Earlier this year, the release of World of Warcraft‘s latest expansion, Midnight, made drastic changes to how players enjoyed the game. Blizzard restricted the amount of combat-related information that add-ons, community-developed tools for the MMO, could access. The decision was a massive shake-up to the game. It’s been almost six months since the changes took effect and World of Warcraft‘s director is doubling down on it.
“I know this may be a controversial statement,” game director Ion Hazzikostas said in an interview with PCGamesN, “but I will say that, overall, [the new UI] has been successful so far.” He does admit the system is not perfect and there is more work to be done. Some of that work will be done in Update 12.1, which is currently in the works and will bring a “more comprehensive overhaul” of the add-on system, according to Hazzikostas.
Add-ons have been a part of World of Warcraft for almost as long as the game has been out. Third-party tools have become an intrinsic part of the player experience for many, especially for understanding how much damage is being dealt or received in encounters. Midnight‘s overhaul removed much of that information for third-party tools, rendering a number of the most popular community add-ons useless. Blizzard also overhauled the UI and added new first-party tools to make the loss less disruptive.
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