Have players become too dependent on addons? I understand some are helpful to better yourself as a player and I am not saying delete them all but “C’mon man”
My example: For PVE
I haven’t tanked on my Druid since Legion but thought I would level up and give it another try. So I did. Bought ZM gear, got my leggo, picked up a few upgrades from world quest and chest drops. Figured I was ready. Joined a +2 Mists and we cruised through and got the first boss down easily. Then it began. Got to the maze and everyone started complaining that I didn’t have the maze addon. “What kind of tank doesn’t have that addon?”, “git gud noob”, “why did you join a Mists with no addon?” Then to top it off I was kicked from the group. Is it too much to ask the we actually use our brains as we play? Not that the maze in Mists takes much brain power to solve anyways.
Not sure there is a solution of if anyone even cares. That’s it for my rant. Moving on.
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sounds like you found a bad group. sorry to hear it! i’ve been in a bunch of groups with people who don’t use the maze add-on.
fyi, the tank shouldn’t be doing the maze anyway. that’s typically a healer thing since there’s rarely much damage to heal in those rooms on lower difficulty levels.
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If you intend to raid or M+ or rated PVP YES. If you go into guild Raid without DBM your basically trolling. I have the maze addon just because others sometimes don’t and it kills runs when they don’t.
Addons can help you have easier access to information.
At the same time, you still need to know what to do with the information that the addon gives you.
Also yes, doing the mists maze is a healer or burst DPS with no CDs (IE: mage with no combust, venthyr boomkin with no incarn) job
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DBM doesn’t let you do anything that just paying attention to the game doesn’t already allow you do equally well
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The on screen ability timers gives you a good idea of when a boss will be doing something which is vital to being a better DPS.
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At the same time, you still need to know what that spell does and how to deal with it.
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The maze is annoying. That’s a whole other discussion than addons.
Admittedly that maze segment is dumb and Blizzard should never do it again. But other than that, I agree.
I have maybe two addons I can’t remember the names of. Sadly QoL from the default UI is severely lacking. Better buff/debuff awareness being one of them.
How do I know I’m enraged from Bloodthirst/Rampage? Top right of the screen? Cool.
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You can already do this by just paying attention. The timers are all scripted (or not predictable by DBM if random), so if you’ve practiced the fight you will already know when things are coming without DBM
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Interesting, they kicked you from the group… in an M+ where you can’t replace players. Odd why they wouldn’t just all leave party. I guess they figured a +2 can’t downgrade.
Sucks though. I know several tanks who do it without the addon; they’re just really good at that sort of puzzle =/
I will say, I deliberately don’t tank Mists precisely because of that stupid maze. And I do with friends, one of them has to lead us through it.
Yea this game would be much better if they banned most add-ons like DBM, Weak Auras etc…because then they could actually design things for fun instead of being in an arms race with add-on developers.
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yeah you just have to pick it out of the sea of 20+ other buffs that shift positions constantly in the middle of combat, ez, maybe tell your visual cortex to git gud 
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I admit Fury is not a good example of smooth combat. A 5 second buff (Or is it 3?) that you maintain is not my idea of fun or engaging combat.
I believe there’s one closer to the screen that shows only your critical ones but those are all determined by Blizzard. That and the icons are disorienting. If they could make all of that more “informative” I’d be one happy camper.
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you do not need addons to raid/pve
I have done almost every raid at heroic difficulty without addons unless you count 3D portraits/cosmetic/bar/bag addons.
I refuse to use DBM and still play better then most people I see using DBM.
one guild I was in required DBM to raid with…so I installed it and disable all the sub plugins so they would see I have it installed but nothing would actually run or work…still wasn’t the guy dying to mechanics…hell I remember back in legion getting my first legendary parse on my lock when I cared more about that crap and that was done with 0 addons before realizing I just want to enjoy the game
only addon I think that’s useful is for pvp like battleground enemies as addons liek DBM i feel like are a crutch that doesn’t improve performance but supplement for lack of awareness not improving your OWN SENSES/awareness to mechanics
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blizzard’s default UI is bad and lacks a lot of QoL features. Its absolutely playable without addons, but why strain to look at tiny buffs in the corner of your screen while raidframe healthbars on the other end of your screen are plummeting and you can’t see the light circle aoe under your feet while casting a 2.5 sec long heal because all the middle of your screen is glowing with random procs and auras that are unhelpful in your current situation when you can just have a big nice weakaura right in your face to tell you you’re at 5 stacks of empowered LoD and have a martyr beacon ready to go and only have to wait another 3 seconds for your martyr damage to reset to 0 before you cast that 40k instant heal
easy
because i want to see more of the screen/environment instead of being overwhelmed with a bunch of numbers and in front of my face
You really don’t need an addon. People are just too spoiled to do the work themselves. Its ironic some will need Weakauras, meanwhile I’m literally learning from Blizzard’s Adventure Guide book to figure out what to do. Sure, it ain’t perfect to figure out where to place yourself when something comes up but you’ll learn REAL quick.
So, yeah, those kinds of players shouldn’t ever really rely on that crap if they cannot even learn to cooperate first.
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lol since when is it the tank’s job to do the maze in mists?
I run the weak aura that will solve it at a certain point, but before that point it is 100% not my job to do the maze if there are mobs to tank.
Additionally, no. I don’t think it’s expected that you run an addon for the maze.
but on topic ish.
blizz’s default ui is pure garbage, anyone who uses it is at a distinct disdvantage if they want to play at a competitive level, but that’s their choice.
addons that allow us to tailor our ui to our personal needs are fantastic, and it’s one of the best things about this game.
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Weakauras actually removed clutter for me. Disabling the default blizzard proc effects from the middle of my screen was the best thing ever