Increasing number of players using 3rd party tools

[Vyrerus]

Having to glance at your chat box and decipher a phrase within less than five seconds just isn't fun nor challenging.

Clearly it is, or it wouldn't be so widely circumvented. I'll grant you that it's not a fun idea for most folks, since most raiders tend to be on the side of things where reading is not something they want, but if it wasn't challenging then there'd be no need for circumvention.

Same thing with Gaols, and any other mechanic that has its tells circumvented, whether by ACT triggers or Cactbot.

The difference between a human callout and a bot/trigger callout is that the bot/trigger is infallible if setup correctly. The human can do a wrong call, the human can call too late/too soon. With human callouts there are many mechanics within the game where if the human doesn't know to callout well before the actual tells, then the call is too late (which means there are quite a few mechs where human callouts do almost no good). Not too mention whenever there are team jump rope style mechanics where each person would need individual calls.

Bot/trigger callouts can be setup for every single mechanic for every single raider. They are a HUGE advantage. And without them there would be far fewer clears.

It's not really an issue if raiders kept to themselves and were humble about clears achieved using advantageous software crutches. However, a lot of them aren't, because they use high end raiding as a social hierarchy sorta thing/ego boost/ego justifier.

I have fond memories of a SMN main talking shit to PUGs and other people on A11S clear attempts in 2016. He'd beaten the fight, and was lording around like he was an expert. He linked me footage from his clear, and he had triggers rolling for everything. Laser Sword left call came out before the in game tell. Bait/Out/Spread/Shiva circles call came out before the in game tell. He had triggers reminding him when to reapply DOTs. When Enkindle came off cooldown.

For some things, bot/triggers are comparable to VoIP, but for many things they are not. A human cannot call a mechanic before its in game tell, unless they also use bot/triggers.

Much like FFXI and Windower or LUAs, though, people are going to justify these things no matter what. And every time a serious game changing thing is revealed to be possible via these things, they will double down and say things like, "Well, I don't, and none of my posse do either!" even if that's not entirely true. People like to have the edge, especially in areas where being perceived as skillful because of said edge is a thing.


Of course, it's also true that a lot of raid leads or people who like providing calls use these things to help far more casual players in lower end content like Extremes/Savages. Also sometimes, people are using them because they recognize they will never get as good at the game as some of their more dedicated/savvier gaming friends, so they narrow the gap with the advantage inherent in having them. These types of things keep the area grey, and I like to think of them as the reason why SE doesn't really want to do anything about them.

[Sotaris]

Much like FFXI and Windower or LUAs, though, people are going to justify these things no matter what.

To be fair in 11, it's nearly impossible to play effectively without GearSwap and lua scripts to it. But it has the capability to automate gameplay which is the dangerous part.

[Vyrerus]

To be fair in 11, it's nearly impossible to play effectively without GearSwap and lua scripts to it. But it has the capability to automate gameplay which is the dangerous part.

Literally not true. All LUA and Gearswap have ever accomplished are cleaner, quicker kills. Some of the most impressive solos and lowman things in the game were accomplished without them. They are routinely used now to automate alts.

I played FFXI without Windower for over a decade, and I still have yet to use it. People just like having an edge.

[Sotaris]

Literally not true. All LUA and Gearswap have ever accomplished are cleaner, quicker kills. Some of the most impressive solos and lowman things in the game were accomplished without them. They are routinely used now to automate alts.

I played FFXI without Windower for over a decade, and I still have yet to use it. People just like having an edge.

I mean it's one of those things that makes it impossible to go back once you started. You never used it so I guess it's hard for to picture how it's like using.
I haven't played 11 in 8 years so things may changed but as I recall you had quite limited macrolines and equipsets so if you played something that required a lot of gear swapping to maximize your job, like casters back in teh day at least and some DPS with different sets, then Gearswap and even basic function in Windower was a godsent.

But I'm not here to argue about a old game, just my experience with it from playing it a decade with windower.