Noraj

As a general rule, an actionbar mod changes just that: the actionbars. If you want to alter your map, there are at least a dozen up-to-date mods available to do so. Personally, I use BasicMiniMap, though there are lots of options available.

As far as the three most stable and developed bar mods go, there's Bartender, Dominos, and Barkeep. Bartender as far as I can tell is the most configurable, but all three are very easy to set up and add your keybindings to.

As has been mentioned before, you should also look into OmniCC to work alongside ANY set of bars, including the Blizzard default.

Opie Alternative

Although Geist doesn't share all the ring functionality of Opie, it does offer a popup set of buttons that can appear around the center of the screen or your cursor should you desire those extra hidden buttons that can still be used in the manner of a mouse-gesture without the added graphics.

Tooltip alterations / enhancements
TinyTip, TipTac, and CowTip all allow you to customzie the position, size, font, and information displayed in your tooltips. CowTip has the largest range of information available, as it uses DogTags for each line of the tip, though its configuration panel often bugs for me, making it impossible to change settings.

"The question is not how far we are going to take it... the question is, do you possess the constitution to go as far as needed?" - Il Duce

 

Eosrain

That's all the info I needed, thanks for that, sir.

The only reason I asked about the map is because on Zurm's video, it looks like the map and the chat window were somehow combined into a single window. And although I've used map addons before (currently using SexyMap, while it doesn't let you move it, it lets you resize it and change the borders), I have never seen an addon that allows you to merge two windows into one.

 

• Zurm

Nope, they are just sitting in the same kgpanels frame. The action bar mod is bartender4, the minimap mod is Chinchilla.

Assuming then that Geist has essentially the same functionality (the exception being that it doesn't use rings) it's similar enough that I'll throw it in there. Thanks.

 

so2

If you're a huge macro junkie like I am, and you would like to have more macros, and near limitless macro sizes, you might like this addon called BindPad.
BindPad - GUI to set keybindings for spell/item/macro : WoWInterface Downloads : Graphic UI Mods

This is by far not the only addon that can make additional 'macros', but I like BindPad because it also allows you to set binds to spells, items, and macros (both BindPad specific and real macros).

This last feature appeals to me because I don't play with any action bars (well, I have Dominos, but everything is hidden). I play with direct binds (keys are bound to the ability, rather than a button slot located on an action bar), I used to use SpellBinder by Nymbia, but BindPad now combines that functionality on top of the extra macros.

BindPad macros are basically an editable block of lua that you can bind to a key. I have a couple macros that I'll share (they're beyond the 255 macro limit for normal macros).

One of my macros is a bind swap between Judgement of Light and Judgement of Wisdom. I have JoW (my primary judgement 99% of the time) set to Ctrl-E, and JoL set to Ctrl-Shift-E (this is obscure, but I can hit it if I really needed to). My bind swapper macro will swap the two judgements between Ctrl-E and Ctrl-Shift-E (must be done out of combat) so that if the need arises, I can set JoL to my standard judgement bind of Ctrl-E.

Once I get home, I'll post my BindPad macros that I use.

E: Also, note that the BindPad macros are client-side only. Since it's not a real macro, all of it is saved to your SavedVariables, so if you play on multiple computers/clients, you'll have to transfer those over by hand. (Like the old school way before server-synced binds/macros)

One-button Ret DPS™

 

Noraj

PallyPower Alternatives

As somebody suggested ZomgBuffs earlier in the thread, I decided to give it a try, and was extremely happy with it. The UI is cleaner, and the functionality is complete, plus it's useful for other classes you might play as well.

One of the features that sold me the most on it was that the single icon it places on the screen can be moused over to pop a list of the entire raid which missing buffs clearly highlighted and mousebindings already built in to just that particular frame making it much easier to replace a buff something like a battle rez, soulstone, or reincarnation without having to go through the process of remembering who exactly died, what class they are, what spec they are, and which blessing you were assigned to give them.

That being said, ZOMGBuffs has a bug right now directly relating to communicating with PallyPower which can cause you to disconnect from the server every 5-15 seconds rendering it unusable. Reports on Curse suggest that reverting to Release 6 or older corrects this, but this of course reintroduces other bugs which were already addressed.

Once this is fixed though, there's no reason PallyPower can't (finally) be replaced without any repercussions.

"The question is not how far we are going to take it... the question is, do you possess the constitution to go as far as needed?" - Il Duce

 

• frmorrison

I am from the school of thought that a mod should do one thing well and not mess with other things. Pallypower may be coded poorly and take up a lot of real estate, but since I have used it so long I am used to it and does exactly what I want. I don't want a mod that tracks non-pally buffs. I believe BuffEnough tracks if you have all the important buffs up and will report to the raid "Missing X buff" if that is what you are looking for.

Just thinking of my mod list, the one not listed in the OP is Unit Frames. I have always had a Unit Frame mod, previously I had Pitbull (before that aguf) and now I have Shadowed Unit Frames. I enjoy using these types of mod because it filters the HP and mana frames on the player, target, target of target, etc. as well as the buffs/debuffs that appear on them. To boot it has an Arena enemy frames option.

DK - Ashbane Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.

 

• Zurm

I didn't feel that action bar or unit frame mods really required a section since they are primarily graphic/orientation changes. If others feel that these mods belong in the post, I'll gladly add them.

If you DO feel I should add them, I ask that you also mention what section you feel they belong in. I have always used them; in my eyes, they are as essential as anything else.

 

Exemplar

I agree it should be listed. I'd recommend under:
Add-ons: Core Paladin/Raiding Elements

Even if you are tanking or healing, having your own statistics (health, mana, etc) and at the least your current target's statistics somewhere other than top left is enormously useful. Also having control of display: current health vs deficit, % vs raw number (or both), unit type (Repent-able? HW work?), and so on.

Rock: "We're sub-standard DPS. Nerf Paper, Scissors are fine."
Paper: "OMG, WTF, Scissors!"
Scissors: "Rock is OP and Paper are QQers. We need PvP buffs."

 

chinoquezada

I use Bindpad too and I find it extremely useful.

One extra nice thing is that it saves your macros and keybindings per spec.
(very very useful if you are Ret/Prot like me)

 

Gormal

With how much visual real estate action bar addons can free up, and how many people come here for basic advice it couldn't hurt to add it into the OP. You might also add that people have the option to hide action bars with the various addons while still allowing those buttons to work, for those abilities with no cooldowns that once you memorize the button associated with it, don't need to be displayed. Paladins have so many different abilities, that our action bars can take up a ridiculous amount of space if set up poorly.

Needtoknow was mentioned, and is a bit more friendly to set up for specific buff/debuff tracking than EBB, especially if you play other classes who share the same debuffs as you (death knight diseases for instance). I don't know if its worth including in the OP but I thought I'd throw my support in for it as a good tool.

 

Bunni

On the subject of raid frames I was a Grid user for ages but eventually was sold on VuhDo. I had tried healbot but didn't like it at all (just personal preference). For new users VuhDo is probably a lot less imposing than Grid and includes click casting. It has really developed into a solid raid/healing solution. Plus the updating is very active.

 

gmedina

This may be a stupid question but i can't seem to find a lot of detail on this addon. What is a "view port" addon?

 

Phayne2355

It adjusts the dimensions of the in game camera. It allows you to adjust the viewable area so that you have some extra space at top and or bottom.

Skinner

Edit: skinner does a lot of extra bs. There are probably better addons out there.

 

noxicon

I'm going to recommend and addon named NeedToKnow for temp de/buff management. It's extremely simple to setup and very lightweight. You simply enter the name of the de/buff, select what you're tracking it on, and you're set. The thing I like the most about it is that each bar can be individually colored to provide a visual clue that doesn't require reading. I use a 4 point system (north, south, east, west) in the center of my screen to display information, and having this off to the left allows me to know what i'm getting purely by color without taking my eyes off the encounter and the mechanics it employs.

 

• Zurm

Ok, I added the action bar/unit frame sections.

I also added Vuhdo. I'll add NeedToKnow as soon as I figure out where it best belongs (or if I have to make a new section for it).

 

Noraj

I'd add it under Buff frames / bars and maybe rename it to Buff / Proc watching. Though if you're adding NeedToKnow, TellMeWhen might be a good addition as well.

The only issue I have with either is they share so much functionality with other mods that they become redundant pretty quickly. The big three combat text mods can all be set to alert you to procs, Elkano's and Satrina's you can both add another frame of buttons / bars to watch specific buffs, debuffs, etc., you can watch your cooldowns already with CLCRet, PowerAuras can be set to cover all the same information...the list goes on.

TellMeWhen and NeedToKnow are both great tools, but their functionality can be easily replaced with other parts of your raid UI.

"The question is not how far we are going to take it... the question is, do you possess the constitution to go as far as needed?" - Il Duce

 

grymwish

With real estate being a prime concern and pallies having so many situational spells. I have really liked 'Autobar'. For example, auras can be set to one button. When you mouse over the button, all the auras pop up for selection. This is customizable for anything including custom macros.

It can also be set up to dissappear unless moused over which I also do for my Dominos bars. Helps open up the screen alot when I need to look around (faction champs).

I am also a big fan of Aloft. Main uses I have when ret is to tell me when I start to get close on aggro (the health bar glows yellow) and can show a caster bar under the health bar. Saves me the spilt second time I would have used to look at Omen and allows me to move the enemy cast bar mob farther out of line of sight.

 

• Zurm

I used to use Autobar, and now passionately hate it. There is nothing autobar gives you that OPie can't do better, and its a MASSIVE memory hog. I strongly recommend not using autobar.

I added NeedToKnow in it's own section, mentioning that the same functionality could be achieved with a combination of other mods I listed.

 

noxicon

I can't really disagree that their functionality is easily covered by other mods. I prefer it, however, because of its ease to configure and the fact that I don't use Combat Text at all. You could just as easily do it with PowerAuras (which I haven't tried). I use Elkano for standard buff showing but I'm doing that out of comfort and not out of desire. Elk feels clunky to me when I'm trying to set everything up, and I've yet to see the need for a display of every raid buff known to man when you can just as easily run other mods to tell you what you do or don't have pre-combat (I use Raidbuffstatus). The majority of raid buffs you get from encounters show up as debuffs as is, which I use SBF for, and can identify puely by icon. . I leave Elk up just because I feel like a 'bad' when I don't have it displayed, but I'm still somewhat of the opinion that it's irrelevant if you're tracking temp buffs seperately, which seems to be the better way of doing things..

There are tons of addon's just like NeedToKnow which I haven't used. I simply like the fact I can track any de/buff purely by entering the name and selecting the target it will be on. Perhaps I'm nub when it comes to EBB, but it always seemed more complex to setup additional anchors and get the specific tracking you need in that instance.

 

synthoras

I want to submit CooldownCount as a substitute for OmniCC
it's a highly customizable addon that does pretty much the same...
but it's even lighter ^^

 

• Zurm

EBB allows slightly more complex setup for far greater customizeablility. The only annoying thing for me is that rather than entering the buff/debuff name(s), you have to first see it cast on you or one of your targets sometime during that login session, or have it previously checked off. As such, if you just logged in and you want to add some raid stuff, you have to wait until after the first fight (unless it's one that you cast, in which case you can hit up a target dummy).

 

Alcapwnd

Speaking of EBB, I've been working through the settings and I've managed to create a separate debuff group containing only the debuffs I want but I can't figure out how to filter it for only my debuffs. If there's a second ret pally in the group I see duplicates of the debuffs when I'd like to only see mine.

 

Gormal

EBB doesn't check to see who owns the spells it tracks, you'd need to use a different addon for that but its really a non-issue for ret if you're using clcret to track your SoV stacks. NeedtoKnow will do what you're looking for as will a variety of other mods. There's really no reason to track vindication/RV/HotC and I'd assume you're assigning judgements prior to the fight.

 

Barantir

I would like to submit Recap as a valid Damage Meter alternative.

It can be a memory hog and the way it calculates dps is over the entire duration of a fight (not just the time spent attacking) but it is unparalleled in terms of analytic capabilities. It breaks down outgoing/incoming dmg/heals by player and mob and puts almost all the information in the combat log at your fingertips. I liken it to having my own personal WWS-equivalent tool in my UI. I have found it invaluable for quickly determining why people died and how to better approach boss fights by being able to examine the damage being done to the raid.

Not everyone in the raid needs this mod, but if you're a raid leader and you want to know "what the heck just happened there?" this is a great mod.

 

noxicon

That is exactly what frustrated me. I first used EBB during Naxx, and having to do a config to track debuffs on 4H and Thaddius midfight just wasn't enjoyable.

Anyone who uses EBB should definitely be aware of that. SBF will automatically track all of them, if that's your interest.