PUG: Patience, Understanding, Graciousness

More like Pure, Unadulterated Grief amirite? (Long post warning!)

"OMG STAY OUT OF THE FIRE SCRUBZOR!!!"

I'm slowly working on the heroic modes for the Cataclysm dungeon guide; I'm not comfortable writing up any strategies until I've experienced them for myself. 

The LFD system has been taunting me over the last few weeks. It could get me the information to finish the guide in record time, yet sadly the quality of most (not all) players I tend to meet whilst pugging contribute to an experience that I would imagine is not unlike defecating into one's own hand: simply unpleasant, with much cleaning up to do before one can return to one's regularly scheduled program, but I digress.

What I have found so far in my few successful expeditions is that there's always a trick to the situation. Cata heroics aren't about spamming like Wrath's were. Bears can't spam swipe, healers can't spam heals, dps can't lick the Recount portion of their UI during an encounter whilst spamming the keyboard with their face. This change in pace leads many players to believe that heroics are much more difficult than they should be and, in a sense, they're correct.

I could rant on for weeks about exactly how players attitudes impact the perceived difficulty and blah-blah-blah. Instead, I'm going to boil it down into a cheesy fondue that will boost your success rate immensely:

• Patience:
  You simply can't zoom through heroics like you could in Wrath. Anyone who tries (and they often do) inevitably gets the group killed very quickly. Take some time to examine your surrounds and analyse the situation. The sooner you grasp the key aspects of the instance you're in the smoother your future runs will go.
  
  I ran into an example of this earlier today in a heroic Deadmines run: Our party leader told us to crowd-control numerous non-elite mobs due to a single elite (Defias Envoker) who seemingly couldn't be controlled. After the first pull (and the two minute recovery session that followed the beating) we noticed the Envoker had a magic effect that stopped us from using crowd-control on it. A spellsteal/polymorph combo later and we were tearing through the packs like we were back in Utgarde Keep.
  
  
• Understanding:
  This is the big one. A lack of understanding is what infuriates me the most is any pug. It's dead simple too:
  
  There is no "I" in "TEAM".
  
  I know it's a somewhat overused euphemism, but it's exactly this that people fail to understand and ends up causing so much grief. To succeed in any heroic, your group must work together. They have been intentionally designed this way.
  
  This could mean that you'll have to use spells or abilities that you never even heard of back in Wrath (like Pummel or Mind Soothe) or it could mean that you have to sacrifice yourself on occasion or even, God forbid, that if you make a mistake and things go wrong that you don't blame anyone else and admit your fault and learn from it.
  
  With any luck, your group will understand that these new encounters are tough on everyone and won't start throwing insults (like you were probably about to).
  
  
• Graciousness:
  This comes right back to understanding, only it works in the other direction. If something bad or even if something good happens, don't start singling people out.
  
  If someone causes a wipe, simply have the grace to stay positive and encouraging.
  When you beat a difficult encounter, know that it was a team effort and not just the tank/healer/guy at the top of the dps meters carrying everyone.
  
  Most players already understand the base concept. When one person fails, the team fails. The problem is when they try to save face by blaming others, which only serves to bring the team down more.
  
  

If, for some strange reason, you're still reading through this lecture then hopefully you understand what the above three points have in common: Morale.

Once people stop having fun, their morale runs out. When they've lost their morale they won't just ragequit the instance you're in, they might never come back for another shot.

You might be thinking "Hey, that's great! One less scrub for me to deal with!", but have you ever wondered why you have to wait forty minutes for a tank when you come across so many dps warriors, paladins, etc.?

-Ahzae, Lord of the Trifling Gnome

MTC Monday: Temujai

Been spending too much time with all the new dailies, heroics and binge-digging? Me too... Time for another Meet The Tauren... er, Crew!

Temujai the Patient

Tauren Warrior

(Fury/Protection)

Location

Secluded Basement, Brisbane, Australia

Age:

“I’m twelve and what is this?”

Likes:

Ganking the gankers, Alf Stewart puns.

Dislikes:

Worgen, Puddi Puddi.

Most epic moment:

“Going on an Aliiance-slaying rampage just south of the Gates of Ironforge.”

As soon as he came of age, Temujai set off to wander the Eastern Kingdoms of Azeroth as a nomad.  As he travelled through Elwynn Forest, he was set upon by an Alliance patrol who had mistaken him for a bandit. After he fought them off, insisting all the while that he meant them no harm, the patrol realised that they had encountered a potential ally in Temujai.

The humans of Stormwind hired Temujai to “diplomatically” deal with the Defias brotherhood. Shortly after the brotherhood’s suppression and the tensions between the Alliance and the Horde began to build, Temujai began receiving less and less offers of work from the humans. So, he continued he journey north.

As Temujai drew near to Silverpine Forest, he was ambushed and viciously assaulted by a pack of worgen. Left for dead and watching the worgen flee, Temujai spent his last breaths cursing the beasts so cowardly as to attack from behind.

Sporran and Kerreck, travelling south fresh from a battle at the Undercity, saw the worgen attacking a fellow tauren and quickly chased them away. Kerreck ran after them, cackling madly, while Sporran stayed to heal Temujai’s wounds.

After Temujai had recovered, Sporran offered him a position within Harms Way. Temujai was hesitant as he enjoyed his mercurial lifestyle, and ultimately declined the offer. This way he could stay neutral amid the conflict and make the most out of being a soldier of fortune.

During the Northrend campaign Harms Way utilised Temujai’s invaluable services repeatedly, though he was still reluctant to fully commit. It wasn’t until the Shattering of Azeroth that Temujai’s resolve was swayed.

The news that the worgen, presumably the same that had attacked him in SIlverpine, had joined the Alliance was enough to convince Temujai to join the Horde proper, and so Harms Way. Now, despite his tendency to fly into a murderous, uncontrollable rage when worgen are about, Temujai is one of Harms Way’s most skilled and dedicated fighters. 


That's your lot for this week. More MTC next week!

Zub-zub-zub, Zub-zub-zub, Zub-zub All The Way...

Did I say "expect daily posts"? Humbug, I say! If there's anyone out there who still trusts anything I say then I pity them immensely.

Christmas/Winter Veil is upon us true and proper by now and Harms Way is getting in the spirit!
Guild members have until midnight tonight (server time) to send your letters to Santa (or your fictitious personage or deity of your choice) through to Ahzae. Everyone who gets their letter through on time scores free gifts! So get writing!


Also, this is the perfect time to point out exactly why (in my own personal opinion) goblins are so much better than worgen:


Look at the picture above, now back to me; Now back to the picture, now back to me.

Sadly, you're not a goblin fan like me, but if you look at that picture long enough you could smell like be a goblin fan like me.

Look down, back up. Where are you? You're on the character select screen creating the goblin you just realised you always wanted.

What's in your hand? Back to me. I have it; It's a rocket belt with two licences to blow up every-f***ing-thing in sight.

Look again; The licences are now a pile of cash.

Anything is possible when you're a fan of goblins and not a lady worgen.

I'm on a trike.


Merry Something!


-Ahzae, Lord of the Trifling Winter Helper

MTC Monday: Selangor

We're back! The new expansion grace period is officially over and it's time for me to get off my butt and start posting here again. You can expect new daily posts from me (time permitting) once again, but right now we have the triumphant return of Meet The Crew!

Selangor
Blood Elf Death Knight
(Unholy)

Location:
Canberra, ACT, Australia

Age:
21

Likes:
Drinking, games, drinking games, epic Harms Way raids and wondering where the day went after a full day of WoW.

Dislikes:
Elitists, noisy and immature people, assignments and tests (why can’t we be graded on how awesome we are?).



In life, Selangor was a scholar studying the arcane energy provided by the Sunwell. He fought valiantly against the Scourge during Arthas’ march on Silvermoon and, although he survived the Scourge assault, was caught in the fires meant to deter them from Sunstrider Isle.

Following his death and subsequent resurrection as a Death Knight, Selangor became intrigued by the unholy power the Scourge possessed. For years he studied and practiced, honing his abilities and trying to find the limit of his power. He had not found it even by the time he was freed from the Lich King’s grasp.

Now with a will of his own, Selangor joined Harms Way as they marched on Icecrown Citadel in the hopes of facing the Lich King himself. Selangor aimed to gain even more power over the unholy forces he commanded. Unfortunately, other heroes slew the Lich King before Selangor could reach him.

The strength that Selangor possessed was unlike anything the members of Harms Way had ever seen – frightening and heroic at the same time. He was clearly one of the most powerful beings they had ever come across.

Despite the Northrend campaign coming to an end, Selangor has chosen to stay amongst Harms Way, becoming ever stronger, and always waiting for the next opportunity to sharpen his skills.




That's all we have time for this week; I have to go hide from Sel, just in case he doesn't like his profile and decides to put an end to my long-winded ways. He really does scare me... unless he's reading this right now, in which case we're bestest buds, right?

Right?

More MTC next Monday!

Cataclysm Dungeon Guide!

I know I haven't posted anything (interesting) recently, but this time I have good excuse. Honest!

I've been spending the last few weeks developing a cataclysm dungeon guide for everyone to use, so we don't all feel so noobish going into the expansion.

Click here for the guide!

So far it contains details on normal-mode dungeon mechanics for:

• Blackrock Caverns
• Throne of Tides
• The Stonecore
• Vortex Pinnacle
• Grim Batol
• Lost City of the Tol'vir
• Halls of Origination

I'm planning on also adding heroic mode and achievement guides (including Deadmines and Shadowfang Keep) to it, as well as doing up some Cataclysm raid guides in a similar format, once I've had some firsthand experience with them.

Anyone is free to use the guide, so feel free to link it to your friends or pug groups if you think it will help :D

If you spot any errors or have any suggestions then please let me know - I'll be keeping it up-to-date as often as I can.

For now though, I need some sleep...

-Ahzae, Lord of the Trifling Gnome

The Pelvic Thrust

UPDATE: The server maintenance has been pushed back by two hours (to 1pm PST), which means we can expect to see them back up at 8am AEST.


UPDATE 2: Pushed back to 5pm PST, which is midday AEST for us.


This is the way the world ends: Not with a bang, but with a COLOSSAL EFFING DRAGON!

The old world is now gone for good, the next time you log in you should be greeted with Deathwing wrecking up the place. Take THAT Stormwind!


My first reaction was to post here accompanied by REM's It's The End Of The World... but I like to be a little more off-beat than that. Then this happened:

Some people have been asking about the gap in time lore-wise; from old Azeroth to new in an instant. Bashiok, a community manager for Blizzard, responded to one such question thusly:

Bashiok: "It's just a jump to the left."

Despite the players complaining about just how helpful such a response is, I'm of the tinfoil-hat-esque belief that this is a heavily veiled hint regarding Cataclysm. 

Yes, I am now convinced that this expansion somehow inextricably connected to The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

I'm sure that over the coming months we'll discover exactly how they're connected. All we know so far is that Bashiok appears to be playing the Criminologist, but for now we can only theorise. 

See you in the new world!

-Ahzae, Lord of the Trifling Creature of the Night

Call to Arms: MTC Volunteers

When the Cataclysm hits, we'll be looking at restoring MTC Monday to it's former glory (new member profile every Monday). However, in order to do so we need volunteers!

Heres what we need:

• Character name
• Preferred title (optional)
• RL Age and Location (optional)
• Your likes and dislikes
• Your most epic moment (optional)
• Some details about yourself or your character

Heres what you get:

• An MTC profile page
• Your own WoW TCG-style card
• Bragging rights
• The ability to guilt Ahzae into doing things for you ("Aw c'mon dude, I did that MTC thing you wanted...")
• About a billion bonus points if you're not a Tauren

Anyone can apply for an MTC profile, even if you're not a member of Harms Way. In fact, even members of the Alliance can apply! As long as you have some sort of vague connection to us (even if you just share our philosophy) then it's good enough to be considered.

Finally, your profile will not be posted here before it's approved by you. If you don't like what you see then it won't go up!

If you're interested, mail me in-game or at tobiasmasters@gmail.com.

-Ahzae, Lord of the Trifling Gnome

"...mais moi j'ai envie d'sauter!"

This is exactly what you (yes, you) are going to be experiencing during the first few days of Cataclysms launch:

Granted, we'll all be like that during the launch (that's pretty much my default state, new expansion or no) so don't fret. After the first 32 hours we'll all be the exact same grease-covered stank-zombies, peering at people through our bloodshot eyes and groaning loudly.

Yessir, it's a good time to be a power-nerd right now :D

-Ahzae, Lord of the Trifling Gnome

Even More Flash!

Ah, now we're gettin' places!


Here's what I've been working on all night. It should give you an idea of what our cata raid guides will look like.


Click through to check it out!

Cataclysm Raid Flash

Hooray! More flash!

I know I've been neglecting you all online lately, so I'll make this a quick post to avoid feeling guilty (HA!).

Here's a quick peek at the (almost) complete version of our new Raid Progress tracker:

Let me know if you have any suggestions :D

-Ahzae, Lord of the Trifling Conscience

MTC 2.0

You've probably already noticed my latest monstrosity on the right (unless you own a mac and think flash is evil). The fact that I can't code worth a damn is slowly dawning on me, but I won't give up yet!

All of the Meet The Crew images have been updated too. If you're not fond of your new image we can always change it back :P

Don't forget, the Cataclysm digital preorder is available (check post below)!

-Ahzae, Lord of the Trifling Gnome

Cataclysm Digital Preorders Available Now!

Preorders are available on battle.net - it'll set you back USD$39.99 or AUD$41.03 (give or take half a cent).

The big upshot to this is that you can download all of the Cata content before the launch. Naturally, you won't be able to access it until the launch - instead it will save you from rushing home at midnight and frantically installing a few discs worth of expansion.


As soon as the servers go live those who have downloaded the data can log in straight away! The servers are scheduled to go live for Cata at12:01am on Dec 7th, PDT - which translates to 6:01pm on Dec 7th, AEST (possibly 5pm if Blizz switch to PST in November).


Also, no queuing for a copy :D


Ahzae, Lord of the Trifling Preordered Digital Content

Rocking Your Face

---

Q u o t e:


Dude, Z...

You just fell down a notch on my "favorite blue person" meter.

Hate gnomes.

---

"I refuse to continue this discussion if the Alliance don't even accept one of their own! 

I'm telling Metzen to write in a truce between gnomes and goblins for the next expansion.... we will join the Horde and see how you like dem apples. Little creatures everywhere rocking your face."


-Quoted response from Zarhym, Blizz community manager, regarding Alliance crybabies.

Gnomes and Goblins, rocking faces... For the Horde!

If only it were true... *sigh*


-Ahzae, Lord of the Trifling Gnome

The Makeup Gun

One of the things I learned very quickly on my return to Azeroth is that druids had collective forgotten how to bear... very embarassing when signed up to tank the Horseman.


It's also occurred to me that novelty events (ie: Sadistic Sunday) aren't enough to cure burnout alone. Thus, being the massive defeatist that I am, I'm putting off all the novelty events until Cataclysm. Events can still be organised by request (ask myself or any officer), but Sadistic Sunday et al won't be back until December.


In the meantime, I think we would all feel better pursuing other... pursuits. Some people are saving their cash for the big bang, others are getting trade skills ready or saving up justice points.
Personally, I'm planning on helping guildies score any unearned achievements (Call NOW!) and working towards enhancing guild features - to make Cata feel a little more special.


For example, I've updated the MTC artwork:

A special one for Sporran
 because I know how much
 he likes gnomes.

Apologies to Kerreck (I got lazy) and anyone I may have missed (I've forgotten how many MTC's we've done, despite the archive section). I've got big plans for these :D


Update:


More pics (happy now Kerreck?). I'll put bigger ones up this time.

Also, any member who wants to have their own snazzy artwork (yeah, I said snazzy) needs to whisper me in-game or email me at tobiasmasters@gmail.com.


-Ahzae, Lord of the Trifling Sleep Deprivation.

Sadistic Sunday: Feedin' the Trolls

Sadistic Sunday is back! I suspect todays SS won't be quite so grand as some of our previous outings (Alliance Pub Crawl, anyone?) but I've been wrong before.


On with the trolls!

Not Ahzae (Ahzae doesn't have access to natural light).

12pm: Charity Run - Zandalar Edition


Zul'gurub will be gone in a matter of weeks... possibly even days. If you wanted to hit exalted with  the Zandalar tribe or just get your raid achievement, now's your chance.


Standard auction rules apply:

• 4 positions available. Top 4 silent bids get the positions - Ahzae will match the highest bid (as far as my wallet will allow :P). Whisper Ahzae in game to make your silent bid.
• All green-to-epic loot will be automatically looted by the Auction Leader. Anyone who wants dropped loot must open a bid (including the AL). All unwanted loot is vendored and added to the pot.
• At the end of the run the pot is added to the guild bank to help fund guild repairs, new tabs, etc.

Itinerary:

• Zul'gurub right off the bat - full clear (Two rare mounts, up to 11k rep - all coins and bijous auctioned at the end of the ZG run).
• Karazhan (Rare mount, some Violet Eye rep).
• Heroic Sethekk Halls (Rare Mount, Lower City rep - must be at least honored).
• Heroic Magisters Terrace (Rare Mount, BABY PHOENIX pet, Shattered Sun rep).
• Anywhere else we feel like going :D

2pm: Trollin' Raids

This time it won't just be me being evil! *cackle*

Here's the plan: We group up to take on all the vanilla raids for any missing achievements and fill up any empty spots with as many pugs as we can find - level/gear/etc is a non-issue. The primary goal here is to get any raid achievements we (and they) might be missing. We'll burn through as many raids as we can, starting with level 60 raids and working our way up.

Of course, it wouldn't be Sadistic Sunday if we left it at that!

The twist is that whenever possible, we must refer to any mobs or bosses as "trolls". Especially effective when we're not actually fighting trolls. This rule will change slightly if we need to refer to an actual troll (Zul'Aman springs to mind) - all trolls will be referred to as "GNOMES!" (case sensitive).

I don't care if I'm the only one online, I'm makin' the Troll Raids happen!

BONUS GAME: Spewer - Prize 100g

I couldn't find any games about trolls (I actually found two, but they sucked harder than a gnome in an elevator... hmm, that came out sounding dirtier than I intended. Sorry.), so in order to keep your spirits up while you're candy-gorging your way around Azeroth, I present to you a game about vomiting! Yay!

Seeing as Kerreck keeps winning these I'll be forcefully donating half of his prize money into the Gbank should he win it again - I'll keep doing it until someone beats him too >:D

In order to win, you need to be the first to answer the following question in the comments section below:

How does the Spewer escape the experiment?

Happy trollin' :D

-Ahz

That's Telekinesis, Kyle. (Updated - 2pm)

Blizzcon 2010 is underway! There's a special time that comes once per year where all the power-nerds like me sit up and take notice in a single collective motion... that time is now.

All the best new info (usually) gets dropped during Blizzcon. MMOchampion.com has been covering the news quite well, keep an eye on them over the next 24 hours or so for all the latest.


Ordinarily I'd try not to favour a certain site or source too heavily, but MMOchamp really is doing a marvellous job so far.


Current highlights:

• In-game bestiary for instance/raid bosses (loot, abilities, etc.).
• Enhanced raid UI for new mechanics, eg - sound gauge vs. blind dragon. No more staring at the debuff corner :D
• For the lore-nerds (what has two thumbs and is a massive lore geek?) there's loads of new info. BEWARE OF SPOILERS!
• More fiery death, less ToC raids, NO MOOSE!

I'll try to keep new, exciting info published here as it's announced.


UPDATE:
Day 1 has wrapped up for now - the Day 2 events will begin at around 4am AEST tomorrow.


I should also point out that Blizz will be offering Cata as a digital pre-purchase; this means that we can download and install Cata before release and be ready to go the very moment it launches! I guess I owe Sporran a Coke now...


More updates tomorrow, and SADISTIC SUNDAY RETURNS!

-Ahz

Horseman Crash Workaround

Big thanks to AdamS at Blizz for this:

• Disable Hardware Cursor (Video options > Advanced)
  
• Create a new macro (/macro) called "TT OFF" and use this code:
  
  /script GameTooltip.Temphide = function() GameTooltip:Hide() end; GameTooltip:SetScript("OnShow", GameTooltip.Temphide);
• Create another macro called "TT ON" using this code:
  
  /script GameTooltip:SetScript("OnShow", GameTooltip.Show);
• Place both somewhere on your actionbars (out of the way).
  
• Before entering/queuing for the event, click "TT OFF" (turns ToolTips off).
  
• Smash pumpkins.
  
• Click "TT ON" (ToolTips on) after the event.

Essentially, your tooltips are likely what's causing the crash. These macros disables/enables tooltips easily. Let me know if you're having trouble with it :D



-Ahz

1 Helluva Bang

Hooray! My first HW-focused flash project is complete!
Sure, it took all of twenty minutes to create (and another 40 to find a damn host) but it's a start :D


I'll begin designing raid guides in flash soon enough, so let me know if there's anything, flash or otherwise, you'd like to see put up. I wonder if I can do MTC's in flash... *ponders*


News wise, there's very little to report. Blizz has been focus testing the new raids all week, but MMOchampion has the Tier 11 model previews to tide us over in the meantime.


-Ahzae, Lord of the Trifling Over-excitable-boy-with-a-new-toy Syndrome

The Return

Forgive me father for I have sinned. It's been roughly three weeks since my last blog post.

To be fair, I got a little sidetracked down in Mulgore:

Ah, I'll miss her the most...

Back to reality now; I've actually spent this time learning to animate and code in Flash (AS3). I'm hoping to be able to use it to help with raid guides etc, but more on that later on.

Hopefully (unfortunately?) you'll all be seeing more of me in-game now that the holiday is over, and as we draw closer to Cataclysm we should see many other familiar faces returning too.

Also, I'll be posting here regularly once more, so watch this space!

-Ahzae, Lord of the Trifling Blue Bal... Erec... Flash Coding Skills.

ICC10 Raid, Saturday 12pm.

I've got a good feeling about this one.


I'll see you there :D


-Ahz

April Fools! Wait... What?

This is the kind of thing I expect from blizzard when we hit April every year. Most people seem to be having the same "surely not" reaction, but it's true.


Come Cataclysm, Hillsbrad will be home to a new questline/minigame: Plants Vs Zom- er, I mean Peacebloom Vs Ghouls... seriously.


Despite the quasi-disbelief and misgivings, the game seems to be impressing people so far - take a look at the video to see what I mean. Take note people - on this day Blizzard hath taken the first pioneering (damning?) step towards a game that houses many other games, similar to that which Sony wanted to do with Home, only not... crap.




Mount news:

The horde guild mount is going to be a scorpion, apparently. We'll be able to buy them from our guild vendor once we hit Glevel 25.

Alchemists are getting a mount of their own... sorta. 
Meet the Sandstone Drake, result of the Vial of the Sands alchemy BoP. Rather than riding one, using this mount actually turns you into the dragon. Once you're a dragon, you get to let someone mount you, like any good dragon wo- Oh, get your minds out the gutter people... *sigh*


Needless to say (being a shifter myself) that I am immediately switching to alchemy; it's not even up for discussion.

Finally, the Alliance crybabies have been wailing about the fact that worgen will not be getting a mount of their own (the nightelves are tired of fiddling with cats and horses). 


However, the soon-to-be worgen population (colloquially known as Blood-elves) are ecstatic; they get to run around on all fours and make pretend like they're in Twilight instead.


Good news for the Horde all-round I'd say.


Until next time,
Ahzae, Lord of the Trifling Gnome

Spitting at Greenskins

This is a screenshot of a flash game I've been playing recently. Don't try to click on continue - it's a picture, it won't work... 
You already tried, didn't you? Kids these days... *sigh*


Anywho, the text above was filled in by the game automatically (I named the characters at the beginning) and this... er... "cutscene" made my day. It also provides me with an opportunity to post here, too.


Some of you may have noticed that I've been missing for the last few days. Again. *dodges a bottle*


This time it's mostly due to a wonderful website: Kongregate.
I'm not going to try to sell the whole idea to you (I could rant about it for hours... kinda like I did when I first discovered the new Steam), but rest assured that achievement-whores the world over are flocking there for good reason. You'll find me there if you decide to join us.


As always if you need to get into contact with me for any reason, shoot an email at tobiasmasters@gmail.com and, assuming I'm conscious, I'll respond within 5-10 minutes.


-Ahzae, Lord of the Trifling Abandonment Issues

Top 5 UI mods.

This is a post I've been meaning to do for a while now - I haven't gotten around to it because I've been distracted by FFXIV. It is... you must forgive my crude and, frankly vulgar, description here but I can think of nothing more eloquent and accurate than these six words:

It is a roleplayers wet dream.

All vulgarity aside for a moment; I was desperately looking for something to distract myself from the blissful and bountiful world of Eorzea when I stumbled across this article from WoW.com.

A fine read it was, but something had bothered me all the way throughout. In the first paragraph was a sentence that read "Instead, you get a grab bag of... downright crucial addons". None of the three addons the writer listed struck me as particularly crucial, but I shrugged it off. Moments later I felt that joyous spark of a new idea surfacing: "Why don't I write up a list of insanely useful addons?"

My answer to myself instantly was: "But then I would have to write it, and that sounds significantly like work." but it was too late. Now if I don't do it I'll feel guilty... are you happy about that? You oughta be, because if you're not then I'm wasting my time by listing:

The Top 5 UI MODS!

I don't have any streamers or cake... sorry.

Anywho, this list is PURELY from my own personal opinion. It is not the mother of all guides, you will not be punished if you do not use these (not by me, anyway). They are not required in any way. Enjoy!

#5. Recount

Recount is an incredibly useful tool, but only in certain circumstances. I've referred to it a few times, usually by telling people NOT to slobber all over it. Recount is mostly useful to Raid Leaders, teachers or mentors and anyone who wants to improve their own performance.

Similarly to Gearscore (*wretch*), most people use it as a measure of their "L33tn3ssz" or e-peen - those people should be banned from using any such mods as they drag the name of such a useful tool so far through the mud that most people can't bear to look at it.

In a nutshell, recount will gather data from you, your group or your whole raid and display it for easy analysis in realtime (nerds like me go apesh*t for words like "realtime"). It can show you how much damage a player has done, how many debuffs they cleared, how many times they stood in the fire, etc.

There are two problems with Recount though: 

First, the only people who should be using recount are the ones who either have a problem with their group, or they're looking for one - but I can guarantee you almost every last dps in the game has it running and watches it like a hawk... and they'll spam it in your guild chat when they end up in the top 3.

Second, using recount in groups and raids can suck a whole lot of resources from your cpu. If you use it on a low end system, you may find yourself disconnect just as an encounter begins - don't use it if this happens.

If you do use it, use it only for yourself. Watch your progress and try to improve... don't use it to show how awesome you are.

#4. Omen

Omen is a little over-hyped. It's not as essential as everyone says but it's certainly useful from time to time. The only exception should be for tanks, who'll get more use out of it than anyone. Healers should never have to worry about getting Omen, either.

Omen monitors threat and displays it in realtime (Awwww yeah!). This is incredibly useful for tanks as they can see when they're about to lose aggro, and occasionally for dps to know when to ease off (to avoid aggro).

The biggest drawback is not being able to monitor threat on multiple targets at once (though no mod I know of can do this comfortably right now). That means group coordination is still a must - it won't (read: can't) be done for you.

#3. Grid

The only reason Grid doesn't place higher in this list is that it serves almost no purpose for pure dps. Here's a list of the roles that it's suited for:

• Tanks
• Healers
• Debuffers
• Utility DPS
• Raid/Group Leaders
• Pet Classes
• Your Mum
• My Mum
• Her Mum
• Any of the above in PvP (including your Mum)

Gettin' my drift? Good.

Grid will display the HP, status and range of any given player or pet in your group straight off the bat. That alone would make it a godsend but it's also highly configurable. With a little (or a lot) of tweaking you can make Grid show any kind of information you like and look however you want it to.

The Cons: It can be quite confusing to configure - I've been using it for years and still struggle with some of the configurations. Take my word for it: It's worth every last second.

#2. Power Auras

This beautiful little mod is so great that Blizzard are in fact adding their own version as standard with Cataclysm. My guess is we'll still be using Power Auras though, and here's why:

Power Auras (or POWA) can be configured to show anything. It will detect any buffs, debuffs, health state, skill readiness, ANYTHING you want and put an icon on the screen for you. You choose the icon, it's colour, it's animation and it's position and it will save you searching for that information. For example I currently have it set to show (all centre screen):

• A flashing blue circle to show when Clearcast has procced.
• A pulsing purple bear paw showing when Gift of the Wild has worn off.
• Big orange teeth showing me how long I have left on my Savage Roar buff.
• (On my warrior) A big red arrow showing me when Overpower or Victory Rush are ready to use.

This comes in ahead of Grid because it's useful to everyone. The only downside is that it must be configured from scratch. You must tell it what to show and why - there are no presets (not yet, anyway).

#1. Deadly Boss Mods

Go and get it! NAO! I'm not even going to tell you what this does.

Alright, I'm lying. I will tell you, but only because I like the sound of my own voice. Deadly Boss Mods (or DBM) does everything your raid or group leader wishes they could do, when they needed to do it.

It warns the user of upcoming attacks and threat. For instance, it will create a timer to show you how long until the next Gun-freezing is due on the Gunship battle in ICC. It'll play warning sounds when something happens that you should know about too - it basically explains bosses for you while you're fighting them.

The only things close to a drawback for this (and I'm reaching) are these:

• You have to download a separate version of the addon if you want warnings for boss encounters in TBC and Vanilla.
• Your pc might get a bit choppy while it loads up a set of mods (entering an instance for example).
• You may become overly dependent on it. That's... That's the best I got.

Why are you still reading?! GOGEDDIT!

That's it for now. I know there are a ton of other useful mods out there - these are just the basics. If you want to see or discuss some other mods (or need us to recommend one for you) say so in the comments below! In fact, say whatever you like... I get lonely down there.

Until next time kiddies,

-Ahzae, Lord of the Trifling GnOmen (c wut I did thar?)