Addons & levelling

While levelling, I like to enjoy the world I play in.  This meant that on my first toon - foosecond (I had another toon - foobarfoo - but that was on a relative's account), I ran it without any addons, and did my own thing.  I did break down and occasionally group with someone that had an addon that told them where to go, and used both wowwiki and thottbot to read up on advice for various quests.  Would I do it again - Yes. However, once I hit 80, questhelper found its way to my account and made questing much easier.

How do I use addons (part 1)?

The easiest way to manage addons is to use an addon manger - I use curse, but I beleive that some use others like wowmatrix (however, the instructions and links below are for what I know - and are curse based).
As always - all advice is of a general nature.  If you seek tailored advice please see a licenced financial planner.

For a levelling character - with an interest in gold, I have used:

• Questing : Questhelper.  This is a usefull cluestick to give ideas on how to find where that mob/quest item/handin is.  However the data from questhelper is gathered by an automatic tool, and while good - is not gospel.  Please still be prepeared to read quests and/or remove quests that are not needed.  There are other alternatives, including various levelling guides at www.wow-pro.com.
• The world is very large, and I am very small.  So many  hints in wowwiki/thotbott say that a mob/item/handin is at 52.1, 73.9 - but where am I and where is that?  DMiniCoords is great.  Even without it you can guess as it is just ,.
• I really need to find a few more mithril ores or purple lotus. I found them before but where were they?  Gatherer lets you track where you have previously found various herb and ore nodes.  Party members and guild members can also share their data with you.
• How much is that quest rewared/random drop worth, and should I auction it, vendor it or toss it?  I love Auctioneer.  It does much more than this, but for that alone it is great.  Also your bank alt will love you for it.
• Arrg - where is that item in my bag.  I know I have it somewhere.  Bagnon allows you to highlight items in your bag.  Genie lets me sort my bags.  Altaholic lets you search across characters.

I do use other addons for professions, but that will be the topic for a later post