r/wowaddons • u/BrTarolg • 1d ago
Addon Release / Update Forever Open streamers use a gatekept “custom GCD addon” to see what their opponent pressed. Here’s the first public one (WoW Forever)
If you watch Ziqo or Hydramist, you’ve seen it: an icon pops beside the enemy plate every time they press something. I asked on stream and the answer was “custom GCD addon”. Forever Open qualifiers are soon, there’s $100k on the line, and that shouldn’t come down to gatekept addons. This is the *only* public addon on curseforge that has the same functionality the streamer "custom addons" have
There’s a reason nobody had put one out. On Forever, enemy spells reach addons as secret values. UNIT_SPELLCAST_SUCCEEDED still fires for an enemy plate, but you can’t read, compare or filter the spell ID, so normal last-spell addons throw the event away and show nothing. You can still draw it, though. Pass the secret ID into C_Spell.GetSpellName and GetSpellTexture, hand the answers straight to the icon and text, and the client draws the real spell without the addon ever knowing what it was.
Most enemy instants send no cast event at all, which is where the rest of the trick comes in. Buffs go through Blizzard’s secure aura container (CustomAuraContainerTemplate), which reads auras itself and plays an animation you give it when one is new, so Blood Fury or a shield flashes by name mid-fight. Debuffs new on you show on your opponent’s plate, since in a duel only they could have put them there.
It shows at action-button size beside their plate, with a GCD sweep like Blizzard’s buttons. No polling, no pcall, nothing reads a secret. /fgcd to set it up, and Show on screen puts samples on every plate so you can place it before your match.
Made with AI help. I designed it and tested it in duels myself.
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u/Ok_Community3356 1d ago edited 1d ago
Streamers and this whole tournament are such a joke. People hiding addons, bugs, etc. The winner is just going to be someone with some tech or item they discovered by didnt say anything.
Edit: it appears I didn't phrase this well enough. I should have written "some tech or item" as an unintended, abusible, or malfunctioning game tech or item. Discovering a new tech for a class that is working as intended is cool; finding and hiding something gamebreaking is not.
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u/Bitter_Election_7518 1d ago
At the same point, isn’t this tournament probably the best thing for a beta testing for bugs before a stable release? People are going to find every single exploit they can due to the incentive, and it gives blizzard enough time to patch it for release
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u/Loyalist_Pig 1d ago
Honestly, that’s where I’ve landed on it. Literally a 100k carrot on a stick to find the most egregious bugs you can.
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u/RoninOni 1d ago
Yeah, everything else about it stinks, but hey… if they use this information well it’s for the better
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u/Laverathan 18h ago
Considering they outted what was essentially an infinite money glitch using Legacy talents that would have made it to live without the Tournament, I'd say it's doing a great job.
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u/Loyalist_Pig 13h ago
Oh I didn’t hear about this! What was the bug and how was it outed?
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u/Laverathan 12h ago
One of the talents let you level 300 on a 23 hour CD but if you respecced you could basically get some resources for free after you hit max with it. Lots of streamers got a fuck load of gold offered in their trade window while the exploiters showed off.
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u/bravo_serratus 1d ago
The counterpoint would be that it halted some of the changes they wanted to test in beta for fear of them being seen as favoring or disfavoring a particular class or streamer just ahead of the tournament.
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u/StuperMan 1d ago
According to the last podcast, at least one dev is adamant they dont care what streamers/reddit are complaining about
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u/ShermansAngryGhost 1d ago
Hilarious because during the class discussion podcast one of them literally said “Reddit we hear you” or something similar
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u/sealtwisting 20h ago
They actually said this more like, "I don't care what wins at a level 30 duel"
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u/ThumpaMonsta 20h ago
More or less yes, game isnt even remotely intended to be balanced around lvl 30 1v1 duels.
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u/Grumpie_Bear 18h ago
No, it would have been the best if blizzard knew about these bugs when they were discovered, but the streamers are losers and held onto the "tech" to try to abuse it and ultimately led to blizzard having way less time to fix all the bugs. The number of bugs that are going to be revealed with less than three weeks before the release are going to be staggering, and I doubt all of them will be fixed. We have people hiding massive exploits.
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u/Waste-Maybe6092 1d ago
Funny of u to think bliz is going to observe or use feedback from beta. The track record is the same bug reported multiple times in beta had to reach live to be known to bliz
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u/Ptepp1c 1d ago
For level 30 1vs1 duels absolutely.
But its such a niche thing that it wont repeat. (Very few level 30 duels will happen and when they do they wont be teched up like this, level 19 or 29 might go all out on gear like this due to bgs but without xp cap theres lots of rng involved to avoid overlevelling when getting the items you want)
Its not a bad thing, its just were you to go recruit 6000 people to test a wow pvp experience this would not be what you get them doing.
I imagine lots of money exploits, levelling exploits add on exploits on top of the unintentionally powerful gear will be fized due to this tournament.
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u/Ok_Community3356 1d ago
Is this not what questing, dungeoning, and the BG are for? All this same stuff is testable through the game as it is, without the streamer suckerfest. Regardless of a tourney incentive people still would have found these. The difference is they wouldn't have tried to hide them. Fuck streamers.
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u/korean_kracka 1d ago
The addons or hiding bugs is a joke but if someone wins the tourney through some non exploited tech, they deserve it and it’ll be one of the reasons I watch. Hoping it’s not a streamer and someone that needs the money
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u/quagmirranseye 1d ago
Closed practices during the world cup where football teams practices set-pieces, the famous fnatic boost during a CS major, theres a million examples of secret tech because this is in the nature of competition.
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u/Ok_Community3356 18h ago
Notice my edit where I say they are likely hiding techs that are obviously bugs and stuff.
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u/supposed-to-hurt 23h ago
Nothing about this addon is hidden. Its used in pvp for midnight since 12.0.0
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u/Ezekielyo 16h ago
You would do the same for 100k
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u/Ok_Community3356 15h ago
I would not as I don't care about money enough to participate in this shit show.
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u/WongersPhase 1d ago
This is common in competitive e sports. Save that shit for nationals as they say
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u/marino13 1d ago
People using tech other didn't know is a quintessential vanilla wow experience. See world of roguecraft and Cabbarnuke. Abusing bugs and add-ons is a whole other thing though. But none the less it's fun to see.
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u/N_durance 1d ago
It’s a competition in the end with life changing money on the line. Do you blame them for attempting everything possible to win?
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u/orisimom 1d ago
Sounds really cool actually.
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u/Ok_Community3356 1d ago
How is that cool? The point of the beta is to find bugs and other broken aspects to the game. The tournament is also an RMTfest. Nothing cool about it.
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u/orisimom 1d ago
In your opinion. Searching the game for new items/drops to get an edge sounds amazing for me. What does rmt has to do with it? Ban who ever touch that sh1t
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u/Primary_Carrot_8804 1d ago
I agree rather see the degeneracy of a gamers urge to win then some chivalrous /bow mi'lady knight duel shit
Especially at the end of the day they wre finding bugs like this that benefit balancing the pvp scene. Big win for the beta.
Still wont play till they get rid of layering on pvp realms btw.
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u/Metalheadzaid 1d ago
People still want fairness to a certain level. It's what constitutes a good show and entertaining event. If a lot of people have access to any specific tech it's fine, but when only a few do it kinda sucks.
With all of that said, I think this whole tournament was a shit show from the start and if they had done an invitation only tournament it would have been way better for viewers. Still, the idea that some random found something unexpected still looms, so we'll see. It's not like every high level PVP player streams.
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u/BrTarolg 1d ago
I'll be honest, no i'm not happy either. I like making proper addons that are polished and maintained and that me and my guildmates like to use, not one off customs that only work in duels for some tournament i'm not participating in
If you're interested in seeing my actual work where i put in much more time and effort and not this duelling tournament stuff, you can check out the rest of my addons here https://www.curseforge.com/members/tarolg/projects
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u/Glupscher 1d ago
I really appreciate that you keep your addons separate and don't try to make an all-in-one suite. Feels like nowadays everyone bloats their addon with so many things that are way beyond their initial use intent.
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u/BrTarolg 1d ago
Thank you! Yes this is something I've tried very hard to do, I have a big rule they all need to work independently and not have "addon cross over" so you can just use what you want
I also hate bloat
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u/kerthil 1d ago
You have a very nice list of addons there, some I would absolutely use! Do your addons have gamepad support?
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u/BrTarolg 1d ago
This is one of the things I haven't worked on at all unfortunately, I don't really know much about gamepad at all, though a few people have mentioned it to me at this point so the more people that mention it the more likely I'll have to look into it
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u/ProfessionalPiece403 1d ago
That's something Blizzard should prevent asap.
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u/ChunkySalsaMedium 1d ago
Why?
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u/ProfessionalPiece403 1d ago
Why? 😂 Because that's not an information you're supposed to have as a player.
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u/ChunkySalsaMedium 21h ago
Why?
You can clearly see every spell cast, so you have every information anyway.1
u/HokusSchmokus 21h ago
How so? I kinda fail to see what this addon is for, it doesn't appear to show anything that you couldnt do on your own with much more effort.
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u/Beneficial_Bit8296 1d ago
Blizz can't stop someone making and addon and only using it for the self or a small group.
If they wanted to, they would need to force addons only being installable through their own systems (that wouldn't be bad, but take longer due to checking every addon).
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u/Yzion 1d ago
But once they see stuff like this, they can change how the spells are displayed in the back end so addons can’t read it.
Because as OP said they should be a different value and to get around that they are pulling it from 2 other places, so if blizzard wanted to they could hide this which would break the addon.
They have done this several times before in world first races so it’s not unthinkable for them to do it either.
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u/baked_tea 1d ago
Then everyone can vibecode their own version... not sure what's a "gatekept" addon today..
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u/Yzion 1d ago
But you can’t if blizzard hides the spells correctly.
This is only possible because the spells are shown in a different function. If blizzard hides that function then the addons won’t work.
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u/huntcameron 1d ago
You can jump whatever hoops and run whatever encryption you want, but the client still needs to know what spells are being cast, which means there will always be ways for a player to know.
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u/ProfessionalPiece403 1d ago
No. The player that is the target doesn't need to know what's happening until the cast is finished.
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u/Gullible-Respect7778 1d ago
Seeing enemy cast bars has been a thing since vanilla. How do you think kicks like earthshock should work without knowledge of the enemy casts?
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u/ProfessionalPiece403 1d ago
It you can't access the values you can code all day long and won't be able to make that addon work.
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u/CaptainInsanoMan 1d ago
Maybe I havent done enough pvp in forever, but I thought all casts were shown when people were casting? So you could time kicks and such. Not used to retail client too much.
Or I dont understand what you're saying. Is it players can see other peoples cooldowns once used? Which was a common thing to track in TBC/wotlk arenas.
If its either of those, I dont see a probelm really.
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u/mek8035 1d ago
yea but this shows instant casts (e.g. frost nova, sw:p) and also their gcd timer, which is useful in a duel
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u/Zankokunatenshi-sama 1d ago
How it will help you if it's instant cast? It's instant. And there are plenty add-ons that can track enemy CDs and used spells. Nothing new.
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u/mek8035 1d ago
how'd it not be helpful to more clearly see what they just casted? and the gcd timer is a big part, you can use it to juke kicks for example
yes it's nothing new, but the point is that in Forever, they limited what data addons can pull from the game, and OP made a public version of a gatekept addon that had this functionality
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u/neontrain 10h ago edited 5h ago
This addon has existed in every version of wow for as long as I can remember idk why people are confused about seeing it now in forever
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u/trixilly 5h ago
They are confused because its using Midnight's addon restrictions and these are supposed to be secret values that are no longer accessible to addons. I don't disagree that we used to have this.
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u/CaptainInsanoMan 1d ago
"That guy hit me with an instant cast frost shock! That means he used a GCD!" - guy A
"Wait, how could you know that!?!?" - guy B
"Because I have an addon that says so! And because I have a frost shock debuff on me..." - guy A
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u/mek8035 1d ago
take death coil for example, it's way easier to react to a giant icon the moment they use it vs. the little projectile flying to you that looks the same to shadow bolt
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u/Rajasenpai 1d ago
We are talking about professional wow pvp streamers who have won multiple tournaments without addons. I hardly believe this is what will change the outcome…
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u/Oranges851 1d ago
And yet those professional wow pvp streamers were gatekeeping their version of the addon.
They're professional wow pvp streamers who have won multiple tournaments and they seem to think it has value, why wouldn't it be good for you?
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u/Mindless_Daikon_7565 1d ago
Good for putting this out , pretty funny this is how the "best" players play
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u/BrTarolg 1d ago
I'm actually really into competitive classic wsg, and a lot of what I do is trying to make good public versions of all the "secret tech" that we had to use back in the day
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u/trair_ 23h ago
It’s not really how the real best play though, which is the funniest part. The real pros who have competed in AWC, Blizzcon, etc are used to doing those tournaments with zero addons (which is insane when you think about btw). They don’t need an addon to know what the other person just used their GCD on lol
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u/ThargorTheBarbarian 1d ago
That sounds like cheating. This whole tournament should have required solo self found.
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u/Formal-Ebb5616 1d ago
they said forever is about the adventure, but when there is 100k its all about min max and cheat
have you seen payo trade a guy 6000gold ? how does a guy has 6000 gold when its limited to level 30..
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u/Loyalist_Pig 1d ago
Likely exploits. I’d hope that since he’s a famous streamer Blizzard will investigate that rando’s account and see how he made that much gold.
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u/Next_Yesterday_1695 23h ago
> they said forever is about the adventure
Don't give them attention and make it your own. The more people realize you don't have to engage with any of it the better it's going to be.
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u/DualitiesYTMoon 1d ago
I mean the tournament was organized by OTK and Mystic talent members. These are the 2 biggest viewbotting and gold selling organozations in wow claddic community. Almost every "big" wow classic content is part of them. Soda, payout, esfand, xaryu, savix, pika, payo, asmongold... And others like wilie and preach are part of other similar talent/viewbotting organizations. If blizzard and youtube would care about integrity of their organizations they sould ban such organizations years ago.
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u/NeverHideOnBush 1d ago
Horrible to check class balance at 30 for status at 60, twink community knows all about this stuff
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u/Snorlax_king79 21h ago
wait till you see what the non streamers are hiding lmao, yall are going to lose your shit
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u/AtlasCarry87 20h ago
Unrelated but also related I suppose, anyone knows how to hide all posts containing anything related to streamers?
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u/Grumpie_Bear 18h ago
Please just ban the add-ons. It would be so much better with all this stuff like weak auras and junk just gone.
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u/Tough-Surprise9621 17h ago
This isn’t new or exclusive, I was using this in wrath classic through panda
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u/Low_Raspberry7798 3h ago
It is not gatekept. I have used it too, and I am not a streamer. I have even used better addons that nobody knows about simply because I am not a streamer. Just because something is not popular does not mean it is gatekept. Stop spreading hate for no reason.
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u/ArtyomTrityak 1d ago
Streamers announced pvp tournament they will be participating in; they will win and celebrate, and players will flood their streams to watch and give them even more money.
This is all a trap where streamers will win regardless due to viewership but beta is scuffed, forever devs are already just listening to streamers.
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u/Zankokunatenshi-sama 1d ago
That's misleading "what their opponent pressed" anyway instant are instants and I don't see anything, that this add-on can help you with in any situation during PvP.
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u/Rethz 1d ago
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u/Sad_Break6684 1d ago edited 1d ago
I don’t understand the point the author is trying to make.
Ever since the Classic version, I’ve been using standard PvP addons that display enemy ability timers.
In the arena, this is practically the industry standard.
Tracking trinket activations, defensive ability cooldowns, and so on.
There’s no need to "decode" anything; the combat log provides the data, and the addon visualizes it and runs a countdown timer.
Instant casts? Your combat log will show the cast, and an addon can start a countdown from the moment it hits.
You could even start counting down the Frost Shock duration out loud yourself.
What’s the problem, exactly?
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u/Polynomtee 1d ago
I'm not an expert in PVP but I know a thing or two about addons.
The WoW Forever client is different from the Classic client in the sense that is uses the same Lua API (the functions that addons use to get all the data) that Retail uses. However, these functions where completely overhauled in Retail almost a year ago as a preparation for the current Midnight expansion. The reasoning was that addons became to powerful. For example, they could read the whole combat state and basically "solve" raid mechanics by optimally assigning players to move to specific places. This made it difficult for the devs to create interesting encounters, so it was removed. The new Lua API heavily restricts what you kind of information is accessible by addons during combat. The enemy GCD is one such thing that is restricted. However, sometimes there are other Lua functions that do work in combat and provide data that lets you infer stuff that is not directly accessible, so you can use that as a workaround. This still happens a lot in Retail and Blizzard usually patches it to break this functionality.
The OP's point is that some participants use some non-obvious tech as a workaround to bypass restrictions by the API. To level the playing field, OP created a similar addon and shared it with the community.
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u/fatbellyww 1d ago
I don't understand why they don't just completely block addons now. The base ui with edit mode is pretty great, and they have simplified retail to the point of addons being redundant, wow forever is already on the simpler side and doesn't need any.
Allowing addons only hurts the game at this point, creates exploits, helps botters and creates a barrier of entry for new and returning players.
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u/Vodddddddd 1d ago
Nice AI coded - will give it a try
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u/Alternative_Draw5945 1d ago
Yea why are people angry? Anyone could of done this
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u/Ill-Inevitable980 1d ago
I disagree to an extent, ChatGPT is not an expert at the WoW API. You need at least some ability or knowledge to guide the AI at this stage - speaking as somebody who is all too familiar with a 1000 in page 3.3.5a API PDF!
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u/Low_Raspberry7798 3h ago
You dont need anythint to vibecode sometime like this 😂😂 cleary dont know what you talking about….
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u/Giatoxiclok 1d ago
Yes, pretty much anyone could have. People are railing against AI as it pushes its use even further in the market, and somebody didn’t write this addon.
Using ai for things you could have done, or are just being lazy over, or things you could have done genuinely better, is eroding peoples critical thinking, reliance on skill and knowledge, and pushing for environmental setbacks due to data center demand increases.
You said it yourself, people with a little bit of coding knowledge could probably have done this, but they didn’t.
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u/Ancient_Somewhere110 1d ago
You're so right! Same reason the calculator made us basically inept at math. Man, we were so much better at it when we had to use slide rules. How far we've fallen...
And tractors? Sheesh... I remember when you had to plow those fields yourself. Ain't nobody knows proper plowing techniques anymore cause we all got lazy with our John Deers... Look how far we've fallen...
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u/Giatoxiclok 1d ago
I mean, I know grown adults who are refusing to think, and every single thing they need answered goes through ChatGPT. I don’t know if you just haven’t ever met these people, but they do exist. Also, AI is absolute incomparable to tractors, a wild statement.
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u/NowhereFeelsHome 1d ago
Whats the difference? A guy who streams his games, gets an addon from someone, uses it and even says its a custom gcd addon. did u ask if he might share it? do you know if he is allowed to share it? If it wouldnt be streamed there would be no one complaining about it.
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u/SparkBlondeFires 1d ago
I know it's kinda controversiel, but they should ban all the addons...
Blizzard should instead invent top 10 ads used, as they alreadty did with some...
These adds are killing the magic of the game. It's all becoming one big mathematic analysis on how to absolute optimize EVERYTHING. It's killing the magic and unpredictability of the world and the game...
And I'm so ready to get downvoted lol.
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