Should ZoS remove\disable all addons functions?

blue_peaceful_Manticore

Kisakee

No

They are the ones who gave us access to the API in the first place so people could create addons so why?

tohopka_eso

Why? I made a decision not to use them, why take away someone's ability to use them if they want.

DreamyLu

Can't vote. For me personally, it's neither no nor yes: what I would like is the integration of the most used ones as part of the game content, under ZOS full responsibility, to have it secured for the future.

Addons are 3rd party programs, This creates a dangerous grey zone in term of contractual responsibility (am surprised that ZOS is OK with that) and this has impact on the technical support that a player can expect (use at own risk). So, for now, so far so good, it works more or less OK, apart from some troubles at time of bigger patch. However, if one day a much bigger trouble should arise, linked to the addons, with no easy measures that can be implemented to fix it, that would be the end of it.

Now to be honest, without addons, I wouldn't play ESO. So, I do hope that the "no" option will last long enough, so I can keep playing the game for another while.

robpr

No

No. Curate them and add them to consoles. If some addon is very popular, maybe even make it official function in the game like ability timers (sort of).
Skyrim can have mods on consoles through Creation Club and Deep Rock Galactic or Space Engineers have mods through Mod.io on xbox version at least, so I dont see why ESO can't have them as well.

The_Titan_Tim

Yes

My only reason for advocating this, would be that if Add-On functionality was removed on PC, cross-platform would be very likely in the future.

Although if you were to 180* this, and just give console the same add-ons, my answer would be the opposite, as they wouldn’t impede on possible cross-play.

Rasoma

No

No they should not remove a function that has been there since day 1 on the PC/Mac platform - it would be economic suicide if they did. Consoles do not have adding because of the nature of consoles and the restrictive practices imposed upon them.

There will never be a day when a console player will be in the same world/instance as a PC/Mac player due to the same console restrictions (they really hate cross platform play when it comes to xbox and PS and I am pretty sure it is even not allowed - cross platform console play I mean).

Snamyap

No

If you like really, really want to kill of ESO, this would be a good start.

Taggund

No

Without addons I would not have made it more than a month playing ESO. It started with Mini-map, but so many more help improve the experience of the game.

Beilin_Balreis_Colcan

No

Addons improve the game in so many ways, and people wouldn't use them otherwise. If ZOS removed the ESOUI API, then unless they improved the various accessibility and QoL shortcomings that motivated people to use the addons in the first place, the game would suffer.

N3CR01

No

Taggund wrote: »

Without addons I would not have made it more than a month playing ESO. It started with Mini-map, but so many more help improve the experience of the game.

I played ESO on Xbox for almost 2 years, so no addons.
Not gonna lie... couldn't go back to that again.
Having a minmap alone... I just couldn't play without one now.

Kiralyn2000

No

The_Titan_Tim wrote: »

would be that if Add-On functionality was removed on PC, cross-platform would be very likely in the future..

Given their supposed issues with server transfers, and definite issues with other technical things the last year or two, I kind of doubt it.

KilianDermoth

No

.

endgamesmug

Yes

I played through all sorts of challenging content without addons on console for 5 years and multiple daily writs. I dont use combat addons on pc but i do use a writ addon, but id be fine if that was removed. I would just adapt and carry on. I am very interested in learning combat and mechanics and get better at what i enjoy as a result.

Sirona_Starr

No

endgamesmug wrote: »

I played through all sorts of challenging content without addons on console for 5 years and multiple daily writs. I dont use combat addons on pc but i do use a writ addon, but id be fine if that was removed. I would just adapt and carry on. I am very interested in learning combat and mechanics and get better at what i enjoy as a result.

Why vote to remove them from people who use them? Makes no sense. If you don't want to use them, then don't use them. If you want to use them then use them.

Take them away from people who use them, and watch more players quit in droves.

ghastley

No

Just like mods on single-player games reveal the gaps in the base game, so add-ons expose the needs in MMO UI. They need the research.

Silaf

No

If you take away my lazy writ crafter i'm removing eso+.
I'm an eso+ member only for the bag (and a little bit for housing space but you can argue it's another form of bag).

RaddlemanNumber7

No

I don't use any add-ons, never have, never would, but I don't see why other people should not have the choice.

opalcity

No

I'm a console user so I get no benefit from addons but I know if I had the option, there are a few QoL things I'd use like minimaps and better inventory management.

I can't see Zos doing away with addons, if there was ever an ESO2, then I could see them integrating some of the more popular/useful addons as standard and then not allowing any other addons unless they were made by Zos and sold in the Crown Store.

Tommy_The_Gun

No

Not all, but imho there are definitely some Add-on API elements that should be disabled.

Anifaas

No

I don't play console games because of how basic they usually feel compared to the rich experiences commonly found in PC games. Without addons to provide the standard to which I am accustomed on the PC, I would not bother playing ESO and would stick to Skyrim for my Elder Scrolls fix and WoW for my MMO fix.

freespirit

No

After last patch and the crashing issues I turned all my addons off.

Over the last few weeks I have slowly turned a few of them back on, these I consider would make me really enjoy playing a lot less if I had to live without them.

Surprisingly it is actually a very small number, five or six I think, however it could also be I haven't recently done the content the still turned off ones help with!

So I have turned on..... a couple of trading related ones, a crafting one, an inventory management one and a housing one, also I have two fishing ones I turn on and off, if fishing or not. 😀

method__01

No

endgamesmug wrote: »

I played through all sorts of challenging content without addons on console for 5 years and multiple daily writs. I dont use combat addons on pc but i do use a writ addon, but id be fine if that was removed. I would just adapt and carry on. I am very interested in learning combat and mechanics and get better at what i enjoy as a result.

addons make daily game activities (mostly daily writs,master writs) easier so player can focus on questing, exploring ,pvp and other aspects of game
i do X18 daily writs on EU PC and another X9 on US and it takes me less than 1 hour
i did the same for years with PS4 and the amount of time i needed was at least double plus ia had to open the boxes manually and yes i had some kind of automation back then by crafting same item multiple times to gain time
then i had to open my tablet or phone and check where on map the surveys are or find missing books or whatever skyshards im missing etc...
now on pc al the above are automatically done and i can focus to things i like in game
i left ps4 back in 2019 and never look back,addons make ESO a different game and imo should be included in next ESO-if not in current at least with Xbox and ps5 versions

Sarannah

Yes

Noone is going to like my answer to this, but yes! Mostly to create a fair-play environment, where we are all on equal footing in all parts of the game. This includes QoL and UI add-ons.

But to be realistic, this will never happen. Some players are way too addicted to add-ons, and the advantages they provide. And ZOS does not want to lose those players.

Disabling all add-ons would make it easier for ZOS to recognize which QoL features are most wanted by the entire playerbase. This in turn could bring ESO to a point where add-ons could no longer be allowed. Something I really hope ZOS is working towards.

PS: Some add-ons existing now should never have been allowed to exist in the first place, as they provide clear in-game advantages over other players.

karthrag_inak

Delightful poll. Khajiit cannot wait for school to start up again.

endgamesmug

Yes

Sirona_Starr wrote: »

endgamesmug wrote: »

I played through all sorts of challenging content without addons on console for 5 years and multiple daily writs. I dont use combat addons on pc but i do use a writ addon, but id be fine if that was removed. I would just adapt and carry on. I am very interested in learning combat and mechanics and get better at what i enjoy as a result.

Why vote to remove them from people who use them? Makes no sense. If you don't want to use them, then don't use them. If you want to use them then use them.

Take them away from people who use them, and watch more players quit in droves.

I guess because i learnt the game initially without addons it has become an advantage and im grateful for that. If youre unable without them thats a shame sure, but certainly i have no authority over whether you can use them or not. But certainly i feel they are detrimental in the long term when it comes to combat.

TaSheen

No

I only use QOL addons (a lot of them though) to make the game UI behave the way I like all games I play to work, but none of them are for combat. If ZOS decided to get rid of addons, I'd quit playing instantly.

Tenthirty2

No

I'd be more interested as to why this is even a question?

What I would like to see ZOS implement is add-on functionality for consoles.

VaranisArano

From the beginning, ESO's devs understood that they were launching an Elder Scrolls MMO on PC during the heyday of Skyrim's modding community.

Let's look at some of the Dev quotes discussing how they saw the role of add-ons from Beta onward.

I present you the following quotes from the Devs:

From Beta:

(My bold for emphasis)

"As we get closer to launch, our beta events have continued to grow in player-size, and that growth has resulted in even more and more of you taking the time to experiment with our UI modding tools. It’s exciting to see the amazing add-ons you have come up with and for us, as developers, it’s also a very important part of the beta process. Seeing what the community wants to add or change is helpful as we continue to tweak and balance the game – what are people looking for? what works? what doesn’t? Finding the right answers to these questions often means leaving the API very open during this beta phase. It helps us see where limits may or may not be and helps us determine what makes the best possible ESO experience for everyone.

We welcome creativity and have built ESO on player-choice, but as a game played with thousands of others, we also must be mindful of any mods that give clear mechanical advantages in competitive situations.  Maintaining a level playing field will always be our first priority. Our intent with add-ons is to encourage you to modify your UI in a way that is more fitting for your personal play-style, but not ones that could allow you to make choices for others. We do not want those who aren’t interested in using an add-on to feel compelled to do so because they cannot remain competitive without them. As we continue beta testing, we’ll continue to evaluate add-ons and the implications they have on other players, but you can expect changes to the API before launch and will share that information as it becomes available. Thank you to all of you that have created add-ons during this time – we appreciate your help in making ESO the best it can be."

Source: https://www.mmorpg.com/columns/esos-addon-conundrum-2000095396

From 2013:
"#ESO will have limited LUA modding capability on PC and Mac."
https://mobile.twitter.com/TESOnline/status/393164222856589312

From the official Support Site:
"DOES THE ELDER SCROLLS ONLINE HAVE AN API FOR PLAYERS TO CREATE MODS FOR THE GAME?"

"The API for modding the user interface of The Elder Scrolls Online is now available here. Players and modders can find an AddOn Quick Questions list and a MyFirstAddon tutorial on the same page, and they can direct questions about creating and using addons here."
https://help.elderscrollsonline.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1081/kw/Addon

From those quotes, we see that the Devs fully expected PC players to make and use addons even from the beta days. What that really means is that since Microsoft and Sony don't allow addons, consoles got stuck with the pared back, minimalist UI that the Devs always intended PC players to be able to modify through LUA modding and the API.

Moreover, we know that ZOS remains in full control of the API. When necessary, they've altered API access for everything from Miat's PVP addon to signal stealth, Master Merchant and TTC refreshing their data too quickly, to Chat addons that were being misused for an exploit. And conversely, they've not altered many of the ones that purists like to point to, like PVE combat alerts. ZOS can alter API access when they want to/they also allow the API access they want.

That's also a reason why a fair number of ZOS's recent base game updates to housing, crafting, and armory have mimicked the sort of addon functionality that PC players have had for years now. They opened the API so players would fill those gaps; the restrictions placed when they ported ESO to consoles meant that ZOS had to
slowly recreate those functions themselves for the base game (and monetized some of them, like Armory.)

Freelancer_ESO

Yes

Long term, if they plan on investing in the game significantly. (Obviously, you'd wait to implement it until you could move most of the popular addons that are not disruptive into optional features.)

Addons disrupt the incentives that would normally exist to improve a game.

If you've got millions of players that want a mini-map but, half of them can get a mini-map via an addon the incentives for implementing it have significantly dropped and it doesn't happen.

If it doesn't happen too many times you end up with a game that people aren't going to play if they don't want to deal with addons or can't use addons which will cost you money in the long run.

Addons also drive up the gap between players which makes designing content to fit large numbers of players harder.

Content that is challenging for someone with an addons that tell them what to do and that provide them data on every little thing they are doing is going to be incredibly difficult for people that aren't getting that level of information.

Kiralyn2000

No

VaranisArano wrote: »

From the beginning, ESO's devs understood that they were launching an Elder Scrolls MMO on PC during the heyday of Skyrim's modding community.

Well, and even ignoring "TES games = mods!", WoW had been out for quite awhile by then, and it had extensive UI/QoL/etc mods for it. So it wasn't a foreign idea to have that kind of stuff in an MMO.


(I don't use any combat or automation mods. I use informational ones, to replace page after page of written notes & going to another window to search something on a wiki or guide. Harvest Map, Skyshards, Morrowind shrines, treasure chest locations, which recipes I know, etc.)