MSQ cutscene skipping against TOS?

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Originally Posted by Imbrium

if the msq dungeons are apparently not worth their time.

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They, apparently, just forget that this Roulette has solid EXP and Tomestones reward for a reason and without unskippable cutscenes it would be about 5 time less. Or maybe they are failry new to the game and didn't even know.

Anyway, I suppose it's in humanity nature to be tricksters until the moment when there is an administration punching their hands for it either just mentally or with bans/fines.

Just today I had discussion in NN where another Mentor openly said "I do it and other people do it with me" and "It's not the same as other exploits it doesn't break anything". And when I was trying to point out that this's still a breaking of ToS and isn't something you should encourage people to do (especially as a Mentor tbh) quess what? People act in way "nah I have never had problems who cares". Just... /sigh/ This is beyond any hope, I presume.

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Originally Posted by Halivel

They, apparently, just forget that this Roulette has solid EXP and Tomestones reward for a reason and without unskippable cutscenes it would be about 5 time less. Or maybe they are failry new to the game and didn't even know.

Anyway, I suppose it's in humanity nature to be tricksters until the moment when there is an administration punching their hands for it either just mentally or with bans/fines.

Just today I had discussion in NN where another Mentor openly said "I do it and other people do it with me" and "It's not the same as other exploits it doesn't break anything". And when I was trying to point out that this's still a breaking of ToS and isn't something you should encourage people to do (especially as a Mentor tbh) quess what? People act in way "nah I have never had problems who cares". Just... /sigh/ This is beyond any hope, I presume.

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You should report them for saying that in NN, sounds like they need a 30 day time out.

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Originally Posted by Halivel

They, apparently, just forget that this Roulette has solid EXP and Tomestones reward for a reason and without unskippable cutscenes it would be about 5 time less. Or maybe they are failry new to the game and didn't even know.

Anyway, I suppose it's in humanity nature to be tricksters until the moment when there is an administration punching their hands for it either just mentally or with bans/fines.

Just today I had discussion in NN where another Mentor openly said "I do it and other people do it with me" and "It's not the same as other exploits it doesn't break anything". And when I was trying to point out that this's still a breaking of ToS and isn't something you should encourage people to do (especially as a Mentor tbh) quess what? People act in way "nah I have never had problems who cares". Just... /sigh/ This is beyond any hope, I presume.

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I like to think that people like that are the minority, at least. In my msq runs across 3 accounts, the worst I usually see in Prae are people trying to afk through or dcing entirely in the hopes of a boot. The forums aren't a good representation of the community, so we could think half the population is doing this trick based on replies when it's really 1% or less, and of that % we have confirmation that mods are getting involved.

The person who says, "It's never happened to me!" today could be awol for a few days and say "Guess what happened to me?" the next time you see them, after all. We need to keep being the voice of reason when they try and spread the "It's totally fine!" lines.

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Originally Posted by SerLuke

You should report them for saying that in NN, sounds like they need a 30 day time out.

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Actually done though I'm not sure that I chose the correct category. I took harassment as it's the only one where you quote messages from the chat, while technically it's more proper for cheating..? Not sure. Never reported until today tbh.

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Originally Posted by Imbrium

I like to think that people like that are the minority, at least. In my msq runs across 3 accounts, the worst I usually see in Prae are people trying to afk through or dcing entirely in the hopes of a boot. The forums aren't a good representation of the community, so we could think half the population is doing this trick based on replies when it's really 1% or less, and of that % we have confirmation that mods are getting involved.

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They mostly are the minority, indeed. Though lately I often have at least 1 person who uses exploits which is very understandable when you see "The Boss area is sealed" notification when you are still literally in the middle of the cutscene and the end of it still far even if you play with different interface language. It became more common lately because of Moogle Event I suspect and exploit probably got spreaded among players fast thanks to that in this short period of time, though on the other hand those can be same people as well. When Event will be down, situation will most likely be back to normal when I barely saw this kind of attitude.

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The person who says, "It's never happened to me!" today could be awol for a few days and say "Guess what happened to me?" the next time you see them, after all. We need to keep being the voice of reason when they try and spread the "It's totally fine!" lines.

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I just wonder what kind of face they will face when one day they will log in and find out themselves in a jail with GM standing against them.

I just had one where people were telling others how to do the cutscene skipping exploit. Nobody actually did it in that run. I don't know if that's even reportable or how to even report that if it is. And yeah, they did the "nothing's happened to the people I know who've done it, so....".

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Originally Posted by Buzzwords

the kid that reminded the teacher that they forgot to assign homework.

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Perfect summary of those personality types. And they still wonder why they are disliked more than TOS breakers ^^

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Originally Posted by RoyalBeef

Perfect summary of those personality types. And they still wonder why they are disliked more than TOS breakers ^^

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I'm sure you know best the feeling of doing something and being disliked for it. It must be hard on you, being renounced by the moral majority but feeling such a strong responsibility to persevere anyway. We can all learn a lesson about keeping on the path in the face of adversity, and horrors like people over the internet thinking we're not "hip" and "with it" from internet trolls. Shine on our beacon of hope!

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Originally Posted by SerLuke

Like the person in this thread that said they got a 30 day ban for it?

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Originally Posted by Selenara

To answer the OP here is what happened to my friend.
He did this a lot he skipped MSQ cutscenes. I warned him that it could be considered an exploit but he thought Nah itll be fine.
Well, this past monday he got handed a 30-day ban hammer. Why? Well they said he did an exploit he asked about the specific exploit and it was skipping the cutscenes.
I also had someone demand everyone do it and i said no and was kicked from the duty.

So you can get in trouble if someone reports you. That is your own risk.

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One person said their friend got a 30-day ban and another said their friend got a 3-day ban. The max temp ban is 20 days. SE keeps track of account penalties and can issue harsher penalties for each subsequent ToS violation, even if it's the same violation. You have no way of knowing if those bans were for their first ToS violation or fourth or what the previous violations were. More importantly, the instances occurred publicly. Any account action could have been issued for intentional disconnects affecting someone else's gameplay just as well as it could have been for making use of an exploit.

You don't have to warn people about advertising RMT in chat or harassment using parses. On the other hand, there are plenty of people who think you can get in trouble for providing unsolicited advice because of the new ToS and suggest not to do it.

Trying to get a reluctant group of randoms/newbs to do it is one thing, but who cares if the group is in agreement?

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Originally Posted by Vnolan

Trying to get a reluctant group of randoms/newbs to do it is one thing, but who cares if the group is in agreement?

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To me, it's more about spreading common sense to people so that they don't do something foolish and end up with temp bans or worse. You know, to save them from theselves. Especially if some people are going around how to tell more innocent people how to do it.

Even with a full group agreement, that's not going to protect you. Back when Ungermax was being exploited, several people were hit by bans even when they did it among full friend groups in casual content. GMs have WAY more statistics and data to work with on their hands besides the in-game chat log. All that needs to happen is a mass bunch of 15minute clear Praetoriums to start popping up in the server logs for them to start investigating jimmy over here that was in every single one of those runs and is the common denominator to catch him in the act. GMs can enter instances if they so desire.

Not to mention, you'd need a full group of 8 in agreement to try and hope you stay under the radar, since even if you're 7/8 and that 8th doesn't like it...oops. Not to mention just typing it out in chat in the hopes the group agrees is enough to incriminate you.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. It doesn't matter if "it's never happened to you or anyone you know" or any similar reason. It's against the TOS, the GMs have a ton of data they can use if the situation worsens, you're the one risking your account, it's up to you to decide if permanent warning strikes/bans against your account is worth saving that 25 minutes instead of firing up netflix or your favorite social media to distract yourself. And if you end up in front of a GM, you literally have no one to blame but yourself. That's it, no ifs and or buts. Take the risk and accept any potential consequences, or stay on the side of common sense and don't break the ToS.

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Originally Posted by MariaArvana

To me, it's more about spreading common sense to people so that they don't do something foolish and end up with temp bans or worse. You know, to save them from theselves.

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Originally Posted by Vnolan

You don't have to warn people about advertising RMT in chat or harassment using parses.

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Originally Posted by MariaArvana

Even with a full group agreement, that's not going to protect you. Back when Ungermax was being exploited, several people were hit by bans even when they did it among full friend groups in casual content.

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Because they kept it hidden. That was also dealt with rather quickly once they became aware of it. Nothing happened with BLU or Eureka Light glitching when that was known about for about a year in Eureka's case (how many got banned for cheesing Doom during BA?) and this MSQ exploiting has been publicly known for over 18 months.

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Originally Posted by MariaArvana

GMs have WAY more statistics and data to work with on their hands besides the in-game chat log.

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Doesn't matter what tools they have if they aren't allowed to use them.

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Originally Posted by MariaArvana

I've said it before and I'll say it again. It doesn't matter if "it's never happened to you or anyone you know". It's against the TOS, the GMs have a ton of data they can use if the situation worsens, you're the one risking your account, it's up to you to decide if permanent warning strikes/bans against your account is worth saving that 25 minutes instead of firing up netflix or your favorite social media to distract yourself. And if you end up in front of a GM, you literally have no one to blame but yourself. That's it, no ifs and or buts.

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Yep, just like you risk your account when you bot, sell content for real money, parse, use hunt radar, steal from a FC chest, run a LM scam party, provide unsolicited advice, pilot someone else's account, or win trade. Oh, I forgot, those are either not against the ToS and so don't matter even though they affect other people, or are dealt with by the STF, which has even more tools at their disposal than the GMs but somehow allows it to continue.

Since this Moogle event started, every single run I've been in has had someone skipping. Is it honestly that hard to just tab out for a few minutes? Sheesh.

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Originally Posted by Deceptus

Balance it for 4 people and call it a day.

Or allow squadrons to be able to run it.

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it's already balanced for 2 people but square is going to make it a solo instance and remove the roulette, you can thank yourselves for that.

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Originally Posted by Imbrium

I'm sure you know best the feeling of doing something and being disliked for it.

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Nah, you guys love me, and I don't blame you :D

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Originally Posted by RyuSaarva

it's already balanced for 2 people but square is going to make it a solo instance and remove the roulette, you can thank yourselves for that.

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Should have been done long ago. What happens if a new player accidentally skips the cutscene?

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Originally Posted by Vnolan

Should have been done long ago. What happens if a new player accidentally skips the cutscene?

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You warn them about how it's reportable and leave it at that. The method involved is convoluted enough that most newbies are unlikely to stumble across it accidentally anyways.

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Originally Posted by Vnolan

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You can justify it however you like or downplay it, but they do have the tools and can use them if the situation escalates enough.

(Read: An LB giving 50% damage up literally breaking the difficulty of their content, forcing the devs to play their hand and using those exact tools and statistics to place temp bans on many people who used the exploit, even just out of fun.)

The cutscene lock took a while to be implemented, despite it being an ongoing problem for many months - years as well. Just saying, any day now you can wake up to a lovely email informing your character has been banned due to the devs wanting to place a firmer stance on the cutscene skip exploit. Like I said, it's about common sense. I know some players who botted 24/7 that have been banned, I know others who never have been. If you want to paint a target on your character's back, that's the player's choice. But they shouldn't be surprised if they suddenly have a GM zone in on that target and deliver them to the Mordion Gaol.

So as I said, it's your risk and only yours to make. Keep it to yourself to minimize innocent casualties, but you have only yourself to blame if you get put into a GM's crosshairs. As Ungermax had set a precedent for, nothing will keep you safe, no matter how innocent, no matter how much the group agrees with you, if the devs decide they want to go hard on shutting down an exploit. I'd advise to stay on the side of common sense. They implemented the cutscene lock because of outrage people were clearing the instance while they wanted to watch cutscenes. A subsequent outrage will only have the dev's iron hammer crashing down upon you.

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Originally Posted by MariaArvana

You can justify it however you like or downplay it, but they do have the tools and can use them if the situation escalates enough.

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Not talking about trigger use, hunt radar or clearing content for money/Gil. Doesn't have to be justified when anyone can do it, it affects no one and the devs have had ample time to do something about it if it displeased them so much.

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Originally Posted by MariaArvana

(Read: An LB giving 50% damage up literally breaking the difficulty of their content, forcing the devs to play their hand and using those exact tools and statistics to place temp bans on many people who used the exploit, even just out of fun.)

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They found about Ungarmax and let players continue to do it for 18 months? Or was the game taken offline within a day or so?

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Originally Posted by MariaArvana

The cutscene lock took a while to be implemented, despite it being an ongoing problem for many months - years as well. Just saying, any day now you can wake up to a lovely email informing your character has been banned due to the devs wanting to place a firmer stance on the cutscene skip exploit.

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Adding unskippable cutscenes is not like temp banning a bunch of players.

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Originally Posted by MariaArvana

Like I said, it's about common sense. I know some players who botted 24/7 that have been banned, I know others who never have been.

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So we're in agreement that just doing it won't have you banned.

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Originally Posted by MariaArvana

As Ungermax had set a precedent for, nothing will keep you safe, no matter how innocent, no matter how much the group agrees with you, if the devs decide they want to go hard on shutting down an exploit. I'd advise to stay on the side of common sense. They implemented the cutscene lock because of outrage people were clearing the instance while they wanted to watch cutscenes. A subsequent outrage will only have the dev's iron hammer crashing down upon you.

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Sure it will. Why nip it in the bud over a year ago when they can wait, let more people do it and increase how many they have to ban all so they can take in less money?

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Originally Posted by Vnolan

Not talking about trigger use, hunt radar or clearing content for money/Gil. Doesn't have to be justified when anyone can do it, it affects no one and the devs have had ample time to do something about it if it displeased them so much.


They found about Ungarmax and let players continue to do it for 18 months? Or was the game taken offline within a day or so?


Adding unskippable cutscenes is not like temp banning a bunch of players.


So we're in agreement that just doing it won't have you banned.


Sure it will. Why nip it in the bud over a year ago when they can wait, let more people do it and increase how many they have to ban all so they can take in less money?

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Do it at your own risk.

If there is no one new i would turn a blind eye to it but if there is a single new person and people do this and just run ahead and pull i will report them no amount of "but others do it" will prevent me.

With regards to Ugarmax exploit it took over 5 months for word of that exploit to reach the devs it was used from UcoB through Sigmascape savage by people, once they found out they immediately issued a warning not to do this and that they were going to look into people who intentionally used it. Queue 1-2 months later and a small ban wave hits the people. It is very possible word has not reached the devs about this (not like they could do much to prevent it happening) and thus how harsh a punishment is toiled out is down to GM discretion, at which point your rolling the dice on how favorable you are.

TBH people using this exploit is not high i've encountered 1 person who did this and they had to wait for all 7 of us anyway with cutscenes (you don't get to spam that many emotes before the bosses)

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Originally Posted by SomeRandomHuman

Reportable or not, I'm of the mindset that it just speeds up the clear so everyone can move onto the next thing on their to-do list so no harm, no foul. If the story is that important to someone the unending journey exists for a reason.

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New players are there as part of the story, not as 'the next thing on their to-do list.' Forcing people to skip through all the cutscenes or making them miss all the fights if they want to watch the cutscenes is bringing harm to those players' experiences. So yeah, you're wrong. And you do realize that just because the cry against it was "louder" doesn't mean more people were against it than for it. Why does everyone always assume that just because they're louder they have more numbers?

To answer the initial question: it is a bannable offense. I know of people who have actually received temporary bans because of it.