This game badly needs mods and macros.

[CandiMynx]

Right now, the only benchmark that I have is whether the enemy dies before any or all of the players die.

 

That's simply not good enough for serious players.

 

To be honest, that sounds like the best benchmark there is. It is a game and you can be good and have fun with it - but when it gets into 'benchmarking', people inherently bring idiocy into it.. with their damage bragging, their blame, their this, that, the other. Yes, those tools can be very useful for figuring out where something might be going wrong, from a leader's standpoint - Actually, that would be an interesting idea... if they could somehow give like an Op leader some sort of tactical log, but no one else, to the people who don't want combat logs. xD

 

Tangent aside, in the end, why do you need to know that much info? You're a 'serious' player? Am I not serious, too, when I am helping you kill Enemy A or keep Ally C alive? In the end, if the enemy dies/player stays alive.. that should be what matters there.

 

It's not that simple, sadly, but coming at it from a WoW mentality like that doesn't help. We don't even know how the Op type bosses, big endgame stuff, etc, will be yet. We'll have to see..

[Sicknss]

Why do you hate macros? Is there some valid reason cause honestly I can't understand the macro hate.

 

From what I've gathered in this thread, Rift allowed far too much to be done with macros and people disliked it... though I have not verified this. Sounds like an issue with Rift, not macros. Especially since there are quite a few keyboards and mice that can record and playback true macros.

[Skizzik]

I would like to just see some simple macros implemented. No complex ones that you can make one button rotations with, though. I'm only level 25 on my assassin and I'm already running out of space for my keybinds.

[Amiracle]

I sorely underestimated just how poor the UI would turn out. It is so uncustomizable it isn't funny. Health bars, buffs, debuffs, and the power bar are all WAY too small. You can't move or resize anything, I HATE having the chat box up the top.

 

Not having a damage meter or even a freaking combat log is ridiculous. Why shouldn't we even know how much damage we're doing? I want to know what the best rotation is for my character and I have absolutely no way of working that out.

 

Macros are a staple in every MMO, how can you just not have them? There's a nice focus target but it's practically useless without focus macros.

 

These should be top priority for the next patch.

 

 

 

I was able to resize the health bars......how come you cant?

[DonnieT]

I don't even need to read the other 370 replies to know people would just cry don't make this like WoW. I still want mods and macros

[Matte_Black]

For all of you people saying macros will ruin the game, I don't think you understand what a macro does.

 

As an operative medic, I need to dps and heal people in the group, mostly the tank. If I could have a simple mouseover or target-of-target healing macro, I could dps the boss and heal the tank without having to look at the bottom of the screen, click on the tank, heal, look up, find the mob he's tanking, tab or click on the mob, dps, look down, see the tank is dying, click the tank, heal the tank, look up... You see where I'm going with this.

 

The way the UI is setup right now, I am stuck staring at the bottom of the screen most of the time. When I'm not staring at the bottom of the screen (i.e. to heal group mates), I may not notice my health or a debuff on myself and die, thereby wiping the group.

 

I don't see how adding the ability for me to heal a mob's target so I can more easily dps that mob would break the game or make it somehow unfair to people. As it stands right now, the current UI is a nightmare for us healers. I came into this game rather enjoying the role I chose, but as I get to a higher and higher level, I'm finding the UI is one of the major barriers to my enjoyment of this game. It is simply making healing less fun.

 

EDIT: And some of you people wonder why you have difficulty finding healers for your flashpoints.

 

This boils down to making the game easier. The game should not need macros or add-ons to make it easier. It should just be scaled properly. I actually think the game is scaled properly and people mostly want the macros to avoid the work/difficulty intended. Any problem with the game being improperly scaled should be fixed by BioWare.

Edited December 19, 2011 by Matte_Black

[Zhit]

The lack of an open interface is probably the #1 reason TOR will flop. The current interface is so bad, healing just isn't fun. If BW had created an open interface from the start, the beta testers would have already developed addons to fix many of the shortcomings. Having work arounds for things like the unit frame layout, etc. would have improved the experience for the gamer and given BW more time to polish their product.

 

As it stands now, BW is in a huge race to add the items mentioned "as coming after release" before the majority of the player base gets tired of the game and leaves forever--taking their subscription dollars with them.

[Cosian]

Why do you hate macros? Is there some valid reason cause honestly I can't understand the macro hate.

 

Well I do not hate them ... actually, being an older player who has probably lost a bit of DEX over the years, macro's are the great PvP equalizer.

 

But ...... without them, PvP and PvE do become more skill based and I think that is a good direction to go. I got bored pretty quick once I tweaked out my RIFT macro's. You could get a good rotation down to handful of buttons in that game. One of my builds was basically down to two buttons. It really took the majority of the skill out of the game and it became boring quicker.

 

In point of fact, on my alts, I really did not even bother exploring and learning my abilities. I simply recreated best in class published macros and let the two finger button mashing commence.

 

Is this we have regressed to ........?

[Buur]

This boils down to making the game easier. The game should not need macros or add-ons to make it easier. It should just be scaled properly. I actually think the game is scaled properly and people mostly want the macros to avoid the work/difficulty inteneded.

 

It doesn't make the game easier. It makes the game more fun. Honestly you have non idea what you are talking about anyway.

[TheRealBowser]

I don't have any complaints about the UI, but the game feels so much more difficult without macros. Please add addon support and macros soon.

[Amiracle]

The lack of an open interface is probably the #1 reason TOR will flop. The current interface is so bad, healing just isn't fun. If BW had created an open interface from the start, the beta testers would have already developed addons to fix many of the shortcomings. Having work arounds for things like the unit frame layout, etc. would have improved the experience for the gamer and given BW more time to polish their product.

 

As it stands now, BW is in a huge race to add the items mentioned "as coming after release" before the majority of the player base gets tired of the game and leaves forever--taking their subscription dollars with them.

 

I am having tons of fun healing, and I still manage to dps as well.

 

I think you have used crutches for so long that anything else has become dificult for you.

 

And no it wont flop....that says alot about you.

[zootzoot]

Honestly i'm tired of games where players macro multiple attack routines, warlocks were a classic point in case. where within a few seconds you had half a dozen curses/debuffs on your character turning the situation into a joke. I'd be happy to see no macros...find an attack routine and use it.

 

As for mods as long as they are developed in game I have no issue with it, dont want out of game mods. And thats my 2 cents worth

 

LOL what? What do macros have to do with a Lock dotting you up? Macros in WOW don't allow skills that generate the GCD to be chained. If he was using a /castsequence macro the time to get all the DOT's up would be the same as if he had the abilities on separate keys because of the GCD. All the macro would do is save Bar space.

 

It's posts like this filled with bad info that make it impossible to have a good dialogue on these matters.

[Asquinol]

To those that say that healing is just no fun.

 

I disagree. I played a healer spec Sage in beta and it was not diffcult and I had a good time playing her. Now I am playing a healer spec commando and I find him rather enjoyable as well.

 

Really, I think the UI is "ok" and could use some improvments. But I say no to macros.

They totally not needed in this game.

[Caspian_Rho]

I sorely underestimated just how poor the UI would turn out. It is so uncustomizable it isn't funny. Health bars, buffs, debuffs, and the power bar are all WAY too small. You can't move or resize anything, I HATE having the chat box up the top.

 

Not having a damage meter or even a freaking combat log is ridiculous. Why shouldn't we even know how much damage we're doing? I want to know what the best rotation is for my character and I have absolutely no way of working that out.

 

Macros are a staple in every MMO, how can you just not have them? There's a nice focus target but it's practically useless without focus macros.

 

These should be top priority for the next patch.

 

This game does NOT need mods. What it does need is some badly needed features from the dev team. I like the UI mostly resizing and replacing windows is needed, macros not so much.

[Kunitsukami]

If you prioritise the ability to min-max via the use of DPS and other meters, along with being able to make the game easier for yourself with macros then you are just not a good player full stop. The best guilds on MMOs worldwide look for players who above all else cares about moving correctly around bosses, knowing when to attack and what to attack, not standing in the fire, taunting correctly at the right time, and healing when and how to keep the group alive.

 

Having "leet deeps and gear" will only get you a one shot trial, the rest will get you booted out within seconds. Which is the sad thing about mods and macros; they dominate the game they are in, and make the good players harder to find.

[Chevex]

I actually quite enjoy the default UI. Maybe I'm crazy.

 

I would love mods though and they have said they are working on it. I trust them to deliver

[RamataKahn]

Addons are coming. Be patient.

[Brohansky]

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.

 

I have binded 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 - f t y i u k j h g s v q e x f1 f2 f3 f4 f5 f6 f7 f8 f9 f10 f11 f12 mb3-5. I have these binds since prior mmos and I have specific abilities on specific binds. Like lets take 3. I bind my slows there, that got no cd, only gcd.

 

So having the option to have macros makes my playstyle sooooo much better. Because I don't want to bind a relic here, a cd there and another cd there. I want to use "Relic1" and "Cd1" at the same time, because it gives me the most benefit and more binds of other things. But this is seen from a long time pvpers view.

Edited December 19, 2011 by Brohansky

[Prelate]

I don't think we need many, if any mods. This is a game driven by story. Macro's are handy, but also not necessary. Learn to type. Buy a keyboard and/or mouse with macro buttons on it.

 

Recount and stuff like that are good, but I don't think completely necessary. However, as a guild leader, I would like to see some utility built into raids that will track peoples healing and DPS so we can make decisions based on performance. I'm all about everyone seeing the game, but I'm not excited about carrying people who under-perform.

 

Let us resize and move the UI around, and add some utlities to raid/party tools to track metrics, and I think we'll all be just fine.

[Robndahood]

Macro's would be nice, but not having them isn't game breaking.

 

 

Mods are pretty meh and I think many people who lack core skill use them as a crutch. Not saying using them makes you a noob, just saying that if you NEED them to play you have failed.

Edited December 19, 2011 by Robndahood

[Creed_Buhallin]

As an operative medic, I need to dps and heal people in the group, mostly the tank. If I could have a simple mouseover or target-of-target healing macro, I could dps the boss and heal the tank without having to look at the bottom of the screen, click on the tank, heal, look up, find the mob he's tanking, tab or click on the mob, dps, look down, see the tank is dying, click the tank, heal the tank, look up... You see where I'm going with this.

You're completely right about this! Maybe they could fix the problem by adding the ability to keep two targets selected at once, and let you easily throw and ability at the second target. I'm not sure what we'd call it, but since you're focusing on one target while you dynamically select another, maybe we can name it something like that.

 

 

Yes, I'm some someone beat me to the "Learn the UI before you complain about it" reply, but I wasn't hunting through 30 pages of whinging to find out, and this deserved comment.

[Robndahood]

They do have assist casting, with hot key function built into the UI.

 

 

Log off of forums, log into game, lrn2UI

Edited December 19, 2011 by Robndahood

[Matte_Black]

It doesn't make the game easier. It makes the game more fun. Honestly you have non idea what you are talking about anyway.

 

You do less and your character does more. Sure sounds like making it easier to me. If the effort to accomplishment ratio is not fun for the players, it's something that BioWare should adjust for everyone.

[Zhit]

EA doesn't like to do stuff unless they get paid. Want to be able to single click shield and heal your companion? Easy--buy a razor mouse...

[Bartes]

only macro I need right now is the one that keeps me logged