PartyLens

Your group radar — and a live player network — for the WoW TBC Anniversary client.

PartyLens started as a better LookingForGroup: it watches the LFG chat channel and the built-in Group Finder at once and puts every group in one clean, searchable panel. It has since grown into a realm-wide PartyLens network — layer hopping, a world-boss radar, community reputation, and a cross-layer group broker — all powered by other people running the addon. The more players use it, the more it does for you.

Built for the TBC Anniversary (Interface 2.5.x) client, no dependencies, 10 languages.

🔎 Group finder (the core)

• Two sources, one panel — scans the LFG chat channel and the Group Finder together, deduplicated. Most addons do only one.
• Role-need pips (Tank / Heal / DPS) — color-coded, showing exactly what each group still needs; a healer can filter to "groups that need a healer" instantly.
• Class + level filters — icon toggles per class and a minimum-level field. Class is a hard filter (almost always known); the real level of PartyLens users comes free over the mesh, and a click Who resolves it for anyone else.
• One-click whisper — auto-fills a friendly message from your class, spec(s) and role: Hi! {class} {spec} {role} here. {comment} — fully editable.
• Rich result cards — LFG/LFM badge, a PL badge for fellow PartyLens users, class-colored leader name, group-fill bar (3/5, 24/25), freshness dot, and the message.
• Create a listing in two clicks — pick the dungeon/raid from a live list with real names and correct IDs (with search, level range, and a max-level filter).
• Modern "dark glass" interface — translucent layered panels, no default WoW widgets, draggable, Escape-to-close, stays on screen.

🤖 Autopilot — hands-off recruiting & joining

• Build a group: define the composition you want on a class + spec grid (it derives how many Tank/Heal/DPS you need), and Autopilot auto-invites matching players and re-announces your LFM.
• Find a group: it reads what a group actually asks for and only answers the ones that need your role/class — with anti-spam caps and a per-name cooldown.
• Multi-spec: your roles are derived from the spec(s) you play (Resto + Balance → heal / dps), so you match anything you can fill.

✨ Summon coordination

A shared "summon stone" screen for the group: mark who needs a port, see who's ready, and coordinate warlock summons without spamming chat.

🌐 The PartyLens Network

PartyLens users quietly form a network on your realm. Presence, sightings, vouches and group needs sync between people running the addon; realm-wide calls to action go out as one signed public line that every PartyLens beacon reads. (See How the network reaches people below.)

🌀 Layer hopping + silent beacon

• Standalone layer detection — reads your layer from nearby NPC GUIDs (no NWB/AutoLayer needed) and converges the numbering across the network, so "my Layer 5" is your Layer 5 (and tends to match NWB).
• Beacon (right-click the minimap or the Beacon button): you become a silent node that auto-invites anyone asking for your layer in chat — no party spam, no whisper popups, party frame hidden — and sends one signed /w. Invites fire the instant a matching request appears, to win the client before other layer addons.
• Get pulled: a visual layer picker shows the layers the network actually knows about — a dot marks the ones with a live beacon, gold marks yours. Tap one (or "Any") and the network pulls you there. Match is by exact zone identity + same map, so it never sends you to the wrong layer.

🐉 World Boss Radar

• Recognises world bosses & rares by NPC id (Doom Lord Kazzak, Doomwalker, Fel Reaver — expandable) the moment you target / mouse-over / see one.
• Alerts you (chat + sound) and shares the sighting across the network with its layer.
• A dedicated Radar tab lists active sightings with Hop (pulls you to the boss's exact layer, even on another map) and Shout (a signed public rally that also spreads the addon's name).

⭐ Reputation (positive-only vouches)

• Vouch for players you grouped with; each vouch spreads over the network and everyone tallies "N players vouched for this person". No downvotes (no toxicity/defamation), and it's resistant to self-vouching.
• Groupmates become automatic vouch suggestions; a periodic digest keeps the web in sync.

🤝 Group broker

• A live list of PartyLens users looking for group right now, cross-layer, with one-click Invite and whisper — the network's own LFG, full of coordinated addon users.

📊 Network dashboard

• Live counters — Nodes · Layers · Bosses · Hops · Requests · Your rep — plus the broker and your vouch list, so the "living network" is always visible.

How the network reaches people

Hidden addon messages over the CHANNEL distribution are blocked on this client, so PartyLens does not rely on a silent realm-wide bus. Instead:

• The hidden mesh (presence, layer numbering, world-boss sightings, vouches, broker) syncs over guild, party and nearby players — transports that actually deliver here.
• Realm-wide reach for a call to action (a "get me to layer N" request, a boss shout) is one signed, visible line, sent from a real click, that every PartyLens beacon scans.
• Because those posts are signed, PartyLens users recognise each other realm-wide — the PL badge — with no extra traffic.
• Every send is instrumented, so the mesh can never fail silently again. Check it with /partylens netdiag (what each transport delivers) and /partylens netstat (mesh health).

Commands

Install

Drop the PartyLens folder into Interface/AddOns/ and restart the client (or /reload). No dependencies. PartyLens auto-joins LookingForGroup on login so chat scanning works right away. The game requires the Group Finder search to come from a real click, so PartyLens never spams that API in the background.

Languages

Auto-detected from your game client: English, Português, Deutsch, Français, Español, Italiano, Русский, 简体中文, 繁體中文, 한국어.

Created by Chehul

PartyLens is made by Chehul (danielcosta42). If it saves you time, you can support development:

Donate via PayPal

Source, issues and full changelog on GitHub.