And folks, they said from the start that they wanted this game to have a very minimalist UI. It's not broken, it just isn't what people who have played MMOs for a while have gotten used to. Add-ons are nice, but they aren't required. Yeah, I have some I like and use. I could play without them and adjust and be perfectly fine.
mdosheab16_ESO wrote: »Another patch that has broken all the addons was the final straw for me. I've cancelled my subscription for now and will see how things go over my remaining 90 days.
I loved ESO, and I still want to. But to call it a 'high maintenance' relationship is an understatement.
Well I guess its your choice in the end, but while frustrating, having to redo add-ons isn't the end of the world. I run 25 add-ons at all times, on all characters. I use Minion to update them, saves me a ton of time. I had 2/3 of them up to date by the end of the patch release day. It took me about 10 min to completely redo my settings on my main, and the more difficult add-ons to setup save the settings across all characters. So I was done, 15 min for entire account and back to playing like nothing happened.
What add-on do you use for Harvest Map, when Harvest Map doesn't work while the guild functionality is shut down, and the data gets overwritten and lost while they swap back and forth?
And the last conversation I had with the author, he said he was unsubbing and there are no replacements that cover that info.
What add-on do you use for ZrMiniMap, since the original author quit a while back, and there aren't any workable substitutions that reliably update of work similarly?
I have 19 other add-ons covering inventory management, research management, and much else that are still 'Out of Date' as of 3 minutes ago, and I have no clue whether those authors are still active or not.
Many of those add-ons either have no alternate, or they're just as out of date for some time now.
The original pool of add-on authors has been much reduced by authors giving up and leaving in frustration, and new authors don't seem to be joining in any numbers to replace the ones who left.
I know it's fashionable to point out that it's not Zeni's responsibility to coddle add-on authors, but to originally invite them in to augment game play, and tout a robust add-on environment and then chase them away with a stick is counterproductive to those of us who only stick around paying the sub and playing the game because the add-ons make the game live up to it's potential of fun for us.
As it stands now, I'm just coasting thru the balance of my 6 month sub, because I buy/sub/play one game at a time, and I'm waiting to see whether I have to move on or not.
nerevarine1138 wrote: »3. Even if the first two things weren't true, it's still not ZO's problem. Addons are maintained by third-party developers. It's their job to fix addons if an update breaks them.
mdosheab16_ESO wrote: »Another patch that has broken all the addons was the final straw for me. I've cancelled my subscription for now and will see how things go over my remaining 90 days.
I loved ESO, and I still want to. But to call it a 'high maintenance' relationship is an understatement.
Well I guess its your choice in the end, but while frustrating, having to redo add-ons isn't the end of the world. I run 25 add-ons at all times, on all characters. I use Minion to update them, saves me a ton of time. I had 2/3 of them up to date by the end of the patch release day. It took me about 10 min to completely redo my settings on my main, and the more difficult add-ons to setup save the settings across all characters. So I was done, 15 min for entire account and back to playing like nothing happened.
What add-on do you use for Harvest Map, when Harvest Map doesn't work while the guild functionality is shut down, and the data gets overwritten and lost while they swap back and forth?
And the last conversation I had with the author, he said he was unsubbing and there are no replacements that cover that info.
What add-on do you use for ZrMiniMap, since the original author quit a while back, and there aren't any workable substitutions that reliably update of work similarly?
I have 19 other add-ons covering inventory management, research management, and much else that are still 'Out of Date' as of 3 minutes ago, and I have no clue whether those authors are still active or not.
Many of those add-ons either have no alternate, or they're just as out of date for some time now.
The original pool of add-on authors has been much reduced by authors giving up and leaving in frustration, and new authors don't seem to be joining in any numbers to replace the ones who left.
I know it's fashionable to point out that it's not Zeni's responsibility to coddle add-on authors, but to originally invite them in to augment game play, and tout a robust add-on environment and then chase them away with a stick is counterproductive to those of us who only stick around paying the sub and playing the game because the add-ons make the game live up to it's potential of fun for us.
As it stands now, I'm just coasting thru the balance of my 6 month sub, because I buy/sub/play one game at a time, and I'm waiting to see whether I have to move on or not.
Harvest Map is a bust. I have it, and use it for the current map I am on, but once I have out leveled the area I have no need to go back. It would be nice for future character play-throughs, but at the end of the day its not necessary to me.
Updated version of the mini map.
http://www.esoui.com/downloads/info605-ZrMiniMap-Updated.html
As it stands all of my add-ons work fine. Some say out of date, but they all work. Research assistant was down for a day, that has been fixed. I use Advanced Filters for inventory management
nerevarine1138 wrote: »3. Even if the first two things weren't true, it's still not ZO's problem. Addons are maintained by third-party developers. It's their job to fix addons if an update breaks them.
It is if i cancel my subscription because i cant stand that lousy UI
nerevarine1138 wrote: »nerevarine1138 wrote: »3. Even if the first two things weren't true, it's still not ZO's problem. Addons are maintained by third-party developers. It's their job to fix addons if an update breaks them.
It is if i cancel my subscription because i cant stand that lousy UI
Then ask them to change the UI instead of whining about them not also doing the addon developers' jobs for them.
They won't change the UI, because many (if not most) players like the minimal UI the way it is. But you're complaining to ZO about something they have no responsibility for or control over.
You could add on an add on updater that takes care of that automatically. You could test your add ons on PTS and relay any problems to the person who made it. You could make your own. Or you could just whine.
onlinegamer1 wrote: »nerevarine1138 wrote: »nerevarine1138 wrote: »3. Even if the first two things weren't true, it's still not ZO's problem. Addons are maintained by third-party developers. It's their job to fix addons if an update breaks them.
It is if i cancel my subscription because i cant stand that lousy UI
Then ask them to change the UI instead of whining about them not also doing the addon developers' jobs for them.
They won't change the UI, because many (if not most) players like the minimal UI the way it is. But you're complaining to ZO about something they have no responsibility for or control over.
Choose one of the following:
1. Minimal UI. You can only get more information through add-ons.
2. Maximal UI. All UI elements can be turned of via user settings.
ESO's flaw (read: horrible designers, producers and development team) is that they chose 1 instead of 2.
nerevarine1138 wrote: »onlinegamer1 wrote: »nerevarine1138 wrote: »nerevarine1138 wrote: »3. Even if the first two things weren't true, it's still not ZO's problem. Addons are maintained by third-party developers. It's their job to fix addons if an update breaks them.
It is if i cancel my subscription because i cant stand that lousy UI
Then ask them to change the UI instead of whining about them not also doing the addon developers' jobs for them.
They won't change the UI, because many (if not most) players like the minimal UI the way it is. But you're complaining to ZO about something they have no responsibility for or control over.
Choose one of the following:
1. Minimal UI. You can only get more information through add-ons.
2. Maximal UI. All UI elements can be turned of via user settings.
ESO's flaw (read: horrible designers, producers and development team) is that they chose 1 instead of 2.
Well, you're right that they made a mistake in choosing option 1. They should have just disallowed addons in the first place. That would have solved everyone's problems.
OrangeTheCat wrote: »The people here who say 'just use Minion; one click and my add-ons were all up to date in 10 seconds', while generally true, are failing to take into consideration add-ons that are no longer being maintained. Minion won't save you. Half of my dozen of so add-ons are still out of date and three of those crash. No doubt the authors got fed up with this buggy game and left. So I had to spend quite a bit of time finding maintained substitutes for these add-ons. So it's not always a "10 seconds" inconvenience; stop trivializing the problem. I mostly use add-ons for things that any responsible software company would have implemented themselves. e.g. item stacking in the guild bank, etc., things that patch the glaring deficiencies in the game's UI.
daneyulebub17_ESO wrote: »You could add on an add on updater that takes care of that automatically. You could test your add ons on PTS and relay any problems to the person who made it. You could make your own. Or you could just whine.
Well, the 1st of your points is a spotty solution at best--the updaters are fairly beta-ish, require upkeep and updating themselves, and you still have to deal with broken updates and bugs--which are legion after a major game update.
The 2nd misses my point 100%, but thanks for suggesting I take the time to beta test addons on the PTS when the whole point of my post is I don't want to mess with this crap.
For the 3rd, see the preceding.
As to your 4th point--I wasn't whining--I was reiterating a basic flaw with a game that relies so much on 3rd party volunteer scripters to fill in its gaps.
You could add on an add on updater that takes care of that automatically. You could test your add ons on PTS and relay any problems to the person who made it. You could make your own. Or you could just whine.
Not to mention that you could stick with the default UI, as doubtless a good many of those who have no technical issues with the game have done. Just because you're used to having something in another MMO doesn't mean that you need to have it here. Most add ons are simply designed to hand the game to you on a plate, like showing all the skyshards on the map, rather than - shock, horror - finding them. They're not essential.
daneyulebub17_ESO wrote: »I do however expect basic features in an MMO to be in the actual game.
[...]
It's about very basic stuff that there's just no excuse not to have in game in a modern MMO.

You could add on an add on updater that takes care of that automatically. You could test your add ons on PTS and relay any problems to the person who made it. You could make your own. Or you could just whine.
Not to mention that you could stick with the default UI, as doubtless a good many of those who have no technical issues with the game have done. Just because you're used to having something in another MMO doesn't mean that you need to have it here. Most add ons are simply designed to hand the game to you on a plate, like showing all the skyshards on the map, rather than - shock, horror - finding them. They're not essential.
daneyulebub17_ESO wrote: »
I do however expect basic features in an MMO to be in the actual game.
But... unlike any MMO I've ever played, the designers have inexplicably left the responsibility for them to 3rd party scripters. (While requiring us players to find them, install them, set them up and update them.) Seriously, no game has it all--but I've never seen anything like what this one lacks in terms of standard MMO tools.
Here's a few off the top of my head:
Want to see what you just looted without opening you're bag or turning OFF auto-loot? You need an addon.
Want to hear a chime when someone sends you a tell, rather than it get lost in the text of your chat window so you never even see it? You need an addon.
Want to have the ability to do a basic search in the Guild Store? You need an addon.
Want to get a basic combat log in a chat window so you can see damage/heals/crits? You need an addon.
Want to silence the annoying, repetitious NPC banker's dialog that triggers every freaking time you jump out/in to the bank interface to go between Bank, Guild Bank, Guild Store? You need an addon.
This isn't about cheats, or having things handed to us. It's not even about filling in features that were consciously left out--like a minimap, which I can understand as conscious design decisions. It's about very basic stuff that there's just no excuse not to have in game in a modern MMO.
Attorneyatlawl wrote: »daneyulebub17_ESO wrote: »You could add on an add on updater that takes care of that automatically. You could test your add ons on PTS and relay any problems to the person who made it. You could make your own. Or you could just whine.
Well, the 1st of your points is a spotty solution at best--the updaters are fairly beta-ish, require upkeep and updating themselves, and you still have to deal with broken updates and bugs--which are legion after a major game update.
The 2nd misses my point 100%, but thanks for suggesting I take the time to beta test addons on the PTS when the whole point of my post is I don't want to mess with this crap.
For the 3rd, see the preceding.
As to your 4th point--I wasn't whining--I was reiterating a basic flaw with a game that relies so much on 3rd party volunteer scripters to fill in its gaps.
Quoted for truth. Having to rely on addons for what is really basic and standard functionality in MMO titles is very aggravating. All due respect to addon volunteers of course and not to minimize their donated time and code, but..
Addons depend on third party authors .
Addons aren't always well integrated.
Addons require constant updates.
Addons can't accomplish many things such as real (not faked) buff tracking or nameplates due to api limitations.
Addons break with most patches.
Addons often have performance or crash issues.
Addons are not the place for basics like timestamps in chat or a minimap.
Finally addons are not something many new players look for right a anyway thus their first impression of the game is poor due to the lack of Ui basics everyone is used to and are industry standard for good reasons. You only get one first impression and right now the UI is a shoddy one for new players to come into.
I have harped on this topic since early beta. They had most of the expected functionality such as seeing more than one quest at a time, nameplates, Minimap, etc as options, combat log tab, and all those goodies. They were the removed as a pre-launch pr move due to community whines by people who hadn't even played the game.
daneyulebub17_ESO wrote: »...sucks.
Two of 'em crash right away. Now get to log out, then go spend 20 minutes updating them all. Assuming they have updates yet.
Joy.
This kind of crap is what I always think of when some doofus chimes in with: "Duh, what are you complaining about--there's an add-on for that" when a basic, common-to-mmos-but-missing-in-ESO feature is brought up.
Zos is outsourcing half of their game feature coding to people that will do it for free. Clever, but for those of us who refuse to use add-ons, it's a major issue.
Basic features should be included in the product.
nerevarine1138 wrote: »nerevarine1138 wrote: »3. Even if the first two things weren't true, it's still not ZO's problem. Addons are maintained by third-party developers. It's their job to fix addons if an update breaks them.
It is if i cancel my subscription because i cant stand that lousy UI
Then ask them to change the UI instead of whining about them not also doing the addon developers' jobs for them.
They won't change the UI, because many (if not most) players like the minimal UI the way it is. But you're complaining to ZO about something they have no responsibility for or control over.