The new concept screenshot is a real-time in-game render!

[kanjitai]

as long as the new engine makes the game less system intensive I'm happy with the way it looks

[Tiraelina]

That is an awesome UI. What unit frames are you using? I used to use a few different add-ons to completely customize my UI like that, but I got tired of having to wait a couple days for them to be updated after a new patch, though lately, it's more like a few hours at most so I might give it a shot again.

The unit frames are Pitbull4. I took several hints from Aliena's UI.

It's really great to see people that know what they are talking about. Majority of the issues with addons are related to the people using them much like misusing any given tool. The lack of addons won't make those types of people stop existing. It also won't let you into a group with the better players that want to succeed when you don't have the gear or dps output to pull your weight.

Addons like Gearscore/Recount/Skada etc are only making information more accessible that was already there. The content itself doesn't have a requirement for the most part, it's all player based restrictions because they want to succeed and not waste hours wiping constantly on dumb things.

Damage meters are very useful when they are used properly to see if you are even capable of beating an enrage timer and being able to see who isn't doing what they are supposed. It's also never a bad thing to have some friendly competition to see who can do better and push eachother to improve,

Something I really hope is in the works is multiple action bars that can have keybindings.

[Shipp]

The unit frames are Pitbull4.

It's really great to see people that know what they are talking about. Majority of the issues with addons are related to the people using them much like misusing any given tool. The lack of addons won't make those types of people stop existing. It also won't let you into a group with the better players that want to succeed when you don't have the gear or dps output to pull your weight.

Addons like Gearscore/Recount/Skada etc are only making information more accessible that was already there. The content itself doesn't have a requirement for the most part, it's all player based restrictions because they want to succeed and not waste hours wiping constantly on dumb things.

Damage meters are very useful when they are used properly to see if you are even capable of beating an enrage timer and being able to see who isn't doing what they are supposed. It's also never a bad thing to have some friendly competition to see who can do better and push eachother to improve,

Something I really hope is in the works is multiple action bars that can have keybindings.

Thanks! I had Pitbull at one time, though I couldn't remember which add-on I had that looked like those bars.

The only reason I use damage meters is because I like to tighten up my rotation and when I know I'm capable of pulling 12k on a 340 ilvl character and I see myself pulling 10k, I know I need to start paying attention. I think a lot of people who don't play WoW think the majority use Recount to eliminate "noobs" when that's just not the case. Sure, some people do, but most of us use these damage meters to measure our own effectiveness. I don't care what the other people at 85 are pulling in a heroic as long as it's above 6k (and even that's low). If you're pulling under 6k, you simply don't know how to play and should read up on your class.

I was in a Heroic Deadmines group earlier and DPS'd the first half and then switched to healing after Reaper. I was pulling a consistent 12k on a toon with like 340 ilvl. I was highest DPS (in PvP gear lol) and I only hit 85 on that Shaman 4 days ago. Tank was pulling 10k, one other DPS was pulling 9k, and the lowest was pulling 3.4k. The warrior pulling 3.4k obviously sucked, but he was new to 85 and was cool to talk to. He stated he was new and that he'd been playing 2 years but really only liked playing the AH and finally decided to try dungeons. Was I carrying him? Absolutely. Did I care? Not at all. He was willing to learn, when we wiped on a few fights, I stayed there along with another member and we just waited for new players if someone dropped. I explained the fights to him and told him not to eat "rotten food" on Cookie, but that I would eat the food near the pot and he could eat any normal food near him to get a haste buff. We cleared the dungeon and even did Vanessa and by the end he was pulling 7k.

Many of us using these addons are willing to help people as long as they are honest. If you're pulling very low DPS but tell me you're new to the fight and don't know what to do, I am more than willing to explain it to you. We were all in that position at one point, just because you showed up a little later does not make you bad. What makes you bad is when you're pulling horrible DPS and lie and say you know the fight and start blaming your own mistakes on other people or the infamous "lag" when it's quite apparent you are NOT lagging.

I am not a special case in WoW either. I would wager the majority of players in endgame events are willing to help newer players out, as long as they are honest and make it known they are willing to improve. It's when people lie about knowing the fights when they don't that we start getting ticked. I've been in PuG raids that I've never done before and I've only read the raid journal on (new feature implemented in Cata that explains the boss and lists the major attacks and what they do) and stated it in raid chat that I just need a few tips and 99% of the raids I've been in have been more than happy to help me. When we pull up to a boss, before the pull I usually start explaining it over vent or raid chat if it's a boss I'm familiar with. A lot of people are scared to say they're new to a fight because of this stigma that is really unfounded that if you aren't out-gearing the boss and know it inside and out, you'll be kicked. Once you're in a raid, you aren't going to be kicked unless you're dead weight, because that means someone has to go back to town to shout for your replacement and risking the rest of the raid falling apart.

I really wish people who aren't familiar with WoW's endgame (and I mean people who actually partake in it, not people who know someone who has raided in WoW) would stop bringing it up in relation to add-ons, because the vast majority of those people are making false assumptions, lying, have no clue what they're talking about, or a combination of all three.

[Zenaku]

You have very little experience about WoW. You mainly played on a private server, and you claim you've played since Cata, yet nobody uses gearscore in Cata. This sounds like you are simply repeating what you've heard other WoW players say, damned if it's true or not.

The addons don't tell you whether a player sucks. You bitching about an addon stopping you from joining a raid because you're undergeared is what shows you suck. XI had the exact same limitations, though the execution differed, as many people have pointed out. You're fooling yourself if you think it's even a valid comparison.

You don't understand how WoW works, and I highly doubt you have done any serious endgame in WoW. You claim your GF has healed without any healing addons. This is simply ridiculous. She might have healed dungeons that you leveled in, but she did not heal raids. If you're trying to say that she healed raids without addons, then she is being carried, or more likely, you're lying about your actual experience of the game to try to boost your credibility. No serious raid healer is not going to have a healing addon. Those that don't are being carried, simple. It has nothing to do with skill, before you start on that. It has everything to do with how the above poster stated, "mouse travel time." There is no extra skill involved with performing clicking on a raid frame and then pressing a button instead of clicking on that frame and it healing with whatever you press while mousing over the frame. It is faster and more efficient, and nobody is going to perform two separate steps which don't need to be separate in the first place, faster than the person using an addon to cut out the slow-down from unneeded UI clicking steps.

You don't like WoW, we all get that loud and clear. You aren't talking about personal experience though, because you're using ridiculous numbers like "500 ilvl" when there is no way to even get 400 ilvl in the game at the moment. Same with the gearscore numbers you've provided, and that addon hasn't even been used for nearly a year. It was broken when Cata launched, and I don't even know if it was ever fixed or not since ilvl is better and everyone uses that instead.

You straight up make shit up about WoW, and you treat the game as if it's an ex girlfriend who cheated on you with 50 men. You slander it, lie about it, and harass it in literally 95% of your posts. You did this on Eorzeapedia, and you said I was the reason you were leaving, and you're still doing it here. EVERY post I read from you mentions WoW. The crap is old dude. People bashed WoW back in 2004, 7 years later and you are still beating the dusty remains of that horse. Get over it. WoW did not do a damn thing to you, and anyone who plays it can tell you are lying through your teeth or you are exaggerating in the most extreme case possible.

Any change in XIV that makes it more accessible to new players and you start harping it's like WoW. You harp that the new UI SS looks like WoW. You harp that the new graphics look like WoW. You harp that 2.0 is a WoW clone. You harp and harp and harp about WoW. You bring up WoW more than any person that even plays WoW. You are obsessed with the game that you supposedly hate. YOU come off looking like a sad person who has an unhealthy obsession with a video game that you don't even play. It's almost like you're a closet WoW fan, yet you're too proud to admit that something other than Final Fantasy can be popular. You'd rather Final Fantasy continue on the failing track that Tanaka was driving it down than welcome much needed changes that will actually help this game make some modicum of a come back.

Let the WoW issue die. Even people I'd consider whiteknights on this forum have told you flat out that you're wrong about aspects like graphics in 2.0 (BASED ON A CONCEPT RENDERED SHOT) looking like WoW. It's time to give it a rest, and quite frankly, a lot of people have told you to can it, even people on "your side."

Edit: Aradon, perfect post, and I'm glad you explained what most of the addons do and how they are definitely NOT playing the game for you. Definitely a like from me.

Ahh nvm

all i'm going to say is i only played private server servers back in 2008/2009 and play real wow 2010-2011 and quit.

If they add the addon then fine i deal with it like i did in wow no need to quote me again i understand what you said.

[Jennestia]

addon, and UI discussion aside. I really hope they do not implement the need to attain a certain gear score before you can enter/participate in a dungeon or raid. That sounds really stupid and unnecessary

If a gear score type add-on comes in place, as everything else, this would be a player created problem.

[Jinko]

The unit frames are Pitbull4. I took several hints from Aliena's UI.

It's really great to see people that know what they are talking about. Majority of the issues with addons are related to the people using them much like misusing any given tool. The lack of addons won't make those types of people stop existing. It also won't let you into a group with the better players that want to succeed when you don't have the gear or dps output to pull your weight.

Addons like Gearscore/Recount/Skada etc are only making information more accessible that was already there. The content itself doesn't have a requirement for the most part, it's all player based restrictions because they want to succeed and not waste hours wiping constantly on dumb things.

Damage meters are very useful when they are used properly to see if you are even capable of beating an enrage timer and being able to see who isn't doing what they are supposed. It's also never a bad thing to have some friendly competition to see who can do better and push eachother to improve,

Something I really hope is in the works is multiple action bars that can have keybindings.

So much sense and truth in this thread, why can't the rest of you be half as accommodating :P

Gearscore is not guna be an issue in FFXIV because from what I know FFXIV doesn't have different item levels for armour at the same level.

[kensredemption]

That's kind of terrible. There's a lot i hate about that screenshot. For one, I hope it's a boss fight, toherwise I see no reason to have that many people in a party. What's witht he crap around the map? Multiple toolbars? I can't see what that stuff is in the lower right. Looks very non-controller friendly, sort of like what a friend had up in wow, when he was just mashing buttons left and right. I hope it doens't look like that at all. I like the simplistic look, less is more.

Maybe the UI for the PS3 will be a bit different? Who knows? All I'm hoping for is to get into the PS3 Beta next year.

[Dargoth_Draconia]

That's kind of terrible. There's a lot i hate about that screenshot. For one, I hope it's a boss fight, toherwise I see no reason to have that many people in a party. What's witht he crap around the map? Multiple toolbars? I can't see what that stuff is in the lower right. Looks very non-controller friendly, sort of like what a friend had up in wow, when he was just mashing buttons left and right. I hope it doens't look like that at all. I like the simplistic look, less is more.

Looks controller friendly to me. o_o. We got freaking Matsui doing our UI, he is a the UI genius who worked on Final Fantasy Tactics. I am sure it will flow for us gamepad users.

[Synfrag]

In short, addons are not the evil people here feel they are. They help enhance an interface that in turn makes the game more enjoyable and more playable. The interface exists to translate your intent to the servers, and the better the interface accomplishes this, the better. Addons that assist gameplay may help players learn their classes, but exist to make veterans of their classes hone their skills even further. Addons that actually play classes for people are called bots and aren't actually allowed.

Wrong!

Add-ons have the complete power to destroy a game without any abuse or misuse. Exactly as they have in WoW. There are thousands of players who do not understand how to play their class in WoW without add-ons. I am one of them. I was convinced into playing wow by co-workers and so the first thing I did was copy a friends add-on profile and have him show me what to do. When the game gets patched and it breaks my add-ons I have no clue if someone is cursed or if my Fingers of Frost are up and what have you. Add-ons that tell you what to do next after a skill only add to the lack of knowledge in how to properly use your class.

This is detrimental to the game no matter how you spin it. If we end up with shortcut add-ons like decursive for example (I'm sure there are better examples) it's all over. I am absolutely fine with things like UI skins, CD timers, parsers (AKA DPS meters) and non-altering add-ons. The second you throw in shortcut add-ons you break FFXIV. Even if, only for the simple fact that at leas 1/2 the population will be playing with a controller and targeting a shortcut will be nearly impossible.

Shipp actually illustrate my point perfectly with "You claim your GF has healed without any healing addons. This is simply ridiculous. No serious raid healer is not going to have a healing addon." If the game requires a 3rd party add-on in order to fulfill your task then it is broken, end of story.

On top of that comes serious balance issues and the result of inaccurate game balance is Elite mobs with 500k HP and no tactical strategy required to beat them. There is no other way around it besides making everything generic like Blizzard has done. Because the field is so vastly split due to which add-ons are used and by whom that the designers have to compensate with simplicity and numbers e.g. more trash mobs, higher HP and less or no visual clues.

Personally I cannot stand most of the WoW add-ons on my screen. They are designed by amateurs with literally no understanding of aesthetics or visual design and they clutter up your screen so bad that all you see is add-ons and nothing in the game. But, because WoW is such a cluster**** of a game, I have to use them. There is no choice and therefore I am forced to live with an even uglier version of an already ugly game.

Yes, some are great to have and I'm not completely against them as a whole but to say that there is nothing negative about them is absolutely ignorant.

[Jynx]

I guess I'll just enjoy getting good at the game without information in 10 windows on my screen.

I'll just be sure to tell everyone that I have the add-ons installed <_<