Dear lord that is awful…
Its almost like some of us download tidyplates and what not because there ISN’T an option for it to not do this lol.
2 Likes
They’re going out of their way to allow benign combat addons to still work, like cooldown and aura tracking and health bars. Addons will still be able to display combat data, just not perform logic on it.
As of right now no they won’t.
You didn’t actually read the api changes. You can pass data between blizzard functions, but your addon won’t be able to tell what the data actually is. Addons will still be able to perform the functions of a cd tracker, but not tell you the order in which to press your buttons.
Which means external Cooldown Managers, Unit Frames and things like that will not work.
Unitframes will still work. You pass the secret value from from UnitHealth() to WhateverHealthBar:SetValue(). The addon doesn’t need to know what the actual health value is for it to work.
OP You have answered your own question bro.
I’ll believe that when I see it. 
Functions that parse cooldowns and auras aren’t being restricted. Blizzard is just taking away the ability for addons to perform complex logic on combat data, ie: the addon won’t be able to play for you. Secret values are data variables that only API calls know how to interpret.
I heard differently… in interviews back in April Ion very clearly said that “we will claw-back combat add-ons access to real-time combat information by removing that info from the API, effectively breaking those addons.”
He also said they’d be breaking those addons at the END of the process, after the native Blizzard replacement features were fully implemented, tested, and verified to be acceptable, before pulling the plug on combat addons (or even non-combat addons that use RT combat data like chatbox addons).
In the interview on 2-Oct with AnnieFuchsia Ion flipped 180 degrees from “build it, test it, then remove combat addons” to “remove addons up front at the BEGNINNING of the process, before we’re done building it, let alone verifying that it works as designed, and validating the design is acceptable to execute fights without addons.”
It’s that change in rollout plan that I’m most concerned about, and it feels like a directive from Phil Spencer’s group at Microsoft (“make it portable to Xbox and tell no one why you’re changing strategy”), not something that Ion simply changed his mind on (it’s a terrible plan and the plan back in April was a good plan).
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I’ve read about the API changes about secret values, but some logic should remain.
If you know, can you tell us if we can still color unitframes based on debuff type (curse, magic, bleed, poison etc)?
If so, that’s all I need from it for my Z-Perl frames to work how I want, and that’s all the “combat assistance” I want.
Either way, prepare for even more exclusive behavior from RWF.
If the API can’t read game info anymore, people will recur to external solutions.
Get ready for computer vision-based (for data extraction), external addons, syncing their comms through an outside channel.
If you think people who dedicate that much programming time to create WAs and custom addons to ease encounters will just sit and “play fair”, you’re delusional.
The wealthiest/most sponsored players will just “pay to win” with external, uncontrolled “addons” now, just like multiboxers now deal with external hardware control to bypass Blizzard’s rules regarding it.
Spell and aura functions weren’t listed as being restricted.
You can have one api call communicate with another api call, but the addon can’t perform logic on the return value of the first function. My health bar will still work because the secret value from UnitHealth() will work with Bar:SetValue(), but I won’t be able to change the color of my health bar based on missing health. Spell and aura functions should function as they do now, though.
add on devs have a long history of bruising dev ego’s. they say we’ve done this work here. we are confident this locked down api cannot be gamed.
Add on devs go…hold my beer.
The cut off is to prevent that.
if they leave the api’s in that add on makers use to make working products…they will still make the better mousetrap. ego bruising happens.
This is not just wow. Eve devs have had an eternal war with people who can know the eve api better…than the devs who make the api.
for one feature called siphoning they said the api is such no one can see you siphon this instantly. to be jumped 30 seconds after you start it up.
they wanted this new system to have people try to steal resources for pvp complexity, and not have it such you are dead in 1 minute of doing it.
Eve api player masters…found a way. you siphon a corps stuff, they know real fast. YOu’d be meeting new “friends” real soon.
Noting this is not a lack of abiliity or intellect by game devs. I won’t bash the devs here. its time.
they like us have more managers than they can shake a stick at. this is a job for them. 8 hours ish a day. I want dev x going to their kid’s team sports, not thinking about API lol. Focus on that kid!!
mod/add on devs…they get all the time in the world to tear apart the api. A goal in mind, work with api changes…it will happen!
They also don’t have managers breathing down their neck when this takes 30 hours. or 60 lol.
If trivializing gameplay is a concern, shouldn’t Blizzard start by removing LFR and Normal?
Not to mention Turbo-Boost.
None of this war on addons makes any sense.
3 Likes
LFR doesn’t give the same rewards as mythic. Maybe Blizzard should allow combat add-ons but if you use them you get LFR rewards. Fair?
Mop classic tried that. last stage cata too.
Now its dungeon spam to get what lfr gave. It be even easier than lfr. lfr is hard because of all the “fun” things that happen in pugs with 25 people, and most aren’t exactly sweat lord levels of serious in the run.
If you in retail can do m10, this stuff won’t be problem. if one can only do m5…still not a problem lol.
Its like this…after you do your 8…you’d go do 8 of these too. Get your 16 done, I guess.
I don’t know how team classic devs will work this in legion classic if reached. It already has mythic. Mythic - (minus), I guess lol?
I personally only use 2 addons in Retail. One for saving my keybind profiles. The other that changes my zoom distance when transitioning between mounted and unmounted. For me this is a welcome change. Less reliance on addons is always a plus, in my honest opinion.
If they could accomplish what the third-party does, it’d be possible, but this third-party is made of thousands of developers.
Blizzard can’t compete.
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If you’re talking about the nameplates nothing can be done about it for now. Just stick with your nameplate and boss mod addons for now, that’s what I’m doing.
The power of add on devs.
they can focus on the one thing. MY load order, 5+ mods, all focused on 1 thing.
Blizzard UI team…will have to do it all. hey dev are you map, market, meter or combat bar ui.
Dev will reply…yes.
Which one, map, market, meter or combat.
Yes.
Lemme guess when people call out sick you do1 or 2 more ui’s?
yes.
1 Like