I just want to point this out again. Here is the link first.

http://www.reddit.com/r/elderscrollsonline/comments/20owuo/zenimax_online_studioseso_prelaunch_ama_this/

Today the API changes were announced. There are people happy with this and people not happy about this.

I want to encourage anyone and everyone to drop in tomorrow and make their voice heard, regardless of what your opinion is on the subject.

I'm fearful of small vocal groups trying to make this into their own personal soapbox, so I think lots of people need to tune in.

Thanks,

J

Unfortunately, I'm at work then. I hope the relevant questions will get asked.

I'm curious to hear their reasoning on this recent 180.

They said weeks ago that there were big changes coming and that they didn't want anyone that didn't want to use addons to feel like they had to to stay competitive.

AMA not needed imo. Ya did good ZOS

Such a great Job at making the worse mmo UI in history. The first one to not even have a combat chat log. I cant even know my own buffs I cast, Great Job Zos.

You sir have never played any mmo's.

To be fair, you can still make a combat log. It's just missing some important details (like damage types and source abilities).

Not being able to see personal buffs is stupid. On the other hand, it's also stupid that they still allow you to see long duration buffs on your enemy.

Never played WoW, don't want to start now.

Thank you based ZOS

Sadly, this is the response ZoS will give when asked about the API;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSHaCzb3yYk

TBH, I don't particularly care about "feelings", and neither should they. Facts are what's relevant, and I'm interested in their rationale. The latest changes are a radical departure from their previous "Play how you want" and "Players can min/max if they want to." stances.

Don't get the wrong idea, I'm not going to pitch a fit. It's just that reactionary over-nerfs in response to whining are never a good sign in an MMO.

They said weeks ago that the API was never intended to be this open at launch. ZOS just kind of threw the doors wide open for beta to see what would be made. While some can make the argument that they perhaps drew the line a little too far, I think it's absolutely the right direction to not force you to get add-ons to remain competitive. You don't need access to your opponents' information, and they're still giving you the option to better see your own information. Sounds about right to me.

Right , I cant seem my own cast bar, i cant see my own buffs and debuffs and i cant see what abilities are causing me to take damage. So no i cant see my own information,

I agree, the base UI does not even give basic information needed to figure out your own combat effectiveness or to diagnose problems in strategy. They need to give back at least the information about your own player, what debuffs and buffs you have on, what damage you are outputting and what damage type you are taking and from what source as a minimum.

Then they'd best be putting back some of the stuff they moved to the API specifically for the modders to play with into the default UI so we don't have to complain we can't use mods to see it.

Personal buffs, debuffs, debuffs on yourself of any duration should be visible. Period. End of story.

If I'm lit on fire I should be able to get a timer that says I'm on fire and for how long regardless of if I can see the particle effects or not. I should be able to see if that thing procced and how long it's up for. If I put a dot up on someone I should see it ticking on them. I should know when I have something on me that can be dispelled.

This is just a no brainer really. Especially for PvE.

Wow isn't the only other MMO on the market.

Try again.

Seems a lot of folks that are applauding this change are wow haters.

Must be amusing to think that other games don't have UI mods or that WoW is the only game that gives information like this.

Hell, EVEN OTHER ELDER SCROLLS GAMES GAVE SOME OF THIS INFORMATION. Buff durations being a key one right there.

What of my own information? You can't see anything of your own worth a damn.

So until this patch there was way too much information. Now, there's a bit too little. They never proclaimed this as the final build. I agree buff timers would be good, I agree that outgoing damage should be put back in. I really don't understand why people get so up in arms about seeing their own cast bars, but whatever.

It might be a no-brainer for PvE, but remember, they're also balancing for PvP.

And most importantly, the game isn't even live yet. Now they can look at what folks can do with the available information, and adjust further.

I hope they admit their UI is terrible, even in old mmos you can see your buff/debuff, combat text etc.

I lke the minimalistic approach. It promotes skill with the game instead of skill with a calculator.

It's not a no brainer, you're just so used to having addons, that you don't know how to play without them Why should you know exactly how long you're going to be on fire, down to the second, or tenth of a second? How long are you on fire? Until it quits. Like you really need the power to track it's exact duration. Did the thing proc? Well, is anything happening that would indicate it did? How long is it up? Until it's done, act accordingly, remember, learn. Why should you see a dot ticking? Because you have addons in other games that allow you to see this information? You should know how long your dot ticks from the tooltip, and you shouldn't be able to get any more accurate as far as how much time it has left than what you can guesstimate yourself. Do you have something on you that can be dispelled? I don't know, is your health/magicka/stamina going down? Is there a visual effect? Are you moving slow? Etc., etc. If you look, there are clues. It's like you use addons to make yourself super-human. To give yourself the ability to keep track of, and use, information that wouldn't be possible without the help of an addon.