QoL: Your Top Five Add-Ons to Incorporate into the Base UI

Enodoc · January 2016

The plan here is to get a bit of an idea of what the community thinks should be included in the base UI of the game to improve Quality of Life (QoL), by referring to specific add-ons which do exactly that thing. While using the add-on itself is fine on PC, there are a load of useful features that console players don't have access to. To avoid overloading the page with an indefinite list of all possible UI improvements, I would like to see your Top Five add-ons that you think should be incorporated into the base UI. If someone else has already posted one of your top five, you can pick another one, and put the first in your Honourable Mentions; that way, we don't end up just seeing the same few add-ons over and over.

Please try to give a bit of detail on what the add-on does, and why you think it is a useful feature, and add a link to ESOUI if possible. If one of your top five is a bundle with a load of different features, such as FTC, Wykkyd Framework, AUI, or Azurah, please be specific about which features you would like to see incorporated.

Honourable Mentions
Instead of using my Honourable Mentions section to repeat add-ons that others have suggested (since this is the first post

) I'll be mentioning add-ons which include features that ZOS have now implemented into the UI, but could still use improvement (or things they are planning to add Soon™).

Lootdrop (http://www.esoui.com/downloads/info35-LootdropContinuedAllinOne.html): Mostly incorporated into the new Loot History option in the base UI, there is still one major benefit to using Lootdrop: it shows XP. If XP gain could be added into the base UI, that would be awesome. Loot History also occasionally doesn't actually register all pickups, such as those from loose in-world items.
Harven's Subtitles (http://www.esoui.com/downloads/info339-HarvensSubtitles.html): The new Subtitles option in the base UI is great, but it doesn't mesh nicely with the PC UI style; it was clearly designed for the Console UI and ported across without many (any?) changes. The text size (too big) and font (wrong typeface) look out of place alongside the character dialogue boxes and interaction prompts on PC. Harven's also has the added benefit of being able to ignore certain NPCs.
Any add-on which includes Scrolling Combat Text. (Since we know it's coming, it doesn't need to be in our primary list of things we want to see.) I only know of two add-ons which include it (FTC and Combat Cloud), and I'm going to pick FTC for the list simply because I like its style a bit better.

Number Five - Advanced Filters
http://www.esoui.com/downloads/info245-AdvancedFilters.html
Advanced Filters adds a number of sub-filters to the bag and bank screens to better enable you to find what you're looking for. When everything is just bundled into a really long list (eg, Materials), it's hard to find that specific low-level clothing mat that you just want to chuck out. On console the setup is slightly different, but being able to jump between these subcategories would still be a useful addition.

Number Four - Greymind
http://www.esoui.com/downloads/info258-GreymindQuickSlotBar.html
Greymind Quick Slot Bar adds a visual bar, in-keeping with the style of the Action Bar, showing quick-slot items. It also includes the ability to assign quick-slots to hotkeys. This is useful for quickly accessing different quick-slot items at the touch of a single button. (Note that you still need to press Q to actually use it, so this isn't a macro.)

Number Three - AwesomeGuildStore
http://www.esoui.com/downloads/info695-AwesomeGuildStore.html
Adds numerous extra features to the Guild Store window, most notably filters and sliders for the search function, and sortable headers for the listings. This greatly improves the accessibility of the Guild Stores.

Number Two - Azurah
http://www.esoui.com/downloads/info602-Azurah-InterfaceEnhancedupdated.html
Specifically, numerical overlays for attribute and progression bars, including percentages, current values, and max values; and also recolouring of the "target" static nameplate to indicate friendliness (Blue: Ally; Green: Friendly; Yellow: Neutral, Red: Hostile) and level "con" (Grey, Green, Yellow, Orange, or Red depending on the difference between the target's level and your own). Personally, I have the health bar coloured for friendliness and the target name coloured for con. Both of these features greatly increase the information available to the player, but still fit perfectly into the style of the vanilla UI, which is why I chose Azurah over other add-ons which also show the numbers.

Number One - Srendarr
http://www.esoui.com/downloads/info655-Srendarr-AuraBuffDebuffTracker.html
I can't remember whether buff trackers are "confirmed" or "rumoured", so I decided to include this in the main list. The character auras that exist in-game are very nice, but it's often the case that you want something clearly visible to indicate buffs/debuffs. I chose Srendarr over other add-ons with buff/debuffs because, like Azurah, it meshes very nicely with the vanilla UI style. A general improvement, which Srendarr can't account for, but which could be implemented by ZOS, is greater detail on the Active Effects in the character sheet (and then, by extension, any buff trackers), to include values and/or percentages in the tool-tip information.

Cuyler · January 2016

1. GroupDamage
2. Srendarr
3. AwesomeGuildStore
4. Researchgrid/Researchassitant
5. GroupDamage

Lenikus · January 2016

Cuyler wrote: »

1. GroupDamage

No. People will get kicked mid-dungeon. Community is toxic enough as is.

Cuyler wrote: »

2. Srendarr

,,,, dunno dat one ;3 if it's a buff tracker, meh, sure why not.

Cuyler wrote: »

3. AwesomeGuildStore

Oh.. yea. this one we might need. not really this one, but we need that looked at.

Cuyler wrote: »

4. Researchgrid/Researchassitant

,,, that is USEFUL, but not a 'must-have'

Cuyler wrote: »

5. GroupDamage

Nope.

DaniAngione · January 2016

1. Advanced Filters
2. Awesome Guild Store
3. Wykkyd's Gaming Suite
4. Srendarr
5. Wotan's Fish Fillet

Cuyler · January 2016

Lenikus wrote: »

Cuyler wrote: »

1. GroupDamage

No. People will get kicked mid-dungeon. Community is toxic enough as is.

OP asked for MY top five.... add something to the topic aka YOUR top five.

GET OFF MY LAWN!

soleil.clercb14_ESO · January 2016

I play on ps4 only so I don't know the names of the pc addons but I would like this added in:

On your character sheet add more stats like total armor, crit damage increased by, ect.,

And when you scroll down to the active buffs ìn the character sheet, have it be detailed exactly what minor berserk and major prophecy do. Just list the % value next to the buff name. Because when you look at each buff (on console) individually, the page is rather blank.

Thanks, hope ZOS can improve the UI

LostRedden · January 2016

1. Buff And Debuff Bar
2. Improved experience tracker
3. Personal DPS tracker
4. Improved compas or mini map

The ability to toggle all of these on or off. As well as the ability to completely hide your UI on console for amazing screen shots. I really think the buff/Debuff bar would be an amazing QoL UI improvement for console, I know a lot of these things can be available for PC via addons, but we cannot access a lot of these things on PS4/Suckbox1.

Autolycus · January 2016

1. Wykkyd's Outfitter
2. Wykkyd's HUD
3. Srendarr
4. Combat Cloud
5. Roomba

wayfarerx · January 2016

Lots of good ones mentioned so far, so excluding those mine would be:

1) Master Merchant
2) Master Merchant
3) Master Merchant
4) Master Merchant
5) Master Merchant

For those not in the know, Master Merchant tracks sales in your guild stores and gives you an idea of what items are selling and at what prices, pretty much mandatory for anyone into trading.

Why should it be in the base game? Because if it was it could use a more sophisticated method of storing sales history besides just loading everything into memory and I might be able to set my LUA memory to something less than half a gigabyte.

MissBizz · January 2016

Okay okay. I'm not going to listen to you about honorable mentions as I think if most people keep repeating the same 2-3 addons makes it quite obvious MANY people believe they should be included.

Advanced Filters (seen above)
FCO Item Saver (http://www.esoui.com/downloads/info630-FCOItemSaver.html) (I'd be happy with a basic lock/unlock even, don't need the different icons and such)
Srendarr (seen above - any buff tracker that I can move where I prefer on screen)
Roomba (http://www.esoui.com/downloads/info402-Roomba-GuildbankStacker.html) Allows stacking of guild bank.
Greymind Quickslot (seen above - I actually turn off being able to see them, I would enjoy just being able to hot-key my quickslots)

This was actually really REALLY hard.

My personal honorable mentions:
Harvens Quest Journal (Being able to see each step of a quest, as well exactly when you did it, and keep track of completed quests)
Combat Cloud (not going to lie, this helped me IMMENSELY in learning when to block or dodge)
AUI (just the party bars - it's helpful to see on the health bar when a party member has a shield or regen buff active)
Wykkyd's Toolbar (Love being able to see information I want quickly and easily without opening several different windows)

Robbmrp · January 2016

1- Any UI with a Mini Map
2- Awesomeguildstore
3- Crafting Stations
4- MM with limited capacity to only view last 5 days worth of data
5- ANY Personal(No Group)DPS/Healing incoming or Outgoing combat text

Shunravi · January 2016

Outfitter

Bfish22090 · January 2016

1. FTC
2. Master merchant
3. Minimap
4. Advanced filters
5. Roomba

sylviermoone · January 2016

1. Advanced Filters
2. Master Merchant/Awesome Guild Store
3. Srendarr
4. Anything that gives the ability to mail entire guild, see sent mails and forward mails
5. Roomba

danno8 · January 2016

Agree with others. This was hard to name just 5. But here we go:

1. Wykkyds Toolbar - So much information included from many different screens, additionally it tracks your progress in research and time left for upgrading your riding skill. To top it off the bar can be made so unintrusive it fits easily at the top of the screen above the compass.

2. Research Assistant and Research Grid - If you are just starting your research crafting, Research Assistant will mark items in your inventory as having been researched or needing to be researched. It will also track items you may have put in the bank. I used to spend forever at merchants having to cross reference my pen and paper list just so I wouldn't sell something I needed to research. This addon made me feel like I had been released from a prison.

Research Grid does something similar, and deserves notice as well.

3. Advanced Filters - More specific sub-tabs while browsing through your inventory. Saves lots of time.

4. Awesome Guild Store - Again ZoS really gimps your ability to navigate through item lists. This gives you the ability to search for an item by keyword. I mean....how is this not in-game?

5. AUI / LUI / FTC / Combat Cloud - All 4 of these do similar things, mostly involving showing you combat text and/or combat buffs. I use a combination of all of them, as some look nicer (or work better) than others for some components.

NeillMcAttack · January 2016

Item lock,
More filters in guild stores,
Custom load-out (basically a quick save/swap of skill bar),

These are really just wishes from a console player

Erdmanski · January 2016

Yeah I don't know the names of the PC add-ons and didn't read the entire post, but here is what I want in order:

1. Status Effects/Cooldowns/Food Timer - I want to know when my buffs are going to run out so I know exactly when to reapply. I also want to know when the cooldowns on set items are done. And a counter for how much time is left on food.

2. Guild store search - I don't care if I have to look at each guild store, but I would like to be able to search for an item by keyword. I want to be able to type in Kuta instead of having to go through 5 sliders. Also, if there was a way to hide motifs you already know, that would be even better.

3. Roomba - I've heard of this one. This should already be automatic.

4. Crafting style previews - not sure if this would be considered an add-on, but I want it.

5. Quick respec - I'd like an option to store current character information so that you can quick respec skills and champion for dungeons/PVP and then go back to the other quickly.

Jar_Ek · January 2016

1. Buff tracking as first person view its impossible to tell when buffs die.
2. Advanced filters
3. Quickslot utility (Greymind or Easy Quick slots)
4. Item saver
5. Research grid

Honourable mentions:
Any add on that helps me find skyshards, lore books or treasure map locations. It was fun the first character and the first faction run through, then it got annoying by the 3rd faction and character.

Reorx_Holybeard · January 2016

Great idea, though its hard to pick just 5....

Advanced Filters -- Eminently useful to help find things in inventory/banks.
Awesome Guild Store -- A great help in finding things to buy. I just wish the base game API properly supported text search filters so you wouldn't have to slowly page through empty search results.
FTC -- For the buff tracker and combat log. You need a way in this game to see which buffs/debuffs are on you, group members, and mobs. I often actually disable the scrolling combat text but the combat log and DPS meters are more important to me for fine-tuning my build and play.
Master Recipe List -- Tracks recipes for all characters and a great cooking/brewing helper.
Wykkyd Outfitter -- For saving and loading of inventory and skill sets. A must for anyone that likes to play or try out multiple builds on the same character.

For honorable mention I'll shamelessly plug my own add-on uespLog. While I wouldn't want the whole add-on added to the base game it does contain a bunch of useful things:

Loot/xp/gold/AP/telvar shown in chat window
Variety of chat commands for showing info like game time, current research, etc... (often faster/better than needing a full UI component)
Tracking/display of motifs and recipes learned
Display of item styles and traits

Dawnblade · January 2016

Some of the add-ons, while improving the base game, still leave a lot to be desired (a lot of which is probably due to API limitations), so I'd prefer to list the functionality which should be incorporated.

Buff / debuff tracking (both personal and on any frames) including player defined filters and sorts, as well as timers.
Search / filter / sort functions for guild stores / banks / bags / etc.
Name plates (toggle-able) - no add-on exists that I know of, lack of name plates is highly annoying.
Frames (toggle-able and including focus and target of target) allowing display of actual resources on all frames.
More key bind options (mostly to eliminate the clunky console based Q functionality).

For grouping, a group combat logging tool would be useful.

I also like the add-on that allows looking at bank, bags, guild bank in grid instead of list view, mini-map display, and information displays including things like showing the cool-downs on horse training as well as research by skill by character.

Abeille · January 2016

Top 5 addons:

Awesome Guild Stores - Makes the UI much better. I like the guild store system, but come on, the guild store UI is absolutely awful.
Item Saver - Very useful when I want to decon or sell stuff quickly but I don't want to accidentally decon or sell something important.
pChat - Makes the chat more organized and lets me see my guildies' character names instead of account names. I especially like to be able to set different colors to name and message.
Potion Maker - Makes it much quicker to do writs.
Clock - I have both a clock for Tamriel time (including moon phase) and one for real time. It is simple and it is great.

Honorable mentions:

Khajiit Speak - Makes questing on my Khajiit more immersive, and works as a toggle.
Lootdrop - I like how most of it was incorporated to the UI already, but I like to see my XP gains too.

soleil.clercb14_ESO · January 2016

Also have a way to have health bar, magicka and stamina bars always on (ps4)
We can do action bars always on but it's annoying to see your health bar dissapear during combat because you haven't taken damage in a few seconds while magicka and stamina stay on screen

Spacemonkey · January 2016

I just have one that I think should be part of the UI (I don't have that many add ons so I just don't know about most)

But basically the research assistant so that you KNOW when you pick loot up if you need it or not to research and stuff. Without that, it can quickly become a huge hassle and it's really so simple I don't get why it's NOT in the base UI in some form. (Same goes with recipes and any 1 time use consumable type of item)

asneakybanana · January 2016

1. Groupdamage
2. Groupdamage
3. Groupdamage
4. Groupdamage
5. Groupdamage

All problems will be solved with that

Ourorboros · January 2016

I play with a controller and have since beta. The new controller UI is great EXCEPT for most of the inventory management menus. My list of add-ons is from my perspective of what console users are missing. I frequently switch to the PC UI to use add-ons that don't work in the Console UI. Hard to name only 5, but here is what consle users should envy from PC add-ons.

Advanced Filters: Console users have to scroll through their entire list when banking, and it's only a little better in crafting menus.

Inventory Grid View: See above.

Awesome Guild Store: Tried to use the console UI to search guild kiosks, and quickly switched to PC UI. Console version is HORRID.

Craftstore/Research Grid/any research tracker: Thankfully I finished all my research back in April. This was one of the first add-ons I ever used, and for good reason. Tracking traits was a nightmare on PC before these add-ons, and it still is a nightmare for Console UI.

Wykkyd's Toolbar: So much useful information at glance without being obtrusive. Thankfully, this one still works in Console UI.

Honorable mentions:
Master Merchant: Almost made the top five. I use it, and find it useful, but also think it's responsible for causing some item markets to tank, like recipes.

Votan's Fish Fillet: Not only does this work in the Console UI, it actually works better than the PC version. It displays a running percentage of roe/fish.

Footnote: Lootdrop, added with Orsinium DLC, is nice. However, in the Console UI it is in the lower left of the screen, behind chat, so it's very hard to see. Hope any future add-ons added to the game don't repeat this mistake.

Enodoc · January 2016

MissBizz wrote: »

Okay okay. I'm not going to listen to you about honorable mentions as I think if most people keep repeating the same 2-3 addons makes it quite obvious MANY people believe they should be included.

But that was the point of honourable mentions. The more that something crops up in Honourable Mentions, the more important it is to the community, while the lists of five keep expanding with more suggestions. But never mind; we seem to have got some traction on the "Just Pick Five", so whatever form this ends up in, I'll roll with it

We're a few hours in, so I'll pull up a tally of what we're on right now:

Premise -- (Example Add-on) -- Total Mentions
Guild Store Functionality (AwesomeGuildStore) 12
Buff Trackers (Srendarr) 11
Extended Bag/Bank Filters (Advanced Filters} 9
Research Trait Tracker (Research Grid/Research Assistant) 6
Action bar sets (Wykkyd Outfitter/SWAPS) 5
Guild bank stacker (Roomba) 5
Extended trading statistics (Master Merchant) 5
Inventory item lock (FCO ItemSaver) 4
Quick Slot Bar and Hotkeys (Greymind) 4
Minimap (awaiting example of preferred minimap add-on) 4
At-a-glance extended status info (Wykkyd Toolbar) 3
Gear sets (Wykkyd Outfitter) 3
Group Combat/Heal Tracker (GroupDamage) 3 Disclaimer: Such add-on functionality is not intended, and may be patched out

ZOS_ChipHilseberg wrote:

This is something we've been discussing internally. The existence of the unit id in combat events that don't involve you was an oversight and not intended at the time the change was made. I don't want you to waste a lot of time working with it only to have it patched out, so I'd be wary for the time being.
"Fillet All" option for fish (Votan's Fish Fillet) 2
Inventory shown as a grid (Inventory Grid View) 2
Numbers on attribute bars (part of Azurah) 1
More character sheet stats (Harven's Extended Stats) 1
Quest journal history (Harven's Quest Journal) 1
Group shield/buff indicator on the health bar (Part of AUI) 1
Extended set crafting station map markers (Crafting Stations) 1
Extended mail management (No example given, so I picked MailR) 1
Map pin add-ons (Skyshards, Lorebooks, Lost Treasure, HarvestMap) 1
Combat log (part of FTC) 1
Colour-coded target info (part of Azurah) 1
Recipe tracker (Master Recipe List) 1
Loot-to-chat (a component of uespLog) 1
Trait and Style indication (Harven's Trait and Style, also a component of uespLog) 1
Extended chat options (pChat) 1
Extended alchemy functionality (Potion Maker) 1
Clock (Real world: Simple Clock; In-game: Tamriel Standard Time or available as a component of uespLog) 1
Change dialogue options for Khajiit (Khajiit Speak) 1

I haven't included here things which are already confirmed, like scrolling combat text and nameplates.

Short-list of UI improvements with no add-on examples:

More detail for Active Effects (primarily, values)
Crafting style preview
Show/hide options for attribute bars (including "Always", "Only in Combat", "Only when Buffed", "Never")
XP tracker
DPS tracker

More info required and/or other comments:

@DaniAngione: With respect to Wykkyd's Gaming Suite, please be specific on which features it includes that you would like to see.
@soleil.clercb14_ESO: Have a look at Harven's Extended Stats. Does that include the extra character sheet info you're looking for? In all these cases, I'm trying to come up with specific examples so ZOS can see how they look.
@LostRedden UI improvements for consoles is one of the primary reasons I created this thread. If you have a look through ESOUI, do you think you could find a good example of what you're looking for in an Improved XP tracker, or a Personal DPS tracker? For minimaps, Fyrakin's MiniMap jumps out at me initially; is that the sort of style you'd like to see?
@Bfish22090 Which aspects of FTC would you like to see most?
@NeillMcAttack I assigned your suggestions to FCO ItemSaver, AwesomeGuildStore, and Wykkyd Outfitter. If you have a look at their pages, do they do the sorts of things you're looking for?

DaniAngione · January 2016

Enodoc wrote: »

More info required and/or other comments:
@DaniAngione: With respect to Wykkyd's Gaming Suite, please be specific on which features it includes that you would like to see.

First of all, thank you for all the attention to detail on your post. Very nice summary.

Ok, I mentioned the whole suite because, to be honest, I think that an improved interface (IMO) would need different bits from different addons of his gaming suite.

I very much like the "centered" layout of bars and the numbers displayed on each bar (although I change all of them to white to keep consistent) from Wykkyd's Enh. HUD

I like the changes from Dialog Tweaks. Seriously ZOS, the hyphens make no sense and look ugly with Argonian names.

I appreciate some features from Enhanced Chat, especially the plain background and the emote scroll bar.

Item borders are cool, too. At least the colored ones, I don't use the levels, etc... but the colors are quite excellent to checking out your gear on a glimpse when levelling.

And I also think that Full Immersion includes some amazing things that could be added as default options - like the ability to hide interface elements or to assign hotkeys to toggle helmet, etc...

I do love the toolbar, but I'll exclude because I'm being a little reasonable - considering addons that fit the overall aesthetics of the standard UI and are plausible to be changed. Toolbar is awesome but, at least how it is on Wykkyd's addon, it doesn't fit well aesthetically.

So... For me, a little bit of almost every addon from his gaming suite revamps the interface in a way that it is still clean, pleasant looking, fits the game style (I hate minimaps and floating/scrolling numbers) but gives me enough info to play properly.

Acrolas · January 2016

Search bar in guild store UI.
Sort by level in inventory/bank UI
Sort by craft in inventory/bank UI
Lock/unlock item for use in inventory/bank UI
Quantity of actions selector for crafting or other mundane actions.

I'm not going strictly off add-ons, because some of them have the right ideas but still have below average UI themselves.

Mojmir · January 2016

aui
master merch
wykydds toolbar
dressing room
awesome guild store

Enodoc · January 2016

DaniAngione wrote: »

Enodoc wrote: »

More info required and/or other comments:
@DaniAngione: With respect to Wykkyd's Gaming Suite, please be specific on which features it includes that you would like to see.

First of all, thank you for all the attention to detail on your post. Very nice summary.

Ok, I mentioned the whole suite because, to be honest, I think that an improved interface (IMO) would need different bits from different addons of his gaming suite.

I very much like the "centered" layout of bars and the numbers displayed on each bar (although I change all of them to white to keep consistent) from Wykkyd's Enh. HUD

I like the changes from Dialog Tweaks. Seriously ZOS, the hyphens make no sense and look ugly with Argonian names.

I appreciate some features from Enhanced Chat, especially the plain background and the emote scroll bar.

Item borders are cool, too. At least the colored ones, I don't use the levels, etc... but the colors are quite excellent to checking out your gear on a glimpse when levelling.

And I also think that Full Immersion includes some amazing things that could be added as default options - like the ability to hide interface elements or to assign hotkeys to toggle helmet, etc...

I do love the toolbar, but I'll exclude because I'm being a little reasonable - considering addons that fit the overall aesthetics of the standard UI and are plausible to be changed. Toolbar is awesome but, at least how it is on Wykkyd's addon, it doesn't fit well aesthetically.

So... For me, a little bit of almost every addon from his gaming suite revamps the interface in a way that it is still clean, pleasant looking, fits the game style (I hate minimaps and floating/scrolling numbers) but gives me enough info to play properly.

Great, thanks for the details!

runagate · January 2016

NO SPIN

I can't believe I had to go install this after being away for months. I was doing an emote and popped out of it when I hit "I" to look in my inventory and cursed. What an invaluable add-on, and so simple.