One of the many beauties of WoW is its interface. It's completely customizable with a language more or less dedicated to it that anyone can play around with. Boy, have people played around with it, that's for sure. The result is a plethora of mods that auto-mouse over, scream at you in giant red text, and invalidate virtually every surprise threat that a boss can throw at you. Since some mods have more or less come to be 'required' by guilds, it's time to see what makes them so necessary and really, why they don't matter in the big picture.
DPS: Done by a Fury/Arms Warrior who wished to remain nameless so everyone doesn't Armory him.
Uses - Deadly Boss Mods, Omen, Recount, 2 Timers, Cooldown Trackers
Target for Comparison - Kologarn 25
Raid Makeup Changes between testing? - Frost DK replaced Windfury, slight haste bonus to Mod-less stats.
The result - DPS fell from 6300 to 6000 without mods other than recount. Bloodsurge was missed 9 times. Very little change in skill usage beyond that, Bloodthirst and Whirlwind were about the same. Heroic Strike was actually used more? Calling this a result of the haste.
Tanking: Druid Bear off-tank who also wished to remain nameless. Come on guys, I'm not posting your name to get in-game mail spam.
Uses - He sent me a screenshot of his active mods and you had to scroll down to see them all. Besides the cosmetics, he used four tanking assistants, Deadly Boss Mods, Recount, Omen, and a master loot assistant that he swears never works right but won't uninstall. User error? Also has some fancy frames and button arrangements.
Target for Comparison - Trash deaths that he could have prevented and general panic factor in Ulduar 25, overall TPS
Raid Makeup Changes between testing? - Irrelevant
The Result - One mage died twice, a warlock died 3 times ("He threw out a 12k incinerate with 2 seconds of the pull, that wasn't my fault"), and a raid that was asking the rogues to put Tricks of the Trade on him and go after side trash rather than the main target at first. TPS was only slightly lower but it obviously wasn't there when it counted.
Healing: Holy Paladin I know who gave me the WRONG character name to Armory. Seriously, I hate you all.
Uses - Not much, but a complicated UI Raid Setup for easy clicking.
Target for Comparison - Overall Ulduar 25, spot healing, as well as frustration on her face. Total Healed is not a fair comparison due to the length of fights being different and other factors that may or may not be outside of our control.
Raid Makeup Changes between testing? - None that would make a difference -- similar totems were in place both times.
The Result - A rough beginning but things smoothed out by the time they got to Kologarn.
The player's opinion - "Blizzard, you've done everything right but given healers a good set of raid frames. It's workable, it's manageable, but that doesn't change the fact that it sucks. Or would you call this 'working as intended'?"
It's entirely possible to raid without mods. The reliance may be nothing more than an illusion of graphics and arrangement, and playing without them may seem like you came home to find your room totally rearranged. The shock may be brutal at first, but as you grow accustomed to it, you appreciate it a bit more. The WoW interface follows the same theory. People are so used to their mods that they're afraid to leave home without them, but those that have been without them forever, or have good experience without them in the past, can make it happen. I won't be so pretentious as to say that true skill comes from not using mods, but I will say that true skill is knowing how to play your class without bright red font telling you to cast Holy Light or Rend again. These people are a dying breed, but with new games around the corner not supporting much in the way of UI mods, it might be time for some players to suck it up and take what they can get for an interface and make it happen. And as I've now seen, some people can make it happen, some people can almost cut it, and some people weep softly without them.
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