Curse

Folks trying to decide between FishingBuddy (herein called FB) and FishingAce (herein called FA) might find this post useful.

Please note this is an opinion, and a fair one (I've used FB dating back to the WoW 3.x days), but I'm still just one man -- I'm not giving an ultimatum, and everyone's needs are different.  I respect both addons and appreciate the hard work that goes into coding them (I know Lua but the API is such a beast, combined with SO SO SO many libraries!), but wanted to share my opinion.

I've historically used FB.  At the time it was all there was, and it was a blessing.  My needs were simple: I wanted right-double-click casting and auto-loot for fishing, and if they offered "enhanced sounds" I wanted to turn that crap off.  FB and FA have those features.

FB does have one kinda cool feature: it keeps track of all the stuff you fish both per zone and per area, calculating how often Fish X gets caught vs. Fish Y, and stores all of that.  It's useful when you fish a lot and then need a particular mat/material but you can't remember where you got it.  "Where do I find those Blackmouth fish!?"  FB can tell you this instantly -- sure, so can Wowhead, but sometimes using a browser to look up items in-game feels like a daunting task and I just want to stay focused with having fun in-game -- but only after you've caught something there.  I think FB might have a database addon somewhere you can get which pre-populates all the zones/areas and what fish are there.  Otherwise, it just learns as you fish.

FB also has (if I remember right) some kind of "outfit support" where you can have it auto-swap all your gear with fishing-bonus gear while you fish, and switch back when you're done.  I never used this feature (I always switch things out by hand -- I'm old-fashioned, what can I say), so it wasn't a deal breaker for me.

However, FB has a UI design that is awful compared to what we have today: checkboxes/texts don't line up, some texts overlap other texts, and tons of descriptions make no sense (some I think don't even really do anything any more).  I have a list of all the issues in .txt file so don't think I'm making this up.  The mess stems from it being developed during the 3.x days where the API was "meh" and everyone had hard-ons for sticking icons around the border of the mini-map and making their own frames (GUI windows) + text layout routines + etc..  Most of that today has been "standardised" through things like Ace3, and the WoW API too has been tremendously improved.  While these are not "bugs" (as in "feature X doesn't work"), I felt that I should see if something else was out there.

So I tried FA.  It was only slightly smaller (.zip) than FB, but I gave it a shot.  I was thrilled to see the UI was standardised and that the couple defaults I don't like I could just disable and voilà.  I also know Satorix (FA author) from other projects and he's very diligent about providing prompt updates *and* support.

Needless to say I'm sticking with FA.

I imagine I can get the other aforementioned FB feature from GatherMate or some other addon, but those are quite bloated (IMO), don't always play nice with addons that manipulate the map (Mapster, OmegaMap, etc.), and tend to want to draw all over the map.  FB's "caught fish itinerary" feature is very unique/specific for just fishing, and I'll miss it, but I can live without it.

In closing, FA is pretty sharp (I just wish some of the deps in Libs\ could be removed + things slimmed down).  So if you're looking for an addon that makes fishing easier, give FA a shot.  If you can deal with the UI silliness of FB and like some of its features, give it a shot too, see which you like.  But I myself am now a fan of FA.  :-)

I greatly appreciate your FishingAce add on.   One problem, each time I equip my pole it sets my volume to 100%, this is pretty annoying and happens with any pole no matter how I equip it.    I did some research and it appears other users who use the add on have the same issue.   http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/7180048151  

this bug.. repeat and repeat and repeat... avery moviment.... need disable...

After last update:

1x FishingAce\FishingAce-Alpha 0.7.lua:250: attempt to call method "IsFishingReady" (a nil value)
FishingAce\FishingAce-Alpha 0.7.lua:250: in function <FishingAce\FishingAce.lua:246>
FishingAce\FishingAce-Alpha 0.7.lua:347: in function <FishingAce\FishingAce.lua:344>
Skillet-2.38\Libs\AceHook-3.0\AceHook-3.0-6.lua:92: in function <Skillet\Libs\AceHook-3.0\AceHook-3.0.lua:87>

Locals:
button = "RightButton"
HijackCheck = <func> @..\FishingAce.lua:246
FL = <table> {
GetZoneInfo = <func> @FishingBuddy\Libs\..\LibFishing-1.0.lua:746
AddTooltip = <func> @FishingBuddy\Libs\..\LibFishing-1.0.lua:1034
SetSkillupTable = <func> @FishingBuddy\Libs\..\LibFishing-1.0.lua:907
GetBaseZone = <func> @FishingBuddy\Libs\..\LibFishing-1.0.lua:766
IsLinkableItem = <func> @FishingBuddy\Libs\..\LibFishing-1.0.lua:527
SCHOOLS = <table> {}
GetBobberName = <func> @FishingBuddy\Libs\..\LibFishing-1.0.lua:675
FishingBonusPoints = <func> @FishingBuddy\Libs\..\LibFishing-1.0.lua:1189
GetSlotInfo = <func> @FishingBuddy\Libs\..\LibFishing-1.0.lua:441
IsFishingPool = <func> @FishingBuddy\Libs\..\LibFishing-1.0.lua:585
GetBaseSubZone = <func> @FishingBuddy\Libs\..\LibFishing-1.0.lua:780
GetSkillupTable = <func> @FishingBuddy\Libs\..\LibFishing-1.0.lua:911
HasBuff = <func> @FishingBuddy\Libs\..\LibFishing-1.0.lua:224
watchBobber = true
FindNextLure = <func> @FishingBuddy\Libs\..\LibFishing-1.0.lua:232
printable = <func> @FishingBuddy\Libs\..\LibFishing-1.0.lua:475
GetFishTooltip = <func> @FishingBuddy\Libs\..\LibFishing-1.0.lua:549
GetLastTooltipText = <func> @FishingBuddy\Libs\..\LibFishing-1.0.lua:694
InvokeLuring = <func> @FishingBuddy\Libs\..\LibFishing-1.0.lua:1144
AddSchoolName = <func> @FishingBuddy\Libs\..\LibFishing-1.0.lua:604
GetLocSubZone = <func> @FishingBuddy\Libs\..\LibFishing-1.0.lua:808
GetCurrentSkill = <func> @FishingBuddy\Libs\..\LibFishing-1.0.lua:64
FindBestLure = <func> @FishingBuddy\Libs\..\LibFishing-1.0.lua:265
GetSlotMap = <func> @FishingBuddy\Libs\..\LibFishing-1.0.lua:445
IsFishingGear = <func> @FishingBuddy\Libs\..\LibFishing-1.0.lua:637
IsOpenable = <func> @FishingBuddy\Libs\..\LibFishing-1.0.lua:1315
GetFishingLevel = <func> @FishingBuddy\Libs\..\LibFishing-1.0.lua:848
CatchesAtSkill = <func> @FishingBuddy\Libs\..\LibFishing-1.0.lua:916
BOBBER_NAME = "Fishing Bobber"
tablecount = <func> @FishingBuddy\Libs\..\LibFishing-1.0.lua:466
GetOutfitBonus = <func> @FishingBuddy\Libs\..\LibFishing-1.0.lua:1252
GetFishingSkillLine = <func> @FishingBuddy\Libs\..\LibFishing-1.0.lua:859
ChatLink = <func> @FishingBuddy\Libs\..\LibFishing-1.0.lua:533
SCHOOL_OIL = 5
sabutton = LibFishingSAButton {}
SaveTooltipText = <func> @FishingBuddy\Libs\..\LibFishing-1.0.lua:689
SetBobberName = <func> @FishingBuddy\Libs\..\LibFishing-1.0.lua:671
CheckForDoubleClick = <func> @FishingBuddy\Libs\..\LibFishing-1.0.lua:722
GetItemPattern = <func> @FishingBuddy\Libs\..\LibFishing-1.0.lua:492
SplitFishLink = <func> @FishingBuddy\Libs\..\LibFishing-1.0.

Is it just me or can you not set the volume for this thing?  it just doesnt let me set it lower