I've been playing Wildstar since headstart access began on Saturday. Like Phil, who's detailing his experiences in our review in progress , I'm really enjoying the game. This is the most fun I've had with a traditional MMO since Guild Wars 2, and its mix of new and old ideas has arrived at exactly the right time - just when I've been starting to feel nostalgic for vanilla World of Warcraft, raiding, and worrying about my rotations.
As with World of Warcraft, Wildstar has a substantially moddable interface and there are already hundreds of addons available on Curse . Many are useful, but a few fix problems with the base game - either improving quality of life substantially or resolving oversights in the design of the basic interface. Below, you'll find the set I'm currently using. I imagine that as I level up I'll add to the list, but this is a good place to start.
Installing addons
There are a few third party tools available to handle installation, but it's very straightforward to manage it yourself. After you've downloaded all the files you want, locate the game's addons folder. Its address should be %APPDATA%\NCSOFT\Wildstar\Addons - if it doesn't exist, create it. You might also want to create a shortcut so that you can access it later.
Then all you need to do is extract the downloaded .zip files to that location and run the game. You can even install new addons while the game is running by typing /reloadui or going to the main menu and selecting 'Addons' followed by 'Reload UI'. You can also use the addons menu to disable anything you don't like.
Configuring individual addons depends on the addons themselves - check out their listings on Curse for more information.
CustomFoV
By thief425. Click here to download .
Wildstar doesn't let you alter the field of view in its main menu, and the default is 50 - a very narrow slice of the world for most players. This mod allows you to bring up a simple slider menu to adjust the value by typing /setfov into the chat bar. What you settle on will be down to your own preference, but I've found that between 70 and 75 degrees expands the field of view without distorting my sense of distance.
LocalTime
By boeb0e. Click here to download .
This is an incredibly simple one. It ensures that the real-time clock in the lower left of the screen matches the timezone that you're in, rather than the timezone that the server is in. Useful if you're used to relying on the clock to get you to work/bed/surgery/weddings/etc.
GroupRadar
By Ptraco. Click here to download .
This is a great piece of work. It can be surprisingly easy to lose track of your groupmates in Wildstar, forcing you to load the fullscreen map to see their locations. GroupRadar adds arrows around your character pointing to your friends, and you can configure their appearance and the point at which they appear. You can see my settings in the screenshot overhead: I have arrows appear when players are more than 30m away, and I've disabled overhead arrows entirely. Normally, if somebody is close enough for you to see an overheard arrow then they're close enough to ese their nameplate.
JunkIt
By Sinaloit. Click here to download .
After a few hours of Wildstar I'd really begun to miss Guild Wars 2's hassle-saving 'sell all junk' button. JunkIt not only introduces it to the game but adds a bunch of other features that reduce the amount of time you spend fiddling with merchants. You can have your gear repaired automatically and configure the types of items that the game considers junk. I recommend sparing salvagable items and costume pieces, however, as these are often low value enough to get instantly sold if you're not careful.
Nexus Panel
By _M3mph_. Click here to download .
An additional info window that can be arranged at the top the screen, NexusPanel lets you know your current ping and FPS as well as the amount of time it's going to take you to level up based on your current rate of XP gain. It's generally useful, but it'd be nice if it was customisable - I don't necessary need everything it shows all of the time.
BetterQuestLog
By octanepenguin. Click here to download .
This addon changes the quest log itself, rather than the tracker at the side of the screen. It alters the categorisation of quests to prioritise regions over storylines, which is neater and makes it easier to quickly identify what you should be doing next. If your friends have it installed then you'll also be able to make sure you've all got the right quests before going adventuring.
IconLoot
By daihenka. Click here to download .
IconLoot adds a more substantial pop-up when you loot anything above a configurable rarity threshold, including quest items. This means that you won't miss out when you find something rare - given that Wildstar is a game about hoovering up lots of loot all of the time, being able to sort the wheat from the chaff is useful.
ThreatMeter
By daihenka. Click here to download .
ThreatMeter provides an additional window during group encounters that shows how much aggro each member of the group is currently attracting. This removes a tremendous amount of ambiguity from group encounters, particularly for DPS characters who need to be managing their damage output. You can disable it if you're playing a tank, and set up warning threshholds to ensure that you don't have to keep your eye on it all of the time.
GalaxyMeter
By Humera. Click here to download .
Another useful stat-tracking tool. GalaxyMeter allows you to drill down through layers and layers of realtime stat analysis. I use it to keep an eye on my damage output. As I've started to unpick the Spellslinger, it's helped me figure out ideal ability rotations and optimal PvE strategies. You could also use it to track your damage output relative to other players in your raid. This addon also allows you to get more out of the training area plot in your housing area. Normally, having a targeting dummy to hit is a bit of a novelty. With GalaxyMeter, it can act as a viable tool for theorycrafting.
BijiPlates
By Casstiel. Click here to download .
BijiPlates is one of the most popular addons available at the moment. It's not on my personal list, but I appreciate its utility - it's used for customising the nameplates and healthbars that apear over characters' heads in combat. You're given lots of options about style, size, and colouring, and can configure exactly what information gets shown and when. In PvP, you can configure custom healthbar colours based on player class. Personally, I like the default nameplates quite a bit and struggled to make something better with BijiPlates' toolkit - but the options are there for people that want them, so it'd be amiss to leave it off this list.
ZenRadar
By NeoOmniX. Click here to download .
Another popular addon that I've currently got installed but disabled. ZenRadar creates an additional window that displace the distance of collectible items in your immediate vicinity - crafting materials, quests, lore items and so on. It's undoubtably useful for completionists, but for me it somewhat reduced the fun of going hunting for items myself. It's too easy to only watch the UI, not the game. I can imagine myself picking it back up when I'm looking to finish my collections, however, so it warrants inclusion here.
