World of Warcraft at Ten Ton Hammer - Taking MMOG Gamers to the Next Level!

After many trials, you’ve become a master rogue - a bad-ass dealer of pain and death to all those who foolishly oppose you. You’ve got incredible gear, got the best enchantments that money (or the threat of violence) could buy, and you’ve completely mastered your abilities that allow you to thrive in the swirling chaos of combat. However, despite all this, you feel that something is lagging. Some tiny thing that keeps holding you back, keeping you a mere mortal when you should be elevated to near-godhood status. The answer to your dilemma is addons.

Addons? What are they, you ask? Well, my friend and fellow shadow dweller, addons are helpful programs that can be added to your World of Warcraft game. These addons can range from minor things, such as an auction house helper, to incredibly vital, such as an addon that monitors your threat level in combat. You can gather various addons from various sites throughout the web, and you save those addons in your ‘addons’ directory (no surprise there!) for World of Warcraft. When you log into the game, you can select which addons you you use by clicking on the ‘addons’ box on the lower left of the character screen.

Now, we’ll examine a number of useful addons that any self-respecting rogue would have up. Please remember that this is not an all-inclusive list. There are many, many addons out there, and each person has their own personal favorites. If you don’t see your favorite, there’s no need to lie in wait for me in a dark alley.

Omen Threat Meter

This addon is a must-have. I cannot make this clearer. If you’re part of a group and you don’t have this addon up and running, then you deserve the death that will be coming your way. Basically, this addon monitors your threat level during combat. This number is expressed as a percentage. The more damage you do, the higher your percentage goes up. Why is this addon so important? Well, our job as a rogue is to dish out damage. However, we do not want to draw aggro from the main tank. You want the bad guys to keep hammering the idiot tank while you keep stabbing them from behind. If a boss turns to fight you, you’ll be turned into jelly in a few hits. Our leather armor doesn’t protect us like plate, my friend. As you’re fighting, keep an eye on your percentage. If it starts getting too high, then use your Feint ability. If using Feint doesn’t keep the bosses from looking your way (which means you’re probably working with a crappy tank), then slow down your special attacks.

Deadly Boss Mods
This addon is essential for raiding. What this addon provides is a timer and notices of a boss’ special attacks. Want to avoid that locust swarm that keeps getting spewed onto you and causing you to die? Well, this addon is here to help. By knowing when a boss will use his special attacks, you’ll know how to react. This reaction could be moving to keep behind him, or just plain running away to get out of range of his special attack. Also, you’ll be able to plan your attacks more efficiently by knowing how much time you have before the boss’ next big attack. All in all, a vital addon if you plan on doing any raiding at all.

Recount
This addon is great for several reasons. First, the purpose of this addon is to keep track of various abilities throughout a raid (or even solo). For us rogues, the main use is to keep track of our DPS. You can see how your DPS compares to other members of your raid, and also keep track of damage done. The secondary reason of why this addon is great for us is that you can click on your DPS and a pie chart pops up. This pie chart shows what exactly made up our DPS. It will show normal autoattacks, the various special attacks we have (sinister strike, mutilate, etc), and the various poisons. This breakdown of our damage can really help you identify problem areas in your attacks. An ability that you use a lot is only contributing 5% or so to your overall DPS? Well, now you know that you need to change something up. In addition, we want to keep an eye out on how we compare to others. If a lowly tank beats you in DPS, then hang your head in shame! Use this addon to identify your problem areas.

SliceCommander
This addon is pretty simple. It keeps track of your Slice and Dice ability. When your Slice and Dice begins to wind down, it will give you an audible warning, and will continue to do so as your Slice and Dice counts down to zero. The reason why this addon is helpful is that, during a raid, you’ll have a ton of buffs showing up on your screen. You’ve already got one eye on your threat rating (Omen), another on the position you are in relation to your foes, and a third (what, you don’t have 3 eyes?) on the countdowns on various abilities (Hunger for Blood, Slice and Dice). Well, this addon helps free up one of your eyes (at least, the eye you were using for Slice and Dice). Remember, Slice and Dice greatly enhances your DPS and you do not want it to drop. Never!

There you are, my fellow rogues. A small sampling of the multitude of addons that you can use to enhance your gameplay in WoW. There’s an addon for every aspect of the game, and probably some that we couldn’t possibly imagine! The addons that we’ve highlighted above are incredibly useful for one simple reason. They help keep you alive, and that’s what you’re looking for, right? A dead rogue is an unhappy rogue, unless the dead rogue is a rival and you’ve finally settled that score and are now happily searching through his pockets. A good addon should make your life easier and make your gameplay experience more rewarding.