Without interface addons, the developers of World of Warcraft can finally unleash their creativity. But they do not want to rely on the familiar.
The first season of Midnight could be the most exciting in the history of World of Warcraft. For the first time at the launch of a new raid tier, interface addons are not as powerful as they have been since the times of Vanilla WoW. This not only means that players have to forgo many assists, but also that developers have more freedom to think up exciting mechanics.
What changes with Midnight? Since the pre-patch, the “addon apocalypse” has begun in WoW. Many interface addons that were helpful in battles no longer work – most notably ‘WeakAuras’. This addon was so powerful that it could perform entire calculations and then specifically announce which character should take on which task to ensure everything went smoothly.
If the raid had to communicate, it would likely take several seconds, which could mean the difference between life and death for a character. But thanks to this addon, that was unnecessary.
More than just more effects
What does Blizzard say about it? In an interview with PC Gamer, encounter designer Dylan Barker talked about how the new raids will unfold and what has changed:
I believe that there are some mechanics in the opening tier that are now possible in Midnight but were previously unthinkable. We are now able to challenge players more through puzzles, communication, coordination, and strategy.
It’s cool because the way it gets harder from normal to heroic to mythic is not just ‘We’re shooting more bullets at you’. It is harder on the communication and coordination level.
These puzzles and communication tasks were always solved by interface addons in the past – like WeakAuras. This is also the reason why many professional guilds, competing for the “World First Kill” of a boss, have players dedicated to managing WeakAura settings and creating corresponding configurations that provided the critical advantage.
With this now gone, Blizzard can focus on such mechanics and no longer have to rely solely on more effects, more to avoid
.
However, the future looks bright, at least according to Barker. After developers have fought against addons for years and interesting mechanics have repeatedly been reduced to WeakAuras, they can now unleash their creativity and develop new mechanics:
I think many encounter designers have tried to do this over the years and have not been able to implement it. Therefore, this is now super exciting for us.
Whether the new raids in Midnight can deliver what they already promise remains to be seen. But it is only a few days until we can experience it ourselves, as early access starts this Friday. We will explain which 5 things you should take care of by then.
