Should HUD Add-Ons Be Allowed By Square Enix?

[Kacho_Nacho]

We know damage meters are not allowed by S.E. Even though the devs tend to look the other way, using damage meters is a bannable offense.

But, should S.E. allow add-ons which allow players to customize their HUDs more than the options offered by FFXIV? Personally, I think so.

While the in-game options are quite good, I yearn for some of the options provided by add-ons used in WoW. For example, I find outlining the ability slots with black helps me quite a bit.

What do you think? Also, what non-damage add-ons do you wish the developers would allow?

[Granyala]

Not until they find a way to make them work on consoles and even the playing field.
Rearranging information to your taste can be a powerful thing and I'd rather not have the playerbase divided.

I say this as an ex WoW player that also dearly misses weak auras and the ability to shape the UI to my liking.
Esp proper DoT timers. >.<

[HumanNinjaToo]

I think any kind of add-ons would open the door to players potentially having an advantage over other players. In a game like this, I would rather SE come up with their own add-ons so that every player would have equal access to them.

That being said: I would like a weather forecast add-on, a locator for hunt monsters, and a meter that lets me know when a lalafell is getting closer to me so that I can go the other way because I'm allergic to potatoes ;P

[Vivix]

I wish we had addons. I miss putting buff information anywhere on my screen(weakauras) or separate keybindings for each job. I also used to be able to try on any gear with any race regardless if I had it or not(mogit) and that would make using fantasia potions less of a hassle.

Improved macros would be nice too because I used to always heal with mouseover macros in wow and I haven't touched healing since I moved to ff14.

[Shurrikhan]

As much as I've loved my mods in other MMOs, I'd prefer they just improve the base UI and its official customization choices.

Edit: On the other hand, as long as we can in fact limit the APIs offered to just those relevant to UI without running afoul of mod-dependent gameplay, sure, why not.

[Endariel]

To be honest , the only thing is really lacking in the current UI, is the proper dot tracking.
Add this, I will be completely fine without add-ons

[alimdia]

As much as I've loved my mods in other MMOs, I'd prefer they just improve the base UI and its official customization choices.

We're almost 6 years into this game and we barely have any options. They don't have the manpower to natively implement and maintain the stuff modders would add. The whole point of modding is so the community can help the devs with this stuff.

[Kacho_Nacho]

To be honest , the only thing is really lacking in the current UI, is the proper dot tracking.
Add this, I will be completely fine without add-ons

The DoT/HoT tracking is pretty good. The only improvement I can think of is to have the icon flash red when it's about to drop off.

We're almost 6 years into this game and we barely have any options. They don't have the manpower to natively implement and maintain the stuff modders would add. The whole point of modding is so the community can help the devs with this stuff.

That's exactly my line of thought. Having a list of approved add-ons would free up S.E. to focus more on the game while the modders focus on improving the HUDs, dot timers, glamour, etc...

There has been some concern in this thread that add-ons would give other players an advantage. I completely agree with them.

There is a danger with add-ons giving players such an advantage that FCs require their members to use them. What I am pushing for is add-ons which provide the player the flexibility to customize the game's HUD to their liking.

Any add-on which mimics add-ons like BigWigs or DBM should be forbidden. The same for TellMeWhen.

Let us use things like Shadowed Unit Frames, BarTender4, and Masque.

[SturmChurro]

I'm pretty sure ESO allows this kind of thing. I always played it vanilla. I think a lot of people like it over there. I don't think that game is cross-platform though unfortunately.

[Shurrikhan]

We're almost 6 years into this game and we barely have any options. They don't have the manpower to natively implement and maintain the stuff modders would add. The whole point of modding is so the community can help the devs with this stuff.

That's fair. I'd have to ask though -- and this is an honest question -- which API do we give access to in order to allow the best means of UI improvements to modders without also allowing for the effectively auto-play mods available on, say, World of Warcraft, where a mod-swapped dynamic action key and an auto-clicker can reduce the gameplay required of a player to purely player movement and facing?

How do we forgo mods like DBM or Big Wigs or their equivalents, if the developers want players to have to be aware of mechanics for themselves?