Ingame User Interface

[Shadowneko]

Re: Ingame User Interface

Using Windower usually leads towards .dat swapping, and you can .dat swap the interface. Plus it's just helpful all around, and makes the game more user-friendly.

yes but there's always a slight posibility of getting banned by using the Windower since it is an "illegal 3rd party program". I do admit there are people that have used it for a very long time and have not been caught/banned, but in a time where SE is cracking down on eveything to get RMT I don't think it's worth the risk...

[Legal Fish]

Re: Ingame User Interface

Windower has a lot to do with interface.

TParty

Recast

Distance

and several other plug-ins turn FFXI's UI into a very organized UI which the OP is talking about.

No one gets banned for using Windower unless they shout it to a GM. Anyone who says they got banned because of Windower was really because of more sinister tools.

[Kailea]

Re: Ingame User Interface

Windower has a lot to do with interface.
TParty
Recast
Distance
and several other plug-ins turn FFXI's UI into a very organized UI which the OP is talking about.
No one gets banned for using Windower unless they shout it to a GM. Anyone who says they got banned because of Windower was really because of more sinister tools.

....yes all enhancements that you are not supost to have in the first place, when I used it, I turned all that BS off, all I used it for was windowed mode, but now that I have the Wii to look stuff up on, I stopped using it

[KoukiRyu]

Re: Ingame User Interface

....yes all enhancements that you are not supost to have in the first place, when I used it, I turned all that BS off, all I used it for was windowed mode, but now that I have the Wii to look stuff up on, I stopped using it

That's your loss? The whole original purpose of this topic was to make the UI more user-friendly, and better than the original. That's what he's saying the windower does. If you could customize it without getting in trouble, then tons of people would be using the windower. Oh wait! Tons of people already do.

[Kailea]

Re: Ingame User Interface

The UI of FFXI, fits the game style and theme perfectly fine, yeah seeing others TP and your cooldown times would be nice, but thats what party communication is for.

P1: whats your TP?
P2: 125%
P1: ok go then I will


is that so hard? no its not

[Legal Fish]

Re: Ingame User Interface

Hi Kailea.

The OP is asking about a better interface.

It's not about how you can say you don't need one, so you could stop that.

[Kailea]

Re: Ingame User Interface

Hi Kailea.
The OP is asking about a better interface.
It's not about how you can say you don't need one, so you could stop that.

Stop what? being right?

"Does anyone feel the same? There is no doubt in my mind that I would return to FFXI if they enacted a system similar to WoW's UI. THe playability is so much smoother and fluid."

this is what the OP said, and I am stating how the UI is the way it is, because of the game's style, and should not be changed or messed with.

[Shadowneko]

Re: Ingame User Interface

Windower has a lot to do with interface.

TParty

Recast

Distance

and several other plug-ins turn FFXI's UI into a very organized UI which the OP is talking about.

No one gets banned for using Windower unless they shout it to a GM. Anyone who says they got banned because of Windower was really because of more sinister tools.

and they won't eventually get banned for those tools?(I'm sorry SE is on a banning streak so who knows what's next?)

Windower is still against the TOS and any cheating-type tools are really against it. TParty, recast, and Distnace are cheating-type tools...in fact they are pretty close to using a gameshark code in an online game.(only Scum cheats online)

I've played ranger without the distance plugin and done a good job by making educated guesses as to where to stand. I've hit ping macros evey few minutes/minute to inform my partner that I have 100% TP(trust me it's not that much spam). Rcast? I just use the "/recast" command and it onlt shows me...and for JAs I just look and I'm pretty good at timing my abilites all on my own hook ^^


You don't need cheating-type plugins to play...well I don't need them XD

my point: use this stuff and you're cheating...maybe not much but you're still cheating!(and you can live with out...I do!) and BTW: I hate cheaters!

[KoukiRyu]

Re: Ingame User Interface

Why are you guys talking about cheating? This is totally off the topic. He didn't even state that he used these things, no one did.

This is about the UI, and only the UI. He was telling him what he could do to customize the UI so that it'd be more similar to WoW's, at least somewhat. The Windower simply makes the user interface better and easier to play with, whether or not it's cheating doesn't matter at this point.

And no, unless you run around "/sh HAY GUYZ I USE WINDOWERRRRR" then you should be okay. You could tell someone that doesn't like you and they could report you, but that'd be retarded.

[Armando]

Re: Ingame User Interface

Stop what? being right?

I believe he means stop bringing up irrelevant arguments. We don't need little colored bars to tell us our HP, MP, and TP. There's text commands we can type, that "aren't so hard" and will tell us the amount we have at the moment. For that matter we don't need icons for our items, the name alone is enough to identify it. Actually, we don't need color in our menus at all, they don't add any functionality. Now, why do you suppose these things are in the interface? That's right. Because they're convenient. And for whatever it's worth, your "what's your TP?" example falls apart if you get stuck with an uncooperative party member, or even just a party member that takes a while to reply. Being able to see each other's TP simplifies and speeds up the process.

Also, it's been said before, but you can't get banned if you don't get caught, and you can't get caught if you don't open your mouth. Noone needs to know that you're using Windower. And if you are, noone needs to know whether or not you're using plugins. GMs aren't omniscient.

TParty, Recast, and Distance plug-ins aren't cheating. They don't break the game's rules. They don't enable something you can't normally do. You can find out your party member's TP through communication, and knowing your party member's TP at all times won't give you much of an edge over the next party. There's a couple of ways to find out the recast times on your abilities, like the menu, typing the /recast command or using a /recast macro. You could measure distance in "feet" by walking with your character.

For the record I usually don't use any of these plug-ins. I'm just playing devil's advocate on this one.

[WishMaster3K]

Re: Ingame User Interface

The UI for the game is fine. Having it menu based actually streamlines it, I think, because the FFXI screen is SMALL. And having icons for my items, job abilities and macros all on the same screen would not give me a lot of space to see the game I'm playing.

FFXI is not EQ and it definitely isn't WoW.

Having it menu based means your only (at most) 5 button presses away from doing anything, and I think SE nailed it, because they've been doing offline games for so long.

In fact, I think most MMOs should mimic SE. I looked at my friend playing WoW and I turned away: there was too much going on in his Display.

Like I've said, Wow is a MMORPG for Dummies. They tell you the monster's health, EVERYTHING is on your screen, they even have Developer supported mods and downloadable Macros (I think the way FFXI uses the term macro is different from other games, because I've heard of people "making macros" that can actually do things like farm monsters for them and etc...).

FFXI is fine.

[Shadowneko]

Re: Ingame User Interface

I believe he means stop bringing up irrelevant arguments. We don't need little colored bars to tell us our HP, MP, and TP. There's text commands we can type, that "aren't so hard" and will tell us the amount we have at the moment. For that matter we don't need icons for our items, the name alone is enough to identify it. Actually, we don't need color in our menus at all, they don't add any functionality. Now, why do you suppose these things are in the interface? That's right. Because they're convenient. And for whatever it's worth, your "what's your TP?" example falls apart if you get stuck with an uncooperative party member, or even just a party member that takes a while to reply. Being able to see each other's TP simplifies and speeds up the process.

Also, it's been said before, but you can't get banned if you don't get caught, and you can't get caught if you don't open your mouth. Noone needs to know that you're using Windower. And if you are, noone needs to know whether or not you're using plugins. GMs aren't omniscient.

TParty, Recast, and Distance plug-ins aren't cheating. They don't break the game's rules. They don't enable something you can't normally do. You can find out your party member's TP through communication, and knowing your party member's TP at all times won't give you much of an edge over the next party. There's a couple of ways to find out the recast times on your abilities, like the menu, typing the /recast command or using a /recast macro. You could measure distance in "feet" by walking with your character.

For the record I usually don't use any of these plug-ins. I'm just playing devil's advocate on this one.

Not cheating huh?

"If you don't get caught"- hmm...sounds like cheating to me...remember caught=ban (and SE is on a streak of those as of late)

Let me expand my eariler example:

You just used a Gamshark/old game genie/hack to see junk you are probabaly not supposed to see and is invisible to 100% of users who do not use said cheating device/hack. The info is there and I admit that but it's most probabaly there to communicate that into to the server side to allow the game to know where you are, if you have 100%+ TP and if your abilites are ready for use.

Cheat Codes you just put into the gameshark:

#1.Rangers aren't supposed to see what the optiom distance is(you forget what this old update was for). Guessing evens the playing field...it's why the change was made...for Ranger balance issues(duh...and now you wana undermine it).

#2. You can only see your own TP in a normal game. It's a fact. The fact that "see the transmitted TP that goes out" exists does not mean you should activate said code.

#3. recast- why do I need to put in a code for a 3rd party clock? I learned to time my own abilites long ago(so can you) and report them to the party if required. We also have /recast and maco dealy times. NP here ^^

If you can't learn to play without a cheahting device/hack you probabaly should play at all. Plus like I siad...if you have not been banned yet is just a matter of time untill you do get caught and banned. "if you don't get caught" implys you're getting away with doing something bad....

Personaly I'm too much of a honest person to go there...

oh and I typed more for the sake of debate XD

[Armando]

Re: Ingame User Interface

Breaking the rules =/= cheating. S-E could have a rule where they can ban me for playing while wearing a baseball cap, that doesn't mean I'm cheating. S-E can ban me for repeatedly being an ass to other players, that doesn't mean I'm cheating. Do you consider playing FFXI in Windowed mode (without any plug-ins) cheating? Because you can get banned for that should you decide to announce to the world that you're using Windower and if someone were to report you to a GM, but that wouldn't mean you're cheating. Hell, S-E is going to support windowed mode somewhere down the line, yet you can still get banned for using Windower without plug-ins.

#1.Rangers aren't supposed to see what the optiom distance is(you forget what this old update was for). Guessing evens the playing field...it's why the change was made...for Ranger balance issues(duh...and now you wana undermine it).

The whole purpose of the ranged attack change was to stop them from having 100% effective ranged attacks regardless of distance, which meant that RNGs could not only take advantage of their super powerful pre-nerf ranged attacks, they could also melee in between shots for extra damage. The nerf accomplished just that, so nobody cares if RNGs are using the distance plug-in or not. Hell, they deserve to have control over their damage just like any other melee. There's nothing broken about it. It'll just make them a better party member. Why would you want to give them a certain degree of uncertainty when it's in your best interest for the RNG in your party to perform at his maximum consistently?

#2. You can only see your own TP in a normal game. It's a fact. The fact that "see the transmitted TP that goes out" exists does not mean you should activate said code.

True. This one does bend the rules. Still, what harm really comes out of it? All it does is make it easier for the party to be efficient.

You need to consider this: if the game is missing a feature that could be argued should've been part of the game in the first place, is it really immoral to enable it? If you had a 40 hour RPG that had no save feature for whatever reason, would you blame a guy for using save states? It's more or less the same thing here, just obviously far less drastic.

[Mhurron]

Re: Ingame User Interface

Breaking the rules =/= cheating

Maybe in your little world, however in the real world that's exactly what cheating means.

[KoukiRyu]

Re: Ingame User Interface

Plus like I siad...if you have not been banned yet is just a matter of time untill you do get caught and banned. "if you don't get caught" implys you're getting away with doing something bad....

Just for debate as well but...NO ONE gets banned for windower. It's that simple. If you go shouting about it, yes you do, but there is no other way for a GM to find out that you're using one, so you're safe. I don't like people assuming "I use windower, I'm going to get banned later, aww shiet" Just use it, and don't use plug-ins if it bothers you that much, cause you're never gonna get caught.