I’m proposing a badge pattern for Tree of Savior addons.
Using these badges, users can easily understand that the system they are using is approved / is safe / have a unknown status / is unsafe.
Read more at Awesome ToS #addons-badges.
Hope you like the idea.
Tbh, if I am the dev, I wouldn’t really like people messing around with my game then asking is this or that allowed. They didn’t say much regarding EXP viewer since it doesn’t really affect the economy or other’s gameplay.
Today it’s these few addon, soon it will be a mountain of them with some starting to exploit.
Tbh if I were a developer I also would tiptoe around the idea of addons. Even then though I think I would appreciate that I could release one version of a product and have each community contribute to things that they feel they would like.
If each community (for instance, ITOS, KTOS, etc) all have created similar addons for their versions (i.e. every community has created their own Exp Viewer) then it would give me the hint that “Hey… everyone wants this, we should make an official one.”
Overall though user-created content has always been a pretty popular thing with releases. While it is more work to sift through addon submissions, as a developer, I would be happier knowing I have an official process to handle them.
Instead, right now, they could drop the banhammer and end up losing customers even if by accident when updating their detection over time. Since every player is a potential customer come F2P I’d want to make sure I kept as many legitimate ones around, and that I kept them safe from exploitative addons or programs that may even collect personal or login information. I could easily drop huge bans, safely then, without worrying because any user that has anything even slightly modified outside the realm of approved addons will have already been warned against them.
I currently use the entire set from Excrulon as well as LemonKing’s chat. I am very glad that I do because I feel my gaming experience is better for it. I have skipped out on betterquest because I feel it could be interpreted as an in-game advantage over players who do not use it and it may be one of those gray areas. I’m not sure but I feel it’s better to be safe than sorry. I also do not use the silver addon because I’m broke as a bloke and all my silver goes to pots and attributes, so knowing how much I’m spending won’t help me as much since no matter how much I make I’ll be spending it all immediately down to 50k for when I log in next lol
that aint good enough… IMC staff needs to make a stickied topic about 3rd party addons, that way EVERYONE can see it… im not just trusting some words from two topics
I agree with a sticky addons post.
But not trusting a STAFF member is a choice YOU made, doesn’t affect the FACT that it was approved.
More addons being created, suggested, and used. This thread leads to a very well-organized reddit post containing a lot of useful information concerning the topic.
None of the new ones we have appear intrusive at all, but, some of the suggested ones may be against IMC’s idea of something they would like in-game. With this in mind I think it’s a good time to get some more attention on the suggested addon approval process before the number of available addons snowballs.
Yay we got a mention.
Mostly the thread is about idea’s no matter how fancyful. Don’t be too hard on us.
Thinking about what addon’s “might be cool” is not the same as breaking the rules.
We’re even having a section that has LUA experts explain what can’t be done because it’s too intrusive.
Oh, no, it’s not meant as a negative =P Rather the mention is purely positive.
I only mean that as more addons are developed there will be additional grey areas and more questions asked by the community until we have an official process to clear them for use. Addons in the future may alter things that IMC isn’t comfortable with and it would be better if users were presented with the go-ahead prior to using it and risking a ban.
For instance; what if an “addon” were created that claimed to be a fix for how summon/pet AI targets seemingly random enemies off in deep space nine? That this new addon, let’s call it “Smart Leash”, will now improve their AI so that they focus the target you are engaging. They could even tote it as a fix for the issue we have for summons in that they only engage after you’ve stopped moving (until then they just chase you around).
Most users would immediately identify this correctly as unacceptable and ban-worthy. I mean despite what the addon creator would be claiming, we would know that what would really be changed is how summon AI targets enemies and, whether it is a fix, improvement, or otherwise, altering a mechanic is on a different level entirely. This would very well be an executable rather than a lua which presents the unknowing user in even more danger.
But other players… they’d download and run it. Perhaps hundreds or thousands of users. And they would just sign it off as “addons are allowed” without stopping to think about that line and if it was crossed.
That’s what we face currently without a nod from IMC. Anything that is called an addon will be used by some as an addon, regardless of safety, because not all users will know the difference.
Having an official process before those kinds of “addons” come into the scene will make life a lot easier. Players will be able to quickly check a pinned post, see if the addon in question is in the approved or denied section, and proceed from there. Anything not on the approved list would mean risking a ban, even if it appears innocent enough, and would prevent a lot of players from even downloading the file in the first place or from being banned. Or save them from worse depending on the file.
I agree with others as well that there are some pretty good alternatives like the steam workshop etc etc, but I doubt IMC will go from zero to sixty on the matter. Those things can come later, but a sub-forum and a pinned thread or two is a very realistic start.
It’s interesting I have Quicker leashing added as an addon on my thread (One from before I even got any replies) the reasons I put it there was two fold.
LUA modifying pet behaviour was in RO and I did some beta Testing for AzzyAI to fix some issues for a pet he didn’t want to have to level up.
Secondly I noticed in Tree of Savior that the pet follows all of your previous walk locations ( as waypoints?) instead of immediately going to your current location!
It just made me think “Wow how much would the pet be fixed with just that!” Sure there are other fixes the pet needs but keeping up with the player is definitely number one for me!