I own two licenses for Carbonite, I think it is great.  The features that brought me to it are the map replacements and the quest tracking.

With each release, however, I'm seeing more features added that I'm not interested in using.  I'm forced to upgrade because eventually the older version I am using will stop working and I'm required to download and install a newer version.  I'm sure that others value the newer features but to me, the new features are bloat.

Please consider breaking Carbonite down into a suite of addons instead of requiring everyone to have everything.  Me, I want map-improvements and quests, but I can do without the herbalism/mining node tracking, the pvp "punk" features, and these newest "info windows" that pop up.

Thanks. 

 Seconded.  I realy think the "we replace your whole interface whether you like it or not" approach is very bad.  It's completely ignoring a lot of lessons learned from years ago.  There used to be a few huge mods that tried to make everything awesome.  The problem was that most people liked one or two things they did a lot, were indifferent about half of it (which wasted cpu) and hated the rest. 

 Component-based modding is totally the way to go.  Just make each concept either a different mod, or a separate file in your mod.  Or, better yet, and this might be harder but more to your liking, make it so as a paying subscriber, I pick which components I want, then your code generator (which is putting my name/server/etc in it) just doesn't include the features I don't want.  That would be completely awesome.  A nice little check box of options I could use.

-x

 Hehe i have asked for modulation for a long time - maybe now it will reach the ears of the developers.

reason for modulating rather than selecting features at download. Imagine one feature is useful on one toon but not the other it would be easy to just select that 'addon' for one toon and not the other

loopinvariant:

Please consider breaking Carbonite down into a suite of addons instead of requiring everyone to have everything.

All of these features you listed can be disabled. You can strip Carbonite down quite a bit. 

loopinvariant:

but I can do without the herbalism/mining node tracking

Uncheck "Show gather locations."

loopinvariant:

the pvp "punk" features

Uncheck all these Punks options in the "Social & Punks" menu of features on the main Carbonite options.

loopinvariant:

these newest "info windows" that pop up

These are already modular. 

faatal:

The Info windows are totally modular, only use resources for the ones you make with the "New" command, don't update when closed and if deleted will be completely gone the next time you login or reload the UI.

Ryan,

It isn't as simple as that.  In the context of this discussion, to implement something modularly means to divide the code into modules that can be loaded -- or not loaded.  What you describe is just changing the way code already acts once it has been loaded into memory.

The Carbonite addon is implemented in a single, large (2Mb) file named Carbonite.lua.  It is loaded entirely into memory, so even if I disable a feature the functionality within the addon will still be occupying memory on my computer while I play Warcraft, and even to some extent using the CPU time depending on how it is implemented (for example, whether or not they remove event hooks or simply drop the events before processing them).

The point of my original post is that the Carbonite that exists today is pretty different from the one I bought, having new features added that I really don't want or that other addons do just as well (such as Gatherer).  On top of this, I have no choice but to upgrade to the latest version because the addon self-expires and forces me to upgrade.

The fact that I can "turn off" these features is not relevant because they still occupy memory and use CPU time.  For a product that I'm paying for, I don't appreciate this.  I paid for X, and now I'm being forced to load and run XYZ and who knows what next.

Carbonite is doing too much for me, things that I don't appreciate and that I don't want.  I would like to see it broken up into a suite of Addons, in the way that Deadly Boss Mods or one of the truly modular addons operates.

What it really boils down to is that because I am not being allowed the choice of what I am installing on my computer, and the overhead that I encounter during gameplay is being increased outside my control, I'll probably not renew the two licenses that I have.  This is going to really frustrate me because I absolutely LOVE the map and quest enhancements.

Guys - you don't have to keep adding new features to keep customers.  I for one am more than happy to keep supporting (financially) the product with the features I want, and I don't need to be appeased with new features.  If you want to create a Carbonite "family" that I have access to with my subscription, that would be a very cool model, but stop forcing me to take features I don't want, adding more overhead to my game with every new release.

Thanks. 

There was a similar discussion about this here.

loopinvariant:

What it really boils down to is that because I am not being allowed the choice of what I am installing on my computer

I've seen other addons out there that will accomplish what you're looking for out of Carbonite, without the other features Carbonite offers.

loopinvariant:

For a product that I'm paying for, I don't appreciate this.  I paid for X, and now I'm being forced to load and run XYZ and who knows what next.

You paid for: "...a multi feature addon developed by game industry veterans to improve and enhance the game playing experience of World of Warcraft. Our mission is to provide the most feature rich and reliable addon in the WOW universe." - as seen on the Carbonite homepage.

loopinvariant:

Guys - you don't have to keep adding new features to keep customers.  I for one am more than happy to keep supporting (financially) the product with the features I want, and I don't need to be appeased with new features.

This is the chief reason I'm so drawn to Carbonite. I continue to get more and more for my money, all while not seeing much of a change in performance at all. What is the point in paying for a subscription to a static addon that never changes or improves, yet it just keeps dipping into your wallet? I love the constant addition of Carbonite features and I feel like you make up a minute portion of all the Carbonite users by saying you don't want any new features out of this addon.

My real problem with the forced additions is conflicts with other mods.  Right now, I've dropped two mods that I really liked because Carbonite broke them or replaced them in a non-friendly way (ex: Cartographer.  I prefer Cartographer's map functionality, but I can't use that with Carbonite, or nQuestLog: it's a better quest tracker, has more functionality, is more mature, but is nearly useless if I want the Carbonite map, since I have the Carbonite quest log anyway...) -- but what I worry about is interferance with other mods.  If Carbonite adds in a bag-replacement, it's entirely likely it wil break my bag mod.  And what if I don't like Carbonite's bag mod?  In most cases, even if I "disable" the Carbonite stuff, it is entirely likely that Carbonite's hooking of all the functions needed for bag integration then unhooking will have some lasting side effects, even if it's not replacing the original bags any more...

 It's not something I've really encountered so far, I just worry.  I *prefer* module addons because it allows me to safely pick and choose my features, without worrying that something is sitting there listening to OnEvent going "I'm disabled?  Okay." and dropping my frame rate by 2fps even though it's disabled. Multiply that by the 20+ other functionalities they will eventually have that I don't want/agree with/whatever, and I'm done for. :)

On the other hand, I could go on the assumption that the Carbonite guys are awesome enough to never hook a function that isn't used by any enabled feature, so even if there is a hooking issue with another mod, it would be resolved with a reload.... 

Anyway.  More important than my personal preferences.  If paying a dollar a month gave access to a suite of mods that people could pick from?  I bet you'd get more customers.:)

-x

I agree with the "if I don't use it I want to be able to disable it and have it not use resources" concept.

In Lua both code and data can easily be deleted after an addon loads. I added a Modules options page today. It has a "Enable Info windows" checkbox. When Carbonite starts up, this will cause all Info window code to be deleted if not enabled. Without code, it won't make any frames, menus and the like.

This concept will be applied to other features new and old as time permits.

faatal:

I agree with the "if I don't use it I want to be able to disable it and have it not use resources" concept.

In Lua both code and data can easily be deleted after an addon loads. I added a Modules options page today. It has a "Enable Info windows" checkbox. When Carbonite starts up, this will cause all Info window code to be deleted if not enabled. Without code, it won't make any frames, menus and the like.

This concept will be applied to other features new and old as time permits.

This is why Carbonite is awesome - the level of support and attention to what customers are saying.

Thanks faatal.