Lots of addon tells you, for example, after 3 sec the boss will do a specific spell. When I play with my guild friends on discord, they actually say that. While it is helpful for game play, I kinda feel it’s somewhat cheating and defeats the purpose of the game by making it predictable and less challenging. I don’t use any addon and can do mythic around 10 on my main. Any higher the addon seems really necessary. I really don’t like that, a software tells you when to press which button. I’m not complaining but rather find this interesting. So do you think addons like this should be considered cheating?
Edit: I got the point that why lots player thinks addon are fine. However, lots of arguments are made by saying blizzard actually designed the boss mechanisms assuming players will use addon. I find this not convincing. If this is indeed the case, then Blizzard should just include the addon features in the default UI. For example, like name tag or action bars you can customize. I don’t really see this happening.
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It sounds like you are complaining.
I dont think this is cheating.
If you dont want to use it, dont. (which you already said you dont)
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No I’m sincerely not complaining. But when I play with others, they speak in the channel like ABC in 3 sec. This I don’t like, even it help us push keys/win raids.
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The only way the addon is able to predict that the boss will cast X spell next is because it is predictable by design.
The addon doesnt figure out what rng spell the boss is gonna use and tells you, the boss always does this at specific points so even without the addon players would know it is coming.
Addon merely gives you a more accurate number
Raid bosses are sadly very predictable to this day, wish we could have more RNG in them so people can just predictably prepare for the upcoming burst and instead be aware at all times.
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There’s nothing cheating about it. Addons have existed within WoW for years and years since the early days and that’s because a huge problem with Blizzard’s base UI is the conveyance of information.
You got buffs in the top right, mechanics in the middle, your health bar on the top left, your buttons at the bottom, your group all the way to the left, etc. Addons making information more readily available isn’t a bad thing, especially considering some encounters are designed with addons in mind now.
Think back to Iskar during WoD. Having Iskar Assist was massive, and necessary in pug groups because you needed to be able to do your job with the orb in order to down the boss. Things like DBM have always simply provided a more easily seen queue to when something’s about to happen.
It’s nothing to worry about.
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Why is that an issue?
Even without it, many decent players would be able to tell you when things happen within like 5 seconds of error.
I dont raid anymore, but when I was doing it a ton I could do many fights with my eyes closed and no addon running. just sound queues.
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Add-ons really aren’t cheating since you still have to manually do stuff.
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Blizzard designs bosses around the idea that most players will have DBM or similar addons it’s been that way for a long time.
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I… guess? Honestly organizing everyone in classic without the addons was a nightmare. Plus you could never tell who wiped the raid on purpose just for kicks, which alot of people would. Meh… everything is so min-maxed now. Back in my day we had to walk to the school bus in the snow… IN THE SNOW!
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I think that add-ons are great tools to help you do the best you can. And if everyone has access to them and they are free, I don’t see the problem!
I think add-ons like DBM (the one you might be referencing) make the game more fun rather than less fun. It’s great to have time to react!
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OK. I’m probably the only one who thinks that knowing bosses next casts a few seconds before hand annoying (though it’s helpful to achieve the goal).
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Depends on the add-on, things like weak auras is fine as it just makes the allready available information more customiable for clarity. Things like TRP3 are also fine as its just a RP tool that gives more social interaction options.
But then you have addons like ‘Kill-on-Sight’ which is basically on par with an aim-bot hack, it will tell you where an enemy player is on the map even giving coordinates of stealthed players. And frankly that should be bannable as is a mechanical advantage over other players by using a 3rd party program.
So basically, depends on the addon… some are some arn’t
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Maybe ask them to not do it and let you figure things out? 
He isn’t wrong, the raid bosses does have a predictable pattern to follow after a while. Stack on a thing, spread out, kill adds, go though a portal and kill adds, move over here, so on and so forth. And it just loops until the next phase.
And Raid bosses are pretty telegraphic even without the Addon. It’s just the Addon just tells you sooner then later with very little error.
I never used a healing addon in all my times of healing tbh, but different forks for different sporks.
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I think some add-ons have dumbed down the population, I mean I’ve had healers that suddenly stop healing because their healing addon stopped working, how hard is it to just click on me and cast a healing spell
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I use add-ons like “GTFO” that tell me when a big damage hit is coming or when I’m standing in bad stuff. (That alarm is terrifying and makes absolutely sure you’re getting yelled at to move)
Others I use like “Announce interrupts” are nifty for it tells my party or raid I’m actually doing interrupts and they can’t point fingers at me.
Add-ons are not cheating, they are used to assist you in things that may be harder to do on your own all the time. No different than using an angled drill extender instead of just using the drill itself to screw something 90 degrees in a narrow spot.
Addons that simply provide information like dbm and bigwigs are not cheating. People would eventually learn roughly how often bosses use abilities and at what percentage phases happen. All it’s doing is providing a clear estimate of abilities.
I wouldn’t say so.
I use DBM and an addon for my rotation.
Truth be told I know my rotation very well but there’s times I want to focus on something else like ensuring I know the encounter.
Not really at all, in fact.
DBM seems needed now, in general as well as “DBM challenges” for visions.
I think the guild I’m in requires DBM and “GET OUT”, or something, for raiding.
If they show you information that otherwise would be imposible to obtain, then yes.