by Mike Smith
One of the main reasons World of Warcraft proved such a success was its clear, easy-to-use interface. But what happens when you master the basics and start looking to add more detail, information, and complexity to your view of Azeroth? Enter the WOW aftermarket, a bewildering range of customizations and add-ons that offer countless ways to personalize your game experience.
Our favorite source for add-ons like these is Curse.com,which offers both direct downloads and a handy client program that'll do most of the hard work for you. Check add-on help files and web sites for usage and installation instructions -- most of them require a little bit of configuring for best results.
One word of warning: not all add-ons are necessarily benign. Although the vast majority are perfectly safe, some ne'er-do-wells have used the add-on system as a stealthy way to drop viruses or keyloggers onto Warcraft players' computers. Stick to popular add-ons from credible sources, keep your virus definitions current, and you should be safe enough.
Although they're all free to download, install, and use, consider that most are written by hardworking fans in their spare time. Once you've settled into a new add-on and you've decided you're going to use it for the foreseeable future, think about giving something back to the author. Most accept donations from their users, and a couple of bucks here and there isn't much next to the $15/month cost of a WOW account.
So where do you start? Right here, of course. Here are five essential add-ons for the discerning WOW addict.
QuestHelper
No Warcraft add-on guide would be complete without recommending this little slice of happiness. QuestHelper is a cunning, comprehensive database of all kinds of information relating to Warcraft quests. It will tell you what order to tackle quests in, where their objectives can be found, and how to get there. If you're grouping with other QuestHelper users, it will even take everyone's objectives into account and figure out the best route for everyone. Maximize experience, minimize stress. It's absolutely indispensable.
Cartographer
How many times have you Alt-Tabbed between Warcraft and your web browser to check a zone map? If you're anywhere near as lazy as us, the answer is higher than the national debt. Cartographer offers a far better solution: not only is it a full set of zone and instance maps, it soups up the in-game mapping tool, helping you keep track of your group, your personal points of interest, and any areas you may have yet to explore.
Auctioneer
To put it mildly, wheeling and dealing is a popular pastime with most Warcraft players. Auctioneer is an essential tool for anyone looking to explore their server's economy in any detail. It offers a better interface for posting and browsing auctions, can automatically queue up auctions for you while undercutting your competitors' prices, and includes statistics and data on market performance. It's like the Azeroth edition of the Financial Times.
Gatherer
Admit it: you're sick of hunting around zones looking for herbs, ore, and other resources. Wouldn't it be nice if you could bookmark mineral veins or plants on your map so you could come back to them easily? Wouldn't it be even nicer if there was an add-on that did this automatically, keeping your mini-map updated with nearby resource locations without you needing to do anything? Yes it would, and it's called Gatherer.
RatingBuster
If you were already playing a level 70 character at the launch of Lich King, one of your first tasks (after creating a Death Knight and checking out the new continent, of course) is surely to set about upgrading all that well-loved gear you've been sporting since Burning Crusade. But how can you tell if that green drop off the trash mob you just killed is really an upgrade? By using RatingBuster, an add-on which does all kinds of clever math to analyze and rate equipment. Nice.
Lich King Image Gallery
Posted: 17 Nov 2008
