My Proposal on Recent Drama

[Banggugyangu]

The recent drama surrounding 3rd party tools has been a raging forest fire the past few days, as everyone knows. This thread is not about discussion of whether or not said 3rd party tools are good or bad. There are enough of those. Rather, I'm creating this thread in order to put forth my proposal for what I feel would be the best approach in solving the problem as best as possible.

My proposed solution would be 3-fold:
1st: For an internal team to determine which of the 3rd party tools add beneficial functionality to enhance the game, then implement those into the core game. Yoshi-P has already stated that they have plans to take this approach, so part 1 covered, I suppose.

2nd: Create a "workshop" of sorts for aesthetic modifications that then become sanctioned. These aesthetic modifications could function exactly the same as they do currently: Client-side only. Anyone that claims that model swaps, UI retexturing, etc.. is detrimental to the game, IMO, is simply incorrect. When these types of modifications are client-side only, whether someone has them or not really affects no one outside of those who use them. On the other hand, for some players, these types of mods become the life-blood of the game. Having a sanctioned workshop for such mods allows for these types of mods to exist, but before being usable they are vetted to ensure that they don't allow for any type of game-breaking behavior.

3: Officially sanction GShade/ReShade or implement a filtering engine into the game.

I love the game. I don't need any modifications. I do feel that there are certain aspects that are lacking in functionality or usability. It will inevitably and understandably take a while for SE to implement these functionalities. Unfortunately, I don't see this drama going away in the near future. I'm just hoping that the fires start to burn out soon, and the community can return to normal.

[EagleDynamics]

1st: For an internal team to determine which of the 3rd party tools add beneficial functionality to enhance the game, then implement those into the core game. Yoshi-P has already stated that they have plans to take this approach, so part 1 covered, I suppose.

good. its about time square does something like this. cd and buff timers arent cheats for crying out loud.

[HolyReign]

Square Enix doesn't need to amend any list, determine what is/isn't allowed, create additional tools to add any more bedazzling to your character, ect.

ToS is pretty simple to understand, don't use outside programs, addons or tools.

SE has made it's stance pretty clear, with the recent bans of people who blatantly use these things, during streaming, or video creation, that the use is against ToS.

FFXIV, is a beautiful game, it's content has been watered down so much that any content is done without too much effort, yet people keep going on and on about wanting them.

[Rolder50]

1st: For an internal team to determine which of the 3rd party tools add beneficial functionality to enhance the game, then implement those into the core game. Yoshi-P has already stated that they have plans to take this approach, so part 1 covered, I suppose.

The real question here is how far are they going to go? I'm betting we get like one or two things and it'll take five patches to get there.

[Johners]

1st: For an internal team to determine which of the 3rd party tools add beneficial functionality to enhance the game, then implement those into the core game. Yoshi-P has already stated that they have plans to take this approach, so part 1 covered, I suppose.

Per the terms of service, they've already done this with the list being completely empty. They've said they'd review plugins for QoL UI changes as part of their endeavour to improve the user interface for all users. It's not really a commit to add anything specific or do it by any particular patch.

2nd: Create a "workshop" of sorts for aesthetic modifications that then become sanctioned. These aesthetic modifications could function exactly the same as they do currently: Client-side only. Anyone that claims that model swaps, UI retexturing, etc.. is detrimental to the game, IMO, is simply incorrect. When these types of modifications are client-side only, whether someone has them or not really affects no one outside of those who use them. On the other hand, for some players, these types of mods become the life-blood of the game. Having a sanctioned workshop for such mods allows for these types of mods to exist, but before being usable they are vetted to ensure that they don't allow for any type of game-breaking behavior.

Yeah, never happening, why would they give you cosmetic plugins for free when they can sell cosmetics items in the cash store instead? Approved or not, it's just a better business model to sell it as a cash money item.

3: Officially sanction GShade/ReShade or implement a filtering engine into the game.

Bright 4 colour filter preset from gpose as my default for the entire game would be nice to have via the options menu. This is a feature they could easily implement alongside better colourblind accessibility functions.

[Cach]

The thing is, Square's statement is basically "that sounds too hard and looks like a big headache, I ain't doing it".
Considering they won't hire two extra guys to help with class balance or saddle a couple of interns to adjust some hats, I believe them.

The only smart response is to turn around and just use stuff at your own discretion, including streamers and shills.
But hardline anti-mod people and trolls finally have an angle of attack and won't let go.

Interesting times ahead.

[EagleDynamics]

Square Enix doesn't need to amend any list, determine what is/isn't allowed, create additional tools to add any more bedazzling to your character, ect.

well i guess you better start arguing with yoshi p then because it seems thats the path they intend to take.

[IdowhatIwant]

FFXIV, is a beautiful game, it's content has been watered down so much that any content is done without too much effort, yet people keep going on and on about wanting them.

I think that is more a problem with the content, and not people using a parser or a buff tracker.

[Nethereal]

Telling SE to hire people for a non-issue while they refuse to hire people for actual issues the game has suffered from for years.

This will go well.

[Banggugyangu]

To those who are trying to argue if 3rd party tools are right or wrong, or if they should it shouldn't be used, I already said this thread is not about that. There are plenty of other threads in which you can debate that all day long.

Long story short, right now, we have a problem. The problem is that 3rd party tools use has been publicly rampant for a short while, and the blatant use of a few of them has forced the Devs' hands. There are only 3 possible solutions to this problem:

1: Double down on the no 3rd party tools stance and bring a heavy, but fair hand down upon everyone who uses them. I see this as the wrong approach as it will alienate a large portion of the player base. This is also coupled with the fact that the game is lacking in certain aspects when it comes to usability. This stance would stagnate growth of the game's maturity from a design stance.

2: Sanction 3rd party tools usage and stop worrying about it. I see this as an equally wrong approach, as it would lead to a bad situation all around. I don't need to mention examples for people to know what I'm talking about.

3: A progressive approach along the lines that I outlined above. This allows SE to evolve the game's engines using the mod devs as inspiration. Many of those devs aren't looking for financial reward, fame, or even recognition. Many just want to improve the game. Alongside that, it allows SE the ability to then bring an extremely firm hand against the exploitative mods with much less chance of community backlash. They then have the ability to say "we already go this far for you guys... Cheating is not going to be tolerated under any circumstances" with no chance for any valid argument from the opposition. These are the reasons I made my proposal. I see it as the best path forward for the game on multiple aspects.