Since vanilla, addons have gotten increasingly invasive. Addons that add minor convenience or aesthetic changes I’m fine with. Addons that make the game significantly easier and/or alter gameplay and social interaction heavily are terrible for the game. Specifically addons like Tradeskill Master, Deadly BossMods, Raider io, and damage meters.
TSM has devastated the AH. They are doing an AH rework likely in no small part to TSMs stacking mechanics. DBM, while around for awhile now, simply makes fights too easy. Many become accustomed to the Addon telling them what to do 15 seconds before it happens that they lose all sense of personal responsibility. Instead of actually WATCHING the boss/cast bars etc, many players zone out and wait for the alerts and/or fail to understand mechanics entirely. Developers shouldn’t have to design entire encounters around “Oh, addons will make this trivial.”
Raider io has made pugging an extremely annoying hassle and/or impossible for some. Gatekeeping has aways been a thing, but to this degree is just disgusting. People simply mouse over your name and see a number, and if not high enough based on their likely unrealistically high numbers as they seek hard carries, you are declined. Yes, I know how to increase my score. I did it all throughout legion. I’m just so SICK of it. Raider io score may or may not mean anything, as I have seen some of the most terrible players, strictly mechanically and skill wise, have very high scores.
And now to the damage meters. There’s nothing wrong with them inherently, it’s the fact that people simply don’t use them intelligently. Raw numbers are seldom the solution to mechanical problems that wipe raids, and many are incapable of seeing anything other than “HIGHER NUMBER GOOD.” The amount of times I’ve seen people padding their damage with AoE to increase their number instead of doing their jobs is mind-blowing. People become so pre-occupied with getting the highest number, as every role, that they do not do the fights correctly or attempt to learn them. And, same problem as raider io, people kick others from parties strictly based on numbers they create, regardless of what actual hard data says said raid member was doing (adds attacked, effective damage/healing etc.)
Other games do not have addons and benefit massively from it. Overwatch. Diablo 3. Heroes of the Storm. Competitor MMOs. The MMOs have addons, but many punish the use of them if players are toxic to one another using them as a basis. They are simply not needed. At this point, addons have become so invasive that they are more prominent than the base game. The amount of times I’ve heard “i cant raid/play without my addons” makes me sad, and frankly, people should be able to play without them.
If many addons weren’t unhealthy for the game let me ask this; why do some games ban then right out of the gate? Simple. They create a boatload of issues.
Yes, addons have been around for a long time. It’s not the harmless ones we’re talking about. It’s those above, and those alike, that are simply unhealthy for the game. I’ve seen it corrode WoW over the years and get increasingly invasive. Now, I’m done. It’s become too much. I love this game. I’ve played WoW longer than I have not in terms of years alive. I don’t love the crutches and corrosive spikes tacked on to it.
Edited for spelling, grammar, syntax.
