Addon Spotlight: AuldLangSyne
You've got friends, or at least you tell people you do. In fact, through your days of rolling PUG's, random premades and adding that Resto Shaman who saved your behind in STV, you've got a long list of friends. If you're anything like me, it can be weeks before one of your randomly added friends checks in with you, giving you plenty of time to forget why they were your friend in the first place.
Enter AuldLangSyne, an addon that combines the functionality of CT_PlayerNotes and FriendsFacts. I have also been able to replace Fubar_GuildFu and Fubar_FriendsFu with this one, so it has come in quite handy. Let me just take a second to show my deep appreciation for developer's who add Fubar or Titan Panel embeds to their addons.
So then, what can this addon do for you? Keep reading to find out about the features AuldLangSyne provides.
This addon allows you to create and store notes for each of your friends. This includes different notes for friends with the same name on different servers. It also remembers information about your friends once it has seen them online. Once information has been collected, AuldLangSyne will display their name, level, class, guild and how long since they were last seen online. (Granted, Patch 2.4 added some of this functionality, you nay-sayers keep on reading for more features not added to the default UI.)
Names are also colored by class, in case you needed another way to be reminded that your brother plays a Warrior. Notes can be toggled to show when your friends log in, keeping you from wondering who that person is and why you're being told that they're logging in.
To access the options for AuldLangSyne, use the command
/auld
Like with many addons, if you type this command, it will give you a list of options, /auld friendlist, for example, will list the options and usage of the /auld friendlist command. The easiest way to learn how to use these commands is to experiment with them while playing close attention to the feedback provided in your chat log.
For those of you using Fubar, you also have a plugin that provides much of the same information in a guild/friends pane. You can also right click the AuldLangSyne icon or text to open an options pane, which will allow you to forego using the /auld commands.
My favorite part of this addon is the Fubar pane that displays the information I use most. A quick glance a my Fubar tells me how many of my guildmates and friends are online. Hovering my cursor over the Fubar plugin opens a pane that displays not only who is on, but their location and notes as well. You can open the Friends panel, Guild Panel, whisper to one of them or invite them to your group all from here. I can also read my guild's lame Message of the Day from here, which may one day show some dates for Karazhan. (A bunch of students at my University rerolled together on Archimonde in December, we're all hitting 70 now and can be epic all over again. Pray for our Kara success.) Unfortunately the lame MotD is my fault.
Regardless of my life story, this addon has replaced at least three that I previously used, so I'll give it my endorsement for the sake of efficiency if nothing else. I love its functionality and only wish it had a built-in Kill-on-sight manager as well, because I'm vengeful and petty. Try this one out if you're on the market for a way to increase the efficiency of your friends and/or guild tracking. If not, go make some friends and give the whole teamwork thing a go. Dismissed!
Are you an addon-addict? Is your User Interface a living work of art? Welcome home, my friends! Every week, Addon Spotlight profiles a different addon, brings you mod-related news and dishes out free addon advice. See out what's been said and done in the addon community by checking out past features or our addon and UI directory.
