All About Add-Ons

Image by Kai Hendry via Flickr

Add-ons,whether you like it or not, are a huge part of WoW. Everyone is using add-ons these days, and having the right add-ons can really give you the edge over someone that isn't using them. There are thousands of add-ons out there though. So which ones are the best? How do you even install them? Where do you download these add-ons from? These are all very good questions. Read on!

There are a few places that you can go for all you add-on needs. I normally use Curse and the Curse Client. It allows you to browse add-ons, download, and install them with the click of a button. It also makes updating your add-ons very easy with just the click of a button. Two other sites you may consider are WoWInterface and WoWUI.

If you download an add-on manually, you still need to put it in the correct folder for it to work properly. You are going to extract the files to "C:\Program Files\World of Warcraft\Interface\AddOns\", assuming you selected the default location when you installed WoW.

Now that you know where to get add-ons and how to get them working, which ones are the best? There are a few add-ons that I couldn't live without.

QuestHelper - I don't know how useful this will be after patch 3.2, but Questhelper is extremely useful at the moment. It takes all your quests and shows you where you need to go to get them done in the quickest way possible. No more wandering around not knowing where to find those stupid raptors you need to kill!

Atlas - Blizzard made some incredible maps for you to look at, but they never did for dungeons. Atlas takes care of this, give you detailed maps of every dungeon and raid, along with every boss location and the loot they drop.

Cartographer - Not knowing where something is on the map can be difficult. Cartographer clear up all the darkness and makes it appear is you are a seasoned explorer! It also adds coordinates which can be very helpful.

Auctioneer - Auctioneer takes all of the guesswork out of buying and selling on the auction house. After just a few scans of the auction house, you will start to see beneficial data coming back to you. Is that potion overpriced? What should I sell this cloth for? The auction house is a powerful tool, and when utilized correctly can it yield a lot of gold.

Having these add-ons is a good start. You will most likely pick up some more on the way, but I have found that these four are essential, for me at least. Anyone else have an add-on that they can't live without?