In a recent video the game director states that ESO will have a moddable UI (similar to the one which WOW has).

For those of you not familiar with UI mods it means that the community can alter the UI or add more detailed information, such as the time left on an ability cooldown. This is the first piece of news on ESO that has dissappointed me greatly; here's why.

Firstly, I will admit that at first glance UI mods are a positive feature, and if you don't like them, you don't have to use them. If one desires, the UI can be as complicated as possible with every detail of combat covering your screen in numbers. Or it can be left as the developers intended. This is only true of the casual player, who does not care if they are optimal, or in other words, if you care about being good, you will use UI mods (if they are available).

This combines with the second issue, and why I was more excited before hearing this news: The UI Zenimax has spoken of was designed to be minimalistic; to add to the immersion of the game. Ideally, the systems in the game could be represented without clutter on your screen during combat. Having UI mods available, and knowing that others are using them while you are not, puts you at a gameplay disadvantage, especially in PVP. In order to not be the 'svcker', I will be forced to also adopt many UI mods so I have all of the combat information available, at all times. For anyone who has pvp'd in WOW, they will know what I'm talking about.

This also leads the game to have a meta-game, which is: Who has designed their own UI the best. Instead of just playing, knowing that everyone is on an even playing field, it adds the concern that maybe you died just because you were missing that one new fancy UI mod. This is the main reason many people hate UI mods in WOW. WOW UI mods also become broken after every major game patch, and I have dreadful memories of spending 2 hours reinstalling mods and configuring the options. I want to quest and be immersed, and react in real time to someone swinging a sword at me, not feel obligated to download a mod that tells me a sword swing is incoming, then have it break when a game patch comes out.

Overall, I'm surprised that Zenimax has looked at the current MMO landscape and said that a moddable UI was a good idea. Especially considering that they talked about the minimalistic Skyrim UI as a positive thing (i agree) for the game.

TL;DR: ESO developers have stated the UI will be community moddable; this is bad, and will essentially clutter the screens of every player who wants to be good.

if you aren't going to bother to read the thread, don't spam pointless replies

i actually do agree. I properly won't be doing alot of PvP...

Feel free to make this a useful discussion.

I agree to an extent, but I don't think it will be as bad as with WoW. There's no cooldowns, so what will there really be to monitor with additional bars and counters? The biggest I can think of is a CC timer, and maybe something to alert of important ability uses or resource dumps such as CC breakers. That's like 2 extra things on your screen.

People need help to play their games...simple as that.

What I'd really look to see are handy overlays like AtlasLoot so I have to tab out of the game less to use tesohead or the equivalent. I just can't see there being many UI additions in a game with action combat and minimal things to be timed.

I have no problem with addons that assist with an auction house, and Carde may be right; the combat system may be simple enough that UI mods aren't 100% necessary to be competetive. The paradox is that, if the system is so simple, why have a moddable UI at all?

Excepted abilities do not have a cooldown in ESO, only effects such for example as the one you gain from drinking a boost potion have a time left timer.

So I can imagine an UI assistant to help in "buff" management.

But besides that and watching over your Health, the only thing you have to worry about skill or stat wise is about managing your energy pool (Stamina/Magicka). And to build Finesse which should happen naturally if you play well.

Also we don't know the functionalities of the API that will be provided, and how much the API has access and control of the game client. It could be little or it could much. But unless we have details about it. We don't know if it will only allow minor UI tweaks or more advanced controls.

I cant agree with you, UI Mods are a must have for me, nothing is more frustrading than having an UI that i dont like or better cant change.

You dont need to use them if you dont want to.

I'd guess most likely just "to have it". I'd likely download CC/DOT timers, though.

That's the biggest plus of the system for me, having customization. Even if its not adding new features to your UI, I want to be able to resize/move anything. Rift had a fantastic way of doing that by just letting you move it all by default.

I believe I gave a compelling case for why UI mods are not optional for a hardcoe player. I also think the onus is on the developer to make a UI that displays the necessary information.

Also, changing the size of certain things is far different than having information displayed across your screen that you wouldn't normally have, and potentially, other players do not have.

Fully agree on both counts. I hope the UI is simple enough to not need too much, but I plan on making use of what is available regardless.

haha, +1

UI changes are ok, if we need something like Bossmods etc... we cant really tell right know. They problem is the modern Action Combat, in many of this game i can nearly avoid 100 % of the damage i would get. That means the game get pretty easy so the developer needs mechanics that can kill you in one hit or atleast nearly kill you.

Tera was a good example for it i was a warrior and i could kill nearly any boss i wantet even solo because if i played perfectly i dident take any damage.

Sometimes i would wish for normal combat not this action thing.

I like the idea of the UI mods, and they ARE optional for a hardcoe player. In the same way that nice headphones, keyboards and mouses (the correct plural for computer mouse) are not required. They definitely increase your effectiveness, but just because you are a hardcoe PvPer doesn't mean you NEED to have them. You can enjoy a slight bonus from having them, based on the combat seen here, but it wont be needed to compete online.

I remember a debate over what UI addons should be allowed taking place on the Rift forums before Rift went live. Basically, the consensus was that UI addons which simply function as personal tools (i.e. UI addons which measure your DPS, organize your inventory, and organize your action bars) are permissible and UI addons which help you actually play the game and, thus, "cheat" (i.e. UI addons which help you find resources and predict a boss's moves) are not desirable.

I agreed with this.

So, if ZOS's policy is similar, then there should be no problem. Otherwise, you have a right to be worried.

I don't agree, I think it's not a big deal, people like to alter their UI to their playstyle, so let them, I doubt it will be as far out as other MMOs, not to mention that there are very little if any cooldowns on abilities, they are just limited to magicka/stamina pools, so no I don't think moddable UI is bad, quite the contrary ...

What took up most of the space on the screen for my UI in WoW was the hotbar (I used Bartender, I had 4 bars stacked on top of each other for my elemental shaman) and the nameplates which I used X-perl for the party and my character's name plate. I did for the longest time used X-perl for the raid too but I switched to Grid for that because it gave a much clearer form. I did use a number of other mods too but most of them were set up to activate on combat or when I used certain features.

Honestly, I don't see a modifiable UI being a problem like it can be in WoW where some people will get so much crap on their screen that it'll affect their awareness. The main reason is because of the style of combat, TESO's combat is focused on active combat unlike WoW's where everything comes down to cooldown and resource management.

For TESO you are limited to only six abilties which yes you could for a very short amount of time spam but there's no cooldown for those; they'll only cost your resources so you'll be looking at that more so that the hotbar. the hotbar itself could very much be something you could just disable after a while because you know what number buttons are macroed to.

Looking forward now to what I may encounter whilst playing the game I don't see myself needing a hotbar on the screen, if i I decide to use a DPS meter of some sorts then it won't be something I'll have on all the time; it'll most likely be something I check every now and then with a short cut set up like alt+R - I've never liked seeing it there all the time. I can see myself having some sort of resource meters somewhat like Skyrim's and not in a traditional MMO-esque portrait and I'm not aiming to be fulfilling a healing role so the amount of information I need about team mates will be limited.

In short, I like a UI that gives me need-to-know information, I don't like to have a UI that constantly gives me bombardments of data that is situationally useful.

More customization through mods and addons, the better. I don't want a cookie cutter UI any more than I want a cookie cutter spec.