Why graphical mods are bad for PvP.

[JackHatchet]

Unless you change the ACTUAL size, it's hardly an advantage. And graphical mods would be client side, you don't see your gear all bright pink even if someone replaced all their textures on their end.

Yeah, but if you were a sniper in a FPS game and you relied on being hidden, knowing that someone out there could alter your character to be bright green would heavily reduce your chances of staying hidden. Again, that's a FPS game and not FFXIV, but it's an example. Just because you don't look green on your screen doesn't mean your enemy can't use that to their advantage.

[CaptainLagbeard]

Yeah, but if you were a sniper in a FPS game and you relied on being hidden, knowing that someone out there could alter your character to be bright green would heavily reduce your chances of staying hidden. Again, that's a FPS game and not FFXIV, but it's an example. Just because you don't look green on your screen doesn't mean your enemy can't use that to their advantage.

In an FPS game, yes that would very much be an advantage...
But this is not an FPS game, you generally wouldn't have a big name hovering over the sniper telling you they're there.

As stated by kamenkuro, the only way to not have the class name sticking out there is to be a Ninja and use Hide.

[Bourne_Endeavor]

Yeah, but if you were a sniper in a FPS game and you relied on being hidden, knowing that someone out there could alter your character to be bright green would heavily reduce your chances of staying hidden. Again, that's a FPS game and not FFXIV, but it's an example. Just because you don't look green on your screen doesn't mean your enemy can't use that to their advantage.

And this is why most FPS games have built in checks to ensure players can't do that. In fact, this very discussion came up with Mass Effect 3 due to the prevalence of modding BioWare games. Their servers checked your PCConsoleTOC.bin. If it were in any way altered, you were likely going to get suspended or banned outright depending on the circumstances. As FFXIV does not have such concerns given how PvP works, this is a non-issue.