Firstly, I want to thank Blizzard for their continued communication and responses to the playerbase’s concerns regarding the addon restrictions. Secondly, I need to preface this by saying that I am in no way an addon expert, and like the vast majority of players, I do not fully understand exactly what addons are/aren’t currently able to do on the Alpha.
It is clear that there is a significant disconnect between what a significant portion of players expect to be able to do with the various UI elements, and what is currently possible on the Alpha.
The worst offender when it comes to this is buff and debuff tracking, and this is something that addons will clearly not be able to solve, as that is kind of the whole point of the addon changes in the first place.
For your own buffs and procs, you are currently only able to track them in one single box, and to my understanding, while addons will be able to customize how buffs in that box look, they will only be able to change ALL the buffs in that box. If, for example, I want to track my Wings buff separately from my Divine Purpose proc, or if I wanted my Infusion of Light proc (if it ever gets added) to be bigger, I am not able to do any of that.
You are also not able to add any buffs that Blizzard hasn’t whitelisted beforehand, to this singular box. As an example, Holy Paladin have been missing several very important buffs from it since the Cooldown Managers introduction on Live servers.
Infusions of Light are still not trackable, and Wings was only added this past week. I find it insulting that you do not let players enable an Advanced Mode where they can pick whichever buff they want.
You do not need to save the players from themself like this, we are capable of making our own choices in regards to what information is important to us. Having a baseline, Blizzard curated list that you can pick and choose from, is completely fine but some players just need more. Just like we have always been able to do.
Raid Frames
That brings us to the raid frames, where the issue is somehow even worse. Here you do not even have a Blizzard curated list to pick and choose from. You only have whatever Blizzard decides you should see, and if you do not want to see it, or you want to see something else, well tough luck then.
You are completely unable to blacklist buffs or debuffs that you do not want to see, just as you are unable to whitelist missing buffs or debuffs that you would like to see. Again, Blizzard is needlessly trying to save the players from themself.
There are a ton of random buffs and debuffs that are genuinely just clutter on the raid frames, but some people like seeing that, and some do not. So why not let it be up to the individual player to decide, just like they have always been able to.
I do not want to see Eternal Flame on my raid frames, but someone else might. I do not want to see that the rogue has 4 minutes cooldown on his cheat death, but some people might. I do not want to see Light of the Martyr’s debuff, because I already see it as a healing absorb, but some people might want to.
The player base is capable of deciding for themself which information they need to see and which they do not. Hiding irrelevant information, to make the relevant information easier to parse, has always been a hallmark of UI personalization, but that is completely gone for raid frames on the Alpha.
Frankly, the current state of buff and debuff customization on and off the raid frames, is completely unacceptable. I fully understand that these limitations are a by-product of Blizzard’s attempt to limit addons’ ability to use “logic” to “solve” mechanics, but that end does not justify the means at all.
Solutions
You have to give the players more freedom, and trust and accept that the players’ are able to decide for themself which information they want to see, and how they want to show it.
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Firstly, you have to let the players pick exactly which buffs and debuffs they want to see. If this cannot be done without addons being able to “solve” mechanics, then so be it. The current situation on the Alpha cannot stand.
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Secondly, you have to give players a lot more freedom in how they want to show those buffs and debuffs.
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For the cooldown manager, having just a single box with practically no customization is honestly a joke. At the very least we need to be able to add more boxes if we want to, so we can use addons to skin each individual buff and spell how we want to.
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For raid frames, having all buffs be clumped together in one corner, and all debuffs in another corner, without being able to specify which buffs and debuffs you want to show or hide, nor where to show them, is just unacceptable, and has to be changed.
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