Useful Addons/Programs

These will have varying levels of usefulness depending on what kind of player you are. I’ve been using all of these safely without any negative repercussions, but as with all software, use it at your risk! There is a GW2 Addon Manager that works quite well in case you don't want to deal with the hassle of manually installing some of these.

• BlishHUD - The most powerful overly suite for the game, in my opinion. There are so many modules that are being added to the game, that can assist you with displaying marker paths and locations for items for achievements (like GW2Taco), storing build templates, managing squad roles, in-game event reminders or timers, etc. Highly recommend using this.

• Arcdps - More for advanced players, this allows you to have damage/buff uptime/other stats meters similar to addons available in other games. It becomes more important in end-game content like raids where you’re trying to maximize your potential as a player. If you do use it, please don’t be a jerk or condescending when someone in your group isn’t “pulling their weight”. Here’s a basic guide on how to set it up. Arcdps has a number of plugins that may be used in conjunction with it, but make sure you do some research to see if any of them provide functionality that could possibly get you in trouble.

  • BuildPad - Easy, customizable Arcdps plugin to let you manage builds through filterable menus. Also supports hotkeys. It looks like this.

  • Boon Table - Much easier to read than the default ArcDps table to see boon uptime, etc

  • Mechanics - Allows you to see when you or other players are failing boss mechanics. It should be used as a tool to help train, not to berate others.

  • Scrolling Combat Text - Make sure in arcdps you go to extras, suppress floating combat text while you have this on. I also noticed that it bugs out the kill feed in sPvP and eventually kills your framerate so I don't recommend turning it on during PvP matches.

  • Killproof.me - Allows you to see information from that site in-game. It's for instanced group content killproof.

  • Custom font/font size - Just for reference, I use Trebuchet MS at size 14. Here's my config file and font file.

• GW2Radial - A nifty little addon that allows you to access novelties and mounts using a convenient radial (circle) menu rather than strictly relying on hotkeys.

• Reshade - Reshade is a post-processing injector that many will be familiar with using in other games. It can add new cinematic effects or simply provide a bit of sharpening to the game (that’s pretty much all I use it for, along with depth of field for screenshots). It’s a little tricky to set up, so you’ll have to do some of your own research on this one. The standard latest version of reshade works for me, but some people use this special branch that's meant to work with GW2.

• GW2hook - A custom reshade version designed to work with GW2. Doesn’t require much configuration out of the box and is highly recommended. HOWEVER, it WILL NOT work with d912pxy, which is why I don’t use it.

• GW2Taco - A completionist’s best friend. It is a highly customizable overlay that can mark anything from jumping puzzle/map completion routes to resource nodes to event timers to collection/achievement locations. Make sure to download marker packs. I recommend Reactif.

• Launch Buddy. - Allows you to launch multiple instances of the game if you have multiple accounts.

• Yolomouse - Makes it much easier to keep track of your cursor in-game. If you would like to use cursors that are still similar to the base game, check these out. Download the latest beta release if you don't wish to pay for the app.