Yes, I dislike the addons in World of Warcraft from the competitive advantage point of view! In this video, I show a custom UI and explain how addons create unfair advantages, split the player base, and make it harder for developers to design the game.
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I might have to make a follow up video to avoid causing confusion. Until then, these are some takeaways:
1. My friend in the video DID use addons (Bigwigs, WA, MRT) to gain a competitive advantage – these aren't good for the game because blizzard has to tune content for addons and force harder boss fights with too many mechanics.
2. I am trying to say that the baseline difficulty of the game has to be purely gameplay/preparation and NOT fixing, modding WeakAuras or MRT healing sheet.
3. Blizzard has to improve the default UI to add tracking of buffs/debuffs/procs. But i am NOT a fan of a WeakAura instantly telling you if you dropped a debuff with a massive glowing icon and you just follow the instructions to do max DPS.
I tried to get my wife to play the game with me. After I installed it for her, I mentioned that she had to download and customize all these other things for the game first to actually be able to play it properly. She said "why can't I just play the game normally" then sat down to watch Selling Sunset instead, because it made the game seem too overly complicated to her. Remove addons. It is a HUGE barrier to entry for new players.
Well yes that's what addons are for its for making it so that higher level players can have less cognitive overload when they are doing that tier of content, I'm sorry to say this but a lot of current high-end content you need at least some form of addon to help with timers, cooldowns, or visual clarity. It is a competitive advantage, because that's what it was made for. If you want a more laid back and simpler game go play classic or normal raid. People are gonna use every advantage they can, its called being resourceful. And anyone can install an addon people get paid to do this stuff, this honestly just sounds like a skill issue.
You want the game to be easier, well guess what a lot of people play 20 keys and Mythic Raids because they want a challenge they don't want to play hold your hand simulator. Some people like getting straight to the point, I don't want sit there for 20 minutes figuring out what the bosses does when I can just watch a timer or use the journal to see what the mechanic does. You say it would be a net good for the game but it wouldn't people don't want to relearn the entire game just because someone wanted them too. If you don't know how to do your rotation or know when to pop a defensive that's your fault, not the addon.
Your preaching to the choir, I'll say this again if you want a more casual or easier experience go play open world and do quest go play classic or just do easier content. Don't blame addons if you cant do that level of content then just don't do it but let those who can do it play their game.
If u think u can play modern wow in CE / keystone 15+ level without ANY addons, u need a straight jacket. If ur argument is that the developers need to tone the game down to the point so people can play without any addons, then the entire game would have to be completely re-designed. No humans are capable of tracking dozens of buffs and procs that I need to react to asap to play my class at an optimal level while tracking what's going on. Your and others arguments of DBM/BW giving edge is also really stupid. If you have done any serious mythic raiding, you will know soon realize wiping on the same boss 100+ times, you don't even have to look at the timer after certain point. Does it help you plan stuff out when it's your first time vs that boss? Yes. Does that give you any advantage? No. Why? Cuz one could EASILY just watch a video of someone else killing that boss beforehand to understand the mechanics and their timings down to seconds if they wanted to. Using your same logic, then we must ban every single content creators who upload these guides on bosses, classes, and keys all should be banned as well, since they give an advantage to certain people, splitting the player base. Just play the game as the developers made the game out to be. They have exposed certain APIs to be usable by addon developers for reasons. They will design the bosses and mechanics around that as well. You think it's unfair, then keep yourself at a significant disadvantage and keep playing. But there is no need for crying that usage of addons is a form of cheating.
you don't need add-ons for raiding, full stop.
they do, however, make the game infinitely easier.
honestly though, it's not like it matters. the warcraft playerbase is one of the most idiotic, skill-less communities i've ever seen.
people said fucking raszageth was hard. raszageth.
the wow community is dogshit.
no matter what blizzard does, people will bitch. so they may as well ignore 99% of the community, because they are fucking brainless.
100% agree this would even the playing field for everyone
i get what you're saying, and i know your title is clickbait. but without certain addons i would not physically be able to play WOW. the accessibility from the ones I use allow me to play. Unless bliz implements these (they wont, and if they do they will be half-assed) i would have to quit.
What you ask for is called Final Fantasy 14. Go play that if you despise addons so much. I have no problem with them.
There is no argument to make about whether "some people cant get them or dont know about it". Everybody can get every addon. There is nobody in the world not being able to get addons. If you just play the game, people will tell you what addons you need or not. So these arguments are completely invalid.
There is an argument to make about certain mechanics that require weakauras to even remotely succeed in a fight. Like Ovinax mythic for example. There I can see an issue. If you dont use weakauras there, the fight is extremely hard and borders at impossible. I wouldnt advertise banning addons over this.
In general i play almost without addons in everything, pve and pvp, and i'm doing good overall so i don't understand why people sometimes feel obligated to use addons which for me translates to skill issue but i get that some people grew too attached to them and now can't see the game the same way as before so yes, i think the best it's to get rid of addons so players can focus on the game instead of the ritual of getting the best guide that tells you everything beforehand
Removing timers while fights are still 100% scripted is a stupid solution cause that would lead to even casual guilds raiding with 21 players and one of those is just dedicated to watch at a timer he started at pull and is reading the boss script down. And no one who ever played a souls game or other games with RNG based boss patterns wants this in wow cause that makes bosses impossible to balance.
Ngl bro but if you do mythic raids you are not above average you are the 1% that keep the game alive, average players are people doing normal raids , hc raiders are above average
This opinion is like asking people to do all math work in your head instead of using calculators lol. The former is simply not that fun for many people.
Your arguement lacks a key component to it; evidence of what you're arguing for and why it's worth the arguement. You state that the game shouldn't have addons, alright fine, you brought up good points, but what does that look like on the other side?
The game's stock UI is fine, changing it is just vanity at that point, I'm sure people could live without Elvui and other simmilar addons just fine.
All the boss timers and major mechanics are alerted to you by the default UI as is, so that's alright there as well
Personal responsibility, abilities, CDs, and proccs. This is where things get hard. Some classes get lucky, their built in procc information is all they need. But alot of other classes don't have that. Maelstrom Weapon for shamans, for example, only shows the growth of 1-5, but not 6-10. Meaning if you benefit hard from 10 stacks lightning bolt, but use it on 6, then you just lowered your own DPS.
Hidden timers. I neglected something in the boss section, but this applies to so much more; not everything is alerted to you by the default UI. Enrage timer, certain boss CDs, that sort of thing.
Taking away addons, even with some compensation, just won't work, wide spread. But. To play the game at an average level, you absolutely do not need addons. The game is friendly towards that.
This isn't WoD and the trinket passing boss.
World of Warcraft has a general problem with how it is designed and balanced. The early game with the leveling phase is so easy that a brain dead monkey can make it through while the endgame rapidly increases the difficulty to the point where you can't do shit without addons. In competitive PVP playing without addons is a clear disadvantage and in PVE you have so many mechanics that can easily cause massive damage to the group to the point of where instant wipes are quite common (especially on heroic or mythic).
The endgame is designed around the use of addons and that creates a problem due to it being an arms race between devs and addon creators. The more elaborate the addons become the more mechanically complex the fights have got to be. It's unnecessary and makes the game effectively worse for normal players. It's just one of the many problems WoW has but removing addons and designing new fights without them in mind would be a step in the right direction.
Now imagine if a game like Elden Ring would provide you with the option to install addons where you can receive instructions on when to dodge or highlights safe areas during certain specials. Sure it would make the game easier but at the same time would basically cause the devs to create even more mechanically insane fights with even smaller time frames where you can stuff. It would be stupid and punish every player that doesn't use these addons.
typical elitist comment, addons help people be able to play the game, it would be impossible to heal at a high level and mentally track 20 different things for most people, it's already hard enough to be able to track the addons itself, would be only for the 0.1% to do it in your head, i would likely quit playing wow without addons. blizzard cannot be trusted to make a good ui either, they haven't been able to do so in 20 years, that's not going to change if you remove addons, bloated unusable aura bars, dozens of debuffs that you have to mentally understand which one is important or not all the time, sudden casts that wipe your raid if you didnt start ramping up your hots 10 seconds ago as resto druid, yeah, would be impossible to play for most people. addons allow us to also customize and give us a comfortable experience tailored for the different needs of each of us, some of us prefer different ui elements, asking to remove all this customization is just bad for players.
Your friend absolutely used addons for his Mythic Queen kill. DBM/Wigs and WeakAuras are two of the biggest offenders when discussing the removal of addons, too. Sorry, he used the competitive advantage you were discussing. Show us a clean Blizzard UI with maybe Details as the only addon and then we'll give him credit.
Now, I agree we should have encounter addons like these removed, as it's hampered Blizzard's development and it's making things get insane. Players actually play worse because the thinking has gone away. But that would also need to come with a complete redesign in how encounters work across the board.
Also, there's no issue with UI addons or something like Details because it doesn't actually tell you what to do.
And then you have no idea about what procs and buffs and debuffs are on your class. Like about the resto shaman, how do you even know you have a high tide available without a weak aura… Without a timer, how can pro-active healers work? In my oppinion blizz should work more on the base UI, but in the end it is good to have customization too.