This game badly needs mods and macros.

if u can't play without addons ur simply bad. Remember how Nihilum wiped on live raid because they were not allowed to use addons ? One pala was QQing 'omg I no haz pallypower i no kean raid without pally power'. I mean lol. l2p

You said:

The quote doesn't support your claim.

It absolutely is perception bias. Blizzard never mentioned DBM as a source for all things unholy, nor did they attach a value judgement to its continued use and development. They never specified anything to the extent that you did. The fact that you immediately jumped on DBM is the definition of perception bias.

Again, it sucked so bad and was in fact so game breaking, that Blizzard felt the need to incorporate many of its functions in the stock UI. Also did the same thing with Omen. It kinda puts a kink in your argument that Blizzard would do away with both of those addons when they include their functionality in the base UI.

While I was never a huge WoW fan, I was a huge fan of the modable client. I think I spent more time screwing with the client and trying add-on off Curse than anything else. I was disappointing with the UI in general in this game and While I won't go as far as to OP and say they are a must and all "modern" mmo's need them. I was surprised they weren't part of SWTOR because I always found they take a load of work off the developers when it comes to UI and Tools and hands it off to the community allowing the developers to focus on content rather than UI flash. It also creates a core of die hard modders and fans who help drive the game and it's features.

Does this mean that ability delay doesn't bother you either, I feel that macros and addons allow me to interact with my character more fluidly and in a more natural manner, ability delay like the lack of an interface that suits me removes me from that fluidity.

Macros definitely needed.

Mods I have mixed feelings about; I think they do more good than bad, but the ones that do bad, do REALLY bad. If BW is going to allow mods, they need to quick about breaking the ones that have a negative impact on the game.

You are looking at total downloads for addons over the span of 7 years are you? You know, in a addon development world where addon names change? It stands to reason that some long term addons would have greater downloads in total than the addons that have been adapted from a previous addon and changed to be even better.

The main push of the pro-addon players here on the forums is to get DPS meters.

DPS meters are only really needed for hardmode content.

Now you are just trying to bait me into responding with a flame post.

I imagine more people will participate in PvP than in raiding, so take that for what you will.

As far as addons, I'm not opposed to having addons to rearrange the UI and deal with the abomination that is the galactical market interface.

I am opposed to threatmeters, group-based DPS meters, an exportable combat log and any addon API that allows an addon to parse the combat log in-game. I'm also 100% against allowing addons to communicate using chat channels or hidden channels between players.

This is a game. Play it as a game.

It's not a second job. There is no reason to pretend to be an accountant or statistician by bringing a multitude of spreadsheet data into the equation.

Which is synonymous to making the game easier, if the quality of life tools affect your combat performance. Thank you for proving the other guys right.

No they aren't. They help, they're not needed. Again, making the game easier by... helping.

I disagree with almost the entirety of your post, but this is what really caught my attention. With very few exceptions at all, the only people claiming that WoW raiding is too easy are the people who have never even attempted any of the hardmodes. Claiming that the raid game is too easy on the general forums is tantamount to tattooing 'I'VE NEVER TRIED THE HARDMODES!!' on your forehead.

Say what you want about the hard/normal mode design paradigm (I might even agree with you), but WoW is still widely considered (by the people who actually do it) some of the most challenging raiding around.

Consonants and grammar are a crutch.