00:00:01
World of Warcraft game director Ian has
00:00:02
a hostess didn't say it outright, but he
00:00:05
did imply it. The add-on slaughter
00:00:08
begins at midnight in 2026. Your
00:00:11
favorite combat add-ons will be
00:00:13
executed. I know that sounds like a lot,
00:00:15
but here's what happened. PC Gamers
00:00:17
Heather Newman got to grill him on
00:00:19
add-ons and what Blizzard's plan is.
00:00:21
This is the same reporter who got Ian to
00:00:23
admit that patch 11.1.5 was a bit of a
00:00:26
nightmare. Naturally, then he let slip a
00:00:28
lot more than they're ready to announce.
00:00:30
And what he managed not to say is almost
00:00:33
even more telling, so strap in. This
00:00:36
one's uh this one's pretty big. And I'm
00:00:38
also going to do something. I'm going to
00:00:39
cast a blessing of protection on you.
00:00:41
Yes, apparently I'm a paladin. But no,
00:00:43
data stories hit us every week. Like say
00:00:45
when British Telecom had a breach that
00:00:46
exposed loads of my family who uh you
00:00:48
know at the time uh were not protected
00:00:50
in the way that I am with today's
00:00:52
sponsor, Incogn. They've just got even
00:00:54
better. And uh yes, I now also have the
00:00:56
family plan. Their core service already
00:00:58
scrubs your data for more than 250
00:01:00
broker sites and it keeps your data down
00:01:02
with continuous suppression sweeps. But
00:01:05
even better than you, unlimited plan
00:01:06
adds custom removals. So if you spot
00:01:08
your details online anywhere, right,
00:01:10
paste the URL into your incogn dashboard
00:01:12
and their privacy team will file a legal
00:01:16
takedown. They'll actually go and do it
00:01:18
and in about 45 days, you'll find that
00:01:20
page is gone. Now, there's no limit in
00:01:22
submission. So, you can just keep
00:01:23
feeding links until your search results
00:01:25
are spotless and there are not things
00:01:27
that just mess up your peace of mind and
00:01:30
would allow people to know things about
00:01:32
you that they shouldn't. Basically, I
00:01:34
kind of see this as like routine
00:01:36
maintenance for my digital life or, you
00:01:38
know, being a big Warcraft nerd, it's a
00:01:40
bit like blessing and protection from a
00:01:41
paladin. So, if you want the same peace
00:01:43
of mind, head to incogn.com/balular
00:01:46
warcraft. you'll get 60% off the annual
00:01:49
unlimited plan and get yourself a clean
00:01:51
slate online.
00:01:54
He said they aren't touching combat
00:01:56
add-ons in patch 11.1.7. They're not
00:01:58
touching them in 11.2 either. In
00:02:01
corporate speak, that means we uh you
00:02:03
know have to do a bit of deduction,
00:02:04
meaning that uh they're doing it
00:02:06
afterwards. That means they're doing it
00:02:08
in midnight, which is the next big
00:02:10
thing. And if that seems soon to you,
00:02:12
think about the last few months. No one
00:02:14
saw the player housing news coming, but
00:02:16
it's been in the works for years. We
00:02:18
didn't expect the cooldown manager, the
00:02:20
one button assistant, took us all by
00:02:22
surprise. So, here's the thing. If we
00:02:25
expect the unexpected, we should expect
00:02:27
Blizzard to move fast, blisteringly
00:02:29
fast, perhaps, you know, moving fast and
00:02:32
breaking things. And we should expect it
00:02:34
on everything that they talk about. And
00:02:37
my god, Ian talked about a lot here.
00:02:39
They are clearly further than they are
00:02:41
letting on. This is coming close. Here's
00:02:44
what matters most. Then he told us which
00:02:46
add-ons are marked for death. It is
00:02:48
combat add-ons only. That means quest
00:02:51
helpers will survive. Gathering add-ons
00:02:52
will survive. RP add-ons, UI
00:02:55
customization, all of those will
00:02:57
survive. Now, by calling it slaughter,
00:03:00
maybe we're exaggerating slightly. He
00:03:03
said they're not out just to smash
00:03:05
add-ons purely because they're add-ons.
00:03:07
Instead, they want to fix problems, and
00:03:09
they want to do so with as little
00:03:10
collateral damage as is possible. But of
00:03:13
course, there will be some. So, here's
00:03:15
their plan. They want to keep shipping
00:03:17
their own add-on replacements. And once
00:03:20
they're happy that those things work,
00:03:22
well, that's when they send in the
00:03:24
troops. So, maybe these add-ons won't be
00:03:26
dead on midnight launch day, but there
00:03:28
is a good chance they will die shortly
00:03:29
after. Ian used examples, as a big one,
00:03:32
boss timelines. Now, this shows us how
00:03:35
far along they are. Because if they kill
00:03:37
deadly boss mods in Big Wigs without
00:03:38
replacing them, what happens? Players
00:03:41
will just uh turn to something else. I
00:03:43
don't know, like YouTube videos that do
00:03:45
call outs on a timer or some weird thing
00:03:47
where, you know, you can synchronize a
00:03:49
YouTube video to the start of your pool
00:03:51
timer. Things like that would be awful.
00:03:52
Blizzard clearly doesn't want that. And
00:03:54
you can actually tell they thought this
00:03:55
through. And they have a kind of smart
00:03:57
solution. Before they kill what they're
00:03:59
planning, they'll have official boss
00:04:01
mods in the game. Yes, official Blizzard
00:04:03
boss mods and also an official Blizzard
00:04:06
damage meter. And Ian actually let slip
00:04:08
some concrete details. Here's what
00:04:10
they're planning then. Removing combat
00:04:12
log access, getting rid of aura hooks,
00:04:14
and killing combat log access will
00:04:17
completely kill existing boss mods.
00:04:19
That's the bread and butter of how they
00:04:21
function. It'll kill damage meters as
00:04:23
well. And that's because that's how
00:04:24
those things check for spell casts and
00:04:26
damage events. Take getting rid of aura
00:04:29
hooks. Well, that means that add-ons
00:04:31
can't read your buffs and your debuffs.
00:04:33
That will just gut Hille as one example.
00:04:36
It'll gut most weak orasures as well.
00:04:38
That's everything impacted from your
00:04:40
class auras to your party cooldown
00:04:42
trackers. That's a lot. And if it was
00:04:43
all to happen at once, there would be
00:04:46
real implications. Things like, say, you
00:04:48
having no interrupt tracking. Yes, no
00:04:51
interrupt tracking. if Blizzard doesn't
00:04:52
replace it with an official solution,
00:04:54
then you'll just have to call your kicks
00:04:56
manually using voice or organize them
00:04:59
right with your teammates ahead of time.
00:05:02
But there is some good news, though. Ian
00:05:04
said that if something needs to be
00:05:05
tracked, they will make it part of WoW's
00:05:08
default UI. As an example, he called out
00:05:10
tank swaps by name. There are going to
00:05:13
be new and obvious cues of when you
00:05:16
should do a tank swap. That means that
00:05:18
instead of having DBM scream at you once
00:05:20
the right number of stacks ticks up,
00:05:22
there'll be something in WoW to do it
00:05:24
naturally. That's actually kind of good
00:05:26
news in a way, I think, cuz it is a bit
00:05:29
arcane and bizarre that you just have to
00:05:31
like count a stack of something that by
00:05:34
default is placed over in Narnia at the
00:05:36
top right of your screen. There's some
00:05:38
even better news as well. Instead of
00:05:39
letting you track things like
00:05:40
interrupts, Blizzard might actually go
00:05:43
the other way. They might change the
00:05:44
dungeons so they need fewer interrupts,
00:05:48
fewer stops, so that essentially you
00:05:50
don't miss not having that functionality
00:05:52
because you no longer need it. I think
00:05:54
it's fair to say that the ongoing arms
00:05:56
race has led to World of Warcraft being
00:05:58
God just absolutely full of bing bing
00:06:01
wahoo and things to track that for a lot
00:06:03
of people it's overwhelming. That
00:06:04
creates the need for add-ons. If
00:06:06
Blizzard wants to solve that by fixing
00:06:08
the need problem instead of the add-on
00:06:10
problem, well, actually, I'm kind of all
00:06:12
for that. So, here's their goal, right?
00:06:14
If the add-on slaughter makes the game
00:06:16
harder, they will then make it easier at
00:06:19
the same time to compensate. So, there's
00:06:21
balance. And the same goes for raids. As
00:06:23
an example, that means less swirlies,
00:06:27
random swirlies that are just there to
00:06:29
change the signal to noise ratio. I
00:06:30
guess a weird form of difficulty. The
00:06:32
same will go for other things, like say
00:06:34
you having more time to react to
00:06:36
mechanics, so you don't feel like you
00:06:38
need highly granular customized boss
00:06:40
timers. It'll mean simpler things to
00:06:42
organize as a group because now you'll
00:06:44
actually have to do the thing yourself
00:06:46
instead of have an add-on tell you what
00:06:48
to do. And I'd say if you're a caster,
00:06:51
that's going to be music to your ears.
00:06:53
It'll mean less interrupting yourself as
00:06:55
you have to step out of swirlies and
00:06:58
nonsense and stuff that I think has well
00:07:00
pretty convincingly made World of
00:07:02
Warcraft a less fun game experience.
00:07:04
That thing on being a caster really hit
00:07:06
me that just the existence of swirlies
00:07:08
makes playing a caster so much less fun
00:07:11
for me that now I'm basically melee
00:07:13
only. And if we're to think about when
00:07:15
you should do such a large change,
00:07:17
there's one obvious point in time, an
00:07:18
expansion launch, because that is the
00:07:20
resetting of the board. Otherwise, if
00:07:22
they did it say halfway through an
00:07:23
expansion, then they'd have to design
00:07:25
Midnight's Dungeons twice. First at
00:07:28
launch and then again after they have
00:07:30
done all of the changes that Ian has
00:07:32
talked about. Now, there's one thing you
00:07:33
may be real worried about, and that's
00:07:34
say Warcraft logs and your ability to
00:07:36
just look at your performance after the
00:07:38
fact. Good news, because even with
00:07:40
combat log access gone, logging tools
00:07:42
will survive. If you're wondering why,
00:07:44
it's because they read logs that are
00:07:46
written to file after the fight. Now,
00:07:48
that doesn't mean that Blizzard couldn't
00:07:50
just kill logging entirely. They
00:07:52
absolutely could. But if they're only
00:07:53
doing this via the hooks that Ian
00:07:55
described, then your Warcraft log stuff
00:07:57
is fine and going to be safe. I would
00:08:00
actually put money in Warcraft logs
00:08:01
being safe, especially since uh Ian
00:08:04
likes Warcraft logs. He actually does
00:08:06
like it. He uses it in game industry
00:08:09
talks. So, those are the most important
00:08:12
things that Ian actually said. But, as
00:08:13
always, you cannot take a game director
00:08:15
at face value, especially one for such a
00:08:18
massive company. And that does mean
00:08:20
we've got to read in between the lines.
00:08:24
Okay, here's what he really said. WoW is
00:08:26
heading towards rapid and radical
00:08:29
change. The game is going to be very
00:08:30
different and very soon. He knows the
00:08:32
damage they've accidentally done since
00:08:34
Legion. He obviously knows it. I just
00:08:37
feel it when you listen to him. They are
00:08:39
basically going to hit the undo button.
00:08:40
Now, if you aren't around and you don't
00:08:42
know what I mean, don't worry. I'll
00:08:43
explain. Right. WoW was basically reborn
00:08:46
with Legion. Every spec was redesigned
00:08:48
with tons of artifact traits. This built
00:08:50
the foundations of today's insanely
00:08:52
complicated classes. Then there were
00:08:54
legendaries which made this even
00:08:55
crazier. Then they added massive
00:08:57
rotation changing chase items to the
00:08:59
game. Mythic Plus added a whole new way
00:09:01
to play. People started to massively
00:09:03
sweat it and this all made those
00:09:05
complexities a necessity to master. And
00:09:08
since then it's only escalated.
00:09:10
Artifacts were left in Legion, but many
00:09:12
of their effects were baked into our
00:09:13
classes. Azeride armor, well that added
00:09:15
uh lots of passive buffs, lots of procs.
00:09:18
So many in fact that the game servers
00:09:20
literally had performance issues. Then
00:09:22
Shadowlands chucked in even more
00:09:24
legendaries into the pile and
00:09:26
continually the good legendaries, the
00:09:28
good Azerite traits. Those were all
00:09:29
folded back into the dough. Then
00:09:31
Dragonflight codified it all with the
00:09:33
new talent trees and now hero talents.
00:09:35
So no wonder people feel like they need
00:09:37
weak or achily. And no wonder Blizzard
00:09:40
wants to kill them. But to do that
00:09:42
right, they need to tone down all this
00:09:44
madness first. This is the sort of thing
00:09:45
that makes World of Warcraft look like
00:09:47
strange, impenetrable, arcane mystery,
00:09:50
but at the pace of a bunch of skippy
00:09:52
toilet Tik Toks. I know that sounds like
00:09:54
a weird thing. It's a very It's not a
00:09:56
natural thing for me to say, but that's
00:09:57
the strange thing about WoW. It's theory
00:09:59
crafting is turbo nerd. It's second to
00:10:01
second gameplay is absurdly super fast
00:10:04
ADHD. It's mad. And we see the impact of
00:10:06
this arms race on our bosses. Well,
00:10:09
bosses have gotten more interesting in
00:10:11
recent expansions, but they've also
00:10:13
gotten extremely fast. Every raid has at
00:10:15
least one swirly, spamming nightmare
00:10:17
boss where you're just looking at your
00:10:19
character's feet, just mildly annoyed.
00:10:21
You've got mechanics that give you
00:10:22
almost zero time to react. There's a
00:10:25
reason why, because Blizzard knows your
00:10:27
add-on will just blow literally an air
00:10:29
horn in your ears and flash something on
00:10:32
your screen and tell you what to do. But
00:10:34
without that add-on, well, Blizzard no
00:10:36
longer needs to challenge you in the
00:10:38
same way. And that means there's more
00:10:40
design space freed up to get cool,
00:10:42
unique stuff. I mean, going to go off
00:10:44
piece here, but you know, unlike the
00:10:47
field of animation, right, you've got
00:10:49
anticipation, you know, wheeling up for
00:10:52
the punch, all those things that just
00:10:53
like the classic rules of animation are
00:10:55
so important. But in video game terms,
00:10:58
well, if Blizzard has got to challenge
00:11:00
you really, really quickly, it becomes
00:11:02
hard for them to make big awesome set
00:11:04
pieces because the way that players are
00:11:07
challenged, like the well, the tools the
00:11:10
players have are like a weird autopilot
00:11:13
that'll tell you if there's anything you
00:11:14
ever need to know. That actually ruins
00:11:18
so much game design. And so the bull
00:11:19
case for this is that without all of
00:11:21
that gump, we'll actually get the cool
00:11:24
unique stuff that we'll get a better
00:11:26
signal to noise ratio in our game. That
00:11:27
will have none of the brutal, relentless
00:11:30
spam of avoidable damage that makes
00:11:32
World of Warcraft less approachable,
00:11:35
less accessible, but also massively less
00:11:38
fun, and less interesting. And that
00:11:40
means that if Legion was basically WoW
00:11:42
2.0, then Midnight, well, Midnight might
00:11:45
be where WoW 3.0 starts.
00:11:50
Okay, so I've told you and showed you
00:11:51
what Ian said. Then we've talked about
00:11:53
the overall implications in reading in
00:11:54
between the lines. But where it gets
00:11:56
interesting is similar things have been
00:11:58
said literally officially. Blizzard sent
00:12:01
a message to an add-on developer
00:12:03
Discord. In the message, they said this
00:12:05
quote, "Removing the ability for add-ons
00:12:07
to solve most encounter mechanics means
00:12:09
that we can take a different approach to
00:12:11
the design of our encounters going
00:12:12
forward. The same goes for certain class
00:12:15
mechanics. The goal is to make our class
00:12:18
mechanics more approachable, easier to
00:12:20
understand without add-on solutions. And
00:12:23
look, take a game like say Elen Ring. In
00:12:26
some ways, you could say it's not
00:12:28
particularly fast-paced. It doesn't have
00:12:30
a crazy amount of different inputs that
00:12:32
a player can make or an insane number of
00:12:34
things for players to deal with at once.
00:12:37
But what is there is careful, great
00:12:40
design, precision, and at a pace where a
00:12:43
player can actually feel the designer's
00:12:45
intent. And I think that's something
00:12:47
that arguably WoW classic actually with
00:12:50
its pacing was able to stumble upon, and
00:12:52
it's something that modern WoW has
00:12:54
undoubtedly lost. That statement sent to
00:12:56
that discord is all of this right from
00:12:59
Blizzard's own mouth. Basically, the
00:13:00
add-on slaughter is not there to kill
00:13:02
add-ons out of spite and hatred. I mean,
00:13:05
developers typically think other
00:13:06
developers are awesome. Add-on devs are
00:13:08
awesome, right? Developers, developers,
00:13:10
developers, play the Steve Balmer meme.
00:13:12
Anyway, they're doing this because
00:13:14
Blizzard is finally fixing what we've
00:13:16
been complaining about for years, that
00:13:17
add-ons play the game for us, and that
00:13:19
that makes it less fun. And it seems
00:13:21
this is starting with Midnight, right?
00:13:23
Where WoW's dungeons, raids, and classes
00:13:25
might look way different. Now, you think
00:13:28
I'm exaggerating? Think about the last
00:13:30
time we saw big class changes in WoW. It
00:13:33
was patch 11.1. There were none
00:13:35
whatsoever in the last.5 patch and there
00:13:38
are none in the upcoming 7 patch either.
00:13:42
And that's as compared to a Blizzard
00:13:44
that was shipping class changes all the
00:13:45
time. It's really weird. It's completely
00:13:47
unlike recent Blizzard. I mean, we might
00:13:49
see a stack of class changes in patch
00:13:51
11.2. It is a major patch after all. But
00:13:53
I have a bit of an inkling here that
00:13:55
something else is happening. I think
00:13:57
they've shifted gears. I think they're
00:13:59
changing classes for the post add-on
00:14:01
world. the one that they are willing to
00:14:05
enforce. That's the difference. And it
00:14:08
will be a different world. Here's what
00:14:09
they said about WoW's future. It's a
00:14:11
quote. If everything goes to plan, WoW
00:14:14
will remain challenging, but the nature
00:14:16
of that challenge will be different.
00:14:18
Less about managing the subtleties of
00:14:20
class mechanics, more about
00:14:21
collaborating with allies and
00:14:23
interacting with encounters. And
00:14:25
honestly, that's music to my ears.
00:14:26
That's what I think will make for more
00:14:30
memorable, exciting bosses and memories
00:14:32
that I make with the people I play this
00:14:34
game with. That's all a bit meta, too.
00:14:36
This whole World Soul Saga thing is not
00:14:38
just about a new approach to Wow's
00:14:40
story. It's clearly a new approach to
00:14:42
gameplay as well. And if you still don't
00:14:44
believe me, well, this message said
00:14:47
details are coming in quote the coming
00:14:50
months. We're going to know soon. Now,
00:14:52
they said they are giving many months of
00:14:54
advanced notice to these add-on
00:14:56
developers. Now, with that in mind, take
00:14:57
a look at WoW's development cycle.
00:14:59
There's only one way they can put up a
00:15:00
build with that much notice. That is in
00:15:02
an alpha. And if it's in the coming
00:15:04
months, it will be the alpha of World of
00:15:07
Warcraft Midnight. And for everything
00:15:08
he's left between the lines, there's
00:15:10
also everything he didn't say or perhaps
00:15:13
won't admit. Not cuz he's a bad dude,
00:15:15
obviously, because, you know, you're a
00:15:17
game director. You do actually have to
00:15:19
be media trained and so on. So, let's uh
00:15:21
dive into the spicy bits.
00:15:25
One thing he said shocked us in the
00:15:27
guild Discord. He said that their
00:15:29
challenging task ahead will be the
00:15:31
players. And it's rare you hear that.
00:15:34
Specifically, it's getting players to
00:15:35
accept that Blizzard's defaults are 96%
00:15:38
of perfect. 96%. I don't know where he
00:15:41
got that number. Maybe he just saw 96
00:15:43
come to him in his wildest dreams. Or
00:15:45
maybe he just reversed the numbers of 69
00:15:47
and it turns out he's just a bit of a
00:15:49
goblin. Who knows? But 96 is a pretty
00:15:51
high number. What I'd contend with is um
00:15:54
I love the plan. I love the vision, but
00:15:56
I think that's way beyond what Blizzard
00:15:58
is currently capable of. Have you looked
00:16:00
at the cooldown manager lately? Have
00:16:02
you? I mean, that's not 96%. It's not
00:16:05
even 69%. I'd say it's 60 at most. It's
00:16:08
conservative. Here's the thing. The
00:16:10
first 80% of perfect comes easy, it's
00:16:13
kind of called the 8020 rule for a
00:16:14
reason, right? It's the last 20% that's
00:16:17
tough. And it's the last 20% that's you
00:16:20
know where something is say rather than
00:16:23
a Blackberry is an iPhone and therefore
00:16:26
can surprise and delight a far larger
00:16:28
audience which I have to assume is
00:16:29
basically their goal here. So add-on
00:16:31
developers right in making all the
00:16:32
solutions we have today have had years
00:16:34
and years and years and years and years
00:16:35
of iteration years of work zero
00:16:38
restraints except for the API. But
00:16:40
Blizzard, they are like a tank that's
00:16:43
racing someone on, I don't know, like uh
00:16:46
a very fast bike with all of the CCs
00:16:48
that's very powerful. And that's kind of
00:16:50
the thing. Blizzard in their big
00:16:52
lumbering tank, very big, very powerful.
00:16:54
But also, Blizzard are slow and clumsy.
00:16:57
That uh nimble add-on developer in their
00:17:00
bike can run circles around Blizzard in
00:17:02
their big slow tank. And that's what
00:17:04
they've been doing for years. That's why
00:17:06
we call the add-on arms race. So, I
00:17:07
don't know if Blizzard really has a
00:17:08
chance here. It will be hard. I mean,
00:17:10
imagine their version of details. Is
00:17:12
that going to let you give uh you know,
00:17:15
custom nicknames to your teammates? Will
00:17:18
it show damage graphs after the dungeon?
00:17:20
Show health pot usage? What about
00:17:22
interrupts? Will their boss mods have
00:17:24
options for a timeline view like the one
00:17:26
that we've been using weak or to do for
00:17:28
years now because well, I just think
00:17:29
it's a way better UI for that kind of
00:17:31
thing. We can't say. And you've probably
00:17:34
felt a whole twinge of doubt as I was
00:17:36
laying out the big plan, the big vision.
00:17:38
I think that doubt's completely
00:17:40
justified and justifiable. As much as I
00:17:42
love Blizzard's vision, and if I could
00:17:44
wave a wand and I guess just be wherever
00:17:47
Ian wants to take us, I' I'd wave that
00:17:48
wand. But in reality, the future of WoW
00:17:52
hinges on Blizzard being realistic. Now,
00:17:54
it's good they've opened talks that on
00:17:56
devs, but this is a truly massive
00:17:58
undertaking. If Blizzard can pull this
00:18:00
off, WoW could slowly work its way to a
00:18:03
new era, one that is way more fun. that
00:18:06
I want way healthier for every class of
00:18:09
player and actually sustainable on
00:18:11
development.
00:18:13
But that's a really really big if and we
00:18:16
will just have to wait and see if they
00:18:18
can manage. But what you don't have to
00:18:19
wait and see for is in fact this next
00:18:21
video on uh The Last Titan and some of
00:18:23
the really cool lore stuff that's been
00:18:24
cooked up.
00:18:27
[Music]
