Mods! 2011-12 edition!

[Azazel]

So I've just resubbed, after pretty much a year of non-playing, and so I'm wondering which UI mods people are recommending these days?

I'm after:

A Threat meter
An inventory manager (which mule has all those ores again?)
Does Gatherer/Gathermate still exist?
What about those free popcap games?

Anything else worthwhile?

Oh, and where can you get them that's safe? I'm going to skip the whole Curse thing.

[Rendakor]

Omen still works pretty well as a threat meter. Bagnon or Altaholic for your inventory, depending on if you like your bags merged into one big one or not. Gathermate2 is the active project there; don't forget to download the data package as well so you have the nodes preloaded. IIRC Bejeweled and Peggle still work, although neither has been updated recently. I was playing Bejeweled as recently as 4.1, but that was a few patches ago so YMMV.

I also use Recount (DPS parser), Auctionator, Bartender, Quartz (cast bar), Mik's Scrolling Battle Text, and a few others that are less important.

I still get mine from Curse, I just don't trust their silly client. Wowace is probably the other big addons site.

[caladein]

If you don't want to use Curse/CurseForge/WowAce your only real alternative is WoWInterface, which I in fact prefer if we're discounting the desktop clients.

I'll second Rendakor's addon suggestions although I prefer AuctionLite and Parrot to Auctionator and Mik's respectively.

[Setanta]

Given the state of threat nowadays, if you have pulled aggro then either a) you popped CDs and burst  a  mob before the tank even looked at it or b) your tank sucks. Nowadays a tank just has to look meaningfully at a mob and it humps his leg forever (I knew a girl like that once).

[SurfD]

Given the state of threat nowadays, if you have pulled aggro then either a) you popped CDs and burst  a  mob before the tank even looked at it or b) your tank sucks. Nowadays a tank just has to look meaningfully at a mob and it humps his leg forever (I knew a girl like that once).

Eh, there are still a couple of gimmic fights where tank threat gets reset at odd intervals, so knowing when you might be riding the tanks ass like crazy is still useful sometimes.

[Simond]

TidyPlates + ThreatPlates is a pretty good combination threatmeter + unit frame enhancement.

[luckton]

TidyPlates + ThreatPlates is a pretty good combination threatmeter + unit frame enhancement.

This x1000.  I so wish every game did with these two mods together did.

[Setanta]

TidyPlates + ThreatPlates is a pretty good combination threatmeter + unit frame enhancement.

Also +1. The reason I don't run Omen - tanking or DPS, these are awesome.

Every MMO should have them built in.

[Selby]

I'm still using the same set of mods for the last 3-4 years.

Gatherer (despite it not being updated frequently, it still works fine)
Altoholic (makes managing alts much more pleasant, especially since I have 10 80+ characters loaded up)
Omen (threat meter, rarely used these days for above mentioned reasons)
Recount (for info just in case, don't actively use it)
Deadly Boss Mods (for heroics and raids)

[Hutch]

My current addon lineup:

Advanced Trade Skill Windows
Archy (archaeology aid)
Auctioneer
BankItems (keeps track of inventory for all of your alts)
Bartender4
Deadly Boss Mods
Gatherer
Omen, just in case
Power Auras - even though Blizzard has baked in some of this mod's functionality, it's not obsolete yet
Recount
Shadowed Unit Frames
Tidy Plates
Titan

I've had BankItems since forever, and it does what I want. I've never checked out Altoholic to see what's different about it.

Some of these mods, particularly Bartender, Power Auras, and Shadowed, require a lot of config work on the user's part before they make a difference. But once you've got the config work done, they really improve the game, and it's under your control.

I'm still using Advanced Trade Skill Window, in spite of its issues, because Blizzard for some reason hasn't coopted its functionality yet. And I've not yet seen a better trade skill mod.

[Ironwood]

I can kinda see your point about Bartender, but I think you're egging it a little.

The hardest chap to arrange was my druid, but back then it was fucking VITAL if you wanted to keep track of any buttons whatsoever.

It's the only Mod I NEED.

[El Gallo]

If you respec a lot, get Action Bar Saver.  It'll save you the hassle of manually resetting your abilities on hotbars.  I used to use it when I'd frequently switch from dps/tank to dps/pvp dual specs.  It worked fine in 4.2, I assume it still does.  Note that the default UI remembers your bars if you only use 2 specs, so you only need this if you use 3+.

[Hutch]

I might not know what you mean by "egging it".

I may also be misremembering just how long it took to beat BT into the form that I now use. I guess the greatest part of the challenge was figuring out what it can do.

The point is that some of these mods are not for the person who just wants to unzip the files into their Addons folder and then they start working. I know that some people have an aversion and/or ineptitude when they have to configure things themselves.

[Descended]

I also second the ThreatPlates + TidyPlates recommendation.

In addition, I'd recommend three addons for gameplay efficiency (i.e. not looking down at the edges of your screen for information you need to know).

Quartz (see what your target is casting easily)
TellMeWhen (easily setup graphical notifications of cooldowns, missing buffs/debuffs, etc)
A global cooldown tracker (I use NefGCD, but I had to update it myself to get it working)

[Wolf]

Power Auras is amazing. I'm happy to report I've now setup mine to have a fat ass (as in covering a good 3/4ths of my screen) judgments of the pure icon when the buff is down, i'm in healing spec and raid combat. After the first night of using this aura I have 99% uptime on all fights 

Really though for anyone thinking Power Auras is complicated, hard to use, etc (As I did several months ago), just poke around with it no more than 10 minutes, and you'll have your first aura setup. After that it's a minute at most and it's an incredible tool I wish I had in TOR so bad :)

[Hutch]

I use Power Auras to tell me when my various shots and dps cooldowns are available. These are represented as a row of semi-transparent icons in a row underneath my toon.

I also have a big, middle of the screen, pulsing icon that lets me know when Serpent Sting is not applied to my target.

The row of icons might have to get moved. I designed the whole setup in a previous expansion, before Blizzard gave brightly glowing healing circles to, well, to Priests in particular.

[SurfD]

I use Power Auras to tell me when my various shots and dps cooldowns are available. These are represented as a row of semi-transparent icons in a row underneath my toon.

I also have a big, middle of the screen, pulsing icon that lets me know when Serpent Sting is not applied to my target.

The row of icons might have to get moved. I designed the whole setup in a previous expansion, before Blizzard gave brightly glowing healing circles to, well, to Priests in particular.

You should check out Weak Auras.  Its a mod much like Power Auras, but less memory usage, and a lot more Configurable when you get into the guts of it.  Really good for tracking procs, cooldowns and buffs / debuffs in just about every way imaginable.

I have one set up for my tank spec that throws a big warning icon up in the middle of my screen whenever i get Fading Light on Ultraxion, so i know exactly when to push my button.

[Nightshade]

Pretty much the only thing I do in WoW is arenas anymore, and the occasional raid.  That being said there is a lot that can be done with scripts and macros in game that can adjust the interface with how you want it.   I got tired of re-downloading mods patch after patch and configuring my UI just right - figured the only real one I use now is DBM, and Rogue Power Bars (pve only).

That being said, haven't really looked into any really easy to use customizable mods.  If anyone has any suggestions on making the interface more minimal without a whole lot of effort, that would be appreciated.

[Jimbo]

My son used to use Curse client, and had some really nice mods.  Is there something wrong with using Curse or Curse Pro (well you pay for that one)?  The idea of using it for WoW, Skyrim, Terria, and Minecraft sounds pretty nice.

[caladein]

It's another vector for bad ads basically and it's had a couple of them.

As for really minimal and easy to configure unit frames, I can't recommend Shadowed Unit Frames highly enough (WoWI/Curse). 

[Jimbo]

So using the Curse Premium which is the one with out ads would be better?  $ 2.49 a month isn't that much to me, so if it has the neat stuff and is more secure I think I'll try it out.  I wish everyone who played PvP had "Healers have to die" even without the add on I could spot them a mile away, but now this would help the other idiots who constantly attack the tanks instead of the casters or more importantly, the healers.