Addons for money

[lerb]

I haven't read up on any of this, I've only partially watched and read about Carbonite (never used it) and if I'm correct, you're no longer allowed to charge people to use your addon. You can accept donations, but not force people to pay to use them. Am I correct this far?

If I am, I have been thinking about addons like Zygor. Zygors Guides is an addon you have to pay for (if you want latest version from their website..), I know this because I myself was thinking of buying it since I'm going to level a monk in about 12 hours and I'd like to do it fast between 1-85. But then I realized, If I do so, am I breaking Blizzards rules? Are they breaking the rules? Why do they charge for their addon when it's not allowed?

We also have the Dugi Questing Essential hosted here on the site that is developed by Dugi Guides, or Ultimate WoW Guides. They have free trials but also charge for the full version of their addons. Just the Leveling part of the addon for Alliance and Horde is priced at 60 bucks.

So.. Am I missing something? Is this allowed?

Confused Lerb

[Coote]

I think they get off in grey zone technicalities by providing the addon free of charge, while charging you for the guide that actually gets loaded by the addon. I doubt you'd be in breach of ToU by buying, but they'd possibly be in breach by selling. So long as the addon doesn't disrupt the game, you will most likely not be actioned. Remember, Blizzard always reserves the right to block any and all addons they do not like.

[Cairenn]

Originally Posted by lerb I haven't read up on any of this, I've only partially watched and read about Carbonite (never used it) and if I'm correct, you're no longer allowed to charge people to use your addon. You can accept donations, but not force people to pay to use them. Am I correct this far?

Yup, you are correct.

Originally Posted by lerb If I am, I have been thinking about addons like Zygor. Zygors Guides is an addon you have to pay for (if you want latest version from their website..), I know this because I myself was thinking of buying it since I'm going to level a monk in about 12 hours and I'd like to do it fast between 1-85. But then I realized, If I do so, am I breaking Blizzards rules? Are they breaking the rules? Why do they charge for their addon when it's not allowed?

The way they are getting around it is because they aren't charging for the addon they are charging for the access to their database and guides, as you suspected.

Originally Posted by lerb We also have the Dugi Questing Essential hosted here on the site that is developed by Dugi Guides, or Ultimate WoW Guides. They have free trials but also charge for the full version of their addons. Just the Leveling part of the addon for Alliance and Horde is priced at 60 bucks. So.. Am I missing something? Is this allowed? Confused Lerb

It's the same deal again as with Zygor. They aren't charging you for the addon itself, they are charging for their database and guides.

[lerb]

Thanks for clearing this up for me guys

I don't like grey zones

[Cairenn]

Yep, it can be annoying.

[myrroddin]

The part I find most annoying is their guides, written in Lua, are a database that requires their addon. That's like getting GatherMate2 for free, but getting charged for GatherMate2_Data. Thankfully, that is not the case with those two, but that is very shady business.

I would totally understand if they gave you the addon, full database for free, and charged for the physical book, perhaps having the inevitable errata be accessible on their website only for people who bought the book. But I feel both the addon and the DB should both be freely available. That, of course, is just me.

About paid addons and their timeframe, The policy was put in place for patch 3.1, updated May 2009, and again November 2010. Here is the US official forum link.

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/1021053914

[tinyu]

number two.

[Phanx]

Originally Posted by myrroddin The part I find most annoying is their guides, written in Lua, are a database that requires their addon.

I don't understand the fuss about paid guides in this day and age. Questing now is so easy, so linear, and so self-explanatory that there's simply no need for a guide. Every quest leads you right to the next one, and you generally get quests in the same order you should do them. The default map shows you exactly where to go for each quest, and you can use TomTomLite or TomTom+QuestPointer or something to show a giant neon arrow on your screen pointing you right to the nearest quest objective.

I've just been leveling a new character in the last week or so, and questing is so ridiculously easy that I'm not even finishing half the quests in each area before they're all turning green and I'm getting the breadcrumb quests to take me to the next area. I can't imagine having to read a guide would do anyting but slow me down.

If you're trying to set some record while leveling, you've probably already leveled up a few characters and are familiar with the quests, and don't need a guide because you already know what to do. If you're leveling your first character, you're not going to set any records, and don't need a guide because Blizzard has made the process so simple.