Couple things. First, I dont think there is any stopping this train, Weak Auras is going away, or at least severely diminished. Second, if its going away, there needs to be some drastic changes to the base UI before it happens, or you WILL LOSE PLAYERS en mass imo.
Base UI:
Action bars (hotbars):
Need MORE functionality. Let me change bar growth (where it originates to where it ends).
Need MORE BARS (yes, i understand there are only so many buttons to assign. Sometimes i want a whole bar, just for ONE ability). Let me have it anyways.
Icon number per bar needs to be from 1 to 12 (not 6-12)
Allow me to change number of icons based on column number.
Allow me the option to have a background on hotbars.
Padding needs to be adjusted letting me go to 0 if I want. Also, it seems there is a padding issue that makes some have larger gaps, and others smaller.
Give other action bars instant change based on form, i.e. druid forms, rogue stealth, SKYRIDING. With only 1 bar and zero weakauras, i need more to auto switch to keep playability smooth
Player Frame (heath/power):
Need ability to separate powers from player frame and adjust sizes etc. And to resize, adjust.
Player Frame (power/special power):
Need ability to separate mana/energy from holy power, soul shards, combo points, etc. And to resize adjust.
Assisted highlight feature:
SO WONKY
Let me change the style of this as I like, the blue glow is not enough, and its slow. So slow. Like 10% dps loss slow. Although sometimes its too fast at the same time, jumping back and forth between drain soul and malefic rapture until i go crazy!
Also, if there is a talent for a spell, i expect this feature to tell me certain things (ex: word of glory procs. My weak aura is set to tell me to use WoG when my 2 DIFFERENT shining light AURAS are at max stacks so i dont waste it (if you know you know)
I also need the ability to adjust which spells I WANT to be higher priority, and at which point there are break points (ex: i want to keep 1 to 2 soul shards in my stock for when i need them, like vile taint).
STOP MAKING MY EYES GO IN 20 DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS TO FIGURE OUT WHAT I NEED TO DO NEXT BLIZZARD!
Vehicle UI:
Let me adjust this! Nothing worse than going from 1234 to all of a sudden going to 7890.
There are several other changes that need to happen but i dont have the patience. So ill leave you with this:
I was around through the WoD catastrophe. The BfA downward spiral and the SL crash and burn. Nay sayers would complain like crazy and i still stuck with it because i just thought we should let it breathe for awhile and remember that you all are people too. Loyalty.
Making this change may make your precious Race to World First all special and fair, but id like to remind you that the 1% do NOT pay your bills. The 99% that rely on these addons do, and i for one cant see myself playing this game without the base UI being ON PAR WITH or BETTER than WeakAuras and DBM.
And before anyone jumps in here to troll. Cause i know its gonna happen, i use the weakaura addon to create MY OWN weak auras. I make all of them myself, for myself. The only thing i dont make is the addon itself.
Taking away this addon specifically, is like shooting me in the leg and expecting me to run. I cannot be the only one that feels this way.
Last thing. Blizzard: if youre going to make changes this drastic, it should NOT be all at once. It should be slow and methodical to give PLAYERS a chance to adjust. After 17+ years of playing, this is LAW: if its not FUN, NO ONE will play. So far, its not fun anymore.