rolling... and... ACTION!

ahh, the action bar. It amazes me how many different ways I've seen action bars setup. Some people install an addOn just to replicate the default bars. Some people separate EVERY SINGLE BUTTON and put it in it's own spot.

Depending on how crazy you want to get there's a few ways you can go.

Bongos is an easy starting point. The menu is very simple, but still offers a lot of control. Right-click self-cast is my favorite feature. If you just want to get close to the default setup you'll be ready to go in about 2 minutes. Copy paste feature lets you use the same layout for any character on your account or create unique layouts for everyone.

If you need all out button mayhem try Trinity Bars. It has all the popular button masks (hex, gloss, square, etc.) and is not too hard to get the hang of. As with Bongos it handles the cast bar with a module that can be removed, but it also includes the target cast bar as well. Trinity also separates the XP and rep bars so you can show/hide as you like. With a simple and advanced edit mode most users will be able to get it going fairly easy, and with the new clone feature that will be implemented soon, you won't have to hand craft multiple bars with the same layout.

Bartender3 and FlexBar2 are both good addOns as well, with Bartender3 falling between Bongos and Trinity, and FlexBar2 being the most... flexible. FlexBar2 basically asks you to create each button and do whatever you like with it. You can create action bars with state recognition (shadow form, defensive stance, etc.) but it doesn't follow the blizzard paging, so it can be a LOT of crafting. If you need really complex layouts though this is for you.

If you're just looking for some unique action bar "upgrades" there's some good choices. Action Pad seems to be something a lot of people look for. It simply recreates action bar 1 in to the shape of the left side of your keyboard, allowing you to easily keybind spells/macros to action bar 1 and see it visually. It hides the menu and bags also. It does hide the Pet frame as well, so if you need it just get the Action Pet Bar also.

CogsBar takes that up a notch letting you add custom layout buttons to your default action bars. Want a 4x3 box? done. 6x2? done. 'nuf said. It doesn't however hide anything from the default setup.

XBar works a bit more like a pop-out menu for buttons. Most people will find these useful for things like buffs, potions, warlock curses, hunter traps, hunter tracking, but there's really a lot you can do with this if you get creative.

Last but not least, is IPoPBar. I really like this for a lightweight way to add a few extra bars with absolutely no setup. IPop doesn't remove/change the default action bars, it simply adds, in the location of the menu/bags, a new action bar. You can easily toggle between the action bar and menu/bags with 1 click. If you want to adjust it you can either have just the 1 bar or up to 3 (the 2nd and 3rd are pop-up therefore hidden unless you hover over the first). I really liked having the hidden pop-ups for things like tradeskill, buff food, trophy pets, and other items you don't need visible during combat.

Any way you cut it, there's no reason to not have everything you need at your fingertips. If you've exhausted your default bars give one of these great and easy upgrades a try!

AddOns tested:

Action Pad (105k) Pet Bar (10k)

Bartender3 (1.47m)

Bongos (486k)

Cogs Bar (37k)

FlexBar2 (768k)

Integrated PopBar (50k)

Trinity Bar (1.23m)
XBar (800k)

LFG!!!

Chuck Norris once had to use the LFG channel... Once.

Thank you whoever made this picture !

Ok ok, so Chuck would never have to use LFG, something about roundhouse to the face. But for the rest of us who occasionally have to PUG it, this is for you.

I actually have to PUG a lot, and with a few 70's it can be a pain.

I started looking for tools to help making groups easier. In the past I've tried a lot of different addOns that did a lot of different things. One addOn let me just type in a message and it would spam that message to any channels I set at any interval I set. Another filtered the LFG channel to only show messages that contained key words of instances that were in my current character's level range. Both of those I liked but have not been maintained and are therefore buggy or just don't work.

The simple solution I decided on was to just stay in the LFG channel and watch for a group that I could use on any char and then swap.

Problem 1: every time you change zones, character, or almost anything else, LFG turns off

Problem 2: every time you group with someone, for a trade sale, buffing a friend, or a group that falls apart before it gets started, LFG turns off

Solution: get an AddOn that keeps it turned on

Both AutoLFG and LFG Channel Always get the job done, but in testing the latter seemed to have less instances of not enabling, and used less memory overall.

Either way, don't let Chuck roundhouse your LFG channel. Get one of these addOns and Happy Grouping!

AddOns tested:

AutoLFG (374k)

LFG Channel Always (31k)

Can We Talk ?

Okay, so there's not much to talk about when it comes to your chat box. Some people's chat looks the same as it did the day they logged in. Others, well, let's just say, it looks like they're playing a text based game.

For me the chat box does it's job well, so I prefer to use an addOn that's more ball peen than sledge.

Enter Low Memory Chat . At a stunning 2k, it gets all the basics done, hide chat buttons, scroll with mouse wheel, abbreviated channel names, sticky chat, working arrows, edit box on top, timestamps, and a few more minor changes. Down side, no options. You can remove a few of the pieces from the addOn folder if you don't like them since they are in there as modules, but not much more than that. My only complaint is that it didn't play nice with a few other common chat mods, but if this is the only change you make it'll work great.

If you need something a bit more... robust: Prat . Prat is an ace based, module oriented chat mod, so you can pile it on or pare it down. It does just about anything I could think of for chat, but it really is nice to be able to whittle it down to just the parts you like and not pay the memory cost to have all the stuff you don't want. Chat sounds is my favorite in this addOn, never miss a whisper in the flood of trade spam again!

Trinity Chat moves into a more complex realm, but is still pretty simple to configure. It offers cool ideas like acronym filtering (want SV to show up as steam vaults ?), an english filter ( want no wai to show up as no way ?), and private channel creation. It will also save channels you've created, with their password, between sessions. It also allows for linking in private channels if the other person has the addOn running as well. It does all the other basics and more, so raid & guild leaders may want to check this out!

If you like chat management without the other stuff Cirk's Chat Manager will get the job done. Cirk's allows for creating and managing private chat channels. You can also rearrange the numbering for any channel. If you join/leave channels a lot you know what this means, no more trying to find the healer channel every time you join a raid. You can also easily see a list of every person currently joined to a particular channel. A healer avoiding the channel ? Someone in a channel they shouldn't be ? All easy to find. It still does the basics as well so no need to add in anything else usually.

Chat is one of the few addOns that I don't think there can be a winner since everyone needs something different. If you like the ability to click the word invite in a whisper to add someone to your group, to have key words highlighted in chat or shown on the middle of your screen, or even move you edit box totally away from chat itself, these are all doable. Give a few of these a try and see what fits best for you !

AddOns tested:
Chat Frame Extender 2 (80k)
ChatMod (140k)
Cirk's Chat Manager (263k)
Custom Chat (58k)
IDChat (75k)
Low Memory Chat (2k)
Phanx Chat (519k)
Prat (2.92m) (with default modules running)
Trinity Chat (344k)