Addon Spotlight: Replacing Raeli's Spell Announcer

Each week, WoW Insider's Mathew McCurley brings you a fresh look at reader-submitted UIs as well as Addon Spotlight, which focuses on the backbone of the WoW gameplay experience: the user interface. Everything from bags to bars, buttons to DPS meters and beyond -- your addons folder will never be the same.

We might occasionally forget that the addon community is comprised of real live human beings from time to time, when these wonders of science and technology shield our eyes from the truth -- mere mortals made these addons, and we love them for it. However, as humans do, addon creators move on from their Lua toils and leave behind their creations either to be picked up by new project managers or to rot in the sun. Readers ask me all the time what alternatives there are to favorite addons that have been discontinued or no longer updated by their creators. Let's find some alternatives, shall we?

Tivoni of the Shadowsong (EU) server sent me an email professing her love for Raeli's Spell Announcer and the sad fact that the creator of this amazing addon, Raeli from Arathor (EU), was quitting WoW and his addon work. It's always a shame to see a great addon creator leave for different worlds or new work -- but there are people out there willing to pick up the pieces, and there are already alternatives out there.

Successful Interrupt Announcer

While not as robust as Raeli's, Successful Interrupt Announcer is a good alternative when Raeli's finally stops responding to emergency medical procedures. Raeli's will die one of these days if not attended to, but for now, Successful Interrupt Announce is locked and loaded for patch 4.3 with updates from the end of November when the patch launched. If you were using RSA mainly for the interrupt announcing, you should find no problems there.

The problem with replacing Raeli's is the massive amount of features that the addon contained, from spell announcers to whisper protocols and spell notifications. This was one hefty package, and it worked so seamlessly. As for this specific part of the Raeli's package, you'll be hard pressed to find a more simple solution for interrupt announcing than Successful Interrupt Announcer.

Download Successful Interrupt Announcer at [Curse].

WakeSpams

With a feature set closer to Raeli's Spell Announcer, WakeSpams is a cool little addon that will announce your disrupts, dispels, and important abilities like cooldowns. While the website says the addon hasn't been updated since 4.2, it was working fine for me when I was trying it out, so I don't think you have much to worry about.

The addon's author has stated that the feature set for WakeSpams is not going to grow much larger, in order to maintain the addon's slim figure and bare-bones charm. WakeSpams' creator Cyrila says that a more full-featured and robust addon is coming and that WakeSpams was the pulled-out, bare-bones skeleton of the fuller package. Personally, I'm a fan of the smaller, lighter variety and am glad that the features as they are were released in such a way.

WakeSpams has a decent set of output options, letting you choose where the addon is going to spit out its messages to your raid or party. The addon automatically picks where to put announcements, be they in a solo environment, party, Battleground, Arena, or raid. You can obviously set all of these on a per-spell basis, dictating where to direct certain spells and not others. For instance, my raid need to know when my Shield Wall is used, but only certain people need to know when my other mitigation cooldowns are used.

In case you didn't already think it possible, yes, you can add any spells for WakeSpams to announce. You'll just need the spell's ID, which can be found in the URL for the item when you look it up on a database site like Wowhead. For instance, the item ID of Peaceblood, found at http://www.wowhead.com/item=2447, is 2447.

WakeSpams is a simple way to get back some of that spell announce love that Raeli's was so special at. Hopefully WakeSpams gives you the room you need to get your spell announces working again even after the Raeli's apocalypse.

Download WakeSpams at [Curse].

Commenters, are there any other spell announcers that you like to use? It's a sad time when a really great addon like Raeli's is on its way out, but thankfully, the community of developers is large enough that new wonders will make their way to the forefront.

Addon Spotlight mailbag? OK.

Thanks for the email, Iridar. After sending this email, Iridar sent me a follow-up email letting me know that ChatBar is still working and is still operational. This is a really cool addon that a lot of people might want to know about, so here you go.

ChatBar is a neat addon that creates a button bar that lets you filter your chat box with the click of a button. While the addon has been abandoned, it still works for now. If any readers know of an addon that works like ChatBar that might not be discontinued, let us know in the comments below.

Check out ChatBar at WoWInterface, but remember, it's not updated, so use Load Out of Date Addons on the character selection/addon load screen.

The newest version of Loremaster is a great way to work on the Loremaster achievement and works extremely well with other addons such as TomTom and Lightheaded. Have you tried pairing your already installed Loremaster with these two addons? Both of these addons assist in bringing you to where you need to be and makes all of the quest text and comments available in game, so you don't have to alt-tab out of the game. TomTom creates directional arrows that will lead you to the quest objectives; Loremaster lets you know are next on your list; and Lightheaded provides the comments and details from Wowhead directly in game for your viewing pleasure. This combination of addons should be perfect for helping you finish Loremaster in these zones.

One thing to remember is that Blizzard streamlined the quests and achievements for Loremaster, making it even easier these days to finish the ultimate quest achievement. Most quests that began with dropped items don't exist anymore, and the achievement requires fewer than the total number of quests available in the zone. If you hit every major questing hub, you should have no problem completing the achievement.

Download TomTom at [Curse].
Download Lightheaded at [WoWInterface].

Addons are what we do on Addon Spotlight. If you're new to mods, Addons 101 will walk you through the basics; see what other players are doing at Reader UI of the Week. If there's a mod you think Addon Spotlight should take a look at, email mat@wowinsider.com.