I’ve Recently been looking through the long list of addons available to download and those I have installed and it had got me thinking… has addon usage and acceptance gone too far?
Personally there are a few addons I would potentially remove as I think they could make the game a better experience.
I do understand that addons are mostly a choice, you can choose not to use them for the majority of cases however their are a few that are pretty much mandatory.
The ones that aren’t mandatory e.g. custom UI mods makes me wonder why they have not been addressed in game, to alleviate some of the driving factors that push people towards these mods. In this example, in game UI customisation.
My question is this:
Do you feel like some addons have gone too far? If so which ones do you think could/should be removed/adjusted? Would it make Wow better without them or would certain aspects of the game be too complicated?
p.s. Im not hating on addons, just curious what other people think.
Some addons are mandatory like DBM as some people can’t think for themselves or look for the visual clues of what the boss is going to do next. They just Blindly follow what the addon tells them.
question to that one would be why is it mandatory? Is it because people can’t think for themselves or is it because the visual/audio clues, or RNG mechanics aren’t clearly indicated?
DBM is one of them that I was initially thinking about as the DEVS must have to design encounters with this in mind. It kind of plays the encounter for you in some fights.
One of the other ones I was thinking of was map mods. Turns exploration into a mini check list, although this is choice, you don’t need a map mod (like handynotes)
Everything is clearly indicated. Every major ability enemy will do is announced with animation or sound.
I find DBM useful for first couple of pulls, after that i subconsciously ignore it.
See now if someone asked me why I thought DBM was mandatory, or any addon that someone might think is mandatory I would have said:
I consider an addon mandatory if you are at a distinct disadvantage by not using one. Not having DBM means you have access to less information than someone who does or an available fail safe should you potentially make a mistake or miss a cue. Its also down to path of least resistance. Why should I learn an encounter when I can get a 3rd party program to tell me until it becomes muscle memory.
There’s many times I have died in an encounter without DBM and I’ve thought, WTF just happened. I understand this is a “get good” argument or pay more attention, maybe I’ve just been trained to rely on such addons for X amount of pulls.
Again, I’m not hating on DBM here and I’m not against it being a part of Wow
Probably because different people have different ideas about what makes a great UI. The default UI is well known at this point, and while it has plenty of decoration, it’s, in essence, rather simple, with few options.
Now compare that to ElvUI which has none of the fantasy elements, and comes with a myriad of options and additional extensions. Is it more flexible? Yes. Is it more practical outside of the box? Yes. Is it much more overwhelming at the same time? Yes.
And that’s the beauty of addons: you have a choice which ones you use, and how you set them up. Would they be integrated into the game, we’d invariably loose some of that.
With that said, many addons features have been integrated into the game over the years, and some of them turned out to be all right.
Depends on the content you do, though. For PvP? It’s 100% irrelevant. For the open world? Pretty much irrelevant. For keys? Can be useful, but a few weakauras usually do a much better job, and the visual and audio cues are a’plenty.
So nope, I do not think DBM - or another bossmod like BigWigs, or even boss WAs - are mandatory. They’re mighty helpful for some content, but definitely not all, nor most, really.
Some addons are a result of fixing things that Blizzard either didn’t do, did incorrectly, or previously broke. There is plenty of such things that could be the default experience or wouldn’t be needed if the default experience was better.
DBM and Bigwigs is there because often there’s mechanics at set times or intervals that don’t really show before they’re cast or in time for you to dodge. Sadly it’s gotten to the point where boss fights are designed for people to be using such mods.
There are some addons that I think go way too far, like TSM(TradeSkillMaster) which run scripts to search for stuff on the AH that checks items for their usual prices and buys if it’s low, items that are about to expire with low bids as well.
Another issue with it is binding posting items at very specific prices already dictated by ‘scripts’ or ‘groups’ set up in the addon via mouse-wheel so they can easily post thousands of auctions far faster than a regular player can and far easier. I don’t mind the addon being used for people to be able to tell current/active prices but the rest of the addons functions should honestly be removed. I also really don’t like any addon to have a ‘premium’ function to pay for either.
Some others which are mostly prevalent in Classic are the leveling route addons that are ‘free’ or 'free to x level(usually 10, 20, or 30) but ask for money for the ‘full’ guide to skirt the rules since ‘well acktually the addon is free’.
Another that comes to mind is the mass-guild invite that mass invites people and also whispers guild recruitment at people that should’ve been killed ages ago.
https://www.curseforge.com/wow/addons/chatter will pretty much let you do that, among other things, and so does https://www.curseforge.com/wow/addons/prat-3-0, or https://www.curseforge.com/wow/addons/chat-copy-paste for something far lighter weight.
It still annoys me that I even have to use Addons for optional Features that should be in the game anyways, if Blizzard would do their job right.
For example TRP3 Extended and such. On a Roleplay Realm, this should be a default-thing. Not as an addon, but as a game feature from the devs… Yet here we are, needing an addon for proper roleplaying…
DBM is important because healers need to proactive heal. Like start preparing 8-10 seconds before x happens. It is basically about timers. Not about a message that you have to walk out of a circle.
You can play as you like, with or without add-ons. Other people deciding if an add-on should be removed or not from my play style is what should be removed. I’m surprised you said so yourself and then you still went ahead to ask the question. So why stir the pot?
There are people with disabilities, people with attention span issues and so on and so forth, who benefit from certain add-ons.
This. If you are not neurodivergent (ADHD, autism, OCD etc), you can play with no add-ons just fine, since all mechanics are announced in the game by sounds or animations.
Some addons u can’t ignore if u playing on competetive level like DBM or WA - most of the bosses tuned around usage addons. Some addons give big advantage in PvP - u can’t ignore them on competetive level too, cuz u will lose a lot against players who have it.
Some addons are mandatory, go ahead and do some of the mythic bosses without any DBM or WA’s.
Some addons are even more mandatory… like the ones that change the UI from that basic awful one.
Could i play without z-perl? Sure… would it look crappier? Definitely!
Do i need mik’s scrolling battle text? Nope… do i want to see what ability does what dmg? Yes! Extra information is fine to have.
There are lots of addons that are nice to have because the basic Blizzard UI is very very outdated.
Do i need monkey speed? No… not really, do i want it? Yeah i do…
Do i need power auras? Well kinda… i actually want to set up how my UI shows me procs and timers.
Do i need that transmog addon i have? Yes i do! How can i save more than 20 sets i’ve created without it? The Blizz basic UI is limiting me!
If addons were removed from wow, i honestly couldn’t play the game anymore (i would 100% quit the game), it wouldn’t have the same feel… or provide me with what level of customization i have right now.
I don’t need anything else. For a short period whilst pushing for KSM, I had Rio installed, but when you’re not pushing keys it’s an annoying Addon which needs updating all the time.
Imo ui addons are completely fine even though their existance lets blizzard stay lazy with their awful default ui which most new players use.
Combat addons on the other hand like dbm, bw and a good portion of wa for PVE and Omnibar, Gladiuslosa etc for PVP are unhealthy for the game and should be disabled.
I have never in my life used WA beyond installing it and thinking uggg, this gets in the way and removing it again. So is WA mandatory, absolutely not.
DBM, well I prefer to use BigWigs as the sounds in DBM are a bit annoying. I agree is useful if learning a new fight. But even so, once you know a fight, there are enough warnings in the game to know when to do what… I don’t have it installed at the moment. So Mandatory, absolutely not, useful and recommended for new content, yes.