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Classic LFG Addon to Be Limited by Blizzard

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It seems the uproar over the ClassicLFG addon has reached Blizzard's ears and they agree with most of the community! The addon and ones like it will be "severely limited" in a patch a few weeks after Classic launch and Blizzard clarified that even though the addon goes against the intention of Classic itself, the author certainly had no ill will and was just trying to help. They also pointed out that they'll be keeping an eye on similar social-network creating addons in the future.

Blizzard LogoClassic LFG (source)

We’ve been closely following the community discussion around this add-on for WoW Classic, as well as analyzing it to make sure we understand how it works. After careful examination, we believe the nature of ClassicLFG is incompatible with our social design for Classic. Thus, in an upcoming patch (in the weeks following launch), we will be adding restrictions to the Classic add-on API that will significantly limit this add-on and others like it.

In line with what we shared at BlizzCon last year, we intend to be very careful about allowing add-on functionality that might undermine aspects of the social dynamics that are core to the Classic experience, even in cases like this where it’s clear that the addon author had no ill intent and was simply trying to provide a service to the Classic community. Ultimately, if a streamlined group-finding system was something we considered compatible with Classic, we would have kept the modern Premade Group Finder tool rather than choosing to remove it from the Classic client.

It’s difficult to articulate a clear-cut rule for exactly when an add-on crosses the line. However, when an add-on goes beyond presenting information or providing aesthetic customization, and attempts to create an interconnected social network that relies on other players also using that same add-on, we are likely to scrutinize it particularly closely.

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I think this is a really good move by Blizzard, especially in stating what exactly THEY want Classic to be like. I can't say I'd mind the addon myself, but if this is the vision for WoW classic it's important for that to be stated and taken care of. And I'd say the closer Classic is to the spirit of Vanilla, the better (aka despite the fact this addon and other like it may have existed in Vanilla, it's not really what the vast majority of people used).

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I would love for this addon to make it to *retail* to assist in community building within my server. I would LOVE a pool of server mates to LFG with.  People with whom I can trade and get to know better - like it used to be - while having the success of LFG.  

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Not to say it's bad that they break an addon, but it isn't good either. They could (and will, unintentionally) break other addons, some of which being present in "original" classic. And all it would be is just a time-saver - you wouldn't need to spam in trade to form a group and then go to whatever other player's location is or armory to inspect their talents. It would've made all of it a lot more tolerable.

Not to mention that quite some people who were telling blizz to break this addon had a record of whining in wowhead comments and official forums and/or making topics similar to "I don't know what I want, if you don't do it right now - MASS UNSUB!" or "Blizzturd sux LULUL". You know, *that* kind of... people.

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1 hour ago, Sanaka said:

Not to say it's bad that they break an addon, but it isn't good either. They could (and will, unintentionally) break other addons, some of which being present in "original" classic. And all it would be is just a time-saver - you wouldn't need to spam in trade to form a group and then go to whatever other player's location is or armory to inspect their talents. It would've made all of it a lot more tolerable.

Not to mention that quite some people who were telling blizz to break this addon had a record of whining in wowhead comments and official forums and/or making topics similar to "I don't know what I want, if you don't do it right now - MASS UNSUB!" or "Blizzturd sux LULUL". You know, *that* kind of... people.

From the moment it was discovered that the addon did a lot more than it was advertising (as in, being more than just a LFG parser), then Blizzard had no choice but to issue that statement, because the addon was going against the philosophy they had exposed last year at BlizzCon.

It's going to be interesting, from a technical point of view, how they are going to break the unwanted functionality that this addon provides without breaking other addons, because their statement was pretty vague in that regard. The addon's author is of the opinion that they would need to break most other addons for this to happen. 

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Glad this is being removed.

As to the people who made ClassicLFG: I hope you sank lots and lots of hours of your lives into this. The harder it was for you to make this, the more satisfying it is to me to see it burned down by Blizzard.

I am a software developer myself. Our profession is one of building, solving problems, and making peoples lives better. This addon was a kick in the teeth for the millions pf players who were waiting for classic, and its original social structures. It didn't build, it only destroyed. It didn't solve a problem, it re-introduced a known one. It didn't improve peoples lives, it made things worse for everyone involved. Even starting to build something like this, is despicable.

And yes, I made this account just to say that.

Edited by ohn0ez

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I feel like if the addon would not be restricted / limited by Blizzard it would become to much of a convenience and almost force people. like in Wrath with GearScore, to use it. Obviously going into Classic with as few addons as possible but if you´re playing without a group of friends an addon like this seems very tempting to use.

Glad its limited and I approve of what Blizzard said in their post.

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They are trying to keep the game as close to classic as they can as many people that were asking for classic servers wanted and Blizzard sees this mod as changing things too far from how classic group finding was. And while some changes to classic would have been nice (like dual specs, if you played Vanilla you know how bad being almost locked into one spec was) people complained too much and said they wanted an exact copy and paste of vanilla WoW so that's is what they are giving us.

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Cool move, ultimately never forget that, even in live WoW with all of its conveniences, nothing ever comes to close to beating a guild group with people you know and trust when tackling the hardest content in the game.

Pugs can barely do heroic, let alone mythic at its peak. Make all efforts to get into a nice guild in WoW Classic guys, or even better, create one yourself! Pugging is always a pain in the *filtered*, no matter how many addons or conveniences are thrown to make it "better".

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1 hour ago, ohn0ez said:

Glad this is being removed.

As to the people who made ClassicLFG: I hope you sank lots and lots of hours of your lives into this. The harder it was for you to make this, the more satisfying it is to me to see it burned down by Blizzard.

I am a software developer myself. Our profession is one of building, solving problems, and making peoples lives better. This addon was a kick in the teeth for the millions pf players who were waiting for classic, and its original social structures. It didn't build, it only destroyed. It didn't solve a problem, it re-introduced a known one. It didn't improve peoples lives, it made things worse for everyone involved. Even starting to build something like this, is despicable.

And yes, I made this account just to say that.

I think it's just one guy.

If you read Blizzard's statement, they're not saying that they're removing it, they're saying that they're going to limit what it can do. I guess it'll probably revert to what it was advertised to do in the first place, LFG chat parser with a UI.

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9 hours ago, Naegrys said:

Not to say it's bad that they break an addon, but it isn't good either. They could (and will, unintentionally) break other addons, some of which being present in "original" classic.

Well, some of the vanilla addons are already no longer working, like the original version of Decursive. You could argue that that is also not true to the original experience.

This is just my opinion, but I think the integrity of the game takes priority over any addon. This isn't like modern WoW that is designed with certain addons in mind, Vanilla was designed to be fully playable without any addons, so even if DBM or something like enemy castbars breaks, it won't inhibit the playability of the game. And I am saying this as someone who plans on using the full arsenal, WeakAuras and all.

4 hours ago, Seksi said:

Make all efforts to get into a nice guild in WoW Classic guys, or even better, create one yourself!

^THIS TIMES 3000! And not just for classic, retail can actually be fun if you play with the right people.

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I find it interesting that Blizzard is breaking someone's hardwork not because they broke the TOS, but rather some nebulous 'philosophy' of what they think classic should be like. Honestly the babyrage coming from the classic community is staggering. If you don't like an addon, how about simply not using it?

But Bunyip you say, if it takes off and I don't use it I'm at a disadvantage! Groups will be harder to find! My answer to you strangely handsome figment of my imagination is so what? Efficiency and effectiveness isn't the be all and end all of life, and just because you don't like something doesn't mean it should be nuked from orbit.

Now I'm not going to be classic, I never was, it simply doesn't interest me, I played it back in the day, had a great deal of fun, but I played it when I was an adult so I simply don't have the nostalgia goggles that people who played when they were 13-15 have. All good, I've got my own nostalgia, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't exist, people want it, so good that they get it. Just stop being so precious about things please, all it does it make you look like an entitled little baby demanding that everything work for them.

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9 minutes ago, tkioz said:

I find it interesting that Blizzard is breaking someone's hardwork not because they broke the TOS, but rather some nebulous 'philosophy' of what they think classic should be like. Honestly the babyrage coming from the classic community is staggering. If you don't like an addon, how about simply not using it?

But Bunyip you say, if it takes off and I don't use it I'm at a disadvantage! Groups will be harder to find! My answer to you strangely handsome figment of my imagination is so what? Efficiency and effectiveness isn't the be all and end all of life, and just because you don't like something doesn't mean it should be nuked from orbit.

Now I'm not going to be classic, I never was, it simply doesn't interest me, I played it back in the day, had a great deal of fun, but I played it when I was an adult so I simply don't have the nostalgia goggles that people who played when they were 13-15 have. All good, I've got my own nostalgia, but that doesn't mean it shouldn't exist, people want it, so good that they get it. Just stop being so precious about things please, all it does it make you look like an entitled little baby demanding that everything work for them.

I'm pretty sure the LFG spam the addon produces was the main factor in Blizzard's decision, or at least it should be. Seeing automated LFG messages spammed over and over again is literally game-breaking if I'm trying to find a group the old fashioned way. So no, they didn't ruin anyone's hard work but rather preserved the default intended LFG system of Vanilla.

(Unless I'm misunderstanding/misremembering that the addon spams LFG, in that case I still think it should have been removed but is less of an issue).

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I understand the concept of this addon being made. 
But i do understand most of the people that wants classic to be classic, and remain the same way it did in 2006.

But i do mean that if people really wanted that addon, they should stick to BFA. 
Most people that PLAYED the real classic knows and wants the real immerse of finding groups in trade,general is more entertaining then using an addon.

This addon could get out of hand. 
Think about it: People will only look for people in the addon and not in the chat itself, people will get privileges by using the addon then the people that are chatting to try to find a group, it's a huge disentvantage.

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I'm glad I'm not the only one that's happy that this addon is being watched closely by Blizz.  There are a number of features that have been added over the last decade+ that have slowly moved the game in the direction that it is now.  Dungeon finder was one so it's nice to see that they're trying to prevent a reimplementation of it.  In addition, if all it does is spam chat then that's pretty annoying for those of us that don't intend to use it.

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fact of the matter is, it is not 2005! most of the quality of life features in today wow has been an community made addon at some point. blizzard can draw some lines to limit some of them (like this one), but you gonna have access to way more tools/info than you did back in 2005.

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Yeah, I am glad they are keeping the classic experience for LFG in chat, that's what it was all about (for me and others who think so to). I do think that some addons, especially UI enhancements, dot timers, AH, Damage/Heal Meters, DBM, and some others are fine as it gives some QOL additions without making it "autopilot" mode when playing. I play BFA too and am glad they have the addons they do for it but also, to go back to the experience that made you work for those epics and experiences that made the world "feel" so large are going to be both fun and interesting to revisit.

Edited by Rune1686

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I guess it's a good thing for people wanting a "classic experience". Besides, people will always come up with some dumb addons that rate people like gearscore and raider io, often creating artificial barriers which prevent some people from grouping up (doesn't matter if you say that you are experienced raider, because all it matters is having some points). It's never going to be a complete classic experience, people will know better what to play etc. It's release scheme is also very modern, videos and promotion to build up a hype, streamers preparing for launch and so on. Might be one of reasons why there are several full realms already, we will see in a few weeks how much of a fad it will be for some.

Edited by Arcling

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Interestingly, some people here that say that Blizz do a good move were actually excited for this addon on the original post.

I agree that autosending messages in chat is not really a good idea. If many people use this, it will be a real mess.

But this addon was supposed to be something like LFG tool in Guild Wars 2 or Destiny 2: what am i looking for - who else is looking for it and how they want to do it - create a group. And that is not really a PUG. In usual PUGs you don't see who you are playing with until confirmation of playing. Here you can preview that.

And i believe there were websites that allowed same functionality anyway. As someone here said, all QoL changes were addons at some point.

(note: i first played WoW in Cataclysm, but i saw people playing at different times so i had some ideas of what would be cool to add in game)

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I don't know if I'm the weird one, but I always wished there was a WoW version without any addons... So many things get trivialized with addons, I understand it's all an improvement wither to UI or whatever, but I just really don't like when everything that is sub-optimal in a game is "fixed". You very quickly lose the game itself - even UI mods are a problem (which is why i never use them) - it's WoW so you need to look top left for your health, resources etc, you need to learn the Ui to be better at the game. With mods you just move everything to whereever you want, have giant popups when a cooldown finishes... don't even get me started on the *filtered* boss mods and weakauras...

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23 minutes ago, Starym said:

I don't know if I'm the weird one, but I always wished there was a WoW version without any addons... So many things get trivialized with addons, I understand it's all an improvement wither to UI or whatever, but I just really don't like when everything that is sub-optimal in a game is "fixed". You very quickly lose the game itself - even UI mods are a problem (which is why i never use them) - it's WoW so you need to look top left for your health, resources etc, you need to learn the Ui to be better at the game. With mods you just move everything to whereever you want, have giant popups when a cooldown finishes... don't even get me started on the *filtered* boss mods and weakauras...

I think your post just convinced me to play as I did back when the game came out, with no addons installed. I didn't even know about addons until I started raiding MC with my guild and the raid leader said it was mandatory (which it inadvertently will be)...I did just fine until then, albeit running around a bunch looking for quest content and NPC's.  /salute

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You guys are not wrong, this sort of added "convenience" is one of the things that made the transition from Starcraft: Brood War to Starcraft 2 sort of not work out. The longevity and depth of the most convenient game is just not as appealing when the mechanical skill and ways you can differentiate yourself from the rest are lowered.

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39 minutes ago, Seksi said:

You guys are not wrong, this sort of added "convenience" is one of the things that made the transition from Starcraft: Brood War to Starcraft 2 sort of not work out. The longevity and depth of the most convenient game is just not as appealing when the mechanical skill and ways you can differentiate yourself from the rest are lowered.

SC2 had as much difficulty as SC1, just in different areas as selection cap wasn't a limiting factor. From average player's perspective, SC2 had more unit abilities to handle than the first one, for example. It's all a matter of preference.

Classic is similar in a way it lacks many convenient solutions, it's slower, but it's mechanically easier in other areas like boss fights. 

Edited by Arcling

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I was glad for the introduction of LFG in normal wow. Made doing the sometimes mandatory (for quests etc) instances a lot easier for a solo player. However this is Classic. Why would anyone choosing to play Classic want those kind of add ons? Baffling.

I started at the beginning of BC. I didn't learn about add ons until a few expansions later ? I remember a guild leader at the time being amazed I'd levelled to 70, solo, without quest helper. Funny thing is it was my best time in wow. So much to be distracted by. I remember bumping in to a slightly lower level undead in crossroads who wanted to know how to get to Mulgore as I explained and he trudged off down the road I joined him to 'protect him' on the gold road. Took ages, wonderful fun.

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The original post announcing this addon had all kinds of people liking it and saying *filtered* like here comes the complaints from idiots. If you thought this was a good idea, you don't belong in Classic. Stay in retail.

Edited by Sharknad0

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