The Trouble with Tribbles: Adding-On Anxiety

Captain Kirk wonders which add-on he can uninstall...with a pair of gardening shears...

It's the same old lament: Blizzard does a great patch, players cheer or boo, depending on how they feel about particular nerfs and buffs (another great name for a guild, by the way), and every one scurries to Curse.com to update add-ons. 

But, being my lazy self, I knew something was broken, like the "check oil light" in a car (okay, Guarf: stop it. I am actually the responsible one when it comes to car safety and maintenance. I'm just making a point.) I went back into a PUG last night on my healer, and the wheels came off the bus. It was a disaster. Clicking, clicking, clicking, and the tank's health, well, tanked. I had warned the group that something seemed amiss since the patch on Tuesday, and if they would like a new healer, that was fine; they said they'd been having the same issues.

Part of me is not really interested in how the tribbles, rather, add-ons seem to mate and multiply. The result of cross-breeding is the big

LUAERRORLOTSOFCODELOTSOFCODEWORDWORD!&*UD‡¢∞§! 

panel that pops up, blocking play view. Blizzard has reached a detente with the add-on developers, and it is absolutely a love-hate relationship. I know purists who play with only the add-ons that Blizzard provides, and if Blizz gets a 'good idea' from an add-on, I am pretty sure no monies or boons are granted to the developer. Here's an analogy: you have a major pharmaceutical company that holds a patent on a best-selling drug, say, "Crackixion." A street drug peddler comes up with something in his trailer (although highly explosive) that lessens the negative side effects of Crackixion (side effects tend to include the desire to punch kittens in faces, trolling for attention, and achievement point break-outs.) The makers of Crack seek out the peddler, and instead of turning him into the authorities, get his secret recipe, thank him, and then proceed to re-purpose the patent. But, the mutually-beneficial relationship may seem one-sided, the peddler gets to make new ones, because as we all know--it's always something.

As long as you don't end up in the Tanarian desert without pants...

So be it. If I need to reconfigure, re-conform, re-upload, etc. so I can play better, then that's how it is. My prescription of Crackixion is filled, and only with a small co-pay.

Now to find those gardening shears.