[Feedback] Add Epic Easy Anti-Cheat to FFXIV before is too late

[Daeriion_Aeradiir]

Except modding means I can just give myself the paid cosmetics client side without ever paying for them. Surely it's more logical to remove modding in order to push people towards paid cosmetics.

I think you forget to realize half the reason people want that mogstation stuff in the first place - to show it off/to use it in glamours that other people will see.

You could give it to yourself client side, but no one else will see the cute glam you've done with it. And people in this game LOVE to make sure others can see them when they show off - hence all the afkers in Limsa with ultimate weapons, skimpy glams, etc. Not to mention, almost all of the major discords and modding websites ban hosting mods that allow access to paid stuff without paying for it from what others have told me, and the vast majority of players are too impatient/ignorant to learn how to do it manually.

Square knows modding keeps a not-insignificant amount of the playerbase subbed month to month, along with the PR disaster that would result from breaking them due to how prolific they've become in the community at this point.

[SigmaOZ]

Square knows modding keeps a not-insignificant amount of the playerbase subbed month to month, along with the PR disaster that would result from breaking them.

I doubt menacing Square Enix with "players will quit the game if they are not allowed to cheat" will make them bend the rules, cheaters and modders are breaking the Terms of Service, if they don't care about the rules they shouldn't be playing this game.


Square Enix has been tolerant with cheaters but it's time they put an end to them, if they quit other players will join.

[Daeriion_Aeradiir]

I doubt menacing Square Enix with "players will quit the game if they are not allowed to cheat" will make them bend the rules, cheaters and modders are breaking the Terms of Service, if they don't care about the rules they shouldn't be playing this game.


Square Enix has been tolerant with cheaters but it's time they put an end to them, if they quit other players will join.

I'm not menacing them at all, simply stating a fact here. It would 100% be a PR disaster for them at this point to do a 180 at this stage and they themselves know it. Even Yoshi-P said 'we can't stop you, just don't do them plz' in a liveletter.

Square themselves are the ones that want to look the other way since all those people using mods, plugins, etc are giving them money not simply for monthly subs, but sales to the mogstation so people can access any mods people have made for said outfits. It's why they turn a blind eye until someone uses something to harass like parses - they're not interested in holding up the ToS until its convenient for them, and holding it up for modders/plugins/etc isn't in the interest for profits.

But SE doesn't want to

Why?
Because other people developing those UI and OoL add-ons means they don't have to do it themselves
they would rather keep their stance ambiguous so they can reap the rewards of addons, but be able to smack stuff down if it gets too far out of line.

This. They reap all the benefits with no dev time on their part. Why would they raise a finger?

[Mosha]

Instead of needing anti-cheat detection just start being more heavy handed with permanent bans for those using mods of any sort when caught.
Yes this means UI mods, QOL mods, and literally anything that gives an advantage over a playstation user. That at the very least should be the baseline of non-tolerance.

But SE doesn't want to

Why?
Because other people developing those UI and OoL add-ons means they don't have to do it themselves
they would rather keep their stance ambiguous so they can reap the rewards of addons, but be able to smack stuff down if it gets too far out of line.

[redheadturk]

I doubt menacing Square Enix with "players will quit the game if they are not allowed to cheat" will make them bend the rules, cheaters and modders are breaking the Terms of Service, if they don't care about the rules they shouldn't be playing this game.


Square Enix has been tolerant with cheaters but it's time they put an end to them, if they quit other players will join.

In a word: No. Some of us like our harmless texture mods, and should not be treated the same as actual cheaters.

[Stormfur]

How about looking at the core reason people are cheating? Limited rewards that no one else can have (after that season/event/whatever). Even if they're just nameplates, rare and exclusive things make people look for exploits to try and make up for what they lack in talent or skill. Eliminate the exclusive items and the cheaters will get bored and go elsewhere. It's fine to participate in ranked if you just want to raise your rank in the series but otherwise you don't get anything from it. Cool, you're Diamond. High five, awesome work. That's it.

Thus, you don't need software that mucks up your computer (or violates international privacy laws in some cases)
You also don't need to ban modders or people who are using UX tools
Everyone's happy (except the cheaters).

[Nethereal]

theres a very easy way to detect hackers without using an anti cheat: the battle log.
the game could parse the battle log or the packets and notice if there's something fishy. using a skill that shouldve been on cooldown? moving when you were stunned? etc.

it doesnt even have to be immediate either. if at the end of a match it detects something suspicious it could flag you. (yes, im aware of the cure ii bug, lets pretend it's fixed)

That's essentially one of the tools a properly hired GM would use to easily remove all win trading, afkers, cheaters, and hackers, from PVP.

But SE doesn't do that. Because they're cheap. Because they're an indie Dev company.

People forget the pvp scene relative to everything else is very small, the amount of cheaters even smaller, you literally just need to hire 1 person for this 1 job to fix this.

Implement a report ticket specifically for pvp, it goes directly to that one person, if it turns out to be false they get a warning, if it's true then immediate account suspension is issued.
They would get like 1 report every 2 hours after everyone gets the hint you false report you get suspended.

[Amon-ster]

I can see it now: SE implements an anti-cheat system. The FFXIV modding community crumbles to dust. 70% of the PC playerbase unsubs because they can't play a game that still uses PS3 graphics and they can't see Miqo girl boobs.
Truly the Final Days are upon us.

[Johners]

I can see it now: SE implements an anti-cheat system. The FFXIV modding community crumbles to dust. 70% of the PC playerbase unsubs because they can't play a game that still uses PS3 graphics and they can't see Miqo girl boobs.
Truly the Final Days are upon us.

I think your overestimating the amount of PC players that actually use plugins but being able to freely use third-party programs alongside the game with no way of detecting this is a massive security concern. Every major online game has an anti-cheat and while some are pretty poor, others are pretty good. Valorant has a rock solid anti-cheat and it'll just disconnect you if anything funny is going on. Blizzard have always been good at detecting cheats and they typically time ban waves in WoW to embarrass players.

I remember several well timed waves in Warlords of Draenor against players using a paid tool that played their rotation for them with the bans being done during peak raiding hours on the weekly reset so raiding teams (statics in FF terminology) lost players while actively fighting a boss. Good luck explaining that one to your static if an equivalent ever happened in FF.

[Mosha]

Valorant has a rock solid anti-cheat .

Wasn't Valorent's anti-cheat a rootkit lmao?

I don't get why you guys are simping for getting malware and rootkits installed on your system.