Quote Originally Posted by LittleImp View Post
Not a third party piece of software, explicitly prohibited by the company that runs the game. >.>
Just to point out, no specific third party software is explicitly prohibited by the company, at least to my knowledge, although certain kinds of party software is unappreciated and certain behaviors created with or referenced by certain third party software has been discussed and mentioned as being "not allowed, BUT..."
If you were trying to say that third party software in general is prohibited by the company, or that third party software that affects the game in general is prohibited by the company, then that would also be untrue, considering that they're even currently advertising 3rd party software that affects the game in a general way.

No, I teach people raids all the time and shotcall for pugs. I don't like Cactbot because it doesn't actually empower players, it actively makes them worse and builds unhealthy reliance. Most of my opinion about Cactbot actually comes from time I've spent mentoring people, and the problems I've observed around its use.
Reliance on a third party, even a player in-game, is still reliance, and can lead to "unhealthy behaviors." While cactbot might not "empower players," if it behaves the way you say it does, then it just removes the need for the person explaining and marking for that specific player, and possibly the need to watch video or read documented guides in order to play.
So basically, the difference is that the program takes the place of the person who would do these things instead, and does so in a way that's, perhaps, more succinct and emotionless, vs the potentially more or less understanding and scrutinizing person who may be able to provide additional insight while providing what they believe to be "empowerment" for the player in question.

For some people, they'd rather not have to deal with the player who's trying to "empower" them, or they would prefer to have both. I can't fault anyone either way, because, in the end, the end-game is about the choreography of the fight, so once the steps are learned, it's just about continuing the dance until fatigue no longer permits it. How one goes about learning the steps, in a high-level setting of memorization, really shouldn't be a bother.
But that's just my opinion.