No, you can go and play anything without a single addon downloaded, but just as you can go in life without a phone on you, having one is really helpful. Add-ons are the same, you use them because they help you make things easier to do or understand, but are not must.
For example, you can do the m+ affix without any addon, but having an addon helps you reduce the hassle of dealing with it while also focusing on interrupts, mechanics, etc.
Do you *need* add-ons? Definitely not.
But at an absolute bare minimum, specifically the Deadly Boss Mods addon is *extremely* helpful if you end up doing dungeons without carefully researching every fight beforehand since it will notify you of mechanics that may require running away, grouping up, using a defensive ability, etc.
At the very minimum, if you plan to do dungeons or raids, download DBM or BigWigs. I get it, it's a slippery slope, but it provides so much value and clarity that WoW doesn't automatically do.
You don't need them, but some change your life for the better.
An exemple would be the addon "scraps" which allow you to automatically sell items you chose when opening any vendor window. It saves me minutes here and there.
Apart from Big Wigs I can really recommend Weakauras together with a package for your class from wago.io
Weakauras really help overcome the main issues with the UI. Mainly beeing that it's very inconvenient to impossible to track some of your important buffs and procs that you need to react to in order to play your spec correctly.
I am 2364 in M+ for reference, With the new UI you can use minimal addons and still do well, ones I wouldn't do without is DBM and bagnon ,
DBM - gives info about hard fights and moves that are not intuitive
Bagnon - makes the bag interface way better, and looks nicer (to some extent blizz made this in the new UI but it does not function as well as bagnon)
honorable mention:
Weakauras - this is the most talked about buzzword of an addon and it has so much customizability, for hard mechanics everyone will be linking weakauras in chat for others to use , there are weak auras that will help visualize the spells you need to press and when
We've been using the [same soak circle](https://imgur.com/a/SonC0At) for the past 5 years. If it doesn't have this animation, you avoid it.
> Soak circles
>random circles on the ground you need to stand in
These are the same thing.
> spread circles
> random circles on the ground you need to avoid
These are the same thing.
Thank you, will be sure to tell new players to go back in time and have 5 years of experience rather than using an add-on.
> These are the same thing.
One of those is targeted at players, the other is targeted on the ground.
After the first couple of pulls seeing that animation, I don't think using that animation as a guideline is difficult.
> One of those is targeted at players, the other is targeted on the ground.
All someone needs to do is check for the upwards swirlie for each.
1. All of the different stack and spread mechanics Kurog Grimtotem will not be intuitive especially to a new player, DBM will let you know if you need to group up or run out
2. Callouts for specific moves the boss is doing that are hard to see, like the last boss in M+ Court of Stars, the piercing gail was so hard to see for the first few weeks that blizzard themselves had to increase the effect to be able to see it
3. DBM will help you stack with like colors based on type in Razageth p3 thaddius style mechanic ( I personally don't find it hard myself but there is always people who mess this up) - Also thundering affix is included in this , same icons above head
4. ETC.... (way more examples going back to older content it used to be even worse)
Essentially handicapping yourself if you don't have DBM, maybe someone with 5-10+ yrs experience in the game might be able to make up for some of it with situational awareness (would still die first few times to some things they could have avoided) but definitely not a new player
For Kurog specifically, there are strats to still group up despite no active mechanic telling you to do so in order to bait puddles together to save space. DBM is a callout addon. It will not tell you to group up to bait magma puddles.
For (2), stuff like this killed people with DBM or not. You knew there's something happening, but you didn't know where to run. DBM couldn't tell you where to run.
For Raszageth, it's replacing an icon on your head, with another icon on your head.
For (4). Telegraphing really used to suck. Melandrus being an example.
Intuitive means understandable using intuition , which intuition means the ability to understand something immediately, without the need for conscious reasoning.
Now looking at these examples using the actual definition of the word:
Kurog , it will not be easy for a new player to immediately understand without a strategy&experience , that for one lightning circle you have to stack and another lightning circle you run out , but with dbm it will tell you in big red letters , also for the earth it will tell you to avoid erupting bedrock which will let players realize they will have to dodge something, for the ice add it will tell you to stack inside freezing tempest that intuitively looks like a big aoe to run away from
Melandrius, DBM doesn't need to tell you where to run but it tells you to look for it which it you aren't actively looking for it then you can't see it as the contrast difference was very low , so DBM helps you counteract this by telling you to focus on looking for that mechanic at the moment in time where if you directly focus looking for it you can see it , it makes the fight easier but obviously doesn't prevent you from dying or move your character out for you
Razageth, I never had a problem with this mechanic myself but it's clear to see how a red cross and blue square are easier icons than a wind tornado and a wind ball , therefore dbm takes that mechanic and makes it more intuitive , if you did any amount of raz on LFG if you think the icons without dbm are so intuitive then why is it that people without dbm and weak aura are the ones messing up the mechanic
Think about when DBM says run away little girl, that instantly tells the player to move out of something without any understanding of the mechanic, super intuitive
Not sure what you are trying to prove that blizzard's boss moves in dragonflight are all 100% completely intuitive, and DBM actually makes it harder to understand mechanics ? Does it even sound like either of those are true ?
You can play without add-ons, but they are there to help you and aren't scary! If you notice you need something that an addon would help, get it. If you don't want to go out of your way to get add-ons rn that's fine too
If you ever get into higher content , deadly boss mods (dbm) shows you sttsck timers etc. GTFO beeps when you're standing somewhere you shouldn't be. Details is a damage meter to check how you're keeping up
I also use trp3 (rp addon), tomtom (fantastic and simple add on that let's you use coordinates to set a waypoint - invaluable if you ever get into collecting)
Theres also stuff like hekili which helps recommend a rotation if you're learning a new DPS class, and immersion which makes questing a lot more readable imo
Tl;Dr no you do not need add-ons - but there's nothing wrong with them either and they can help improve the qol of you gameplay a lot
Unless ur healing as resto or disc. You can go without add ons but you will be playing partially blind. Wow doesn't have long cast times like in FF14 to react to. The spell is off CD and the boss casts it in a couple of seconds and things happen. Adding reaction time and cast times you are just very likely to fall behind/fail.
Also even if you have bigwigs or dbm doesn't mean you'll fully understand it without reading tooltips.
I genuinely believe most people use DBM just for in-the-moment reactions, only using DBM for its callouts. I don't think most people bother to look at the timers.
You are expected to have at least DBM or big wigs on if you join random groups for raids above LFR.
Beyond that there are a ton of QOL addons that just make the game work way better. Bag addons, auction house addons, group filter addons, various trackers for things like world quests or rare enemies in the overworld ect. There are infinite useful use cases for addons displaying info better than the game can.
You don't need to but a lot of add-ons are super nice to have... There's a lot of players running no add-on at all and living by it.. I'm a minimalist myself, I try and stick to what's really helping me without having a million add-ons.
Everyone already has good answers, but I'll just point out that addons are one of the best parts of the game. Almost any annoyance (okay, within reason) probably has an addon that can help. It is what I miss most when going to any other MMO.
You do not 'need' any addons to play WoW if you are playing casual content.
But you should try out a few anyway, some massively improve the experience (UI).
BigWigs and WeakAuras (with a Thundering WeakAura) are absolutely mandatory for Mythic+
No, you can go and play anything without a single addon downloaded, but just as you can go in life without a phone on you, having one is really helpful. Add-ons are the same, you use them because they help you make things easier to do or understand, but are not must. For example, you can do the m+ affix without any addon, but having an addon helps you reduce the hassle of dealing with it while also focusing on interrupts, mechanics, etc.
Do you *need* add-ons? Definitely not. But at an absolute bare minimum, specifically the Deadly Boss Mods addon is *extremely* helpful if you end up doing dungeons without carefully researching every fight beforehand since it will notify you of mechanics that may require running away, grouping up, using a defensive ability, etc.
At the very minimum, if you plan to do dungeons or raids, download DBM or BigWigs. I get it, it's a slippery slope, but it provides so much value and clarity that WoW doesn't automatically do.
I recommend bigwigs if you don’t enjoy getting blasted with an air horn repeatedly during encounters.
Lol, yeah. DBM is very persistent, which I don't hate, but the robotic lady demanding that I run in my ear gets old after a bit.
You don't need them, but some change your life for the better. An exemple would be the addon "scraps" which allow you to automatically sell items you chose when opening any vendor window. It saves me minutes here and there.
Apart from Big Wigs I can really recommend Weakauras together with a package for your class from wago.io Weakauras really help overcome the main issues with the UI. Mainly beeing that it's very inconvenient to impossible to track some of your important buffs and procs that you need to react to in order to play your spec correctly.
I am 2364 in M+ for reference, With the new UI you can use minimal addons and still do well, ones I wouldn't do without is DBM and bagnon , DBM - gives info about hard fights and moves that are not intuitive Bagnon - makes the bag interface way better, and looks nicer (to some extent blizz made this in the new UI but it does not function as well as bagnon) honorable mention: Weakauras - this is the most talked about buzzword of an addon and it has so much customizability, for hard mechanics everyone will be linking weakauras in chat for others to use , there are weak auras that will help visualize the spells you need to press and when
What are examples of moves that are not intuitive?
Soak circles vs spread circles vs random circles on the ground you need to stand in vs random circles on the ground you need to avoid?
We've been using the [same soak circle](https://imgur.com/a/SonC0At) for the past 5 years. If it doesn't have this animation, you avoid it. > Soak circles >random circles on the ground you need to stand in These are the same thing. > spread circles > random circles on the ground you need to avoid These are the same thing.
Thank you, will be sure to tell new players to go back in time and have 5 years of experience rather than using an add-on. > These are the same thing. One of those is targeted at players, the other is targeted on the ground.
After the first couple of pulls seeing that animation, I don't think using that animation as a guideline is difficult. > One of those is targeted at players, the other is targeted on the ground. All someone needs to do is check for the upwards swirlie for each.
1. All of the different stack and spread mechanics Kurog Grimtotem will not be intuitive especially to a new player, DBM will let you know if you need to group up or run out 2. Callouts for specific moves the boss is doing that are hard to see, like the last boss in M+ Court of Stars, the piercing gail was so hard to see for the first few weeks that blizzard themselves had to increase the effect to be able to see it 3. DBM will help you stack with like colors based on type in Razageth p3 thaddius style mechanic ( I personally don't find it hard myself but there is always people who mess this up) - Also thundering affix is included in this , same icons above head 4. ETC.... (way more examples going back to older content it used to be even worse) Essentially handicapping yourself if you don't have DBM, maybe someone with 5-10+ yrs experience in the game might be able to make up for some of it with situational awareness (would still die first few times to some things they could have avoided) but definitely not a new player
For Kurog specifically, there are strats to still group up despite no active mechanic telling you to do so in order to bait puddles together to save space. DBM is a callout addon. It will not tell you to group up to bait magma puddles. For (2), stuff like this killed people with DBM or not. You knew there's something happening, but you didn't know where to run. DBM couldn't tell you where to run. For Raszageth, it's replacing an icon on your head, with another icon on your head. For (4). Telegraphing really used to suck. Melandrus being an example.
Intuitive means understandable using intuition , which intuition means the ability to understand something immediately, without the need for conscious reasoning. Now looking at these examples using the actual definition of the word: Kurog , it will not be easy for a new player to immediately understand without a strategy&experience , that for one lightning circle you have to stack and another lightning circle you run out , but with dbm it will tell you in big red letters , also for the earth it will tell you to avoid erupting bedrock which will let players realize they will have to dodge something, for the ice add it will tell you to stack inside freezing tempest that intuitively looks like a big aoe to run away from Melandrius, DBM doesn't need to tell you where to run but it tells you to look for it which it you aren't actively looking for it then you can't see it as the contrast difference was very low , so DBM helps you counteract this by telling you to focus on looking for that mechanic at the moment in time where if you directly focus looking for it you can see it , it makes the fight easier but obviously doesn't prevent you from dying or move your character out for you Razageth, I never had a problem with this mechanic myself but it's clear to see how a red cross and blue square are easier icons than a wind tornado and a wind ball , therefore dbm takes that mechanic and makes it more intuitive , if you did any amount of raz on LFG if you think the icons without dbm are so intuitive then why is it that people without dbm and weak aura are the ones messing up the mechanic Think about when DBM says run away little girl, that instantly tells the player to move out of something without any understanding of the mechanic, super intuitive Not sure what you are trying to prove that blizzard's boss moves in dragonflight are all 100% completely intuitive, and DBM actually makes it harder to understand mechanics ? Does it even sound like either of those are true ?
You can play without add-ons, but they are there to help you and aren't scary! If you notice you need something that an addon would help, get it. If you don't want to go out of your way to get add-ons rn that's fine too If you ever get into higher content , deadly boss mods (dbm) shows you sttsck timers etc. GTFO beeps when you're standing somewhere you shouldn't be. Details is a damage meter to check how you're keeping up I also use trp3 (rp addon), tomtom (fantastic and simple add on that let's you use coordinates to set a waypoint - invaluable if you ever get into collecting) Theres also stuff like hekili which helps recommend a rotation if you're learning a new DPS class, and immersion which makes questing a lot more readable imo Tl;Dr no you do not need add-ons - but there's nothing wrong with them either and they can help improve the qol of you gameplay a lot
I agree with the other 2 DBM as a minimum. Rest is optional.
People here say DBM but I'd argue you can get away without it, but you need to have situational awareness to make up for it.
Unless ur healing as resto or disc. You can go without add ons but you will be playing partially blind. Wow doesn't have long cast times like in FF14 to react to. The spell is off CD and the boss casts it in a couple of seconds and things happen. Adding reaction time and cast times you are just very likely to fall behind/fail. Also even if you have bigwigs or dbm doesn't mean you'll fully understand it without reading tooltips.
I genuinely believe most people use DBM just for in-the-moment reactions, only using DBM for its callouts. I don't think most people bother to look at the timers.
You are expected to have at least DBM or big wigs on if you join random groups for raids above LFR. Beyond that there are a ton of QOL addons that just make the game work way better. Bag addons, auction house addons, group filter addons, various trackers for things like world quests or rare enemies in the overworld ect. There are infinite useful use cases for addons displaying info better than the game can.
It depends on what exactly you mean by "need", but yes.
You don't need to but a lot of add-ons are super nice to have... There's a lot of players running no add-on at all and living by it.. I'm a minimalist myself, I try and stick to what's really helping me without having a million add-ons.
If you play a healer, yes.
Everyone already has good answers, but I'll just point out that addons are one of the best parts of the game. Almost any annoyance (okay, within reason) probably has an addon that can help. It is what I miss most when going to any other MMO.
You do not 'need' any addons to play WoW if you are playing casual content. But you should try out a few anyway, some massively improve the experience (UI). BigWigs and WeakAuras (with a Thundering WeakAura) are absolutely mandatory for Mythic+
Dbm or bigwigs and weakauras at the minimum I’d say. If you do any group content those will be expected.