People using outside programs to better their gameplay. Is it bannable?

[Phantos]

I've been through many Raids/Dungeons where people complain about the damage people are putting out via a program called "ACT" I'm just wondering if that's ban-able? Cause it's a form of cheating right?

[Beckett]

The GMs seem take a general, "Don't ask, don't tell" outlook to it, but yes, ACT is technically against the TOS, and people can get banned if they admit to using it in in-game chat.

[itti18]

its not cheating and not bannable unless you harrass people saying their dps is low

also all that act does is tell you how much damage you and your group is doing so it doesnt better the gameplay in anyway

[Shougun]

Using a parser to grief is an offense yes, using a parser but not saying anything you do is not an offense - and GMs are told not to witch hunt parse users (so long as they don't grief with the parser). If I remember correctly dual boxing and using a program to push your keys through other windows is also accepted (so long as its pushing YOUR keys and not it's own), I think it was said from like a really old CM response thread.

I find that people just either get creative in how they talk or they begin to not talk at all but make plans you're not part (having been in discords I can confirm people will talk outside the game rather and vote kicks, which I don't like to see, will happen based on information you'll never be informed of). So personally, I think the damage of parse and like programs is already done - we already have the damage, might as well get the benefits (more people have more tools for knowledge, more open communications, clearer reports, better forum discussions on balance). Preferably through the game itself (mods/official) vs a third party tool.

[Belhi]

As said above, it is technically bannable but SE looks the other way about people using it unless they make an issue of it or make a fuss.

also all that act does is tell you how much damage you and your group is doing so it doesnt better the gameplay in anyway

Apparently it can be set up to give you ques on upcoming abilities the boss will use during a fight so it can aid you.

[Shougun]

also all that act does is tell you how much damage you and your group is doing so it doesnt better the gameplay in anyway

Although tools can offer significant advantage - like calling out and timing things, besides the obvious learning where you're going wrong parse information. I mention this because certain popular tools on reddit can also do this function. And yes I'm purposefully being vague lol. So that I'm not instructing people how to do anything.

[CrystalRainbow]

It is cheating, It is Bannable. They have no way to tell if your using tools like this unless you speak about them.

There is someone in my raid group that calls out people numbers post raid. I personally could care less as I'm not part of the world 1st group.

[Shougun]

It is cheating, It is Bannable.

Yoshida has gone on record saying that so long as you dont use them to ruin other people's experience they will not hunt you down / take it seriously. But their ToS / EULA stuff has to be worded that all third party programs are evil, so things like radar which read data just like parsers do aren't allowed.

Just to make sure this doesn't lead to misinformation on SE's stance, third party has to be generically disallowed but specifically and truthfully parsing will not get you banned unless you're doing something else to get in trouble (like griefing, which everyone should remember is in the eye of the beholder - so better not to talk about it at all lol). But, this is why you can have youtubers and twitch users show how to use a parser but not get banned in the game itself, the GMs are told not to take parsing as a serious issue unless it has to do with other serious issues.

If they did I could easily list off 20 different accounts that easily have thousand plus viewers, and they'd be banned shortly, but they're not lol. This weird gray area is why you can't tell people how to use a parser on the official forums, but if you did it on youtube with your account name proven in big giant red font they won't do anything.

[Astyrah]

parsers and the like are in a grey area. as long as you don't use it to harass people the devs and gms turn a blind eye at the people who use it. even yoshi-p and team who monitor video streams of world 1st groups see that they parse and yet they are never banned (yes, on most raid clear videos they have their parser overlays visible on screen)

ACT is a useful tool for self improvement. it's almost a requirement if you want to learn your job properly in such a way that you can carry your own weight in savage content. i wouldn't consider it cheating

[ElHeggunte]

I've been through many Raids/Dungeons where people complain about the damage people are putting out via a program called "ACT" I'm just wondering if that's ban-able? Cause it's a form of cheating right?

It's technically against the ToS, but I hesitate to call a simple DPS parser "cheating" because it generally does nothing you couldn't have done yourself if you had a pen, some paper, and a lot of patience. Which is largely why SE looks the other way so long as you aren't using the information to outright harass people.

And do they specifically say they're using ACT or is that the name you were given or found out after the fact? Because you don't need a Parser to tell when damage is low. It's pretty obvious when DPS is lacking and you can sometimes tell exactly who's doing the limpwristing just by watching them.