Addons add options and customizability to the game.
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Enhanced Awareness: Addons like Gladius, BigDebuffs, and OmniBar provide critical information (e.g., enemy cooldowns, trinkets, and crowd control) that the default UI struggles to display clearly. PvP involves tracking numerous abilities across multiple players, and addons make this manageable, leveling the playing field for situational awareness.
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Accessibility: For players with visual impairments or other disabilities, addons like WeakAuras offer customizable visual and audio cues, making PvP more inclusive. Removing them could exclude these players from competitive play.[
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Skill Expression: Addons donât play the game for you; they present information that skilled players use to make strategic decisions. Customizing a UI to prioritize relevant data is a skill in itself, rewarding game knowledge and preparation.
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Viewer Experience: Addons make PvP streams and tournaments (e.g., AWC) more viewer-friendly by displaying cooldowns and abilities clearly, helping spectators understand complex plays. Removing them could reduce engagement.
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Game Complexity: WoW PvPâs depth, with its vast array of abilities and diminishing returns, is balanced around addons. Without them, the game could become less skill-based, as players struggle to track critical mechanics manually.
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Community Expectation: Addons have been integral to WoW for 20 years, with Blizzard designing content around their use. Banning them would disrupt player expectations and require a massive UI overhaul, which Blizzard has historically avoided.
They primarily organize existing game data, not automate gameplay. Blizzard could integrate essential features into the default UI, but until then, addons remain vital for competitive PvP.
Imagine playing a caster without tracking interrupts.
5 Likes
Guess theyâll have to finally learn how to play. 
12 Likes
they should hide cast bars if i cant see kick cd
the only addons ive needed for glad was omni bar and gladius
10 Likes
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2 Likes
I mean it is what it is if everyone is on the same playing field but I do fail to see how it increases the skill cap by taking away additional information better players can use to leverage things in their favor. I guess the skill expression could move from things like Weakauras to just noticing the Paladin is a big glowing angel man but whatâs the tell the Rogue across the map pressed vendetta on your teammate? Maybe they will address that and add parity for all visual effects tied to powerful cooldowns? 
I mean this is Blizzard so I doubt it as they seem to enjoy abandoning most things even if they still need work after an expansion drops but I guess weâll see.
3 Likes
imagine people pushing rating in 3s and they have a 4th person in discord call keeping track of every cooldown and dr.
No voice pugs in high keys and arenas = completely over gg
2 Likes
Idk about arena but they gonna probably dial back the amount of lethal stuff in keys esp kicks
2 Likes
I think it exacerbates things feeling scripted in a bad way - maybe âon railsâ is a better way of describing it? The precedent that everything can/is being tracked is also super overwhelming to new arena players and I think it being removed will make for more accessibility which is absolutely what arena needs right now
1 Like
Feels a lot like a Looking for Raid angle to me though, or making Glad 2400, and so on. Making things easier (reducing complexity in this case) so things are more accessible to the âcasualâ gamer has never really worked out well in the long run in my opinion. I think where they have it right is removing the addons and baking the functionality into the default game, but to say âwe donât want you to be able and track X, Y, and Zâ is the wrong direction to go. I think a lot of the âno addonsâ people donât really want an even playing field, they want a reduced one where other people canât put in additional effort just because they canât/wonât themselves.
Personally I played without addons until Legion and feel I could go back to it and right now only really pay attention to my precog weakaura that tells me when I have the buff, Flyplates, and Sarena for arena frames. I guess BGenemies for BGâs too. But the people that can juggle awareness of everyoneâs cdâs, track kicks, etc. while doing everything else deserve to be rewarded for that imo as itâs ainât easy even if you have the addons for all of it. Just my 2 cents.
2 Likes
I get what youâre saying, but when you can track every single ability in the game, then the expectation is just to play perfectly and that sucks. Itâs not fluid or fun imo 
The best players will still have years of muscle memory and experience on their side, so I donât think the argument that the ceiling will be super dramatically lowered rings true - the players in the example you gave would still get stomped if theyâre looking to take the lazy way out. I like the idea that communication will matter more between a team, and I really think they should give it a shot for a season to see if itâs as terrible as people think it is.
I also donât think itâs 1:1 comparable to lfr or making glad easier. I think itâs more like not having to download 26 addons (hyperbole) and configure them just to try arena is better for everyone.
1 Like
Yeah we will have to see how it all shakes out but Iâm sure it will all be fine in the long run. Iâm hoping they bake in the Flyplates/Nameplates auras though.
6 Likes
I feel like thatâs a must at some point , the 40 auras on a tiny unit frame are a massive issue lmao
This and tracking kicks are the 2 biggest issues.
We mostly use weak auras to FILTER out and track the buffs/debuffs we want.
They added a cool down manager and you can not FILTER anything out.
If they added these 2 into the game baseline and a DR tracker to the arena frames then fine , they can remove all the addons they want.
I have a sneaking suspicion they have thought very little about how removing addons will affect PvP. Iâm pretty sure theyâre not going to do much to ease the transition, and the lack of DR/CD tracking will ruin the game for some of the few that remain.
They said DR tracking is coming. Itâs wild to me how many people didnât read the interview.
1 Like
wheres this remove all addons thing coming from?
I thought they were just removing the ridiculous ones
People donât seem to care about the details or to specify what they said in the WoWcast or interviews. Leading to a lot of confusion and outrage.
For some people if they cant see everything they cant play. You can look at those old screenshots of like twenty different unit frames and every CD tracker while they do LFR.
They DO need to let people have some accountability for their gameplay and stop every handholding addon.
They DONT need to hide details for bad players who play badly or make it so I cant see my pally healer hasnt used bubble or lay on hands once in an entire blitz
4 Likes
