Please stop using Discord during raids

[Oizen]

Is this thread trying to equivalate 3rd Party Programs like Cactbot (an addon that gives you a gameplay advantage over other players) and Discord (the modern equivalent of a Conference Call)?

How is that not a game play advantage? Players without discord aren't going to get callouts to be able to clear mechanics easier, while those who do will breeze through content much faster.

[Thorio]

Thread should have been "Please stop using Discord".

[Det]

Yes, this needs to stop now. Discord is one of the worst cheats because it makes communication with your party easier. if you want communication you CAN ONLY USE THE INGAME CHAT

I hope square bans everybody talking outside of the game while in the same party /s

[MilkieTea]

Nope.

/10char

[Maxilor]

How is that not a game play advantage? Players without discord aren't going to get callouts to be able to clear mechanics easier, while those who do will breeze through content much faster.

If I pick up my phone and call the entire raid in a conference call on speaker phone how is that any different than a Discord lobby?

Other than the improved sound quality?

Is my Android Phone a Third Party Program?

[Amarande]

OP is obviously sarcastic up to 11, but I'm going to agree in one way: The game has indeed become far too reliant on Discord, to the point that it has several negative effects on the player culture.

In most other MMOs, you can either go without Discord altogether (unless a particular run requires you to join a server for vc) or limit yourself to your guild's and friends' circles and eschew interaction with the mainstream game community.

In XIV this materially limits your ability to play in several ways. You'll barely be able to hunt, unless you become a dedicated S spawner, because all the useful relays go out through Discords now. You can't do Baldesion Arsenal (So much as touch a portal without the official imprimatur of your datacenter's BA org? What's that quote again about there being a special corner of hell "for child molesters and people that talk in the theater?" Pretty sure BA portalnappers are seen as belonging there, too lol). You can hardly even git gud to a level that's accepted by the playerbase without going through roundabout and often delayed information sources.

On top of that, even though there's the whole canard about "well you don't have to interact with the community, you can just use it as an info source" this seems to be a lot less effective than it sounds: judging by the level of activity in small friendly Discords, I'm about certain that most of the social interaction in XIV now takes place in those huge, city-sized mainstream community servers, to the point that their moderators also serve as de facto overlords of the player community at large. As a result, people that don't fit in with the mainstream culture experience a FAR more difficult time when they venture out of the bubble of stuff that can be done solo or in zero-interaction DF groups. The game starts to feel entirely too monocultured compared to even much smaller MMOs.

Linkshells and even FCs don't really alleviate this much either, they tending to be cricket chambers, and the housing and other FC resource systems strongly favoring the spallation of all but the smallest FCs.

And the problem only gets worse as SE adds in more cross-world features (cross-datacenter coming up) as the tendency is for communities to wholeheartedly embrace the merger, leaving even fewer, more influential Discords dictating everything ...

[Oizen]

If I pick up my phone and call the entire raid in a conference call on speaker phone how is that any different than a Discord lobby?

Other than the improved sound quality?

Is my Android Phone a Third Party Program?

Yes. please stop cheating.

[SaberMaxwell]

If I pick up my phone and call the entire raid in a conference call on speaker phone how is that any different than a Discord lobby?

Other than the improved sound quality?

Is my Android Phone a Third Party Program?

Third party hardware is still a tool by all definitions. By their restated tos, "any tool that gives an advantage." Yes its pointlessly vague.

[Catnipx]

Is my Android Phone a Third Party Program?

Nah. it's a Third Party tool! Not allowed, don't you dare check your phone while playing the game!

[Maxilor]

Yes. please stop cheating.

Ok. I'm sorry.