Best part of a new patch? Third party tools not working.

[Ivtrix]

FFXIV is an add-on game now. It took us nine years to get where WoW is, but we finally did it. Many people in this thread are grateful and happy for our plugins. They use them for the same reason WoW players do: QoL and to add new features that take the company a while to do.

Being the “add-on free game” has always been a bragging point for us. “We don’t need add-ons!” we used to tell ourselves. But then we did. And so the gap between FFXIV and WoW has closed. One less argument we have in our favor.

If anything, the games have become outright reversed from where they were two years ago. WoW is easier for new players to grasp thanks to Dragonflight, and WoW players don’t need a smorgasbord of third-party programs running. All plugins are QoL only (graphics mods aren’t allowed), and they all run in-line. FFXIV uses several third-party programs including ACT, Cactpot, Dalamud, and xivlauncher. Their plugins are small and modular, while ours are these behemoths running on spaghetti code and require numerous executables running in the background. And we say this is less add-on intrusion than WoW.

And that’s not to mention the massive growth in popularity that graphics mods have seen in the past year. Even if you don’t use them, you likely know someone who does. And they’re not just client-side: with Mare, you can share your mods with others. Ever see someone with “Mare Lamentorium” in their adventure plates? Yep. And if you think it can’t possibly affect you, try getting into a screenshot contest or do roleplaying without it. The community has changed and it’s not going back. And you’re okay with it.

This is the ideal FFXIV character. You may not like it, but this is peak performance.

Is this FFXIV or IMVU

[Absurdity]

Is this FFXIV or IMVU

Pretty sure they all migrated to XIV, that's why we get...whatever that is.

[Deceptus]

Is this FFXIV or IMVU

IMVU?

[Simple_Barghest]

Is this FFXIV or IMVU

withering from age, brb