Patch 5.3 interview with Ghostcrawler
Mystery of the Unborn Val'kyr
The latest patch 5.3 news
All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBlizzard to break the AVR mod in Patch 3.3.5
by Fox Van Allen 
May 20th 2010 at 5:00PM
Blizzard poster Bashiok broke the news of AVR's impending demise, citing its invasive nature and the fact that it takes away from the need for on-the-spot decision making:
Bashiok -- AVR Mod Broken in 3.3.5This is a notice that we're making changes in 3.3.5 in attempts to break the ability for the AVR (Augmented Virtual Reality) mod to continue functioning. For those unaware, this mod allows players to draw in the 3D space of the game world, which can then be shared with others who are also using the mod. In some cases this manifests itself through drawing/tagging/defa
The full announcement after the break.
Bashiok -- AVR Mod Broken in 3.3.5This is a notice that we're making changes in 3.3.5 in attempts to break the ability for the AVR (Augmented Virtual Reality) mod to continue functioning. For those unaware, this mod allows players to draw in the 3D space of the game world, which can then be shared with others who are also using the mod. In some cases this manifests itself through drawing/tagging/defa
We're making this change for two reasons. The invasive nature of a mod altering and/or interacting with the game world (virtually or directly) is not intended and not something we will allow. World of Warcraft UI addons are never intended to interact with the game world itself. This is mirrored in our stance and restriction of model and texture alterations. The second reason is that it removes too much player reaction and decision-making while facing dungeon and raid encounters. While some other mods also work to this end, we find that AVR and the act of visualizing strategy within the game world simply goes beyond what we're willing to allow.
The change we're making in attempts to break the functionality is light in its touch and approach. When blocking any functionality we run the risk of affecting other mods, but we've targeted the changes as carefully as possible. If we find that the AVR mod (or any mod attempting to replicate its functions) are usable after 3.3.5 we will take further, more drastic steps.
We're making this change for two reasons. The invasive nature of a mod altering and/or interacting with the game world (virtually or directly) is not intended and not something we will allow. World of Warcraft UI addons are never intended to interact with the game world itself. This is mirrored in our stance and restriction of model and texture alterations. The second reason is that it removes too much player reaction and decision-making while facing dungeon and raid encounters. While some other mods also work to this end, we find that AVR and the act of visualizing strategy within the game world simply goes beyond what we're willing to allow.
The change we're making in attempts to break the functionality is light in its touch and approach. When blocking any functionality we run the risk of affecting other mods, but we've targeted the changes as carefully as possible. If we find that the AVR mod (or any mod attempting to replicate its functions) are usable after 3.3.5 we will take further, more drastic steps.
Reaction to the news will surely be mixed -- there are plenty of purists who feel that AVR's very existence goes against what Warcraft is supposed to be about, and there are plenty of people who find AVR an invaluable tool that does little more than enhance their playing experience.
What's your reaction to the news? Did Blizzard go too far, or were they right in stamping out a blight on the World of Warcraft?
Filed under: Blizzard, News items, Add-Ons
Reader Comments (Page 6 of 14)
Gizzmo May 20th 2010 5:17PM
HAHA! loved the mod, thought it was very innovative. Helpful in some spots. Only thing im saddened about is the fact that all the work and code put into the mod is pretty much wasted.
PeeWee May 20th 2010 5:21PM
In a best-case scenario, they learned something they can now put to use in something else instead.
Halgrimur May 20th 2010 5:17PM
if AVR makes WoW too easy, then BigWigs, DBM, DXE are too...BREAK THEM BLIZZ!
They are doing it early because they want to stop the addon from spreading, becoming popular and the QQ multiplying hundred fold if it was as popular as, say Omen.
Duulket May 20th 2010 5:22PM
The thing about the other addons you mentioned is they use information that is given by the game itself whereas AVR is not.
PeeWee May 20th 2010 5:23PM
Clearly, you haven't used at least one of these addons. BW/DMB are _very_ different from AVR.
Scooter May 20th 2010 5:18PM
As far as their intent on allowing mods, I have to agree with blizzard on this one. Any mod that allows you to more or less draw on the landscape well... any old school online FPS player knows what I'm trying to say here. Regardless, I've been running almost to the Lich King with only Atlas loot and Recount at my side. I think the rest of you can live without an add-on to hold your hand.
busuan May 20th 2010 5:25PM
While this is the first time I ever heard of this mod, I'd like to ask Blizz go further to remove (or at least give me the option yo remove) one build-in gaming 'feature': the Visual Cues of spells and effect-proc'ing, if they were ever meant to be 'cues'.
When soloing in PvE, they are not at all important for players to react to 'win' a fight.
When in a raid fight many people are supposed to stack up so tightly, these cues smear each other out and simply become impossible to see or react.
Pyromelter May 20th 2010 6:12PM
Not a big fan of the Big Bright Ball, aka the melee pile on Saurfang 25m?
Dessel May 20th 2010 5:25PM
didn't use because like blizz i found it too much ez mode
Jim May 20th 2010 5:25PM
I think a number of you are confusing AVR with AVRE, the latter being the one that automatically draws raid warnings a la DBM/BigWigs. I can completely understand them blocking AVRE, because it does take away from the real-time decision-making required in raids. It's harder to sustain an argument to block the vanilla AVR that players have to draw with manually, though -- that's basically just a slightly more sophisticated version of using smoke bombs to mark positions, and not even remotely game-breaking.
Biskit333 May 20th 2010 6:45PM
Agreed, however I don't think they can block one without blocking the other. All that AVRE does is transmit and interpret data between two addons. Data is received from a boss mod, compared to stored variables on what actions to take and player positions, and then the appropriate images are sent to AVR, which draws them. There are tons of addons that communicate using those same addon channels, and disabling would probably cripple the entire addon infrastructure. The only other way would be to somehow have the game interpret the data sent to determine if it is this type of data, but other mods make use of the same type of information for completely different purposes (like VuhDo using player position and distance to predict chain heal jumps).
Nopunin10did May 20th 2010 11:34PM
For all these comments about trivializing raid content, I'm not really sure that's why Blizzard is blocking the addon. AVRE might seem like the better choice to block, from a difficulty standpoint, but Blizzard's issue isn't that an addon is making fights easier.
Their issue, as stated in the post, is that AVR alters the visual game world. It oversteps the bounds of the interface layer that Blizz wants to maintain.
Styvorama May 20th 2010 5:28PM
Kleenex should set up a tissue booth in the comments of this article, they would make a fortune.
eric May 20th 2010 5:35PM
I think this is an over reaction. Most raid strat as it is is basically "when DBM tells you "X" run to this spot...when DBM tells you "Y" run here.
Besides, everyone already uses smoke flares to mark out spots as it is. I guess Blizzard is going to disable flare next. "G1 to green, G2 to red, etc."
Phelps May 20th 2010 5:37PM
Blizzard seems really weaselly with how they are doing this. They don't have a real clear reason why they aren't allowing it (just that it "not intended".) That's really vague, and doesn't give much guidance to someone who makes a new addon from here out. They don't give any guidance on how this is bad, but the DXE arrow telling you which direction to run is OK.
I think it is a bad precedent for Blizzard to handle things this way. If there's a function being used by the addon that they don't want, that's one thing, but to intentionally try to break a specific addon (ala a Bill of Attainder) rubs me the wrong way.
Grovinofdarkhour May 20th 2010 5:45PM
They've done it before and they'll do it again. And I have no problem with it. If you write addons, and you've been doing it for a while, you should have a decent idea of what they'll allow and what they won't.
Point is, it's their game, it's their call.
Phelps May 20th 2010 5:49PM
"It's their game, their call" is a poor way to run an MMO. It's not an MMO without the MM part. High-handedness runs people off the game.
So far, it HAS been easy to figure out what they will and won't allow. If you are using the functions in LUA that are published, you are OK. In the instances in the past where they didn't like where that was taking them (i.e., Decursive) they changed the functions in a way that took away the ABILITY that they had a problem with. This is the first time that I recall where they call out a specific addon without a clear policy on what the allowable and unacceptable parts are.
Duulket May 20th 2010 5:57PM
"We're making this change for two reasons. The invasive nature of a mod altering and/or interacting with the game world (virtually or directly) is not intended and not something we will allow. World of Warcraft UI addons are never intended to interact with the game world itself. This is mirrored in our stance and restriction of model and texture alterations. The second reason is that it removes too much player reaction and decision-making while facing dungeon and raid encounters. While some other mods also work to this end, we find that AVR and the act of visualizing strategy within the game world simply goes beyond what we're willing to allow. "
"Altering and/or interacting with the game world" and "removes too much player reaction and decision-making" seem pretty specific to me.
Phelps May 20th 2010 6:08PM
And like I said, it is remarkably vague compared to other things like the direction arrows in Carbonite/DXE/Questhelper etc. That's altering and/or interacting with the game world. Like others have pointed out, all the boss mods remove "player reaction and decision-making." The problem isn't that they didn't give reasons. The problem is that they gave reasons that don't really say anything, and more importantly, don't really tell us where the line is IN THE FUTURE.
Phelps May 20th 2010 6:10PM
And to be clear, I really don't have an opinion on whether Blizz SHOULD have done this. I just don't have enough insight into their thought process to make that decision. I do have an opinion that they are being intentionally evasive on why they are doing this, with a wink and a nod, and THAT is what I have a problem with.