Tamriel Infinium: Five essential Elder Scrolls Online addons
The Elder Scrolls series is known for its mods and addons, and Elder Scrolls Online is no exception. Although we will likely not see the appearance modifications found in Morrowind, Oblivion, and Skyrim, we will see UI addons that help with grouping, dungeon crawling, and even roleplaying. In fact, modding is so essential to the Elder Scrolls franchise that Curse announced it was opening its own site featuring Elder Scrolls Online addons, and ZAM launched its ESO addons website a few weeks ago.
I've been keeping an eye on these addons as they begin to take off. As you would expect, initially the pickings were slim. However, over the last few weeks with the beta weekends, the ongoing beta, and the NDA drop, we have seen these addons grow exponentially to the point that I think some of these modifications are required to properly enjoy the game.
Today, I will list some of the addons that I think are necessary before you even start playing the Elder Scrolls Online. Although modders Wykkyd and WarLegend lead the pack, there are plenty of lesser-known mods you might want to look at. Here are my top five mods for the Elder Scrolls Online.
Wykkyd's Outfitter
ESO does not have dual-spec or any kind of on-the-fly skill tree reset. But as you progress through the game, you will gain more skills and abilities than you will use in one instance. In fact, there might be opportunity for you to switch roles from one fight to the next. As I demonstrated in the last Tamriel Infinium, depending on the weapon and armor set, every class can play any role. Let's say you happen to be one of those people who are good at multiple roles, and you want your Templar to heal during the first boss fight and tank during the second. Wykkyd's Outfitter will not only allow you to quickly switch between different skill bar sets but change your armor for you to match the role you need at that moment. It is certainly the most impressive addon I've seen so far.
The downside, if you want to call it that, is that you have to add Wykkyd's Framework in order for the outfitter to work.
WarLegend Raid Frame
Recently in my MMO career, I've gravitated toward DPS and tanking. And as a DPS or tank, I like my raid frames to be clean and crisp. WarLegend has thankfully helped me out. His frames are clean and to the point. There's no doubt I will add these to my addon collection.
You might want to check out WarLegend's HUD, too. ESO's stuck with the default, minimalistic HUD, but if you like more information at your fingertips, then you'll probably want the upgraded HUD addon as well.
XP View
Sometimes the most necessary mods are also the simplest. Sometimes we don't need the quick-change addons. Sometimes large group communication doesn't make the quality of life better. Sometimes we just need to know how to improve what we are doing right at a certain moment.
NaburBR has created a simple yet elegant mod that simply tells you how much XP you're gaining. If you're power-leveling or looking to quickly jump to the next zone, you will want to know if you're gaining experience efficiently. That is exactly what XP View does. It tracks XP per hour, time to level, and estimated kills to level. Even if you're not a power-leveler, this is good information to have.
Wykkyd's War Tools
I don't know about you, but I can't always be on voice chat when I do world PvP. Although I will likely never lead RvR battles, I do like to know where fights are concentrated and add as much as I can to a particular fight. Unfortunately, communication in the heat of battle can be horrible, but Wykkyd has created a solution to this issue.
Wykkyd's War Tools allows for instant communication to the whole party. For instance, as a group leader, you can right click on a particular node to command the party to scout out that node. If that party is running Wykkyd's Framework, then it will see the command appear in the middle of the screen -- no voice necessary.
ZR Mini Map
Most of my friends categorize themselves as MMO players. Many don't even play single-player games at all. This is likely because they just don't have the time to commit to more than one game. Even when they are in a game, they don't have time to mess around. They want to find the quest quickly and figure out the fastest way to complete it. And nearly every one of these friends asked, "Where's the minimap?" when they first logged in to ESO. Of course, I'd have to explain that the newest Elder Scrolls games do not have a minimap. "Then how am I supposed to know where I'm going?" is the next logical question. Then I have to explain about the compass at the top. "That's crap," they say.
Well, crap no longer. Zerorez created a minimap for ESO. It's simplistic at the moment, but it does appear on your screen without your having to hit the M key all the time. The addon shows points of interest, wayshrines, and of course, quest objectives. Zerorez says that its a bit buggy at this stage (for instance, filters do not apply unless the map is reloaded), but for anyone coming from the MMO world, this addon is a must.
Creative players have developed too many mods; I have so many more than five favorites. Tmpst's RP Plus addon makes emoting easy, and Wykkyd's Group Tools make forming parties much easier. I could keep going, but I want to know what you think. Take a look around the mods on Curse and ZAM; what stands out to you? Which ones are you going to load up when the game goes live?
Traverse the treacherous terrain of Tamriel with Larry Everett as he records his journey through The Elder Scrolls Online, an MMORPG from ZeniMax. Comments are welcome below, or send a message to larry@massively.com. He promises to keep the arrow-to-the-knee jokes to a minimum.
