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Addon Spotlight: Grab Bag 3

Mathew McCurley
Updated ·5 min read


Each week, WoW Insider 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. This week, Grab Bag Part 3: The Search for More Money.

With Cataclysm a mere four days away (and a super-special live WoW Insider Show tomorrow), excitement is at an all-time high. It has been a while since we've had this level of excitement, and believe me, I have not been immune to it. I've been pouring over quest progression, making wish lists for gear in Atlastloot, and just generally anticipating an awesome Cataclysm launch. I still can't believe it's happening so soon.

People seem to enjoy the grab bag Addon Spotlight features, especially when they find something brand new that changes the way they play WoW in some fashion. This week, I've got a diverse grab bag for you. We're going to look at one addon used for interface customization, a pet/mount addon you might not have heard of, and something for you paladins out there.



As with the other grab bag Addon Spotlights, I like to choose a little something for everyone. Here are three addons that I think are masters in their class and can provide some pretty rich additions to your interface.

Kong Automatic UI Hider

The infamous Dalaran UI (soon to be the "city" UI? Orgrimmar/Stormwind UI?) is a holy grail for many interface tinkerers. The less interface on your screen during periods of exploration and hanging around, the more rewarding your experience, especially for checking out the awesome new architecture and zones in WoW and in Cataclysm in just a few days. Sometimes you just don't want certain elements of the user interface to show up at all.

Kong Automatic UI Hider is an awesome addon that takes care of hiding interface elements for you. Using Kong, you can set pieces of the user interface to hide on many different conditions, including entering or exiting combat, health percentage thresholds, casting status, being in a vehicle, and on mouseover. Obviously, mouseover is one of my favorite conditions, because I love hiding pieces of my user interface that are rarely used, like trade skill bars.

One potentially unintended way that I use Kong is to open up the configuration menu to see what pieces of my interface belong to certain addons. Kong helps me a great deal with addon placement and knowing exactly what is on my screen at any given time. Plus, like I have previously said, mouseover options for every addon in my arsenal is a glorious sight to behold.

Finally, Kong has lots of macro conditions that can be set to show or hide user interface elements. For instance, you can show certain UI elements while in your primary spec and hide them in your secondary spec. It's one of those addons that goes as deep as you want it to and is helpful in more situations that you could imagine at any given time. I wouldn't even label it an addon -- Kong is a tool you should have on hand.

Download Kong Automatic UI Hider at [Curse] or [WoWInterface].

GupPet

Are you one of the many who picked up some new companion pets this week at the pet store? Did you preorder a Cataclysm collector's edition and need a nice, easy way to keep our Lil' Deathwing constantly to brag to your friends? Have you updated your mount macros to take into account flying in Azeroth after Cataclysm hits? Why not check out GupPet?

GupPet, for me, is an evolution in addon use. The features GupPet provides used to take about two or three different addons for me to get all of that functionality. I was just comfortable with those addons and let them remain separate. With Azeroth changing and flying being introduced, as well as some new minipets coming in, I figured I would overhaul the system a bit and get one addon to finally deal with my cluttered mess of a pet and mount interface. I was introduced to GupPet.

My favorite GupPet feature is the interface itself. Fast mount selection by category as well as check boxes for easy enabling and disabling of mounts and pets for random macros make life easy. Some days, I'm in a kodo mood. Other days, you can't pry me off the X-52 rocket. GupPet even has settings by instance or city, allowing you to have a specific or random mount called based on location. For instance, I always bring out my passenger mounts for PvP in battlegrounds. Other pet and mount addons do this and do it competently, but GupPet hits the mark for me because of the interface. The little 3-D model viewer is also pretty fun and improves wonderfully on Blizzard's (albeit better) new mount and companion pet interface.

Download GupPet at [Curse] or [WoWInterface].

KA Holy Power

Last but definitely not least, I have a gift for you paladins out there. I was once like you, playing my paladin for the entirety of The Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King. Alas, the paladin has been put on the back burner. You will not be forgotten, paladins.

After surviving an original revamp to the class weeks before launch and class upheaval during The Burning Crusade, paladins have now endured the holy power addition. KA Holy Power is a very simple addon with a devious amount of customization for all of your holy power needs.

The graphics for holy power are spectacular, in my opinion, and KA Holy Power doesn't forget it. You can choose between the runic graphics or just plain boxes to display your holy power, move and scale the graphics anywhere on your screen, and play a sound and animation when maximum holy power is reached.

KA Holy Power is simple but sturdy. I couldn't ask for more. Here's a video of it in action, in lieu of a screenshot:



Download KA Holy Power at [Curse].

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@wow.com.