On Mods and Macros

What follows is a rant: You have been warned.

I'm an add-on addict (guess that means I have an addiction?). Ever since I discovered the joys of Decal for Asheron's Call, I've striven to have the most useful user interface (UI) I can get, within the terms of service. In other words, I don't cheat. I don't bot. I don't exploit broken game mechanics. If there's the slightest question of whether the game provider--Turbine, Sony/EA, Blizzard, what-have-you--would approve, I eschew the mod/macro/whatever.

So it galls me no end when people who are add-on free ("add-on impaired" IMO) proclaim they "play the game the way Blizzard intended." Well, here's a clue from the ol' cluebird himself: Blizzard always intended for the game to be played with the use of add-ons (or "mods"--modifications to the UI) and macros. To wit:

• The UI application programming interface (API) is freely available from Blizzard.
• A robust macro "language" is built in to the game (accessed via /macro or /m).
• Any time UI API or macro commands or parameters change, those changes are incorporated into the patch notes.
• There's an entire OFFICIAL Blizzard forum dedicated to discussion of mods & macros.
• Have you ever interacted with a GM in game? Probably 90 percent of the text you get from the GMs is sent to you via macros. (You didn't really think they all type like that, did you?)

Rest assured, Blizzard has gone to great lengths to ensure neither mods nor macros can be used to subvert the game. For example, just before the release of The Burning Crusade, major, massive changes to the UI API and macro command set were implemented. One of the effects of these changes was to eliminate if...then... statements from macros (and similar logic from add-ons). It was just too easy to incorporate those commands into bot programs, or otherwise remove the player from playing the game.

The other implication that really ruffles my feathers is the one along the lines that using mods is somehow "cheating." Birdpoop! The reason the default, out-of-the-box UI is so pedestrian is because Blizzard intended there to be 3rd-party mods. If nothing else, it saved Blizzard hundreds if not thousands of hours of programming by not having to provide the sort of interface you see in, for instance, EverQuest II (which interface I loved, by the way--the best part of the game, I thought).

And every once in awhile, Blizzard incorporates some of the better UI mod ideas into the game--check out the changes coming in 2.2, for instance. (Oh...and what about the AH wardrobe screen, hmm?)

So the only cheaters, to my mind, are those who are cheating themselves of the opportunity to enhance their playing experience by having a user interface that fits them, rather than the one-size-fits-all UI Blizzard provides.

And this is why you'll see a lot of discussion here regarding add-ons and macros. To me, they're just as important in making your character effective, and your playing experience more fun, as having the right character build and equipment. If you're still nervous about add-ons, think of them as enchantments to the UI.