Did addons actually destroy or save World of Warcraft?

Addons are an integral part of World of Warcraft. Almost everyone uses them for all kinds of areas: roleplaying, raids, dungeons, PvP. From time to time there are voices that claim that such modifications would break WoW. MeinMMO editor Benedict Grothaus says: The opposite is the case. Dragonflight wouldn’t be as good today without addons.

Addons make WoW easier. That is the task of most of these additional programs: simplify boss mechanics, provide a better overview or better classify the abilities of your own class.

Since the end of Classic WoW and since the beginning of Burning Crusade I’ve been playing exclusively with addons. At that time, in my youthful carelessness, I measured my damage with one of the controversial damage meters, or played with boss mods in raids.

Today I use a lot more: WeakAuras, Method Raid Tools, NeatPlates … even our raid only works really well with addons. Our leader distributes the loot with the help of RCLootCouncil because there is no real looter master anymore.

You will find the best addons for WoW 2023 on MeinMMO and the currently most popular addons on Curse.

Nevertheless, the discussion in forums or on reddit keeps popping up as to whether you actually need addons or whether they wouldn’t have broken WoW. After all, they make so many things easier. But you forget one thing: without addons, many things would not be possible today.

The trailer shows the most important features of Dragonflight at a glance:

Bosses are only challenging at all thanks to DBM

WoW used to be no harder without addons. On the contrary: Classic was really easy. In Molten Core there were hardly any sophisticated mechanics, it was just that the game was new and everyone had to get used to it.

That’s why the legendary C’thun lived for 13 days at the time – when Classic was re-released in 2019, it didn’t even survive 1 hour. Sure, these were players who had been there constantly for years and knew everything by heart. Still, bosses are harder today.

Looking at the Races to World First, the mythical bosses are just way harder than they used to be. Even as a mythical raider, I notice this again and again. And they are heavier because they can be.

Raids are the game’s best content to date. If players hadn’t learned what mechanics are and how to play or work around them properly through addons like boss mods, Blizzard wouldn’t have been able to develop mechanics further.

WoW would not have held up over the years and would have become as good as it is today. Because Dragonflight is damn good. I haven’t had as much fun in a raid as I did in Vault of Incarnations in years.

I absolutely fell in love with the Rufer, the new class in Dragonflight – which I was only able to learn so quickly thanks to addons:

I’m playing the new class with a rotation helper and it’s great

Boss mods or help like WeakAuras aren’t the only things I celebrate about addons. With Dragonflight, a new class came into play, the Caller. It’s my first time playing a caster in 12 years and I love everything about it.

Both as a healer and as a DD, the caller is a lot of fun for me. However, it’s always hard to learn a new class from scratch. I’ve read guides, tested the Caller, and improved myself.

But what helped me the most is the Hekili addon. Hekili indicates which ability should be used next to get maximum damage. The calculation runs in real time.

Some will now say: So you’re playing in Easy Mode! No, I do not do it. I use Hekili to get the recommendation for the next cast, but I’m still making my own decisions about whether to cast the spell now, need to dodge, or save my cooldowns for a special spot.

So I got pretty good with the Caller pretty quickly, and after a pretty bad dip in Shadowlands, I’m really enjoying World of Warcraft again.

Without addons I would have much less fun with the game because I just like to play well. And I get the most out of my class when I can tailor my game to them. If you don’t want it… you don’t have to use it.