World of Warcraft has been at a crossroads many times during its existence, and it’s always sailed on. Many early changes in the first few expansions sparked numerous player reactions, and the eventual level squish took some time to refine. Now the conversation has shifted to add-ons, as we wait for the launch of the Midnight expansion.

The game’s director, Ion Hazzikostas, has chimed in on Reddit to illuminate some of the concerns players have over the upcoming removal of combat add-ons. Given that some of these mods have been in the game since its inception, it’s definitely going to be a process to sort this all out.

The Goal Is A Level Playing Field

Ideally Reflected By Some Changes

Blizzard has announced that it will be discontinuing access to the game’s combat API, which will subsequently lock out many combat-based add-ons. Most WoW players have experienced them in some form or another, providing helpful hints, visual/auditory effects, or strategy guides for endgame bosses. While Blizzard intends to add in-game options for these, the community still has questions.

As a result of an interview recently by content creator MysticalOS WoW, Hazzikostas added some context for the changes, noting that the team is “working on a blog that can be a single source of truth. Here’s the crux of Hazzikosta’s statement:

The overarching goal of the changes in Midnight is to level the playing field and do what we can to make it so that while addons can still thoroughly personalize your experience, they aren’t giving you an objective competitive advantage over people using the base UI. In pursuit of that goal, we’ve made changes to the addon API, to our base UI, and to how we design our combat and encounters.

Hazzikostas mentions “clear telegraphs ahead of time,” with “sufficient time to react,” but the challenge has proven difficult. Some form of countdowns might also be added to the base game. Even at launch, it sounds like some of this might be a work in progress.

The Future Of WoW Is Interesting

Midnight Has A Lot Of Pressure On It

Silvermoon zone in World of Warcraft Midnight

As someone who has played World of Warcraft since the beginning, I’m purely focused on squaring up the Midnight expansion. So far, there’s a lot to like about it, and the idea of finally adding player housing to the game in a way that’s equitable for everyone is a fascinating prospect.

Over time, Blizzard should weather this storm as they always have with World of Warcraft. By the same token, ideally, most of the features provided by these add-ons will be included in the game when it launches.