Tank like a girl
Oct 27 2009

Addon Corner: Tekkub attack!

Posted by Kadomi

It’s been forever since I posted about my UI, which I am still as passionate about as ever. I recently got the info that people miss my addon spotlights, so today I bring you an addon feature. To make it even more special, I won’t talk about one addon, I will talk about many! Consider this post an ode to Tekkub, one of the most prolific addon authors out there.

All of Tekkub’s addons have the same premise: brief, efficient code. None of them do anything super-flashy, but they will all not tax any resources and are fantastic at what they do.

I will only post about those Tekkub addons that I am actually using myself, but for the whole masterlist, check out his website. Also well worth a read is an interview he once did with NoStock UI.

Cork
Once upon a time I used Smartbuff as buff reminder, but it was bulky, tended to be annoying, and just didn’t do anymore. With WotLK, Tekkub released Cork and I switched to it. Cork reminds you of many things. No shout up? Missing food buff? Need to repair? Got some clams to shuck? Vigilance dropped off your target? Cork will tell you. You get a frame and you can place the anchor anywhere, and whenever something is missing, the frame will pop up. Cork comes with a macro that you can bind to a key. If you’re not in combat, you can poke the macro key and whatever is at the top of the list of reminders will be done (unless it’s stuff like repairing or missing food buff). Vigilance and Earth Shield reminders are special, Cork needs to detect that you cast those to start reminding you when they fall off. Repairs can be set up for a certain threshhold, mine is 40%, e.g.

The uses for this are really infinite. Seal and Blessing reminders for paladins, buff reminders for all buff classes (including group members missing buffs), poison and weapon buff reminders, Viper/Hawk switches for hunters, tracking reminders, what have you.

Size: 55kb, SmartBuff has 3 times its size

Cork sample Cork's repair alert in towns, can be configured

Control Freak
Of zero use for warriors, this is one of my top addons on any class that uses Crowd Control. Lol, whut’s CC? :( Seriously, I expect Blizzard to come back to needing CC for Cataclysm, this AoE dumbness needs to stop. Aaaaaanyway. Even if CC is mostly used for soloing now, this addon will make it tons easier. It places a tiny frame that says either Control Freak or CF on your screen. Target a mob, click on it, and the target is now your /focus. Click the frame again, and your class default CC will be used, e.g. Polymorph as mage or Sap as rogue. If you have multiple CC options, like warlocks (Enslave and Banish) you can set the preferred CC method. Like most Tekkub addons, this can also be keybound if you prefer pressing buttons instead of clicking.

Size: 73kb

GnomishVendorShrinker
Gnomish Vendor Shrinker in actionEver stood at a vendor that had gazillions of items and you had to click through page after page until you made it to whatever you want? I am looking at you, tier and badge vendors. GnomishVendorShrinker changes the vendor frame and instead you will get single-line items as scrolling list. Click on an item and you buy it directly. Shift-click and choose the amount you want to buy. Alt-Click and you buy a full stack. Type whatever you are looking for into the search box and the result with be highlit for easy location. Makes it extremely easy to e.g. find the gem cut of choice on the JC vendors. Speaking of JC vendors, recipes you do not know yet are blue, and items you cannot buy at all are red. In my sample screenshot, I was using ’solid’ as search term and based on the highlighting, you can see that I already know that cut, just like I already know the Delicate Cardinal Ruby.

Size: 10 kb.

GoodNewsEveryone
First off, any addon that uses Professor Farnsworth as LDB icon is pure win. Yay Futurama! GNE is Tekkub’s latest and is a proc reminder. Now, many of you might be using Mik’s Scrolling Battle Text which shows proc events, but GNE will add a timer. The list of supported procs is long. I haven’t tested yet if you can add your own procs using the spellID, but I will test if you can add Sword & Board. If you need to watch your procs a lot, like I do as frost DK waiting for Killing Machine and Rime procs, this is very useful.

Size: 21 kb

Panda
Panda in actionThis is a profession addon that will be useful to JCers, Scribes and Enchanters the most. It also supports alchemy but I didn’t find that part so useful. However, the benefits for the other three professions are awesome. What does Panda do? It simplifies prospecting, milling and disenchanting, and offers a great interface to cutting gems and making glyphs. On a tab you get to see what raw mats you have in your inventory and with one click you can disenchant, mill or prospect without digging through your inventory. It will also list Auctioneer or AuctionLite prices in the overviews of those professions, if you want to use the raw gems and pigments and dusts you got for something useful right away. In my screenshot you can see that I have 10 saronite ore in my inventory, a click on it would prospect. You can also see the going rates for the various raw gems and which ones I have on me right now.

Size: 43 kb

tekability
This tiny addon does one thing exactly. It adds durability values to your Character Pane. At a glance you can see what durability your stuff is at. Handy!

Size: 8 kb

teksLoot
This is a rewrite of XLoot group. Tiny loot roll frames in group that you can place anywhere. Good stuff. In my example you can see that 2 people rolled need and 2 people passed. If I’d mouseover the icons, it would list who has rolled need and who passed.

Size: 4 kb

TourGuide
IMHO, this is the best leveling addon out there. It’s no QuestHelper or Carbonite. It’s small, Jame’s leveling guides were ported to Tour Guide, and if you also install LightHeaded and TomTom you have a fabulous combo for leveling. I level just about any alt with this and it makes leveling efficient and easy without ever lagging my game, something you cannot say for all leveling addons.

Size: 412 kb

VendorBait
This little addon does a very little thing. It will highlight the quest item that would vendor for the most gold, with a sparkly frame around it. Yay for more gold. :)

Size: 3 kb

Ampere + MakeRocketGoNow: I posted about those two addons before, so check out those old posts.

There you go, your big ol’ Tekkub special. I am such a fangirl, just so you know. :)

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