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Blood Pact: Weak Auras 2 versus TellMeWhen
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Blood Pact for affliction, demonology, and destruction warlocks. This week, Megan O'Neill discusses more pretty on-screen colors. One of my raid's mages swears to use TellMeWhen (TMW) over Weak Auras (use WA2, now). I used to use Weak Auras exclusively, but now I use a combination of both addons in further combination with Raven, a buffs and debuffs addon, and AffDots. While I can list any number of buffs and debuffs addons to help track procs and DoTs (ForteXorcist, Raven, NeedToKnow, Ovale, etc.), TellMeWhen and Weak Auras often top the list of mentioned addons. What's the difference between TMW and WA? What does one do better than the other? And what's the impact that addons like these have on how warlocks play?
Safeguard yourself against WeakAuras gold exploit
The incredibly versatile and popular addon WeakAuras has been subject to a completely bizarre exploit lately, as Blizzard Customer Support Representative Vrakthris posted on the forums. The exploit was done by allowing malicious code to run, hiding itself as a helpful link from other ill-intentioned players. The good news is that this is really easily fixed. The author of WeakAuras stepped in within hours of hearing about this with a modification to the code. Before performing either of these steps it's worth creating a backup copy of your Interface and WTF folders so that if something does go wrong you don't lose all your auras. If you use the Curse client, all you need to do is uninstall WeakAuras, and install WeakAuras 2. Ensure that when you uninstall WeakAuras you uncheck the box that removes your in-game variables, and you're done. If you want to do it manually, head over to the download page, download it and merge the folders. Simply log into the game and load up WeakAuras with the same commands as before, and you're done. Also, while this is fixed, a good general rule for WoW and the rest of the internet is this: don't click links from strangers.
Scattered Shots: Helpful hunter addons
Every Thursday, WoW Insider brings you Scattered Shots for beast mastery, marksmanship and survival hunters. This week, your host Adam Koebel, aka Bendak will be discussing UI addons for hunters. I've personally never been much of a fan of cosmetic UI addons, but I'm a big proponent of utility addons and feel like they can improve your performance dramatically. Therefore, I won't really be talking about unit frames or action bar replacements because frankly I'm not very current with them. If you're interested in giving your whole UI a facelift, you may want to look into an all-in-one solution such as ElvUI, or check out WoW Insider's addon spotlight. Let's start with the addons I can't imagine playing my hunter without. Essential addons Skada Damage Meter (Curse | WoWInterface): This one is my personal preference over Recount. I like being able to save individual parses for later viewing, and I like some of the plugins you can use with it. One of the best ones is SkadaExplosive. This one is entirely made for tracking the T16 4-piece survival bonus. It lets you know what your longest Explosive Shot streak was (every time I get a 10 streak I feel like it's Christmas morning), the highest damaging tick, and other Lock and Load stats.
Blood Pact: Taking care of your DoTs
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Blood Pact for affliction, demonology, and destruction warlocks. This week, Megan O'Neill admits to problems with DoT clipping (*gasp*) and finds a way to fix it. Every warlock has at least one damage over time effect to take care of. Destruction has Immolate. Demonologists flip between Corruption and Doom (Metamorphosis), though I suppose you could count Shadowflame off Hand of Gul'dan as one. Affliction is the "DoT spec," starring Agony, Corruption, Unstable Affliction, with appearances of Haunt.
Addon Spotlight: Weak Auras, getting started and strings
Weak Auras is a really incredibly powerful addon, enabling users to create custom alerts for pretty much anything they want to see. However, like many very powerful addons, it can be a little daunting, and there's an awful lot going on. Unlike several other very powerful addons, a user guide also exists, that walks you through the basic starting point of Weak Auras, creating your first display. But, it's missing a few bits. While I use it a lot, I am far from an advanced user, given some of the things I've seen people create with this addon, so I'm going to keep it basic, and I'm also going to hopefully, with your help, start a useful set of Weak Auras strings! Weak Auras, when created, can be imported and exported as what are called strings. These, essentially, are huge text files full of mumbo jumbo that can be translated by Weak Auras into displays. When I first got started with Weak Auras, a while back, I found that the easiest way for me to learn to use it was to start with an existing aura and go from there. We've collected some of our favorite Weak Auras strings, and published them for each class (and some general ones) on their own page: Priest Strings Monk Strings Hunter Strings Death Knight Strings Mage Strings Shaman Strings General Strings
Reader UI of the Week: Crazy Castbars
I really wanted to make a special, seasonal, Winter Veil UI, but alas I ran out of time. Next year, maybe! If you made a special Winter Veil or other seasonal UI to pretty up your screen over the festive period, do send it in, I'd love to see it! Instead, we've got Palanorma's paladin UI, which he sent in in response to last week's column. He said in his email that it reminded him of his, and I can definitely see why. Palanorma included two screenshots, one not casting, and one casting. If you want to send in your UI, drop an email to olivia@wowinsider.com. Do let me know what addons you're using, and if you have any thoughts on elements of your UI that you're particularly proud of or unhappy with, do put that information in, too. Also, someone suggested a while back that we should run a UI surgery, where you send in a UI that you're unhappy with, and the community and I have a bash at fixing it for you. If that sounds like fun, or like it might help you, send in your UI!
Addon Spotlight: Despite its name, WeakAuras is anything but
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. It's a shame that it has taken me this long to talk about WeakAuras, a fantastic addon that was originally designed as a less resource-intensive alternative to PowerAuras but has become something much more. With an easier-to-use interface, in my opinion, WeakAuras is an excellent way to add information, customization, and flare to your alerts, cooldowns, buffs, and timers. Everyone has heard of PowerAuras, right? Or have they? It's becoming quickly apparent that a lot of players are not being exposed to the grandaddy addons that we're so used to and that come up so fluidly when discussing our roles. But with Blizzard's own on-screen notification for important buffs as well as easy-to-use alternatives like NeedtoKnow and TellMeWhen, more complicated and tweakable addons are swept under the rug. Here's your chance to jump into something just a little more experienced and out of your comfort zone. I promise, it won't bite.
