If every MMO HAD to copy one thing from WoW then the addon customization should be it.

• It adds another layer to the existing game that you have to pay relativly little for
• You have your customers work for you... for free
• You get the collective creativity and imagination of all the trekkies... seriously, if you could harness this we'd have achieved lightspeed by now.
• You take the strain off your UI design team - Let the players make their own UIs and maybe institue some of the better ones as options in the official UI
• You increase the community, personalization, and attachement that people feel for the game.
• You still have 100% control over what goes in or comes out of the game. Don't like a mod? Ban the function.
• People really want options, it's even one of your business designs. Give them the ability to create their own options.

I mean even a limited UI modding sceen would make a lot of people very happy. The first 3 mods I see everyone making are:

1. Taking out all the random crap from Sector Space
2. Removing the shield indicators around the ships
3. Combining the mission screen and the map screen for easier travel

Do those really sound too bad?

I really hope for more 'modding' ability as well. Granted, for the most part I like the current UI. There are a few 'glitches' that need to be fixed but overall it is pretty good.

However, I do like to be able to change things that we cant currently change. I'm not interested in changing the UI graphics but I'm sure some folks are.

What I want:

Ability to resize ANY UI window/object.
Expand and disconnect toolbars from eachother
Horizontal and/or Vertical Hotbars
Chat 'Tabs' that can be pulled out into a separate chat window.
Area and Galaxy Map waypoints/notes
More keybind options

/Signed

10Char

/signed - mostly because I dislike the very limited amount of native customization to the UI.

Dear Cryptic (and MODers),

Usually when one thinks of a gamer, they envision a very nimble-fingered, sharp-eyed person. Do I fit that bill? Nope! I’m a half-blind, monkey-pawed person who is finding that the very limited customization of STO’s UI severely hampering to the fun factor, especially as I advance in levels and have more things to manage. MODs could help with this... OR, alternatively, the STO basic UI could have greater customization... either would really increase my enjoyment of the game.

Things that I’d like to see from either a MOD or STO:
• Scalable/Hide options for the Ships Weapons
• Scalable Team Status (smaller or larger)
• Scalable Personal Status (smaller or larger)
• Vertical/Horizontal options of Ships Throttle
• Scalable Ship Throttle (smaller or larger)
• Vertical/Horizontal options of Personal Tray
• Detached Personal Tray bars (3 trays = 3 bars at different locations around the HUD)
• Scalable Ship Hull, Shield and Crew Status (smaller)
• Scalable/Hide options Ship Power Level
• Ability to have 3 Personal Trays, Ship Weapons, and Bridge Crew up all at the same time
• Scalable Bridge Crew

I agree, Look how successful WoW has been by allowing addons to improve game, there is no reason you can't unless you just don't give a klingon ****

Agreed as well.

"Cry havoc and let slip the mods of Trek!"

Without a doubt, I am in total agreement. I love mods.

I'll go ahead and say that this wont happen, because in the years CoH has been out they haven't done it. This tells me it's more than likely not possible with the current engine. We must also consider how fundamentally broken many key aspects of the game are. Adding new major features is not something I want to see when the game has major flaws even now.

The key is, with an UI sandbox, addon authors can FIX many of the problems in their addons...and then Cryptic can incorporate the fixes into the vanilla UI...thats the way Blizzard does it with WOW...the best addon features eventually get incorporated into the game.

And if it was implemented as addons/plugins, each user could pick and choose which setups he wants to try, until he finds the one that matches his playstyle.

Personally, if its possible then I think it should be implemented. Its next to impossible to make a UI that will cater to every single player and it also removes some of the pressure on Dev Resources to try and accommodate many of the requests.

Side note, I miss WIM (WoW Instant Messenger)....