Increasing number of players using 3rd party tools

[elvenmad]

Completely agree, that specific "plug in" literally changes one button on your skill bar into another completely different skill if its classed as a follow up combo, It literally automatically manipulates the skill bars and the slotted skills, irrelevant if it makes things easier or not and still requires one button pressing as some are arguing, it is still automatically manipulating gameplay through 3rd party software which is clearly an advantage and clearly breaking ToS

Using 3rd party software to manipulate gameplay is against ToS in most games. I know for a fact one WoW player and addon author is currently working adapting an addon from wow that lets you put you whole opener onto one button, you can literally put any number of skills into it and it will automatically skip skills on CD and have automated priority orders.

If things like these are left to get completely out of hand we are eventually and inevitably going to end up exactly like WoW

[Wavaryen]

Personally I do.

Imagine you had a special controller for guitar-hero that allowed you to play by pressing only one button, but were able to compete on the same scoreboards as people who played the normal way.

Many of the things included in XIVlauncher give unfair advantages in fight execution. Visible hitpixels, combo shortners, slidecast indicators etc.

It makes the game better for some players, and they still got to do muscle memory. Truth be told, the way people act like how bad ff14 players are. Anything that can help them get better is good in my eyes.
You could also set this up with the game, with a macro to switch hotbars can you not? The addon only makes it easier to do.


I think many of the features the launcher has should be added to the game so everyone even consoles can make use of it. If anything makes the game more fun.

[EtherRose]

I don't mind add-ons. However, Yoshida made his stance on ACT basically being they don't really much care but don't get caught. More like a don't ask don't tell. But for people who stream with ACT on their screen and other add-ons should basically be reported and temp banned as they are basically doing the "Don't tell" part with obvious evidence. It may sound petty but regardless it's against the ToS.

[Caurcas]

Just don't use them if you don't approve. Simple as. Some of y'all act (ha!) Like add-ons are some boogeyman lurking and out to get you.

[Somnolence]

Completely agree, that specific "plug in" literally changes one button on your skill bar into another completely different skill if its classed as a follow up combo, It literally automatically manipulates the skill bars and the slotted skills, irrelevant if it makes things easier or not and still requires one button pressing as some are arguing, it is still automatically manipulating gameplay through 3rd party software which is clearly an advantage and clearly breaking ToS

Using 3rd party software to manipulate gameplay is against ToS in most games. I know for a fact one WoW player and addon author is currently working adapting an addon from wow that lets you put you whole opener onto one button, you can literally put any number of skills into it and it will automatically skip skills on CD and have automated priority orders.

If things like these are left to get completely out of hand we are eventually and inevitably going to end up exactly like WoW

On other hand taking hardcore stance on third party automation would screw over people with disabilities.

I'd say anything that does not affect other players should be allowed.

Let's take DoL/DoH as an example. A tool like TeamCraft automatically marking gathering entries as complete when you gather enough of something via packet capture is harmless as you can do the same manually. But a tool capturing Marketboard information and posting it on Universalis? With server visit feature allowing to use other server marketboards this does lead to possible profit loses for crafters since people that know about this are more likely to server hop to buy cheapest option. But then again you can do the same manually by visiting each server and checking out the prices, which will be more up to date this way.

Since this game is not PvP focused third party tools then only can affect other players via social interaction. Harassment and giving wrong impression about the game is the only things Square Enix cares about as this is what would affect player satisfaction with the game and media perception.

However the player base went way too far in some ways. When Yoshida spoke about third parties and TOS violation it was due screenshots of the game modded with porn mods.

[Vipes]

I'm not a fan of Addons, far too many people using them, and for what, to tell if they're top dog on the charts/parses?

You do realize there’s more addons/plugins than ACT, right? As long as it doesn’t negatively impact another person’s experience, there is no harm.
If I have a launcher that saves my login info, password included, how does that negatively affect you? Because you have to put in your password and I don’t?
If someone has a little plugin that tells them what zone they’re in over their minimap, how does that harm you? Because they know exactly the zone they’re in and don’t have to read the special font in the minimap?
If a player has a plugin that gives FFXIV a Discord Rich Presence feature, how does that hurt you? Because they can show people what character they’re on and where just by clicking on their discord name while you have to explain it all?

I could go on here but I think I made my point. There’s more than just ACT.

[Tsumdere]

As long as the FFXIV devs don't endorse addons, addons won't become a rampant problem. They already nuked Paisley Park's functionality and I bet they would do it again once they see people openly streaming with non-ACT/Reshade addons. Moreover, they will probably have to do investigations first and find out ways to combat it server side like they did with PP.

In a way, I'm kind of grateful that people are streaming with stupid shit like Sonar because it's been an issue for years but people kept super quiet about it so SE couldn't do anything. Now that it's out in the open for everyone and God to see, no doubt they will have their evidence and big reason to kill those things.

[Aelin_Ashryver]

The ui mod I see some streamers using looks so much worse than the normal ui imo, its all boxy and if they have it white its blinding. It doesnt fit the look of the rest of the game at all either. But so long as the addons are simple things like ui or gshade? Dont care. It does not affect me and SE will not be so lazy as blizzard to expect 3rd parties to make their game better. Why wow players bemoan the lack of addons idk.. it shows just how much slacking blizz do.

[MintnHoney]

This topic seems to get brought up 2-3 times a year. As far as I've been aware, Squeen's kinda taken a "don't-ask-don't-tell" stance, so I don't really see the problem with 3rd party tools if they enable players to enjoy the game more and they aren't using the tools as a source for harassment.
I just also know that some players, who haven't had done any research or had experience with 3rd party add-ons, immediately associate such things to parsers and naughty mods, or they think such players are doing something to their game client. There's bound to be some discomfort around the idea as a result.

[Endariel]

Add-ons or mods were never really "disallowed" or "allowed". Yoshi can close an eye on these because they don't pose a major problem and they follow the fight club rules.
What is truly prohibited is data mining