It's funny coming from a guy who repeatedly calls the current MMO market shit but wants to go back to where the players have no clue what's going on and the developers can do whatever they want as they hide behind the "mystery". More information is good, and if you refuse to want to see it, then that's your own dumb fault.
I think there is a bit of a middle ground there, no? There is a reason why Esports don't allow mods, and there is a reason why most guilds require them. It's not just personal choice; mods make players fundamentally more powerful. It's
NOTjust a "reduction in tedium" to, for example, change an environmental cue from rocks falling, into a huge message that shakes your screen and flashes red and kicks in the song "move bitch, get out the way" (heh, we had a mod that did that over Vent.)
I mean, hell, when I was getting glad--there is NO WAY I'd have lasted ten seconds against some of the really good guys, my instincts in terms of timings just weren't good enough. But I had a mod that told me when their interrupts were down, or how long on bubbles or AP or any number of long CDs--having those mods, made it a ton easier to focus on the actual twitch, while coordinating our timings to strike when they were weakest. It literally made me able to compete against people I should NOT have been able to (Because many of the very high end PvPers can keep track of that in their head, and still focus on the PvP.) Since they had reached that "ceiling" the mods really didn't help them, there was no where for them to go in terms of skill (WoW only ha so many APM's) but for me? It made a huge difference.
Displaying information? Is a MASSIVE market. We live in the age of Smart Phones and Tablets, there are people that make huge pay checks for doing nothing but studying how best to display information. How information is displayed is a big deal in game design, and allowing the players absolute control over that gives them a lot of unforeseen advantages. And that makes it double edged sword. Because it forces you to make certain elements of the game more difficult, just to counter those advantages. I mean, look at cleansing in WoW (Even after the auto-cleanse nerf). It eventually got so stupid they had to get rid of it. Now I know a lot of people will say "BUT THAT WAS TEDIUM!!! NOT DIFFICULTY!!"--well, moving out of the fire in 1 second is also tedium then, because all it is is testing a reaction. (And the line between "tedium" and "difficulty" is often a manner of perception/opinion, and not a hard/fast rule. Some people find chess difficult, others find it's plodding pace tedious, I wouldn't call either 'wrong".)
And reaction time? Is as much about the ergonomics of displays as it is about the ergonomics of inputs. UI modding is something that has good and bad aspects to it. I really love UI modding, I do. But if I were a developer? It's something I'd have to design a game around, because it can become a monster VERY quickly. And I think some of the worst "simon says" aspects of modern raiding, have stemmed from unlimited power in terms of display. (And, some of the best aspects of UI design have stemmed from the very same thing--so like I said, double edged sword.)
Anyway, sorry if I jumped into this without context
...But I just think the whole UI thing is such a HUGE part of MMO's that it's hard to fathom why it's absurd that some people would rather have it be static. It seems pretty logical to me if you want a more strategy/deliberate pace in your MMO, that controlling the UI would be a huge concern.
