This game badly needs mods and macros.

I would modify that. If people cannot cope without macros then the devs either need to implement macros in the game or make changes to game mechanics to reduce the perceived need for macros.

A good macro system doesn't play the game for you. A good macro system just lets you get by with fewer hotkeys by changing the function of the hotkeys based on circumstances.

So if there is an outcry for a macro system and you don't want to implement one, you at least owe it to your players to investigate why there's such an outcry for a macro system.

And if you respect your players at all, you don't just assume "they're all just crybabies who don't want to learn how to play".

About threat/aggro mechanics? Perhaps.

About addons? Likely not, unless you've changed your position. Addons are not to blame for the flaws in Blizzard's threat system. Blizzard is to blame. Addons are not inherently bad for the game, but could be if the devs do not reign them in.

Not the same thing. Am I getting click to cast? So I left click an Op bar and it casts Dark Heal or I shift-left click and I cast Innervate, or right click for Static Barrier or whatever else I want? Nope? That's why we need UI addons, so I can configure the game to enter commands the way it makes the most sense for me, and you can configure it to enter commands the way that makes the most sense for you. And if you don't want to use 'em so you can show off your "skill" at banging your face against a stupid clunky UI...go for it. You don't have to use them.

Allow me to add to the conversation. First up, I'd like to make everyone aware that I am legally blind and that I have partial paralysis to my right hand because I have cerebral palsy. I am telling you this because there has been much debate about how customization options effect those with disabilities.

Personally, my largest issue with the game right now are font sizes. I have trouble, even at size 18 text, reading what is in my chat box. I cannot read what my abilities do inside the game and have had to seek outside information. And while the red and green indications do help with gear selection, I still have to be extremely careful where this is concerned.

I normally play a healer. I quickly realized that my normal healing strategy is impossible in SWTOR because we do not have macros. I would be perfectly fine healing flashpoints, but since there is no way for me to program additional buttons to cover the other 4 - 12 players healing an operation would not work for me. (I play almost exclusively with a keyboard.)

So, what have I done? What some of you -- no matter which side of this debate ultimately "wins -- will have to do as well. I adapted.

Upon realizing that this was not going to be a healing game for me -- truthfully a change I probably *needed* anyway -- I tested a whole bunch of classes and am now happily leveling a sniper. If BW does eventually create a way for me to do healing with my limitations in mind I will likely go for it. (Or I will test the idea I had to use a mouse with side buttons so I can target someone and be able to get the cast off as quickly as necessary ... the .6 second delay that it would take for me to mouse target and then click a spell could spell death for someone as it is now.)

My point is this: it will all boil down to whether you are willing to adapt or choose to give up. If we don't get modifications, it will mean that people will need to modify how they do things. (My friends read gear for me when I link it and advise which is the one with the correct numbers, for instance.) If mods do become permitted, then yes, you will likely have to learn where those mods are being offered, how to install them and how to set them up.

It's all about attitude in this thread, having read *all 60+ pages of it*. But attitude -- whether it's 'people deserve choice', or 'things should be challenging' or even 'think of those with disabilities' is only going to get you so far. A good attitude can definitely help, and a bad one can kick you down. But in the end, it's about how you will choose to take action that will determine the quality of your experience in SWTOR or any other MMO.

Thanks dor reading.

LOL @ all those people saying mods make things "competitive".

They dont. Competitive PvP are 2 players duking it out... Add addons and mods to the equation and whoever has them wins... It doesnt promote competition it destroys it.

Saying they make things competitive is like saying they should allow performance enhacing drugs into professional sporting competitions... It doesnt show the skill, it just creates laziness and "easy mode". Especially in gaming.

I've seen HUNDREDS of players banned from MMO's for addons and mods. Even macros. You CAN have macros, addons, mods, etc that have no reall effect on the game or its gameplay. HOWEVER as soon as you open that window in comes those who push it further and then try to take advantage of it and you end up with stuff like "WARBuddy" which saw ALOT of WAR players banned.
When you start throwing in mouse over healing, focus firing, to name a few... How much skill is involved with clicking a single button and everyone in your party/Op's group aim at the same target? Sure in raids, etc, it will work fine. Add that into WZ's, Open World PvP or competitive PvP and that throws a HUGE advantage to those who use it.
Meaning in a ranked system they would dominate, however it would be a false ranking as the players themselves rely on these things to play for them. They arent skilled they just let the program do its thing and then they get to brag afterwards.
I've seen MMO's where people have set entire rotations into a macro. Meaning you use the macro and your full rotation goes off. In some games this took advantage of GCD bugs and had all or some of the players skills fire simultaneously producing DISASTEROUS effects.

Now you can say, "Oh but we dont want those mods/addons/whatever" but the fact is there is always that honeymonn period where that stuff gets brought in. Then BW/EA will stop those, an dthen it will be a matter of time before someone else brings out something new that will take advantage of the situation.


Dev's have already announced that coming soon UI's will be fully customisable, with size, locations, blah blah blah. There will also be a log/way of recording damage/healing/etc.
That is ALL you guys are complaining about... So if they ARE GIVING YOU those things why keep pushing for more mods/addons/hacks?
You say it aids in the way you play, but as I have just pointed out they dont "aid your playstyle". They ARE YOUR PLAYSTYLE as they do everything for you.

I'm happy that they are just making the UI and stuff customisable. If they implement their own system to give you what you are asking for, but stopping the other crap that you players who rely on mods to do anything in a MMO then i'd b moe than happy to pay $40 a month to play a game that is NOT ruined by a lazy skilless playerbase.

Say no to marcos