WoW Add-Ons For New Players and Beginners

WoW Add-Ons For New Players and Beginners

I recently met someone who was completely and totally new to World of Warcraft. To help him get acclimated to the game and community, I decided to start gathering some resources for new players. I felt like it would be easier as an existing player since I could weed out the misinformed or misleading guides. Instead, I was kind of shocked at the lack of helpful guides out there specifically targeting new players. Yes, I did find some guides that were semi-useful but I wasn’t happy with most of them. I either felt like the guides were too fast for a new player to follow, too slow or boring that I felt myself falling asleep, or they just weren’t detailed enough to the point that I felt like a general WoW player would understand but not a newer player.

My friend was getting the hang of the game but I wanted to help him dip his toes into the world of add-ons. I wanted to recommend add-ons that weren’t so intensive that they would change the user interface completely or confuse a new player to the point of frustration. If you’re new to a game you want to enjoy all it has to offer and the rest will come with time. So I compiled a mini-guide for him showing how to download add-ons and which ones I recommended to start with. After I had it made I figured, “Why not share it with the rest of the new add-on users out there?” and that’s exactly what I did. My name is Bell and I will be helping you on your journey into the world of add-ons!

What are Add-Ons?

Add-ons are "quality of life" modifications for World of Warcraft that serve to improve or simplify your gaming experience. They allow you to custom tailor your game by enhancing and simplifying elements of gameplay, adding certain features, and allowing you to customize your user interface (UI). Most experienced players would agree that having at least a few specific add-ons are necessary to be able to play World of Warcraft at an intermediate or higher skill level.

You can manage all of your add-ons on the character selection screen:



or in-game using the wow menu:








Downloading Add-Ons

The process for downloading add-ons should be the same regardless if you have a PC or Mac. I recommend downloading the Twitch App for your computer which makes it easy to manage and update any add-ons. If you have dabbled in add-ons before and you never update your apps, yours may still be listed as the Curse Desktop App. The Twitch App which can be downloaded here.

1. Click “Download Twitch”
   
2. If you don't already have a Twitch account, you will need to create one in order to use the app
   
3. Once you have the app downloaded and set up it should look like this:
   
4. Click On “Mods” on the top left hand side.
   
5. Click on WoW.
   
6. You’ll then have 2 different screens “My Addons” and “Get More Addons”:
   
7. At this point you can browse and download Add-Ons in the app if you choose to by:
   
   1. Clicking on “Get More Addons”
      
   2. Click on an Add-On you'd like to download
      
   3. Click "Install"
      
   4. Your Add-Ons will download and you don't need to do anything else!
      

*What I would recommend to anyone that just wants to browse Add-Ons: do it directly on the Curse website. In my opinion the website is simpler, easier to navigate, and more organized. The categories for different add-ons are along the left-hand side and you can download any add-ons from your internet browser directly to the app by clicking the purple twitch install button on the right side (just make sure you're logged in).




Great Add-Ons For New Players (in no particular order)

I have come to know and love all of these add-ons and there is no way I could live my life without most of them (if not all). The thing about add-ons is: you don't realize how much you need them until you've tried them. I have compiled a few of my favorite add-ons that I believe will be perfect for someone new. Try them out, you may find you can't live without them either!


Side Note: Although these posts will include a lot of subjectivity, I have included specific "Author's Thought's" sections in purple text case you want my opinion.

• Bartender 4
  Bartender is one of those add-ons that is almost universally used among players. Bartender allows you to add more action bars to your screen, customize where they go, and easily add keybindings to your action bars. You can change the size, shape, and spacing of your bars in a way that you just can't with the normal blizzard UI. It is a pretty easy add-on to use but if you like the default Blizzard action bars it is not necessary.
  
  This was one of my first add-ons when I was a new player and I found my gameplay improve significantly once I found a set-up I liked.
  
  Check out Bartender 4 here or check out the images below!
  
  
  
  
  *Please ignore my different UI Bartender 4 is the action bars and options only! The UI add-on I use is called LUI and it's a complete user interface overhaul.
  
  
  
• Auctionator or Auctioneer
  
  
• Bagnon
  
  
• Postal
  
  
• Scrap
  
  
• Mapster
  
  
• End Content: Skada or Details! or Recount
  
  
• End Content: Deadly Boss Mods (DBM) or BigWigs
  
  
• End Content: GTFO
  
  
• Extras
  
  Can't get enough of all these awesome add-ons? Check out more of my recommendations below!
  • Rarity: Keeps track of your mount farming and the bosses you've defeated
    
  • Saved Instances: Keep track of your lock-outs and important currency for all your toons
    
  • Overachiever: Achievement Interface improvements and general achievement tracking awesomeness
    
  • Mount Journal Enhanced: Interface improvements for the mount journal
    
  • Pet Journal Enhanced: Interface improvements for the pet journal
    
  • Toy Box Enhanced: Interface improvements for the toy box
    
  • Altoholic: If you can't stop making alts like me
    
  • Collect Me: For all of your collection needs. I especially love it for the random mount macro.
    
  • MogIt: Great for your transmogging needs and also adds a small tooltip to view a piece of gear
    
  • FasterLoot: Because who wants to take time to loot anyway?
    
  • NPC Scan: Alerts you of nearby rares
    
  • TradeSkillMaster: If you really want to become an AH master and want something more in depth than Auctionator/Auctioneer
    
  • World Quest Tracker: Updates World Quest UI (for max level)
    
  • Auto Turn-In: Makes leveling a breeze by automatically turning in all your quests. Let's you customize types of quests to turn in and by what parameters
    
  • Recount: Recount is a graphical damage meter written by Cryect.
    

Final Thoughts

I hope you enjoyed this guide and it was useful to you in some way! Please feel free to leave any suggestions or feedback and I will try to get to it ASAP.