BlindSlash: Making World of Warcraft Playable for the Blind

Julian, the creator of BlindSlash, shares how he turned a simple idea into one of the most powerful accessibility tools for blind World of Warcraft players — all without any prior programming experience.

Could you please tell us a bit about yourself and your background in gaming or development?

Hi, I’m Julian from Germany. I mostly enjoy playing MMORPGs and have been playing World of Warcraft for many years. Before working on BlindSlash, I didn’t have any programming experience.

What’s your connection to the blind or visually impaired community — personally or professionally?

I develop BlindSlash — an AddOn for World of Warcraft that helps make the game more accessible for blind players.

How would you describe BlindSlash to someone who’s never heard of it?

BlindSlash allows blind players to play World of Warcraft using sound and speech. Every aspect of the interface is addressed — whether it’s a player’s inventory, menu options, or health and ability tracking through sound. But sound alone isn’t enough. Imagine trying to interact with your character’s inventory without a mouse — just using a keyboard. That’s normally not possible in WoW. So I implemented ways to navigate through every button and get spoken feedback about what it does.

You can only begin your adventure if you can move through the world. That’s where a waypoint-based pathfinding system comes in — it enables players to travel from place to place using sound beacons.

What inspired you to create the AddOn? Was there a particular moment or story that sparked it?

I stumbled across a livestream of a blind gamer playing with a friend. I was curious how he played and saw that he used a lot of scripts to click UI buttons — like “join battle” — which he found online. Since I was familiar with macros, I gave him some suggestions.

One day, he said, “Why not turn this into an AddOn?”

I had never written a program before. At first, I thought it would just be a few code snippets players could trigger through chat commands. I originally made it just for veteran blind players, so they wouldn’t need to paste in code every time.

In World of Warcraft, commands start with a slash — so I named it BlindSlash.

Eventually, new blind players became interested, too. We spent hours in voice chat figuring out what could and couldn’t be made accessible. We made plans, tested things, and to our surprise, many things we thought were impossible actually worked out.

What specific problems or limitations does BlindSlash help solve for blind players?

Navigating the interface using only the keyboard and receiving text-to-speech feedback is one major area. From menus and action bar configuration to windows like mission tables — even many third-party AddOns became accessible indirectly.

BlindSlash provides hotkeys to reach parts of the interface quickly, and additional buttons that simplify choices. For example, there’s a button to “show only choosable talents,” or shortcuts to pick spells from the spellbook.

For quest navigation, there’s a menu system called “waylist” that lets players choose a destination and follow sound beacons along roads to reach quest objectives, vendors, flight points, and more. Creating this required manually mapping countless locations across the world.

Beyond that, I developed many accessibility tools for different needs: an interact spin that turns the character toward objects, a mini aura creator, and custom sounds for tracking health, target casting, distance, direction, wall detection, and more. Everything can be toggled on or off depending on the player’s preferences.

Even a simple Tooltip Reader called KeyboardPort — originally made for older players — can be used for accessibility.

Players can also bind keys through chat, customize macro commands, track travel paths, keep chat history, and more.

When did you start developing the project, and how has it evolved since then?

I began working on it around 2020. At first, players only used slash commands to interact with the UI. Since then, I’ve added menus and shortcuts that make gameplay smoother and more intuitive. Still, slash commands remain a useful option — like “/ambience 0.5” to set ambience volume to 50%.

Are you working on it solo or with a team? How is the work organized?

I do all the coding myself. Mapping the world is done by me and two community mappers, all by hand. Together, we’ve covered a huge part of the world.

I recently created a version of BlindSlash for WoW Classic so that players can enjoy it in Mists of Pandaria Classic. I also hope to bring our maps into that version.

What are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced — technical, community-related, or otherwise?

There have been many, mostly figuring out how to help players interact with parts of the game that aren’t normally accessible. For example, targeting quest mobs or completing vehicle quests.

One major challenge was building the pathfinding system. I couldn’t use an existing solution because blind players don’t know what elevation they’re on. A typical algorithm might send a player through the roof if it doesn’t recognize floors. So I created a system based on point chains instead of standalone nodes.

How do you test features for blind players?

I often watch them play via stream to see what works and what could be improved. There’s always something new to fix or enhance.

How has the World of Warcraft community responded to the addon so far?

Some YouTubers have made videos about BlindSlash. One notable example is Preach Gaming: https://youtu.be/Defio9rDe2s

What kind of feedback have you received from blind or low-vision players?

Most are really happy to finally be able to explore the world. There’s a learning curve to playing with BlindSlash, so players often share tips or ask questions in our Discord.

Do you see the potential for BlindSlash (or similar tools) to influence Blizzard or the wider game dev community?

Yes — and it’s already happening. I’m in contact with Blizzard developers and share accessibility suggestions with them. They’ve made some changes, and they’re planning to add customizable sounds in the future. Since World of Warcraft is such a huge game, these changes might influence others in the industry.

What are your long-term goals for BlindSlash?

To create a stable, long-term accessibility solution that blind players can rely on for years to come.

Do you plan to adapt the addon for other games or build similar accessibility tools in the future?

Not at the moment — I’m focused entirely on BlindSlash.

How can people support the project or get involved — as testers, developers, or donors?

I have a Patreon where people can support the project: www.patreon.com/BlindSlash

What’s the best way to follow updates about BlindSlash?

Join the BlindSlash Discord to ask questions, connect with other players, or stay up to date: discord.gg/8nmy89yyu4