In Part 1, I discussed what an addon is and how to install one via Curse. In Part 2, I discussed essential, non-intrusive addons that improve general gameplay. In this part, I discuss addons with a moderate impact on user experience, specifically in combat, that I still recommend to improve the gameplay experience.
Deadly Boss Mobs
DBM is
a database that gives raid warning text that helps you know essential
boss fight information with enough time to do things like avoid the
death or interrupt (if interruptable). It also manages multiple target
fights by providing you with convenient clickable health bars for every
boss in a fight, so that you can easily swap (helpful for finding that
damned weak spot). It's split into a few different addons based on
expansion and experience, and the core DBM only includes current content
(Mists of Pandaria). Install the core addon, and then install the
following expansions to your liking:
It additionally has PvP support and Proving Ground support, but they're not full add-ons yet. Once they are, I'm certain they'll be just as essential as the other ones.
Healers Have to Die
HHtD places a healer icon above healers when they cast, so that you know to kill them first.
GTFO
As the name implies, GTFO sends you notification (either audio or visual) when you're standing in The Death. Get the flip out.
Skada Damage Meter
Like Recount, Skada keeps track of DPS and compares it with the rest of your party. Unlike recount, it has a minimal UI and RAM impact, meaning it doesn't make your eyes bleed on a smaller screen, or make your computer sad.
Healbot
This has likely the largest UI impact. It adds a raid frame to your UI that can monitor party members for buffs, enables casting just by clicking someone's name (or right clicking, or shift-clicking, or...), and monitors each party member for debuffs or cleanable statuses (poison, curse, etc). Its UI impact is dramatically outweighed by its functionality.
SpellFlash
Spellflash is an addon that highlights and flashes the optimal ability use on your hotbar for the highest DPS (or most survivability, as a tank). It will also always highlight interrupts that you can use. Note that you have to install additonal SpellFlash modules to make it work, or you can just check out this one-click collection of all modules. Very useful when you have multiple characters and get a little rusty swapping.
Pokemon Trainer
This one
is specific to pet battles, adding a tooltip when you mouse over a
critter in the wild showing whether your current pets (and their
attacks) are strong or weak against the specified battle pet. It also alters the pet battle UI to show which pets have beneficial abilities, should you choose to swap.
Part 4 will deal with inventory management, sorting, and data addons.
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