Addons are indispensable from World of Warcraft. Almost everyone uses them for all sorts of areas: role-playing, raids, dungeons, PvP. Once in a while, there are voices claiming that such modifications would ruin WoW. MeinMMO editor Benedict Grothaus believes the opposite is true. Without addons, Dragonflight would not be as good today.
Addons make WoW easier. That is the task of most of these supplementary programs: to simplify boss mechanics, provide easier overviews, or better categorize the abilities of one’s class.
I have been playing since the end of Classic WoW and exclusively with addons since the beginning of Burning Crusade. Back then, in youthful ignorance, I measured my damage with one of the controversial damage meters, then still Recount, or played with boss mods in raids.
Today I use much more: WeakAuras, Method Raid Tools, NeatPlates … even our raid only works well thanks to addons. Our leader distributes loot with the help of RCLootCouncil, because there is no real loot master anymore.
You can find on MeinMMO the best addons for WoW 2023 and the currently most popular addons on Curse.
Nevertheless, the discussion keeps coming up in forums or on reddit about whether addons are actually necessary, whether they haven’t ruined WoW. After all, they make so much easier. However, you forget one thing: without addons, much would not be possible today.
The trailer shows the most important features of Dragonflight at a glance:
Bosses are only challenging thanks to DBM
WoW was not harder back then and without addons. On the contrary: Classic was really easy. In Molten Core, there were hardly any challenging mechanics; the game was just new, and everyone had to get used to it.
The legendary C’thun lived for 13 days back then – at the re-release of Classic in 2019, he didn’t even survive 1 hour. Sure, those were players who had been there for years and knew everything by heart. Nevertheless, bosses today are harder.
If you look at the Races to World First, the mythic bosses are simply much tougher than before. I notice this myself as a mythic raider over and over again. And they are harder because they can be.
Raids are still the best content in the game for me. If players hadn’t learned through addons like boss mods which mechanics exist and how to play or avoid them correctly, then it would not have been possible for Blizzard to develop mechanics further.
WoW would not have held up over the years and wouldn’t have become as good as it is today. Because Dragonflight is damn good. I haven’t had so much fun in a raid in years like in the Vault of the Incarnates.
I have completely fallen in love with the Evoker, the new class in Dragonflight – which I could only learn so quickly thanks to addons:
I play the new class with a rotation helper and it is great
Boss mods or aids like WeakAuras are not the only things I celebrate about addons. With Dragonflight, a new class was introduced, the Evoker. For the first time in 12 years, I am playing a caster again and I love everything about it.
As both a healer and a DPS, the Evoker is immensely fun for me. However, it is always difficult to learn a new class from scratch. I have read guides, tested the Evoker, and improved myself.
What has helped me the most is the addon Hekili. Hekili shows which ability should be used next to maximize damage. The calculation runs in real-time.
Some will say now: So you are playing on easy mode! No, I am not. I use Hekili to get recommendations for the next cast, but I still decide myself whether to use the spell now, to dodge, or to save my cooldowns for a special moment.
Thus, I quickly became quite good with the Evoker, and after quite a rough time in Shadowlands, I have regained real joy in World of Warcraft.
However, I would have much less fun with the game without addons because I just like to play well. And I get the most out of my class when I can tailor my play to it. If someone doesn’t want them … they don’t have to use them.
