Have Players gone Addon Crazy

[Deleted]

DBM, Recount, and other than that I have macros and that's it.

[sosleapy]

Icehud so I don't have to keep looking up at my hp when I am paying attention to the boss as a tank and I see what bosses hp is easier. Dbm weak aura an recount is what I actively use anything else is mute. Ppl using custom ui in raid had caused ppl to mess up and I keep trying to tell them to get rid of their ui

[Shadowlance]

I have about 5-10 raiding addons. DBM. nug combobar.tellmewhen,omniCC,bartender. the rest of the addons are pretty much just bagnon,mogit,postal,chatter,npcScan and atlas loot

[Xs]

I use an extremely customised UI, not a single part is left unmodified.

I could and have played without it, but I would also rather play other games than WoW with an unmodded UI, its just unnecessarily difficult to do the simplest things.

Also by extreme, we're talking 100+ addons, at least 40 of those are unique not multi-mods.

[Spiralphoenix]

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.

You've misunderstood. The situations where they broke addons, for example, AVR in WotLK during ICC, or the "Auto Accept LFR queue" addon during DS, were completely legitimate and supported at the time they were used. Blizzard decided they no longer wanted to support them, and broke the functionality that allowed them to work, so that then on they were considered exploitative (though, at that point, "impossible to use" would be a better way to put it). Nobody was banned for AVR.

Not everyone plays the game for the same reason. You see them as non-essential, which is perfectly reasonable for a casual gamer who isn't concerned with playing at the maximum in raiding and progression. I see them as basically a requirement to customize the way you like information presented to you to what works for you best, something it would be impossible for Blizzard to do for me, for you, for normal mode raider a, hardcore raider b, LFR raider c, or altoholic player d. They provide a basic UI that suffices for most things, but has room for improvement, and addons make that possible.

[Breccia]

My option isn't listed. I don't use addons at all, but have zero problems with others using them.

[Belloc]

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?

Now go back and read the rest of my post, that I edited in after you started writing your reply. It gives ample reason for the existence of addons.

Furthermore, being a "casual gamer" is not a reason, it's an excuse. In fact, the reason you have to ask what the point of addons is/why they exist is because you don't use them! Had you ever decided to download one and try it out, you'd understand perfectly well what it's all about, but you're falling back on the old "casual" excuse.

I'm a "casual' vegetable eater (in that I eat very few of them), but I certainly understand why other people eat them and why they exist. I've never used a stick-shift, but I still understand why cars have them and why some people prefer them.

In my ideal world, you wouldn't need different spoons for different parts of the meal, but that doesn't mean that they shouldn't exist. In my ideal world, all cars would run on a grid and everyone could relax in their car and be automatically driven to their destinations... but that's not how it works.

Addons serve a purpose and that purpose does not serve every player in the game. That is why Blizzard doesn't develop them.

You want to know exactly how long your proc is going to be up without having to glace at your buff icons? Get an addon. Most other players don't care and so Blizzard has no need to develop it. If an addon breaches the limits of what Blizzard expects it to be able to do, they can remove that functionality.

Addons are there to present you with data in a way that suits your needs. If you don't need it, you don't get the addon. If you do need it, you have several options to choose from. This is 100% a good thing. Maybe, one day, you'll find that you want to level archaeology and it's taking too long. There's an addon to make it much more simple and quick. You may find that you want to know where each and every individual chest is on the Timeless Isle. There's an addon for that. You may find that you want timers for every boss fight in 5-mans. There's an addon for that.

Or you may find that you're not interested in any of those things or that you're perfectly happy with the game being slightly more difficult for you. That's fine, too. You are more than welcome to play the game as you like... but so are the rest of us. We like addons, thank you very much.

Now, please note that I'm not trying to come off as rude. I realize that I probably am coming off that way, but it's not my intention. You are, however, coming off as someone who wants something removed from the game that I, and probably millions of others, rely on for a smooth and efficient gaming experience, and I don't like that.

[Vargur]

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

Due to the competitive nature of the raid game. Ways to increase numbers = addons. That's it and all that matters.

[Szemere]

I use a shitton of addons, most focused around being able to track things better in combat. Not one of my addons lets me know which button to press when and/or where to go (except for perhaps bigwigs but who doesn't use DBM/bigwigs nowadays).

"At what point do you stop being a good player?", yes there's some addons out there that absolutely promote lazy-as-hell play. However, you only need those specific addons to do that, and you could be done with 10 addons.

There's a shitton of great addons allowing you much better access to information that is already SOMEWHERE in the stock UI. Having more of those doesn't necesarily make things easier, if anything you'll be able to see less, heh.

It's not about how many addons, it's about which.

[Zerah]

i use about 90 addons, yes 90. that being said 90% of them are aesthetic adjustments. The default ui looks like an out of date slot machine. Bartender for action bars, dbm, weak auras, skada, and shadowed unit frames being the only ones of relevance in a raid encounter. The rest just make everything look neat and just the way I want it. The addons dont come close to playing the game for me, but as the OP was talking about, when you loose all your settings it not about being unable to play without them, but they are still there just all set back to the original configs and after disabling them all, it would still take me about 25 min or so just to set my bars and keybinds back up to function with the default

[Redpanda]

You've misunderstood. The situations where they broke addons, for example, AVR in WotLK during ICC, or the "Auto Accept LFR queue" addon during DS, were completely legitimate and supported at the time they were used. Blizzard decided they no longer wanted to support them, and broke the functionality that allowed them to work, so that then on they were considered exploitative (though, at that point, "impossible to use" would be a better way to put it). Nobody was banned for AVR.

Not everyone plays the game for the same reason. You see them as non-essential, which is perfectly reasonable for a casual gamer who isn't concerned with playing at the maximum in raiding and progression. I see them as basically a requirement to customize the way you like information presented to you to what works for you best, something it would be impossible for Blizzard to do for me, for you, for normal mode raider a, hardcore raider b, LFR raider c, or altoholic player d. They provide a basic UI that suffices for most things, but has room for improvement, and addons make that possible.

blizzard does what that addon does now like when the adds come out for protector rook. you get a circle around you. alot of stuff that blizzard already has is derived from a addon ala power auras. it all depends on what you do in game and how streamlined you want ot make you experience

ps i remember drawing dicks with AVR. when they broke it i was sad

[Strakha]

I use..

Atlasloot - Just because dungeon journal sometimes bugs out and I can't select boss-items and it doesn't sort as nice.

Bartender4 - Great way to customize hotkeys/bars.

Castbars - Nice customizable bar on screen to see enemy cast/change size/position/font/etc.

DBM - So I don't stand in fire.

MSBT - I love this mod, it scrolls quickly through your output-input dmg-healing, feels cleaner than default.

OmniCC - Gives a cooldown on top of your ability icon.

Recount - Monitor technical data on groups. damage/healing/dispels/interrupts/etc.

Shadowed Unit Frames - Great lightweight unit frames that are highly customizable. Uses very little memory and can be configured in many ways.

Silverdragon - Rare finder, npcscan is rarely updated these days so I found this one, works well so far.


I would hate to play with default UI. Even just Bartender4, MSBT, Castbars & Shadowed Unit Frames would be enough. They make the game seem newer and more intuitive to me.

To each their own, I hate patch day particularly because there of the default UI.

[Raiju]

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...

some fights you will have no indicator as good as an addon as the combat log event will show before any animation or shout (if there even is one), they are getting better at adding them though.

Also, a healer has the least reason to need any addons if anything... Not to mention unless you are a mathematical genius there are things which are impossible to get right without an addon informing you of certain proc combinations. Things like shield amounts and vengeance come to mind as well (numbers not shown on the buff unless you mouse over normally)

[Rioo]

The default ui is really ugly, so I got some cosmetic addons to fix that. Those I can live without. But as a feral/guardian druid I feel I must have two bars for cat form and two for bear form, and at the same time have two bars for extra stuff like healing things, decurse, CCs and some mount, teleport etc. things. It's just not possible with the standard ui (unless they've changed it), so that's why I got Dominos.

Weakauras is a big part of my ui and while I could do ok without it there's no way for me to track all the trinket procs, TF, bleed timers and other de/buffs etc. without it.

With my warrior it's fine and I don't think I use any addons except for some cosmetic ones and recount. If I played it hardcore I would track trinket procs too. Just different from spec to spec I guess.

[zephid]

Most of the addons I use is purely for cosmetic reasons since I don't like the look and feel of the standard UI.

[Duncanîdaho]

I honestly cannot play the game anymore without addons like Dominoes and Icehud. On major patch days I have to wait until all the updates for the addons are done before I can even log on. I'm just so used to how my bars, procs and hotkeys have been set up for like 5 years now on my rogue, it's impossible for me to go back to the old system. I feel like I'm playing at half my potential if I do. Not to mention all the different procs I'd have to look for in the top right since I play a rogue and there's at least 5-6 of them at any given time. It's to hard to raid well and have to stare at the top right or left of my screen the whole time. I want my eyes to be in the center all the time.

Not to mention the ability bloat on my rogue. If I used blizz's bars I'd have no screen left to play on. At least with Dominoes I can use the same bar/hotkey setup and have it just switch the abilities when I'm in stealth. Saves so much room.

[Zerah]

Anyone who thinks addons=hacking needs to rethink that, the only reason addons function is because they all use codes / scripts / commands that are ALREADY BUILT in to the game's API.

[The Kao]

I prefer using only addons that give me information that Blizzard's interface simply doesn't. For everything else it's good enough as it is, total HUD customization is not for me. I even go as far as deactivating raid addons outside of guild raids and for guild raids as soon as the raid is on farm status. That said, I find it really cute seeing so many people running around with DBM active and still failing. Defeats the purpose, doesn't it?

[Ranganathan]

I use DBM because I have a tendency to stand where I shouldn't but that's from playing whack-a-mole (healing) instead of actually raiding. Healers know what I mean. Healing without some kind of addon, especially in a raid, would be next to impossible. So I use HealBot for that. Another addon for auction house stuff, because fuck the very idea of having to retype prices hundreds of times per day. A bar mod and Fishing Buddy are the only other ones that come to mind. I use the bar mod mostly for range coloration and CD timers. Fishing Buddy to click cast and track my catches. I've had people see my screen and reel at the horror that is the "default UI".

I gotta agree with those who're saying addons just band aid the UI problems in WoW. Plus the "I did it just find with the default, therefore you can do it with the default" mentality. It's so odd, that attitude. Yeah, good for you for struggling through a shitty UI to play a game you like. That doesn't mean the UI shouldn't be improved to save other players the hassle. Fuck that whole "it was good enough for me" line of thought.

[Deleted]

I use quite a lot of addons, and yes I think that people have become too addon-dependent.