Agreed, just WUT?!
Nothing wrong with the addons or their creators. It’s blizzard’s job to set the rules and implement their systems to enforce those rules. Just like every game ever.
Blizzard most likely will break this addon. Until they do… alls fair in love and war… and video games.
i.e. Don’t hate the player, hate the game.
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Ye this is true.
Just keep scouting out for addons that are out of order for Classic and talk about them here and Blizzard will take it into account when they start nerfing the addon API.
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There are far too many addons for Blizzard to review that break the game, give unfair advantages, or straight up ruin the game.
Blizzard needs to just make an “addon store” like the google/apple store and only allow you to download and use Blizzard Approved™ addons(for no charge, of course).
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While that may be possible I doubt it would be free. Even apple and other walled garden stores don’t heavily review their app submissions. Plenty make it through that are offenders and bad actors. They respond when needed.
For apple and other closed platforms they mainly rely on their core systems to prevent the majority of serious violations. Its called having real security built into your systems.
However, The blizzard API isn’t really meant to be some distributed app ecosystem. It is intended that anyone can make their own addons and customize their own interface.
I can make an addon and not share it with anyone. If blizzard wanted to ‘approve’ all addons they would have to destroy this core democratizing feature. And also put it behind a paywall to reduce the quantity of addons they would have to ‘approve.’
This is probably relevant to the discussion (regarding the LFG addon, and “social networks” created by addons).
Specifically:
It’s difficult to articulate a clear-cut rule for exactly when an add-on crosses the line. However, when an add-on goes beyond presenting information or providing aesthetic customization, and attempts to create an interconnected social network that relies on other players also using that same add-on, we are likely to scrutinize it particularly closely.
I’m not weighing in one way or another, just adding this for insight into what blizzard may allow.
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Spy has been out since 2009/ Lich King era, retail, not private servers like some naive streamers think (cough) Sodapoppin(cough) It was just rewrote I guess to be compatible with Classic. Why the outrage now 10 years later? Do your research people, it’s not a new addon it’s 10 years old and going strong in RETAIL.
In an attempt to add some context, there was an Addon released in January 2005 - so about two months after Wow was originally released - called TrackerAssist. (Simply Google “TrackerAssist” and you’ll find CurseForge project-111, which is the now-abandoned TrackerAssist Addon.) TrackerAssist enabled communication of enemy player locations (including name, level, race, class, guild name, and PVP rank) to anyone in a party, guild, or raid channel regardless of whether other players in the channel had the Addon installed. However, only Hunters and Druids could communicate the enemy player locations because the ability to track was a dependency. TrackerAssist was eventually abandoned but never banned.
That is not even remotely what spy does or how it works. If you’re going to make a rant about something, you should probably get your facts straight. It doesn’t show you the location of horde or anything that your own eyeballs and ears wouldn’t tell you.
If an enemy player is within visual range of you, it simply reports their name and class, with a guess about their level based on buffs. For instance if it sees a shadow priest in your line of sight with shadow form on, it will guess it’s a 40+ shadow priest. Once you actually target them, then it knows their level and guild name.
All it’s doing is parsing the information the game provides about nearby spell/ability casts, and player names your camera can see.
The number 1 use of the add on is for keeping notes about a players behavior. Somebody ganks you and camps you, you click their name “Add to kill on sight list” and you can add the reason. Then the next time you run into them, the add on reminds you why you need to spank them hard.
It doesn’t communicate with the other faction, or automate communication with them.
its exciting I completed all the quests in STV because of the potential pvp / ganking
They can’t without breaking pve raider addons like damage/threat meters and dbm, etc.
Then people couldn’t wave their epeens on the meter so it will never happen.
Pvp scrubs and cowards use spy.
#facts
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Agreed. Blizzard please break all of those. Addons were not meant to give hunter skills to everyone. This even tracks through walls.
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they should ban it horde side
only alliance is to get advantages
I wish they’d broken the data sharing API at least, but it looks like it’s still functional 
Seems like players really should just start using this addon, at least for defensive purposes, it’s everywhere now on PVP servers and already heavily used by the larger guilds.
It doesn’t track or show where a person is. You’d know that if you had a clue.
they would have dont it by now if they wanted to.the addon wont matter when bg’s launch anyway.
Ive tested this addon with phase 2 being out. I have hidden in places that couldn’t happened on. Maybe 1 out two but when groups of 5+ horde steam roll straight to that location. Thats cheating.
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I agree with Hothwompa. If you as a player cannot physically scan the combat log instantly for all abilities, racials, talents, and equipment then type responses to one or multiple individuals sharing the content then I don’t think the mod should either. I’m especially opposed to everyone in the zone being told theres an opposing faction character in stealth when said character has done nothing to be revealed.
Spy doesn’t report where YOU are so how are YOU testing an addon that other players are required to have? Wouldn’t THEY be testing it since they would be the ones using it?
You really have no idea how it actually works and what it actually does do you retail? It doesn’t share location, it doesn’t make people hone in on you. It doesn’t do anything that the sound of your stealth spell or unstealthed name plate doesn’t already.
You might as well argue to ban nameplates, which are built into the game, and work through obstacles, buildings, and prevent players from hiding.
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