World of Warcraft director 'doesn't expect blind faith' in its plans to unshackle the MMO from popular combat mods: 'We take none of this lightly'

As World of Warcraft's next expansion nears release, players are preparing for the first time in the MMO's history where combat mods, or addons, won't offer much help. The most popular ones simply won't work when Midnight arrives as part of Blizzard's plan to level the playing field for all players.

Unsurprisingly, this hasn't gone over well with everyone. Some addon developers have called it quits, while others have expressed concerns over Blizzard's new rules. Professional world first raiders aren't sure what their jobs are going to look like in the next year and more casual players are worried their favorite classes are being over-simplified as a result.

In a lengthy post about this new era of addon support, game director Ion Hazzikostas explains why any of this is happening now, what exactly is changing, and how things will move forward as the Midnight beta continues.

"We take none of this lightly," he says, adding that Blizzard has "never designed [encounters] FOR addons," but it has "inevitably had to design AROUND them for the past several expansions."

Basically the problem was this: When a boss marks five players with ticking bombs, addons can just tell those people where to go, which led Blizzard to add additional layers of complexity to keep those encounters challenging. "But that shift has left people who prefer not to use these addons at a clear disadvantage, making WoW less approachable in the process," he says.

Going forward, "addons should no longer offer a competitive advantage in WoW combat," Hazzikostas says. Anything that changes the look of the UI or shuffles around information already displayed by the game is fine, but anything that makes decisions based on info from a boss mechanic is off limits—in fact, that information is now in what Blizzard calls a black box that can't be accessed by third-party tools.

Nobody expected the Midnight alpha to be the end of combat addons altogether, but Hazzikostas says the team started with "the strictest version of this ruleset" to "avoid a frustrating cat-and-mouse situation" with addon developers finding loopholes. This is why many of them were invited to the alpha to give feedback as soon as possible.

Hazzikostas acknowledges the problems this has caused—particularly with non-combat addons that were caught in the crossfire—and admits that it's on Blizzard to quickly fix whatever comes up. He describes the skepticism over whether it can pull it off as "fair" and says that he doesn't "expect blind faith in the absence of results."

"I understand that this amount of change can be scary, and that it’s natural to worry that the long-term benefits aren’t worth the short-term disruption," he says. "We’re going to do everything possible to ensure that your experience with Midnight is a great one, that customization and self-expression remain hallmarks of WoW’s UI, and that the game is more approachable than ever."

The Midnight beta is live now for everyone who preordered the expansion (and those lucky enough to be invited), which means it's a crucial time for people to jump in and see what works and what doesn't before the final release.