Quote Originally Posted by Dualgunner View Post
Is it right to use machines to do the sounds for you instead of raid members? I'm not gonna make a call there. Personally I think I would prefer having a shotcaller to having ACT do it for me, having never done the latter. But I can see the use of some things, such as setting it to sound off when Trick Attack goes up so the airwaves aren't filled with unnecessary chatter. As well, some fights this expansion do very much the same thing with voice-queued lines when they attack; Susano, Byakko, Tsuki, Suzaku, and Seiryu come to mind with voice lines signifying major mechanical happenings, and I can appreciate giving us sound cues as well in fights like this.
If someone can remember the timeline of the fight and do callouts from memory, then they are a good player that deserve to do well. Since clearing difficult fights is a team effort, it's fair for the team to make the most of the skills of its members. This is how the game is intended to work.

Someone using a combat tracker for the callouts is augmenting their inferior skill with external means. That's pretty much the definition of cheating. If a chess player was using a chess program to suggest or check moves in a tournament, they would be cheating.

The difference between chess and FFXIV is that competitive chess has a fairly rigid set of rules which are agreed upon on an international level. FFXIV is for the most part not played competitively, so someone cheating ultimately has little or no impact on the player base in general. I'm not aware of any written set of rules for raiding either, aside from the rather ambiguous terms of service. However I do take a dim view of people who brag about how good they are if they are that good only with the help of external tools.