Third party tools are a game design failing in a multi-platform game

[Alaray]

I can't think of a Plug-In someone was using that interfered with my own, personal, game experience. I can, however; think of plug-ins that make some encounters possible to do - for the sake of my color blindness - without needing someone to verbally guide my movement.

Which, my point is: who cares if people use plug-ins to make their UI look more readable to them? Why does it matter if someone who has the world's worst ping is using a plug-in to play their character as if it was on 40 ping? Who does it affect for someone to be using Cactbot callouts to help them through a fight? What does it matter if someone has the timeline on their game screen, vs. a second monitor? Why does anyone actually care that some nobody is parsing their dungeon run, when literally no one but that one weirdo actually cares about dungeon performance? Why should we ban a slew of plug-in usage that can actually help people with disabilities play more smoothly? Why should they have to wait for SE to care, when it's pretty clear SE would rather not care for as long as possible? What about people with much more niche disabilities that a company isn't going to provide accessibility options for? Why shouldn't they be allowed to utilize plug-ins that help them gain the same experience from the game as... me?

There's already separate outlines for actual cheating, character automation et al. I'm sorry to say, but I don't see the value in banning everything from the community when there's so many things that genuinely are helpful to people and give them better experiences. If anything, it just hurts the community overall and enables brigading over incredibly stupid, innocuous things.

The predominant pitfall of addons in WoW had to do with raids and PvE experiences being designed around them, which in turn made them feel required to participate in the content past a certain point. SE can just... y'know... not... do that? And continue designing fights as if Cactbot doesn't exist? I don't think that's... a stretch?

[SwingLifeAway]

Which, my point is: who cares if people use plug-ins to make their UI look more readable to them?

OK but he is on Playstation and can't use them so therefore you can't either. It's unfair! /s

[Johners]

I can't think of a Plug-In someone was using that interfered with my own, personal, game experience. I can, however; think of plug-ins that make some encounters possible to do - for the sake of my color blindness - without needing someone to verbally guide my movement.

Accessibility issues are a problem across the entire game industry but some of the options you see in single player games simply can't be applied in a multiplayer game. There's always going to be less accessibility in online games even if there's more Square Enix could always be doing. People mention P3S a lot and from what I can see, it's probably something they tweak to make more accessible and I'm surprised they've not done so already.

Which, my point is: who cares if people use plug-ins to make their UI look more readable to them? Snip for character limit

The problem lies in the game client being an entire free-for-all in terms of third party functions and there's no parity for all supported platforms. I believe macOS has most of the plugins Windows has but PlayStation users are entirely excluded from this. There's a duty upon Square Enix to ensure all players have access to the same game.

More importantly, the third party tool discussion also applies to actual slam dunk cheating. People using automation bots for gathering, people using cheats in PvP, people using plugins to show AoE markers that you otherwise wouldn't see in high-end duties. There's speed and teleport hacks also. We've seen a big rise in the quality and quantity of all these tools in the last year, if left unmoderated it'll only negatively impacts the game more.

There's already separate outlines for actual cheating, character automation et al. I'm sorry to say, but I don't see the value in banning everything from the community when there's so many things that genuinely are helpful to people and give them better experiences. If anything, it just hurts the community overall and enables brigading over incredibly stupid, innocuous things.

Following on from above, it's also entirely unmoderated across the entire player base from Square Enix and as these tools improve, there's an entire chunk of the player base that'll just be at a bigger and bigger disadvantage from not wanting or being able to use them.

[Miracle_Diva]

More importantly, the third party tool discussion also applies to actual slam dunk cheating. People using automation bots for gathering, people using cheats in PvP, people using plugins to show AoE markers that you otherwise wouldn't see in high-end duties. There's speed and teleport hacks also. We've seen a big rise in the quality and quantity of all these tools in the last year, if left unmoderated it'll only negatively impacts the game more.

Then maybe SE should focus actual cheaters instead of people who use simple QoL UI tweaks?

Following on from above, it's also entirely unmoderated across the entire player base from Square Enix and as these tools improve, there's an entire chunk of the player base that'll just be at a bigger and bigger disadvantage from not wanting or being able to use them.

How can one not want improved UI and getting more useful information?

[Grebeny]

How can one not want improved UI and getting more useful information?

Adding markers on the heads of enemies in CS. UI tweak only, right? Why people concider it cheating, it is just a UI giving you more info, how can you be against it, the data is already there, the enemy exists behind the wall after all, why not give you this information?

And I am not against quality of life changes, but doing so with addons, because some of the "tweaks" were actually giving them advantage in performance, the main reason they were uing them.

[SwingLifeAway]

Adding markers on the heads of enemies in CS. UI tweak only, right? Why people concider it cheating, it is just a UI giving you more info, how can you be against it, the data is already there, the enemy exists behind the wall after all, why not give you this information?

Ah yes, comparing an MMORPG UI to a FPS, what a fair and reasonable comparison you have made

[Miracle_Diva]

Adding markers on the heads of enemies in CS. UI tweak only, right? Why people concider it cheating, it is just a UI giving you more info, how can you be against it, the data is already there, the enemy exists behind the wall after all, why not give you this information?

And I am not against quality of life changes, but doing so with addons, because some of the "tweaks" were actually giving them advantage in performance, the main reason they were uing them.

Why did you bring CS into this? To fit what narrative? What does wallhack in CS have anything to do with UI tweaks for QoL in 14?

[Jaquan]

Why did you bring CS into this? To fit what narrative? What does wallhack in CS have anything to do with UI tweaks for QoL in 14?

Like the ones that actually added AoE markers to enemy attacks that were previously unannounced. It's only UI tweak right?

[Miracle_Diva]

Like the ones that actually added AoE markers to enemy attacks that were previously unannounced. It's only UI tweak right?

But how does it have anything to do with what I said?

[Alaray]

Like the ones that actually added AoE markers to enemy attacks that were previously unannounced. It's only UI tweak right?

Why are you using a cheat as an example of a QoL? This is just bad faith, and you know it.