TL;DR of live letter

[Kallera]

Did you misquote me? I'm not the one asking to "keep the game hard because addons play for you".

The add on you suggested just sounds ridiculous and not the sort of thing I would be behind. that you think it would be treated as an option if implemented is laughable. It would be shoved down the throat of every pf in current content, and as hard to deal playing without it as a needle in a haystack.

Ashkendor is right, playing the game like that wouldn't be very rewarding.

[Thunda_Cat_SMASH]

Something akin to Deadly Boss Mods which would have timers for every phase of the boss. So you would hear a "3, 2, 1" on Ravana EX before Invulnerable phase and you know, as a Monk, to use Tornado Kick cuz you'll lose your stacks anyway. Therefore you get a heads up to each mechanic, phase change, etc... and thus are able to react accordingly. Granted it may not be necessary if you know every fight and have done it 1,000 times, but for new people who are learning, even T5 it will be "Divebombs in 10 seconds... counting down" you know get your butt into the ditch to dodge.

Like bosses don't give ample warning before these phases anyway. We don't need anymore hand holding.

[Kaurie]

Have any of you participated in a raid where someone else called out a mechanic for you? You make it sound like this isn't the case, but it's extremely common.

[Thunda_Cat_SMASH]

I've been in raids where mechanics were called out for others. When mechanics I was in charge of were called out, I got more annoyed because I was already in place to take care of it.

[Niwashi]

Am I the only person that thinks shit like this is basically getting your computer to play the game for you? ._.

I mean seriously, how much hand-holding do we need? ._.

Some people like that extra hand-holding as you call it. Some don't. So only certain players will use that particular plugin. That's the thing with addons, the whole idea is designed around customizing the experience to suit your tastes. For some people, that's getting extra warnings about combat mechanics. For others it means changing your access to inventory listings, or hotbar arrangements, or all sorts of other things.

My favorite plugin in LOTRO is one that lets me view the inventory of all my other alt characters as well as my storage vault at any time. Is it necessary to play the game? No. But it makes it easier. Another one I like gives me expandable hotbars, so I can have hotbar access to a lot more things than are displayed at a time. Again, it's not necessary, since I could access any of the items, mounts, or skills I put there by digging through menus and windows to get to them, but having expandable hotbars for them makes it easier. There are tons of these convenience feature type of plugins that players can choose from, as well as numerous combat oriented ones.

And the game developer still controls what can and cannot be done. In order for players to make a plugin like Krissey's example, that will notify you when a given attack is about to go off, first SE would have to give the plugin system access to knowing enemy attacks. In order to make a plugin for tracking what inventory your retainers have, first SE would have to give the plugin system access to seeing your retainer's inventory. And so on. Each piece of information the plugins can work with has to be explicitly enabled by the game developer for that access. So if SE's concern is simply that they don't want DPS meters, for example, then they could have a plugin system that's not given access to damage numbers, or one that gets access to your own damage numbers but nobody else's. (They'd probably get complaints about that, since DPS meters are one of the things a lot of players want to add, but it's still the developer's decision.)

[Kallera]

Have any of you participated in a raid where someone else called out a mechanic for you? You make it sound like this isn't the case, but it's extremely common.

there a difference between what people do in voice chat and a automated program attached to the ui handholding you through every move.

[Kaurie]

there a difference between what people do in voice chat and a automated program attached to the ui handholding you through every move.

There is a difference, but that difference is not important in this context. In one situation a person is hand-holding and telling you what to do and another a computer program is. The difference is who is doing the work, but to you there is no difference. Either way you have the mechanic warned for you, so that you don't have to worry about it yourself. In both situations, you have equal amount of hand-holding.

[Kallera]

There is a difference, but that difference is not important in this context. In one situation a person is hand-holding and telling you what to do and another a computer program is. The difference is who is doing the work, but to you there is no difference. Either way you have the mechanic warned for you, so that you don't have to worry about it yourself. In both situations, you have equal amount of hand-holding.

I very much have to worry about it, I don't want that sort of thing in every encounter, and I don't want it forced on me to have it. I do not need to have the person doing so, and i can choose to not have it, I refuse an add on, and I'm likely to be removed from even learning parties.

I don't want add ons getting thrown in my face over every bit of playing.

[CrystalRainbow]

It's Both ps3 and PS4. Because any very useful addons would need to be ported to Playstation somehow!! to keep everything fair.

[Kaurie]

I very much have to worry about it, I don't want that sort of thing in every encounter, and I don't want it forced on me to have it. I do not need to have the person doing so, and i can choose to not have it, I refuse an add on, and I'm likely to be removed from even learning parties.

I am not sure I am following what you are saying with this post. However, I'll try to respond - I'm sorry if I've misunderstood you.

if you do not need to worry about mechanics being called by another person, you do not need to worry about it from an addon either. You can disable to addon or ignore the person. If you need the person to call out, you can just have the addon do it for you.

I take it that you're worried people will require it and kick you if you don't have it. I'm not sure how they could know or prove if you have it or not. If you don't have it, join the learning party, know your mechanics and boom you're fine.

If you're concerned that you'll be failing mechanics, because you're missing out on callouts from the addon, in these scenarios are you likely to receive callouts from a player?