Console Players: What effect have addons had on you?

sarahthes · July 7

Benzux wrote: »

JustLovely wrote: »

I play on PC so I don't know what's available add on wise for you guys.

An add on ya'll could really benefit from is called "action duration reminder". It puts a little timer on your skill box to let you know when the effect of that skill is about to expire so you know when to reapply it. Cuts down on unneeded reapplications of effects. It also helps save resources because you know not to reapply the buff until the last one is about to wear off.

So glad they could get dulgubons lazy writ creator to you guys. It's a game changer.

Ability Bar timers has been a base-game feature for ages at this point, unless you're referring to something else entirely, though based on your description, doesn't seem like it.

The add-on versions are generally more versatile than the native one.

katanagirl1 · July 7

I’m finding out the downside to addons now, I hardly find a chest or heavy sack anymore. They are just too easy for others to find now. I used to encounter them just when doing other things because I kept an eye out for them, but now they have a big neon sign over them advertising their position.

Frayton · July 7

katanagirl1 wrote: »

I’m finding out the downside to addons now, I hardly find a chest or heavy sack anymore. They are just too easy for others to find now. I used to encounter them just when doing other things because I kept an eye out for them, but now they have a big neon sign over them advertising their position.

I wonder what the effect of addons is going to be on the console economies.

katanagirl1 · July 7

Frayton wrote: »

katanagirl1 wrote: »

I’m finding out the downside to addons now, I hardly find a chest or heavy sack anymore. They are just too easy for others to find now. I used to encounter them just when doing other things because I kept an eye out for them, but now they have a big neon sign over them advertising their position.

I wonder what the effect is going to be on the console economies.

That is a good question. The claim is that addons cause massive inflation with the ease of doing daily crafting writs, though it is more pronounced on the PC NA server than EU server, I have heard.

I don’t expect it to cause prices to rise much on PS NA because it seems there are not as many players now as there were years ago. Many of the big trading guilds are gone and their void has been filled with smaller guilds that have much fewer and more basic items to sell.

Mesite · July 7

I used to play on PC and I liked them for a while. Then I found I had to update them when there were patches. Then the add on that was supposed to automatically update them stopped working so I had to do it myself. Then they refused to update and I started to get error messages. I uninstalled them but still get notices and have an add on option on my screen.

I'm fickle. I'd rather do my own crafting than struggle with interfaces. I don't want to risk them ruining my experience on Xbox. Or my menus/screens.

allochthons · July 7

Benzux wrote: »

I wasn't trying to insinuate anything about people who might have legitimate reasons for needing addons for accessibility reasons, <snip>

Cool.

I've heard a lot of people go the other way, so thanks for expanding.

Benzux wrote: »

As for master writs, they are something I only occasionally interact with, such as during the current Zenithar event, and I thus I find addons that help with them to be unnecessary for me as, on my scale, the process of master writs is pretty straightforward already. Actually going to the correct crafting station is what takes the most time, crafting an item itself and improving it happens in 10 seconds at most. <snip>

Definitely, if you're doing 1 writ at a time. I do dozens (over a hundred when I first started leveling sub-classing) at once, and since you can only have 1 of each type active, being able to queue them saves a lot of time.

For me, at least, that one add-on is a game-changer.

Destai · July 7

Just downloaded them and wow - game changer.

Tariq9898 · July 7

PC players!! Do you guys have an addon that adjusts the vertical camera slider?

I’m on console and can’t find that addon yet! I’d like to have that as an option for more immersive gameplay. That and a shader for deeper, dramatic atmosphere! Just curious if it’s a thing in the PC world!

spartaxoxo · July 7

ArchMikem wrote: »

I have a neat minimap and I was able to hide the Compass. Sure finding quest objectives is a tad more tedious now, but I just have to open the map to get the direction.

Kinda wish Votan's Minimap showed waypoints at least.

How were you able to hide the compass?

Benzux · July 7

allochthons wrote: »

Benzux wrote: »

I wasn't trying to insinuate anything about people who might have legitimate reasons for needing addons for accessibility reasons, <snip>

Cool. I've heard a lot of people go the other way, so thanks for expanding.

Benzux wrote: »

As for master writs, they are something I only occasionally interact with, such as during the current Zenithar event, and I thus I find addons that help with them to be unnecessary for me as, on my scale, the process of master writs is pretty straightforward already. Actually going to the correct crafting station is what takes the most time, crafting an item itself and improving it happens in 10 seconds at most. <snip>

Definitely, if you're doing 1 writ at a time. I do dozens (over a hundred when I first started leveling sub-classing) at once, and since you can only have 1 of each type active, being able to queue them saves a lot of time.

For me, at least, that one add-on is a game-changer.

Yeah, as I said, I can imagine that if one does writs in bulk, then the addon will start saving notable enough amounts of time. I only have one master crafter character that I do daily writs on every now and then, so I only really do master writs whenever I need to empty out his inventory. I also did not realize that the addon allowed you to queue up the writ quests, that I can definitely understand the usefulness of, even if one only does a few at a time.

Benzux · July 7

sarahthes wrote: »

Benzux wrote: »

JustLovely wrote: »

I play on PC so I don't know what's available add on wise for you guys.

An add on ya'll could really benefit from is called "action duration reminder". It puts a little timer on your skill box to let you know when the effect of that skill is about to expire so you know when to reapply it. Cuts down on unneeded reapplications of effects. It also helps save resources because you know not to reapply the buff until the last one is about to wear off.

So glad they could get dulgubons lazy writ creator to you guys. It's a game changer.

Ability Bar timers has been a base-game feature for ages at this point, unless you're referring to something else entirely, though based on your description, doesn't seem like it.

The add-on versions are generally more versatile than the native one.

I don't doubt that. Console does currently have at least one addon that improves ability bar functionality, but I've not tested it out, as I find the standard Ability Bar Timers more than enough for my needs.

DenverRalphy · July 8

katanagirl1 wrote: »

Frayton wrote: »

katanagirl1 wrote: »

I’m finding out the downside to addons now, I hardly find a chest or heavy sack anymore. They are just too easy for others to find now. I used to encounter them just when doing other things because I kept an eye out for them, but now they have a big neon sign over them advertising their position.

I wonder what the effect is going to be on the console economies.

That is a good question. The claim is that addons cause massive inflation with the ease of doing daily crafting writs, though it is more pronounced on the PC NA server than EU server, I have heard.

I don’t expect it to cause prices to rise much on PS NA because it seems there are not as many players now as there were years ago. Many of the big trading guilds are gone and their void has been filled with smaller guilds that have much fewer and more basic items to sell.

More resources farmed will lower value as the supply increases. For inflation you need more gold to enter the economy, and I don't know how many extra daily crafting writs will be completed on average due to lazy writ crafter, but it's not like it can be used infinitely like harvesting resources can.

katanagirl1 · July 8

DenverRalphy wrote: »

katanagirl1 wrote: »

Frayton wrote: »

katanagirl1 wrote: »

I’m finding out the downside to addons now, I hardly find a chest or heavy sack anymore. They are just too easy for others to find now. I used to encounter them just when doing other things because I kept an eye out for them, but now they have a big neon sign over them advertising their position.

I wonder what the effect is going to be on the console economies.

That is a good question. The claim is that addons cause massive inflation with the ease of doing daily crafting writs, though it is more pronounced on the PC NA server than EU server, I have heard.

I don’t expect it to cause prices to rise much on PS NA because it seems there are not as many players now as there were years ago. Many of the big trading guilds are gone and their void has been filled with smaller guilds that have much fewer and more basic items to sell.

More resources farmed will lower value as the supply increases. For inflation you need more gold to enter the economy, and I don't know how many extra daily crafting writs will be completed on average due to lazy writ crafter, but it's not like it can be used infinitely like harvesting resources can.

My guess is that players will just do their writs faster, but not more of them. It is much easier to create more accounts on console but I don’t know if console players want to do that much crafting. Time will tell I suppose.

Desiato · July 8

katanagirl1 wrote: »

That is a good question. The claim is that addons cause massive inflation with the ease of doing daily crafting writs, though it is more pronounced on the PC NA server than EU server, I have heard.

It's the opposite. Writ automation will result in more harvestable mats entering the economy, reducing the price. Especially during the Jubilee event. Items purchased with writ vouchers should also see the same.

I stopped doing regular writs for years just because it wasn't worth the tedium. Grinding harvesting nodes was a better use of time. ...until automation addons made them too good to ignore.

Since, I haven't harvested regular nodes for years and just harvest surveys. On PC, it's normal for players to have way more surveys and master writs than they have time to do because addons make them so easy to obtain. The main value of writs is grinding exp now.

But that might be offset by the impact of trader addons that result in more speculation.

OutLaw_Nynx · July 8

I love them omg. I can’t imagine playing without them now.

katanagirl1 · July 8

Desiato wrote: »

katanagirl1 wrote: »

That is a good question. The claim is that addons cause massive inflation with the ease of doing daily crafting writs, though it is more pronounced on the PC NA server than EU server, I have heard.

It's the opposite. Writ automation will result in more harvestable mats entering the economy, reducing the price. Especially during the Jubilee event. Items purchased with writ vouchers should also see the same.

I stopped doing regular writs for years just because it wasn't worth the tedium. Grinding harvesting nodes was a better use of time. ...until automation addons made them too good to ignore.

Since, I haven't harvested regular nodes for years and just harvest surveys. On PC, it's normal for players to have way more surveys and master writs than they have time to do because addons make them so easy to obtain. The main value of writs is grinding exp now.

But that might be offset by the impact of trader addons that result in more speculation.

I thought the argument was that it was basically a gold printer from the number of mats produced that are sold, and the amount of gold created caused prices to go up.

EDIT: not talking about prices of mats here, but prices of everything else
EDIT2: of course this was before the big anniversary glut of the economy, maybe it has not returned to that state yet

Major_Soulless · July 8

I like the add-ons they've made life easier on the game.

I hope at some point we get more which do more substantial stuff in the game.

YORKSHIRE76 · July 8

No more searching youtube for treasure map/survey locations. Couple of clicks and a waypoint leads me straight to the spot, great time saver.
Map pins is handy if I need to farm something specific, I have it set up to show thieves troves, heavy sacks and treasure chests, a bit of free loot never hurts. It also works in dungeons which is nice.
Last but ny no means least, the stay mounted addon. It's a godsend, no more trying to leap majestically over an obstacle only to dismount and pull the wings off a butterfly, love it.

Cooperharley · July 8

allochthons wrote: »

Benzux wrote: »

[snip]

This is an unfair statement. Choosing not to spend time on repetitive, boring tasks isn't lazy. Are we lazy because we choose not to make (most of) our clothes by hand? Thresh our grain instead of using mechanical means? No. There's a better way to do it.

I expect Dulgubon named their wonderful add-on Lazy Writ Creator as a bit of a joke, but the term "Lazy" is weaponized a lot in our society, and it's a sore spot. I am sad that one of the most popular Oakensorc build's name is "Lazy Sorc." It gives the impression that anyone who uses it just wants to clear, and is, in fact, lazy. When many who use it have issues with their hands, or actions per minute, or want a build that they can use to learn mechanics, and then switch to a more powerful build when those mechanics are learned.

When sub-classing was released on console, I used Lazy Writ Creator to earn 6K writ vouchers and level multiple sub-class skill lines in a few minutes. That's amazing. Not lazy.

Pre add-ons, I had pretty much stopped doing durable master crafting writs, because the process was so laborious and boring. This is how I used to do master crafter writs:

Now I'm crafting on all 15 of my toons to get as many writs as possible to finish up leveling those sub-classing skills.

This is how I still do alchemy writs:

I much prefer "Queue All Sealed Writs."

[edited to remove quote]

It’d be nice if it worked for alchemy writs! lol I’ve been primarily using provisioning writs in their place

DenverRalphy · July 8

katanagirl1 wrote: »

Desiato wrote: »

katanagirl1 wrote: »

That is a good question. The claim is that addons cause massive inflation with the ease of doing daily crafting writs, though it is more pronounced on the PC NA server than EU server, I have heard.

It's the opposite. Writ automation will result in more harvestable mats entering the economy, reducing the price. Especially during the Jubilee event. Items purchased with writ vouchers should also see the same.

I stopped doing regular writs for years just because it wasn't worth the tedium. Grinding harvesting nodes was a better use of time. ...until automation addons made them too good to ignore.

Since, I haven't harvested regular nodes for years and just harvest surveys. On PC, it's normal for players to have way more surveys and master writs than they have time to do because addons make them so easy to obtain. The main value of writs is grinding exp now.

But that might be offset by the impact of trader addons that result in more speculation.

I thought the argument was that it was basically a gold printer from the number of mats produced that are sold, and the amount of gold created caused prices to go up.

EDIT: not talking about prices of mats here, but prices of everything else
EDIT2: of course this was before the big anniversary glut of the economy, maybe it has not returned to that state yet

Harvesting mats doesn't generate or create gold. Completing quests and killing monsters is what generates gold. Players can harvest mats until they're blue in the face, but they can only sell it for gold currently in the game.

[edit[ Chests and Safeboxes infuse gold into the game economy. I dunnot how much of an impact addons have on that though.

allochthons · July 8

Cooperharley wrote: »

It’d be nice if it worked for alchemy writs! lol I’ve been primarily using provisioning writs in their place

Absolutely. The release notes do say Dolgubon is working on the alchemy master crafter writs. Fingers crossed!
---
I'm told Asylum Timers works well. Woohoo! Next time I'm in there, I'll try it.
---
FWIW, the list I'm using, as a crafter, quester, and running trials. This is for both my CP2800 account, and my <CP account, so for instance, the Lazy Horse Trainer never triggers on my CP accounts, but does on my <CP account:

Auto Repair and Recharge
Autobind Uncollected Items
Dolgubon's Lazy Writ Crafter
Fancy Action Bar +
Harvestmap
(various libs)
Map of Many Riches
Market Tracker - Guild Trader Pricing Assistant*
Murf's Lorebooks
Murf's Treasures
Personal DPS Tracker
Simple Skyshards
Stay Mounted
Transmute Saver
VersesAndVisions
Votan's Addon List
Votan's Minimap

* I really want to know where this add-on gets its price info. A lot of it is decent, some of it is wildly inaccurate, and it's kinda funny to see people rely on the bad data. Your Mercenary swords are not going to sell for 200K, my friend. 20k? Maybe, but probably not. Makes me wonder if it's getting thrown off by gold sellers.

DenverRalphy · July 8

allochthons wrote: »

Cooperharley wrote: »

It’d be nice if it worked for alchemy writs! lol I’ve been primarily using provisioning writs in their place

<snip>

Market Tracker - Guild Trader Pricing Assistant*

<snip>

* I really want to know where this add-on gets its price info. A lot of it is decent, some of it is wildly inaccurate, and it's kinda funny to see people rely on the bad data. Your Mercenary swords are not going to sell for 200K, my friend. 20k? Maybe, but probably not. Makes me wonder if it's getting thrown off by gold sellers.

I may be wrong (as I'm just working on passed down info), but I believe that for security reasonss consoles don't allow for sourcing external sources, the addon can't pull the data from online entities like TTC etc.. So instead a LIB is updated weekly with data sourced from addon users. And that data is currently crowd sourced from Xbox consoles.

But again, I stress that that's just 3rd hand knowledge I gleaned in passing so I can be wildly off base. But if it's anywhere close to accurate, that means the plethora of players on the PS servers are working with bad data, and often old bad data at that.

NordSwordnBoard · July 8

I'm resistant to add ons for things I have ingrained in me, like the ability bar and mini map. I should know my way around after a decade lol. I also prefer a very clean looking screen. (I'm also mainly PvP and not into pushing for any high dps in PvE.)

The lazy writ crafting is great though, and I'm leaning toward getting all toons doing it now. The streamlining counts a lot then. Same with finding books or surveys. I also like the market pricing tool tip. I'm not using it to price anything very valuable, but the ROTW gear and other stuff is already making me more gold than before. I can't be arsed to go do market research to sell a pair of gloves lol. Under pricing is fine I prefer a quick return to move more inventory. PS5NA

allochthons · July 8

DenverRalphy wrote: »

But if it's anywhere close to accurate, that means the plethora of players on the PS servers are working with bad data, and often old bad data at that.

I suspect that's correct, but it would be nice to know.

I only really use the price the add-on lists to decide if something is worth bothering to sell, or if I should just give it away, put it in a guild bank, or vendor it. I price-check anything I actually sell on a guild trader.

Market Tracker - Guild Trader Pricing Assistant claims: "the market tracker addon displays real-time market values based on actual sales data and auto-fills..."
But later, it only mentions XBox in the trouble-shooting info. And later, it mentions OCR and data scraping.

The Tamriel Savings Co Price Data Lite addon mentions the Price Fetcher add-on, which mentions, again, XBox. And says it's updated weekly, like you suggest.

AwesomeGuildStore just says 'check ESOUI to see what this does on PC."

redlink1979 · July 8

katanagirl1 wrote: »

I’m finding out the downside to addons now, I hardly find a chest or heavy sack anymore.(...)

Really? I don't think so. It's all about the moment: being in the right place at the right time.

Desiato · July 8

katanagirl1 wrote: »

I thought the argument was that it was basically a gold printer from the number of mats produced that are sold, and the amount of gold created caused prices to go up.

Yeah, a player can earn a lot of gold selling mats they earn from crafting writs, mainly from surveys imo, but that gold comes from other players. So it reduces mat scarcity which reduces mat prices.

Writs also award gold which can result inflation, but in a much broader sense because it's used to buy everything, not just crafting mats. IMO, gold is also something that is much more likely to be sequestered than legendary upgrade mats.

But to be clear this is just my casual observation which intuitively makes sense to me. I haven't actually crunched any numbers. I will say that after the mat price crash on PC/NA, it was very clear players were less motivated to grind writs as the writ hubs were less populated.

Meanwhile the POV of a PC player who still updates addons manually since addons were introduced to console:

crappyjazz1964 · July 8

I'm very happy to use the time saving ones like LazyWritCrafter (I have 15 toons so far doing daily writs so this has saved an enormous amount of time for me every day), Murfs Treasure maps which shows you exactly where surveys are so you don't have to go back and forth between the game and an online map numerous times, the mini map is awesome just because and yes with the extra skill points required for sub-classing, Skyshard map also saves lots of time.

I have limited time to play every day so the less time spent on my toons' "jobs" the more time I can use to just play.

Dolgubon · July 8

Benzux wrote: »

[snip] I mean, one of the Day 1 addons I saw was "automatic mount training", which skips the dialogue/menu that appears when you talk to a stablemaster to just auto-train whatever stat you set it to when you talk to one. As in, the menu that has three (3) options and which takes probably about a single second to open, select an option, and back out of, lol.

The majority of the addons so far seem to touch on areas of the game I don't interact with very much, like dedicated trading ones and the crafting writs, which, again, just seems kind of unnecessary to me when we already have an option to only show quest targets while in a crafting station. Maybe there'll be ones I'd actually like to use in the future, but as of now, I have not interacted with them that much.

[edited for baiting]

Well, I might as well chime in on this given you've mentioned two of my addons.

Lazy horse training: sure, it doesn't save much time. But that time adds up, and it was also a very small and simple add-on to create. Probably took me 1-2 hours. So even just for myself, I've likely come out about even over 15+ toons. Given it shouldn't take most users more than a few minutes to download and setup, it still saves quite a bit of time for other people.

For lazy Writ crafter, it was originally created when there was no 'quests only' option. It saved enormous amounts of time at that point. But it also gradually gained a whole host of other time saving features as well, such that even with the quest only pin, it's still going to save you quite a lot of time, especially for people doing writs on 18 toons, 7 days a week. (Also, I like to think that the existence of writ crafter helped prompt ZOS to add the quest only pin

)

katanagirl1 · July 9

redlink1979 wrote: »

katanagirl1 wrote: »

I’m finding out the downside to addons now, I hardly find a chest or heavy sack anymore.(...)

Really? I don't think so. It's all about the moment: being in the right place at the right time.

I mean that other people are getting to them before I get a chance to now with addons.

Avalon · July 9

Frayton wrote: »

How are you liking addons?

Improved to the point, when they stopped working for a day, I seriously thought of quitting the game. I don't want to go back to how it was. Just the minimap alone! But add in seeing skyshards, lorebooks, the lazy writ, autointeract, etc.? The pricing add-on, too! I always wondered why I could never make money- because I am too nice, and was SEVERELY underpricing my stuff!

By severe... I mean selling companion gear for 500-1000 that has an average market price of 50-100K. That kind of thing. And, I'd never have really known better except for that add-on, because apparently the traders I was using to check prices had 'way too nice' people, too!

Now, I'm making money hand over fist! Plus, I can look at a motif or style page that I want, and know better than spend 50K for it, when it has an average price of 10K. Now, I can just look around until I find 10-20K (depending on how long it takes). Players don't want to spend an hour every time they are looking for something. That isn't 'respecting player time'. I want an add-on that not only polls for average prices, but tells us where the cheapest available is. Probably won't ever happen, but would still be nice.