Aug 26, 2011

Posted by in Blue Milk & Cereal | 27 Comments

Blue Milk & Cereal: Do You Want To See Add-Ons In TOR?

No day would be complete without the breakfast of Jedi: Blue Milk & Cereal.  Every morning, the team at Ask A Jedi will get Force-induced thoughts coursing through your head with delicious issues from around the galaxy! Join in the discussion below to make your voice heard!

It’s hard to believe we haven’t done a Blue Milk & Cereal on this yet, but I checked… we haven’t! So let’s do it – one of the most hotly contested MMO topics OF ALL TIME!

For anyone who’s played an MMO or two all the way through to end game, it’s not a secret that part of the success lies in having a well organized, coordinated and informed group of people. But some would say there’s more to it than that – you need “add-ons”. In fact, many of the user interface features that are now taken as the “standard” in the MMO genre were originally player-created and player-driven modifications to their favorite MMO game. Perhaps the most successful example of player-created add-ons would come from the World of Warcraft community. The modding platform became so diverse and popular that a whole client with auto-updates and many options was created (CurseGaming).

As of today, BioWare’s stance on mod and add-on implementation is as described by Georg Zoeller in an interview with TORWars:

“What we’ve said is, regarding the question ‘Will there be addons at launch’ is “no, not at launch”.

This statement indicates nothing more than that there will not be addons at launch. Nothing more, nothing less.”

There is also a constantly restarted thread on the official forums that focuses on this topic, looking at the various replies in the thread, many would like to see add-on expandability in TOR. My personal opinion is that we will see some degree of modification shortly after launch of the game.

What about you? Do you want to see add-ons for TOR? Do you think TOR will be viable if it continues to live on without any player-made mods? Let us know below!

Do you want to see add-ons in TOR?

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  1. Jatlantis says:

    Yes.

    Pretty easy call for me here, I’d like to mainly UI/actionbar mods, and avoid any Decursive/Gearscore/DBM drama – but I’d rather have it all than none.

  2. I picked option 3 – although its really not that complicated, neither is it a simple yes/no.

    In WoW, I currently use somewhere in the region of 100 addons and while this allows me to achieve not only the function I want from the game, it allows for a lot of aesthetic options as well. Despite this though, I’d rather see TOR launch with everything I need to get the job done right out of the gate.

    The current (and presumably final) iteration of the UI is a great job as far as I’m concerned, although it would be nice if there was the ability to move UI elements around as desired. Beyond this, I’d like to have options to show/hide other commonly requested UI panes such as a threat/dps/heal meter. I saw in the latest videos to come out of Gamescom that they have added many combat bars for stuff like cast times and interrupterble actions and that goes a long way to achieving a Boss-mod type functionality.

    So, overall I guess I’m saying that assuming the in game UI caters for the majority of player needs then I don’t feel the need for addons.

    • Voted option three, for just this.

      • Shapeless says:

        I’m with you both on it working out of the box “right”.

        I think that we’ll get several customization options (size, movement, functions, etc of buttons/maps/keys), but I don’t think that they’ll do it all.

        Unlike you, I only ran about 10 addons.

    • I do like the UI/Titan Panel type addons. What I would like to see is also all these assisting based addons to be in the game at release aswell, however I would like to play a game that never allows for users to make OP addons that do whatever they can find to program in.

      Basicallly. I want addons to be an assistant for getting things on ur screen where you want them and clearing up visual space if needed, along with moving your action bars around like mentioned above.

      I think this would be a small task for BioWare seeing as they already know all the addons used in WoW if they just check out Curse.com lol.

      BTW I can’t believe you used 100 addons lol.

      Spreading Sithilis is now recruiting!

  3. I voted no, because I would rather have Bioware add the functionality into the game and never have to worry about making sure my addons were up to date with every patchthat came out.

  4. I like to keep track of thinks like: What’s in my bank? What are my other Characters wearing? What are my other Characters Crafting? What is in my other Characters’ banks? What pets am I missing? Who’s alt is that? Why did I /ignore or /friend that person? Etc. I also like to see things like a Custom UI with a theme for, say, each Class – maybe each Advanced Class. Things like that. Finally, I like mods that let me RP things. Maybe my Bounty Hunter says, “Time for some Rain!” every time he does “Death From Above” or my Sith Inquisitor says, “Power…Overwhelming!” 10% of the time when using Force Lightning.

    What I *don’t* want to see are mods that automate gameplay. Things that chooses the optimal ability to use, or rates other players based on what they are wearing.

  5. Absolutely, and for only one reason.

    As an RPer, I want to be able to add things like a last name, written description, etc. The rest of the addons… just icing on the cake, I guess. Though I could honestly do without Recount. I really enjoyed playing RIFT without it.

  6. If the default UI has everything that players need, then no, addons are not needed, but realistically we can’t expect the default UI to be all things to all people.

    AddOns have had a very positive effect in WoW. That’s not to say there haven’t been any that were detrimental. But overall it’s been a great experience. Many of WoWs current UI features were not part of the original UI, but came about as a result of addons.

    There are a lot of creative people out there and addons allow those folks to feel like they’re part of the development process. So in the end, I’m all for them.

  7. A definite yes!
    While alot of people may argue that the default UI has everything you might need it’s a truth with modification.
    Take a look at World of Warcraft, a vast majority of the UI improvements that they made over the years started out as AddOns. Having an API which people can use to modify and create AddOns and modifications for UI, and to get more features allows the Game Developers to focus on other things, it also allows them to see which addons people use the most, and gives them insight in what their own UI is lacking.
    Bottomline. AddOns are something that is more or less crucial to an MMO today due to the amount of time the developers can save by getting work done by someone that isn’t themselves, and if you don’t like addons, there’s always the choice of not using them

    • This. In fact Rifts backed up on their no addon policy rather quickly when they realized that no matter how good their UI was, there was a lot of folks that wanted this or that somewhat more to their liking… and a major IP like this will attract a lot of very talented, dedicated.. fanatical players that will want things “just right”, to their liking.
      Indeed some of WoWs best UI upgrades were born from user created work… why waste valuable developers time when they could be creating new content with things that their rabid fans will happily do for them!
      And you can limit the APIs or whatever accessible modules available to prevent “cheating”.
      And finally, indeed there is always the option to NOT use them… why force others not to if you don’t? why not leave the option open?

  8. I can’t help myself…

    Trinity of tank, healing, and dps, imma let you finish, but Add-ons are the greatest issue in MMOs of all-time! ALL-TIME!

    As far as add-ons go – I did like them in World of Warcraft, I did not miss them in Rift (even when I healed), but the customization options on their UI really helped. As others have said, mods that “automate” some aspects of gameplay (specifically combat) are bad. Having an economy skew on things, I like what mods like auctioneer add to the table, though it remains to be seen what the drudgery added to crafting is like. With critical successes in, there are definitely going to be elements of crafting automation that don’t work at all.

    Are mods good? Yes, to a degree. And Bioware has control of that – I think allowing UI modifications is what really makes an MMO have staying power. Giving people the ability to recreate as they will gives rise to entire sub-communities of modders and tweakers who like nothing more than to talk about the different UI packages they can create. It adds another layer of interest for many people.

  9. ScytheNoire says:

    Oh god yes. I want to be able to customize the UI the way I want. Currently, BioWare is allowing NONE of that, even through their own interface. In fact, I can’t think of a game that has ever had an interface that you could move things around and change their sizes, turn things on and off. BioWare absolutely failed when it comes to the UI. It’s a HUGE failure.

    • royaldufus says:

      accully if u watch the new update on swtor.com he tells everyone during the video that healers and other classes can move around the party UI and mak it biger so targeting is easyer for healers

  10. Lord Slavakov says:

    If you need a meter, bar, button maker, macro, or picture to play a game. You’re not doing it right. Other than customization mods do nothing but add an inbalancable aspect to gameplay. DAoC had the ability to just change what the UI looked like, other than something like that my vote is no.

  11. The only MOD i would want is to customize the UI, I prefer all my info on the bottom leaving a open screen on top. Easier on the eyes as well my eye travel distance will be less.

    Other then that there is no. Mods are generally just to give extra info and in some other MMO’s show where rares, resources have been located. Nothing really that important that you can’t figure out yourself.

  12. Moving UI elements around or resize/recolor UI elements… yes.
    Anything else… no.

    Functionality of say… auctioneer should be default.

    Things like recount and gearscore only promote an over-inflated value of self worth.

    Just IMHO,
    Lodreh

  13. I understand why some people hesitate on addons. However, for me the answer has always boiled down to one simple issue…Customization. MMO’s to me are all about your unique character in this massive world. I love to customize everything, from my gear down to my UI. I was an addon whore in wow. I loved finding new ones and replacing others. It was a large part of my enjoyment. I will be hugely disappointed if Bioware does not release them soon after launch.

    Let me add a bit of a caveat. I don’t necessarily feel like we need addons to do everything, ie boss mods. I just want to be able to at least track my own damage, as well customize the look and feel of my ui.

  14. I do not mind having mods that allow customization of UI or what not, the thing I do not want to see are mods that play the game for you(I.E. Decursive). As a healer in WoW I had people always ask me how in the heck I played without any mods, but I liked to do everything maually.

    Meters can be nice to have to gauge your performance with what is average, so I would also like to have them in the game in some form or another.

  15. gamer_ladyp says:

    I want an interface that is so good it doesn’t need add ons. That said, there are a few things that might be nice, like mods so my color blind husband can get better cues about color coded things, tell friend from foes more easily, etc.
    I used mods heavily in WoW and it was some kind of vicious cycle. The game absorbed some of the more popular functions, but I swear raids were written with the assumption that mods would be used to make them human compatible.

  16. I can understand Bioware giving you the ability to customize the UI and that is all.

    Everything else is just being lazy, so you want a program to target, heal and pick the right skill all at once for you, you need a program to tell you what to do and when.

    WoW has tainted the game industry by coddling players and given into forum trolls or the people who scream the most, this has made the players lazy. It as shame really.

  17. If Curse is in control of SWTOR addons then I want nothing to do with them. If we have addons, then I want them to be produced and distributed by Bioware on the SWTOR site mainly for security reasons. I can’t tell you how many times my account was hacked before authentication keys due to addons and things that were “given” to me with them.

  18. From what I’ve seen in videos thus far, a lot of the addons I used back when I played WoW wouldn’t be needed thanks to a great design of their UI.

    When I started playing WoW I went about a year without any addon installed. Then I decided to give a few a try (at a friend’s suggestion) and loved the customization it allowed me. So I could be happy either way.

    However, I get the feeling that there is just no way they could include everything people want to have and usually get via addons. It wouldn’t surprise me if, after people have gotten used to their game, Bioware did one of two things.

    1) Either they addressed and began to add functionality to their game basically patching in “addons” of Bioware’s own design as the community demanded them.

    2) They let the community design and attach their own addons to the game.

    They may even do a bit of both as they see the ideas the community brings into the game.

    No matter what happens, we’ll still be getting the same great game. It’ll be interesting to see what Bioware does though.

  19. Lord-Maknoe says:

    I want to see add ons but only if they truly benefit the game. Not like (for example) you get a $15 add on so you can start the game with an AC. I only want add ons that truly mean something to me and the game

  20. A few others have said it already: ideally, there will be no need for addons, because the game will rock my world right out of the box.

    I would much prefer it if the devs take a look at what players need/want beyond what the game is currently providing and implement those funcionalities themselves.

  21. There are some addons I wouldn’t mind seeing. Though I hope that the default UI will be able to be edited, like it was in Warhammer. I never needed a costume UI mod because I could set it up just like I wanted it through ingame.

    There are other add ons I liked, like CD watching mods, or alert mods, that would flash an icon or w/e to let you know this debuff is on you, or this ability is now ready.

    There are others though, as much as I liked from WoW, that were like wielding a lightsaber and not being force-sensitive. As useful as they were for you personal use, the could be used against you as well. Top one was recount. Loved it, but hated it as well.

  22. I really think certain addons are necessary. Like Omen, DBM, or at least the ability to make macros. I used to play DPS all the time in WoW. DPS was easy without too many addons at all. Now, in SWTOR, I’m trying my hand at being a tank. Yeah right…without some form of threat metering and “Oh Crap!” macros, I don’t see how anyone will ever be an effective tank without an extremely high repair bill on a regular basis. I’m not saying that Bioware needs to allow everything, but they do need to allow or develop the basics. At least let me make my buttons smaller. I’m not friggin’ blind!

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