Questing Addon query

[Sparky]

So I just resubbed to WoW after almost a year and thought it'd be fun to check out the new faster leveling with a mage.  I'd like a happy medium between "explore every nook and cranny smelling the roses" and "mechanically follow James' guide".  Noticed there are a lot of Questing addons that sound like they fit the bill.  Which one is best?

Also are there any addons that my mage just shouldn't leave home without?

Thanks.

[Numtini]

Quest helper will just show you where quest mobs are, with or without an arrow to get there. It doesn't direct you to do anything in particular though. It just shows you where stuff is if you open the map.

Maybe I just suck, but questing with a mage is probably the hardest class I've tried bar none.

[Oban]

Quest helper + cartographer is a great combination.

[Selby]

Also are there any addons that my mage just shouldn't leave home without?

As a mage that is leveling, if you have a gathering profession use Gatherer or other somesuch.  Otherwise, you really need zero add-ons and there aren't any that are going to be considered mandatory until you start raiding or doing heroics.

As for questing, you can download Jame's add-on (assuming it is finished for your range).  I personally didn't have too much trouble with a mage, one of the easier classes to level in my opinion.

[Rasix]

I use Quest Helper and Mapster (with Gathermate for gathering profs).  I tend to neuter QH down to the very basics and Mapster is nice and light weight.  

I don't use any sort of leveling guide addon in addition.  I just tend to bookmark one and alt tab to it if I find that I run out of quests.  You level so fast now at lower levels, all you really need to do is find an appropriate hub for your level and then look back when you've exhausted all of the non-annoying quests.

[SurfD]

My mage used to use an addon called "Cryolosis2"  (i think, not sure if i misspelled it).  It was basically a mage customized version of the Necrosis mod for warlocks.  Helped keep your action bars tidy by moving all those situational spells like ports, gems and things into a compact area you could put wherever you liked.

Not sure if it has been updated for current version, but i am sure there is something similar out there.

[Sparky]

Thanks for the recommendations.  Getting up to speed on add ons is always the most daunting part of resubbing.

[Gobbeldygook]

Unmentioned quest addons:

-Lightheaded.  It puts comments from wowhead on quests right in your quest log.  The wowhead comments can provide a lot more information if needed, e.g. "You can solo this as a paladin, but no fucking way as a rogue."

-Tourguide: It's like a Jame's, but in your client.  It holds your hand as you quest, pointing you at this quest hub and that quest hub.

Personally, I use tourguide and nothing else.  I like having a computer program tell me what quests to take and what to skip.

[apocrypha]

Lightheaded rocks, very, very handy.

[Numtini]

Yeah, I love lightheaded. It didn't sound like they wanted that much handholding. I use the Jame's add on with quest helper and the arrow controlled by Jame's and it's fantastic for burning through quests.

[Lum]

Carbonite has similar functionality to QuestHelper and is now free (Blizzard told them to stop charging, basically). Try them both and see which one you prefer. Personally I use Carbonite and TourGuide.

http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info12965-Carbonite.html

[Lum]

Also, if you are level 80 and doing dailies, there's some pretty good TourGuide addons that track common daily circuits. Don't have the link handy but they're pretty easy to spot (just check under TourGuide in your addon repository of choice).

[Xanthippe]

Never tried TourGuide but I use Carbonite, and love it.

[Rasix]

I never could get past the map it uses.

[Ratman_tf]

I DLed tourguide and couldn't even figure out what it was supposed to do.

I've used Carbonite before, it was pretty good, but I took a peek at Questhelper, and it's pretty sweet. I'll be using it if I ever get serious about alt-ing again.

[Signe]

Righ doesn't like the Carbonite map, either.  Although, up until the last month or so, I haven't played WoW as much as the rest of you guys, I've Carbonite the most.  All the other maps bother me now.  

[Merusk]

I DLed tourguide and couldn't even figure out what it was supposed to do.

I've used Carbonite before, it was pretty good, but I took a peek at Questhelper, and it's pretty sweet. I'll be using it if I ever get serious about alt-ing again.

Beware that QH is a resource hog and zoning multiple times without a reboot will slow you to a crawl.   I was at 5.2fps last night before I remembered to turn of QH after my multi-continent questing.  After I did so I was back up to 70.

[Ratman_tf]

I DLed tourguide and couldn't even figure out what it was supposed to do.

I've used Carbonite before, it was pretty good, but I took a peek at Questhelper, and it's pretty sweet. I'll be using it if I ever get serious about alt-ing again.

Beware that QH is a resource hog and zoning multiple times without a reboot will slow you to a crawl.   I was at 5.2fps last night before I remembered to turn of QH after my multi-continent questing.  After I did so I was back up to 70.

Thanks for the heads up. It does look like it's doing a lot of shit. (calculating flight paths, etc...) Do you know if /reloadui will reset it?

[Merusk]

Not a clue, I haven't tried that one. I usually just take it as a "log off now, moron" cue.

[Rasix]

Cue. 

I wonder if some of the slow down I get is from QH. I do turn off most features and turn down the processing to minimum.

[Dren]

I used QH until I tried Carbonite.  Stayed with Carbonite because of the lag issues on QH.  If I could use QH without the lag, I would switch in a heartbeat.  Carbonite's map is a pain.