is the wave modifer for animation only?

i tried playing with it an i saw no effect.

http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Manual/Wave_Modifier

Needs verts, so if your just using a simple plane nothing will happen. Try testing with a default grid.

and then you do alt-A or change the frame number slowly and increase the frame number and you’ll see the wave move along the object

but it’s faster to see it if you animate it

Salutations