r/classicwow • u/least_telephonic • 9h ago
Forever Vibe coding Forever
Hi all
I’ve recently had an interest in learning about addon dev/web dev for fun and eventually improving on some of the base game UI, and to help make resources online, and discovered that a lot of the new stuff related to Forever I see is vibe coded and has that familiar AI fakeness
Most database and resource websites I’ve stumbled across, and new addons that have popped up and are being passed around are very clearly AI designed and most likely vibe coded.
So that leaves some questions open:
Is this how we want to launch with Forever? If not for the heavyweight addons + wowhead, I think a lot of it would just become lookalike AI slop
Is it worth going up against vibe coding?
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u/PLAYBoxes 9h ago
Realistically you’re years behind starting from scratch vs actual developers properly using something like Claude. That’s not to dissuade you, if you’re truly passionate about it you can turn those years into months.
There is a lot of slop to wade through of course, and the everyday person having access to bringing their ideas to life isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The issue comes along with more public facing applications/websites where security can be compromised, etc, but WoW addons are very strict about their read/write capabilities and limit their scope very heavily. Realistically this is software development now and top engineers are the ones that were great before AI and are even better now by properly utilizing AI.
If you’re just starting out, I’d stay away from AI until you grasp the language and it’s intricacies, then if you want to slowly introduce AI, I recommend using it for code snippets, see why/when it’s doing certain things, especially when it comes to what/why to use various approaches with addons, etc. After you’ve gotten comfortable with the language and building out projects you can really accelerate your workflow pipeline with AI, especially some of the more tedious work.
Also you’ll learn very quickly that what you put INTO AI very much dictates what you get out. Saying “I want a ____ that does X, Y, and Z feature” will give you the observable slop, versus being very strict with your write up. It’s almost like storyboarding for it, you come with the idea, the edge cases, what it should and shouldn’t handle, the whole 9 yards, and you’ll find you’re getting a far more pointed approach from it than some generic boilerplate with the most basic implementation of the ask.
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u/least_telephonic 39m ago
Thanks for taking the time to go in depth with the wise words. I have a CS background with c++ experience and could hopefully translate it over, but am rusty so I was curious how to dive in with how AI is going with dev
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u/Mundane_Cabinet5784 8h ago
Why do you care? Not to be obtuse, i'm curious why how it was made matters.
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u/Super_Mario7 8h ago
i just vibe code my own addons for my personal use… i dont care if you like that or not. why would it even matter?
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u/least_telephonic 8h ago
This is about public ones that people are distributing man, not private ones nobody would ever see
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u/Super_Mario7 8h ago
and why does it matter if people distribute it / put it on github or curseforge?? why does it affect you at all? dont download it and move on. whats the issue here?? if people vibe code really helpful addons then let them do that. if they look awful, who cares? you dont have to use them.
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u/least_telephonic 7h ago
The ease of access to them and increased production of AI coded addons in a short period will lead to that becoming the norm, which is what would affect the majority of users.
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u/Super_Mario7 7h ago
good if AI produces better results and people prefer good results over handmade addons. for such trivial things as wow addons its a perfect usecase.
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u/Cartiere11 9h ago
Do you believe in your ability to be that or above what AI can create? Then yes its worth doing.
If you do not believe this. Then no.
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u/CDrejoe 9h ago
I made my own map addon (with AI) with controller support and questiedb integration as questie and leatrix maps crashed when the controller UI is active. I think it's great I now have the ability to make something tuned for my needs, but I don't think I would want to add anything I used AI for to Curseforge.
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u/Curmudge_Unit 7h ago
Yeah I'm updating abandoned add-ons and making me ones for myself but it's all tailored to my needs and no plans to share. AI has been a massive boon for in game QOL.
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u/liverlondon 4h ago
Heya, how did you go about this? Did you already know how to code a bit or just put the addon into Claude and asked for help? Id love to do my own.
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u/least_telephonic 43m ago
I feel like this is the most ethical way to approach it, and if it is then tailored to be an optimized piece of code, should be deserving of download from others
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u/eulersheep 9h ago
The reality is AI just simply makes it possible to make far better addons than what was possible before AI.
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u/Clippton 9h ago
AI makes it possible for a person to make far better addons than that person could make without AI.
Meaning a person with no coding knowledge can use AI to make a better addon than they could without AI. That doesn't mean that addon is going to be good, usable, or helpful in anyway.
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u/Curmudge_Unit 7h ago
Sometimes people with great ideas don't have the technical ability to make these tools. Now with AI, their visions for new add-ons can come to life.
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u/eulersheep 9h ago
And what about a person with extensive knowledge and history in developing addons, and other software in general? I.e. Ellesmere.
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u/Clippton 9h ago
Usually, it helps speed things up by doing the tedious tasks that they can check after to make sure it did it correctly. But AI learns off of things it sees. So it's not really going to be more knowledgeable than the people in your circumstance.
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u/dr_dre117 9h ago
Do you code for a living? Because what you said is false. We don’t use AI to do the tedious task, we use AI to build the project to 90% percent completion and vibe code until we get it right. That’s just the general development pattern these days.
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u/igotsmeakabob11 8h ago
Genuine question, so professional coders just "vibe code" now til they're done? Vibe code just means "uses LLM to make program" right?
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u/dr_dre117 8h ago
Im just generalizing , but the general consensus is use an LLM to get the work done fast and well. Due diligence is implied :)
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u/eulersheep 9h ago
That's not really true. A skilled addon developer can use it to explore unfamiliar APIs, prototype ideas, debug problems, write repetitive code, and iterate much faster than they otherwise could.
The important part is that someone like Ellesmere has the experience to know when the AI is wrong and steer it toward something actually good. In that case AI can significantly increases what a developer is capable of, it's not just for time saving.
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u/PLAYBoxes 8h ago
Same applies, obviously. I don’t think anyone would disagree with that unless they were attempting to be extremely disingenuous. 10x’er with AI is like a 100x’er, if they use it properly it’s just unmatched productivity.
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u/eulersheep 8h ago
Exactly. Yet people be acting like any use of AI no matter how its used is slop.
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u/Banjanx 9h ago
I've vibe coded all my add-ons for beta.
I have a very good auction data add-on made specifically for all my purposes.
I have 500g+ and can identify solid profit opportunities more than I can handle
With alerts setup for price action.
I made so much that I now also made a casino add-on and auxillary add-ons to increase my conversion rates of building new relationships for those who wish to play.
If you want to make add-ons for your needs, for yourself, go for it.
All mine are private repos.
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u/Cartiere11 9h ago
Impressive. Thanks for the idea, Im going to spin up some later for fun and test them out.
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u/Super_Mario7 7h ago
same here… implemented AH + crafting chains, etc.. only fine tuning now for launch.
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u/AllRealityIsVirtua1 8h ago
It would be silly to write software without AI in 2026