PS4 is my home; but oddly, my Mistress game is ESO on PC. I consider myself very new still on PC, and the add-ons are quite staggering and a big source of angst among my PS4 brethren.

TL;DR it’s a fifteen minute conversation that goes nowhere.

My stance on the add-ons is, they don’t all do exactly what you’d think. In my experiences anyways. I haven’t found most to be “game changing”

Raid Notifier Raid Notifier is a big one. The “block” “dodge” “cleanse” “purge” notifications I’ve seen come at a point where, by the time I see them and can react, I’m already dead.

Then there’s some exceptions and things I haven’t seen yet. Like VMoL conversions, where the in game notifications act particularly janky; VAS storm of the heavens, so you know to get into your lane without having to have someone call it out to you. Any kind of dungeon Mechanic where this might be useful.

Timers not really sure about other trials or dungeons, but in VAS timers are a big thing. I’m not sure if it’s actually from an add-on or some player made program that runs but, I’m told it makes tracking mini add enrage timers a breeze, where it’s quite a bit more involved on console.

Mini Map Haven’t seen one that I liked at all yet. But a big point was made I can’t deny. When you’re in a boss fight, the whole top of your screen is showing boss health and the compass goes away. Someone says go north, east, south, west, and you’ve no freaking idea which way you’re facing. The mini map suddenly becomes golden.

Buff TrackersIf I could get my buff trackers and ability timers organized how I want them, they could be better. Even as a garbbled mess they are far superior to the in game trackers. Take that zos. There’s some pretty big important ones you want to watch for. Like major vulnerability, major force, major courage, etc. optimizing uptime is a major hassle and probably not very good on console.

I doubt there’s any PC Vet trial raiding guild that wouldn’t use any add-ons, but you never know.


So Does it Make it the Point of Pass or Fail

In vet raiding, so many tiny instances rely on a flawless perfect execution where one Individuals little mess up wipes the whole group; And PC has an add-on for that that just gives a minor little edge. I have to concede that could very well be the reasoning behind a Pass or Fail.

But there is a big kicker. Once you learn how to play these game mechanics, that add on holds much less value. It expedites the learning curve dramatically. But after you learn it, and get good with it and polish things up a bit, they don’t even need it.

Some other off the wall thoughts

So, could there be a case for the game needing to teach mechanics better? Absolutely.

Every one of these add-ons is made because the game is lacking in something, and that is something the devs should take a look into. IMHO

There’s so many progression groups that fizzle out because of this learning process. I met a girl that was ready to throw in the towel on her VMoL prog after 2 weeks. I spent 13 weeks learning it. I realize many people don’t have that kind of tenacity. I’m certain add-ons could had relieved a lot of that pain.

To put into terms, normal content is like pre school and kindergarten learning. Going into Vet content, you’re suddenly in 12th grade senior in high school. Competitive Vet content is like taking undergrad college level classes.

I’m not sure this should be something commendable and celebrated or something deeply wrong with this style of gaming. I’m getting at game content That’s so hard you have to prog it over weeks To learn it. I’m enjoying it, but I see it burning people out. And it leaves you in a strange place, where many people want to do this stuff but haven’t because it’s such a great commitment. You can’t just jump in there and expect to have decent outcome.


And those are just for raiding😜 the tools for eso housing, market, questing are so much more. The lore books grind for mages guild leveling...I’ll be honest, it still blows; but a whole lot less than PS4. Sky shards all out on the map is so sweet.


Edit to add:

How did I forget the big one!

Jeesh, so many people on console want Combat Metrics. Okay, everyone that stands around in front of the trial dummy all day anyways.

Well, I don’t do that very much myself, but I was interested in combat metrics for to see the things that I do in game. Like dungeons and VMA, or VDSA or trials.

I don’t often see people showing their dungeon combat metrics reports, and for good reason. It’s not impressive. You’re not gonna see some sweaty 70, 80, 90k dps numbers. I see between 15k and 25k tops. I see me even doing %50+ total dps a lot.

I’m not the best, but I know how to play. My friends, you gotta stop beating that dummy and get out there. It’s not gonna make you good.