Ready Check: AVR is dead -- what did we learn?
by Michael Gray 
May 28th 2010 at 6:00PM
Blizzard announced last week that the mod known as Augmented Virtual Reality will be broken and non-functional as of the release of patch 3.3.5. We'll get into some of the details here in a second or three, but this officially means that if you're using AVR to work on Icecrown Citadel, you're officially using a mod or method in a way that Blizzard does not intend. It doesn't mean you're exploiting or cheating, necessarily, but it does mean that you're not quite straight-shooting the encounters the way the game is meant to be played. Your mileage may vary on whether you care.
If you're not familiar with AVR or AVR Encounters, it's probably fairly important for you to understand the mods for the context of this conversation. AVR, at its base, lets you draw stuff on the screen. These drawings will be seen by everyone else in the raid. Even more importantly, the combination of mods has the ability to draw stuff for you. If you're going to emanate a 10-yard circle of death around you in the next seven seconds, AVR will draw a 10-yard circle around you that everyone can see. Plenty of warning, ample visibility. Why does it matter?
Popular wisdom is that AVR made raiding a joke. While I'm admittedly biased in that I've never felt like I have much trouble not standing in fire, AVR made every piece of raid positioning absolutely crystal clear. Positioning, dance steps, radius effects, spawn locations and every other even slightly vague piece of screen activity could be drawn, detailed, organized and displayed. Individual decision-making was rendered irrelevant; your raid leader could draw a little X on the ground, and your job was to stand on the X.
Don't get me wrong. Sites like WoW.com and Tankspot do their best to inform players about strategies, positioning and boss fights. But AVR and AVRE took that whole dynamic to a higher level. It was at once awesome and completely crazy. All the guess work was taken out of range and reaction time.
Why did Blizzard ban the mod? According to Blizzard CM Bashiok, it's because of the reasons I listed above. Bashiok mentions that it interacts with the game world itself, but it seems obvious the meat of the answer is that AVR "removes too much player reaction and decision-making while facing dungeon and raid encounters."
I'm a little curious about the idea that AVR removes player reaction, since I think that's usually the province of mods like Deadly Boss Mods. I can't imagine getting through half the Wrath boss fights without DBM's timers, raid warning and various bells and whistles. But if I didn't know the timing of fight events, I don't see AVR being such a game-breaking mod. Sure, I know that it will be my job -- some time during this fight -- to stand in that circle, but I wouldn't have a timer counting down to tell me exactly when the boss was going to use the Ability of Doom. And while I'm inclined to nitpick about whether AVR is really the only mod that reduces the requisite player reaction and decision-making, I still support the idea that AVR is a little over the top. I just suspect that if I weren't already used to boss mods, I'd have the same feelings about that group of addons. But this is just a case where I trust the line that it's Blizzard game and their call.
But there are definitely some things about AVR that will hopefully inform raid encounter design going forward.
First, while we can easily figure out that abilities affect a certain radius area, based on in-game yards, it is not intuitive or easy to sort out how much distance those yards actually are when you're playing. It's obviously not a real "yard," as I've never seen even a single monitor that's so much as "one yard big." It's a scale, but when you're trying to figure out "Is this far enough away from my teammate?", guesstimating something that's not a real-world concept is a pain in the neck. You'll get it wrong more often than you'll get it right.
We'll never see the abolition of area effects, of course, and I don't know how you could design a game without the concept of range. But if area effect spells are so powerful that having a single bad range call could cause a raid wipe (like Sindragosa's Ice Tomb), then it should have a visual effect of its own before the spell wipes the raid.
This principle of range sensitivity also extends to other chaining effects. If being too close together is a problem in a boss fight due to things like Blood Nova, then there again needs to be a way to see that range. Mods like DBM have range meters, but sorting out ranges in 25-man raids makes herding cats look pleasant and organized.
The next thing I think we say with AVR is that there needs to be a better in-game mechanism for explaining fight locations. Most rooms have some kind of vague visual marker, but saying "stand on the skull" is pretty meaningless in Icecrown Citadel. If you try and mark a location with a flare, you're likely to pull the boss. Positioning and dance steps have become fairly convoluted by the end of the expansion, and they're just plain impossible to easily explain nowadays.
Note that these issues I'm talking about aren't related to decision-making. I feel that there should be hard decisions when raiding: "Save the DPS or save the tank?" for example, or "Should I risk taking this damage?" The opportunities are limitless. But an important foundation of decision-making is that you have the necessary information in order to form an opinion and act against that opinion. Right now, in raiding, it feels like you spend as much time flailing around, just trying to figure out what's going on.
In the end, AVR's biggest benefit is that it let you cut through the visual clutter of spell effects, particles and even players to see exactly the most relevant information that wasn't always displayed. AVR definitely felt like it made raiding too easy, but I hope that Cataclysm makes these kind of "necessary" tools obsolete instead of just forbidden.
Ready Check is here to provide you all the information and discussion you need to take your raiding to the next level. Check us out weekly to learn the strategies, bosses and encounters that make end-game raiding so much fun.Filed under: Ready Check (Raiding)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
kozom May 28th 2010 6:10PM
AVR was a great tool to use for planning beforehand, and I hope they allow that to continue to work. Also, even with the faceroll mechanics of AVR....bad players were well, still bad.
People still stood together and got hit by for bloodbolt whirls or emprowered shock vortexes, got hit by oozes, slimes, and the like. Yes, AVR helped alot. But did it ever make bad players good? No.
txnicole May 28th 2010 6:34PM
I never used it, but it sounds like a great pre-fight planning tool.
Someone on the previous article about this addon suggested that it could be acceptable perhaps if the drawing went away as soon as you enter combat.
I like that idea alot. I'd love to have this whiteboard ability as visual pre-game planning, but would have no problem with it disappearing as soon as the fight starts.
Jamie May 28th 2010 7:19PM
While I like the idea of the out of combat AVR, I could never see it being allowed in an addon as it simply manipulates visuals in the game too much.
I really don't think Blizzard has a problem with addons making the game easier but when it comes to augmenting the 3D visuals of the game that's where the line is crossed, that's where I think addons like DBM are okay but AVR aren't.
Doddilus May 28th 2010 7:37PM
That's the thing, it DOES NOT change textures, it DOES NOT draw IN the game.
AVR draws on top of your UI and some clever math involving camera angles(the part blizz is breaking) and map coordinates makes it look like its drawn in the world
that's why you see it through walls
that's why it's messed up if your camera is moved by a wall
that's why, unless told, it appears in all zones
It didn't violate any ToS until Blizz stepped in and said hey we don't like this so we are breaking it.
Amaxe-1 May 28th 2010 8:19PM
I had never heard of it until I read it was being broken. There are times I could have used it to learn a fight, but I guess it would be easy to use it as a substitute for learning.
Faaip May 28th 2010 9:36PM
In all honesty, i can see why blizzard have made this mod "broken".. but if anything, it should also highlight that there are problems with the game design at its core. If a player needs a mod to show him if he's far away enough, then blizzard havent done their job correctly providing a hint or aura to show you're safe.
as the article says, its silly to have mechanics based on range without a tool to provide a confirmation.
Personally, our guild has used it as a white board pre-pull to show which direction or spot to goto, even marking the floor etc. Once the fight is learnt by the raid members, there is no need to draw it up again.
I've been raiding since Vanilla, and i've always wanted a white board for planning. my original guild was even thinking of using a free online conference room in a web page before the raid to go over strats, not unlike your typical sports channel.
Give us a tool blizz to do something like this, and get RID of DBM and AVR by providing the correct mechanisms to wipe because of a failed mechanic, not because of a failed call on vent or lag.
Sicadastra May 28th 2010 10:49PM
BossTactics offers a similar whiteboarding functionality for pre-encounter fight explanations, and includes extremely detailed tactics. It is based on a separate screen with a visual of the bosses fight area rather than directly on the gameplay view. I suggest it for those looking to replace that functionality of AVR.
AVR was a brilliant addon. I neither condone nor support Blizzard's decision, but it's theirs to make. Out of curiosity, has there been any mention of the developer's reaction anywhere?
Hesh May 29th 2010 12:57AM
hes gota point. AVR is very usefully to planing and explaining fights. its AVR-E thats been the issue for blizz. but im not sure if you can break the latter without stuffing up the former.
and im not a big fan of artpad, lol
Hoggersbud May 29th 2010 1:04AM
>That's the thing, it DOES NOT change textures, it DOES NOT draw IN the game.
It doesn't use the in-game engine to do it. It just uses information to...try to fake it.
Even if I were to concede the letter wasn't broken, the spirit clearly was.
Fortunately to Blizzard they don't have to answer to anybody else in deciding what to allow or not. They can and will break this.
Doddilus May 29th 2010 1:14AM
@sicdastra
comments section:
http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/avr.aspx
in response to "The addon was banned due to it's ability to draw over the game world.This would allow for a rash of addons that could use AVR irresponsibly, and therefore they had to break it."
olog said
Saturday, May 22, 2010 4:25:33 AM (6 days ago)
"As to what exactly the reasons were only Blizzard knows but I don't exactly agree with your statement. AVR still works within same system as all other bossmods. It can't magically get information about things that isn't available to DBM/DXE and others. So if AVR can point out deadly ball of doom heading your way then so can other boss mods. Only thing AVR did differently is present this information visually. This then opened a few new possibilities that weren't really practical for traditional boss mods. Most notably Rotface Ooze Explosion and Putricide Malleable Goo. AVR could place a warning on every person. The exact same information is available to other boss mods too. DBM or DXE could remember the locations of everyone in raid and make their arrows point to safe zones."
Squatstopee May 29th 2010 10:21AM
If this were a racing game, DBM would be the copilot saying left turn 45 degrees quarter mile ahead, while AVR would straight draw you the best line to take and show you breaking points along the way. Super easy mode.
Clbull Jun 3rd 2010 8:54PM
You're right, I disagree with Blizzard's decision 100%, and I actually never viewed using AVR as trivialising encounters.
If they want to ban and deactivate the use of an addon. BAN GEARSCORE. An addon which everyone except bad pug leaders who either want to get carried by people in excellent gear or actually believe that item levels are all that matters despise.
Verit May 28th 2010 6:14PM
In talking with people - I honestly think if they kill AVR they should kill DBM (and the rest of its ilk) as well. Why? Because some of these fights are near impossible without those tools - Blizzard should fix that.
And if you don't believe that - tell me - where do you draw the line on crutches you can use in content?
Knob May 28th 2010 6:17PM
Fights right now are as complex as they are BECAUSE they allowed mods like Bigwigs and DBM to become so ingrained in the playerbase. If they had allowed the same with AVR which even drew you safe areas in the game world without you even having to judge it, they'd have had to account for that when designing future content. I for one am happy they nipped this in the bud.
Silversol May 28th 2010 6:18PM
Apparently the line is drawn when you can draw lines.
>.>
Vinoth May 28th 2010 6:36PM
I like "Silversol"'s comment. =)
brian May 28th 2010 6:44PM
DBM tells you when, but AVR tells you where. And in a game where positioning can spell the difference between life and death, it really matters. Plus, bosses usually have their abilities on timers, so DBM just adds more convenience than the raid lead running a stopwatch and telling people that the boss was going to use an ability after a certain interval.
Besides, bosses shout out something when they're using an ability anyway.
Verit May 28th 2010 6:56PM
DBM is just short of that. There are fights where it tells you the range you need to be from other players. DBM tells you to move out of the fire etc. I still think augmentation is augmentation - no matter if its a text warning, or a drawing on the screen.
Collix May 28th 2010 6:56PM
First off, I believe Blizzard has stated somewhere that they designed current raid encounters around players using mods like DBM. That accounts for why fights seem much more difficult without it. This alone brushes the topic of Blizzard making mods necessary and I won't start that debate here.
As for the line on which crutches you can use in raid content, I personally think that there are two rules that (raid) mods have to obey to be okay. They cannot make decisions for you, or allow you to do something that you cannot already do with the default interface.
The first rule, decision making, is fairly straight forward and hard to argue against. An example of this type of mod would be the original de-cursive where you could click a single button and it would de-curse everyone within range as long as you kept clicking. The mod is deciding for you who to de-curse and it what order to do it. You can probably see how this could also be abused in "rotations" that are basically a priority list.
The second rule, providing new information, is a little less clear cut. This is where a lot of the ambiguity comes into play; as you can enhance the information given, or display it in more convenient ways as long as it is there to begin with. This is where I think DBM is let off the hook and AVR is not so lucky. Let me explain:
This may surprise you but everything DBM does is available to the average player through the default interface, it would just be nearly impossible to coordinate it all as well as the mod. You can set up timers in game, but DBM labels them and starts/stops them automatically as well as displays them for everyone to see. This is simply enhancing the given feature as you could coordinate timers having different people start them for different abilities and simply communicate very well, but this would be, as I said earlier, nearly impossible (and probably more than should be expected of people playing the game.) DBM makes raids much easier, no doubt, but only through enhancing something already in the game (and being capable of perfect coordination.)
AVR, however, can draw actual in-game distances. It is literally impossible to know exactly how far you are from something else in the default game. (This is where you cry fowl saying the DBM also has a range monitor. DBM's does exactly what spells do for you, it tells you when someone is in range of a helpful spell. You could target someone and wait for a spell to light up letting you know they are in range, but that is unrealistic and extremely inconvenient.) AVR's range circles let you know exact distances, as well as the distance to being within range. If it helps, DBM works like a switch with to settings: in range, and out of range, AVR lets you know at what point the switch will change without actually changing it. This is something that without the mod you can only guess at, and by now probably fairly accurately, but it is still a guess and not an exact, absolutely accurate number that you can see. This is why I believe AVR was banned, not because it told you where about to stand, but because it said exactly where.
That may have been an awfully long-winded explanation, but I think the "line" that was crossed was ambiguous enough to warrant it. (And of course, feel free to disagree.)
Collix May 28th 2010 7:02PM
And of course I catch a typo right after hitting post. It should read:
"If it helps, think of DBM like a switch with two settings: in range, and out of range, while AVR lets you know at what point the switch will change without actually switching it."
This also acts as a TL;DR for my post about the difference.