This game badly needs mods and macros.

[Woodspoon]

Macros are indeed a bad idea.

by their very definition they remove a layer of player interaction by automating a process, even if it's just a sequence of 2 key presses, it has still lowered player interaction.

Less player interaction lowers the player skill level by reducing the the chance of a mistake being made during action.

So

Macro = less player interaction = less to go wrong = lower skill required.

[ironix]

The current UI is well behind the curve. While nobody wants to see botting enabled, we do need a basic level of customization. Healing, in particular, is far more annoying than it needs to be.

 

I totally agree. Healing is far more of a chore in this game due to the lack of basic mouseover healing and the difficulty of easily keeping track of buffs and debuffs.

 

I really don't understand why so many people decry the use of any sort of addon or macro as either a crutch or ruinous to the game.

[Zingas]

the very basic i expect, is to simply be able to do /target <playername>

 

I never knew how much I missed it until I didn't have it.

 

It's great for finding NPCs too.

[Fiachsidhe]

I'm sorry but you've never played a MMO at a competitive level if you don't use addons.

 

The saddest thing about this statement is the fact that you're sincere. You should have stopped after the second word of your post.

 

I did play with addons. I had to. I hated it. I hated having to update the stupid things, I hated never having to think, because I had a god **** addon telling me EVERYTHING I needed to know about everything. I hated never learning, because of things like Deadlybossmods, and other crap meant to practically play for you.

 

But most of all, I hated "stop having fun guys" like you, for bringing the community down to a complacent, idiocracy-esque, automated level.

 

If you need macros to play on a competitive level, you're not that good.

Edited December 17, 2011 by Fiachsidhe

[The_Orphan]

I'm sorry..

 

I hear "MMO", "Competitive" and "Skill" all in the same phrases and I can't stop laughing.

[freekyjason]

I'm sorry but you've never played a MMO at a competitive level if you don't use addons.

 

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH

 

sorry, had to be done. the sheer superiority complex in that statement alone is so laughable.

 

if you cannot use your own brain to work out who in the group isnt holding up their end, even if its yourself, then you just lost the spirit in which games were originally created. anyone of you remember the words fun and entertaining? how is work and number crunching through a million addons fun? or entertaining?

 

if it is for you, well wonderful. personally i dont care if you use one or a million addons. but if you cannot play without them then im sorry for you

Edited December 17, 2011 by freekyjason

[Lheim]

Addons and macros might be nice, but I'm the sort that'd rather see the default UI expanded.

 

Without sharp limitations, addons start to define the playing field in a way that is detrimental to the game. Player skill should be the difference between success and failure in groups, not which person has an addon.

 

Who'd win? A tennis player with an old wodden racket, or one with nano-carbon-fiber crap? How could you be certain that the skill was the sole determinant in a competition like that?

 

Who'd win, the baseball player from the 1920s or the souped up steroid junkie of the 2000s? How could you be sure it was all in the training?

 

When you have one player playing with the default UI, and the second player playing with addons that suggest his next spell cast, that tell him without him having to pay attention that his CC has broken, and that the boss is about to do X move in 3 seconds, so he should move to a specific spot.. well. What's winning the encounter? The player or the addon?

 

The addon affects things so much that boss fights have gotten rediculously complicated merely in an attempt to offset their effects. To me, that's detrimental. To me, that virtually fosters.. nay, midwives the so-called casual/hardcore divide.

Edited December 17, 2011 by Lheim

[ironix]

The saddest thing about this statement is the fact that you're sincere. You should have stopped after the second word of your post.

 

I did play with addons. I had to. I hated it. I hated having to update the stupid things, I hated never having to think, because I had a gosh darn addon telling me EVERYTHING I needed to know about everything. I hated never learning, because of things like Deadlybossmods, and other crap meant to practically play for you.

 

But most of all, I hated "stop having fun guys" like you, for bringing the community down to a complacent, idiocracy-esque, automated level.

 

If you need macros to play on a competitive level, you're not that good.

 

If you hated using addons so much, then why did you? Nobody was forcing you to play with addons and you obviously claim to have the ability perform just as well as those who do.

 

In modern MMO's, especially at the end-game, boss fights have a lot going on. This is particularly true for tanks and healers. Fights are often tuned down to the point where if I were to delay a heal on an injured party member by 0.5 seconds, they would die and the group would likely fail.

 

While it is true that skilled players can and do perform exceptionally without mods like Deadly Boss Mods, this is not always the case for response times for healing and tanking in particular. For instance, that 0.5 second delay where someone dies could be completely alleviated by simply allowing me to heal using a mouse-over macro.

 

In any case, the argument you presented above can be completely solved by simply not using mods yourself. There is nothing preventing you from playing a game in its pure and unadulterated state if you so desire.

 

However, given the fact that you have this option, why is it your role to dictate onto others whether they should be allowed to use mods and macros if they so desire?

[ironix]

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH

 

sorry, had to be done. the sheer superiority complex in that statement alone is so laughable.

 

if you cannot use your own brain to work out who in the group isnt holding up their end, even if its yourself, then you just lost the spirit in which games were originally created. anyone of you remember the words fun and entertaining? how is work and number crunching through a million addons fun? or entertaining?

 

if it is for you, well wonderful. personally i dont care if you use one or a million addons. but if you cannot play without them then im sorry for you

 

Assume you're a raid leader in an end-game guild. Now assume you have keep track of 8 or 16 (I believe these were the sizes I read about) people in the raid. If 2 or 4 of these people aren't pulling their weight, how would you tell? They're pushing buttons and performing actions. It LOOKS like they're doing things and not just standing there. Unfortunately, they may be doing the wrong things. Perhaps they're a IA Sniper who's mindlessly spamming corrosive dart, or perhaps they're a healer who used up all their energy dpsing.

 

How does one make observations about these potential issues without any data apart from the visual record? A visual record, mind you, that can be contraindicative of the true nature of what is going on with each member of your team.

 

Additionally, for some, the part of the game that involves number crunching and getting the best performance possible out of your character when it comes to rotations and such, is a large part of the game. People can and do enjoy that type of activity. Just because you don't isn't any reason to say they are forbidden to as well.

 

Another large part of any MMO for many, many people is competition. The race to level 50 for instance. The race to market domination (I have a friend who owns the AH in any game he plays). The race to be the first to kill an end game boss and etcetera. That doesn't mean that's what the game is about, it is just what the game is about to THEM, which is why they enjoy it. Just because someone derives pleasure from a game differently than you, doesn't make them anymore wrong than you are for enjoying the game without mods or addons.

 

So I ask again, how will somebody's ability to use a macro or an addon affect your enjoyment of the game?

[Hiramas]

UI Customization yes, please. (In terms of placement, size and so on)

Third party mods and addons? Please not.

[Foreward]

I would really like to see more customization options in the game, but I would seriously hate to see this game become a SW themed WoW...

 

Perhaps the best option would be making interface elements behave like lego bricks, so you could move the main elements (minimap, chat, quest pane) to several preset locations.

That could preserve interface consistency and allow for multi screen players to organize a neat centered HUD.

 

But DPS meters, BossMods, SpellAlerts destroy the authenticity of the game feel.

 

If you need to find the best rotation - Believe me, best theorycraft is done on paper... or just find some ElitistJerks who will tablespoon feed you with the perfect rotation.

 

If you need BossMods - Learn to read visual cues from the bosses. It will make your eye sharper and reflexes better in the long run.

 

If you need Spell alerts/Buff reminders - You should learn to count to 8 or whatever you cc lasts for. With practice, you will just feel how long it lasts.

 

In a world with AddOns that play for you, the winner is the one who has the right addons and sets them better.

I'd like to see SWTOR a world of game skill and not macro jugglers and addon masters.

Edited December 17, 2011 by Foreward

[JaycenLightrider]

My wife was complaining about the UI for over 6 months in beta. The UI is garbage, nobody in my family will touch this game. My son already spent the prepaid credit card that preordered this game on some other game, Origin will have fun collecting.

 

Wow great parenting. Way to teach your kid about commitments and using credit responsibly.

[Hawk-Firestorm]

I agree like the last sw mmo it could use macros or autocasting option, and the UI definately needs alot more work there are far more ability's than slots.

 

Yes you can tggle them but that's not practical.

[Roffejaw]

I'm pretty sure they will fix this in the 1st upcoming patch. Seeing as they are doing a lot of stuff the right way they will realise this is extremely important. Only mistake that is really really frustrating me atm is the 2hour+ queus allowing me to almost never play... I have a feeling they won't add enough servers especially on release and that it will become a major flop game launch if they dont do something about this. That's my biggest worry.

[Sneakymcstab]

Are people against addons also against community written guides that explain how to spec, gear and perform?

[iSuperiority]

/signed

[Dekadez]

Your opinion. In my opinion, the UI is fine. I can see my party health as raid frames and make them as big as I want. That's pretty much all I needed. The health at the bottom and chat at the top are also pretty good in my opinion. So I have to disagree that the game needs mods and macros.

 

However, I do agree that the UI should have more customizable options. We should be able to move stuff around, and resize. I would love to resize a few things I find a bit small :S

 

Same here. The UI could be better and could do with customisation, but it's fine to be honest. I can see my bars, see my buffs properly, watch debuffs, etc.

 

I like it actually, it works.

 

The thing I miss most is macros atm. Makes marking so much easier :<.

Edited December 17, 2011 by Dekadez

[Cyphen]

Macros, sure why not I don't see problem with them really, infact they are useful, more of a utility feature.

 

Mods? Depends which kinds, meters/graphs sure as they are good fur utility, enhanced UI and by that I mean customizability of the UI, sure why not.

 

But any gameplay impacting mods such as Boss mods to tell you when his next ability hits is a big nono, anything that will dumb down the game too much is simply bad and hope it never gets put in.

 

Yes to recount, fully moddable UI etc... etc...

[GreyTemplar]

I do agree that the UI needs work, but I would not say it is horrendous however.

 

Things I would like to see:

Target of target

Scalable UI Frames

Moveable UI Frames

 

Also would be nice to have Macros in the near future as I would like to be able to macro my tanking oh s**t buttons together, relics together. Possibly future commands I would macro but those two are my main concerns.

[Fiachsidhe]

If you hated using addons so much, then why did you? Nobody was forcing you to play with addons and you obviously claim to have the ability perform just as well as those who do.

 

In modern MMO's, especially at the end-game, boss fights have a lot going on. This is particularly true for tanks and healers. Fights are often tuned down to the point where if I were to delay a heal on an injured party member by 0.5 seconds, they would die and the group would likely fail.

 

While it is true that skilled players can and do perform exceptionally without mods like Deadly Boss Mods, this is not always the case for response times for healing and tanking in particular. For instance, that 0.5 second delay where someone dies could be completely alleviated by simply allowing me to heal using a mouse-over macro.

 

In any case, the argument you presented above can be completely solved by simply not using mods yourself. There is nothing preventing you from playing a game in its pure and unadulterated state if you so desire.

 

However, given the fact that you have this option, why is it your role to dictate onto others whether they should be allowed to use mods and macros if they so desire?

 

Your entire argument can also be solved by simply learning to play the friggin' game. It's a glib solution, but it's no better than simply ignoring them. Believe it or not there are tons of games out there that don't have mods and the players have just as much fun. It's only the WoW players that bring their usual, predictable demands to every game they leave WoW for.

 

You see, I had to get these addons because they became standard. It became ingrained into the culture of the game itself.

Soon people were less tolerant of learning, or helping others when there was no excuse not to have the addons. Less people inclined to help others and less patience due to it.

 

The real point is, your line about playing "competitively" was so delightfully ridiculous that it bordered on self parody.

 

you talk about playing competitively as if you possess skill I don't. When the truth is, you desire systems in place to minimize as much interaction with the game as possible.

 

Then you'll be back here and almost on the same breath complain that the game is too easy, after demanding all the virtual hand holding.

 

The UI definitely needs work, but the game doesn't need add ons, or mods or macros. Anyone who needs them has no business hoisting themselves above other players. For god's sake just enjoy the f****** game for what it is. These forums have enough "I'm from WoW and WoW had this I want this make it like WoW!" crap glutting the pages.

Edited December 17, 2011 by Fiachsidhe

[Gruug]

One thing we do not need are third part macros and mods. When they start arriving on scene, the elitists start bashing those that don't have them. Believe it or not, but you can play this game (and most others) WITHOUT macros and mods and actually have fun. If I am going to be told that I can't join a group for a flashpoint or operation (raid) because I am not running such and such macro pack or mod pack, I will quit the game and play something more friendly.

[Joeythearm]

right now the game is easy enough to were you dont need dmg meters. Yeah so what, we cant tell who sucks and whos great. But as long as you dont wipe 20 times, all is well.

 

 

The UI is fine. for a stock UI it does everything it needs to, and a bunch of extra stuff (invite to party button on corner of nameplate, stuff like that)

 

 

I might just like it so much because when I customize my UI it pretty much ends up looking like SWTOR's default ui. So Im ok with it.

 

I wish I could shrink the action bars and fit the two side ones underneith the bottem 2. and perhaps find a better spot for the chat. (they let you move it, but wherever you put it, its always blocking something else.

[RocNessMonster]

Mouseover macros is all I really want. Actually having to select characters before cast heal drops efficiency considerably.

[angrYdog]

mods and macros are the last things we need.. Edited December 17, 2011 by angrYdog

[Cyphen]

I do agree that the UI needs work, but I would not say it is horrendous however.

 

Things I would like to see:

Target of target

Scalable UI Frames

Moveable UI Frames

 

Also would be nice to have Macros in the near future as I would like to be able to macro my tanking oh s**t buttons together, relics together. Possibly future commands I would macro but those two are my main concerns.

 

Yeah its really convenient to have macros just for that sole reason, I have 25 keybinds right now still need to do ALT1,2,3 few spaces left on my bars but really macros would help when trying to use an item+spell together for blowing your CDs, would really be convenient.