Anyone Fancy helping out building an addon?

[DrKazza]

I'm planning on trying to write a VERY simple addon (my first) which will be called Goldfish.

It's for people like me with a memory like a Goldfish
What it does is it reminds casual players what the boss encounter is... not a Full strategy guide because that removes fun, but more a 2 second recap for when you've done the boss once but just can't remember what happens.

It's aimed at experienced players who have the misfortune to group with casuals.

Example... Naxx ... Instructor Razuvious...
RAID LEADER> Everyone remember this fight
Noob> remind me?
RAID LEADER> /GF Instructor Razuvious
RAID LEADER> Priests Mind Control the Adds to tank & DPS the Boss

Example2... Elder Nadox in OK
Noob> what happens here
LEADER> /gf Elder Nadox
LEADER> Tank and Spank Boss until a Guardian spawns when he becomes invulnerable
LEADER> Kill the Guardian and then boss can take damage again

So not a full tactics guide, just a 2 line precis of what the fight is about.

Do any of you guys fancy filling in a few details?
There are a total of 438 bosses in all raids and instances and I'd imagine that the bulk of them are pretty much T&S, particularly up to level 50 instances.

Would appreciate any help.

If you're bored and want to fill in some I'll post the list below and you can pick and choose

Kazza

[Yocote]

Interesting idea

The hard work will be to collect all the descriptions - and maintaining them.

One idea: as you are probably near the boss and can have him targeted, consider interpreting a blank "/gf" command (without the boss' name) to apply to your current target (fill in the boss name from your current target, using UnitName("target")). Though most boss names are easy to spell, it may just help speed up a little and help those who have a hard time spelling weird boss names.

Another gotcha: I am not sure, but aren't there any bosses that can appear in multiple locations/dungeons and need different tactics? In that case also take the name of your current zone (and possibly sub-zone) into account.

[DrKazza]

I don't think anyone appears in 2 instances actually (not as a boss at least) but I was going to have it as a zone thing...

if I can work out how to do a simple gui it would appear and only have the bosses for that instance listed. so you then click the button next to the name of the boss you're doing

problem with the unit name one, is that it won't work on the isolated encounters where the boss isn't present before the fight starts (e.g. Ragnaros)

do you know of any links for "how to write your first addon" or should I just find someone else's addon and look how it works?

[Promac]

Don't wanna spoil your fun but BigWigs is very similar to what you're describing.

[Yocote]

problem with the unit name one, is that it won't work on the isolated encounters where the boss isn't present before the fight starts (e.g. Ragnaros)

Good point

do you know of any links for "how to write your first addon" or should I just find someone else's addon and look how it works?

Some links:

the programming section on WoWWiki: http://www.wowwiki.com/Portal:Interface_customization

There is also a book existing "World of Warcraft programming"; the book's website is on http://wowprogramming.com/

Probably you can find some more by using Google.

[Blind]

Its no where near. Bigwigs provideds timers of what events are happening. Eg Sarth lava waves in 20 seconds.

I think the idea of the addon is quite sound. Basically a quick reminder of what it does. Kael'thas shows up in SSC and Magisters terrace though

[Yocote]

Don't wanna spoil your fun but BigWigs is very similar to what you're describing.

It is always good to be aware of addons that are close to what you want to do.

That said, in my experience , when I have an addon idea, there are quite some addons that almost do what I want, but not quite exactly. Usually the problem is that they do a seriously big load more things than I want. So, unless it does exactly what you want, don't let existing mods not spoil your appetite for making your own

[Promac]

Yeah it's a nice idea for a basic addon. Could probably do the coding itself in no time but as said, maintaining the list will be a pain in the arse.

Unless there's some existing library you can tap into. Maybe something in MobInfo or something similar?

[DrKazza]

well most bosses up til 40 are Tank and Spank... it's the odd ones that really need a quick hint... and there are probably only 100 or so of them

And if I'm smart (!) it could just be a simple update to a text file... it's not like boss strategies change (much)

[Blind]

http://www.wowace.com/projects/boss-notes/

Does what your after

[Promac]

Take that boss-notes mod and give it the option of outputting to party or raid chat for people who don't have the mod.