There exist an addon called Spy Classic, which will announce in local defense channel when a player of the opposite faction is within view distance of your character. It announces class, race, and exact coordinates.
This in and of itself is not that big of an issue as the player could simply type this information out, however it even detects players in stealth. Whether or not you can actually see them is irrelevant as the addon will still announce them and their location as long as they are within your view distance. This puts characters that depends on stealth as a core mechanic at a huge disadvantage, and to some extent automates something that should not be automated.
The best part is when players are flying around on their mounts (obv. referring to retail here) spamming callouts from their Spy (or Weiz) add-on about all the enemy players in the area while simultaneously complaining how flying ruined pvp.
" I was just attacked by an enemy player from stealth. Why didn’t Spy warn me?
If an enemy player doesn’t perform any actions recorded in your combat log then Spy will not know they are there. In this case, the enemy player may have gone into stealth far enough away from you that it isn’t reported in your combat log. Or the enemy player could have already been in stealth before you arrived in the area."
You’re original post is incorrect. It does not detect players in stealth.
This isn’t how the add-on works. It scans your combat log constantly so the only way a Rogue or Druid would be detected is if the combat log says “Player X used Stealth”, letting you know someone way over there went stealth no different than a player way over there using Blizzard or taking damage from a mob.
It cannot simply ignore stealth mechanics or else we’d have X-Ray Classic or something that let you just see them, or would put an icon over their head, or something.
It does not. What it does is announce when someone shows up in your combat log. If someone stealthed does something that writes to your combat log then their name will show up.
The exact same thing happens if you keep your combat log up with the built-in filters. You can then tell everyone in the various channels if you want. That’s it.
If it is based on line of sight then it is NOT DETECTING players in stealth. It may tell you someone is in that zones, using cross-faction back channeling and shared data.
You’re cherry picking the facts to present a false narrative.
I guess I should try this addon. I’ve used pvplog in past and overall it’s just guild spam. Wouldn’t this addon too just be spam enough to get put on ignore list?
Like even i don’t have an addon to make use of finding where the coords are on the map when someone says them. But I do have one showing my own coords.
right but players who you cannot see because of los are reported, and we have tested the addon it will warn even when they are in stealth if they performed any action that logs in the combat log. BTW going into stealth counts as an action in the combat log. “You Gained Stealth”
Yes, it has nothing to do with your actual vision and all to do with the Combat Log.
I know… I said exactly that in my post. If they perform any action that shows up on the Combat Log, the addon detects it and reports it. So yes, a Rogue at max view distance that you didn’t notice or see dismounting into Stealth would trigger because they were visible and gained a buff. That’s why there’s also an audio cue with it if you’re close enough and an audio cue if you detect someone because you got close enough.
LOS is a huge part of pvp as well, an addon that is reading someone else’s combat log to give you details on their actions and location is a big deal in world pvp. Im not saying its new but its obviously against the spirit of world pvp.
It doesn’t read someone else’s combat log, it reads YOUR combat log. If you just had your own pulled up and everything turned to visible, you’d see a near endless stream of data pouring by as every character and NPC within a large radius of you did things.
You are not grasping what it does. Knowing someone gained stealth around you because of the combat log is one thing. Knowing their exact location because of your combat log is something else entirely. The combat log reads actions regardless of LOS and is range based. This addon is providing you with information that would otherwise not be available in game, and it has huge ramifications on world PVP.
This addon existed back in Vanilla, I have a friend who used it all the way back then and always talked about it. I personally didn’t start using it until much later in my wow life.