How To Update Addons Wow Curse

In June 2020, Twitch sold CurseForge — which was responsible for its pop Earth of Warcraft Addon director — to some other visitor, Overwolf. That means if y'all've been using that popular addon director, you might already exist enlightened that you need to find an alternative. Specially as the launch of Shadowlands nears, this becomes crucial.

Sadly, the Twitch manager has already stopped automatically updating several addons for a few weeks at present. I noticed this as I started getting in-game notifications that my Deadly Dominate Mods addon was out of date, despite the fact that I had been getting it automatically updated from the Twitch app since forever ago. If you've been using information technology, that might also be the case for you lot.

Simply exercise not panic, love reader! For hither is everything you need to know about using an addon director for WoW, every bit well every bit finding the best replacement for you.

The basics of using an addon manager

For many, many years, I plant and updated my addons manually. I had several bookmarks of places where I could become download them, and I would extract those .zip files on my WoW binder, i by one. Being used to the process, it didn't amount to much — but there were several drawbacks to that approach, that only became clear to me in one case I decided to seize with teeth the bullet and get-go using an addon director:

Sometimes your addons won't be up to engagement

Specially when a new expansion or major patch is released, this is a huge issue. We oftentimes stay for a few days — sometimes weeks or fifty-fifty months — without working versions of our favorite addons. And when that happens, we have to keep checking manually for when they release their updated versions. An addon manager does that job of searching for new versions, downloading then, and unpacking them for us, automatically, for every single addon nosotros have. All we demand to do is to load the manager, and boom! That'southward a bingo!

Another issue is merely that running out-of-date addons might crusade your game to not piece of work properly, to keep displaying abrasive error letters, or even to crash. One time Shadowlands drops, this is likely to happen to all of us. Running an addon manager, and keeping our addons up-to-appointment, volition profoundly diminish that problem. Some addons might still non work as shortly as the expansion is released, but the vast majority of them should get stable versions inside the side by side few hours, or days.

It'south a lot less work on your end

Machines should serve man. That'southward why we build them: and then nosotros can relax, and sip on our favorite beverages, while our robot slaves do the heavy labor for us.

Okay, maybe it's not every bit dramatic as that. But the truth is: managing all your addons manually takes its cost after some time. You'll have to proceed hunting for updates on your own time, and you lot'll probable exist defenseless with an older version very ofttimes — the popular encounter addon Mortiferous Boss Mods is the biggest culprit of this, since it updates with ridiculous frequency — and almost everyone uses it.

You lot might make mistakes: we are only human, and our robot overlords are sometimes much less decumbent to extracting a .cipher file in the wrong location, and and so wondering why their addon doesn't work. (I'm sorry, robots, I love you.)

Convinced yet?

So none of that was enough to convince y'all, and you lot still don't trust addon managers and want to keep doing it manually? Certain, find a repository such equally CurseForge, and be my invitee!

But I promise y'all: in one case you practise offset using an addon manager, your life becomes so much easier that it'southward absurd to fifty-fifty conceive of a WoW-playing life without one. My recommendation is: you lot should beginning using one.

Which addon manager should yous apply?

Overwolf

Overwolf has been on the market for quite some time, working with several MMOs and competitive titles since 2010. There are some big partnerships working with Overwolf, including names such as Intel and EA. Millions have been invested into it, and it has won awards. Information technology also supports addon creators by sharing a portion of its advertizing revenue with them — which many addons managers practise not.

But despite all of that… not everyone is happy with Overwolf, which volition be running ads in the app — with some commenters going as far as calling information technology "malware." If you visit their subreddit, it won't be difficult to discover threads where users are concerned nigh such topics equally, "Which data is nerveless anonymously?" or "Why am I getting a Trojan notification from Overwolf?" Even in the WoW subreddit, you can observe threads that were fabricated as long equally v years ago, wondering whether or non Overwolf is safe to use. Yikes.

Their overlay has also been criticized, for being decumbent to not launching at all, or to causing crashes on multiple games, such as League of Legends, Noon Legends, and Guild Wars ii. Plus, information technology won't be available for Mac players at launch, which is an extra bummer. They also planned on a server migration which would have locked creators out from updating their addons — a pretty standard practice in infrastructure, but the migration was scheduled for the calendar week of Shadowlands release. It seems that since the initial public outcry about this decision, they've been "working to reduce" the touch on migration volition take, only you lot may desire to plan your calendar week i addon downloads accordingly.

Sure, Overwolf is the "official replacement" for the Twitch addon. But given all of the above, there are plenty of alternatives that might be better picks for yous.

WoWUp

You might be interested in taking a look at these open-source alternatives. Being open up source is an enormous plus in my volume — that, in itself, makes them much, much safer if yous're scared well-nigh potentially adding malware to your system or sharing private information, since anyone can accept a look at the source code at any fourth dimension. Not to mention, you're likely supporting the work of someone who is releasing and supporting these apps for costless, much similar addon makers themselves.

WoWUp might non wait great, just is super easy to use and lightweight, and it'southward the closest option I've constitute to the erstwhile Twitch client. In some aspects such as performance, it works even ameliorate than that one.

It self updates, information technology finds your WoW folders automatically — I didn't even need to scan for them manually, non even for Classic, PTR, or beta! The interface is extremely similar to the one-time Twitch client — so if you're used to that one, this might be a plus for y'all. Even the buttons to update your addons or search for more than addons equally well equally the rows and columns displaying your addon data are in the positions y'all're already accepted to with the Twitch customer.

If WoWUp sounds like something y'all'd be interested in, you can get it here.

Ajour

Do you like a minimalist arroyo to design, and an emphasis on operation? Then Ajour, some other open up-source option, might be the 1 for you.

Setup only requires you to betoken it to your WoW binder. After yous do that, all your addons will exist listed with unproblematic options for you to update, delete, or ignore them, equally well as go to their official websites when applicable.

I did not discover options to manage my PTR or beta addons on this one. It wins in simplicity, being the most blank-basic option I've tried, which might be good if you're looking for as much simplicity as possible with addon managing. The fact that information technology only lists retail and Classic addons is a minus — but if y'all're not the type of role player who is interested in playing on the PTR or beta, that might not apply to you lot.

You can detect Ajour at this link.

Singularity

Some other good choice — idea not an open-source one — is Singularity. This addon manager is very upfront nearly privacy concerns, carefully detailing all the data it volition inevitably collect from you. You can read it all on the Privacy department of their website, and it also immediately pops at y'all when you kickoff install its client.

The layout is well washed, and, once again, similar to the sometime Twitch client nearly of us are used to at this signal. Setup only required me to point it at my WoW folder, and nothing else. Like the other expert options out there, information technology hands allows me to update my current addons, find new ones, and information technology supports Retail, Classic, PTR, and beta.

A potent point Singularity has in its favor is the ability to perform a backup of your current addons. If that's the kind of functionality that interests you, it might nudge you towards this option.

You can detect Singularity here.

Even more options

Do yous desire even more options? Exercise the previous ones not fit the bill for some reason? Maybe yous're looking for some specific feature, such as Mac or Linux integration? Or a different kind of UI? Well, we have this treasure trove of options for you: Merely follow this link to a GitHub folio featuring dozens of WoW addon managers! Hopefully you will find the one that fits all your needs and works as well as possible.

Disclaimer: No robots, Humans, Goblins, Gnomes, Mechagnomes, or Pepes were harmed in the making of this commodity, and Blizzard Lookout does not endorse the harming of such beings. Robots are friends, non nutrient.

Originally posted x/12/2020. Updated 11/17/2020.