What!! NO ADD-ONS to be authorized!!!!

[Xilentor]

I think people that don't want add-ons are looking at the game from a different point of view. They do not want to play because they want to improve their character, get better gear, min-max, have any notion of understanding game mechanics etc. That's fine, they are usually an RPer that will be like "Wow, did you see that cut scene?! I love stories, this is the coolest thing ever." Typically these players are significantly less skilled, because they simply don't care about improving. They want "immersion", they don't want to play a game, they want to be immersed in a world.

 

However they are also the type of player that isn't likely to stick around as long as the raider or PvPer, they will move on to next single player experience. This is something Bioware should perhaps consider.

 

There isn't a better or worse way of playing the game, just different.

Edited January 7, 2012 by Xilentor

[Cretinus]

I simply don't understand why people come here from WoW, but then want this game to be exactly like WoW. Why did you came here then? Why don't you simply go on and play WoW, if it's exactly to your taste?

 

SWTOR is surely based on WoW but you can already tell that there are things the devs do not want here. One of them is third party addons. I can even imagine that (rather sooner than later) they'll integrate more info into the UI. Some sort of DPS meters probably, and something like mouseover frames for healers. But they'll do it the way they think it's best for the game's balance and they'll make sure that everybody has easy access to the same stuff without having to be a tweaker.

 

My 2 cents.

[Dumuzid]

So the people crying and whining about how add-ons are required for the Cata raids - guess what. I resubbed to WoW when Firelands launched - and redownloaded the client. I thought I had a few days to do UI **** and whatnot, turns out my guild needed me to heal that very night. Keep in mind I had only two or three heroic pieces from TotFW/tier1cata raids, so my gear was pretty bad in comparison to everyone elses, who already was partially decked in FL normal gear.

 

I didn't have time to watch fights, I didn't have time to do **** to my UI. Every fight except Ragnaros/Alysrazor I performed well and we had no wipes/deaths, with healing numbers being where they should have been. On 25 man. As a Disc Priest. With far less than optimal gear. Alys took two attempts, Rag took three.

 

I went and added add-ons anyways. Players who get to hard-modes or who like competition like to challenge themselves, and add-ons help with this. DBM/Bigwigs may make fights easier, but do you really want to pay attention to the chat bar for cues when this is your 15th+ time doing an engagement? I know I don't. Can't tell you how *********** tired I was of hearing/reading The Lich King's rambling during Hard Modes.

 

Verbal cues? I listen to music when I raid/do ops on top of Ventrilo chatter from the raid leader. It's my choice - I shouldn't have to have game music turned up over my teammates/personal music.

 

Which boils down to the real issue here - addon supporters want choice. Those of you who throw around 'WELL, ADDONS MAKE THINGS TOO EASY! PAY ATTENTION TO THE GAME/DEAL WITH THE UI/I DONT WANT PEOPLE KNOWING MY DPS' are limiting those of us that enjoy challenging ourselves/customizing our interface/comparing our damage/healing ratios to our teammates.

 

In short, deal with it. If we won't have Recount to gauge where your numbers are, we'll quickly find out via another way. And bads will still be kicked/replaced, and said bads will whine regardless. Not having addons will not give you a better chance at getting gear/getting raid slots. I know personally I will be inspecting any pugs I ever have to deal with in an Op (which hopefully will be never, gg guildmates).

[Alexbeav]

threat meters - totaly not needed in tor. Generaly speaking the boss will emote or look away from the tank when someone pulls agro. Quick taunt and issue resolved. Sorry you just dont need a big "you have agro alarm." they already exist ingame", start looking for them.

 

This is so wrong it blows my mind. Taunting here works differently than in WoW : it does not put you at the top of the threat list. Instead it (like it says in the description which you did not bother to read obviously) only lasts for 6 seconds. Then the boss turns around to maul your DPS once again.

 

Omen could have solved that problem, since you both would know, and you'd adjust to compensate.

 

[...]look at that addon in wrath that put markers over the game [...] then that addon disapeared along with half your raid team cause they could not function without it.

 

Exaggeration FTW ? I was raiding at that time and never once heard of anyone quitting the raids because they did not have addons.

 

I know you're probably scared that more people will enter your forbidden and exclusive castle that is end game raiding by installing a few addons. But I have a news flash for you : this is NOT a hardcore MMO ! This reeks of accessibility from miles away and you know what ? That's a GOOD thing ! There are plenty of 'hardcore' MMOs you can return to if addons scare you that much.

[Tarka]

Here's a novel way for Bioware to deal with this issue. Get bioware to actually PUT some of the well known addon features into the game. For instance:

 

Bioware could allow cybertechs to make a droid that can be summoned which does things like announcements during an encounter on when an event is going to happen in an encounter. Then players can decide for themselves whether or not they want to use it and there's no potential security issues pertaining to addons.

 

And if the "purists" want it "harder" then they just get the cybertech player to dismiss the droid.

Edited January 7, 2012 by Tarka

[Tarka]

You mean 'easier'? Right.

 

Easier is the wrong word to use.

 

Does having a Sat Nav in a car make driving "easier" to the point whereby it majorly diminishes the participation of the driver? No. Why? Because the person in the driving seat still has to drive the car. Turning when required, indicating, doing emergency stops, etc, etc.

 

So, easier? No.

Does a SatNav add convenience? Yes.

 

So let's not exaggerate things to the point of absurdity.

Edited January 7, 2012 by Tarka

[Ashelyn]

I think people are forgetting even WoW doesnt "support" add ons. They're at your own risk, unsupported things. I feel by saying they won't be "authorized" is not the same thing as saying they will never exist.

[Tralesh]

Add-ons - NO.

Customisation - YES.

 

Please no Timers, Healbots, or any of those 'crutch' add-ons. But please; make skins available, allow us to add hotbars where we want on the UI, alter the size of the ui elements - individually and other non gameplay affecting changes additions.

 

 

But before that FIX the bugs in UI. When I drag crew skills to a hotbar, I'd really be appreciative if they didn't just randomly disappear, or when I log from one character to another; the last crew skill used doesn't appear on the crew skills list for the new character.

[Solar]

I got a reply and it said that Bioware is not going to authorize them! This bothers me, addons GREATLY improve a game with proc alerts, boss warnings, customizable UI, simplified AH and so on.

 

...

What am I missing about the threat Bioware feels about addons?

 

Where have you been bro? This topic is ancient.

[bboudreaux]

So, essentially you are agreeing with me that an addon will never, ever replace a player having a measure of skill at playing their particular class. And that an addon will never replace a player.

 

So what's the problem with having addons then?

 

The add ons are not needed and not wanted by the majority, case closed! If you had just a smigeon of reading comprehension you would clearly see i am disagreeing with you.

Edited January 7, 2012 by bboudreaux

[NasherUK]

UI mods should be allowed (e.g. raid frames), but they shouldn't allow stuff like boss mods since it trivializes the game.

 

If you are bad then you are bad. You shouldn't be able to use mods to compensate for your lack of skill, players should be encouraged to improve themselves. Stop trying to make this game in to the massive fail that is the current WOW.

Edited January 7, 2012 by NasherUK

[Belkiratwo]

Well, on the one hand, not having addons is a good thing because you can watch the game, instead of a bunch of numbers and timers. A lot of addons really ruin the immersion.

 

 

On the other hand, they've completely failed to provide a decent UI, thus proving that they probably should let some legit programmers (addon community) create some addons for us to use.

 

As a healer I spend almost all my time trying to decipher the horrible UI. The placement of the character portraits, the action bars, size of debuffs/buffs, timers... all of them take away from my ability to enjoy what's going on and force me to pay attention to the completely non-intuitive UI.

 

 

The current UI is ruining my immersion in this game. If i'm not staring at health bars and debuffs then people die.

 

With customization I could at least place things in a way so I can continue to heal, watch all the things i need to watch AND STILL PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT IS GOING ON AROUND ME.

[Swirly]

Not everyone gives a crap about your immersion. If you want to be immersed, fine, don't use addons, or parsers, or whatever else, but not all of us enjoy being smashed down to your level of mediocrity because the buff bar is literally too small to see, for instance, and the entire UI is equally atrocious.

 

 

Same could be said to you. One game has addons and the other doesn't. Who are you to come in and demand addons like it's your entitlement to them everywhere because one place has them.

[Draksen]

Well, on the one hand, not having addons is a good thing because you can watch the game, instead of a bunch of numbers and timers. A lot of addons really ruin the immersion.

This.

 

And QQLoL @OP

[Hairless]

Same could be said to you. One game has addons and the other doesn't. Who are you to come in and demand addons like it's your entitlement to them everywhere because one place has them.

 

Because having addons is one of the minimum standards of MMORPGs now. Doesn't matter which game set the standard.

The majority of serious MMORPG player simply won't be happy without them now.

It's like telling people to use pagers when everyone is used to having cellphones.

[Sayuri-chan]

Because having addons is one of the minimum standards of MMORPGs now. Doesn't matter which game set the standard.

The majority of serious MMORPG player simply won't be happy without them now.

It's like telling people to use pagers when everyone is used to having cellphones.

 

addon's are like PEDS once you stop using them you realize how bad you really are .

 

so QQ more go bioware for no addon's

[ViridianFox]

This game really doesn't need addons. If you're so bad you find yourself unable to pvp or raid without them well...That's too bad.

[Kourage]

Game Masters are not there to listen to you feedback, nor answer questions!

[Tarka]

The add ons are not needed and not wanted by the majority, case closed! If you had just a smigeon of reading comprehension you would clearly see i am disagreeing with you.

 

Majority? No. Don't exaggerate.

So before telling people that they have a problem with reading comprehension I'd suggest you take your own advice. Opinions on the subject are pretty split.

 

And the fact is, Bioware ARE going to allow them. They have already said that.

Regardless of your personal feelings.

 

Don't like them? Don't use them and blame Bioware for not implementing those features into the actual game in the first place.

Edited January 7, 2012 by Tarka

[Kellias]

Going through this thread - it becomes quite clear that the majority of the people saying "Addons are absolutely necessary" are people who started their MMO life with WoW, and nothing else before that.

 

Those of us playing MMO's since the 90's, understand addons (while useful) are a crutch, unnecessary fluff that appeals to the illusion of false elitism adopted by many (again, from WoW). And "useful" does not always mean "good" - in this particular case at least, it's my opinion that mods would severely hurt SWTOR, and bring it one step closer to that other game we already played for years... something we are all trying to distance ourselves from.

 

I honestly don't understand how people here claiming they have played WoW for years, and that the game is junk now and they are so sick of it, are so adamant in trying to make SWTOR look and feel like it step by step.

 

 

Dmg meters, threat meters, DBM, gearscore, LFD tools... why? not necessary and it already exists! You people know WoW is still available right?

Edited January 7, 2012 by Kellias

[elenas]

scalable UI is what is needed. None of this other crap should ever dilute TOR.

 

Don't you mean 'pollute', not 'dilute'?

 

[Rehneu]

I'm glad to hear that they will not support these. Good for BW!

[Rephnamour]

It's about supply and demand. If you want to keep your customer base happy, allow the usage of community made addons. If you're a person who feels this ruins the game, no one is forcing you to use them.

 

As an aside, I'm pretty sure EA rolled Mythic into Bioware, or at least gave Bioware oversight of Mythic. Maybe pull some of the Mythic guys over to help with your UI. The WAR UI system (outside of them allowing addons to be used) was fantastic. Any piece of the UI provided by the game was movable on your screen space. You could customize the entire look of your UI w/o using addons. It also allowed people of different screen sizes to optimize their screen real estate.

 

I'm currently a Jugg tank and the main issue I have is that I've used my top and bottom bars, and have had to start putting major abilities on my left and right bars. The main issue with this is now my focus is going from mob/screen, to my center bars, then to my left bars to watch cooldowns, procs, etc. This is very distracting and ruins the flow of combat for me.

 

If you could add options that allowed the use of more quickbars in the center of the screen (and not pages of quickbars because that doesn't work at all - See DAoC quickbar to quickbar macro hell) or just customize the placement of the current quickbars, i.e. allowed the left and right to be stacked above the two in the center, it would help quite a bit in the short term for those of us genuinely trying to work all our abilities into combat.

 

UI scaling or scaling of individual pieces of the UI would also be appreciated as my bars should not be THIS big on a resolution this size.

[Tarka]

Going through this thread - it becomes quite clear that the majority of the people saying "Addons are absolutely necessary" are people who started their MMO life with WoW, and nothing else before that.

 

Those of us playing MMO's since the 90's, understand addons (while useful) are a crutch, unnecessary fluff that appeals to the illusion of false elitism adopted by many (again, from WoW). And "useful" does not always mean "good" - in this particular case at least, it's my opinion that mods would severely hurt SWTOR, and bring it one step closer to that other game we already played for years... something we are all trying to distance ourselves from.

 

I honestly don't understand how people here claiming they have played WoW for years, and that the game is junk now and they are so sick of it, are so adamant in trying to make SWTOR look and feel like it step by step.

 

Whilst I will agree that they aren't an absolute necessity (just like having Sat Nav in a car is not absolutely necessary), but in my opinion they do make gameplay a little better.

 

It all comes down to what Bioware actually fold into the UI and the game. THAT determines the level of support for addons. It's a case of supply and demand. If the features are already part of the game, then there's not going to be much need for addons.

Edited January 7, 2012 by Tarka

[Tarka]

I'm glad to hear that they will not support these. Good for BW!

 

Don't take the word of a CS Rep as gospel. They often get things wrong and are nowhere near the devs in the chain of command.

 

Previously Stephen Reid (I think) said that addon support is coming as a post-launch feature.

Edited January 7, 2012 by Tarka