I have done some extensive testing in the past with both DBM and Bigwigs - BigWigs being my primary choice for some time (mostly because it is Ace based). However in recent weeks several of our raiders have been switching over to DBM as they feel it provides more accurate info and timers. For example on the Kael'thas fight, a window pops up showing all of the weapon's and advisor's HP.. perhaps an unneeded luxury, but still kind of nice to have. Another example like on Naj'entus showing who gets spiked, etc.

So I've decided to ditch BigWigs for the time being and try out DBM for some time. Haven't been able to test it out much as we aren't raiding tonight, but I'm just wondering what the community here thinks, what your preferences are, and why.

I like deadly boss mode, for all those whistles and bells features. (Range check, huge blue texts that flash in the middle of screen reminds you that you have static charge or arcane bomb etc)


Anyway it is only a boss mode, if bigwigs has something really cool and DBM doesn't have, I can always switch them.

Now I know that this isn't DBM or BW but my favorite boss mod and raid mod in general is RDX with the raid OOBE off of their website. If you have the option of using RDX I wholeheartedly recommend it. When your entire raid uses it it can be very effective. Working on Lurker and decide the whirl timer is off by a few seconds? Modify the boss mod in game and send it out to everybody while you are rezzing up for your next attempt.

It also has more useful/accurate boss information, in my opinion. I still used DBM back when we were working on Prince and the infernal timers basically just said when they were going to land. With RDX it says when the Infernal first appears so you can know when to look up and start tracking it's descent, it also has the timer for when it actually starts hellfiring and doing damage to you.

Anyways if you have access to RDX I would definitely give it a try if your guild is up for it. Otherwise I always preferred DBM over BW. I think it is mostly a personal thing though.

I could be wrong, but I'm almost certain that a bunch of DBM's timers are ripped from BigWigs, which makes timer differences an odd claim.

I have no idea about accuracy claims, but I use DBM because it's basically idiot proof. I should know, there isn't a much bigger idiot to test it on than me.

I tried BigWigs, but I found config was just a little too arcane for my liking, and DBM just works.

We're 6/6 and 3/4 and I've found DBM to be really good on all timers.

I used DBM and switched to Bigwigs because DBM's timer on gruul was way off, and bigwigs wasn't, that and it's ace. I've used it ever since.

Bigwigs has a range check and it has Red text that flashes in the middle of the screen when you get static charge etc.

Doesn't really bother me since I don't really rely on them that much anyway, even the old CT Raid was enough.

I've found that most authors are quite agreeable to having more features in their addons, if they only have to put in a bit of work.
Why not suggest to the BigWigs author that they should add the alternative infernal timers and include the timer numbers and triggers for that?

As a guild, we found bigwigs lacked a timer we wanted. So we coded the timer in and sent the lua off to funkydude (one of the bigwigs authors) as a suggestion. This timer is now included in the standard bigwigs release.

As for which mod you use, it's really down to personal preference, but that said - I'm sure the authors of both addons are totally open to user feedback if you feel there's something you'd like to be implemented.

I used DBM for a year of so pre TBC and early TBC. The last six months I have been using BW because of the possibility of automatic Ace-updating. The things I liked with BW is the possibility to customize bars more to my liking.

However, DBM provided me with a more crisp and intuitive naming of bars. The special functions like the pull timer, possibility to create custom bars like a "Everyone buffed and ready after wipe in 3 min"-timer to name a few.

With the recent release of DBM 3.0 I tested that again and got a much better feeling of the look and custimization of DBM. The scaled up bar system and improved looks of frames made my original reason for using BW obsolite and I also replaced one of the textures included with one of my liking by renaming the one a wanted to use.

Not exactly sure what the 'pull timer' is, but if you mean a short duration countdown bar; both of these examples are possible in BigWigs aswell.

The thing BW misses the most in my opinion is the whisper option from DBM.

I've been on the BigWigs coding team since the release of TBC, but BW has been going for a very long time, way before DBM, I've always taken a close eye at the code for both addons and checked diffs and its pretty obvious that the author of DBM has learned a lot from BW(not that its bad) and has also taken a lot of features, timers and warnings(hi exact same supremus 'tank n spank' warning) It doesn't bother me overly that much since this will always be the downfall of having bossmods out before anyone else, but its nice to have credit.

A good recent event was the introduction of 5 man warnings in DBM which is -completely- ripped from LittleWigs, after some drama though I got them to give Ulic credit for it.

Anyway, like stated earlier I've had several pm's from EJ people wanting features and I've been more than happy to add them as long as they are not ridiculous.

Ridiculous features more often get made separate addons:
Agro alert? BanzaiAlert!
PvP Timers? Capping!
Respawn Timers? Incubator!
Boss Status Whispers? BossWhisperer!
Auto ffa on vashj? BigWigs_VashjFFA!

I still think BW has a lot of advantages over DBM, not just in way cleaner and more efficient code, but in features also, (see BigWigs - WoWWiki, the Warcraft wiki)

I think you will like BigWigs 3

I switched from DBM zu Bigwigs, on the one hand because it's aced, on the other Hand, it feels "cleaner" somehow, and has better timers for some Bosses, and I like the possiblity to anchor bars, emphasized bars and texts.
One very small thing I miss is that it seems not to be possible to chance the width of bars without scaling them.

Really, if it works, it works. There's no right or wrong choice. For us, BW has always had the correct timers first, in my experience, and it's easy to have guildmates stay current through WAU, so we've used it throughout TBC. Prior to TBC, we actually used IMBA but Cryect abandoned that project and BW increased in quality during the same time.

From the perspective of a semi-top-tier guild, there wasn't really any choice. It was BW or nothing at all. And I've never been disappointed or felt that BW timers were hindering us in any way.

Our guild uses DBM and has since we started a couple of months back. Only issue we've encountered have been slight discrepancies with timers on Al'ar switching platforms (not really a game breaker since the tanks can see him moving). Aside from that, it gets 50 thumbs up.

We're 5/6 and 1/4 so far, so up to this point we're happy with DBM and have no reason to change it. Bar setup and raid warnings are excellent, pretty user friendly if you need to move and adjust components. I dabble in some PvP now and again, and the timers in there are pretty handy for all BG's too.

I've never used Bigwigs, but have heard good things from ex-guildies and friends. If anyone knows of a clear reason to use one over the other I'd like to hear it, as I'm interested in keeping my UI functional and consistent.

What I am still missing in BW and DBM is some sort of multitrack window that tracks the health of every hostile target anyone has targeted like the rdx bossmods offered. Perhaps any of the authors can have a watch deeper into it.

Im actually using both.
I started on bigwigs but found it insufficient for my needs on Najentus (I call out when the spine is thrown), so I got DBM as well as it shows the people below 8500 hp.

Another thing i noticed yesterday when we spend 4 hours wiping on a boss that is supposed to be on farm status is that the BW and DBM timers for Gurtoggs fel rage are different. Big Wigs seemed to (incorrectly) call the first fel rage 10 seconds earlier than DBM did.

Yeah. I liked IMBA quite a lot, but sadly it's fallen. BigWigs vs. DBM is personal preference; our guild is actually split roughly 33/66 on the question, but it works fine for us. I'm using BW, myself. Are there things in DBM I'd like in BW? Yeah, but there are probably things in BW I'd miss if I went to DBM. In the end, BW appeals to me slightly more, and autoupdates with new timers, fixed timers, etc. But it doesn't matter much, for a guild at our tier of progression (6/6, 3/4) - both have mostly accurate timers, both are quite usable. Pick the one you like.

It is a matter of preference. In short - I hate Ace configuration with dewdrop/waterfall, so i'm using DBM which is user friendly and has some nice other features like 'status', screen shakes and whispers.

On the other hand when we were doing Illidari council there was no timers for it in DBM, so I installed Bigwigs and ripped everything from it except this boss just because I was lazy to write my own DBM module.

If you start thinking of a ripoff issues however, alot of Aced addons are actually a twin brothers of standalone mods in the first place, sometimes extended, sometimes just a mirrors. It is always a good thing to show a respect and give a credit of course )

BigWigs 3 will be Ace3 and use AceGUI:


Is an early alpha example.

Big wigs is great for the Ace updating , but really miss DBM's Pizza timer

I prefer BW over DBM, and as ppl have said already, it's a matter of taste I guess --.

What gives BW some advantages over DBM (Unless this has been fixed?) is that it doesnt screw with your combat log. DBM has hindered the combat log not to get the 200y range, which has been a problem for WWS users etc.

Looks great Funkydude, looking forward to that - also thanks for all the job done on these addson, they are surely helping out in very big means.

Bigwigs has the same feature.
For example. You can also use "local" if you don't want to broadcast when your dinner will be ready to the whole raid.