closetgnome
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Breakfast Topic: Are you using Blizzard's addon replacers?
One thing Blizzard likes to slip in every few patches is a new UI function that "replaces" a popular add-on or set off addons. They've done it with Scrolling Combat Text, Threat Meters, and most recently, with Equipment Managers. The New Equipment Manager is nice, but it's also pretty basic. You choose to save a set, choose a name and icon for the set, and there you go. You can drag the new icon onto your toolbar for quick changes, at least, but there's not much else. You can't synchronize it with a talent change. You can't set events to automatically change sets. Because of this, or even because of straight up familiarity and the issue of remaking all your sets in the new system, I'm sure a lot of people will stick to addons like ClosetGnome and Itemrack (if it ever updates).
Gear changers for dual spec
A few weeks ago, when it looked like Oufitter was dead and Blizzard's Equipment Manager was on the way, I did a rundown of some alternatives to Outfitter. Now patch 3.1 is here, dual spec is upon us, and the situation is reversed: Outfitter is still in action, and Equipment Manager is not (yet). As a gear switcher makes dual spec even easier, I thought it would be helpful to do a quick rundown of support for dual specs in the various gear switchers that are out there. Outfitter fully supports dual specs, letting you select gear sets to automatically swap into when you activate your primary or secondary talents (see screenshot). For ItemRack, you can set up a custom event to switch gear when you switch specs. ClosetGnome can do it with the SwapSpecs plugin. WardrobeAL doesn't seem to have particular support for dual spec. For users who don't already have a favorite gear switcher, I recommend Outfitter for dual-spec purposes; it's quite easy to use, and has dual-spec capabilities built in. Are there any other good options out there I'm missing?
Addon Spotlight: Alternatives to Outfitter
Every weekend (ish), Addon Spotlight takes a look at the little bits of Lua and XML that make our interfaces special. From bar mods to unit frames and beyond, if it goes in your Addons folder, we'll cover it here. The addon world is currently abuzz with reactions to Blizzard's new addon policy (briefly: you can't charge for addons or solicit donations for them in-game). I'm not going to go there in this column, since it's been pretty well covered around the blogosphere and in any case I don't want to ignite a flame war. However, I do want to talk about an issue related to the developments surrounding the new addon policy. The author of Outfitter (and GroupCalendar) has chosen to cease publishing those addons (in protest, asapparently). I rely on Outfitter on all of my characters, and I'll be sad to see it go. But if it isn't going to be updated any more, it's time to start looking for replacements.
