zygor guide question

[atlantis99]

so is it completely safe to use the new guide or could we get banned for it?

[Bulldogg13]

It is completely safe! "SAFE" is stated around his whole website.. Go check the Main page www.Zygorguides.com and you will see that He talks about how it complies with Blizzard rules and is safe.


~Kyle

[dubcat]

The thing about Zygor guide complies with Blizzard rules, is not true at all.
Do you guys even know what the rules are ?

Add-ons must be free of charge. = I did not get this addon (ZygorGuide) for free
Add-ons may not solicit donations. = I did not get this addon (ZygorGuide) for free

Take a look HERE for the rest


But I don't relay care, this is the best guide I have ever used. Keep it up Zygor!

[Zygor]

The thing about Zygor guide complies with Blizzard rules, is not true at all.
Do you guys even know what the rules are ?

Add-ons must be free of charge. = I did not get this addon (ZygorGuide) for free
Add-ons may not solicit donations. = I did not get this addon (ZygorGuide) for free

Please do not spread this false information. The addons, our ZygorGuidesViewer and ZygorTalentAdvisor, are freely downloadable via the sample guides we give away free on our website, complying with "Add-ons must be free of charge".

The rule "Add-ons may not solicit donations" does not even apply to us at all, as we do not solicit donations in-game, our out of game.

Sometimes users get confused and think that our ZygorGuidesViewer is the guides themselves, when that is not the case at all.

Our actual step-by-step guides do not load as addons, you will not find them in your addon list - you will only find the Viewer which, again, is given away freely in our samples.

The guides are text files, loaded by the Viewer, they are not addons. We give you our addons in our samples, we sell our text step-by-step guides.

So, in closing, yes, our guides DO actually comply with Blizzard's policies. Thank you.

[deathking]

I need help!

ok i see the 2.0 guide so i follow the instructions and it won't work HELP ME and i did it without using WinWar HELP ME!

[cabby]

The thing about Zygor guide complies with Blizzard rules, is not true at all.
Do you guys even know what the rules are ?

Add-ons must be free of charge. = I did not get this addon (ZygorGuide) for free
Add-ons may not solicit donations. = I did not get this addon (ZygorGuide) for free

Take a look HERE for the rest


But I don't relay care, this is the best guide I have ever used. Keep it up Zygor!

An easier way to think of it is imagine if you got the MobInfo2 addon. The addon itself is completely free for anyone to download. Now if the author decided to charge for the database import file for MobInfo2 he'd still be in compliance with the new rules because MobInfo2 does not need that database import to function fully. Anyone with the MobInfo2 addon will build their own personal database just simply from using the addon so that database import is just a means to save some time.

The exact same thing applies to the Zygor Guide Viewer and the Zygor Talent Advisor. As you can see from the first sticky post in this forum, anyone can create their own .lua files containing talent builds to use with the Talent Viewer. Same thing applies to the guides.

[cabby]

ok i see the 2.0 guide so i follow the instructions and it won't work HELP ME and i did it without using WinWar HELP ME!

This isn't very much information to go on. Try this, inside your AddOns folder, delete all folders with Cartographer or Zygor in their name. After that, download and install Version 2.0 again.

If this doesn't work give more information about what you do and don't see, any error messages, etc. Just saying it doesn't work gives nothing to go on to help you get stuff working.

[caedis]

An easier way to think of it is imagine if you got the MobInfo2 addon. The addon itself is completely free for anyone to download. Now if the author decided to charge for the database import file for MobInfo2 he'd still be in compliance with the new rules because MobInfo2 does not need that database import to function fully. Anyone with the MobInfo2 addon will build their own personal database just simply from using the addon so that database import is just a means to save some time.

The exact same thing applies to the Zygor Guide Viewer and the Zygor Talent Advisor. As you can see from the first sticky post in this forum, anyone can create their own .lua files containing talent builds to use with the Talent Viewer. Same thing applies to the guides.

I just bought the addon after using the 1-13 guide and I must say, I was shaky about the price at first but it is a VERY high quality product. The main reason I bought it though was for the continued Blizz patch updates for life. (love that too) I did get scared when I read the language in the Blizzard UI policy doc.

I realize the thinking and the pricing model is essentially out of the realm of suspicion, but I just still feel scared that my beloved guide will get taken away! Have you guys contacted a Blizzard rep and had them look over the pricing model to determine beyond a shadow of a doubt that you’re covered? I mostly ask so that you can have a rep say in Black and white that your safe so if they turn around and try to go back on what they say, you have them on record (for legal purposes) stating the opposite. I guess I'm just enjoying the guide so much that my mind keeps saying "it's too good to be true."

[arthanus]

Please do not spread this false information. The addons, our ZygorGuidesViewer and ZygorTalentAdvisor, are freely downloadable via the sample guides we give away free on our website, complying with "Add-ons must be free of charge".

The rule "Add-ons may not solicit donations" does not even apply to us at all, as we do not solicit donations in-game, our out of game.

Sometimes users get confused and think that our ZygorGuidesViewer is the guides themselves, when that is not the case at all.

Our actual step-by-step guides do not load as addons, you will not find them in your addon list - you will only find the Viewer which, again, is given away freely in our samples.

The guides are text files, loaded by the Viewer, they are not addons. We give you our addons in our samples, we sell our text step-by-step guides.

So, in closing, yes, our guides DO actually comply with Blizzard's policies. Thank you.

I just read the UI Add-on Developement Policy for the first time, and I actually do have a concern.

"1) Add-ons must be free of charge.
All add-ons must be distributed free of charge. Developers may not create "premium" versions of add-ons with additional for-pay features, charge money to download an add-on, charge for services related to the add-on, or otherwise require some form of monetary compensation to download or access an add-on."

Although your Guide Viewer is free, wouldn't the actual .lua that you sell (i.e., your actual guide file) constitute an "additional for-pay feature"?

I understand that the Viewer is offered free, and that the actual guide files are what we are paying for, but that in itself is very shaky ground when looking at this new policy.

Your "sample" containing the viewer has to be seen as the original add-on to allow it to work within the scope of the new UI policy. If this is the case, couldn't the files needed to access the guide past level 13 be seen as a "premium" version?

I am only asking because I don't want to be banned from this game, and I see an issue here where we are playing a semantics game...one that is up to the discretion of the WoW staff, not us. If they decide that we have read and comprehended the policy wrong, then we are banned.

[ZG Support 1]

Our guide is not loaded as an addon, so policies about addons, no matter how detailed, are irrelevant.

[caedis]

Are guide is not loaded as an addon, so policies about addons, no matter how detailed, are irrelevant.

So you guys have talked to a Blizzard rep and they had no objections? That's really where my question was.

I'm just saying because if you have I would definatly want to publicize that, since it would really put the whole debate to rest permanently and ease many peoples nerves. (Mine included)

[ZG Support 1]

So you guys have talked to a Blizzard rep and they had no objections? That's really where my question was.

Blizzard doesn't communicate with guide makers ever since they tried to sue Brian Kopp and lost. That said, there's really no reason to talk with them because their addon policy is publicly available. It says not to sell addons, so we don't.

[caedis]

Blizzard doesn't communicate with guide makers ever since they tried to sue Brian Kopp and lost. [...]

Now I'm really confused.

Sorry, I’m not meaning to be a pain. I'm just trying to be thorough.

What is this line in the policy for if not to allow you to have an outlet for these kinds of questions?

If you are an add-on developer and have any questions about and this User Interface Add-On Development Policy and how it pertains to the add-on that you've developed, please don't hesitate to email us at WoWUI@blizzard.com.

While I understand your situation with Blizzard as far as being a guide maker is tenuous. I doubt that simply asking for validation would be detrimental. If I were Blizzard I would make every attempt to field policy questions effectively, so as to prevent honest mistakes. Additionally I think if they did find Zygor in violation they would have a grace period for you to come into compliance however that may be. Whereas simply charging ahead would cause them to be less lenient and send the ubiquitous "Cease and desist" orders from the outset once they did discover whatever it (if anything) is they don’t like.

I’m not really worried about being banned, since it would not be in Blizzards interests to ban players using guides. They need only send the kill-bit to the client to prevent an addon from being loaded. More, I’m worried that you guys would get in trouble and not be able to provide such an excellent product/service to us.

[ZG Support 1]

We have never received a cease and desist letter from Blizzard and it's pretty clear they know we exist and have had plenty of time to contact us. We have a legal team that specializes in digital law and copyright who monitor everything we do. You don't have to worry about us, I was just trying to explain that it would be inappropriate to send Blizzard something that wasn't an addon and ask them if it follows their addon policies. Unless you meant the Zygor Guide Viewer, which doesn't need to be verified because we give it out for free.

[caedis]

We have a legal team that specializes in digital law and copyright who monitor everything we do. You don't have to worry about us, I was just trying to explain that it would be inappropriate to send Blizzard something that wasn't an addon and ask them if it follows their addon policies. Unless you meant the Zygor Guide Viewer, which doesn't need to be verified because we give it out for free.

Okay, as long as you guys are legally covered that works for me.