Have Players gone Addon Crazy

[Belloc]

Personally I've never installed any addons ever. I mean surely Blizzard should provide everything that you need to play the game. And in all honesty dozens of damage and threat metres and whatever else really aren't necessary to play the game. Sure, without them you won't be optimised but then no one else would be either, if the game had no addons.

The whole addon craze has never made sense to me. Not why people are ok with this system that puts people on an uneven playing field, and not why blizzard is cool with letting third parties do what is essentially hacking the game. I would be very grateful if someone could explain it.

Uneven playing field? Last I checked, none of my addons are secured behind a password locked website -- they're freely available to everyone playing the game. That's about as even as it gets!

Hacking the game? Blizzard designed and implemented the technology that allows for addons.

It sounds to me like your problem with addons is that you're computer illiterate and can't be bothered to figure out how to make them work. If that's not the case, then I'm sorry for the assumption, but that's how you came off.

As for the reason why the community is developing them instead of Blizzard? Look at power auras: Does every player need to know when their trinket procs or when their ability is on cooldown? No. Even so, that information IS provided in the default UI... it's just in out-of-the-way places. Addons like power auras can be configured to your personal taste -- if you want a big icon flashing in the middle of your screen, you can do that! But not everyone needs it and if Blizzard were to put that out for everyone, it would cause a lot of confusion for the people that weren't interested in it.

Not everyone needs to know when someone is taunting but, as a tank, I like to know if pets or DPS or the other tank are taunting. Your average player doesn't need that functionality, so why should Blizzard implement it when some tank/programmer can easily make it himself?

DBM is an awesome addon, but would it really be good for the game if Blizzard just put up accurate timers for every boss ability in the game right out of the box? Hell no! Top guilds would have even less of a challenge and they certainly wouldn't be happy about it. It would be incredibly convenient, but the mere thought of it really bothers me.

The point of addons is to give the player some choice in how they see and play the game. If Blizzard starts cramming all that functionality into the default game, that choice goes away (even if they do allow you to disable it). It's not Blizzard's job to provide the functionality of most addons. Some of them, sure, but most of them are just fine in the hands of the community.


edit: I'd also like to point out, since you mentioned unfairness, that some players (and theorycrafters!) have degrees in mathematics. These degrees allow them to figure out the sometimes-complex math behind which abilities are best and how best to use them. Does that mean that their math degrees are an unfair advantage? How about players who are just more skilled at the game -- is that an unfair advantage?

[Redpanda]

sure, but this is mostly pvp tied- if people cant see a shaman became a half god nuking their partner I think they should start paying attention, not having a female telling them ascendance

well i think its part of different play styles for example as a dps i could see if a shaman does ascendance but my healer might be behind a pillar wont see it. so now I have to call out, he then thinks of what to do. vs him hearing "ascendance" and now he is ready to go. I think its all in how you use it. Im sure with that addon you can get overloaded with info and at that point its useless. It has its place I believe but you have to use it correctly.

as belloc said not educating yourself on the matter is setting yourself back

[DeltrusDisc]

Unlike Rift, WoW has a horrible default UI that has not been updated to follow the learning that Blizzard have done. Why can you still not have more than 2-3 windows open at a time? Why can't you MOVE the windows around?

These things are just dumb. =/

[Lumineus]

I seriously don't know what you are talking about. Unless you are a healer the default UI does pretty much everything except play the game for you... if you need an addon to tell you when x cd is done and what skills to use you're just a baddie... even DBM became less mandatory with the implementation of dungeon journal...

Say what now? Healer is the easiest role to play without addons, dispelling isn't nearly as clutch as it used to be and you can write mouseover macros and hover over raid frames with the default UI. Healers also rarely have to deal with encounter mechanics. And on top of all that, your raid spot probably won't be on the line because you can be replaced with a bot running PQR. Come back when you actually have to maximize your performance by dealing with tertiary resources, RNG procs and lame maintenance timers.

[Deleted]

I have 224 active addons, but some addons like DBM, Pitbull, Grid etc count as like 50 each alone, so the true number of unique addons I have is like around 50-70.

[DeltrusDisc]

Also, I use RealUI. It comes packed with a lot of addons that ultimately make the UI extremely simplistic. Much more appealing to the eye. You can see more game world, less game UI.

[Stro]

Remove them all from the game!

[Deleted]

Remove them all from the game!

Enjoy the resulting wipefests and massive sub drop after that.

[Deleted]

Can I ask why you feel that without addons your unable to play , I would like to get to the root of the issue.

These are the Addons that feels like a must have for me:

Bartender, simply amazing how simple and quick you can change your keybinds, as well as arrange your action bars.

WoW's UI: Scroll through a bloody list in hopes to find whichever key you are looking for.
Bartender: Hover over the bar and press the desired keybind.

With Bartender you also have access to all 10 bar frames, including the stealth bars, the druid form bars, which I make good use of on my Warlock. I don't think I would even fit all of my bars on the restricted default UI which only has, 5 or 6 available?

Power Auras (no, I do not use Weak Auras...)
I'm able to easily track all procs, buffs, debuffs in a way that I like. WoW's UI sort of added it to the game for extra important procs, but it doesn't cover nearly enough things, and it's not customizable aside from turning it off.

Power Auras can also be a lot of fun because you can add your own sound files to be played on certain events/casts, I've added quite a few of Lina's voice files from Dota 2 as well as Windrunner.

Grid:
Because WoW's raid frames are clunky, utterly terrible and ugly.

The rest of my addons are stuff like cencusplus to track the server population, mogit, auctioneer, prat, stuff that doesn't affect combat directly but are still useful.

Oh and DBM, it's nice to have and most certainly helps, but I wouldn't consider it a must.

[Mewbaraue]

Personally, I use a lot of addons. My list says 105, but at least 20 of those are plug-ins to addons (DBM, AtlasLoot, Skada, etc.). 105 addons sounds like a lot, and I could easily play with way less. However, I love customizing my UI, and want to be able to control almost everything in it.

Of the addons I have activated, here are the ones I would hate to play without:

• AdvancedTradeSkillWindow - IMO, the default crafting window is just too small to work with. I can't see that many recipes at a time, so browsing it is annoying. ATSW also gives me the ability to queue multiple items and it will automatically queue materials you need to craft first before making a certain recipe (such as making bolts of cloth for Tailoring if you do not have enough). It simply improves the default crafting window in ways I like.
• Align - Align. Oh god, I love that addon. The only thing it does is paint a grid of squares on your screen. That's it. Seriously. But that grid is AMAZING for people who want everything to be lined up perfectly. It is probably my favourite addon of all time.
• Bartender - I don't like the default bars. They take up too much space (especially the gryphon-thingies), I can't hide the ones I don't use in combat, and I can't really move them. Bartender fixes all of that and more. Thank you, BT4.
• Grid - I got Grid when I started healing (in WoLK), 'cause the default UI was crap for healing. Now I'm using it on all my characters as it can be configured to how a ton of useful information in dungeons/bgs/raids/whatever. It gives me all the information I need about other players in my group, and it takes up very little space with the right configurations.
• Mik's Scrolling Battle Text - This is simply a matter of preference, but I don't think the normal battle text gives me the information I want. And more importantly, it is not shown where I want it to be shown. So therefore, MSBT.
• OmniCC - Show cooldown left on my abilities as text? Way more precise than the clock-animation that is on by default and looks pretty neat as well.
• OGlow - I hated sorting through my inventory to figure out which greenies I had, rares, epics, etc. OGlow fixes that in a very simple and very neat way.
• OPie - Gives me the ability to access a lot of skills in a single button press. I mainly use it for mounts, profession skills, things like mage portals, etc.
• Prat - Because the default chat window simply isn't good enough.
• Quartz - Same as Prat, but for casting bar. Quarts gives me so many options for customizing my own cast bar, and that of my target, focus, etc. It's amazing for any cast-time based character, really
• Shadowed UF - I don't like the default unitframes. They take up too much room and do not give me enough information. SUF fixes that.
• TidyPlates/ThreatPlates - The default threat plates work, but I like the look of TP way more.
• TipTac - I did not begin using this addon until recently 'cause "Meh, doesn't matter." It does. Tooltips are sooooo much better with it, it's amazing.
• XLoot - Removes the limit on how many items that can be shown when looting stuff.

So yea, I use a lot of addons. I don't use them to play the game for me, however. I use them to optimize/customize my UI and show me information in the way I want it shown. The default UI simply does not give me enough information or the right information.

Of course you can have too many addons, but one cannot say that "x addons are too many". There are a ton of different ones that allow you to do whatever you want, but if you have 100 addons that all do something different (and you use them in a sensible way), I would not say it's too many. IT all comes down to how you use them.

[Dole4011]

I just wanted to get the communities opinion on how many addons is too many addons.

Why is the poll worded like it is, then? "How many do you use?" != "How many is too many?" Plus, the option "Blizz should remove 3rd party addons" isn't answering the question the poll asks.

What I don't get is why you think the community needs to answer a question that is up to the individual. "Too many addons" is more than you're comfortable with individually.

[General Vezax]

People went addon crazy years ago. In TBC. Nothing new here.

I do see the point though. The level that DBM played the game for you was astronomically bad. I feel like Twin valks and Thaddius are prime examples of this. This mod throws BIG POPUP WORDS all over your screen telling you to do something and thats it. Entire fight is done.

for thad,
SWITCH POLARITY

for valks,
ATTACK THE OTHER BOSS
INTERRUPT

No need to watch the cast bar or timers or even pay attention to anything.

[Azrile]

I seriously don't know what you are talking about. Unless you are a healer the default UI does pretty much everything except play the game for you... if you need an addon to tell you when x cd is done and what skills to use you're just a baddie... even DBM became less mandatory with the implementation of dungeon journal...

A lot of people have been using DBM for 7 years... as soon as a new patch comes, they download the latest version. Most of them are completely unaware how good the default UI has become at telling you the same stuff. Most bosses even now have energy bars to show you when a lot of the important stuff is going to happen far in advance. The irony is most of them think it is DBM showing them stuff, and don´t realize that everyone see it.

[ComputerNerd]

I seriously don't know what you are talking about. Unless you are a healer the default UI does pretty much everything except play the game for you... if you need an addon to tell you when x cd is done and what skills to use you're just a baddie... even DBM became less mandatory with the implementation of dungeon journal...

There are UI issues certainly, but I agree they blaming the wrong issues.
The UI is really lacking on a lot of features that addons simply do better, and in fact we would not even have the default UI in the current form were it not for addons.
Extra action bars at the side, aura indicators, loot monitor, decent raid frames, bag search and many others all derived from addons.

I think there is room for much improvement still, but addons can be both good and bad.
Encounter design has I think forced reliance upon timers, which even prior to boss mods were done via a physical clock and a raid leader calling out over voice or game chat.
Having to rely on an individual committed to that job imo would hurt encounter design, since their lack of contributions elsewhere would need to be taken into account.
The ability for everyone to have certain important information to hand means the ability to make better decisions.

The ability to filter information such as buffs, and cooldowns only to those you really need to know about is still sorely lacking in the default UI, and that is where addons simply do what the game should be, but way better.

[Itisamuh]

Well there's no option for zero, so I can't really vote. But yes, I'd say players obsess over them a bit too much. It's ironic, they get all these mods that tell you when everything's going to happen, then complain that the game's become too easy.

[Deleted]

Uneven playing field? Last I checked, none of my addons are secured behind a password locked website -- they're freely available to everyone playing the game. That's about as even as it gets!

Hacking the game? Blizzard designed and implemented the technology that allows for addons.

It sounds to me like your problem with addons is that you're computer illiterate and can't be bothered to figure out how to make them work.

They're all available to everyone yes, but not everyone will have the same combination of addons at the same time.

And yes, Blizzard allows it. Maybe it doesn't fit the technical, dictionary definition of hacking, but it is still a third party modifying the game which can be (and apparently has been - i'm no expert) used to exploit the game.

I'm sure I'd be perfectly capable of downloading and using an addon if I cared to thank you very much. It's just that I don't. First playing WoW I didn't even realise they existed (all the other games I'd played had been self-sufficient you see), and even after I discovered them I never saw any need to download one, as I've always been a casual gamer. And over the years I've simply come to find the concept absurd.

In my ideal world they wouldn't exist and everyone would stop trying to turn a game into a maths contest with numbers and metres flying everywhere. But as it is, I'm no raider so it doesn't really matter that much to me. I just find it odd that I am unable to try out raiding if I want to stick to the default version of the game on principal.

Speaking of which what is the attitude to Addons in LFR? Is it still considered a requirement?

[Sliske]

The other night I was raiding when one of our players had a series of disconnect issues, eventually when he got back on his addon data had reset and he was unable to raid becuase his ui had set to default, his meters etc were not showing and his weak auras were not responding.

Now he did have stuff like dbm working and I think bartender was fine also.

But my question is this, have raiders become to attached to addons to be able to raid properly.

I raid with about 10-12 addons and most of them are small changes or boss mods addons.

But some people I am aware of are pushing the 50+ addons which I find crazy because at what point do your stop being a good player and become just a tool to press a button when the addon says so.

When to move, when to pop X,Y,Z. How to shop, where to fly, how to level, what a boss will do.

I just wanted to get the communities opinion on how many addons is too many addons.

If you're talking about raiding then yes addons are required to play your class to the fullest. You can't just wing it and play your class blind and expect to do the same dps as you COULD be doing. I'd rather not raid at all than play sub par because the default rage bar is unresponsive. I'd rather not raid at all than play sub par because i can't see the exact number of seconds and miliseconds left on my colossus smash.

I can't even fathom playing without Omni CC, which puts numbers showing the CD of your spells on your buttons. It just simply isn't as effective to not use the addon. You are literally playing worse because you do not download addons to track your buffs, procs and cooldowns.

Addons are essential to mastering your class. It simply is not possible to master any dps, healer or tank without the use of addons. theres too much information not shown to you in real time for it to ever happen.

[Azrile]

Personally I've never installed any addons ever. I mean surely Blizzard should provide everything that you need to play the game. And in all honesty dozens of damage and threat metres and whatever else really aren't necessary to play the game. Sure, without them you won't be optimised but then no one else would be either, if the game had no addons.

The whole addon craze has never made sense to me. Not why people are ok with this system that puts people on an uneven playing field, and not why blizzard is cool with letting third parties do what is essentially hacking the game. I would be very grateful if someone could explain it.

The problem is that some people want very unique stuff that would just clutter the screen of people who don´t need it. For instance, I am an altaholic and do a LOT of cross-realm buying and selling. I use an add-on called allplayed that quickly shows me information about all my alts right from my main screen. To an average player, if Blizzard built that into the default UI, it would just be a distraction for most players.

Besides from that, Blizzard is constantly adding new stuff to the defaultui that makes popular add-ons really obsolete. There was a huge example in 5.4 when most of the usefulness of NPCscan was incorporated into the defaultui. Players now can see the small skull on their mini-map well before npscan would pick it up.

And like has been mentioned many times, most of the DBM stuff is part of the defaultui now.

[Redpanda]

They're all available to everyone yes, but not everyone will have the same combination of addons at the same time.

And yes, Blizzard allows it. Maybe it doesn't fit the technical, dictionary definition of hacking, but it is still a third party modifying the game which can be (and apparently has been - i'm no expert) used to exploit the game.

I'm sure I'd be perfectly capable of downloading and using an addon if I cared to thank you very much. It's just that I don't. First playing WoW I didn't even realise they existed (all the other games I'd played had been self-sufficient you see), and even after I discovered them I never saw any need to download one, as I've always been a casual gamer. And over the years I've simply come to find the concept absurd.

In my ideal world they wouldn't exist and everyone would stop trying to turn a game into a maths contest with numbers and metres flying everywhere. But as it is, I'm no raider so it doesn't really matter that much to me. I just find it odd that I am unable to try out raiding if I want to stick to the default version of the game on principal.

Speaking of which what is the attitude to Addons in LFR? Is it still considered a requirement?

as far as other stuff goes. its your choice. LFR wise if you are a tank or a healer some type of boss mod will only help you. When a big raid hit is about to come wouldnt you like you know when its coming so you can Devo aura the raid, or spirit shell the raid? dont you what to know the cd on your raiders raid cooldowns? wouldnt you like to know how far along you are on enrage so now you know you probably need to do something a little better? ok youre a casual so some may not be nessesary but if you want to be sucessful in raiding you need to have some information infront of you so know how to adjust accordingly

[Deleted]

For raiding I use DBM, Recount to check who dispelled etc. and thats all. The other two addons I use are Ackis recipe list (trying to 100% my alchemy) and Altoholic to keep track pf my junk. I am a healer and the raidframes work perfectly fine for me.