I thought I would do a quick post to show other players what addons I use to improve my raiding/pvp efficiency and how I basically make my WoW gaming experience easier.

There are a number of addons out there (I get most of mine from Curse Gaming) that I just can’t play without. Below I’ve provided a list of the addons I use while playing my Rogue or Shaman.

Essential addons:

AG Unit Frames - I hate the standard Blizzard unit frames as they are very limited in what you can do with them. AG Unit Frames allow you to manipulate your unit frames however you wish with features such as positioning, resizing and colour coding specific classes and types. Its awesome and I love it because its so simple to configure. Check out the image below to see how they look and were I position my unit frames.

*Note - Last time I updated AG Unit Frames off Curse it had a lot of bugs in it. You can get a bug free version here.

OmniCC - Awesome addon! So simple, yet so effective. It adds text to items/spells/abilities that are on cooldown to indicate when they will be ready to use. I can’t raid or pvp without this one. Essential for those players that wish to master their rotation.

Doom Cooldown pulse - Very similar to what OmniCC does, but instead of adding text to items/spells/abilities that are on cooldown it ‘pulses’ the image of the item/spell/ability in the middle of the screen when it comes off cooldown. Very handy to have to ensure you don’t miss any cooldowns in the heat of battle.

Quartz - Another very helpful addon I use. Quartz enhances display of standard casting bars by allowing you to modify cast bar sizes, postioning, text size, colors etc.

Classtimer - Very simple and essential addon for any situation. It allows you to setup timer bars for your abilities on the screen. You can setup player, target and focus timers.

DeadlyBossMods - If you want to raid and do well, get this addon.

Omen  Threat Meter –  Great addon that allows you to manage your threat level. It has saved my life on many occasions as a Rogue.

Gladius - Awesome for arena. Adds enemy unit frames to arenas for easier targeting and focusing.

Rogue specific addons:

NugComboBar - Can’t play my Rogue without this one. Shows combo points for Rogues. Very light weight and highly configurable.

Combo Points Redux - Essential addon for Rogue pvp (if you’re mutilate). Tracks deadly poison stacks on a target. Similar in appearance to the NugComboBar addon.

Shaman specific addons:

Healbot - Makes healing so easy. I wouldn’t want to heal without this addon.

Decursive - Awesome addon that notifies my Shaman when someone needs to be cleansed/purged and allows me to do so with a click of a button.

Power Auras Classic - Such a useful addon. It provides visual cues when you gain/lose buffs, debuffs etc. I use it to provide me with visual cues when my Shaman’s water or earth shield goes down or when my weapon buff wears off.  Check out images below  for an example of my Power Auras. You can also check out this wow.com write up about the addon.

Totem Timers - Helps to manage totems, shields, weapon buffs. I primarily use it for monitoring totem cooldowns and range.

Power Auras addon triggered when weapon buff wears off

Power Auras addon triggered when water shield wears off

Non essential addons

Recount -  Serves as an analysis tool by tracking things such as damage and healing done. Not essential but I find it useful in tracking my dps and healing, and seeing how everyone else is doing within the raid.

General addons:

Gatherer - Tracks items you gather and records their locations on your map.

Auctioneer - Scans and tracks auction house data.

Postal - Enhanced mailbox support.

Bagnon – Merges your bags into one.

Gearscore – Lets you know how geared a player is.

Enchantrix – Helps enchanters see what items will disenchant into.

Durability Status – Icon that shows you the durability of your gear.

Poisoner3 – Allows you to apply poisons to your weapons using a small quick menu.

If you have any questions about the addons that I use or would like to discuss a few that you enjoy using please post a comment below. Thanks for reading.

Hey guys,

We all know that gold is a vital component of WoW and is needed for pretty much every aspect of the game. From leveling your character’s skillset and professions to buying mounts, gear and consumables. Every WoW player is always looking for more gold. Unfortunately farming for gold tends to be unbearingly boring and time consuming. Furthermore a lot of WoW players only have a limited time they can dedicate to playing and would like to spend that time doing the fun things in the game like raiding and pvping. For this reason a lot of players opt to buy gold online.

Now please don’t get me wrong here. I am not saying that players should go out and buy gold online as there are risks involved such as getting your account permanently banned if you are caught by Blizzard and also the chance of being scammed by dodgy gold sellers. All I am saying is that the option is out there for players who have limited time to play to remain competitive in the game through means such as gold buying. I myself have never bought gold before but I was interested to do some research on who the big players were in terms of gold sellers, who was most reliable and honest, and who was the best value for money.

Below I have gathered some figures on gold prices from 12 of the most popular gold seller sites I could find. Attached to these is a link user comments relating to that particular gold seller site.

Please note: These figures where gathered on 15th of February 2010 so there might be a slight change to gold prices if you look at them today due to market fluctuations. Figures are based on gold prices available to the Blackrock Horde US server and are in US dollars.

Based on my research and the user commentsI have read, I personally believe that the 3 gold sellers that stand out in regards to honesty, efficiency and security seem to be:

• Guy4Game, Susanexpress, Wowgoldpig.

They may not necessarily be the cheapest but I would prefer to pay a little extra knowing that I am getting professional service. If I ever do purchase gold online I will be using one of these sellers.

My research also leads me to believe that you should stay away from the following gold sellers as they are scammers or very unreliable.

• VgoldSeller, wowmine, dgamesky.

If you have any comments or like to share your experience with a gold seller please do so below.

The upcoming 3.3.2 patch is set to be released next week (February 2^nd at this stage). Blizzard has posted the patch notes for this mini-patch on the official Korean WoW site. The most noticable changes include some small fixes to make dungeons run smoother, some class buffs for druids, shamans and warlocks and a much needed nerf for prot warriors. We will also see the introduction of Toravon the Ice Watcher in the Vault of Archavon and the start of Season 8 (Arena). 

The translated patch notes can be seen below. Please note that some of the wording or accuracy may be slightly off. If you notice any mistakes, please post in comments with the correct wording. 

Key bindings allow you to bind or designate your character’s abilities to particular keyboard (or mouse) keys. By default World of Warcraft (WoW) binds a number of keys for you already, such as M for map and L for Quest Log. You are able to add to or even replace current key bindings through the key bindings option within your game menu. By simply adding your abilities to your action bars you can search for a particular action bar slot in the key bindings list and assign any key to it that you want. Make sure that you check the “Character Specific Key Bindings” checkbox at the top of your key bindings screen to ensure you only set up hot keys for that character.

Clicker’s vs Key binder’s

If you are new to WoW it is more than likely that you are a clicker and rely solely on your mouse to perform your characters abilities. I myself was a clicker when I first started out because I thought memorizing a bunch of keys required too much effort and why bother if I could just as easily do everything using my mouse. It took me over a year to give key bindings a go and realize the benefits they provide.

The transition from pure clicker to a keybinder can be difficult and quite frustrating. So I would suggest to only start off by binding 1-5 of your most essential abilities. These abilities should be given the “sweet spots” or the most accessible keys, so that they can be hit very quickly regardless of what else you may be doing at the time (i.e. strafing). Then it is a matter of practicing in order to truly memorize your bindings. You may initially need to look at your keys on occasion and yes, it might feel a bit awkward and frustrating, but you will become more comfortable and better over time and you can start adding more keys to your setup.

Gaming peripherals

I personally believe that the equipment you use can make a big difference in the success you have as a gamer. Gaming peripherals are making it easier than ever to take your gaming to the next level. For example a gaming mouse is a very convenient way to add additional key bindings as most come with at least 2-3 extra buttons. Similarly gaming keyboards are designed to provide a more accessible arrangement of keys. For those of you curious I’m currently using a WolfClaw Type II Gaming Keyboard and a Logitech G3 Laser Mouse. Please see my current key binding setup for my Combat specced rogue below.

From the image you can see that my starting base are the w, a, s, d movement keys and I have setup my ability key bindings around that. This setup takes care of about 95% of my abilities, and makes sure that I am prepared for any situation that may arise. This setup works for me, it may not work for you, but I firmly believe that once you have practiced your set of hot keys and you become comfortable with them, you’ll be a much more effective player.

No perfect system

Please note that there is no perfect key binding setup that all the pro player’s use. You have to arrange your bindings to suit your play style and ability with the keyboard. For example, a player with long fingers may have a setup different to a player with short fingers due to the larger number of keys they have easy access to. In fact you may have to try out a few different setups to figure out what works best for you.

Built for speed

If you want to be a competitive gamer you will have to use key bindings, period. Reaction time is everything, especially in PvP. A properly constructed set of key bindings will result in quicker more responsive usage of your abilities and hence improvements in performance in most aspects of the game. You don’t want to have to think about your next move and strain to find it on your action bar. And you definitely don’t want to change your focus to your action bar to choose a spell or ability when you should be focusing on what you are doing.

The fewer abilities you have to click the better. Remember, your hand on the mouse, no matter how fast and precise, will never be able to outmatch your memorization of the keyboard. With key bindings you only have to worry about choosing your next ability, then it’s simply a matter of the second nature finger-to-keyboard reactions kicking in to do the rest.

The best PvP’ers out there play based purely on memorization, reaction, and knowing their character. It’s through this memorization that they are able to make decisions faster and execute them.

For a great resource on key bindings and hot keys visit Zuggy’s Hot Keys Guide. Zuggy provides some useful information about building bindings for speed on a normal keyboard layout. Definitely worth a look!

Hello and welcome to WoWContender.com beta! My team and I created this site primarily to find the best World of Warcraft (WoW) duellists. We provide a duelling service for our members where they can organise in game duels and bet gold safely on those duels. Members will be ranked depending on how they perform in their duels. Our duelling service ensures duels are conducted fairly and that all gold wagers are paid. So what are you waiting for? If you enjoy PVP and think you have what it takes to be your realm?s best duellist then go and read our duelling rules and become a member today!

Along with our duelling service we aim to make WoWContender.com a valuable resource for up-to-date PVP strategies, tips, builds, latest changes and ultimately how to become a better player. Our team has many years experience playing WoW so we would like to think that we do have the know-how to provide valuable information to our users.

On behalf of my team and myself I would like to welcome you to WoWContender.com and we hope that you enjoy your experience here.

Regards,

Skorne
WoWContender.com Admin

P.S even though we have done extensive testing of site processes and workings there are bound to be a few small bugs that popup. We would appreciate notification of any bugs that may be found, and we will do our very best to address them as soon as possible.