Okay, this is a little ridiculous.

While preparing for an upcoming article on an exciting new addon, I decided I’d go ahead and run WoWAceUpdater since it’s been a few weeks since I last did so. “Updating 74 addons … ” Wait, what? How many addons do I have, anyway? I double click on the shortcut to my addons folder (this shortcut is probably one of the early warning signs of addon addition). Excluding the Blizzard_* addons that come with the game, I have 115 addons installed.

…

Maybe this has something to do with the fact that it takes me a minute or more to log into the game or recognize a disconnection. But what can I do? I need all my beautiful, shiny bells and whistles! Don’t I? Well let’s see …

DeadlyBossMods: Yeah, I have to have that. My guild says so. Otherwise I might explode on top of someone in Gruul’s Lair and laugh because they don’t have Barkskin to keep them alive… er… I mean, apologize profusely and promise to be more careful in the future. So DBM stays. But do I really need DBM_Hyjal? DBM_TheEye? I know I’m not going to be needing DBM_BlackTemple. /sigh /delete Unfortunately, I think the author of DBM was smart enough to make these addons not actually take up memory if you aren’t in the relevant zones so I probably haven’t really helped my cause. I do feel a little better about the number of addons in my folder, though.

Atlasloot: The addon for those of us who like to look at items we can only see otherwise by hanging around in Shattrath. I don’t think I need the addons for “Old Instances”, “World Loot”, or “Outdoor Raids.” /delete

ArkInventory: It’s a memory hog, to be sure. But once you’ve actually played with ArkInventory, you’d rather play without your right arm than having to manage your inventory using the default interface. (Gah, individual BAGS?!) It stays.

Minimalist: Tell me I’m not the only who sees the irony here. I don’t actually remember what this addon does (always a good sign). A little GoogleFu and I discover … that there are a lot of pages on the Interwebs with the words “Warcraft”, “addon”, and “Minimalist.” So I give in and go find the page on WoWAce.com. Ah, this is the addon that automatically declines duels for me, automatically repairs my gear. It does a few other things, but I discover that these are functions that are handled by other addons. /delete

Proximo: I haven’t PvPed this season. I can always download this again later. Ditto for StinkyQueue (helps to queue you and your groupmates for Battlegrounds simultaneously). /delete and /delete

InFlight: This estimates the total time it’s going to take you to reach your final destination. I probably can live without this. /delete

So I’m down to 97 non-Blizzard addons. That’s a little better, but I’m feeling like Spring Cleaning so let’s see what else I can lose:

• Aloft: Makes nameplates pretty. It’s painful since I’m such a fan of aesthetics tweaks, but /delete.
• Autobar: Love it. Can’t do without it. Mr. Phae actually keeps a pair of vertical bars with all his consumables on it (you should see his Windows desktop). I sneakily installed Autobar once, and he either decided not to say anything or didn’t notice. I feel better, though. It stays.
• Bartender3: Best. Buttons. Ever. Makes using and tweaking my Nostromo a breeze.
• !BugGrabber and BugSack: For someone who runs as many addons as I do, these two are practically essential since they hide the errors that pop up when a particular addon is using outdated code.
• Bulkmail: This addon used to allow you to send 20 or so items to people through the mail system. With Patch 2.3, it’s superfluous so /delete.
• Cartographer: Lets me stalk Valenna (and other guildmates who have it installed), even when we aren’t grouped. Also records the locations of mining nodes, fishing pools, and herbs. I couldn’t play either of my gathering alts without it.
• Omnibus: An in-game notepad of sorts, I originally intended to use this to help me record ideas — or whole text excerpts — for my blog while raiding. But I generally just have my laptop open and write there, so this addon isn’t really needed. /delete
• ClosetGnome: I switched over to Outfitter a while ago so I can get rid of this. /delete
• DontBugMe: Hides AFK and DND messages after the first time you receive them. Nice idea, but nonessential. /delete
• FishingBuddy OutfitFrame: I don’t use FB anymore, so this can go. /delete

So after about an hour of work, I’m down to just 79 non-Blizzard addons. Not minimalist by any means, and I couldn’t really bring myself to delete any of the real memory hogs: Pitbull (unitframes), ArkInventory, or Recount (damage/healing meters), but I am loading into the game at least a little bit faster. Might it be time for you to do some Spring cleaning?

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One of the more frequently asked questions I get is about addons that I consider essential as a Restoration Druid. While I’ve featured a number of great addons in the past, I have been remiss in the discussion of what — aside from a stellar set of raid frames — is perhaps one of the most beneficial addons you can get: a HoT Timer. With the dynamics of Lifebloom, any tool that helps you monitor its remaining duration is a welcome addition to your healing arsenal. I had originally planned to try out several HoT Timers so that I could compare and contrast them and eventually make a recommendation based on my experience. So I tried out a couple of different ones that differed only in their cosmetics. Then I installed DoTimer and abandoned my original plan for a contrasting analysis. To put it in the simplest terms, DoTimer blew me (and the other addons I had tried) away.

DoTimer is written by Asheyla and was originally conceived as a tool for Warlocks needing to monitor the status of their damage over time spells. It has since grown into a fully-featured set of addons for monitoring several types of timed events such as DoTs, cooldowns, and — of course — heals over time.

Tracking Heals over Time

Type in “/dot” to bring up the DoTimer Main Menu. This is where you will configure the basic settings associated with your DoTs and HoTs. A few of the features of note:

• Show Only Focus/Sort Focus
  The Show Only Focus option toggles only displaying timers for your current focus target. This is especially helpful in a 25-man raid when you are rolling one or more HoTs on a tank but also assisting with raid healing via Lifebloom and can help ensure you don’t lose track of what — or, in this case — who is most important. For encounters where you are rolling Lifebloom on multiple tanks, you might instead use the Sort Focus option which will preferentially display the HoTs currently running on your focus target in the first position of your timers.
• On Yourself
  By default, HoTs are not shown when cast on yourself. You will probably want to turn this on.
• Colors
  By default, all timers use the same color scheme. However, you can set the color states (beginning, half, and end) associated with individual spells to improve your ability to recognize, at a glance, the difference between your Lifebloom timer and Rejuvenation timer.
• Hidden Types
  This allows you to toggle the display of either HoTs or DoTs depending upon your current usage.
• Hidden Timers
  If you notice a timer appear in your HoT timer that you don’t want to see in the future, enter its name here and press Enter. You can allow it to display again by typing its name and pressing Esc. This option is useful for hiding timers for on-use effects of trinkets since you may already be accustomed to monitoring those timers through your buffs window and want as few distractions from your Lifebloom queues as possible.

Tracking Cooldowns

In addition to allowing you to track your DoTs and HoTs, DoTimer also includes a utility for monitoring the status of various cooldowns. This allows you to determine at a glance how long it will be before you can use Innervate, Nature’s Swiftness, or Rebirth again. Equally as useful, it allows you to announce cooldowns to your raid simply by clicking upon them. So if a raid leader asks for a “Battle Rez check” before a boss encounter, you can click your Rebirth cooldown timer to announce, “My cooldown for Rebirth will complete in 10:23.” To open the Cooldowns configuration, type “/cd”. A couple of features to note here are:

• Integrated
  If you prefer, you can opt to have your cooldowns displayed alongside your HoT/DoT timers. If you do go with this option, you will probably want to exclude many of them from displaying via the Hidden Timers option.
• Play Sounds
  More useful than the corresponding setting for HoTs/DoTs, a sound when Innervate and/or Nature’s Swiftness could be helpful.

One final thing to keep in mind. UI addons that you will reference when healing should be positioned as close to your raid frames as possible. The less time your eyes have to spend speeding across your screen (and back), the quicker your reaction time will inevitably be.

• Download DoTimer from Curse.com

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While my husband would say that I’m apt to install any UI addon that comes my way and ends in “.zip”, I try to avoid highlighting addons that don’t have a direct, practical application for Druids. Which is why, as much as I enjoy addons like Closeup and Fence, you won’t see them highlighted (although I do recommend checking them out). By that token, Evocation2 by Twam is the best thing to happen to Restoration Druids since FreeRefills, especially if you raid with one or more Feral Druids.

From the author’s description on Curse.com:

This addon searches your bags for best Spirit main/offhand or two-hand and wand. If you gain Innervate or Evocation, this addon switches to the found gear and switches back [when] the buff ends.

Evocation2 eliminates the need to build a macro to switch to a Spirit weapon when casting Innervate (or having to remember to switch back to your original weapons). And it’s so unobtrusive I had forgotten that I’d installed it until one of our Ferals gave me her Innervate. I heard the weapon swap sound and looked down to see that my weapon had changed automatically. I gasped in delight as I automatically switched back once the buff expired. That’s right — it works when you receive someone else’s Innervate, too! Every Druid, Priest, and Mage should have this installed, particularly if they regularly request Innervate.

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• FreeRefills

Hey there!
Having the usual?There are many types of UI addons: addons that overhaul the appearance of your unitframes, addons that make spell casting more efficient, and addons to help with inventory management. The list goes on and on. While the impact of many addons seems to be directly related to the amount of memory they consume, there are certain gems that can greatly improve the efficiency of how you play, despite their small memory footprint. One such addon is FreeRefills.

FreeRefills is an addon developed and maintained by Kyahx, but despite its name, it doesn’t actually give you items for free. Rather, it automatically purchases prespecified items to ensure you have a certain quantity on hand whenever you visit a vendor who has said items for sale. FreeRefills uses a simple, command-line interface that won’t overwhelm you:

• /freerefills add [item link] #

  Use this command to specify items to automatically purchase. Shift+click on the item to generate an item link and replace the “#” symbol with the quantity you wish to keep in stock. (Ex. /freerefills add [Wild Quillvine] 60)

• /freerefills del [item link]

  Removes an item from the list to automatically purchase. (Ex. /freerefills del [Simple Wood])

• /freerefills list

  Displays a list of all items currently being tracked and the quantity that should be automatically purchased.

• /freerefills clear

  Removes all items from the list to automatically purchase.

• /freerefills overstock

  Toggle option to purchase quantities that would result in a greater number on hand that what is specified if the item is sold in stacks of 5 or more. Off by default.

• /freerefills bank

  Toggle the option to automatically move prespecified items from the bank to your inventory when banking.

Here are a few of the items you might consider setting up to restock:

• Flintweed Seed x 20 and Maple Seed x 20 (Why?)
• Wild Quillvine x 60
• Simple Wood x 10 and Flint and Tinder x 1 (if you’re a cook)
• Purified Draenic Water x 40

Of course, this list can be customized to whatever tradeskills you have. Alchemists might want to keep a certain number of different types of vials automatically on hand. Fishermen might want to keep a stack of Bright Baubles. Similarly, different classes can have differing uses for this addon, such as keeping a quiver stocked with arrows or repurchasing poison components. However you use it, FreeRefills can remove a lot of the everyday tedium of restocking before or after a raid.

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Nymbia, the creator of the popular X-Perl unitframes addon, brings another great addon to the table in Quartz. At first glance, Quartz may appear to be just another casting bar replacement addon, alike to eCastingbar. However, Nymbia’s addon is unique among its competitors with two new features that can be useful when leveraged by druids: a latency indicator and a swing timer.

Latency Indicator

Good	Bad

For those unfamiliar with the concept of “latency,” it is defined as “the time it takes for a package or packet of data to move across a network connection.” In simpler terms, latency is a measure of the time it takes for the Blizzard world server to recognize that you have executed a command on your machine — or in this case, for your desktop machine to recognize that Blizzard’s world server considers one of your actions (spellcasting) to be complete. For those of you who still remember the default UI, you may remember the colored bar that represents your current latency, shown at right. A “good” latency number would be around 30 ms while a bad latency number might be 700 ms. Because latency is a factor inherent to the MMO model, spellcasters can lose precious fractions of a second — sometimes several seconds over the course of a fight — on non-instant abilities. This loss is unfortunate and unnecessary.

The Quartz casting bar includes a fluctuating, red portion that indicates the estimated time that would be lost due to latency for the spell being cast. The wider the band of red, the more time that would be wasted were you to allow the spell to complete. Once the casting bar spark (the cursor which indicates your progress through the cast time) reaches this red area, it’s safe to switch to another spell, assuming the spell to which you are switching is a macro which includes the /stopcasting command. Such a spell macro might look like this:

#showtooltip Regrowth

/stopcasting

/cast Regrowth

The /stopcasting command shown above is a client-side command that, when triggered, tells your client to stop doing whatever its doing in preparation for performing another action, in this case, casting Regrowth. The downside of this method is that it may take some getting used to if you are accustomed to frantically spamming heal buttons when things get rough. Doing so with /stopcasting will repeatedly reset your casting, so you will have to learn to better intuit the global cooldown or be selective with which spells you wish to set up this way, especially while you are adapting to the change. Note that using /stopcasting and Quartz in this way is more helpful when casting Regrowth than the lengthier Healing Touch as the potential gain from optimizing for latency increases as the casting time of a spell decreases (with the exception of instants).

Sample Casting Bar through Quartz

Swing Timer

Omen of Clarity users, rejoice! (You’re still out there somewhere, right?) Unlike the other casting classes, the druid clearcasting state is reliant upon melee procs. Unfortunately, spellcasting resets the swing timer, resulting in decreased melee DPS if you cast in the middle of your swing (resetting the time it takes for your swing to complete). You can avoid losing melee DPS by casting as close to the beginning of your swing timer as possible. I understand this technique is also particularly useful to enhancement shamans whose melee DPS is supplemented by Stormstrike and insta-cast shocks. Quartz includes a handy, silver swing timer that demonstrates where you are in the course of your swing, helping you pinpoint the most efficient time to begin casting your mana-free spell.

Quartz Swing Timer

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