We need healer,tank addons!

[dcgregorya]

I think bioware must allow using interface addons, like Curse.com site. Healer, tank addons. is a difficult heal proper some times. its rise progress of many people.

 

Please no. This game is already too brainlessly easy.

[celldoom]

Thanks oredith and Meltheran! This kind of detailed feedback on what you're looking for is really helpful. Hope to see more similar posts from others!

May i redirect you to a few threads i've made in the past with things i'd love to see:

 

1. List of things
   
2. Tradeskill window change
   
3. "Elevators" QOL change
   
4. Bigger list of things
   
5. Marks on nameplates
   
6. Finish space missions early
   
7. Bigger hitbox on gathering nodes
   
8. Buy lvl50 gear as lowlvls
   
9. Keybind profiles with UI profiles
   

Edited July 17, 2012 by celldoom

[alrun]

May i redirect you to a few threads i've made in the past with things i'd love to see:

 

1. http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=486054
   
2. [...]
   

would have been nice if the links would contain a description what each link is about.

 

(and even nicer if the forum itself would fetch the links name itself - other forums can do this and replace a normal link with the page title)

Edited July 17, 2012 by alrun

[celldoom]

would have been nice if the links would contain a description what each link is about.

 

(and even nicer if the forum itself would fetch the links name itself - other forums can do this and replace a normal link with the page title)

By the power of forum magic: KAPOW!

[darkhelmetz]

I would like to preface this post by saying that I am, by trade, an interface designer for several mediums (GPS Units, Automotive HUDs, Smart Phone Apps, Websites, etc.). The following is my list of desired interface improvements. I will try to keep it aimed toward the combat oriented elements as.

 

1.) Unit Frames

Click-to-Cast

The ability to bind skills to primary mouse buttons and have the skill applied to the frame that is clicked.

Improved Player Frame Interaction

Removing elements from a given frame such as portraits, excessive boarders, character level, etc. (increased performance). Also allowing the modification of bar heights and appearance.

2.) Buffs and Debuffs

Filtering

Allow users to select, on a frame by frame basis, which de/buffs are shown. Filters could include: cast by me, cast by friendly, cast by target, cast by focus, duration under 5 min., dispellable, etc. Allow multiple filters to be selected at a time.

Sizing

Allow de/buffs to be sized independent of the frame they are associated with. Allow buffs and debuffs to be sized independently of one another or even turned off entirely(increased performance).

Positioning

Allow de/buffs to be placed along any adjoining edge of the parent frame with a margin slider for adjustments.

3.) Extra Indicators

Threat

This does not need to be like the threat meters from WoW. Instead I would like to see the resolve bar changed to a threat indicator when not in a PvP setting. Add a green/yellow/red color scheme and allow it to be toggled for tanks or dps/heals to allow for better threat awareness.

Dynamic De/Buff Awareness

I would like to see an element such as Power Auras available for improved graphical and/or audio recognition of procs, buffs, and debuffs. Increasing player awareness of crucial interactions will go a long way in allowing you to script more difficult content.

DPS Meter

Yes, I said it. However, I believe that only making available personal meters will be sufficient. Allowing a person to work on their performance without relying on 3rd party parsers will be more accurate and less time consuming. Also, by limiting the meters to only a player's personal performance, you can curb the community's elitist expectations and obsession with comparing themselves through meters.

4.) Limited Functionality Macro System

This is more of a quality-of-life issue. The functionality is already available through most high-end keyboards and even scripting software. Removing the necessity of 3rd party programs and being able to control what can and cannot be macroded benefits all parties involved.

5.) UI Editor Functionality

Bring the in-game functionality of the editor up to par with the precise value input of the XML file. Also, adding a snapping or nesting function would be a huge bonus for perfectionists like myself.

 

This is by no means an exhaustive list; this thread has more great ideas beyond what I've pointed out here. However, I believe the functionality improvements listed here are the immediate needs of the game. Ultimately, to save development time and remove the limitations of a "one size fits all" interface package, I believe that an Open Source API is the only viable solution for a game aimed at long-term success. Creating a community of gamers who work together to improve the clarity of information displayed will yield a strong following for years to come.

[Hiro-Protagonist]

The best way I can describe what I want is to reference the WoW mods I used to use. These are mods aimed more at DPS roles which I play on a regular basis.

 

First, I REALLY want a Mik Scrolling Battle Text. I really want a better way of seeing the damage I am doing and the damage I am taking. MSBT was a PERFECT solution and a mod that I always enjoyed as a DPS.

 

Second, I would love to have Power Auras. These are client configurable visual cues for buffs and debuffs. I appreciate the fact that you guys have tried hard to give us visual cues for buffs, but I just prefer the PA version better. They are easier to see and I can configure them the way I want.

 

What I DON'T want to see is Boss Mods. I think most people in the community would agree with this. I think a fair minded approach is to allow the player to reconfigure the information that you are already providing. I also do NOT want a macro system that simplifies rotations to a single button press. However, some simple quality of life changes would be really nice, such as being able to macro non-gcd skills (e.g. tech override) or out of combat skills.

[vsalcedo]

1)

I understand that not everyone is a native speaker but please... this is just horrible written.

 

2)

You want addons because its sometimes "hard to heal"?

Where are you having problems? Maybe we can help you BECAUSE healing is nowhere near hard even in EC HM.

 

3)

Dont forget that addons would make raids "easier"... which would lead to bioware make the raids more complicatet/harder to balance it out... which would slap everyone in the face who doesn't want to use addons!

That IMHO was a big problem in WOW.

Dont do it here to!

3. Not true at all...Even with mods people still wiped. Mods help the game evolve and you we're never forced to use any mods. Healing mods would be nice the UI for healing sucks ATM. More options to add all sorts of heals thru your mouse like healbot would be nice to have. This F1 thru whatever to target party members is phased out.

[celldoom]

The best way I can describe what I want is to reference the WoW mods I used to use. These are mods aimed more at DPS roles which I play on a regular basis.

 

First, I REALLY want a Mik Scrolling Battle Text. I really want a better way of seeing the damage I am doing and the damage I am taking. MSBT was a PERFECT solution and a mod that I always enjoyed as a DPS.

 

Second, I would love to have Power Auras. These are client configurable visual cues for buffs and debuffs. I appreciate the fact that you guys have tried hard to give us visual cues for buffs, but I just prefer the PA version better. They are easier to see and I can configure them the way I want.

 

What I DON'T want to see is Boss Mods. I think most people in the community would agree with this. I think a fair minded approach is to allow the player to reconfigure the information that you are already providing. I also do NOT want a macro system that simplifies rotations to a single button press. However, some simple quality of life changes would be really nice, such as being able to macro non-gcd skills (e.g. tech override) or out of combat skills.

This ^, power auras are amazing, i realy realy love to see a funky graphic in the middle of my screen when one of my reactive buffs appears (like Lightning Storm talent from sorc's lighting tree).

[Markosmartong]

Great points here in this thread. For those who can heal and tank fine w/o any add-ons fine...I salute your outstanding abilities to play SWTOR effectively. However, for many of us who have had experience with that "other" game since vanilla understand how tank and healing mods really improved the gameplay for those of us who have trouble chewing gum and tying our shoe laces at the same time. If I were devs I would look at some of the best mods used in that other game and incorporate them into SWTOR. By doing so, you continue to control the development of the game. It may not please all players but, it should placate enough of the player base...plus improve the overall quality of the game.

[Parasi]

I agree that having many UI customizations is the way to go - buff/debuff options, resizing for everything, etc. I think it would work best if the community could make the UI themselves including color schemes, skins, even shapes and images for boxes. No more information - prevent it from becoming "have this UI gain an advantage" but full customization.

 

I do think, however, that adding things such as aggro meters or changing the healing based on clicks etc would really break the end game. While these things can make it 'easy mode' they don't add anything to the end game and they detract plenty from both the focus and the skill involvement of the players.

 

It would be really nice however, to have a hit-by-hit combat log and some more functionality of chat boxes in general. It already dumps to a combat log, having one we could go back on in game would be nice sometimes.

 

I must say again, that every game can learn great things to emulate from looking at the UI and particularly the UI options in EQ2 - they had everything that kept the gamer from thinking about anything they shouldn't have to think about.

[JesusLoves]

Umm.. We need more ability boxes because with so many new abilities because of the legacy... I cant fit all my abilities in the boxes that are available.

[Rompdomp]

It would just be nice if there was a way to make the buffs and debuffs appear in separate rows on the raid frames (like on opposing sides of the bar).

[Nerdcommando]

Though we don't have any news about allowing third-party interface addons, we'd definitely be interested to hear what functionality you feel is important to add to the current UI. Others have offered a few suggestions (thanks!), and it's helpful to us if you describe what you think is missing and let us know what we can do to improve the UI!

 

Hello,

 

I have a couple of suggestions of things I would like to see.

 

1) I Fully customizeable HUD that would allow me to watch the sweet fight animations and get into the combat vs. focusing on tiny buffs/debuffs/GCD.

 

2) Please do not allow 3rd party addons. Allow people to create and have them tested through the pts. The different addons that do the same thing could be style options or something. Then you have the security of not having 3rd party programs interfacing with the game. The creativity of the open market, and the ability of developers getting paid for their code/idea being used. Also I would not have to deal with multiple websites maintaining them or have yet another program do it for me.

 

3) Some type of encounter mechanics guide would help people in these Flashpoints and "old" operations.

 

Thank you for asking for feedback.

[MichaelLatta]

My number one request is more slots in quick bars. I use a nostronomo, so a 3x5 arrangement for quick bars would be ideal.

 

My second request is a view of stacking buffs that is visible at a glance. Rather than a tiny number over a buff, the stack icon should be repeated, and ideally be a unique shape. For example shadows have a stacking harnessed shadows that can be lost in the other buff icons. I would like a view on my character that has 3 symbols that glow as the stacks build. See the paladin ui in wow for holy power. It is easy to tell how you stand in building the buff/resource.

 

Next would be easier key binding. I want to hold down the right button on a quick slot and press the key for the slot. If the quickbars are locked of course the bind will not happen.

 

A configurable sound for attack to my companion or other party members would be helpful as a tank.

[Baalzamon]

I think bioware must allow using interface addons, like Curse.com site. Healer, tank addons. is a difficult heal proper some times. its rise progress of many people.

 

Allow macros thats gonna make this game more fun for the casual people, its just way to many abilitys right now.

[NoaFlux]

if you can get a resize on buff/debuff, and filter by debuffs applied by you (try raiding with 4 arsenal bounty hunters, and being able to tell which debuff is yours, when the debuff is tiny, on a boss with 4 rows of debuffs, is tough), and then which debuffs can be dispelled by you, would make a HUGE difference. IMO.

 

i don't think i'm alone in my personal opinion either.

 

edit for bullet type for ease of reading:

• Ability to size the buff/debuff INDEPENDENT of the target frame - I don't want the target frame to take up half of the screen to be able to see a debuff clearly
  
• ability to MOVE the buffs and debuff independent of each other - example, buffs on top, debuffs on bottom
  
• ability to filter out all other debuffs, except those applied by you
  
• ability to filter out all other debuffs, except those that can be dispelled by you
  

 

Def cool. I'm sick of taking guard off myself (when I guard others). kind of annoying.

[SeppukuA]

Add ons were useful in WoW and to be honest I liked using them. However, I would prefer to see SW:TOR not use them. Although there's many similarities between WoW and SW:TOR, I think there's enough about them that makes them different for me to not think I'm playing the same game and I would hate to see SW:TOR to pursue the direction of WoW any further, in fact, I'd like to see it move away. There's many things I see SW:TOR doing right that WoW didn't for me. I'd say one of my most important add-ons in WoW was actually the customisable UI and that add-on pretty much worked in the same way as the UI customisation does in SW:TOR.

 

My 2 main classes are a healer and a tank, okay my tank isn't level 50, so he's really only done Flashpoints and PvP. Healing in an Ops isn't difficult when you know the fights and have suitable gear. For learning the fights, there's tutorials on YouTube and if you've got a guild running you through, I am sure they can offer some tips before you fight the bosses. When I hit level 50 one of the first things I did was join my guild for a EV HM and we got wiped. My Sage was in full recruit and I didn't know the fights, though my guild did explain them to me, it was just a bit difficult keeping them alive, it was a close fight though, so I didn't completely suck . But now, my Sage is nearly in full Rakata and it seems laughable that we'd get wiped on the first boss or any of the EV or KP ones. I just have my UI set out so people's health bars are nice and visible - I keep a look out for what's on the floor, I make sure I can see the distance between me and my target in my UI and I check if I've been targeted for any kind of special attack. I'd say healing in PvP is harder, but you're up against player skill and you might be up against some pretty skilled players. But addons won't change that.

 

Tanking on the other hand. Tanking isn't so bad in SW:TOR because your DPS tend to be able to take a hit, generally you'll want to keep the tougher enemies away and generally they can handle trash mobs, especially if you've got your hands full. But in a fight, I occassionally rotate my camera to see if there's any enemies that aren't attacking me and I grab hate from them. It's not that difficult to spot and I don't need a tanking add-on to tell me who has hate. Tanking in PvP is easier than healing in PvP, you've just got to guard weaker players (preferable a healer), spam your taunts and take damage and of course help complete your objectives. As a tank, you're pretty good at taking a huttball beyond the goal line. It's fun being a Juggernaut, popping your defense cool downs, having a healer follow you and just charge your way through to the end, though without the healer or if your defenses are on CD, it's harder to do that. You might wish to DPS too to help on that front. I don't think add ons would help here either.

[chimunga]

Though we don't have any news about allowing third-party interface addons, we'd definitely be interested to hear what functionality you feel is important to add to the current UI. Others have offered a few suggestions (thanks!), and it's helpful to us if you describe what you think is missing and let us know what we can do to improve the UI!

 

 

I would love to see some kind of notification when and ability procs or triggers a buff on another ability, so that I don't have to constantly watch my buffs. You could even go with WoW's method (Oh the horror!) and make the ability that has been amplified glow. Or make the ability procs on a different row as your regular buffs/debuffs. Anything to make them both more visible and noticeable.

[lynspottery]

I am not a big fan of addons. BW actually has a lot in place that could be unlocked for players to adjust things the way they want. I think if I could ask for just one thing that I would like to see implemented it would be the Target-of-my-Target ability. This is a very useful tool to target and heal your tank through the targeted enemy and conversely, as you target your tank for healing purposes, be able to just damage his target through him.

 

Another item that is useful is misdirect. Now that is a great dps tool! I loved it when I was able to cast a misdirect on my pet or tank and have all the aggro I garnered with my attacks be redirected to the tank or pet.

[anstalt]

Though we don't have any news about allowing third-party interface addons, we'd definitely be interested to hear what functionality you feel is important to add to the current UI. Others have offered a few suggestions (thanks!), and it's helpful to us if you describe what you think is missing and let us know what we can do to improve the UI!

 

Your biggest weakness on the UI as I currently see it is the buffs/debuffs display.

 

First and foremost, it is difficult to see your own buffs and debuffs. In the middle of a fight, there tends to be tons of both buffs and debuffs. The majority of these are fairly meaningless: I don't need to see them. They get in the way of the things I do need to see: procs and dispellable effects. So, that is what I'd like to see first: a way to customise what buffs/debuffs you can see on yourself.

 

Second, it is damn near impossible to see buffs and debuffs on party members. They are ridiculously small in size and even if you can see them, you suffer from the same personal problems of there being too many all mixed in together.

 

 

For solutions, I would recommend checking out LOTRO's interface. It was lacking in many ways, but buffs/debuffs it did excellently! Some things it did well:

 

1. Clear Separation of Buffs and Debuffs
   
2. Removal Debuffs outlined to make it clear they could be removed
   
3. "Show My Buffs Only" option
   
4. "Show dispellable effects only" option
   

 

The first two options were all about clearing up your own interface. You would always see every single buff and debuff on yourself, but they were separated and highlighted really well. Putting coloured borders around removal effects would be especially helpful in TOR. In LOTRO, fear effects would be outlined in purple, wounds would be red, disease yellow and poison green. It meant it was instantly recognisable as dispellable, then easily recognisable to see what the type was so you'd use the correct potion.

 

The second two points are all about clearing up the party/raid frames. I don't care whether another member of my party has the trooper buff, or has their own procs etc. Thats information I don't need! What LOTRO provided was a way to only show buffs that you had provided, along with only showing dispellable effects. Again, I don't care whether my team mate has a slow on him coz I can't do anything! However, if he has a fire dot that I can cleanse, i want to see it so that I can then choose to cleanse or not.

 

Screenshot to illustrate the point:

 

LOTRO UI Screenshot

 

As you can see from the SS, my character (Jennifern) has tons and tons of buffs/debuffs. However, I have the option "Only show dispellable effects" enabled which means i can only see dispellable effects on my teammates healthbars. In this case, it is showing that Nightchill has 2 fear effects that can be removed. Even on my own character, the effects are night and easy to see: debuffs have their own row (closest to health bar) whilst buffs go underneath.

 

 

Another thing I would like to see brought over from LOTRO is the Raid Assist Target Window (RAT). TOR has tried to get there with the focus target thing, but its just not very good.

 

Screenshot from LOTRO for illustration: LOTRO Old Watcher Takedown

 

Ignoring the rest of the UI, in the centre of my screen I have my RAT. In the RAT are three teammembers: Demoras, Grumaldor and Linthir. Whenever any of these three members targeted something, what they targeted would appear next to their name. This helped keep the raid group focusing the correct targets at all times. It was very flexible: you could have as many or as little people as you wanted. In this case, I have Demoras tanking a left tenticle from range, Linthir tanking a right tenticle from range, and Grumaldor killing adds on the shore. Typically in raids you would have 1 person up as the RAT so that the whole raid focus fired the correct thing. Occasionally you'd put the tank up as a RAT, both to help the healers quickly target him and also so the raid could quickly switch to the main boss if they'd been killing adds.

 

Whilst a RAT isn't really needed, it is extremely helpful in larger group situations, especially where pugs are involved. Co-ordinated groups already do this by communicating via voice chat, but this goes some way to even the field. In OPvP, it was standard in LOTRO to have 1 ranged RAT and 1 melee RAT. Good raids that followed the RATs would nuke people really quickly. Bad raids would just hit people randomly and never kill stuff.

 

So, those are my two main requests:

 

1) Better buffs / debuffs system

2) Raid Assist Window

[Mr_Clark]

4 horizontal x 2 vertical Raid Frame

Separate targeting for Damage vs. heal

Basic macro system

Edited July 19, 2012 by Mr_Clark

[mackkie]

• The ability to mouseover cast, as I healer it does make it a lot smoother to do triage that way compared to select person a as person a stops taking dmg and person b starts to take damage etc type scenrios
  
• a better view of the debuffs in raid frames and buffs as well, as an smuggler in 8 man operations its really difficult to keep track of rolling hots without actually selecting the person, as well as knowing if it is a debuff we can cleanse or if one of the others needs to do the cleanse for that particular debuff it could be something like different color auras of the raid frames per debuff that can be cleansed by that class and spec to just being able to customize the raid frames where only buffs that we place or debuffs that we can cleanse will so there are many options here but any type of customization of those in the raid frames in comparsion to what is currently available would be a huge step in the right direction.
  

[Gomigakari]

Configurable click-to-cast on raid and party and unit frames (including self, target, target-of-target, and focus target).

 

Say I'm a Sage healer and I want to set up Bubble as left click, my HOT as right-click, my channeled heal as shift-right, etc.

 

I put the mouse over the frame of the thing I want to take the action on and hit the right combination of key + mouse and *bam* it's casted.

 

This is much more efficient and easier to do than using a click or Function key to target, then another key to cast.

 

Why not just an addon that chooses the appropriate spell for you, when you left click? Then you can use just one mouse button to raid. Why not then install another addon that mouse-clicks the portraits for you? Why not go to youtube and watch videos of people raiding?

[Jerro]

there have been some excellent suggestions here, but i would like to suggest a minor change to th UI. Its been annoying me since dec 2011 :/ an option to disable portraits would be really nice!

[vandana_]

before addons we should have:

- buff/debuff customization/filtering

- keybinds profiles

- macros

- click to heal (clique)

- equipment manager (will be imortant when dual spec hits)

Edited July 20, 2012 by vandana_