Reset time with xpansion. Lets deal with the cheating finally.

[Setesh45]

Because sniffers and spying software ARE bad and have no place on people's computers.

I agree, but I also cannot deny their benefits. If you don't have anything to hide, you have nothing to fear. :P
I mean yeah, my friends would probably look at me weird if they knew I watch trans p***, but they'd get over it.

[Rein_eon_Osborne]

I used to do Ultimate for a while, just to try something new, and it was downtime..
I was unpleasantly surprised though as to how many people in my static were using Cactbot.
And looking up PoV's (pigs or vampires?) also many of those had Cactbot running.
Felt like cheating to me.

I think that 'PoV' stands for 'Point of View'. It's like watching video of another raider of the same class in said encounter; their raiding point of view. This is very helpful to some players who have harder time to figure out when to use certain cooldowns, bursts, etc. Imho this alone isn't cheating because you still sort of have to somewhat memorize their timeline and apply it to your own practice.

No comment on cactbot though, I have too little knowledge about them.

[Wolwosh]

I think that 'PoV' stands for 'Point of View'.

That was a joke mate

[Setesh45]

I used to do Ultimate for a while, just to try something new, and it was downtime..
I was unpleasantly surprised though as to how many people in my static were using Cactbot.
And looking up PoV's (pigs or vampires?) also many of those had Cactbot running.
Felt like cheating to me.

Because that's exactly what it is, cheating.

[Jin-]

I used to do Ultimate for a while, just to try something new, and it was downtime..
I was unpleasantly surprised though as to how many people in my static were using Cactbot.
And looking up PoV's (pigs or vampires?) also many of those had Cactbot running.
Felt like cheating to me.

It is cheating. That's why you felt that way. Perfectly normal

[KuroMaboroshi]

I agree, but I also cannot deny their benefits. If you don't have anything to hide, you have nothing to fear. :P

I am very glad Yoshi-P and by extension at least part of Square Enix take a very principled stance on this (sadly not all of Square Enix, as evidenced by their use of intrusive DRM and Anti-Cheat measures in some of their other games).
It doesn't matter if people got nothing to hide, what's on your computer is still no one's business but yourself. No one allows strangers into their home either. If someone has nothing to hide, then congratulations, you are lucky to belong to a group that needn't worry about such things. But because that's not true for everyone, it is a right worth defending on principle, even if it is over something as "pointless" as a video game scanning your computer for botting software.

[Setesh45]

I am very glad Yoshi-P and by extension at least part of Square Enix take a very principled stance on this (sadly not all of Square Enix, as evidenced by their use of intrusive DRM and Anti-Cheat measures in some of their other games).
It doesn't matter if people got nothing to hide, what's on your computer is still no one's business but yourself. No one allows strangers into their home either. If someone has nothing to hide, then congratulations, you are lucky to belong to a group that needn't worry about such things. But because that's not true for everyone, it is a right worth defending on principle, even if it is over something as "pointless" as a video game scanning your computer for botting software.

I agree, but pretending to be a saint in hell gets you nothing good.
Most people use Chrome as their browser for example, Chrome by default scans your processes and activity and sends it to Google. By default this scanning software is also running in the background when you are NOT using the browser.
If you don't believe me go to settings, open advanced settings, system and the first line will surprise you.

People who have this active on their PC also complain about game protection. At least game protection does something good for you in exchange.

[KuroMaboroshi]

I agree, but pretending to be a saint in hell gets you nothing good.
Most people use Chrome as their browser for example, Chrome by default scans your processes and activity and sends it to Google. By default this scanning software is also running in the background when you are NOT using the browser.
If you don't believe me go to settings, open advanced settings, system and the first line will surprise you.

People who have this active on their PC also complain about game protection. At least game protection does something good for you in exchange.

Sorry to say, but I use Firefox, not Chrome, with adblocks and a solid amount of tracking protection plugins. I only ever browse in private mode to ensure no record is permanently saved on my computer. I suppose the one big step I haven't taken yet is using Tor. I always disable as much telemetry as I can on my OS and any software I use. I am the maniac who always goes through all the options on those annoying "we use cookies" popups on websites to make sure they are all disabled ere I use the website. I refuse to buy games that come with bloatware like Easy Anti-Cheat and Denuvo. I am no expert, but for a layperson I would say I care a decent amount.
If that is still "pretending" for you I am not quite sure what standards I should aspire to before I have the "right" to demand that everyone's privacy should be respected. Privacy which is a right in and of itself anyway and should not have to be demanded to begin with. No amount of good in exchange in-game could ever be worth that.

I have principles, just like Yoshi-P, and I would stop playing XIV if they added spyware to it because of those. Which is why I am glad it does not, and hope that continues to be the case (and thank the Twelve it seems the development team agrees), cause I love this game and would very much like to keep playing.

[Vahlnir]

Auto callouts, markings etc. destroyed dungeons and raids in WoW. Instead of playing the game, knowing the mechanics you just do what an addon yells at you. Using such things has devastating effects, and it's a HUGE advantage over other players.
It went so far that some fights now rely on you having the addon, and you cannot tell something is happening without the addon. This is a piss poor design and I support the complete ban of all these things.

None of those things destroyed the game. Absolutely none of them. Addons aren't really some huge advantage either since they are readily available and easy to install. What destroyed WoW was arrogance and hubris on behalf of the company and its developers. Sadly, they continue barreling towards destruction even now. It seems like you haven't played WoW much over the years, if at all. That's the only way you could have come to this conclusion.

[Deceptus]

None of those things destroyed the game. Absolutely none of them. Addons aren't really some huge advantage either since they are readily available and easy to install. What destroyed WoW was arrogance and hubris on behalf of the company and its developers. Sadly, they continue barreling towards destruction even now. It seems like you haven't played WoW much over the years, if at all. That's the only way you could have come to this conclusion.

Rader.io didn't help either.

The community basically is fighting against itself.