add ons in gw2

[Deleted]

There's really no need for Add-Ons in Guild Wars 2.

yes there is.

the ui is bloody atrocious imo. it's absolutely awful. it's like looking through the eyes of stevie wonder.

[vep]

it makes me think someone could just make a add on to show enemy hp. now if everyone did not have access to the add on that person would have a advantage.

First of all, grammar. Please.
Second, you shouldn't worry about enemy's health. You should worry about the buffs he has on and the animations of his attacks.

[Deafknight]

BTW your ANTIHYPE is sillier than the HYPE you accuse us of falling pray to.

Where did i ever take a side ? My stance is that the argument and both sides are silly !

[Osprey39]

Having addons in this game would be a good thing, I can't understand why people are defending arenanet for not having support for them.
You can argue that the game does not need them, but personalizing UI would add alot for the game and not take anything away from the experience.
Guess its just people who don't like when people point out bad things about "their" game.

There is no need for add ons in GW2. The UI is pretty well designed and entirely functional. You want to be able to personalize it? Well I want a million dollars but neither is likely to happen so we have to play the cards we're dealt. I don't even really see a need to personalize the UI. It's 1 row of 10 buttons ffs.

---------- Post added 2012-08-05 at 05:09 AM ----------

Play the game not the UI, one of my favourite things to do is playing the auction house and to do so I use a nifty little add on called auctionater, it keeps track of all my purchases and sales in the past and has a great little add on feature I will not be able to play the AH using the built in trading post which is basic to say the least. Does this mean that a part of how I play mmos has been removed....just saying that not all add ons cover your screen with information some are used to make other facets of life a lot easier.

You can do the same thing with Excel. You know how I know this? One of my guildmates in Vanilla WoW did exactly that before the auction house mods made it where anybody could do the same thing with little to no effort. You could say that my guildmate was harmed by those mods because before them he had few competitors 'in the know' so to speak.

[Jerom]

There is no need for add ons in GW2. The UI is pretty well designed and entirely functional. You want to be able to personalize it? Well I want a million dollars but neither is likely to happen so we have to play the cards we're dealt. I don't even really see a need to personalize the UI. It's 1 row of 10 buttons ffs.

Warning, slippery slope argument in coming: Now you are being silly on purpose. People play games differently, some have small screens some have big screens, some even plan on playing with a gamepad from the couch on TV. Being able to move and resize the UI elements around to fit your play style is about as reasonable as asking for key binds or are you going to tell that because there are only ten buttons they are not needed either?

[Lucky_]

You can do the same thing with Excel. You know how I know this? One of my guildmates in Vanilla WoW did exactly that before the auction house mods made it where anybody could do the same thing with little to no effort. You could say that my guildmate was harmed by those mods because before them he had few competitors 'in the know' so to speak.

I like this one personally. "Add-ons make players have different power levels. No wait, add-ons give even ground."

Nothing like the "anti everything that isn't in GW2 already" crowd attacking each others' arguments.

[Osprey39]

Warning, slippery slope argument in coming: Now you are being silly on purpose. People play games differently, some have small screens some have big screens, some even plan on playing with a gamepad from the couch on TV. Being able to move and resize the UI elements around to fit your play style is about as reasonable as asking for key binds or are you going to tell that because there are only ten buttons they are not needed either?

I'm not being silly on purpose. I'm pretty sure I remember seeing a UI scaling function in the game already in the beta. So you can't move elements around, oh well. Look, let me explain my stance on this more clearly. In a game that has pvp, I'm a strong advocate that everyone is playing with the same exact setup. Even simply moving UI elements around takes away from player skill. How? Well, for example, I'm blessed with pretty good peripheral vision. I don't really struggle to see anything that is on the screen even if I'm not looking directly at it and I play on a 23" monitor so it's not exactly small. I fully realize that isn't the case for everyone but what you may see as an issue of convenience, I see as marginalizing a skill that I have so it's not an advantage to me anymore. Player skill isn't just about mashing the correct buttons at the correct time. There's more to it than that.

[Deafknight]

I'm not being silly on purpose. I'm pretty sure I remember seeing a UI scaling function in the game already in the beta. So you can't move elements around, oh well. Look, let me explain my stance on this more clearly. In a game that has pvp, I'm a strong advocate that everyone is playing with the same exact setup. Even simply moving UI elements around takes away from player skill. How? Well, for example, I'm blessed with pretty good peripheral vision. I don't really struggle to see anything that is on the screen even if I'm not looking directly at it and I play on a 23" monitor so it's not exactly small. I fully realize that isn't the case for everyone but what you may see as an issue of convenience, I see as marginalizing a skill that I have so it's not an advantage to me anymore. Player skill isn't just about mashing the correct buttons at the correct time. There's more to it than that.

Thats like someone with photographic memory complaining that normal people are allowed to look at things twice.

[iCandy]

Never found this myth to be true as a progression raider for close to 12~ years now. We don't even ask for it on our guild apps.

I don't use any addons myself either.

I was a progression raiding as well and nobody got into the guild without DBM.

Now take what I said in my other post and apply it to a pug group of players trying to do some easy 25man stuff.

[Thelxi]

Addons have a far greater impact on games than most people realize. They really go against the gw2 game philosophy and I hope they wisely stay away from them forever.

[Deafknight]

Addons have a far greater impact on games than most people realize. They really go against the gw2 game philosophy and I hope they wisely stay away from them forever.

The problem is that people will make the addons themselves, providing an actual imbalance.

[Deleted]

I'm not being silly on purpose. I'm pretty sure I remember seeing a UI scaling function in the game already in the beta. So you can't move elements around, oh well. Look, let me explain my stance on this more clearly. In a game that has pvp, I'm a strong advocate that everyone is playing with the same exact setup. Even simply moving UI elements around takes away from player skill. How? Well, for example, I'm blessed with pretty good peripheral vision. I don't really struggle to see anything that is on the screen even if I'm not looking directly at it and I play on a 23" monitor so it's not exactly small. I fully realize that isn't the case for everyone but what you may see as an issue of convenience, I see as marginalizing a skill that I have so it's not an advantage to me anymore. Player skill isn't just about mashing the correct buttons at the correct time. There's more to it than that.

same setup?

so you'd want every class to be the same with the exact same skills cuz lets be honest. gw2 aint gonna be balanced. as much as you wanna hope it is, it just isnt. XD

The problem is that people will make the addons themselves

also this. rift had no dmg meters. what did the community do? they made their own. addons will be made whether 3rd party or whatever. just cuz its not supported by a-net doesnt mean it wont happen. a bot, after all, is simply an addon and it's not like blizzard endorses bot usage

[Deleted]

Yes, but people get really defensive when someone points out something about their game as a downfall or a flaw. Having addons would be a wonderful addition (this coming from someone who doesn't really use them) and it's a shame they're not in.

but then Anet would have to keep addons in mind for balance and how the game plays....which is diverting resources to do so.

We've all seen teh impact in wow, where Bliz has to keep making changes to the API to disable abuse. And boss fights are trivialised by DBM and the like.

It also goes against the design goal of play the game not the UI. All the information you need is there, most of it in the actual game. addons woudl detract from that.

[Lucky_]

Thats like someone with photographic memory complaining that normal people are allowed to look at things twice.

That's how most humane arguments go. "Lack of this thing gives me competitive advantage, this thing should be banned".

You see it in top play all the time.

[Osprey39]

Thats like someone with photographic memory complaining that normal people are allowed to look at things twice.

If we were discussing the game of Concentration, you'd be right but...it would also validate my point that you're marginalizing a players skill. To use another example, let's say you and I were playing a golf match and say you can hit it 300yds off the tee but I can only hit it 250yds so I say I'm going to play from the forward tees to negate your driving advantage. If it was strictly for fun, you might allow to do that but if we were having a serious competition I doubt you would do so.

same setup?

so you'd want every class to be the same with the exact same skills cuz lets be honest. gw2 aint gonna be balanced. as much as you wanna hope it is, it just isnt. XD

This is pretty faulty logic. Of course I don't expect every profession to be the same. I do expect every Elementalist to have the same possible build outs as every other Elementalist though just like I expect every other profession to have the same possibilities as those that share that profession.

also this. rift had no dmg meters. what did the community do? they made their own. addons will be made whether 3rd party or whatever. just cuz its not supported by a-net doesnt mean it wont happen. a bot, after all, is simply an addon and it's not like blizzard endorses bot usage

There's a big difference between adding a log parsing e-peen meter and some of these other mods that add significant functionality to the game. The log parser can easily be done without access to the API. SWTOR had no dps meter and you know why? No combat log to parse.

That's how most humane arguments go. "Lack of this thing gives me competitive advantage, this thing should be banned".

You see it in top play all the time.

I'm not asking for anything to be banned. I'm just advocating that they keep the game the way it is. If they added the ability to move UI elements around, I wouldn't like it because it marginalizes the skills of peripheral vision and, to an extent, situational awareness. It wouldn't be the end of the world to me but I wouldn't be in favor of it.

[Lillpapps]

Addons in PvP is like performance enhancing drugs. Some use them, some dont. Those who uses them gets a massive advantage. I rather have it banned than let everyone use it.

Since ArenaNet want to push GW2 as an eSport they really cant support addons. Addons would always be developed to make things easier which would go against ArenaNet's vision of that personal skill matters.

[Deafknight]

If we were discussing the game of Concentration, you'd be right but...it would also validate my point that you're marginalizing a players skill. To use another example, let's say you and I were playing a golf match and say you can hit it 300yds off the tee but I can only hit it 250yds so I say I'm going to play from the forward tees to negate your driving advantage. If it was strictly for fun, you might allow to do that but if we were having a serious competition I doubt you would do so.

Thats how a competition is defined, we limit the game to the skillsets we want to be applicable to it.

Its fine if Guild Wars says: We want skill in our game to be measured by how good our users peripheral vision is, but this is certainly not the case and most certainly not an entry level they want in a game thats supposed to sell.

What you want is for your skillset to matter more than other players, you are afraid of your skillset being marginalized.
Its basicly the same as the other side saying: im pissed i cant use my programming skills to write addons that give me an advantage over other players.

My stance is that there should be a limit on what addons are able to do, or leave em out completely BUT moving UI Elements around is definitely in the range of fair customization. Its equal in all cases, it doesn't cost anything, requires no skillset and is completely subjective.

[draykorinee]

Addons in PvP is like performance enhancing drugs. Some use them, some dont. Those who uses them gets a massive advantage. I rather have it banned than let everyone use it.

Since ArenaNet want to push GW2 as an eSport they really cant support addons. Addons would always be developed to make things easier which would go against ArenaNet's vision of that personal skill matters.

Really? My minimap add on affects my player skills? My auction house mod affects esports? My action bar add ons effect you somhow. Seriously dont be so naive as to pigeon hole add ons in to some ridiculous OP benefit that only the select few use. Add ons offer a huge variety of benefits that are mainly QoL I cant think of many that outright boost your performance.

[Osprey39]

Thats how a competition is defined, we limit the game to the skillsets we want to be applicable to it.

Its fine if Guild Wars says: We want skill in our game to be measured by how good our users peripheral vision is, but this is certainly not the case and most certainly not an entry level they want in a game thats supposed to sell.

I seriously doubt their decision to not allow add-ons is going to hurt their sales in a significant way. Look at SWTOR, they sold a ton of copies of the game and they had no add-ons and no UI customization. Hell, you couldn't even have more than 2 windows open at a time. Now the lack of those may have hurt their retention of players but GW2 has no sub fee so that makes that point mostly moot.

What you want is for your skillset to matter more than other players, you are afraid of your skillset being marginalized.
Its basicly the same as the other side saying: im pissed i cant use my programming skills to write addons that give me an advantage over other players.

I think what you meant to type there is 'I can't use my downloading skills'. I think we can agree that most of the users of add-on mods don't write them. Furthermore, the two things really aren't comparable. One is an innate ability I have that everyone uses to play video games; I just happen to be better at it than the average person. The other is not required at all to play video games. They really are not on par with one another. And yes, I don't want to see something I have skill in marginalized where it's rendered unimportant because there are other facets of player skill that I don't possess in the same degree. I have to make up for that somewhere but the difference is I'm making up for it with my own innate ability and not some downloaded mod.

My stance is that there should be a limit on what addons are able to do, or leave em out completely BUT moving UI Elements around is definitely in the range of fair customization. Its equal in all cases, it doesn't cost anything, requires no skillset and is completely subjective.

That's your opinion on it, fair enough. My opinion happens to be different and right now, the game is set up without UI customization. Like I said previously, if they allow it down the road, I'm not going to quit playing. I just would rather they didn't. It's not a huge advantage to me that I can see things without having to move them around but it is some advantage and at my advanced gaming age, I need all the help I can get

[Deleted]

Really? My minimap add on affects my player skills? My auction house mod affects esports? My action bar add ons effect you somhow. Seriously dont be so naive as to pigeon hole add ons in to some ridiculous OP benefit that only the select few use. Add ons offer a huge variety of benefits that are mainly QoL I cant think of many that outright boost your performance.

You really like hyperbole dont you?

Point boils down to this: The ui is functional, it provides all the information you require in a manner which fits Anets design goals. So no addons are needed and no addons will be allowed.

Other MMOs almost require them, take WoW, it gives you more abilities than can be shown onscreen on the action bars...you need addons to enable the action bars. Back when threat mattered a TPS meter was necessary for dps and tanks. Back before the raid frames were updated you needed a decent raid frame addon to heal. If you want to do raids you need DBM or equiv as the fights dont make things clear (you have to pre-emptively pop cds for instance) and are designed around you having them. thats fine, as thats the way wow is set up.

GW2 is not set up that way. If you need information its given to you, maybe not in a nice UI table/bar but in the actual gameworld.

Allowing addons changes how you react to the game world. If I have to react to the enemy to dodge, but you get timer bar telling you to dodge, then you have the advantage.
Ok, I'll grant that some addons do not affect absolute power, but thats irrelevant, the UI does the job fine. Just because other MMOs alllow addons does nto mean they all must do. Games did not used to have massive customisation, and lately I've come to the opinion that its quite lazy to rely on addons to make up for short commings in the default UI.