Without
a doubt one of my biggest in game pet peeves is the people in
my raid lacking buffs. It could be flasks, or simply a player buff such
as Fortitude, either way it gets my nerd rage going. While some would
advise me to calm down and let it go, I simply can’t. Without
the proper buffs you are doing the raid a disservice, and hindering (at
least slightly) the rest of the raid. If I happen to be in that raid,
then it becomes personal.



Back in the 40 man days it was next to impossible to be sure that every
single raid member had the appropriate buffs, unless you wanted to
spend half an hour scrolling over each raider’s individual
name. Thanks to the reduction in numbers of raid groups, checking buffs
by hand has become significantly easier, but still it would be nice to
have a mod do it for you. So I was very excited to come across a mod
(RaidBuffStatus) that claimed to do just that, but would it live up to
expectations or just frustrate me even further?



Mod
Name: RaidBuffSatus

Category:
Buffs and Debuffs

Author:
Daneilbarron, Cremor

Version
Reviewed At: 3.249

Homepage:
href="http://www.wowace.com/addons/raidbuffstatus/"
target="_blank">Click Here



RaidBuffStatus (RBS) is an add on that is designed to check, show, and
report the buff status of your party. Unlike other similar addons, RBS
does this intelligently. If you are confused as to what that might mean
here is an example based on the one given on the mod’s
homepage; only if there is a Mage present in your raid will the mod
check for an intellect buff, and it will not check the buffs of players
who are not in the same zone as the rest of your party.



style="float: right; width: 94px; height: 300px;" alt=""
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/81276">So
I was more than a little excited to
start testing out this mod, as it sounded quite literally to be the
answer to my raiding prayers. Once installed I noticed right away that
as the website claims, RBS is useable right out of the box, instantly
gaining the mod some extra bonus points.



Once you join a raid or party the dashboard will appear. The dashboard
is where you will be able to view  all the buffs RBS checks
for, plus other stats such as raid health, how many people are
alive, and raid mana. The buffs are represented by corresponding icons
with a number in the center. This number lets you know exactly how many
party members are missing each buff. If these icons are hovered over
you can then see the names of each player that is missing that
particular buff.



Already this mod has made most raid leaders lives that much easier, but
it gets even better! From the dashboard you can report to raid or party
the names of the players who are missing buffs. You can choose to
either report for Trash or a Boss. If you choose Trash all buffs except
elixirs and soul stone will be counted, if you choose Boss it will take
into account all possible buffs. To report on a buff you simply
Shift-Click on the icon for that buff, or you can also choose to save
someone some embarrassment and whisper them instead by Control-Clicking
instead.



On top of all the awesome things RBS already does (and does well) it
can now check specs, help you buff, and provides tank taunt warnings as
well as crowd control warnings. One of the things I especially liked
was if a Fish Feast was provided, and someone did not get the food
buff, when the Feast came close to expiring the mod would whisper the
slacking players with a gentle reminder. To see the full list of
warnings, and other amazing features RBS provides I once again direct
you to the homepage listed above.

style="width: 600px; height: 161px;" alt=""
src="http://www.tentonhammer.com/image/view/81277">

The true test for me though was when I decided to try my hand at the
options menu. Nothing frustrates me more than a mod that takes a degree
in rocket science to customize. Once again though I was pleasantly
surprised. The RBS options window turned out to be easy to figure out,
and even easier to customize to my needs. When open, the options window
provides a list of all the buffs, and how you would like the buffs to
be monitored. Simply check or uncheck an option to turn it on or off.
RBS gives you full control of almost everything making it so each user
can easily modify it to suit their raiding needs.



There were two very minor hitches that I came across while using the
mod. The first was RBS did not seem to recognize holiday food, even
though it was just as good as any other food. This meant that people
were being whispered who didn’t really need to be whispered,
and it became rather annoying. The second came when more than one
member of the raid had the mod downloaded. While only one RBS
(thankfully) would report and whisper players you never could tell
which player’s RBS was going to be the primary mod. On one
night it even switched from one player to another halfway through the
raid.



Overall though I was beyond satisfied with the mod, and would recommend
it to any raid leader who is trying to whip those slacking players into
shape. Nothing makes someone buff faster than seeing your name come
across in raid chat. Of course this mod won’t be for
everyone. Some may even find it annoying. While I appreciate the extra
warning, some users may not be of the same mindset. In fact some people
may get down right agitated when you point out their lack of buffs. So
users beware. I personally plan on continuing to use it to aid in my
raiding, and hope that all who try it out get as much benefit out of it
as I have.



Care to share your experiences with RaidBuffStatus? Join us on our
forums!