I know it has been a while since I have posted an update on my blog.  It is because I have once again been sucked into the world of Azeroth in the MMORPG “World of Warcraft”.  With this renewed addiction though, came a great idea for a post.

I play 4 different characters in World of Warcraft (Druid, Paladin, Rogue, and Warlock).  There are many addons that make playing each of these classes easier.  The main problem is that there isn’t an easy way to find addons that you know are virus free and do exactly what you want.  I spent hours combing through various Google searches, forum posts, and other sources of information to build the ultimate interface from scratch.  It has a nice look to it and makes the game easier to play.

For this article, I am going to screenshot each addon, tell you exactly what it does, what classes it works best for, and why you need it.  At the end, I will provide a link to all the addons in one nice little zip file as well as my WTF folder (WTF folder holds all the configurations for all the addons).  I will explain how to install it at the bottom.

Here is a picture of my completely finished interface.  I will break down every component individually and explain what it does, why I use it, and possible alternatives if you don’t like that particular mod.

Addons #1 – 18:  Grid, GridAutoFrameSize, GridBuffIcons, GridIndicatorCornerIcons, GridIndicatorCornerPlus,GridIndicatorCornerText, GridIndicatorIconBar,GridIndicatorSideIcons, GridIndicatorSideText, GridManaBars, GridSideIndicators, GridStatusAFK, GridStatusHots, GridStatusMissingBuffs, GridStatusMTs, GridStatusRaidDebuff, GridStatusRaidIcons, GridStatusRes

Use:  Raiding UI, Healing (when combined with Clique)

• Grid is an absolutely fantastic mod.  It has many uses in all applications (5 mans, battlegrounds, arena, 10 mans, and 25 mans) and I found that after I started using it on all of my characters (not just my Druid) that it is an excellent way to keep an eye on what is happening in the raid.  This is my favorite mod for all of WoW just because of the use you can get out of it.  My Grid is configured for a Druid healer though so if you play another healing class, you will have to reconfigure it for yourself.
• To configure it, use /grid config and load the default profile.  This will set up Grid the way that I use it.  See below for diagram:

Alternatives:  HealBot, VuhDo:  Both of these addons are easier to configure but you don’t have nearly the functionality that Grid gives you.

Addon #19:  Clique

Use:  Allows you to map buttons on your mouse to UI

• This addon combined with Grid is the most powerful healing interface a WoW player could have.  This is a highly configurable addon that allows you to set any mouse button combination you would like to your UI.  By default, it is enabled to use every raid frame, party frame, and other stuff you could possibly click on to use the mapped buttons.  I personally only use mine for my Grid since that is the only place I heal from.  You can configure which frames it is enabled on by hitting the Frames button and unchecking everything but Grid.

My Button Mappings:

Left Click:  Lifebloom

Middle Click:  Regrowth

Right Click:  Rejuvenation

Back Button:  Swiftmend

Forward Button:  Nature’s Swiftness

Shift + Left Click:  Wild Growth

Shift + Middle Click:  Nourish

Shift + Right Click:  Tranquility

Shift + Back Button:  Innervate

Shift + Forward Button:  Healing Touch

Alt + Left Click:  Abolish Poison

Alt + Middle Click:  Rebirth

Alt + Right Click:  Remove Curse

• There you have it, all of my healing secrets.  Now you just need to practice with it a little bit and you’ll be healing your arse off!

Alternatives:  None that I am aware of.

Addon #20:  ArcHUD2

Use:  Health, Mana, Cast Time, Pet Health, and Combo point monitoring

• This addon adds an overlay on top of your character that shows a ton of information without getting in the way.  The picture above from left to right shows:  Mob Health, Character Health, Pet Health, Pet Mana, Casting Time, and Character Mana.  I REALLY enjoy this mod on my rogue since it gives you a huge yellow number for how many combo points you have built up on the current target.  This would also been good for a feral druid.  I have this configured to fade when out of combat so it doesn’t get in the way when you don’t need it.  One special note about this mod, when you do a /reload ui, it will break it.  I have no idea why but you will have to quit the game and get back in to fix it.

Alternatives:  IceHUD

Addon #21 – 23:    Sunn – Viewport Art, Sunn – Viewport Art Pack 11, Diedemus’ Sunn Art Pack 1

Use:  Artwork added to top, middle, and sides of your screen

• The mod that makes the entire sleek look to my custom interface is all thanks to the 3 listed above.  They allow you to put some really cool artwork on any side of your interface (top, bottom, right or left).  For my interface, I only used the bottom one but you could turn the others on if you really wanted to.

Alternatives:  None that I am aware of

Addon #24:  ArkInventory

Use:  Inventory and Bank organization, management, and search

• I will just say this….I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT THIS MOD.  The default inventory management system that is built into the interface is TERRIBLE.  It divides up all of your bags and you can’t search through them easily.  This mod fixes all of that easily.  You can set up bags to only hold certain types of items, restack items automatically and view any alts bank or inventory.

Alternatives:  OneBag (sucks compared to ArkInventory).

Addon #25:  Auctioneer

Use:  Added auction house functionality

• This addon is definitely a good addition to have if you use the auction house a lot.  Anything that you have seen for sale from AH is automatically added to the database and will show a tool tip when you hover over the item in your inventory.  If you don’t have Auctioneer, you can still even use some of functionality if you need to see a price for something.  Just type “? <link item>” in guild chat and anyone that has Auctioneer installed will automatically send you a whisper with the most up to date price that they have seen.  It is a pretty cool mod.  It also allows you to put up auctions very quickly with the “Auctions” tab.  You can sell massive amounts of stuff just by dragging it all into the window and setting how big you want the stacks to be.

Alternatives:  Auctionator

Addon #26:  Deadly Boss Mods

Use:  Raid awareness, Mob / Boss assistance

• If you raid and don’t use this mod, quit World of Warcraft right now.  This is THE most handy mod for ANY size raid.  This mod has a database of every special trash pull / boss fight in the game.  It will throw warnings up on your screen and show what upcoming abilities will be.  Without this mod, you are going to be fighting bosses blindly. 

Alternatives:  Why would you need one?  This addon is perfect!

Addon #27:  Atlasloot Enhanced

Use:  Loot table

• This mod allows you to see all the loot that could possibly drop from a specific boss and trash mobs.  I love it because it allows you to plan out which bosses and which instances you should be running to get your upgrades.  I use this one all the time while in instances and right before bosses to see the possible drops.

Alternatives:  None that I am aware of.

Addon #28:  Gearscore

Use:  Gauge a player’s gear for maximum potential in their role

• This is a sort of controversial mod in the WoW community.  It scans all of a player’s gear and comes up with a number based off of all the pieces added together.  That being said….Gearscore doesn’t mean CRAP most of the time.  The addon will tell you what the maximum POTENTIAL for the player is with their current gear.  I have seen players with 4,000 gearscores out DPS people with 5500 gearscores.  It is all about player skill.  It is unfortunate that there is no way to gauge player skill.  This is just a good way to keep track of your current gear and view upgrades with it. 

Alternatives:  None that I am aware of.

Addon #29:  Gatherer

Use:  Maps all known herbalism and mining nodes that you have used.

• Gatherer is a pretty handy mod if you farm mines or flowers a lot.   Anything you ever touch will add an icon in the area where you used it.  I unfortunately haven’t done much herbalism since I revamped my interface so I only have 1 Icethorn on my Icecrown map but you get the point.  It will also map anything that anyone else in your guild uses as well.

Alternatives:  None that I am aware of.

Addon #30:  MoveAnything

Use:  Move anything that wasn’t previously able to be moved via the Blizzard frames

• There are a few windows that are very stubborn about being moved such as the “Heroic Attempts Left” alerts when you go into ICC and try to do the end wing bosses.  I had to find a mod that was able to move anything around that I needed to make this interface work.  Everyone mentioned this mod was the best for it so I tried it out.  It is excellent and does exactly what it says.
• My interface is designed for someone running 1600 x 1200 on WoW.  If you decide to use it and you have a lower resolution, you may have issues with where the windows are popping up.  This interface will take care of those issues, you just have to figure out which frame you need to move.

Alternatives:  None that I am aware of.

Addon #31:  Omen Threat Meter

Use:  Gauge your threat on a mob

• If you are a tank or DPS class, this mod is a must have.  When targeting a mob, it will show you how much threat you are generating on it.  This is extremely good for tanks since you can know how close someone is to pulling aggro off of you.

Alternatives:  None that I am aware of.

Addon #32:  Perl Classic Unit Frames

Use:  Movable Pet, Party, Player, Target, Target of Target, and Focus frames

• When it comes to the world of UI mods, there are a lot of options.  I chose this one because it is simple, easy to configure, and has minimal problems.  Lots of people use X-Perl or Pitbull.  If you feel they are better, use them.  I like the options for scale, buff and debuff on this addon.  Also, the 3D portraits definitely add a cool look to the bars.

  Alternatives:  X-Perl, Pitbull

Addon #33:  Quartz

Use:  Casting, Focus, Target, and Pet bar overhaul

• This addon is very easy to configure and it gives you a lot of options to make the bars pretty.  The top bar is your target bar and the bottom is your personal casting bar. 

  Alternatives:  ECastingBar

Addon #34:  Recount

Use:  DPS and Heals monitoring

• I love this mod because it allows you to gauge how well you are doing versus the other players in the raid.  You can also use this to see how much your healing and DPS go up when you get an upgrade.  This is an absolute must have for raiding.  One little problem with it is if you are playing a disc priest.  Recount doesn’t have the ability to translate the damage negated by your shields so your Heals Per Second will look like crap on it  (Ullmo is an excellent disc preist).  Skada DOES have the ability do the the translation though, take your pick.

  Alternatives:  Skada

Addon #35:  Prat 3.0

Use:  Added Chat functionality

• Prat is one of the many addon’s you can use to make your chat window look different.  I like this one because you can make your typing window appear above the chat instead of below.  You can also remove some of the buttons to make the windows look cleaner.  It includes the ability to show class colors and levels for player names in trade chat and general.  This will save you a step if you are forming a raid.

  Alternatives:  Chatter

Addon #36:  WIM (WoW Instant Messenger)

Use:  Pops whispers into their own windows, tabbed chatting

• I’m not sure this addon is for everyone but I like it.  It pops every tell you get into a separate window.  It will also auto-hide itself in combat and keep chat logs of everything.  You can drag windows together and have tabbed chatting as well.

  Alternatives:  None that I am aware of.

Addon #37:  Dominos

Use:  Makes your bars movable and very customizable

  Alternatives:  Bartender

Addon #38:  TipTac

Use:  Added tooltip functionality

• This addon gives you the ability to see targets, guild, mana, health, spec and gearscore.  Not only that, it allows you to move the tooltips around on screen.  I only have mine set to show health, mana, guild, and gearscore.  This mod also gives you really cool borders around any green / blue / purple drops.

  Alternatives:  None that I am aware of.

Addon #39:  Atlas

Use:  Adds maps for classic dungeons

• Atlas has been known since the beginning of WoW to put out quality addons and this one is no exception.  Classic WoW didn’t have maps for any of the dungeons.  This addon adds that functionality to the game.

  Alternatives:  None that I am aware of.

Addon #40:  Cartographer

Use:  Revamped map interface

• Cartographer is a pretty handy mod since other people using it will show up on your map from your guild without being in a party or raid.  It adds a list of dungeons on each zone and gives you the levels you should be leveling there.  There are a few of the addons included with the entire cartographer package that will mess with the positioning of the map but if you use my addon pack, they won’t be enabled.

  Alternatives:  None that I am aware of.

Addon #41:  Cooldowns

Use:  Shows numbers for cooldowns

• This one is pretty self explanatory.  It makes it easy to see your cooldown timers on abilities.

  Alternatives:  None that I am aware of.

Addon #42:  Crap Away!

Use:  Automatically sells all grey items

• This is another one of those addons that I couldn’t live without.  Every time you visit a merchant, it will sell every useless piece of crap item in your inventory.  It is an easy way to keep everything clean.

  Alternatives:  None that I am aware of.

Addon #43:  Minimap Button Frame

Use:  Pulls all minimap buttons into a special frame

• Since i am using SexyMap and I wanted to have a clean interface, I found this mod.  It pulls all of your minimap buttons into a nice condensed frame that can be minimized.  When you need to see one of the buttons, just simply right click the MBF icon right above the chat window, it will show all of your buttons.  NOTE:  it will take a few seconds to pull all of the buttons in the first time you click it, be patient.

  Alternatives:  None that I am aware of.

Addon #44:  PallyPower

Use:  For Paladins, coordinate buffs with other Paladins in raid

• As much as I wanted to make this interface non-class specific, there was one addon that you shouldn’t be without if you are a Paladin and that is PallyPower.  This addon will communicate with other Paladins in the raid that are running PallyPower and you can coordinate which buffs you are running (Blessing of Kings, Blessing of Sanctuary, Blessing of Might, Blessing of Wisdom).  You can also use it to coordinate which auras and seals you are running.  It also serves as a nice check to see if you have Righteous Fury up if you are tanking.

  Alternatives:  None that I am aware of.

Addon #45:  Parrot

Use:  Scrolling text for cooldowns, crits, incoming and outgoing damage / heals

• Parrott adds scrolling battle text to your screen.  You can position it anywhere that you would like.  It pops up with big numbers when you crit so it is easy to tell when you do (important for Holy Paladins and other classes). 

  Alternatives:  Miks Scrolling Battle Text

Addon #46:  Postal

Use:  Added mail functionality

• Postal lets you open all mail and put all the contents into your inventory.  It also adds a tab to pull down and choose your alts, friends or guild members.  This is a VERY handy mod if you buy a lot of stuff off of the auction house.

  Alternatives:  None that I am aware of.

Addon #47:  SatrinaBuffFrame

Use:  Movable buff / debuff frame, customizable for cooldown timers

• SatrinaBuffFrame lets you make your personal buff looks completely different.  It will show you cooldowns without having to hover over them.  The numbers will change to red when the buff gets closer to running out.  I made debuffs a little larger just because they are more important when raiding.

  Alternatives:  None that I am aware of.

Addon #48:  SexyMap

Use:  Makes your minimap sexy…

• This addon allows you to customize your minimap.  You can drag the icons that remain on the map around and customize the glow behind it.  When someone pings the map, it labels who did it on the minimap.  All in all, I use it just for the ability to move it and simplify the look of the map.

  Alternatives:  None that I am aware of.

Addon #49 – 57:  Titan Panel, Titan Panel [Currency], Titan Panel [Friends], Titan Panel [Guild], Titan Panel [Mail], Titan Panel [Mount], Titan Panel [RaidIDs], Titan Panel Deadly Boss Mods

Use:  Adds a bar at the top for various information

• Titan panel is one of those addons you really don’t need but is nice to have.  I can’t tell you how many times it has saved me from going into a dungeon with broken gear.  It is also handy to see how much gold each of your characters has on it with a combined total.  There are TONS of other things you can add into it such as having your mounts set up for fast clicking.

Alternatives:  FuBar

Addon #58:  VampArrow

Use:  Helps with “Bite Order” on the Blood Queen fight in Icecrown Citadel

• This is just a client for the main addon “Vamp”.  It will auto whisper from whoever is running the Vamp addon and let you know who to bite.  This addon will show you an arrow to who you are supposed to bite and give you plenty of time to get there.

Alternatives:  None that I am aware of.

Now!  For the bread and butter of my post.  I have packaged my entire interface with my 3 days of work configuring it into the link below.

Installation Instructions:

1)  Download the interface off of the button above and open it.

2)  Right-click on your World of Warcraft icon and go to Properties.

3)  Click on “Open File Location”

4)  Open Interface –>  Addons folder

5)  Create a folder named “Old” and drag all of the current folders into the “Old” folder.

6)  Extract the “Addons” folder from the file you downloaded and put them in the “Addons” folder in your WoW folder.

7)  Go back to your World of Warcraft Folder and click on your WTF folder

8)  Click on “Account”

9)  Determine which profile you play under (will probably be either your account name or a folder with random numbers) and double click it.

10)  Double-click on “Saved Variables”

11)  Create a folder named “Old” and drag all of the files into the “Old” folder.

11)  Extract the “Saved Variables” from the file you downloaded and put them in your “SavedVariables” folder in your WoW folder.

12)  Start up World of Warcraft and verify that your interface is set to “Load out of date addons”

13)  Load into the character that you want to play

14)  You will need to load the default profiles for most of programs listed above.  Once they are loaded, move them to the proper spots.  If you need a big picture of the interface, click here.

15)  Have fun raiding!

If you have issues or questions, post them as a comment and I’ll help you the best I can.

Happy Raiding!!!!!!!

-Zac McKinney (Darkkla)

I know it has been a while since I have posted an update on my blog.  It is because I have once again been sucked into the world of Azeroth in the MMORPG “World of Warcraft”.  With this renewed addiction though, came a great idea for a post.

I play 4 different characters in World of Warcraft (Druid, Paladin, Rogue, and Warlock).  There are many addons that make playing each of these classes easier.  The main problem is that there isn’t an easy way to find addons that you know are virus free and do exactly what you want.  I spent hours combing through various Google searches, forum posts, and other sources of information to build the ultimate interface from scratch.  It has a nice look to it and makes the game easier to play.

For this article, I am going to screenshot each addon, tell you exactly what it does, what classes it works best for, and why you need it.  At the end, I will provide a link to all the addons in one nice little zip file as well as my WTF folder (WTF folder holds all the configurations for all the addons).  I will explain how to install it at the bottom.

Here is a picture of my completely finished interface.  I will break down every component individually and explain what it does, why I use it, and possible alternatives if you don’t like that particular mod.

Addons #1 – 18:  Grid, GridAutoFrameSize, GridBuffIcons, GridIndicatorCornerIcons, GridIndicatorCornerPlus,GridIndicatorCornerText, GridIndicatorIconBar,GridIndicatorSideIcons, GridIndicatorSideText, GridManaBars, GridSideIndicators, GridStatusAFK, GridStatusHots, GridStatusMissingBuffs, GridStatusMTs, GridStatusRaidDebuff, GridStatusRaidIcons, GridStatusRes

Use:  Raiding UI, Healing (when combined with Clique)

• Grid is an absolutely fantastic mod.  It has many uses in all applications (5 mans, battlegrounds, arena, 10 mans, and 25 mans) and I found that after I started using it on all of my characters (not just my Druid) that it is an excellent way to keep an eye on what is happening in the raid.  This is my favorite mod for all of WoW just because of the use you can get out of it.  My Grid is configured for a Druid healer though so if you play another healing class, you will have to reconfigure it for yourself.
• To configure it, use /grid config and load the default profile.  This will set up Grid the way that I use it.  See below for diagram:

Alternatives:  HealBot, VuhDo:  Both of these addons are easier to configure but you don’t have nearly the functionality that Grid gives you.

Addon #19:  Clique

Use:  Allows you to map buttons on your mouse to UI

• This addon combined with Grid is the most powerful healing interface a WoW player could have.  This is a highly configurable addon that allows you to set any mouse button combination you would like to your UI.  By default, it is enabled to use every raid frame, party frame, and other stuff you could possibly click on to use the mapped buttons.  I personally only use mine for my Grid since that is the only place I heal from.  You can configure which frames it is enabled on by hitting the Frames button and unchecking everything but Grid.

My Button Mappings:

Left Click:  Lifebloom

Middle Click:  Regrowth

Right Click:  Rejuvenation

Back Button:  Swiftmend

Forward Button:  Nature’s Swiftness

Shift + Left Click:  Wild Growth

Shift + Middle Click:  Nourish

Shift + Right Click:  Tranquility

Shift + Back Button:  Innervate

Shift + Forward Button:  Healing Touch

Alt + Left Click:  Abolish Poison

Alt + Middle Click:  Rebirth

Alt + Right Click:  Remove Curse

• There you have it, all of my healing secrets.  Now you just need to practice with it a little bit and you’ll be healing your arse off!

Alternatives:  None that I am aware of.

Addon #20:  ArcHUD2

Use:  Health, Mana, Cast Time, Pet Health, and Combo point monitoring

• This addon adds an overlay on top of your character that shows a ton of information without getting in the way.  The picture above from left to right shows:  Mob Health, Character Health, Pet Health, Pet Mana, Casting Time, and Character Mana.  I REALLY enjoy this mod on my rogue since it gives you a huge yellow number for how many combo points you have built up on the current target.  This would also been good for a feral druid.  I have this configured to fade when out of combat so it doesn’t get in the way when you don’t need it.  One special note about this mod, when you do a /reload ui, it will break it.  I have no idea why but you will have to quit the game and get back in to fix it.

Alternatives:  IceHUD

Addon #21 – 23:    Sunn – Viewport Art, Sunn – Viewport Art Pack 11, Diedemus’ Sunn Art Pack 1

Use:  Artwork added to top, middle, and sides of your screen

• The mod that makes the entire sleek look to my custom interface is all thanks to the 3 listed above.  They allow you to put some really cool artwork on any side of your interface (top, bottom, right or left).  For my interface, I only used the bottom one but you could turn the others on if you really wanted to.

Alternatives:  None that I am aware of

Addon #24:  ArkInventory

Use:  Inventory and Bank organization, management, and search

• I will just say this….I CAN’T LIVE WITHOUT THIS MOD.  The default inventory management system that is built into the interface is TERRIBLE.  It divides up all of your bags and you can’t search through them easily.  This mod fixes all of that easily.  You can set up bags to only hold certain types of items, restack items automatically and view any alts bank or inventory.

Alternatives:  OneBag (sucks compared to ArkInventory).

Addon #25:  Auctioneer

Use:  Added auction house functionality

• This addon is definitely a good addition to have if you use the auction house a lot.  Anything that you have seen for sale from AH is automatically added to the database and will show a tool tip when you hover over the item in your inventory.  If you don’t have Auctioneer, you can still even use some of functionality if you need to see a price for something.  Just type “? <link item>” in guild chat and anyone that has Auctioneer installed will automatically send you a whisper with the most up to date price that they have seen.  It is a pretty cool mod.  It also allows you to put up auctions very quickly with the “Auctions” tab.  You can sell massive amounts of stuff just by dragging it all into the window and setting how big you want the stacks to be.

Alternatives:  Auctionator

Addon #26:  Deadly Boss Mods

Use:  Raid awareness, Mob / Boss assistance

• If you raid and don’t use this mod, quit World of Warcraft right now.  This is THE most handy mod for ANY size raid.  This mod has a database of every special trash pull / boss fight in the game.  It will throw warnings up on your screen and show what upcoming abilities will be.  Without this mod, you are going to be fighting bosses blindly. 

Alternatives:  Why would you need one?  This addon is perfect!

Addon #27:  Atlasloot Enhanced

Use:  Loot table

• This mod allows you to see all the loot that could possibly drop from a specific boss and trash mobs.  I love it because it allows you to plan out which bosses and which instances you should be running to get your upgrades.  I use this one all the time while in instances and right before bosses to see the possible drops.

Alternatives:  None that I am aware of.

Addon #28:  Gearscore

Use:  Gauge a player’s gear for maximum potential in their role

• This is a sort of controversial mod in the WoW community.  It scans all of a player’s gear and comes up with a number based off of all the pieces added together.  That being said….Gearscore doesn’t mean CRAP most of the time.  The addon will tell you what the maximum POTENTIAL for the player is with their current gear.  I have seen players with 4,000 gearscores out DPS people with 5500 gearscores.  It is all about player skill.  It is unfortunate that there is no way to gauge player skill.  This is just a good way to keep track of your current gear and view upgrades with it. 

Alternatives:  None that I am aware of.

Addon #29:  Gatherer

Use:  Maps all known herbalism and mining nodes that you have used.

• Gatherer is a pretty handy mod if you farm mines or flowers a lot.   Anything you ever touch will add an icon in the area where you used it.  I unfortunately haven’t done much herbalism since I revamped my interface so I only have 1 Icethorn on my Icecrown map but you get the point.  It will also map anything that anyone else in your guild uses as well.

Alternatives:  None that I am aware of.

Addon #30:  MoveAnything

Use:  Move anything that wasn’t previously able to be moved via the Blizzard frames

• There are a few windows that are very stubborn about being moved such as the “Heroic Attempts Left” alerts when you go into ICC and try to do the end wing bosses.  I had to find a mod that was able to move anything around that I needed to make this interface work.  Everyone mentioned this mod was the best for it so I tried it out.  It is excellent and does exactly what it says.
• My interface is designed for someone running 1600 x 1200 on WoW.  If you decide to use it and you have a lower resolution, you may have issues with where the windows are popping up.  This interface will take care of those issues, you just have to figure out which frame you need to move.

Alternatives:  None that I am aware of.

Addon #31:  Omen Threat Meter

Use:  Gauge your threat on a mob

• If you are a tank or DPS class, this mod is a must have.  When targeting a mob, it will show you how much threat you are generating on it.  This is extremely good for tanks since you can know how close someone is to pulling aggro off of you.

Alternatives:  None that I am aware of.

Addon #32:  Perl Classic Unit Frames

Use:  Movable Pet, Party, Player, Target, Target of Target, and Focus frames

• When it comes to the world of UI mods, there are a lot of options.  I chose this one because it is simple, easy to configure, and has minimal problems.  Lots of people use X-Perl or Pitbull.  If you feel they are better, use them.  I like the options for scale, buff and debuff on this addon.  Also, the 3D portraits definitely add a cool look to the bars.

  Alternatives:  X-Perl, Pitbull

Addon #33:  Quartz

Use:  Casting, Focus, Target, and Pet bar overhaul

• This addon is very easy to configure and it gives you a lot of options to make the bars pretty.  The top bar is your target bar and the bottom is your personal casting bar. 

  Alternatives:  ECastingBar

Addon #34:  Recount

Use:  DPS and Heals monitoring

• I love this mod because it allows you to gauge how well you are doing versus the other players in the raid.  You can also use this to see how much your healing and DPS go up when you get an upgrade.  This is an absolute must have for raiding.  One little problem with it is if you are playing a disc priest.  Recount doesn’t have the ability to translate the damage negated by your shields so your Heals Per Second will look like crap on it  (Ullmo is an excellent disc preist).  Skada DOES have the ability do the the translation though, take your pick.

  Alternatives:  Skada

Addon #35:  Prat 3.0

Use:  Added Chat functionality

• Prat is one of the many addon’s you can use to make your chat window look different.  I like this one because you can make your typing window appear above the chat instead of below.  You can also remove some of the buttons to make the windows look cleaner.  It includes the ability to show class colors and levels for player names in trade chat and general.  This will save you a step if you are forming a raid.

  Alternatives:  Chatter

Addon #36:  WIM (WoW Instant Messenger)

Use:  Pops whispers into their own windows, tabbed chatting

• I’m not sure this addon is for everyone but I like it.  It pops every tell you get into a separate window.  It will also auto-hide itself in combat and keep chat logs of everything.  You can drag windows together and have tabbed chatting as well.

  Alternatives:  None that I am aware of.

Addon #37:  Dominos

Use:  Makes your bars movable and very customizable

  Alternatives:  Bartender

Addon #38:  TipTac

Use:  Added tooltip functionality

• This addon gives you the ability to see targets, guild, mana, health, spec and gearscore.  Not only that, it allows you to move the tooltips around on screen.  I only have mine set to show health, mana, guild, and gearscore.  This mod also gives you really cool borders around any green / blue / purple drops.

  Alternatives:  None that I am aware of.

Addon #39:  Atlas

Use:  Adds maps for classic dungeons

• Atlas has been known since the beginning of WoW to put out quality addons and this one is no exception.  Classic WoW didn’t have maps for any of the dungeons.  This addon adds that functionality to the game.

  Alternatives:  None that I am aware of.

Addon #40:  Cartographer

Use:  Revamped map interface

• Cartographer is a pretty handy mod since other people using it will show up on your map from your guild without being in a party or raid.  It adds a list of dungeons on each zone and gives you the levels you should be leveling there.  There are a few of the addons included with the entire cartographer package that will mess with the positioning of the map but if you use my addon pack, they won’t be enabled.

  Alternatives:  None that I am aware of.

Addon #41:  Cooldowns

Use:  Shows numbers for cooldowns

• This one is pretty self explanatory.  It makes it easy to see your cooldown timers on abilities.

  Alternatives:  None that I am aware of.

Addon #42:  Crap Away!

Use:  Automatically sells all grey items

• This is another one of those addons that I couldn’t live without.  Every time you visit a merchant, it will sell every useless piece of crap item in your inventory.  It is an easy way to keep everything clean.

  Alternatives:  None that I am aware of.

Addon #43:  Minimap Button Frame

Use:  Pulls all minimap buttons into a special frame

• Since i am using SexyMap and I wanted to have a clean interface, I found this mod.  It pulls all of your minimap buttons into a nice condensed frame that can be minimized.  When you need to see one of the buttons, just simply right click the MBF icon right above the chat window, it will show all of your buttons.  NOTE:  it will take a few seconds to pull all of the buttons in the first time you click it, be patient.

  Alternatives:  None that I am aware of.

Addon #44:  PallyPower

Use:  For Paladins, coordinate buffs with other Paladins in raid

• As much as I wanted to make this interface non-class specific, there was one addon that you shouldn’t be without if you are a Paladin and that is PallyPower.  This addon will communicate with other Paladins in the raid that are running PallyPower and you can coordinate which buffs you are running (Blessing of Kings, Blessing of Sanctuary, Blessing of Might, Blessing of Wisdom).  You can also use it to coordinate which auras and seals you are running.  It also serves as a nice check to see if you have Righteous Fury up if you are tanking.

  Alternatives:  None that I am aware of.

Addon #45:  Parrot

Use:  Scrolling text for cooldowns, crits, incoming and outgoing damage / heals

• Parrott adds scrolling battle text to your screen.  You can position it anywhere that you would like.  It pops up with big numbers when you crit so it is easy to tell when you do (important for Holy Paladins and other classes). 

  Alternatives:  Miks Scrolling Battle Text

Addon #46:  Postal

Use:  Added mail functionality

• Postal lets you open all mail and put all the contents into your inventory.  It also adds a tab to pull down and choose your alts, friends or guild members.  This is a VERY handy mod if you buy a lot of stuff off of the auction house.

  Alternatives:  None that I am aware of.

Addon #47:  SatrinaBuffFrame

Use:  Movable buff / debuff frame, customizable for cooldown timers

• SatrinaBuffFrame lets you make your personal buff looks completely different.  It will show you cooldowns without having to hover over them.  The numbers will change to red when the buff gets closer to running out.  I made debuffs a little larger just because they are more important when raiding.

  Alternatives:  None that I am aware of.

Addon #48:  SexyMap

Use:  Makes your minimap sexy…

• This addon allows you to customize your minimap.  You can drag the icons that remain on the map around and customize the glow behind it.  When someone pings the map, it labels who did it on the minimap.  All in all, I use it just for the ability to move it and simplify the look of the map.

  Alternatives:  None that I am aware of.

Addon #49 – 57:  Titan Panel, Titan Panel [Currency], Titan Panel [Friends], Titan Panel [Guild], Titan Panel [Mail], Titan Panel [Mount], Titan Panel [RaidIDs], Titan Panel Deadly Boss Mods

Use:  Adds a bar at the top for various information

• Titan panel is one of those addons you really don’t need but is nice to have.  I can’t tell you how many times it has saved me from going into a dungeon with broken gear.  It is also handy to see how much gold each of your characters has on it with a combined total.  There are TONS of other things you can add into it such as having your mounts set up for fast clicking.

Alternatives:  FuBar

Addon #58:  VampArrow

Use:  Helps with “Bite Order” on the Blood Queen fight in Icecrown Citadel

• This is just a client for the main addon “Vamp”.  It will auto whisper from whoever is running the Vamp addon and let you know who to bite.  This addon will show you an arrow to who you are supposed to bite and give you plenty of time to get there.

Alternatives:  None that I am aware of.

Now!  For the bread and butter of my post.  I have packaged my entire interface with my 3 days of work configuring it into the link below.

Installation Instructions:

1)  Download the interface off of the button above and open it.

2)  Right-click on your World of Warcraft icon and go to Properties.

3)  Click on “Open File Location”

4)  Open Interface –>  Addons folder

5)  Create a folder named “Old” and drag all of the current folders into the “Old” folder.

6)  Extract the “Addons” folder from the file you downloaded and put them in the “Addons” folder in your WoW folder.

7)  Go back to your World of Warcraft Folder and click on your WTF folder

8)  Click on “Account”

9)  Determine which profile you play under (will probably be either your account name or a folder with random numbers) and double click it.

10)  Double-click on “Saved Variables”

11)  Create a folder named “Old” and drag all of the files into the “Old” folder.

11)  Extract the “Saved Variables” from the file you downloaded and put them in your “SavedVariables” folder in your WoW folder.

12)  Start up World of Warcraft and verify that your interface is set to “Load out of date addons”

13)  Load into the character that you want to play

14)  You will need to load the default profiles for most of programs listed above.  Once they are loaded, move them to the proper spots.  If you need a big picture of the interface, click here.

15)  Have fun raiding!

If you have issues or questions, post them as a comment and I’ll help you the best I can.

Happy Raiding!!!!!!!

-Zac McKinney (Darkkla)

So last month I decided to finally clean up my music library.  What exactly am I talking about?  Well, when you have a massive music library like I do, the metadata inside of the songs usually is different between songs, albums, and artists.  Windows Media Player will automatically build your library based off of Artist, Album, or Genre (see picture below). 

Lets start on how you have your files organized.  Most people organize their songs by artist with all the albums under that, then all songs for that album under that folder.  Like this (I am using R.E.M. as the example for this tutorial):

As you can see, this is a CD is corrected already.  Metadata in a song is all the fields above past the “Name” field.  The data for Track #, Contributing Artists, Album, and Genre are all stored WITHIN the actual mp4 file.  You have many ways you can edit this data.  You can either go through each song and edit them by right clicking on each file and going to the details tab:

OR you could do it the easy way with one of my favorite programs ever created, Media Monkey!

Media Monkey gives you an easy way to manage your entire music library.  It has the ability to auto-tag albums from the internet, change filenames with scripts, and tons of other really cool features that helped me fix over 45,000 songs in just under a month.  Lets look at an ugly music library.

A lot of times, songs will either not have an artist or they are all different so when Windows Media Player automatically builds the artists, they will be under 2 different categories but they are really the same artist.  This is why I am using R.E.M. as the example, I had 3 different REM bands when I started on my music library.  Like this (notice the highlighted ones):

This is where Media Monkey comes in.  With the program, you can scan your entire music library into it, see all the metadata you want, adjust it easily, and add album art to the songs!  First you have to come up with a naming convention.  For example, do you want to have the band name as “Doobie Brothers” or “The Doobie Brothers”?  My personal preference is, whatever is on the album cover, that is what I put as the band name.

Lets fix the metadata on the R.E.M. album.  First off, scan your folder into Media Monkey (Go to File –> Add/Rescan Tracks to the Library).  Just select the base of the folder where you keep all of your music, then find the music folders you would like to fix.  As you can see from my setup, this CD’s metadata is in bad shape (3 different band names for the same band, 2 different album names for the same CD):

To correct this, Media Monkey makes it really easy.  Just select all of the files, right click, and hit “Auto-Tag from Web”.  Media Monkey bases it’s search off of the very first track’s Artist and Album data so make sure you have at least that one filled in with the CD you are searching for (if it is blank, it will not be able to find the CD).  As you can see, Media Monkey found the album with no issues.  Everything that it will be changing is highlighted with yellow.

Once you hit Auto-Tag, it will replace the song names, album title, and artist title with what is in yellow and when your media player plays the music, it will look perfect!  Now on to the actual file names.

If you are like me, you like to have a naming convention for even the actual filenames in your music library (yes i know it is anal, don’t judge me).  Luckily, Media Monkey also has a built in script to change your actual filenames based off of the metadata inside of the file!  To do this, select all of the songs you want to replace the names on in Media Monkey, right click, and select “Auto-Organize Files”.  With the destination bar, you can configure your naming convention however you like.  I personally do <Artist>-  <Song Name>.mp4.  It is very uniform and easy to tell song names based off of that.

Just hit “OK” and it will run the script to rename all of your files.  I hope this article has helped at least a few of you to clean up your music library.  If anyone has any questions about Media Monkey, feel free to ask it in the comments and I’ll answer it the best that I can.

–Zac McKinney

Roslyn and I were trying to decide what to do for last Friday night’s date and realized that Zombieland had released that same day!  Since we are both HUGE zombie movie fans, we decided to give it a shot and pay the ungodly prices at the theater.  What we experienced was not just any old zombie movie…it was THE zombie movie.  Only read the text below if you like spoilers or you have already seen this movie, otherwise get in your car and go see Zombieland NOW.

Within the first 10 minutes of the movie, Roslyn and I knew we were going to love it.  It starts out by introducing us to the main character, Columbus (played by Jesse Eisenberg).  We instantly identified with him because he was just a nerd who played video games before the infection started.  Columbus showed a social awkwardness that most nerds have as part of their personality.  He spent most of his time playing World of Warcraft in his apartment with no social interaction with anyone.  Not only that, but was very soft spoken and not the type of person you would expect to be able to survive a zombie apocalypse.

Throughout the movie, Columbus shares his 33 rules for surviving in Zombieland.  Every rule had a reason and they of course showed the reasons for the rules.  The best one was rule #1:  Cardio.  The movie cuts to a fat guy running down a football field, being chased by a zombie.  Of course, the zombie catches him and proceeds to devour his flesh.  I won’t spoil the others because they are ALL funny.  As the movie advances, he comes up with a few new rules and changes some of the existing ones.

Now we come to the biggest bad ass in Zombieland, Tallahassee (played by Woody Harrelson).  He is a man with a mission…kill zombies and find a Twinkie.  Most of the movie is Tallahassee searching for the delightful snack.  He has some very funny moments with Columbus while arguing about it.

Last but not least are Wichita (played by Emma Stone) and Little Rock (played by Abigail Breslin) (everyone is named after the town they came from by the way, if you hadn’t picked up on that yet).  They are sisters and are on a mission to go to an amusement park in California.  They use a con act to hijack Tallahassee’s current mode of transportation in the movie.

The movie follows the 4 characters shown above.  They run into plenty of zombies along the way.  They also go to a certain celebrity home toward the end of the movie.  I am not going to say who it is but I will give you a hint…He was in Ghostbusters and was one of the main characters.  I have to say that him being in the movie was one of the most entertaining parts.

In summary, this movie was amazing.  It was, by far, one of most hilarious and entertaining movies I have seen this year.   If you liked Shaun of the Dead, you will enjoy every single second of this film.  Overall, I give it 10 out of 10!  Till next time!

–Zac McKinney

Hey Guys!  The release date for Windows 7 is close at hand (October 22nd 2009)! If you haven’t at least seen the operating system by now, you probably don’t work in IT.  If you don’t have an opinion of it yet, let me lend you mine…it just plain rocks.  I have been running the beta version since May.  I upgraded to the full release as soon as it was available on September 6th.  This post is going to be about some of the really cool new features of Windows 7 that you may not have known about.

Feature #1:  Snipping Tool

The new windows snipping tool allows you to take a screenshot of your desktop.  This will make it easier for technical support to have a user send a copy of the error message they are getting.  You just load the program, it will put a white layer over your entire screen and you highlight what you want to take a screenshot of.  It will pop up a new windows and allow you to review and save the newly acquired image!

Feature #2:  Desktop Gadget Gallery

This is not so much a new feature but a revamped one from Windows Vista.  In Vista, the gadget gallery was locked into a bar that you had to have docked on the side.  In 7, Microsoft has taken away the restraining bar for the gadgets.  You can put any of the very cool user-created gadgets anywhere on your desktop now!

I think this would be a good place to explain some of the cool gadgets I personally use.  I currently use Facebook Explorer, Chirpr, Network Meter, CPU Usage Meter, and Digital Clock.  All of these, except for Network Meter and CPU Usage Meter, can be download from Microsoft’s gadget site located here.  For Network Meter and CPU Usage Meter, you can download them from here.

Feature #3:  Aero

Ok so this isn’t a new feature either, but it is definitely worth mentioning if you have never seen it in action.  This feature improves the Windows experience 10 fold as it is easier to manage multiple windows, find the window you are looking for, and see previews for all open windows.

Just click on the icon and it displays all of the current open windows in a nice preview window.

There is now an evolved version of the alt+tab combination.  If you hold down the Windows Key + tab, it will give you a full 3D view of the windows you currently have open.

Feature #4:  Taskbar Overhaul

This is one of my favorite new features of Windows 7!  In Windows XP, the quick launch was next to where the windows opened up.  In Windows 7, Microsoft has combined the quick launch and window system so they stack.  You can now pin any program you use often to the start menu and all windows that are open under that program are stacked into that icon.  Combined with Aero’s window preview system, it makes for a great way to manage windows.

Feature #5:  Driver Database

You know all that digging around on the internet you had to go through just to find compatible drivers for some piece of hardware you had in your computer?  Well that will be almost completely gone thanks to the new driver database that Windows 7 is sporting.  As soon as you finish installing Windows, it will install almost every driver you need to run your computer.  I have already rolled Windows 7 out to our entire company and I only ran into 2 driver issues.  Although, they were quickly fixed with Windows compatibility mode (I’ll discuss this in a minute).

Feature #6:  Windows Compatibility Mode

These are just some of favorite new features of Windows 7.  There are many, many more that I didn’t discuss.   My advice is to install Windows 7 as soon as it is released to the general public, start using it, and discover some of your own favorite features available!

–Zac McKinney