Blizzard's Approach to Addons in World of Warcraft: Finding a Middle Ground
Blizzard has admitted that they have been designing dungeons with addons in mind for some time, which is why certain mechanics may appear the way they do. The developer does not want everything to be too easy because of addons, but on the other hand, they do not want to force players to use them either. Some players cannot imagine playing without them, while others would gladly ban them. A middle ground would be useful, and World of Warcraft may be close to finding it!
The creators of the WeakAuras addon reported that in update 10.1, they discovered Blizzard's way of "fighting addons," or rather limiting their functionality. This refers to the "Private Auras" system, which developers can use if they do not want a particular addon to detect specific spells or auras. More importantly, this option does not limit players' ability to set icons or position debuffs.
As a result, this solution does not block addons but rather reduces their capabilities in several specific cases. In this way, when Blizzard designs a fancy mechanic, they do not have to worry about addons breaking it. With all other things, the addon will work normally but may be "blocked" in something specific. The solution was introduced at the API level.
It remains to be seen if an addon will appear to bypass this, or if World of Warcraft will abandon the idea over time when players revolt. It is worth noting that the whole thing is available on the test server, and it is unknown whether it will even come into effect. Nevertheless, it is clear that Blizzard is experimenting and playing around with the topic.
In other news, Twitch Drops are back! From March 21 to April 2, you can watch Dragonflight streams for four hours to get the D.I.S.C.O toy (Dancer's Integrated Sonic Celebration Oscillator). It is another item from the Trading Card Game, so as you can see, World of Warcraft continues to distribute goodies from the card game.
