Standby
Every World of Warcraft player knows the moment: you step away for a drink, a phone call, or a quick break, and your screen turns into a frozen, lifeless snapshot of a character standing in a city. The Standby addon replaces that forgettable default with something genuinely useful. When your character goes Away, the interface fades out, your hero takes center stage, and the screen shows exactly what matters while you are gone. When you return, you see at a glance what is left to do tonight.
What Makes Standby Different
Standby is not just a prettier AFK overlay. It is a fully configurable information hub that keeps working while you are not. Instead of staring at a static world frame, you get a curated view of your character, your progress, and your pending tasks. The addon is available for World of Warcraft Retail, Classic, The Burning Crusade, Wrath of the Lich King, Cataclysm, and Mists of Pandaria, so whether you are raiding current content or reliving old expansions, Standby fits right in.
Four Layouts for Every Mood
- Showcase: a clock, messages received while you were away, tiles from the suite, and your character card with title, specialization, item level, and secondary stats.
- Character sheet: your character shown full height in the center, gear displayed in two columns with item level, enchants, gems, and empty sockets flagged in red, plus a stats panel.
- Minimal: a large clock, character card, and timer. Nothing else.
- Power saving: a black screen with a discreet clock and timer, capped frame rate, and muted ambient sounds.
An optional slideshow alternates between Showcase and Character sheet while you are away, so the screen never feels static during longer breaks.
Three Background Styles
You can choose how the world looks behind the information. Scene keeps the world visible while the camera slowly circles your hero and the game interface is hidden. Expansion artwork pulls an illustration from the game's own Adventure Guide and presents it as a framed picture over a darkened backdrop, using the current expansion, a specific one, or a random one. Nothing is bundled with the addon. Black is the third option for a clean, distraction-free look.
Informative Tiles That Keep You Organized
The tiles are where Standby truly shines. Great Vault progress is tracked with a reminder when a reward is waiting. Tonight's to-do covers weekly and daily quests left, reputation weeklies, profession knowledge, and raids still open for a legendary. My characters shows your alts that are waiting for something, whether that is a vault reward, full concentration, or full rested XP. Additional tiles cover experience and rested XP, concentration, Mythic keystone, watched reputation, daily and weekly resets, and waiting mail.
These tiles get richer with other TibiSuite modules installed, including DailyTracker, RenTracker, SkillTracker, LegTracker, WeeklyCompass, LvlHistory, and XPBar. Standby only reads their data and never changes it, so your other addons stay untouched. If you want a streamlined way to manage all of this, the foxygame.net launcher offers one-click installation and automatic updates, keeping Standby and your entire addon catalog current without manual file juggling.
Safe by Design
Standby is built to step aside the moment the game needs you. It automatically hides during queue ready, battleground, ready check, summon, group invite, duel, trade, combat, death, loading screen, and cinematic. It never shows up in combat, and you can optionally disable it in instances, raids, or groups.
- Return the way you want: move, click the screen, or press Escape.
- Your settings are always restored: frame rate cap, ambient sound, and camera return to normal when you come back, at logout, and at the next login after a crash.
- Safe mode: if the game ever refuses to hide the interface, a dark veil covers it instead.
- Stands aside when ElvUI's own AFK screen is enabled.
- Messages received while away are kept in memory only and never saved to disk.
Extra Features and Commands
Standby includes a short delay before the screen appears, one second by default and adjustable. A privacy mode hides your name, title, guild, realm, and gold for streaming. When you return, a chat summary tells you how long you were away and what messages arrived. The addon is available in 10 languages.
Commands are simple: /standby opens options, /standby test runs a 15 second preview, /standby status explains why the screen shows or not, and /standby probe performs an in-game check. The alias /afkscreen works too. Standby functions on its own or as a module of TibiSuite, which brings a single minimap button, a unified tab bar, and global search.
How to Install Standby
If you are wondering how to install the addon, the process is straightforward. Download Standby from your preferred addon source, extract the folder into your World of Warcraft Interface AddOns directory, and restart the game. Once loaded, type /standby to configure your layout, background, and tiles. For players who prefer a hands-off approach, the foxygame.net launcher simplifies the whole routine by handling version compatibility and keeping Standby updated across every supported game client.
Final Thoughts
Standby turns dead time into useful time. Instead of a blank screen, you get a personalized dashboard that tells you what to do next the moment you sit back down. Whether you play Retail or any Classic iteration, Standby for World of Warcraft is a small addon with a surprisingly large impact on how organized your sessions feel.