have changed with WoW and take a look at the addons I have kept using and what I have let go over the years, sparking my want of creating a hub about addons.

Addons are (usually) free additions to the game that modify it. They can be either big or small, make your game look completely different, or barely change it at all; but always seek to enhance your gameplay.

My choice of addons is specific. I am a guild leader, raid leader, and achievement lover, but I have a great memory and already know almost everything about WoW, so my addons tend to be live information addons, or things to pretty up the old WoW interface which has been the same forever.

There are a lot of addons that can make your interface look a lot nicer. I do not use any for bars, haven't felt like I have needed it.

1. XPerl - I have used this for years. It has a huge list of advantages both graphical and useful.
- Graphical: 3D Portraits look nice. Textured Bars for depth. Colors that signal different player states such as poison, curse, or AFK. Completely changeable locations.
- Useful information: Target of Target. How many people are targeting what you are targeting, and who they are. Has a huge list of other things that you can use as well.
- Memory: Sometimes high, as the 3D rendering can take a lot of information, especially in raids.

2. SexyMap - I've used this for a year or so to liven up the map. There are so many options on this addon, I couldn't hope to explain them all. Let's just say that it has a lot of shiny moving parts that all can be customized. I've taken pictures of different mini-maps in my images here so you can see some. Keep in mind they are all rotating and active things.

3. Icyhud - Ever have to look at the screen when you fight? I mean, not at the corner at your health and mana? This puts the information right next to your character so you can turn off any other interface. I'm a very information centered person so I keep a lot of streaming information going.

4. Titan Panel - This is the bar of information going across the top of the screen. It gives me all the information I want to know at a glance: Time, repair level, exp per hour, honor per hour, currencies, etc. Its highly customize able too. Any information you could ever want can be added into it.

5. Bartender (4) - This lets you put your buttons wherever you like them. As I generally like mine where they are, I don't use this anymore but a lot of people like it a lot.

Altoholic is one of my favorite addons. I have 14 85s and an assorted amount of lower level characters. The image above has an example of one of the screens of Altoholic.

What can altoholic do? Everything related to alts. Tell you any kind of currency they have, armor, what's in their bags, what quests they have, reputations, pets, mounts, achievements, professions, auction houses, guild banks.... everything.

Because I have so many characters, I tend to lock it so it shows me what I have on the server I am currently on, and if I think I have something on a character that someone needs, they just need to link the item they have and I can hover over it with my mouse and it tells me how many I have on which characters, same with currency, what characters can learn patterns, or anything.

Absolute favorite addon Ever!

Shown above is recount, among many of which I find necessary to have at all times.

1. Recount - Tells you your damage, healing, threat, and more!
This addon also charts your actions, such as above my attacking certain things. First pie chart is total damage done, second pie chart is for specific slices, such as Flame Shock DoT Damage and all the other information I could ever want about my actions.

2. Deadly Boss Mods - Many raid leaders require anyone in a raid to have this addon, and I do too. It has timers that outline special attacks, damage waves, abilities, anything. This is fully changeable, you can add and take away whatever you want to it.

3. GTFO - As it sounds like, it has you get out of things. It makes an annoying beep if you are standing in something that is hurting you, and has a battle siren if you are standing in something hitting hard. I recommend this to people who lag, or have problems with eyesight.

4. Quartz - Do you lag? I'm sorry if you do, but here is something to help. This is a cast bar that shows you what you are casting, but also has a red margin to tell you how much you are lagging and by what point the spell will actually go off. No more guessing!

5. Healbot - Some people think its lazy, some people think its cheating. I think its better to have this than leave it up to chance, so I keep it handy. It makes healing 90% easier and gives you a heck of a lot of information. Also has decursive stuff in it.

6. Decursive - A must have for everyone who can take away magic, curses, poisons or diseases. This makes it so you point and click at a raid member at handy boxes on your screen. No fuss decursing.

There are a lot of addons that help you with chat, or avoiding chat. Here are some that I have enjoyed.

1. Prat - This addon is like an instant messenger but better. This lets you open windows. Change colors of fonts by who is talking and where. Has time stamps so you can prove a pesky person was harassing you, etc.

2. BadBoy: Anti Spam and Reporter - This does what it says and does it well. Ignores, blocks, and reports spammers. I haven't seen a gold spammer in years.

3. NPC Scan and NPC Scan Overlay - Do you like achievements, or just rare mobs? This tells you if there is a rare mob in your area. Great for getting achievements, or just some gold and a sack of goodies. Hunters love this for rare pets. Two separate addons, the one alerts you and the other is a nice map addon showing you information below.

PvP can be fun, but it can also be a pain. There are a few addons that help me out.

1. Gladius - Simply amazing for Arena. This addon tells you what all your enemies in arena are, what they are doing, and any information you want about them that is legally possible.

2. Healers Have to Die - This addon calls out healers to your group. It watches for healing spells around you and alerts everyone around you. This is great for world or battlegrounds as it saves a heck of a lot of time and strain to communicate.

There are some addons that people really like but I do not use myself because I know the concepts of what they help with enough not to use them.

1. Quest Helper - Will be outdated soon but tells you where quests are, what you need, has handy information and arrows directing you all over. I don't use this because I have memorized all the quests in the game.

2. Auctioneer - Most of the Auction House stuff was added in, but this still has handy graphs and stores data over time so you can see previous prices. I don't like it because outliers can throw it off and I constantly study the AHs on my servers.

3. Omen Threat Meter - Many addons, like Xperl have things like this added in to measure your threat and tell you if you are going to get aggro and die from a boss. I feel I have played long enough to understand how long I have to wait and when I am getting close to out-threatting the tank. This is handy for new players to raiding, or even new players to pet classes such as Frost Mage, Undead Death Knight, Hunter, or Warlock