Danikat wrote: »

It's not a simple yes or no question. Out of date addons can cause crashes, but that doesn't mean all addons will cause crashes or that all crashes are caused by addons.

It's also not consistent from one patch to the next because it depends on what exactly was changed and how it affects each addon - so one addon might cause crashes after one patch but might be fine next time, and a different one which has always been fine before could start causing crashes.

They can also cause less serious bugs, including some really strange ones. A while ago I was skyshard hunting just after a patch and one of the skyshards wasn't there. I looked up guides with screenshots and videos to make sure I had exactly the right spot and I could actually see an empty space just the right size in the middle of a pile of clutter where it should be but the skyshard itself was gone. I really didn't believe people telling me to disable my addons, but it worked - the skyshard reappeared. (And once I'd got it I could enable them again to carry on.)

I think the important point is it's a quick and simple thing players can do themselves which might fix the problem. If your options are being unable to play because the game keeps crashing or disabling one or more addons and then being able to carry on it's worth checking. Especially if it turns out the problem is due to an addon you don't use very often.

My normal approach is to enable all out of date addons and see what happens. Most of the time it's fine, but if there is a problem I disable them again and then enable them one by one to see which one is causing the problem, then when I find it I keep that one off until it's updated. From past experience the only two I really don't like playing without are the mini map and advanced filters, everything else I can live without.