Anything that is of personal use is fine...and going by that, only scrolling combat text for your character (not watching others dps in your combat text).

So if one of your party starts hitting a mob, he will see his combat text, but you will not see his.

The buff/debuff tracker on self is iffy..... should you really see the debuff someone puts on you and/or its time limit? I wouldn't mind too much about someone seeing that they have a debuff on them via an icon or some such, but I don;t think the time limit should be seen. Its an unknown to you & should remain such.

The buff/debuff tracker on an enemy comes under "monitoring other players" and is definitley going too far. You should not know what buffs/ debuffs they have at all. Whether you apply a debuff or someone else applies it...it should never make anyone but that person aware that there is a debuff (if at all), and definitely no timers.

Addons I look forward to are cosmetic changes to the HUD, ability to move them, differing displays maps, mail and all other existing UI elements, although there is no guarantee I will stray from the minimalist UI as is...I like it atm. But maybe a future change with some nice designs? Ability to manipulate the group UI, cosmetic & movement.

Allow anything and everything in terms of UI manipulation. Show me everything about myself. Show me my target's buffs/debuffs that I myself put on them.

Don't show me if they've removed my debuffs, unless basic game mechanics would indicate such anyhow (examples: if they're moving, they're obviously not hard CC'd). Don't show me their stamina/magicka level. Don't show me what they're casting.

But more important than any of these things, put whatever functionality is in the API into the stock install with toggle options for those who don't want them. In the end, I'd just as soon addons be about display alteration and data organization than exposing new functions that the stock install doesn't have.

For a current example: subtitles. There's an addon for it. Why isn't this an option in the stock game? Let subtitle addons focus on altering the font, setting the location of subtitles, so on.

Thanks, NordJitsu. It's interesting to see what different folks feel is appropriate.

I don't mind addons that allow personal cosmetic UI modifications (moving the compass or actionbar etc). I think that an addon giving you details on the person you are targeting/fighting is totally unfair.

I've seen some PvP videos of people with addons and it seems that some of them allow you to see the buffs and debuffs of the person you are up against, as well as resources and stats. With this sort of information available it sill soon become obligatory for everyone to use addons if they want to get an edge over another player and I strongly believe that is totally unfair on those people (like me) who enjoy PvP but don't want addons.

If you give addon devs an inch they will find a way to take a mile (and why wouldn't they?) This happened in WoW and Blizz had to restrict the API functions on a couple of occasions to circumvent the clever ways the addon devs managed to exploit the information available. Some addons have even been banned by Blizzard because they violated the spirit of fair play, even though they are technically allowed within the confines of the API. I think addons ruined end game PvE and PvP in WoW and I really don't want the same to happen here.

Biggest difference so far is that more people on this forum seem to think purely cosmetic mods would be enough.

I'm pretty sure a lot of people would be put off by that.

And a lot of people can claim a lot of people will be put off by addons.

It works both ways....but thats Eso (rock & hard place). Zenimax is just going to have to find that middle ground sweet-spot again, or just make a group of people unhappy.

Obviously people are going to be put off by some addons. The whole point of the thread is: which?

I think there's a reasonable middle ground where people who like them can have them without other players being forced to use them, like ZOS is concerned about.

Addons should be UI cosmetic only.

As you can see from the poll, the addons being disliked are the very addons that would essentially become the norm & enforced on other players. (you will have to read old posts to see why this is).

That is why there is so much discussion on the subject....although those that want these addons will deny the effect they will have & claim "its necessary" or "personal use". And these people seem adamant that there should be no middle ground.

The middle ground seems to be drawn pretty clearly....."no monitoring addons".

Seeing as I'm the one who made this poll, and am one of the few members of the PTS arguing for this, I don't really think you need to explain it to me.

In my opinion though, "cosmetic only" isn't much of a middle ground. "No information about other people" seems like a much more reasonable line to draw.

The middle ground in the poll isn't consmetic only". Its "non-monitoring addons"...as in not monitoring other people. I don't know where you get the idea that I suggested "Cosmtic only" being the middle ground.

I really like ihud in Skyrim as well. Pushing a single button to toggle evrything off, and allowing health/resource pools and ability bar to pop back up in combat.

Tracking all of your stuff and some enemy stuff is a fair compromise. Being able to see your debuffs on enemy players but not their buffs seems fair. If people are really upset about seeing target sta/mag you could yank that too, but I don't think it really matters too much.

The only informative addons that are a must for me are a personal damage/healing tracker and/or damage healing numbers over target head, and a tool to track my buffs/debuffs and my buffs/debuffs that I apply to others.

:/

I'm literally scratching my head and squinting when I read your comments. I said that the biggest difference between this forum and the PTS so far was that more people here favor "Cosmetic Only" as an option, which isn't popular there. You then made a post in seeming disagreement with my statement that a lot of people would be upset if there were "Cosmetic Only" addons and claimed that ZOS was between a rock and a hard place (when really there's a whole neighborhood of comfortable middle ground houses for people who don't like rocks or hard places.)

Anyway, I literally have no idea what you're disagreeing with at this point or if you're disagreeing with me at all. So, have a wonderful rest of your day!

Reading your understanding of what I posted has even confused me....lol (im apparently reading things very poorly atm, sorry). We invented a new mini-game.

I agree...lets leave it here.

Thanks, great thread

No it doesn't. There is no UI feature for this, you have to watch monster tells.

That means you have to know what to look for and what the appropriate response is to each tell.

Cast bars significantly damage the ability of the developers to create interesting boss mechanics in dungeons and raids and trivialize reaction times in PvP.

I saw them too. Also had notification of when and even how to exploit enemy being stunned. This is the game's UI, not an addon.

Huh. If true then you've taught me something about the game I didn't know. So thank you.

I didn't realize that there was that type of feature in the naive UI (where is it in the options?) but I certainly don't like it. I'll make sure to complain about that soon.

I can't recall where it is either, but I've had it on for a few months, so I'm pretty sure it's there.