Which addons to use can be hard to keep track of - what's up to date? Are there new addons out there I don't know about? Will this addon continue to be updated in the future? To try and make things easier, I've picked out 10 addons I don't think anyone should be playing without. Honourable Mention: For people who use name plates, upgrading to Tidy Plates and for tanks, with the theme is a no-brainer. Not everyone makes use of name plates, but for those who do, Tidy Plates comes highly recommended. In 10th place is an addon that allows you to adjust whatever elements of the default user interface you either like, or simply don't need to replace. MoveAnything gives you the ability to move, scale, hide, or adjust the transparency level of every item within the Blizzard UI. Take your focus frame somewhere more useful! Hide the objective tracker! Keep the best, move some, and hide the rest of the core elements you end up with when you're done with all of your other addons. Despite being built into World of Warcraft natively, the default UI does not give you any useful way of utilizing map coordinates. By using TomTom, you can display coordinates, set waypoints using them, and even get a navigation arrow to point you in the direction of your objective or waypoint. Not everyone will love this one, but the people who do will love it immensely. OPie lets you set up custom action 'rings' to free up keybinds. Set a single bind to pull up a ring, and then release the bind once you've moved your mouse in the direction of the ability or effect you want to use. If nothing else, OPie is great for things like raid markers! See it in action: OPie demonstration video. The next three addons are individual feature replacements for unit frames, raid frames, and bar management. If you're looking for a quick solution, rather than the individually-named addons here which are all highly customizable and best in class , you can choose a complete interface modification like. Elv is less robust, but allows you to quickly and easily configure a new interface that is scaled to your resolution with a solid suite of features. Here's a standard ElvUI layout. Easily the most efficient and configurable unit frame replacement out there today, SUF lets you decide exactly how you want each of your frames player, party, target, focus, etc. Move them, anchor frames to other frames in sensible ways - the immense amount of customization you can do will be the big selling feature here. Raid frames are among the oldest and most needed of addons in WoW's history. From the venerable CT-Raid onward, most every WoW player has always chosen to take some kind of improvement over the default Blizzard alternative. Grid premiered during The Burning Crusade, and while iterations have changed to match the various tweaks Blizzard has made over the years, it remains one of the most granular and popular raid frame solutions to date. Bartender gives you complete control over how and where your action bars appear. If for nothing else than the ability to remove the unnecessary art and scale the bars to a more manageable size, living without a modern action bar addon is unthinkable. Reclaim your visual real estate. The top four addons at the end of this list are a mixture of simple and complex, but cannot come strongly recommended enough. There is value in each of these addons for basically every WoW player out there. You have mouseover macros. If you don't, you probably should. For every class, but quadrupally so for healers, Clique lets you react faster and make infinitely better use of a ton of your abilities. Whether it's a heal, a taunt, an interrupt, crowd control, or otherwise, casting it when you select your target rather than selecting your target and then casting a spell is a massive improvement that you will notice and appreciate immediately. With the advent of Garrisons, finding ways to quickly optimize your missions and get the results reported back to you was a priority for pretty much every player, regardless of what other content they enjoy. From the options that exist, Master Plan is the sleekest and most popular way to minimize the time it takes to maximize your Garrison's effectiveness. Constantly updated, well developed, and easy to use, Deadly Boss Mods is the single most downloaded WoW addon of all time for a reason. For every contemporary encounter, DBM gives you relevant timers, warnings, and excellent utilities including the nigh-mandatory range radar. If you aren't one of the over 100,000,000 yes, that number is correct downloads recorded on Curse already, get thyself to the link above, post haste. This one is not for the faint of heart. WeakAuras is the spiritual successor to PowerAuras, but has since evolved into the single most powerful framework for personalized alerts available today. Even for users who aren't entirely sure how to navigate the complexity of building their own strings, a number of talented theorycrafters have exported strings elsewhere online - on forums, blogs, or otherwise - that you can quickly import for your own use. It is the best addon available today, and players who make effective use of it are setting themselves up for tremendous success. The WeakAuras configuration screen. Do you already use all of the above addons, or did one of them leap out at you as something you should download? Does some other addon not mentioned live at the heart of your UI? Let me know in the comments. I definitely use DBM. Helped me get a 685 mythic shield. I have heard many positive things about Weak Auras, but I don't use it myself. However, I've considered it a lot, and I am thinking more about it after reading this. Another addon I really like is FloTotem for the UI I main a resto shaman and I like that it constantly adjusts as I change my talents. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure that's the addon that's preventing me from clicking in-chat links. Thanks for the great list! I avoided weak auras for a long time. I still use DBM for out of the box boss timers and raid warnings, but I use weak auras for my dps rotation, for custom tracking of buffs and debuffs on certain fights, and all sorts of other stuff. Once I learned how to make my own custom stuff it really elevated my game. I just downloaded Master Plan, and I'm really liking it so far. I just assigned all my missions in about 15 seconds and they were almost all 100%. I agree that Weakauras and DBM are the best addons ever. Refer to each class's own forums if you are looking for Weakauras assistance. I would suggest using Paste with TomTom when you have a set of Coordinates treasures and rares to insert. While it may be the most downloaded and familiar boss mod out today, I prefer. While it does the exact same thing that DBM does as far as the encounters go, I feel it better, overall, with the way it handles the encounters. In addition, Big Wigs is also account-wide customizable; there's no need to set it up on each character unless you hold specific settings that differ between each character. In my raid team I definitely promote Big Wigs over DBM or it's counter-part, VEM. I personally disable the guild vault and void storage but the options are there. It's easily customized and reports in a bar fashion. I use this addon regardless of what class or spec I'm playing. By default, you can use it straight out of the box. It does have options for customization, however. It takes time to get used to and properly set up but, when enabled, gives you everything you need to get the most out of the AH. This is a great topic as I like reading other's opinions on their addons and UI; sometimes I find something I'm not currently using and end up keeping it simply because of these type of threads. Blizzard added an alternative ending to Saurfang's storyline in this week's 8. The article contains major story spoilers. If you read our preview of Saurfang's story in Patch 8. From the quest it appears that Saurfang has sided with the Alliance Shaw and members of the community consider him a traitor now, but the questline forced them to side with Saurfang and Zekhan. Blizzard recently added an alternative ending to the story. A new window pops up, informing you that your choice will prevent you from completing the main Fate of Saurfang quests and receiving the Worn Cloak toy. Instead, you will be given an alternative quest to return back to Sylvanas and Zekhan will remember this! For the Queen You chose not to side with the traitor Saurfang and his troll lackey. Now that you know where Saurfang is, and who is with him, you should report to Sylvanas to see if she has any further orders. Now you must return back to Sylvanas in Orgrimmar. The quest rewards Artifact Power and you learn that Sylvanas has special plans for Zekhan. Your loyalty will not go unrewarded, champion. Lyana departed here only moments ago. I have dispatched the dark ranger and a contigent of loyal deathguard to apprehend the traitor Saurfang in Swamp of Sorrows. He may come peacefully, or he may not. Your hands should not, in any case, be bloodied in this confrontation. You are to remain a hero, golden in the eyes of the people, as we have need of. And as for that troll you mentioned, I have special plans for him. Who's Telling the Truth? It's interesting to see an alternative ending to the storyline, but is Sylvanas really telling the truth? In Orgrimmar, however, Sylvanas tells you that Lyana departed just a few moments ago from there when you arrive to finish the questline. What do you think? Cirra, captain of the exceL's Angels team winners of the 2018 MDI event earlier this year , is here to show you everything you need to know as a viewer, as well as which classes you are most likely to see at the event and why. For those of you that don't know, exceL's Angels formerly knows as Kjell's Angels won the MDI finals 3-2 against Method NA. The team consists of: Divinefield, who fills the Tank role; Cirra, the captain and Healer for the group; Ashine, Dorullkjell, and Herudra, who fill out the DPS roster for the team. Some of you may also know Ashine as the writer of our Subtlety Rogue PvE guide, which he took on at the start of Battle for Azeroth. The video, narrated by Cirra, goes over the UI that you can expect to see at the MDI, as well as what you should be looking for in each part. Ever wondered why the casters are calling the teams equal, but one of them clearly has the boss-HP advantage? Cirra's got the answer! There is also a closer look at the strengths of the most likely classes to appear, why they would be featuring in the event and where their weaknesses are. Regardless of whether you are a veteran of the Mythic+ scene or just starting out, these pointers might end up helping the next time you're making a group in the dungeon finder! Note: for those of you that might be wondering why the footage in the video is from Legion dungeons - it is because this will be the first MDI event where the Battle for Azeroth dungeons are being played. The event will take place at 17:30 CET on 3rd November, with 3 matches in total, each working on a best of 3 system. The first match will feature exceL's Angels going up against Free Marsy, with their dungeons and affixes being as follows: The Underrot - Fortified, Sanguine, Grievous, and Infested. Atal'Dazar - Tyrannical, Teeming, Volcanic, and Infested. Tol Dagor - Fortified, Bursting, Skittish, and Infested. Following Match 1 is Method NA vs Method PogChamp, with their setup as follows: Temple of Sethraliss - Fortified, Bolstering, Explosive, and Infested. Freehold - Tyrannical, Bolstering, Skittish, and Infested. Kings' Rest - Tyrannical, Bursting, Quaking, and Infested. The winners of each match will face off in a final third match, which features these dungeons: The MOTHERLODE!! Shrine of the Storm - Fortified, Sanguine, Grievous, and Infested. Waycrest Manor - Tyrannical, Sanguine, Explosive, and Infested. If you'd like to find out more about the event, the teams or how and when to watch, you can do so by checking out the Blizzard MDI All-Stars post. Check out our Tides of Vengeance hub for the latest Patch 8. Changes to Azerite Armor Acquision from Mythic+ Blizzard recently posted about changes coming to Azerite gear from Mythic+ dungeons. They didn't make Azerite gear drop from the end-of-run chests, but instead, added a vendor that sells caches that reward random dungeon Azerite Armor piece for a given slot separated by item level. You can also purchase specific dungeon Azerite Armor pieces, but these are long-term goals for top players, as they're quite expensive. According to Blizzard, it's going to take approximately two to three weeks to purchase an Azerite cache that lines up with the item level of the gear you're getting from Mythic+ runs. You can find more details in the article linked below. New Mythic+ Currency: Azerite Impurity Blizzard added a new currency in Patch 8. Grand Challenger's Bounty will no longer contain Azerite Armor in Season 2. We currently don't have any information about the drop rate of the new currency. Azerite Impurity - Unpowered remnants of Azerite armor, obtained from Mythic Keystone weekly chests and by scrapping or disenchanting Azerite armor. Thaumaturge Vashreen The vendor is back selling Relinquished tokens and specific Azerite Armor pieces in Patch 8. When the next Mythic+ Season starts, and item levels increase, Vashreen's wares will increase accordingly. Relinquished Caches Vashreen sells three tiers of caches for each slot. The prices increase with item level. Caches contain a random dungeon Azerite Armor piece for a specific slot. Tier I Item Level 355 Azerite Armor Pieces Every cache costs 125 Azerite Impurity. Relinquished Azerite Helm Relinquished Azerite Shoulder Relinquished Azerite Chestpiece Tier II Item Level 370 Azerite Armor Pieces Every cache costs 400 Azerite Impurity. Relinquished Azerite Helm Relinquished Azerite Shoulder Relinquished Azerite Chestpiece Tier III Item Level 385 Azerite Armor Pieces Every cache costs 1,250 Azerite Impurity. Relinquished Azerite Helm Relinquished Azerite Shoulder Relinquished Azerite Chestpiece Future Tiers We also found item level 400 and 415 caches that will be used in Season 2. Specific Item Level 385 Gear A specific dungeon Azerite Armor piece costs up to 3,250 Azerite Impurity. These items will vary depending on your Class. Azerite Armor caches and specific pieces are purchasable in Patch 8. Every Mythic Season comes with a new affix and in this week's PTR 8. Affix Description Reaping Non-boss enemies are empowered by Bwonsamdi and periodically seek vengeance from beyond the grave. We don't know exactly how the affix works, but it seems that you'll have to kite non-attackable spirits of slain enemies for a certain amount of time before they disappear. Let us know in the comments! Check out our Tides of Vengeance hub for the latest Patch 8.
