Even though Blizzard’s default interface is more than enough for beginners, the more you sink deeper into the magical World of Warcraft, the more you need from your user interface. Perhaps you will find yourself thinking “If only there was something to do for that…”; or maybe you will catch yourself drooling over the flashy buttons on a friend’s screenshot…
As I mentioned in the welcome post, although Lorekeeper’s main focus is the story, sometimes we also like to write about other stuff. Well, this addon guide is one of them. After I tell the basics for absolute beginners, I’m going to start listing some of the addons I have used, and found useful. If there is an addon I forgot to mention or if you have anything else to add, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment under the post so I can update the list.
- Where can I download the addons, and how can I install them?
First of all, you need to download the addon you had your eyes on. Most of the popular addons have their own websites, but instead of downloading stuff from the websites that you don’t know, you might prefer using trustworthy sources like Curse, WoW Interface or WoW Ace.
Aside from a few complex packages, most of them are pretty easy to install. Extracting the .rar file you downloaded into the Interface/Addons folder (at your World of Warcraft install directory) will do the trick. Just be sure that the addon you download is the most recent version. Since almost certainly after each big patch, older versions of the addons will cause problems with your game and you can easily avoid this by keeping them up-to-date.
- Ain’t Nobody Got Time For That! Isn’t there an easier way to do this?
In fact yes, there is another way. Curse has an awesome, life saver tool which most players use for downloading addons. You can download it here. This Client is simply keeping the list of the files on your addon folder and notifying you when there is an update. Then you can update your addons with a single click. Whereas the free client is enough for most users, you also have an option to upgrade to a paid version if you like to update all of your addons with a single click (rather than clicking one by one) or save your hard-worked interface settings to a cloud server. Better yet, you can use “Download with Client” option on the addons you download from the Curse website. When you click on it, the program will ask for your permission and then it downloads and installs the addon automatically. It is worth mentioning that the Client also works with other games like Rift, Skyrim, Minecraft etc.
Long story short, if you really want to get into addon stuff, the first thing you need is the Curse Client. I am aware that I sound like I’m advertising this stuff, but it really is a rare jewel for people who depend on too many addons like me.
- It’s boring to download addons one by one. Isn’t there a ready-made package for this?
Of course there is! Actually there are many useful and popular addon packages out there. Downside is that since most of them come with standard settings arranged by the creator of the package, it can be pretty hard to make any changes to them. Many times these hardships also include struggling in code and it may be a drag if you don’t have any coding experience. But having said that, I’m still going to share some of the popular packages. Onto the next page!
