I'm sorry to say that I use Doc easily 95% of the time as well. Up until that point I used Kira exclusively and really wanted to keep using her for the DPS boost but it turned the game into a 'fight/rest/heal' cycle that I just couldn't deal with. Doc is really the only viable option when you get him because he reduces your down time by more than any other companion available AND is essential if you want to take on the harder mobs. I'm a lvl 50 Defense-spec Guardian and would love to be able to use another companion more often but it isn't in the cards. I'm not sure what the solution is but if you want to play the game and not die non-stop at the higher tiers (lvl 50 crap on Ilum is stacked so close that it is hard to avoid pulling 2+ groups at the same time) you only have one choice.

Sorry - I was responding to the second post on this thread - not yours.

Rift is anything but 'fail from the beginning'. It might not be your cup of tea but it is a solid game that was probably the most fully realized in all aspects of any recently released MMO. And their release cycle of new content is staggering, no other game even comes close and it is free.

While I don't disagree with the concept on its face this change *will* add a huge influx of requests to customer service when items that the person didn't intend to sell get automatically sold. That will happen - no two ways around it, so Bioware has taken the path of least resistance and made it only the truly useless items. What they need to do is put back the button on the vendor window that would automatically sell all grays when you had it open (the same thing the Companion does remotely) - it was in Beta for a bit and I have zero concept of why they removed it.

Ah - this age old comment. Tedium is not game play - never has been, never will be.

I was actually thinking about this exact same idea a couple days ago but hadn't gotten around to putting it down on 'paper'. Great idea, imho - and I support it.

How is this is 'abuse'? Having the ability to rapidly join your friends for content should be something encouraged. It takes out the tedium of waiting around and twiddling your thumbs while people come from across the galaxy just so you can start playing the darn game.

Thirdeded.

My personal experience contradicts yours. You haven't come across it - nice for you. That doesn't make your anecdotal evidence or opinion any more valid than mine. The pro-addon crowd will not be swayed by anything presented any more than those of us against them are likely to be moved into a sudden pro stance. I will take my personal experience in seeing the detrimental impact of them over the years over your assurances that I'm wrong - but I appreciate you taking the time to try and school me on the finer points of debate team.

Fine. Do you agree or disagree that the majority of add-ons make the game easier to play by presenting information in a format that was not intended by the development team (or they would have presented that information themselves). If it doesn't make the game easier then what is the point? I'm against the dumbing down of the game to feed the lowest common denominator. I have watched a number of games get ruined by just that practice.

So - you are saying that my personal experience with people using parsers to cull the 'dead weight' are false? Phew - that is quite a load off my mind. Because clearly if you personally haven't experienced something it has never happened.

So clearly you have experienced everything I have in MMO's to know that my statements are invalid. Wow - that is a whole new level of elitism. I have personally witnessed the results of Ez-mode gaming over the years as systems get overlaid to make things easier. Not even remotely invalid and built on solid experience. I say emphatically, no thanks.

I'll make this quick and simple. Just because you don't agree with the reasons people put forth for not wanting add-ons does not make the 'false'. Edit: By the by - I gave you a reason as you requested on one of my feelings regarding what add-ons (not all, as I stated) can do to people and how they treat others. It is not just my perception - I have witnessed it first hand. That makes my opinion not only valid by personally verifiable. It is certainly not 'false'. If you need bar in the middle of the screen just so you don't accidently die or miss pushing the '1' key at exactly the right moment then I suggest maybe the complicated world of a non-WoW MMO isn't for you.

The only way you can make a statement like the above is if you haven't bothered to read the other posts because you feel that add-ons are required. Other people have given a myriad of legitimate reasons why they are bad for a game (not all of them assuredly but those that suddenly be required in guilds/raids) and just because you don't agree with their reasons doesn't make them less valid. At the very core of them - they take away from the way the game is intended to be played by the developers/designers by adding in information that they didn't intend for you to have 'in your face'. That information is then used to spawn an entire elitest group of players that decide that not hitting an arbitrary threshold reflected in their 'add-on of the day' automatically makes you an inferior player, when in fact, you are playing the game and not the numbers.

So - how about a parser that only parses your dmg and healing while ignoring that of everyone around you? If people are only trying to better themselves and not use them as a way of weeding out the 'bad players' then nobody should object to just getting information that helps them personally become a better player. Right? The fact is that people just want these things to compare themselves to others and in many cases to allow them actual numbers to use to dictate how other people should be configuring their playstyles and characters.

There are zero add-ons that are required/mandatory or needed. Plenty of games outside of WoW have thrived without ever making a 3rd party API.

I'm not afraid of something like Recount (which I imagine is a parser, I'm not a WoW player though I did run through some trials more than once with the thousands of add-on packs people recommended) I do use a parser in EQ2 which is still my primary MMO and I love it. I use it all the time in groups, raids and solo'ing. The problem isn't using the parser for my personal usage and to better myself as you are alluding to here. The problem is when other people start using the parser to impose restrictions on other people. Not grouping with them, not raiding with them, etc. because they are perceived to the a 'bad player'.

I believe I already did. And any conversation which tries to blanketly call for add-ons to be added while trying to squash the dissenting opinion is a good place for me to voice my opposition. I appreciate your attempts to quell my counter opinion, but you shall fail.

I agree with this stance.

I read it just fine but clearly you didn't bother to read or comprehend what I was saying. Like someone else stated, I will answer the question simply and easily so you get it. None - no add-ons.

See - you can't have this type of conversation without assessing both sides. You are automatically taking the 'Pro' add-on side by even creating the topic and then telling the other side that they aren't allowed to comment. So, if people follow your instructions to the letter all Bioware sees is a full thread that supports the add-on idea 100 percent and gets a skewed view. Despite your assertion otherwise - I vote solidly on the No Add-on side of the equation on this thread as on the others to show we aren't all on board with it. I won't go into the many reasons why opening an API to the free world can cause problems as those have been rehashed on the other threads ad infinitum but I take exception to the attempt to restrict a valid opposing view.

I apologize - I thought you were asking for an entire add-on system like WoW - which I'm personally against for various reasons.

I may be wrong but I think they are approaching this more as allowing the UI to be customized within the constraints of the existing system more than allowing custom add-ons to overlay gameplay. Think more EQ2 UI modification than WoW. This is based on what they have said in interviews, etc. All I REALLY want/need is the ability to but a third hotbar row at the bottom and I would be content.

A third bottom bar would go a long way to making my life easier... trying to get everything in a usable location is proving to be a challenge.