What Addons are legal and what addons aren't?

[leunamsil.6742]

Hi, i come from WoW, where playing with addons is pretty much a must, and i see that in gw2 addons aren't that embeded in the game. So my question is, are addons legal to use in Gw2? Especially addons like Taco markers and stuff like that, that helps us create farm routes and map complete. I would love to be able to usa Taco to farm Season 3 nodes for trinkets and other suff.

 

Tyvm in advance

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

Apps that use the API are allowed. No 3rd-party apps are supported.

Here are some apps from the Wiki: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/API:List_of_applications

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

There aren't any "legal" addons in the sense that means to WoW players. The game was designed under the theory that people would need or use them.

Partly, ANet didn't want to be in a position of having to "police" the 3rd party development.

****

Of course, fans being fans, that didn't take long to be proven ... misleading. ANet hasn't changed its official stance much, except to point to specific plug-ins as "not objectionable," which they call "green lighting." These remain "use at your own risk" (crashes, lost data, eaten items... that's on the player, not on ANet to fix).

 

Moreover, "add on" is a generic term that encompasses a variety of utilities:

* **Websites & Tools:** these don't interact at all with the game. As long as they rely on GW2's API, they are fine. These include trading sites (GW2 TP, GW2 BLTC, GW2 Profits), fashion|skin sites (GW2 Wardrobe Analyzer, GW2 Fashion, GW2 Dye Job), and comprehensive sites (GW2 Efficiency, GW2 Timer).

* **Overlays:** These don't interact directly with the game; they just use the mumble|GW2 echo-location API to place you on the map. The most important of these is GW2 Tactical Overlay (GW2 TACO).

* **OS Utilities:** This includes macro software and anything that works on your computer, not your game. As long as you don't use these to "automate" your game play, they are fine. For example, creating a macro for your mouse to press [ctrl+shift+F7] is fine; setting it up to deploy a turret and blast it... not okay.

* **Plug-ins:** These are the ones that can't be officially discussed in the forums, as they insert themselves into code the game executes (i.e. making changes to how the game works). This includes a DPS meter, a build template loadout tool, a "choose your mount" tool, and a "pretend the game uses DX12" tool. (among many others).

 

Further clarification: using my terminology:

* No issues: Websites, external tools, overlays, OS utilities

* Problematic: Plug-ins (if ANet disapproves, the developer of the app can land in hot water, and, more rarely, its users)

 

Obviously, anything that breaks any of the other Terms of Service would be forbidden outright, e.g. anything that allows you to play without being at the keyboard (even for short periods).

[leunamsil.6742]

> @"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:

 

> * **Overlays:** These don't interact directly with the game; they just use the mumble|GW2 echo-location API to place you on the map. The most important of these is GW2 Tactical Overlay (GW2 TACO).

 

Exactly the information i was looking for, tyvm =) although i never thought a dps meter (something that i have played with in wow as long as i can remember) would be something that goes against the ToS

 

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

> @"leunamsil.6742" said:

> i never thought a dps meter (something that i have played with in wow as long as i can remember) would be something that goes against the ToS

>

 

There's no way to measure DPS externally and there's currently no API for it (none of the existing interfaces are real time; they are collected by a non-game server, which helps overall performance).

As I said before, ANet always thought that fans wouldn't want add-ons because the game would provide most of everything (with the exception of some of the APIs, which they seemed to have thought of early on).

 

So it's not so much that DPS meters are against the TOS as it is that there's no way to produce the data that is line with the original ToS.

[Zuldari.3940]

Arcdps reads the combat logs from the game is what it says, then puts that into a readable output in the meter. They dont support it, but they are not going to ban for it either. The reason they dont support it is because it can break your game if its outdated or a bad file, you will crash or have game issues that anet is not going to help you with if from an addon.

 

That being said arcdps gets broken frequently with game updates so bear that in mind.

[Minna.7895]

Arc DPS (meter) and Buildtemplate is greenlighted though if you wanna use one.

[Danikat.8537]

> @"Zuldari.3940" said:

> Arcdps reads the combat logs from the game is what it says, then puts that into a readable output in the meter. They dont support it, but they are not going to ban for it either. The reason they dont support it is because it can break your game if its outdated or a bad file, you will crash or have game issues that anet is not going to help you with if from an addon.

>

> That being said arcdps gets broken frequently with game updates so bear that in mind.

 

Addons get broken frequently by updates even in games where they're supported and encouraged. Elder Scrolls Online for example promised addons would be part of the game even before launch, because the Elder Scrolls fanbase has a long history of modding those games, but every update breaks at least some of them because the stuff they interact with has changed. Sometimes it's not a problem (I've gotten into the habit of ignoring addon error messages when I log in and waiting to see if anything actually goes wrong), sometimes it makes the game unplayable until you disable that addon.

 

I don't think there's any way around that, even if the developers give the addon authors advanced notification of relevant changes there's no guarantee they'll have time to make changes before the update goes live. It's just something you get used to if you use addons.

[archmagus.7249]

The problem with dps meters is that they have a tendency to be inaccurate. I belive Nike made a video on how you shouldn't rely on dps meters. In the raid lobby there is an area where you can measure your dps in a vacuum against a golem. It stands there and you hit it, and every 25% health it gives you your average dps.

[Ygdrasill.9135]

> @"archmagus.7249" said:

> The problem with dps meters is that they have a tendency to be inaccurate. I belive Nike made a video on how you shouldn't rely on dps meters. In the raid lobby there is an area where you can measure your dps in a vacuum against a golem. It stands there and you hit it, and every 25% health it gives you your average dps.

 

The other problem with DPS meters is they often get used to bully/harass/ostrasize other players. I can't count how often I saw that in WoW when I was playing. People would be mocked for their DPS (even if their total damage for a dungeon or raid was better than the one mocking them). It was very nice to be able to join group events in GW2 where it's assumed you're doing your best with the skills and gear you have and nobody really keeps track. Amazingly enough, events, raids, and dungeons still get completed just fine.

[Vegeta.2563]

A list of popular Addons that will not get you banned as long as they are used appropriately.

* ArcDPS + Build Templates (addon for ArcDPS)

* GW2TacO + TacO packs

* Augmented Tyria (App made strictly for doing world completion and has on screen advice to help speed along heart quests)

* GW2Hook (Much like SweetFX or ReShade, but built in mind for GW2, which allows it to bypass the game's UI without recoloring it.

* GW2Radial (App made for switching mounts easier for those that don't like to use keybinds)

* GW2PAO (Personal Overlay Assistant, would advise looking this up for more details)

 

 

[archmagus.7249]

> @"Ygdrasill.9135" said:

> > @"archmagus.7249" said:

> > The problem with dps meters is that they have a tendency to be inaccurate. I belive Nike made a video on how you shouldn't rely on dps meters. In the raid lobby there is an area where you can measure your dps in a vacuum against a golem. It stands there and you hit it, and every 25% health it gives you your average dps.

>

> The other problem with DPS meters is they often get used to bully/harass/ostrasize other players. I can't count how often I saw that in WoW when I was playing. People would be mocked for their DPS (even if their total damage for a dungeon or raid was better than the one mocking them). It was very nice to be able to join group events in GW2 where it's assumed you're doing your best with the skills and gear you have and nobody really keeps track. Amazingly enough, events, raids, and dungeons still get completed just fine.

 

Thing is, in the open world bosses will scale in health, damage and toughness with the number of people involved in the event. Besides, most open world and story can be completed by anyone with a halfway decent build, which is by design to encourage people to do crontent. You don't even have to kill a bunch of mobs to get credit for an event. Healing others and applying boons gives you credit as well as long as you tag a few mobs.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

> @"archmagus.7249" said:

> The problem with dps meters is that they have a tendency to be inaccurate. I belive Nike made a video on how you shouldn't rely on dps meters. In the raid lobby there is an area where you can measure your dps in a vacuum against a golem. It stands there and you hit it, and every 25% health it gives you your average dps.

For all practical purposes (of anyone other than ANet programmers), 3rd party DPS meters are accurate enough

 

Nike is correct that there are issues with DPS meters. (Especially regarding conditions and boons.) And he's misleading because in any meaningful way, they are more than accurate enough for the purposes of determining relative damage (how one build compares to another) and close enough for playing the game.

 

> @"Ygdrasill.9135" said:

> The other problem with DPS meters is they often get used to bully/harass/ostrasize other players.

Bullying and harassment happens with or without DPS meters. We saw this in GW2 before there were raids, before anyone thought to build a 3rd party tool.

 

[archmagus.7249]

> @"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:

> > @"archmagus.7249" said:

> > The problem with dps meters is that they have a tendency to be inaccurate. I belive Nike made a video on how you shouldn't rely on dps meters. In the raid lobby there is an area where you can measure your dps in a vacuum against a golem. It stands there and you hit it, and every 25% health it gives you your average dps.

> For all practical purposes (of anyone other than ANet programmers), 3rd party DPS meters are accurate enough

>

> Nike is correct that there are issues with DPS meters. (Especially regarding conditions and boons.) And he's misleading because in any meaningful way, they are more than accurate enough for the purposes of determining relative damage (how one build compares to another) and close enough for playing the game.

 

There are some builds where the damage done between them has been too close to call. Like between a condi reaper and a condi engineer. They did dps meter testing and found inconsistent readings. Sometimes engineer was higher, sometimes reaper was higher. They never got a clear answer in game so they had to resort to spreadsheet calculators.

[Astralporing.1957]

> @"archmagus.7249" said:

> > @"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:

> > > @"archmagus.7249" said:

> > > The problem with dps meters is that they have a tendency to be inaccurate. I belive Nike made a video on how you shouldn't rely on dps meters. In the raid lobby there is an area where you can measure your dps in a vacuum against a golem. It stands there and you hit it, and every 25% health it gives you your average dps.

> > For all practical purposes (of anyone other than ANet programmers), 3rd party DPS meters are accurate enough

> >

> > Nike is correct that there are issues with DPS meters. (Especially regarding conditions and boons.) And he's misleading because in any meaningful way, they are more than accurate enough for the purposes of determining relative damage (how one build compares to another) and close enough for playing the game.

>

> There are some builds where the damage done between them has been too close to call.

In that case, does it really matter which build is above and which is below, instead of just knowing, that both are around approximately the same spot on the ladder?

 

 

[mercury ranique.2170]

There is no such thing as a legal or illegal addon. They simply exist and you are allowed to use them. However, you are not allowed to use addons to perform actions that are against the user agreement and other relevant documents.

 

This stance is a very logical one, but does not tell you a lot. But it means people are uncertain, specially cause they are afraid of making mistakes To be fair, there is not an easy answer.

For example Taco and the super adventure box. There is a rule that you should not give yourself an unfair advantage . The addon Taco (or actually overlay), puts marks on the screen to show you how to walk and what todo. This give a huge advantage, specially in Trib mode. In my personal opinion it is an unfair advantage. Arenanet seems to dissagree (although this might be cause of the nature of it being an overlay and not an add on).

 

My advice is to let your own moral prevail. Would you mind your actions if it was done by another player or can you imagine that someone would be bothered about it? then it is very likely it is not allowed. The rules are not very crazy and the actions taken are for a first offender always light.