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Addon Spotlight: Hermes, Extra Button, and the mature language filter addon

Mathew McCurley
Updated ·6 min read

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.

One of the most often asked-about topics around these parts concerns the issue of raid cooldowns. A raid leader armed with sufficient knowledge and a knack for planning can orchestrate a cooldown rotation like no other. His excellence could only be improved by a cooldown monitor, allowing that intrepid leader to see what was at his disposal. Many players ask me where to find such a display. This week's Addon Spotlight pick is just the ticket. Allow me to introduce you to Hermes, a wonderful little addon that knows who has what raid cooldowns available.

But first, we need to talk about a pressing issue, a dire matter that has threatened the very virtual world we inhabit. I am of course talking about the worst bug in the history of bugs: an eternal mature language filter.

Let's fix that too, shall we?



Mature language filter fix

We got this out of the way yesterday, but I wanted to make sure my loyal readers had the information as well. You've experienced this bug a million times already. You log in. You converse in guild chat. You notice a lot of odd symbols. Who turned on the mature language filter? Well, it turns out that 4.3 brought with it a little bug where upon login, the game sets your mature language filter to on.

Well, the wonderful and talented addon community answered the call. There are many versions of this addon available, so I decided to go with the one that I downloaded and use, Mature Language Filter Fix. This tiny addon pops into your interface folder, waits patiently until you log in, and then turns your mature language filter off. That's it. No muss, no fuss. You can also download ForceMatureLanguageFilter. It does the same thing.

There. Problem solved. Again.

Download Mature Language Filter Fix at [Curse].
Download ForceMatureLanguageFilter at [WowAce].

Hermes

Now that we've taken care of the dire necessities, let's get down to brass tacks. People want raid cooldown monitors. It's one of the toughest aspects of being a raid leader -- understanding the cooldowns, their natures, and best moments to use a variety of different class abilities and durations. It is definitely not as simple as it seems.

Customization is key with Hermes, where users can place whichever cooldowns they want into boxes and place them on their screen in key locations. If you like options, Hermes has plenty of them. I'm always a fan of addons that let you have as much control over them as possible when it comes to aesthetics.

Need a priest to use Guardian Spirit on the tank and don't know if it's off cooldown? Hermes will display whose spells are available and whose are on cooldown, with an estimated timer. Each type of cooldown and ability can be sorted, mixed, and matched with others to customize the layout and put your most important cooldowns up front and center.

Hermes is definitely not for the faint of heart, as there is a bit of customization that might prove somewhat unwieldy to the lay addon user. Don't let the complexity frighten you off from learning, however. You'll be adding windows of cooldowns to track in no time, if you just tinker with the addon for a while.

There are a lot of other addons out there that do what Hermes does. The reason I chose to spotlight Hermes is because of its presentation. Movable windows and a test mode are welcome features. Hermes is your go-to raid cooldowm tracker.

Check out the Hermes overview and walk-through video on YouTube.

Download Hermes at [WoWInterface].

The Extra Button

Many of you have been engaged in raid content (potentially for the first time) through the brand new Raid Finder feature that came into our lives only a week ago. Two of the fights in the Dragon Soul raid make use of an action bar included in the default WoW interface called Extra Action Button. Extra Action Button is a brand new bar that becomes available when a fight that uses the bar begins.

On the Ultraxion encounter, players are granted the Heroic Will ability, which pulls the players out of the twilight realm and avoids Ultraxion's big attacks. On the Madness of Deathwing encounter, players are granted an ability by Ysera called Dream, which reduces damage taken by 50% on a 30-second cooldown. Both of these abilities appear on the Extra Action Button.

There are a few ways to deal with the Extra Action Button. If you're using the default action bars, you have nothing to worry about -- the new action button should appear in the middle of your screen, above the middle bars. If you're using an action bar mod like Bartender or Dominos, open up the bar configuration utility and look around the center of your screen for the Extra Action Bar mover. It's pretty big by default. Move and resize to your liking.

If you're not using an action bar addon or you just don't like having to click a new button, you can bind a simple command to a macro or key and press this extra action button that way.

  • /click ExtraActionButton1

Create a macro with /click ExtraActionButton1, move it to an action bar, and now you've got a click-anywhere version of Dream or Heroic Will for the Dragon Soul encounters that require it. Proper use of these buttons, even in Raid Finder, will assure you greater success on raid night, I can guarantee.

Making this macro is a great idea even if you use a bar mod. You all have had something similar to this happen to you: Your raid leader has already discussed and explained the fight you are about to engage. You begin the encounter and you cannot find the new button that the game has created for you. You panic. Fear sets in. The shame and ridicule from your fellow raiders begins to mount. They will know. They always know. Those infernal addons tell the whole group! Anger! Fear! Loathing! Has my DPS always been this low? Fading Light in 4 seconds. Fading Light in 3 seconds.

"Anyone else lagging?"

Keep the macro handy and, even if the bar doesn't appear, you can still hit the button and be good to go.

See you guys next week.

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.