What is IMC’s stance on addons?
In previous betas there were a few such as an exp viewer which lets you view the amount of exp earned over time.
Does IMC allow for addons for ToS? I’m sure many interesting and game enhancing addons could be made by players, for players.
mmm interesting topic…
We’ll most likely post a more official post when we release, but here this is a shorter answer for now.
Addons are acceptable as long as they are not over-intrusive such as the exp viewer you mentioned.
Hope this clears things up a bit for you! 
Please don’t let it be possible to make a damage meter. It’s impossible to balance the classes in this game, and damage meters put dps balance under an out-of-context microscope, leading to lots of butthurt. Right now you can have one guy doing three times more damage than the next guy but they don’t realize it so they don’t get so mad.
Exp viewers are harmless, though. Perhaps things will have to be judged case by case to prevent people from looking for loopholes to make addons that give combat advantages.
Agree with trielav. Combat addons are things what many players (for example like me) don’t like, because this just ruin the joy of the game.
But it’s good to know which classes need nerf or buff by facilitating IMC to handle it. As well as the to know who is doing something in the group or are you just ride not adding anything.
This tool would be useful in case of dungeon / raid of high difficulty that may come in the future (or already available)
Just my humble opinion ^^
okay, i’m having trouble to understand it
you are saying that addons over intrusive, like exp viewer, aren’t acceptable
Or
addons like exp viewer are acceptable, while more intrusive ones are not
?
This is what he meant-desu.
Glad to hear it! Many people were afraid to use addons because they though it may be bannable, which is a fairly safe assumption. Perhaps an addon section of the forum could be nice. People can post addons/updates and the Staff is also able to view them and deem them over-intrusive/etc.
Also if I’m understanding it correctly, he’s saying that EXP viewer is an example of an addon that isn’t over intrusive, however addons that are over intrusive are not acceptable.
I’m developing this addon api. I’ve sent you some messages over the communication system here on forums but unfortunately none replied. This is a pretty big project and I’d love to get some information before we set out to write this all for nothing. Can I get someone to contact me directly? This is important so we can understand each other and I don’t end up helping botting or something worse.
Please go through my private messages sent as I’ve provided more information there.
Here lies the problem of such an add-on, people are VERY PICKY and want to play ‘‘Hyper Optimal’’ which causes segregation and assholery, which idiots already do in this game.
Remember how in ICBT2 if you where a Wizard without Linker people had a tendency to ignore you?
If you where a Cleric without Priest getting parties was also harder becasue people love buff slaves and healers while not trying the new kind of things the game has, I had to FORCE people to get in my Zalciai circle for the buffs and other events. Why? Because people want to sound and look like experts but they don’t know jackshit of everything that can happen and be done.
Damage viewers are the ultimate display of this, as builds with more than ‘’‘DAMAGE’’ in certain classes and builds will be frowned upon for no reason, hurting the comunity.
Sadly, regardless of whether or not it’s bannable to make a DPS meter, if someone wants to do it, they could.
I don’t agree with discriminating based on it, it’s very useful for those looking for self improvement, but shouldn’t be used to rate others. Regardless, it’s not something anyone can really stop, I’ve seen people go so far as to collect packets sent to the server from the client and use that to create a DPS meter, so if someone wants it to happen, it’ll happen.
The reason why I wanted to know the stance on these addons, is because there are other, non-intrusive addons such as EXP viewer and Status Information (which tells you various info about your target, like if their cloth/plate/etc which can help out alot), and things such as UI modifications/additions, etc.
Could you please clarify on whether or not an experience viewer addon is allowed? The way it was said, it could be interpreted either way.
This one I made, to be exact:
“to the server from the client”? The client doesn’t have the data to begin with.
If you mean from the server to the client, it’s easy for the server to skip some of the other players’ damage data or add false ones to prevent such meters from being accurate. Skipping saves a little bandwidth and helps framerates during heavy aoe, too. At that point the only option is to put a sync feature in and pressure everyone else to use it, but once the meter goes public, anti-cheat software can check for it.
Most of the time the client does have that info, in the form of logs, and usually games that have combat logs, are the easiest to make DPS meter’s with. But here’s one that collects packets:
Used for TERA. I’m sure regardless of sending over fake data, there is always a way to gather the info required. An example might be the numbers popping up on your screen when you hit things, if that info can be gathered in some way, a DPS meter can be made. I don’t want to get technical, since I don’t have the expertise to back it up, but I’ve seen plenty of creative ways for people to make DPS meters.
On another note, regardless of a DPS meter, people will still discriminate. Tier lists will exist, and it’s already happening. Even in the CBT, people did not want wizards without linkers, or clerics that weren’t priest, and it wasn’t because of some DPS meter, it was because of efficiency. Eventually people will know what does that super high damage, and what doesn’t, and it won’t be a DPS meter that tells people that.
The server has to tell the client what happened before it can be logged.
Your link says
That’s a pretty big hole in its data collection ability.
The level of discrimination we’ve been seeing so far is nothing compared to some other games. You need a huge gap in efficiency before people notice. Nobody’s taking the tier lists seriously, and at the height of linker obsession, the other wizard classes were getting lumped together. It probably happened somewhere, but I didn’t hear about cryos and wizard 3’s getting rejected for not being pyro even though pyro had a dps advantage. In fact, they usually cared more about utility and crowd control spells.
I’m not debating that the DPS meter is good or not, or if it’s able to collect all the data, that is just an example, and it does work. I’m sure with a little work it can (as there are 2 more DPS meters for TERA that can in fact collect that data). All I’m saying is, it can be done, and there’s more than one way to go about doing it, so long as someone wants to do it.
That’s because nearly every class these days has something to bring into a party, which is why a DPS meter is even less of a worry for this game. It’s more of a tool of self-improvement for DPS classes. Regardless of whatever stance anyone has on if it’s a good or bad thing to have a DPS meter, the fact remains, if someone wants to make it, and has the expertise, it can be done.
This conflicts with what you said before:
More importantly, it’s wrong. When people have a number to latch onto they tend to ignore everything else, even if they cause problems in the process. In WoW, they’d even start drama among healers over healing per second. In one guild we started hacking the meter to falsify data to shut up the guy who kept going on about HPS.
It can only be used effectively if the devs are unwilling to ban for it. Granted, they are typically unwilling (a quick search says the Tera stance was “they don’t care as long as you don’t use it to harass people”).
Your correct, I just agreed with your statement: