I remember when Naxxramas was first released in 2005—everything was fresh, exciting, and truly engaging. The difficulty of the bosses pushed players to constantly improve and challenge themselves. The polarity shift mechanic, the frantic shouting in voice chat, and the sheer thrill of executing strategies in real-time made the experience unforgettable.
However, with the rise of addons like Deadly Boss Mods (DBM) and WeakAuras (WA), much of this excitement has been lost. These tools simplify mechanics to the point where players no longer need to react, think critically, or develop their own awareness. Instead of feeling the tension of adapting to a chaotic encounter, players now just follow pre-programmed alerts and automated cues. The raw challenge of trial and error—figuring out a boss through experience and teamwork—has been replaced by scripted instructions that remove the need for genuine engagement.
While these addons make the game more accessible, they also diminish the sense of accomplishment. Overcoming a difficult boss should be about skill, coordination, and mastery—not just obeying flashing notifications on the screen. The magic of discovering, adapting, and conquering a fight as a team has been eroded, making encounters feel more like a checklist than an adventure.
The problem is will DBM back to 2005 will mark everything for u? Nah they just simply warning what is next skill not just put X or Moon on ur head tell u go left or right.
It would be kinda fun if they did a “Season of No Add-ons” where everyone had to play with the exact same standard interface and none of these tools that automate what you have to do.
wow without add ons would die. people would realize how badly designed the base game is and would quit because blizz doesnt want to solve the issues. its probably why the most popular add ons are all ui based
it’s not really that bad. Outside of some info on cast bars and other WA related stuff the default UI CAN do everything.
A better game would be one where you don’t have as many addons and everyone is on the same page. The fact you can program LUA to alert you to everything happening in-game does indeed take a lot of player agency away.
I love addons don’t get me wrong, (a lot of the fun for me is crafting my UI and weak auras) but an MMO without them is indeed a different and (in a way) better overall experience.
no it cant, its pretty restricted actually and quite clunky it almost like these add on groups have had multiple years refining their products while blizz let them do all the heavy lifting then when blizz implemented their own ui changes they botched it even having access to all of those resources.
this would be nice but blizz refuses to learn that lesson.
with how much is happening in game especially at the higher levels its basically a necessity at this point. even with everything at my fingertips i have no idea how our raid leader can balance so much info.
i think we will have to agree to disagree there, i dont think its possible for a company to recreate the time, effort and creativity of a properly motivated player base. like i said above even with having all that info at their fingertips the best they pushed out was the base ui changes which are a pale comparison to what the other add ons do.
I mean, it’s classic, there isn’t remotely enough going on to claim to absolutely need DBM or WA. The only place it’s truly needed is high end m+ and mythic raiding where there is so much going on you need it to allow you to actually get the most out of your rotation while not flopping to mechanics.
If you don’t like it, play without it, it’s not that hard
generally what are the things your addons do that the default UI doesnt, though?
it got this way because the addons existed. Its been a tug of war between the two for a while now.
what youre not considering is that you dont NEED all that other stuff if its not something you can add.
Its like world buffs. You dont need them and the game is better without them, but since you CAN get them, you basically have to. Anyone saying you dont is wrong. Its available, its a huge power boost, so you actually have to. Saying you dont need to get them is like saying you should just D/E all the loot because you dont NEED it to win… like… okay… dumb take.
If you go play gears of war or Halo, there are probably things not included in the UI that could be useful. But the game is designed to use what you have.
If a WoW 2 game out with no addons, and the game was fun, you’d love it. The fact you cant craft your UI wouldnt really matter because everyone can’t. You get what you get, and you have to win with what you have. And if its good, you’ll enjoy it.
In WoW currently the cat has been out of the bag for 20 years and there is no putting it back. Sort of like flying - seemed cool but long-term ruined the game, and their raid encounter devs have been battling with it ever since.
anything i want literally they are completely customizable while the base ui isnt.
this is just poor design once again by blizz they are in a one way measuring contest with an add on. the add on is designed to put info into a digestible fashion while blizz is trying to design fights with as much cognitive load as possible. i know which side ill support more lol.
this is a personal opinion that i 100% disagree with. i would not raid without add ons. i would not play this horribly designed game ui without add ons. add ons are a tool to customize and give you options while your saying that restricting peoples options is the best way because they dont know what they enjoy better than blizz does.
I’am not saying that DMB and WA should be completely banned; I just hope they can restrict some of their features so that dungeon design doesn’t turn into a whack-a-mole game
People still wipe with addons, the world of no addons is old fantasy and won’t make the Game better. If You wanna wipe all the day with 0 progress make Your own Pug with people in blues
In a world where WoW2 was being developed and they decided to integrate essential addons into the UI and banned outside addons, I am with you. Would be awesome to experience new content that way.
In a world that is 20 years old and mostly figured out I don’t see much value in adjusting add on use. It’s a part of what classic WoW was/is.