Are add-ons really that important?Follow

With the recent policy changes to add-ons that Blizzard has suddenly stated, it does beg the question -- how big a deal are mods really? Do you feel that there are some that are required? Are there some that are imposed on you? Do you simply run clean?

I know people that detest mods and believe that all they do is create headaches -- that add-ons like Decursive caused the game to become balanced around their existence (until Blizzard broke old school Decursive.) Other people feel that the default user interface can be improved upon significantly, or that many additional pieces of information can be provided through the basic HUD that make the game easier or more manageable. Still, there are other mods that allow you to do things you simply couldn't do otherwise, like monitor the prices on the entire auction house, or know the exact spawn points of ore and herb nodes, or do many other things that ultimately Blizzard agreed were important and included into the main interface, like threat meters and quest sharing. Some mods provide out-of-game information, as many of the add-ons for leveling assistance and questing do. With all the different mods, the ability to keep them updated, the potential for bugs, the sea of choosing out the mod you want, and all the many many different things various mods can do, it's no surprise that people will have very polarizing views on the use of add-ons. What about you?

I have a bunch of addons from "cannot live without" to "yeah, they make life easier, but whatever."

The ones I cannot live without are things like action bar mods which enable me to put all my action bars in a nice neat block in one spot on my screen instead of having them spread out all over my screen, and things like all-in-one-inventory which save me from having to dig through separate bags to find what I need.

Then of course, there are the mods that have pretty much become a requirement for raiding, like Deadly Boss Mods. Not needed unless you're raiding, but if you are, oh! life is so much better.

I use them.

I depend on Omen.

Other than that, I COULD go without, but I choose not to.

While I am fine with people not wanting to use addons (as long as they have Omen in my raid and can do without others), the argument that addons detract from the game in any way is stupid. In actuality, addons are a big part of the game, and WANTED by Blizz. The coding for them is made by Blizz and provided by Blizz. We just put the codes together in pretty ways. :P

Furthermore, addons let Blizz focus on content instead of all the other stupid things the players could make. Why force a dev to take the time to make an Omen or Fishing Buddy equivalent when a player could possibly do it better, for free, and in less time?

The only addons I use pre-cap are auctioneer and fishing buddy. It isn't until endgame I design a UI and all that jazz.

Honsetly, I don't use anything but I am contemplating questhelper just to speed things up a bit for my limited play time.

The majority of the addons I use I would say I can live without, they are just little toys that give me numbers or make the game a little simpler (garbage selling mods). The rest of them are cosmetic and again I can live without but I don't think I should have to.

I chose USE, as I can and have played without them. However that's qualified that I would never choose to. I love my addons from the ones that bring me information to all the ones that make my screen look nicer.

Most of my depend on addons, like my mouse interface for my healer I could redo with macros if I needed to.

Edited, Mar 21st 2009 1:12pm by Xsarus

I, myself, am over in the "Need" category. Not that I'm totally lost (I have a good handle on how to tweak them to fit my needs), but just that I simply can't stand the look (and location!) of the default UI. It's clunky and has a lot of extraneous artwork that I simply don't want to see while making important information (say, my current health, or my target's current health) difficult to read while in combat. The fact that it is not able to be moved without addons is a real downer too. I'm very picky about the actual UIs and not having a decent one really detracts my enjoyment from the game.

The non-UI based mods that I have (say, Recount for example), I could live without if I had to. They are nice and I use them heavily, but if push came to shove, they could be left out. I'd rather not of course, but it could be done.

I use a total of 5 mods on my hunter. Omen and DBM because we require them for raiding. Titan panel so I can easily tell how much ammo and gold I have, and if I need to repair. I then also have Zhunter mods to save action bar space, and a little add on that adds a sound effect when certain abilities, mainly lock and load, proc. With 3.1 I will be able to get rid of that last one, since they are adding it to the game itself. Could I live without them? Easily, since I really only started using my extra ones when we started raiding BT.

I use them but could probably live without them in all honesty , they just make certain tasks easier really.

While I don't find them necessary, I find them essential to the experience that is World of Warcraft. The idea of user-created, creative pieces of open source inside a game engine/world to the degree that's provided by World of Warcraft is refreshingly unique (although not entirely new).

I'm an author, and my opinion will seem biased, however I'm fairly objective and see both sides of the situation. I believe they are important in how they allow a user to customize their gaming experience. AddOns to this degree have been around since EQ, but their presentation and function provides users with unique ways to customize their experience and tailor how they play the game in a way that makes it most enjoyable for them. I'm always impressed by some new AddOns that do amazing things. It shows the creative side of gamers that are capable of creating such masterpieces that others use and enjoy.

In the same regard, I think Blizzard has to thank the community of AddOn authors as much as they feel the need to police it. They gave their player base the ability to create such useful tools, and they have even enhanced their interface in a way (while I don't know how true this could/would be) in what seems like the image of some of the bigger, more popular AddOns out there. The equipment manager coming in 3.1, the enhancement to their scrolling combat text, the enhancement of their Quest/Achievement tracking in 3.1...one could say the community of talented AddOn authors probably helps inspire and show Blizzard of some genuinely useful tools that have a place of merit in their User Interface.

I honestly believe that the recent changes are a preemptive attempt to curb the creation of AddOns such as Carbonite. And while I believe in an Author being able to in some way be compensated for their hard work, I don't believe it's a requirement. Some authors create their AddOns for their own needs and decide to let them lose. Some create them specifically to help others. But regardless, the Author (should) knows from the get go that it's a non-profit design. And while I don't object to AddOns like Carbonite, I don't necessarily see eye to eye with the idea of charging a premium, either.

I voted use, but I feel I'm in between Use and Need.

I dont really need them but they're definately nice to use.

IE: Omen, Xperl, DBM, Bongos, Sexymap, Gatherer and the list goes on.

If I had to stare at the blizzard UI all day my head would probably explode.

I have a ton of addons in my addon folder, but I only use a handful on a given toon. Things like Omen, BigWigs, Xperl and Bartender4 I consider mainstays. I could probably learn to live without them, but they're the ones I look for first after every major content patch. A lot of the other addons I use are practical/productive, but not vital. I found that the more addons I had, the more I craved simplicity. I still hate my UI as it's set up but addons give me the versatility to change it.

Allowing the use of addons was pretty much a no-brainer for Blizzard. If you look at games like FFXI where not only was there no built-in functionality for custom mods, it was actually prohibited by the ToS, you can see why addon support is a good idea. If you support it, it means you have more control over it and you keep innovative players happily coding nifty little mods and sharing them. If you don't support the use of addons/mods, people still make them and they still use them, and since they know they're already breaking the rules they might as well go all the way and build in features that no game developer wants to see in the hands of its players (packet sniffing, etc.).

The only ones that are truly required (as in, show game information you need instantly and aren't available with normal mods) are raid frames mods if you're a healer, and something like Proximo or Gladius if you do Arenas; some variation on both of these functions should be made innate (and have the default raid frames suck less). Otherwise, you can use the default UI.

With that said, I hate the default UI. I've got my stuff modded to hell and back, and I have since I was level 20ish; I find the default UI ugly and horribly uninformative. Start throwing mods into the mix and with some time set aside to get it how you want it, and you can have a wonderfully set up system.