» Thu Mar 27, 2014 2:45 pm http://www.reddit.com/r/elderscrollsonline/comments/21cgkf/zos_paulsage_followup_recent_changes_to_api/%C2%A0
FOLLOW-UP: RECENT CHANGES TO API ZOS_PaulSage mod 3:01PM edited 3:01PM in Psijic Developer Discussion As many of you know, there has been a lot of discussion over recent changes to the API. As you are probably aware, we recently publicly clarified our overall UI modding strategy, and our reasons for making changes to the API. To reiterate, our goal was: to keep the playing field level for our competitive environments.
The initial release of our API was intentionally wide open in order to test the boundaries of what could be done - which is exactly what happened. We saw things which necessitated that we change the API. When we made the changes to restrict our API, our goal was to make sure you couldn't see more information about your enemies than we intended. But we also found that certain events could be used to allow add-ons and macro programs, used in conjunction, to do many things which otherwise should require player skill. For example, it was trivial to create an add-on "listen" for a debuff, and be able to remove this debuff automatically - or to create an add-on that allowed group members' adds-ons to report their status through chat allowing party members with the same add-on to automatically cast heals.
In order to keep the playing field as level as we could for competitive PvE and competitive PvP at ship, we removed the ability of the API to access this functionality. We left as much of the API open as we felt we could. If later we feel changes or additional functionality is a good thing without damaging the overall game, some features may be re-enabled. We do not want players writing scripts that play their character for them, and that was the direction ESO UI modding was headed.
Our changes to the API were exclusively about keeping the playing field as level as we could in a competitive environment, not about keeping the game immersive or trying to make sure people could not see numbers. However, it is certainly true we don鈥檛 natively add icons to show buffs and display timers. You might ask why?
First, we feel a clean and unobtrusive UI is a key part of The Elder Scrolls Online. We have worked to keep many things off the screen that were not absolutely necessary. As an example, we have broken down buffs and debuffs into a few key effects. If you puncture armor, you can see that overlayed on the health bar of your opponent as a 鈥渃racked鈥?graphic. If you or your opponent is powered up, you will see a bright aura around the health bar. If you are suffering from a DOT, you will see arrows representing a decrease overlayed on your health bar. Further, we have animation, sounds, and particle effects in world to give you further clues as to what is happening. We believe these actually represent your state and that of your opponents much more clearly than icons. But why not have icons?
To put it simply, icons are for another game with different controls and a different purpose. The controls of our game naturally tie mouse movement and looking around the world together in a mechanism reminiscent of previous Elder Scrolls games. We don鈥檛 have a free mouse where you can get information about what the icons represent by hovering over them in the heat of battle. Also, showing timers through icons isn鈥檛 what we wanted. Part of the skill in ESO is situational awareness and seeing when events are happening in the world and in some cases on the UI. Another reason we don鈥檛 show buff/debuff icons is that icons appearing and disappearing on the screen looked bad, especially considering ESO has shorter duration debuffs and buffs that would be constantly appearing and disappearing.
Finally, our UI and game isn鈥檛 built just for experts, min-maxers, and number crunchers. Our UI is built to have broad appeal while still providing necessary information to be successful. Could more be done to improve the information? I think so. But every improvement has to be weighed carefully against other upcoming features, improvements, or new content added to the game. We are constantly working to improve ESO 鈥?which will continue as long as people are playing the game 鈥?and we will continue to iterate on the UI and information presented to you.
Lately we鈥檝e been quieter on the boards and in public as we head towards launch 鈥?but know that we are always listening and reading. We very much appreciate constructive feedback. We are looking very forward to seeing you in Tamriel on Sunday.
