Warcraft Development Team Statement to WoWUIDevs on Future Addon Changes

Posted 2025/06/03 at 5:23 PM by Archimtiros

announcementrestrict some addon functionalitywith a statementWeakAuras Twitter account

No target date for the changes, but there will be several months of advanced notice before the time comes.

They want to give addon devs as much time as possible to test changes, report issues, and provide feedback.

There is no intent to ban addons outright.

They aim to minimize impact on accessibility addons as much as possible. Functionality that is no longer possible after the changes should be incorporated into the base game.

There will be a number of significant updates and additions to the UI, including a built-in damage meter, nameplate improvements, and a "good portion" of the most important combat information addons currently provide.

Most of this functionality should ship at the same time as the addon restrictions, if not sooner.

Mythic raiding has become increasingly reliant on addons, but these changes are not being made specifically because of Race to World First guilds.

Addons are currently being used to analyze and solve combat and coordination mechanics better and faster than an unassisted player, resulting in a major disadvantage and exclusion for players unwilling to install, setup, and maintain them.

Blizzard's intent is to "level the playing field" and make the game more approachable for all players by reining in these capabilities, while building up baseline functionality of the default UI.

There will be substantial changes to combat and encounter design to accompany these addon changes.

The goal is to make class mechanics more approachable and easier to understand without addons.

They want WoW to remain challenging, but less about managing the subtleties of class mechanics and more about communication with players and interacting with encounters.

Warcraft Devs, via WoWUIDiscord

Hello to the members of the WoWUIDev Discord server from the WoW Team at Blizzard!

First of all, thank you all for your feedback so far about the upcoming addon changes. We've been reading it all and discussing it internally, and we'll continue to do so. Also, a special thanks to the mods for setting up the addon-restrictions-feedback channel. Consolidating your most important feedback about this project in one place not only makes reading the feedback easier for us but also reduces the likelihood that the feedback will get lost amongst other chat.

Reading through your feedback so far it is clear that there's a lot of confusion about the timing, goals and nature of these changes. While our communication on these changes so far has been intended more for the press and general player base, we also understand that it would greatly benefit you as addon developers to have a little more clarity. We also hope this clarity better informs your feedback going forward. Please understand that this project is in heavy development right now, so we won't be able to give specific technical details just yet (exactly which things will be locked down, etc). We'll be releasing this more detailed information in the future though, well before this project goes live, so stay tuned for those details in the coming months. Although we haven't finalized a target release date for these changes, what we can say is that we'll be giving many months of advance notice before we flip the switch. We want to allow addon devs as much time as possible to test the changes, report issues and provide feedback. We will be announcing the landing place for these changes well ahead of time and taking steps to maximize the amount of hands-on feedback from addon developers before the changes go live.,

Addons provide a huge amount of value to our players, and we have no intention of banning them or anything like that. We are aiming to cause the least amount of collateral damage possible to addons when these changes go live. We know there will be some unintended fallout for addons that are not directly targeted by these changes, but we will be actively taking steps to minimize that damage as much as possible. Your feedback here is vital, since you obviously know best which APIs you currently use and for what purpose., Likewise, we aim to minimize the impact on accessibility addons as much as possible. Functionality in this space which is no longer possible after these changes are things we will aim to incorporate into our base game.,

We have seen speculation that we are primarily targeting RWF guilds with these changes. While it is true that Mythic raiding has become increasingly reliant on addons, that is not the primary goal of this project. We are embarking on this project with the aim of leveling the playing field and making the game more approachable for all players. Currently, addons are able to analyze and "solve" combat and coordination mechanics perfectly, and faster than would be possible for an unassisted human player. While many players will naturally seek out any advantage, this also means that players who don't use these addons are at a huge disadvantage. Many players end up feeling excluded from competitive content unless they install, set up, and maintain a number of addons. This is a significant barrier to entry, and we have heard growing feedback over the years from players who resent feeling like they need addons to play the game properly. This project is about doing everything we can to shrink that gap, by building up the baseline functionality of the default UI, while also reining in the "optimal problem-solving" capabilities of the addon API., We will also be making substantial changes to how we design our combat and encounters to accompany these addon changes. Removing the ability for addons to "solve" most encounter mechanics means that we can also take a different approach to the design of our encounters going forward. The same goes for certain class mechanics. The goal is to make our class mechanics more approachable and easier to understand without addon solutions. If everything goes to plan, WoW will remain challenging, but the nature of that challenge will be less about managing subtleties of class mechanics and more about collaborating with allies and interacting with encounters.,

There are a number of significant additions and updates to our UI that will go along with these changes. We have already announced that we will be adding a built-in damage meter and making improvements to our nameplates, but that is by no means the extent of our planned changes. The goal is for our base UI to provide players with a good portion of the most important combat information addons currently provide. Most of this functionality will ship at the same time as these addon restrictions, if not sooner. Furthermore, this is an ongoing process: we intend to keep this line of communication open after the restrictions are put in place, and we will continue to listen, iterate, and improve our offerings in subsequent patches.

1 2 345 611

Comment by markdallI really wish they would just come out and say,”we are taking away add one from a game that has had them for 20 years, simplifying classes and encounters, so it can be played on Xbox.”

The first things they make are rotation helper and one button rotation - easy enough on a controller.

Why now? Because of Microsoft. Just say it. It’s ok.Comment by Unholylyfe92They better keep their hands off the healer addonsComment by LemistioI really don't like the sound of that...Comment by ssithl"Most of this functionality should ship at the same time as the addon restrictions, if not sooner."

thats a bad sign very very bad sign**themComment by ZharkosOne of the very few things I think FFXIV still has over wow is making things similar to weakauras against the tos. The game is much more fun when you actually have to learn a fight and not rely on big flashing letters telling you how to playComment by oomuweak aura was the tipping point.Comment by kratoszBlizzard's intent is to "level the playing field" and make the game more approachable for all players by reining in these capabilities, while building up baseline functionality of the default UI.They want WoW to remain challenging, but less about managing the subtleties of class mechanics and more about communication with players and interacting with encounters.Comment by SenenFunny thing about raid design if that if they already designed their boss to not require the WeakAuras they want to brick in the future, those weakauras wouldn’t be a thing. No heroic guild takes hours to setup a weakaura for heroic bosses, even though a lot of raid WA packs include heroic version of WAs. But it is just not worth the hassle. Even stuff like Anduin’s Blasphemy, most mythic guild just winged it instead of copying Echo’s strat, because it was not worth it.
If you make mechanics playable, then people will play them instead of wasting a raid night setuping a weakaura and making sure everyone has the correct version etc. You can and should start by making mechanics playable before considering restricting the auras that are required to solve your bosses.

One of the very few things I think FFXIV still has over wow is making things similar to weakauras against the tos. The game is much more fun when you actually have to learn a fight and not rely on big flashing letters telling you how to playComment by BottomOnePercentThey should stop with these changes before it's too late.
TLDR: addons are not a problem, encounter/class design is...Comment by 0VapyrNo thanks.
Don't trust the devs to be able to handle this.

The add-ons go, I'm quitting.
I use combat add-ons for sounds prompts they won't likely ever add to default. I cant play well without them. Taking away stuff we've had for this long is a load of crap.Comment by kratoszI really wish they would just come out and say,”we are taking away add one from a game that has had them for 20 years, simplifying classes and encounters, so it can be played on Xbox.”

The first things they make are rotation helper and one button rotation - easy enough on a controller.

Why now? Because of Microsoft. Just say it. It’s ok.Comment by Raxus502They better keep their hands off the healer addonsComment by kratoszThey should stop with these changes before it's too late.
TLDR: addons are not a problem, encounter/class design is...Comment by kratoszNo thanks.
Don't trust the devs to be able to handle this.

The add-ons go, I'm quitting.
I use combat add-ons for sounds prompts they won't likely ever add to default. I cant play well without them. Taking away stuff we've had for this long is a load of crap.Comment by SpinosaurusI'm on the fence on addons, mostly because they are doing it in the wrong order. Classes need a complete rework, each one should have no more than say 8 combat abilities, 3 utility (1 each of movement, defensive, and self-heal) and then each class should bring 1 of either Lust, Brez, or raid buff, as well as 1 interrupt.
each ability should then just have ways to modify it, smaller talent trees if you will, something like the diablo 3 system so that you can maintain depth in builds if you want to go hard, while also removing alot of the just absolute bullshizz bloat around most the classes.

Once you do that, that is when you start restricting addons, but rn you would restrict addons, and then be forced to use the broken blizz UI to track 30 buffs, 10 debuffs, and 20 abilities at anywhere from 80-300 apm depending on class which is where you get 80% of the bull%^&* in fights.Comment by kratoszI'm on the fence on addons, mostly because they are doing it in the wrong order. Classes need a complete rework, each one should have no more than say 8 combat abilities, 3 utility (1 each of movement, defensive, and self-heal) and then each class should bring 1 of either Lust, Brez, or raid buff, as well as 1 interrupt.
each ability should then just have ways to modify it, smaller talent trees if you will, something like the diablo 3 system so that you can maintain depth in builds if you want to go hard, while also removing alot of the just absolute bullshizz bloat around most the classes.

Once you do that, that is when you start restricting addons, but rn you would restrict addons, and then be forced to use the broken blizz UI to track 30 buffs, 10 debuffs, and 20 abilities at anywhere from 80-300 apm depending on class which is where you get 80% of the bull%^&* in fights.Comment by Bullseyed"Most of this functionality should ship at the same time as the addon restrictions, if not sooner."

thats a bad sign very very bad signComment by rodalphoThe problem with these proposals is they sound absolutely, 100%, unimpeachable and great. They make absolute sense and I couldn't agree more, so long as.... well, if....

If.....

IF you believe Blizzard will implement them well.

I've played since vanilla beta. My honest opinion? Blizzard quality control has never been worse. MOST features and content is broken at release. Not some-- most. Whether this is because Microsoft fired their QA team, or forced them into an 18-month cycle with patches every 6 weeks, or the scandals, or whatever, who knows? I don't work for Blizzard, I can't say and it isn't productive to speculate.

What I can say is simply this-- Blizzard does not meet a reasonable quality standard and while these proposals sound wonderful on paper, I simply do not believe Blizzard is capable of competent execution.

Please, please, prove me wrong. And go slow, eh? No rush on this. Do it right.Comment by sunman42"layers unwilling to install, setup, and maintain'" addons.

Does anyone know of such a player?Comment by magicottermewBlizzard cannot be trusted to provide the UI customization that add-ons provide. The cooldown manager is a perfect example of this. If they intend to take functionality away from add-ons, it needs to be years after the implementation and improvement of the replacement.

The real issues are the fault of Blizzard. Players would not create nor use add-ons unless the game needed "fixing" in the players' eyes. Class design is bloated and overly complex. The most popular specs are Ret and Beast Master despite them being far from top DPS because they're simple and allow players to focus elsewhere. People see WeakAuras and boss mods to be "mandatory" because the game is absolutely atrocious at communicating mechanical information to the player.

The game is more fun when it's simple and moderately challenging, allowing for most players to succeed and talented players to excel. All Blizzard needs to do is stop trying to beat add-ons.

1 2 345 611