overwolf going the wrong way

[rhorle]

The api is public. Note how they cast the legal part aside in the post (cause they would't have a leg to stand on there) and they proceed to bullshit about things like monetization that'll help the addon creators (as we already know, ads won't pay shit).

The API though is only public because that is what previous owners allowed. There is nothing illegal about making it private or only allowing certain third party platforms to have access to it. Does it suck they are making it that way? Sure. But don't try to claim anything they are doing is illegal. They are just securing and monetizing the product that they purchased.

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The API was never public. It was found by reverse-engineering the twitch client.

Curseforge has a website dedicate to using their API. Even if it was at one time reverse-engineered they made it publicly accessible with documentation.

[Thage]

Overwolf is guilty of nothing more than producing a pile of shit and coming off like assholes over what should have just been a lever pulled situation. They tried to hype it up as this great thing and it backfired for the same reason Bethesda's paid mods backfired: visuals surrounding a situation often matter much more than the actual meat and potatoes of the situation itself.

Personally, after the experiences I've had with Overwolf's previous outings, you'd probably need to hold a metaphorical gun to my head to get me to use any client published by them or designed by someone directly working for them. I've had better luck with Segurazo "antivirus." While I respect that they're trying to help addon authors get some kind of recompense for their time and energy, the reality of it is that any feasible hopes of hitting a livable wage off addon development is about a decade too late. Most if not all successful addon developers have Patreon accounts or similar donation-funded lifestyles that allow them to focus exclusively on addon development. Any steps Overwolf takes here isn't going to meaningfully impact these authors' bottom line one way or another, especially not after how badly they put their foot forward with this whole bit of interwebs drama.

[Xeenith]

a lot of this situation seems a bit like EGS trying to impose itself to players by shady dealings.

[MatPandaZ]

Who cares - wowup is much better.

The point is that things like WoWUp scrape curseforge currently, as do any of the addon updaters that don't host the files themselves. Someone would need to front the money for hosting and bandwidth, while also convincing addon creators to upload to that hosting.

I used to use Overwolf for the Hearthstone overlay and it was an absolute bag of crap. Was a total resource hog, barely worked half the time and constantly tried advertising things. Even when I uninstalled it I still had to manually delete half the fkn thing. You all can do what you want but I'll just *not* use it. If they want to put addons behind a paywall and the creators don't want their addons elsewhere, I assume other free addons will pop up, and if they aren't as good then so be it. I'm not being strong-armed into using that POS. I'd rather throw some cash directly to the addon creators for manual access to files than give Overwolf money, or install their app, or sign up with them.

[Ielenia]

That sounds official but is actually nonsense.

"Nonsense"? Why is it "nonsense"? Simply and solely because you don't like it?

It's just logical. The database server belongs to Curseforge. They designed the API. They host the mods. It's their service, and they're entitled to decide who can access said service and how.

[Lucetia]

While I respect that they're trying to help addon authors get some kind of recompense for their time and energy, the reality of it is that any feasible hopes of hitting a livable wage off addon development is about a decade too late. Most if not all successful addon developers have Patreon accounts or similar donation-funded lifestyles that allow them to focus exclusively on addon development. Any steps Overwolf takes here isn't going to meaningfully impact these authors' bottom line one way or another, especially not after how badly they put their foot forward with this whole bit of interwebs drama.

You do realize what Overwolf would probably be giving them would be equivalent of what they made off Curseforge when Twitch owned it and companies prior to it. Authors have always been compensated in some form on their site though this is probably the first time most are hearing about it. The difference is Overwolf wants to, rather than cease and desist letters constantly like Twitch was, make it so that 3rd party programs can't access the API unless they get permission and are able to meet the requirements they want with the main one being able to track better.

How is the companies prior compensating them different than Overwolf trying to do the same? You compared it to Bethesda in the prior paragraph which the two situations aren't close at all and a poor comparison.

If they want to put addons behind a paywall and the creators don't want their addons elsewhere, I assume other free addons will pop up, and if they aren't as good then so be it.

Another poor assumption. They never once claimed anything was going to be behind a paywall. You will be able to access everything that you can now. The only difference could be instead of unlimited downloads or background updating like Twitch did you might be capped like it was prior to Twitch. Paying a sub fee lifts those caps but doesn't make anything paywalled since you can still access the same without it.

[Thage]

You do realize what Overwolf would probably be giving them would be equivalent of what they made off Curseforge when Twitch owned it and companies prior to it. Authors have always been compensated in some form on their site though this is probably the first time most are hearing about it. The difference is Overwolf wants to, rather than cease and desist letters constantly like Twitch was, make it so that 3rd party programs can't access the API unless they get permission and are able to meet the requirements they want with the main one being able to track better.

How is the companies prior compensating them different than Overwolf trying to do the same? You compared it to Bethesda in the prior paragraph which the two situations aren't close at all and a poor comparison.

The only reason I brought up Bethesda is because of the similarities in response from the community. I suppose it wasn't clear enough, I don't care that Overwolf is compensating authors. Good for them. I've already said that's not the problem here. The problem is that the visuals around a situation are oftentimes more important to the public than the situation itself. Great ideas can live and die on public perception, never mind average or bad ideas (which I'm not saying either way this is, since it's tangential to my two main points, those being that Overwolf has botched the messaging and lost control of the narrative, and that their software is so bad that I personally will not be using it regardless of intent or messaging).

It doesn't matter if they're offering the same or more. I'd put money on it that the authors who are able to make a living off of their development, or who make enough that it can be a significant use of their off time, earn those livings off of external donations--such as through Patreon or stream donations. The issue is that they fucked up their messaging here, and tried to spin it with your usual corporate spiel, rather than just flipped the switch and told everyone they were going to be more stringently regulating API access to correct a previous oversight, people have taken the wrong lesson from it, and now they're in a shitstorm partially of their own making between their track record of spotty software and bombing the message on this change.

[Lucetia]

rather than just flipped the switch and told everyone they were going to be more stringently regulating API access to correct a previous oversight

Except history has taught us that when companies do something like that behind the scene and someone else brings it up an even bigger crapstorm starts brewing. The amount of people who are going to care about the PR they provided so far will probably be like 10% of the players who play any game they provide a service too.

A lot of this is just people trying to find something to complain about and complain without actually thinking the entire scenario through and the reasonings behind different things. It's easier for them to just complain and add whatever extra fluff to it just to make it worse. This is the case with a lot of things and just not this one.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

If the addons are still free to download, and they don't put insane requirements on authors to be listed, I frankly don't give a Kobold's ass if they refuse to allow Internet Archive to scrape their database or whatever this is all about.

[rhorle]

(which I'm not saying either way this is, since it's tangential to my two main points, those being that Overwolf has botched the messaging and lost control of the narrative, and that their software is so bad that I personally will not be using it regardless of intent or messaging).

I think your statement though highlights that it doesn't matter what their messaging is, or was, because people are making up their minds prior to. They don't want to use the native apps so anything that restricts that will be bad. Regardless of the messaging. Lets be fair as well. If they just "flipped the switch" you and others would be saying its BS or whatever negative term.

[Kreo]

A bit info heavy topic, can someone explain how it would affect Twitch app for updates?
Do i need to pay for them now or they will drown it in ads or what will change?

[Lucetia]

A bit info heavy topic, can someone explain how it would affect Twitch app for updates?
Do i need to pay for them now or they will drown it in ads or what will change?

Curseforge is no longer owned by Twitch and the Twitch client will stop working with WoW addons soon. Forget when though. So you will either have to switch to Overwolf client, manually download them, or possibly 3rd party client that may or may not work soon.

[rhorle]

A bit info heavy topic, can someone explain how it would affect Twitch app for updates?
Do i need to pay for them now or they will drown it in ads or what will change?

Amazon sold the addon stuff to Overwolf and it will be phased out of the Twitch app soon. Overwolf is releasing a curseforge app that will support WoW starting on October 20th. Additional games and features will be added over time. The basic functionality should be free but they may charge for preimums like Curse used to (auto-updates, faster downloads etc).

There will be at least one ad, a square block on the lower right side with the app.

https://trello-attachments.s3.amazon...M3fruqp9TD.png

[kevincuomo]

Boycott Overwolf at all costs. They are trying to force people to use their program and they have a bad history of having malware infected programs. I will manually install before I ever install their program.

[Kreo]

Amazon sold the addon stuff to Overwolf and it will be phased out of the Twitch app soon. Overwolf is releasing a curseforge app that will support WoW starting on October 20th. Additional games and features will be added over time. The basic functionality should be free but they may charge for preimums like Curse used to (auto-updates, faster downloads etc).

There will be at least one ad, a square block on the lower right side with the app.

https://trello-attachments.s3.amazon...M3fruqp9TD.png

Funny thing, i had Curse premium, wander what will happen with that.

[InfernalDark]

It's weird how many in here are actually defending Overwolf.

[kaintk]

It's weird how many in here are actually defending Overwolf.

they probably work for them

nobody will defend this app full of spyware and malware when they know what it is and the control freak they want to do on curse

[MatPandaZ]

.

Another poor assumption. They never once claimed anything was going to be behind a paywall. You will be able to access everything that you can now. The only difference could be instead of unlimited downloads or background updating like Twitch did you might be capped like it was prior to Twitch. Paying a sub fee lifts those caps but doesn't make anything paywalled since you can still access the same without it.

I didn't say they are going to. I just said if they did. As in if I had a choice between paying overwolf or lose access to the latest addons, I would choose to lose access over installing Overwolf. Its called a hypothetical and the point was to show that I refuse to install or pay them.

[Hablion]

Anyone Know if the addon authors have any sort of exclusivity clause for them to get paid by Overwolf?

[Clozer]

I don't understand.
I use twitch for my addons, works fine.
Why would anyone want anything else?

That was bought by Overwolf. So in 2 weeks you have to use OW instead of Twitch. And many many people do not like that.

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It's weird how many in here are actually defending Overwolf.

A drug dealer can still help an elderly woman over the street. Now saying that it is bad that he's helping an elderly woman over the street because he's a drug dealer isn't the smartest thing.