Long story short, I changed then deleted a file in a specific character’s Saved Variables. Apparently that broke WoW. I had to uninstall every single version, uninstall Bnet and start over.
So I don’t want to copy over individual character files. Can I just copy over the main Saved Variables from the account folder?
The saved variables folder just stores addon configuration information according to the individual addons that create and write the files.
It can’t break the game (generally, I suppose it’s always possible for you to encounter a bug which causes the game to crash as a result of malformed addon data but it shouldn’t be able to). It can only break your interface (via breaking an addon) and even then just disabling all addons should bring you back to the base UI in working condition.
Saved variables are stored in 2 locations. The global location which is under WTF\Account<youraccountname>\savedvariables alongside folders named for the servers you have characters on. And the character specific ones in those server folders in subfolders for the individual characters.
The global ones are accessible on all characters, addons can write and share data that can be brought up on any character which is useful for lots of things like sharing unit frame configurations or data on your total gold across characters. It’s also useful for things like being able to copy the addon configuration of one character to another via profiles which is why it’s generally more used. The character specific ones can only be accessed and written while that character is loaded.
So, yes you can copy over just the main, global savedvariables folder and its contents. For the most part it shouldn’t cause issues given the way most addons I’ve seen work.
note: The addon itself is not stored in saved variables, only data (really settings) for it to use. The addons themselves are stored in the interface folder and if you want to permanently remove one you should delete it from there.
Should you continue to have issues. You can attempt to narrow down the problematic addons by disabling everything and selectively enabling them one by one until the issue occurs to pin-point the problematic addon and reinstall or otherwise fix the issue with that one addon.
That was an amazing response and I very much appreciate it! Thanks so much! 