We’ve had a discussion on addon development and UI customisation before. Some people think we will have classic built on legion software and others think they’ll be using the old stuff (even the hardware). Tbh I think the latter is less likely given the huge technical hurdles involved, which has already been expressed by Blizzard.
Addons will still be LUA based so I’m sure there will be plenty of interest from developers in making legacy versions if necessary. Another interesting point raised was the idea of how much addons will affect the game and the ‘pure’ experience of playing.
For example, quest locations on live are marked with a blue sector on the map, whereas this wasn’t the case originally. If someone developed an addon that provided this functionality would you be inclined to use it or not?
I suppose these are the kind of discussions the classic team are having now in its early stages of development, and fingers crossed we will get some info at blizzcon.
I was wondering what some of you thought about the use of addons in Classic. The official forums are down at the moment and I can't pull up the player post that initially caught my attention, but it went like this. On the topic of WoW's 'difficulty' in retail currently versus that of vanilla's, one of the points brought up was quest difficulty, reinforced by the lack of map/minimap direction. This was upvoted as a reason that vanilla would be hard for a 2019 playerbase. However... am I missing something? Was there not a quest helper addon in vanilla? Couldn't anyone just get the addon and forget their troubles? I just don't see how having to read and investigate poses any real challenge these days to anyone that 1) doesn't want to read and 2) has access to the internet and all of its vast resources. I personally will not be using a quest helper. I've waited too long to rush through vanilla's content... but what about you guys? Are there any addons you just can't live without?
Vanilla had no map markers on where the quest area is. Back in the day I just used Thottbot for literally everything. Back in 2005, 2006 I never had dual monitors so I was always alt-tabbing. It will be nice now-a-days having dual monitors to have online resources up for help. I think the only mod I used was a de-curse mod for raiding and a raid warning mod.
I was the same boat as you about any quest helper add-on for about 45 levels when I played on a private server (talking specifically about Joanna's leveling guide) but please, please, please do give it a shot.
As much as I love the game, I don't know everything about it. There are so - many - quest chains that will send you across continents and I was normally like "yeah pffsh, fuck if I'm going to Hinterlands for 1 quest" but the add-on helped me saying "no no no, save this, you'll do it later" which I did, several levels later, and not only did I get some good exp going but I also discovered new leveling areas, storylines, quests etc. that I would have never discovered otherwise.
It didn't kill the difficulty or adventure for me, it opened up doors I never knew were there. I still had to go there, kill stuff, struggle finding certain things sometimes, fight for mobs, PvP, read quests etc. etc. - I just felt I was more efficient at it.
Quest helpers existed back then. Thotbot/Alakazham existed back then. All the tools existed back then for anyone who went looking for them.
It's just that since it was so many people's first experience with WoW they didn't know stuff like that was out there and a lot of people therefore didn't get addons or website help in the end. Certainly not at the beginning of their journeys.
How do I feel about people using in-game addons to help them questing? I don't really care. If making things more efficient enhances their enjoyment of the game then let it be! Personally I will be trying my best to follow quest text and directions such as 'South West of Tarren Mill' because it's what I will enjoy.
Blizzard have before, and forgive me for not being able to find the post at this time, said that they may consider removing addons that they do not consider 'vanilla-like'. So we don't even know to what extent Blizzard will allow quest helpers as they exist on current retail versions of the game. They could for example allow addons that simply provide comments from wowhead, or coordinates/directional arrow systems like TomTom, because these did exist back in vanilla. They may however draw a line at things like demarcating exactly where mobs/quest items will be found on the minimap/worldmap because this kind of hyper accurate data did not exist around the time of vanilla. We don't really know what their stance is at the moment sadly but it's an interesting topic of discussion for us in the meantime.
You might be interested in having a peek at this topic from last year in which we discussed quest helpers, and this old topic about addons in general from last year as well.
Having played on Nostalrius and other pservers in recent times, you can easily get bar mods, questhelpers, boss addons, etc. I'm hoping Blizzard cracks down on the excessive addons via the API, but allow better bar and UI customisation. Having Vanilla but with more modern bars/ui elements will be amazing.
On a side note, I personally hate things like DBM and other addons that allow in-game markers and distances and the like. I want my progress to be entirely down to my skill.
I usually stick to small, basically invisible quality of life addons like Postal, Scrap, Auctionator and MoveAnything. The game's UI even in retail is pretty dated from a functionality point of view. I like the way it looks though; the only visible change I ever make is to move the player and target frame to the centre of the screen.
Wow's addon API has to be the best in the business, and is no doubt a major reason for it's success. It lets the community alter the game—within reason—to give them more of what they want and less of what they don't want. Quest helpers and garrison automators are prime examples of this.
I'm a big fan of add-ons. I used Elvui and some other "beautification" and QoL add-ons and now I have trouble getting into the game without them. I'm hoping to see some of the popular ones ported to vanilla once blizzard figures out the API issues they're having. I actually wouldn't mind looking at LUA if anyone has an idea for an add-on they'd like to see. I have the interest but no creativity.
Personally, I have never been fond of addons, in any kind of game. I think games should be enjoyed as they are—an even playing field for everyone taking part.
If a game has to be modded to be enjoyed, I don't think that is a good game.
World of Warcraft, at least Vanilla, did not need addons to be enjoyed.
Do I mean all kinds of addons? In a way, yes, even those that help people to keep track of 40 players in their raid, and those addons that score points for raid activities (DKP.)
However, addons cannot be banned because of how I feel about it. They were a part of Vanilla, and we will see them in Classic.
I just hope no 'Classic-breaking' addon will be developed or made. If they are, I hope Blizzard will be wary of it, and won't be scared to ban it, if it comes to it.
I personally am not a fan of addons. I might use one or two very small quality of life ones for games like ESO, but I've never used any addons for WoW. I really enjoy WoW the way it is.. Then again, I'm not really a hardcore player.
As long as I can get a working ElvUI or equivalent, something like Clique (so I don't need mouseover macros), and some sort of blessing assignment addon I'll be good. Really if they allow only the level of customization that's in current retail I think that'll be good enough.
I just hope no 'Classic-breaking' addon will be developed or made. If they are, I hope Blizzard will be wary of it, and won't be scared to ban it, if it comes to it.
How would you define "classic breaking"? From what I've seen of vanilla addons things are way more restrictive these days then they were then. I mean, vanilla did have literal one button heal addons which I really think are worse for a game than anything we have today.
I just want things that allow me to move my action bars and unit frames. Outside of that, I don't need/use anything else.
As long as I can get a working ElvUI or equivalent, something like Clique (so I don't need mouseover macros), and some sort of blessing assignment addon I'll be good. Really if they allow only the level of customization that's in current retail I think that'll be good enough.
I just hope no 'Classic-breaking' addon will be developed or made. If they are, I hope Blizzard will be wary of it, and won't be scared to ban it, if it comes to it.
How would you define "classic breaking"? From what I've seen of vanilla addons things are way more restrictive these days then they were then. I mean, vanilla did have literal one button heal addons which I really think are worse for a game than anything we have today.
Am not too sure, in all honesty. I suppose addons we have already seen being banned? Like that one back in Wrath of the Lich King showing where AoE and such would be placed in the game world, etc.
Otherwise I don't think there is anything that would be too Classic-breaking, unless we speak about people coming up with a proper LFG tool that would work just how the LFG works now in the current game.
Am not too sure, in all honesty. I suppose addons we have already seen being banned? Like that one back in Wrath of the Lich King showing where AoE and such would be placed in the game world, etc.
Otherwise I don't think there is anything that would be too Classic-breaking, unless we speak about people coming up with a proper LFG tool that would work just how the LFG works now in the current game.
I think we'll be pretty protected from anything currently banned since they branched off from the 7.3.5 build which already banned most of the truly breaking stuff. I'm not sure if the nameplate change is in there but it might be. I know we definitely won't be seeing any sort of automatic grouping tool, I wonder if we'll get anything like the premade groups tool from retail. I think the only part of it I can't see being easy to make is maintaining the listing. The API isn't good for having a central data repository without it being Blizz maintained.
On the other hand, I expect there will be a site launched before Classic even comes up to handle that, and realm discords to follow shortly after. As much as many of us understand how running back to town to do a dungeon is part of the experience, modern technology makes it really easy to handle this sort of thing outside of the game.
Vanilla had no map markers on where the quest area is. Back in the day I just used Thottbot for literally everything. Back in 2005, 2006 I never had dual monitors so I was always alt-tabbing. It will be nice now-a-days having dual monitors to have online resources up for help. I think the only mod I used was a de-curse mod for raiding and a raid warning mod.
I leveled with action bars and that was pretty much it. Thottbot was my friend! But I am in the same boat as Urshak was, now, I have evolved a bit more and created some ease in researchability. Still looking forward to it, big time.