Are all mods legal by Blizzard?

[rezalthor]

Total newb question here. I'm just getting into wow and was asking a friend of mine who's been playing for a year about mods. He blew me off, saying I didn't need mods and that they were all exploits and bannable anyways. I told him: 1) They're all over tons of legit sites, and 2) They're "built-in" to wow's program and are loaded by it. He said that he knew that mods that measured aggro and were auction tools were bannable. Is he right? It sure doesn't seem so, but I can't find anything in writing on Blizzard's site saying what is and isn't legal. Wikipedia says mods that are in LUA are supposedly legal, but I couldn't find a link for that either. Somewhere I read that "stand-alone" programs are definitely considered exploits. Are there ever mods that are exploits and bannable, and if so how can you tell? Links to backup opinion, especially from Blizzard would be especially helpful. Thanks!

[kcma]

the stuff on http://ui.worldofwar.net are safe.

[WingedNazgul]

Mods you install into the Interface directory are perfectly safe and legal. If a mod is found that runs counter to what Blizzard deems is appropriate they just change the API calls to render the mod obsolete. They've done this a number of times and I'm sure they will do so again.

Your friend is highly mistaken about the threat and auction mods.

[Magikhat]

I wouldnt play this game if i couldnt use my mods

[Gorny]

It's been debated as to if mods are legal or not. Some say they are not and you will get banned, if this was true, than a large number of players would have been banned already. Mods, or UI's as we call them in WoW are not (in a sense) like third party cheats are in DII (Maphack, Bot programs, Pickit, charactor editors, etc.)

UI's are indeed useful, and make gameplay easier and even enhanced in a way. For example there is a mod called Gatherer (http://ui.worldofwar.net/ui.php?id=277) that keeps track of where certain resources (herb nodes, mining nodes, treasure chests, and some other things) are on the world map so that you can find them again easily, it adds locations as you find things. As of this post Gatherer is not updated and is not functional, but there are other mods that can do this same thing.

Another one calledTitan Panel (http://ui.worldofwar.net/ui.php?id=1442) is another handy mod that among other things keeps track of your map location coords (player position and cursor position within a given zone) this is useful for finding your way around. Titan panel also keeps track of how much money you have at a glance. It also has several other plugins that are useful.

Item Rack (http://ui.worldofwar.net/ui.php?id=1263) is another must have, especially after you have gained levels and have different sets of gear that you need. It allows you to change anything from one item (weapon or armor type) up to a whole gear set (change from normal gear to a fire resist or nature resist set for example). You will find more use for this as you level higher and end up in raids.


Auctioneer (http://ui.worldofwar.net/ui.php?id=137) is also another good one, it scans the auction house and identifies items selling for less than market value - which you can buy out and resell for a profit. It also gives an enhanced tooltip showing the average pricing for any market sellable item, as long as you have "seen" it in a scan. Note that Auctioneer is currently in it's gamma version since the newest patch, or more correctly since the release of TBC, some of the data it gives is wrong & there should be a release version soon. The complete Auctioneer package also incluses a few mods that are also useful, namely Enchantrix, Informant, and the Enhanced tooltip mods. These are very useful for seeing what an item will sell to when sold to an NPC vendor in addition to the AH averages. Enchantrix is a mod for people with the Enchanting profession, it shows what regeants something will disenchant into (that is if the item can be DE'd).

Also useful are the CT Mods, and CT Raid Assist.

The above and man others are indeed legal and allowed.

On the other hand of it's a third party application that plays the game for or something like that then its a bannable offense.

[Foonyak]

Basically, what mods do is compile and display data that is available to the player base, but isn't compiled or displayed by the standard User Interface. Nothing more, nothing less. Some mods can alter what and how you see data that is compiled and/or displayed by the standard User Interface in a much more intuitive fashion.

Hacks will alter data sent to and from your PC which allow you to do things that aren't otherwise possible. Speed hacks (to increase your speed), wall hacks (walk through walls), automated game-play, etc. All of those are no-nos.

Your friend is right in the fact that you don't need mods/add-ons to play and have a great time, but they can make your WoW life much easier.

Mods here at ui.worldofwar.net are safe as are the mods at cursegaming.com for the most part.

[WingedNazgul]

http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com/board.html?sid=1&forumId=11114

Show your friend that link and ask him why Blizzard would have a forum dedicated to UI mods if they were illegal and bannable?

[piscene]

What they will most definitely ban you for is running Bots or Gold-selling (or gold-buying for that matter), or any of that type of activity.

[Aerath]

Mind you, any executables -are- no-go.

All mods are text-based files (.lua or .xml etc)

If at any time you spot a .com, .exe or .dll, you've got something fishy going on.

[ferofax]

...eek. good thing you said that, i just downloaded one, its archived, with a couple of .dll's and an executable...

[JaedxRapture]

Addons that use exclusively .LUA and .XML files are perfectly legal. They are parsed using Blizzard's engine, so anything malicious (such as a virus, keylogger, or hack/bot) cannot be contained within them.
Anything that uses a seperate application is borderline. If the application is affecting the WoW client itself, then it's illegal. But if it's just meant to update your addons or upload/manage data collected by the addon, then it's legal.

[ferofax]

...ah, makes sense. so if the application is tampering with game files, then its a clear breach of the EULA.

[Achetherus]

I was just starting up my second account (I decided to start a Horde Character on my Current server for fun). And since it was my second account, I actually took the time to read everything in the Terms Of Use. This is a direct quote from ToUA:

You agree that you will not (i) modify or cause to be modified any files that are a part of the Program or the Service; (ii) create or use cheats, bots, "mods", and/or hacks, or any other third-party software designed to modify the World of Warcraft experience; or (iii) use any third-party software that intercepts, "mines", or otherwise collects information from or through the Program or the Service. Notwithstanding the foregoing, you may update the Program with authorized patches and updates distributed by Blizzard, and Blizzard may, at its sole and absolute discretion, allow the use of certain third party user interfaces.

Short story is, at least according to this, ANYTHING that modifies "any files that are part of the Program" or changes the "World of Warcraft experience" is illegal. This pretty much describes EVERY mod that's out there (presumably even the Blizzard approved mods are only approved at Blizzard's discretion and thus may be "unapproved" at their discretion). This may be where some of the aforementioned people believe that all mods are illegal. Blizzard being a large corporate entity allows itself all kinds of leeway with this statement, and anyone who is currently playing the game has agreed to these terms. Food for thought.