I don’t think it will be the only addon that breaks in 3.3.5, but all those who called it that Blizz would disable this mod should give themselves a pat on the back. I wrote about it last month, and I still believe that the addon does less to hamper the situational awareness of those who like the challenge, than it does to stop raid groups being held back by that friend who is otherwise wonderful but has difficulty distinguishing green abilities in a green room.
This 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/defacing the game world, but more popularly is used to give visual guides for dungeon and raid encounters.
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.
- Source
We won’t see anything like AVR in the game again, so those who poopooed it in the first place can go ahead and feel smug now. Go on. I know you want to! Blizzard is breaking the addon by removing the cameraPitchE, cameraDistanceE, and cameraYawE variables. Are they called variables? Arguments? I don’t know, but any other addons with functionality that uses them will be broken also, so I suspect a few range finders or useful arrows will no longer work.
Still, you’ve got 2-3 weeks until this happens. My advice is to try and ween yourself off AVR, if you use it, as quickly as possible.
Judging distance in a fake 3D environment
I’ve been using Totem Radius with AVR for the last day or so, and have fallen in love with it. In a virtual world, I am sure I am not the only one who has trouble judging distances in simulated 3D. Miss Medicina did a great post on struggles with spatial awareness in a 3D environment, and I would like to add to it that WoW is only, for us, a simulated 3D environment. It is hard to judge distances in WoW because at the end of the day the surface we’re judging is still a 2D image.
I have problems judging distances in the real world, although I suspect this is because I spend most of my day staring at a computer screen, and I have bad eyesight anyway. I find it hideously hard to do something simple like LAND my hippogriff when I’m herbing. So I can completely understand when other folk need a range finder/proximity monitor to make sure they’re not standing too close to others during Blood Queen. I also know quite a few people with Dyslexia or something similar that makes it hard for them to read chat or extra text during a busy encounter. For them, AVR was a godsend.
Back to Totem Radius, as it allowed me, for the first time, to actually see the real range of my totems. I’ll continue using the basic version that shows up on the mini-map, but it would be great if you could see something like that when you first start playing. In a raid environment, Totemz made the great point that these addons can hinder your ability to adapt and grasp more difficult content, that while they speed up immediate progress, they kill personal and team growth.
Some questions remain
But what if something like Totem Radius appeared as part of the in-game Player Tutorial? Would it help new players understand what 25yds really is in game terms?
I know some guildies with learning disabilities felt that AVR enabled them to raid without letting their team mates down, but I do wonder how much of a difference it made to others? It is extremely easy to be sanctimonious about the addon, and say that ‘I didn’t need it anyway’, but what about those players who don’t have my able-bodied privilege? I would love to hear from anyone who does raid with disabilities.
Where will Bossmods go next
Software development is never finished, and programmers will never stop trying to do new things with the code they are given. Whether the alpha mod HudMap will also go the way of the Dodo, I don’t know, I’m guessing it is probably also broken. While AVR has been a short and contentious episode in addon development, it has certainly been interesting to see what is possible beyond the same-old same-old stable of raiding mods. I hope addon developers will continue to explore new ways of presenting game information to us. Interface Design is not an easy task (just look at how many millions go into OS design for all the latest gadgets, and they still get it wrong) but it is an important part of the WoW community. Even if AVR has ultimately become a dead-end, it is also a symbol of just how different information can be made to appear.
I think the next step for Bossmod developers is likely to be something combining Power Auras and Bossmods. More attractive and intuitive visual warnings for players is definitely the way to go, without ‘augmenting’ the game world itself. Perhaps a Power Aura-type visualisation that lights up or disappears when there are no players in a pre-set range (which is just a different way of presenting the current DBM range finder.) Maybe this is already being done by Power Auras? I don’t know.
But I think I might just go try out Power Auras now. I’m tired of bars and boxes. Gimme some bling.
Since they can vary in value you can probably call those variables, though depending on the language they are written in (my knowledge of Lua is non-existant) a different terminology could be used.
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I’ll stick with variables then
I for one will be sad to see AVR disabled. As a hearing impaired raider, I have to rely solely on visual information in order to effectively fulfil my role. AVR has helped me by providing visual feedback in lieu of auditory feedback (such as raid leaders in vent). Although my guild is quite supportive of my situation, I’m always afraid that maybe I could have prevented that last wipe if I had all the information. AVR has made it much easier for my guild to communicate strategy changes to me without having to rely on walls of text. I’ll still be able to get by without this mod, but I’ll miss it.
Ah, that’s interesting. I hadn’t thought of it in terms of hearing impairment specifically, but of course any audio cue provided the game is missing for you as well
. Thank you for sharing your perspective on it. How long have you been raiding?
I started raiding WoW in Wrath. I went through the Naxx>Ulduar>Toc>ICC progression, but didn’t finish Ulduar before Toc came out and Ulduar was basically abandoned on my server. The high group coordination fights have always been harder for me for obvious reasons. I can memorize what I call “dance style” fights pretty well, but as soon as something goes wrong and the group has to adjust, things can get a bit stressful. I’m 10/12 on my priest main and 8/12 on my DK in ICC right now, and I’m honestly a bit concerned about Sindragosa and LK for this reason. I’m not in my guild’s progression team, partially due to my handicap. I would very much like to down LK before cataclysm, but I may have to depend on the 30% buff and a good group to help “carry” me
This is something that I truly despise, as I work very hard to contribute to my teams. AVR certainly didn’t solve these problems, but it does add enough visual stimulation to help me recognize what’s going on fast enough to respond.
Well, our raiding team is only at 10/12 in 25 man also. I find it interesting that you describe there being a ‘dance style’ of fight. One of the critiques of PVE raiding is that it is all about ‘learning a script’ and then executing it, and describing that as boring.
I like the analogy with dance, as something that is planned out, but still requiring skill to execute and ‘perform’, where ‘script’ evokes the idea of automation. Taking the analogy on into competitive dance (which would equate to progression raiding, I suppose) a team depends also on their ability to adapt and cover mistakes in the dance.
Again, thank you for sharing. I always get a bit angry at people who are snarky about any raiding addons.
I guess this is no surprise, given the ways AVR could be used, but I will miss the 3D version of totem radius. Sadly, it’s hard to see how you can kill one without the other.
One of my favorite uses for Power Auras is making sure I’m in range of my own totems (and by extension, my party/raid mates). For each spec, I picked a single totem that I consistently have down in raids (Wrath of Air), and use the little totem icon for it’s buff, which sits right next to my left hoof. I’m so used to seeing it now that I notice when it’s *not* there.
Same for my Pally tank: I use a yellow cross symbol to indicate Divine Plea – helping me remember to keep it up at all times.
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That’s a brilliant tip! I’ll definitely have to investigate PowerAuras more.
I found it too easy to ignore auras that are present all the time. I had one for when Divine Plea was available while healing but I blocked it mentally because I hardly used it. Having it for tanking makes much more sense. I would probably configure a totem-range aura to appear when I out-ranged my totem in order to make me pay more attention to the missing buff and all of my indicators/auras in general.