Executive Summary
Install this mod, when a suggestion frame shows up in the middle of your screen (when you are out of combat) move it to where you want it. When the frame shows you a picture, cast the spell that picture represents. If nothing ever shows up, your current class/build is not supported.
That's all you have to know. Have fun, I hope you like it.
Introduction
This addon will display the recommended spell for you to cast (in or out of combat). It keeps track of what buffs/debuffs you have up, what your cooldowns are, and offers a pretty good option. Out of combat, it will remind you to put up buffs (usually before they entirely expire). It is aimed at Level 80 toons, so recommendations below L80 will likely be suboptimal. In particular, at very low levels it will frequently not recommend anything at all.
You can resize the suggestion frame from the configuration panel (reached via the /dfd command). You can also lock the panel so it cannot be moved (it auto-locks in combat irrespective of this lock). You can set it to display dummy suggestions when it's unlocked, so you can see where it is to move it around and scale it.
It only handles single-target DPS
Supported Classes
Support is by class and build. Because every build in every class is different, I am very limited in what I can test. Things marked as beta have been tested so they should at least basically work. Things marked as alpha have never actually been tested so chances are they aren't going to do much, if anything. If you try them out and tell me what is broken, I'll try to get fixes turned around rapidly. If they are working, I'd appreciate it if you would tell me that too.
Druids
- Feral - Released
- Balance - Released
Hunters
- Marksman - Released
- Beastmaster - Alpha
- Survival - Released
Mages
- Arcane - Alpha
- Fire - Released
- Frost - Alpha
Paladins
Priests
Shamans
- Elemental - Beta (very limited totem support)
Warlocks
- Affliction - Released
- Demonology - Released
- Destruction - Released
Warriors
- Fury - Beta
- Protection - Beta
Your Mission (Should You Choose to Accept It)
I am definitely interested in feedback and suggestions. In particular, I would really appreciate bug reports (either through the ticket system or below in the comments section). Please understand that I don't have access to L80 toons in all the classes this add-on supports, so I cannot test everything, and will have no idea that something is broken if I don't hear about it.
My To-Do List
- Support other dps classes
- Take threat into account and recommend threat-reduction measures when appropriate
- Add an auto-talent feature (a button that will automatically allocate your talents from the talent screen)
- Take latency into account when recommending when to begin recasting a debuff that has not expired yet (now it just looks at expiration time - cast time)
Known bugs
- Only works in English. This should be fixed in the medium term, I hope.
The Rotations Implemented
Most of these rotations actually have some thought behind them, just not by me. Ones that I made up are pretty much all for toons I don't actually play, so you know they have to be right. Note that I did have to add things to all these rotations, as they don't take some important real-world needs into account (eg., when should a hunter cast Mend Pet during a fight? Even though it's not in the rotation, clearly letting your pet die isn't going to be the right call to up your DPS).
If you want changes to the rotation, please be prepared to explain why the source is wrong (or just point out that I'm deviating from it).
Note that some tanking builds are included (Bear Druids and Protection Warriors); these are provided as a convenience. The truth is that there are many enhancements that could be made to make this a far more useful tanking add-on, but they are going to have to wait for quite a while to get implemented. For now the add-on offers reasonable suggestions, assuming a largely straight-forward tank-and-spank fight, and is very useful (at least to me) in showing when the GCD is up, and when Maul is ready to be hit again. But there is no way you are going to successfully tank squat just following it's instructions; this is different from DPS'ing, where following the instructions will tend to give you close to optimal results.
Druids
Hunters
Mages
Paladins
- Retribution: Developed by one of my users
Priests
Shamans
Warlocks
Warriors
For People Who Want To Help Write Code
Note to people who are considering helping support other classes: the class support files are not written in LUA; they are written in DDDL (Destruction for Dummies Definition Language) and compiled into LUA. Everything you need to do the work is included with the addon (starting with release 1.3.6). See the ReadMe file in the DestructionForDummies directory.
Development does require a Unix system. If you know that your Mac is really running Unix, you'll be fine. If you only have access to PCs, or don't know how to work your Mac as a Unix box, you are likely SOL. Unix is a complex enough system that there's no way I'm going to be able to walk you through it.
Installation Guide
- Exit "World of Warcraft" completely
- Download the mod you want to install
- Make a folder on your desktop called "My Mods"
- Save the .zip/.rar files to this folder.
- If, when you try to download the file, it automatically "opens" it... you need to RIGHT click on the link and "save as..." or "Save Target As".
- Extract the file - commonly known as 'unzipping'
Do this ONE FILE AT A TIME!
- Windows
- Windows XP has a built in ZIP extractor. Double click on the file to open it, inside should be the file or folders needed. Copy these outside to the "My Mods" folder.
- WinRAR: Right click the file, select "Extract Here"
- WinZip: You MUST make sure the option to "Use Folder Names" is CHECKED or it will just extract the files and not make the proper folders how the Authors designed
- Mac Users
- StuffitExpander: Double click the archive to extract it to a folder in the current directory.
- Verify your WoW Installation Path
That is where you are running WoW from and THAT is where you need to install your mods.
- Move to the Addon folder
- Open your World of Warcraft folder. (default is C:\Program Files\World of Warcraft\)
- Go into the "Interface" folder.
- Go into the "AddOns" folder.
- In a new window, open the "My Mods" folder.
- The "My Mods" folder should have the "Addonname" folder in it.
- Move the "Addonname" folder into the "AddOns" folder
- Start World of Warcraft
- Make sure AddOns are installed
- Log in
- At the Character Select screen, look in lower left corner for the "addons" button.
- If button is there: make sure all the mods you installed are listed and make sure "load out of date addons" is checked.
- If the button is NOT there: means you did not install the addons properly. Look at the above screenshots. Try repeating the steps or getting someone who knows more about computers than you do to help.
Translations
When you download a mod, please be sure that the mod is compatible with your translation of wow. Some mods only work on the US versions, while some only work on some of the various European versions. These variations are called "Localizations".
TOC Numbers (Out of Date Mods)
When Blizzard patches WoW, they change the Interface number. This means that all mods will be "out of date" unless or until the author releases a new version for that interface. Some people go into the .toc files and update the numbers themselves, but this is STRONGLY advised against as it will cause problems locating possible incompatibilities addons. When you log into WoW after a patch, you DO NOT have to delete your interface directory. All you have to do is simply tell WoW to ignore the interface numbers and load all the mods anyway. All you have to do is, while at the "character select" screen, look in the lower left corner and click on the "addons" button. A window will pop up listing all your installed mods.
If you look in the upper left corner of that window there should be a box that says "Load Out of Date AddOns". You want to CHECK this box. Now simply go into WoW normally and all your mods should load. As of the 1.9 patch, you will have to do this after EVERY patch/update that Blizzard posts! If you encounter any problems with a mod after a patch, please be sure to let the author of the mod know so they can fix it.
See also: About "Out Of Date AddOns"
Mac Support
WoW addons are not platformed based. As such, they can be used on either Mac or PC. You can extract both .zip and .rar files on a Mac using StuffitExpander.
Directory Structure
World of Warcraft
|_ Interface
|_AddOns
|_*AddonName*
|_ *AddonName*.toc
|_ *AddonName*.xml
|_ *AddonName*.lua
|_ (possibly others as well)...
