Black Box

A black box is any thing that is defined solely by its input/output relations. Input A go in, Output 1 come out. The processes involved might be unknown, unknowable, or just irrelevant. In WoW, players are black boxes.

I know some people who run with no macros or add-ons at all; this strikes me as utter crazy talk, but they consider that playing without them is a more challenging or pure experience. That may be me putting words in mouths, but whatever it is, they find something noble in not using any of these things. They intentionally make the game more difficult, thinking perhaps that they are better players than the cheap players that use these aids.

Let me be clear: you are not a better player simply because you don't use any add-ons or macros. Players are black boxes; we are defined by what outputs we give for given inputs. Inputs being what we see, and outputs being what our characters do. If macros improve performance, you are a WORSE player for choosing to lower your performance. I was a worse DPS before Quartz let me account for lag. There was nothing noble or good about guessing when to cast the next spell. The same goes for macros; if DKs benefit from Rune Strike macros, I say do it! Don't hesitate to improve your output, because that alone is what makes you a better player.

Never be afraid to use all the tools at your disposal to be the best that you can be. These things are in the game for a reason: if Blizz didn't want macros to be part of WoW, they wouldn't be there. Same for add-ons, so go script up a /castsequence macro, load up Clique and DBM, and never look back. We're all better for it.