TLDR:
To Blizzard: Loosen the restrictions! It’s a bit much. Whitelist harmless stuff like mount and profession buffs. Restrict stuff on a case by case basis and stop using cheap blanket fixes. Sell another brutosaur and use the cash to assign or hire someone to create a comprehensive whitelist that makes sense. You promised cosmetic UI customizations would still be possible so create APIs that can actually achieve that.
Long technical version:
I write my own addons and I’m shocked to see how much information has been turned into secrets. The restrictions feel a bit paranoid.
Examples of ridiculous things that are now secrets:
- Mount buffs
- Well Fed buffs
- Class buffs (like Mark of the Wild)
- Ground Skimming (the Skyriding ability) - but not Thrill of the Skies???
- Green Thumb (an Herbalism ability)
I’m sure there are more. I don’t see how an addon being able to tell if I’m on my dragon or gryphon is considered a “gameplay advantage”. The game also keeps finding secrets in Blizzard used scripts like in tooltips (hello MoneyFrame) and Edit Mode even when not using any addons.
I believe that if they whitelisted the spells and passives (cooldowns and procs) present in the player’s spellbook that would solve 70% of the complaints players have about the current lack of UI customization (yes, even HoT filtering on unit frames). The state of our own spells is displayed anyway on the default UI, so we wouldn’t get any new information, but I would like the ability to display that information in a way that is easier on the eyes.
For example, I used to track Lightweaver (the Holy Priest talent - stacks up to 4) as a bunch of textures that made it resemble a combo bar. Same thing for Mind Blast charges on Shadow. The cooldown manager presents it as an icon with a number in it, which makes me squint to read the tiny number rather than easily noticing I have a line with 4 circles on it under my character’s feet. Currently I cannot (through code) see that I have the Lightweaver buff. I could use C_CurveUtil.EvaluateColorValueFromBoolean to make it opaque/transparent, but even though that method is usable for cooldowns using C_Spell.GetSpellCooldownDuration and DurationObject:IsZero(), it doesn’t work for buffs as there is no API that returns a boolean (true/false) related to the presence of a buff (if I missed something please let me know). Also, the stacks of a buff can now only be presented as a number. I cannot translate that secret number into a different texture for each stack and therefore creating a “combo bar” out of it. This is not a “gameplay advantage”. This is players saving themselves a visit to the eye doctor.
Whitelisting our own spells for self usage only won’t break boss fights or PvP. It only breaks addons like Hekili that already have their own (questionable) in-game versions through Assisted Highlight and the Single-Button Assistant. Them being secrets does break UI customization and frustrates a lot of players.
Implement APIs that return a secret boolean for aura presence so we can at least use it with curve objects, APIs that set color through curves from aura stacks and APIs that return a duration object for aura durations that can accept a spell ID so they can be identified (at least for the player’s own spells). And for the love of all that is Holy (pun intended), implement aura filters. Us healers deal with enough torture.
Aura filering: we have an API that can set a color by dispel type, but no way of filtering that dispel type by what the player is able to dispel. Thanks for coloring that Hunter’s hp bar purple because he has a curse. I’m a Priest and can’t do anything about it. I can ignore it, but when the Hunter gets both a curse AND a magic debuff at the same time and his hp turns purple and not blue, ignoring it is a problem. Therefore, I have to manually check all of his debuffs to make sure there isn’t a hidden magic debuff in there under that curse color. The Hunter’s probably licking the floor by the time I find that little blue-bordered square. To top it off, after the Hunter dies and runs back I can’t have an addon tell me that he’s now missing my stamina buff, which will only increase his chances of repeated floor-licking. The button flashes if someone is missing my buff out of combat, but being out of combat in a M+ where tanks constantly chain pull is a rare occasion. Having to remember to rebuff after someone dies is pointless cognitive load. A reminder for such things doesn’t give a player a “gameplay advantage”. If the extra cognitive load is intended, then the buff button shouldn’t glow at all. At least make the built-in glow work in combat as well (preferrably as an option).
Side note related to macros: now that C_ChatInfo.SendChatMessage returns a ForceTaint_Strong error in combat, it would be nice if chat related macro commands would accept macro conditionals. It is currently impossible to have a macro that says X on left click and Y on right click the same way /cast does. Ex: “/p [btn:1] I need mana! [btn:2] I am ready.” is impossible because /p won’t take [btn:1] and using /stopmacro for inverted logic doesn’t work well.