This. Very much this.
/thread? ^^
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Cactbot can intercept network packets and predict some of these mechanics before the visual or castbar is executed client-side. This is something that is 100% impossible for a human shot-caller to do.
Cactbot can make 8 individual callouts simultaneously, giving separate instructions to each user that has it installed based on things like specific debuffs and such. A human shot-caller cannot do this.
Cactbot makes callouts instantaneously and never makes mistakes, even in fights that a group is brand new to. A human shot-caller cannot do this.
Cactbot displays a text overlay on your screen with specific instructions for some mechanics, as well as having a graphical timeline of all upcoming mechanics with their exact timestamps.
Cactbot is cheating, and has created a generation of useless players that sandbag extremely hard on patch days.
Relying on Cactbot makes you a careless player. But relying on a human raid caller does the same thing.
A raid caller -- whether automated or human -- should be a sanity check on your own read of mechanics, not a drill sergeant whose orders you blindly follow.
Sure, Cactbot can read a mechanic earlier than a human can in some cases. On the other hand, as I understand it there are mechanics Cactbot can't read/call in a sane manner, so will just be like "Do the mechanic now!" where a human could actually give better guidance. (Witness I've seen people blindly following Cactbot in P1S who die to Shackles of Time during Shining Cells consistently, and I've been told it's because Cactbot calls that in some sort of weird way.)
So it seems like there's places Cactbot will absolutely be better than a human raid caller, and there's places it'll also potentially be worse. And if you're relying on one rather than reading the mechanics for yourself, it seems like fundamentally the same problem to me regardless of whether it's Cactbot you're blindly following or, well, me.
I mean, the reason I raid-call is that it forces me to learn the fight's timeline and mechanics well enough that I can call them for other people. But I tend to assume they're going to be treating my callouts as reminders or a sanity-check, not as something they should blindly follow without question.
Except it doesn't and I don't know where this idea that Cactbot does that came from.
It flashes up a bit of text like a WoW raid caller and doesn't literally go "YOU MUST MOVE TO THIS SPOT, YOU MUST MOVE TO THAT SPOT" it simply flashes the text up of what you would read anyway on boss cast bars or icon debuffs. It doesn't tell you anything else and some mechanics it tells you nothing at all.
this is true.
Shining Cells it calls out the colour only (which you can literally see being casted anyway) and no text for the flails, you have to figure that out yourself.
The element stacks, it will only give you the colour you are debuffed by and nothing else, it will not solve the puzzle for you, you have to do that yourself.
Fourfold it will give you the debuff description as you get it (i.e 18S) it's up to you to solve it and it won't solve it for you.
It's basically just giving you the information you already have in a more easy to quick read format.
It's not harassing other players. Please read the Rules & Policies as a reminder.
Quote:
2.1 Cheating and Botting. You may not create or use any unauthorized cheats, bots, automation software, hacks, mods or any other unauthorized software or hardware designed to modify the Game and gameplay. In addition, you may not take advantage of game system bugs and exploits during gameplay.
Quote:
2.6 Hacking and Circumvention. You may not hack, disassemble, decompile, or otherwise modify the Game or server computer code, whether the Game code is located on a DVD, Blu-rayTM disc, your computer/console or on Square Enix's servers, except as expressly permitted by Square Enix or applicable law.