Just give us a list of what addons we can use.

[Jeeqbit]

Discord does not read or modify the memory, packets or files, so it's not a problem.

I think that GShade hacks the graphics library the game uses so it can make adjustments, but this library is used by almost every other game so you could argue that it's not hacking the game directly.

[Ranaku]

Technically none. No TexTools, QuickLauncher, nor GShade as they fall into the categories of affecting the game files and manipulating the files which breaks CoC.

As i said for gshade it is not really that clear cause the shaders don't modify gamedata but work through directx itself. Which was already said to be alright by the com rep i mentioned up there. But the overlay might be a modification that could be against the ToS.

[Tychonius]

Here is the list:

[Roth_Trailfinder]

They can't. They'd lose so much business so fast, and not just from NA or EU. JP, in particular, would go catatonic over the loss of housing addons.

That’s a fallacy. You are suggesting that the only reason many players play is because of their add-ons. I’d suggest to you, instead, that most players don’t use them; that users are the minority.

How do I know this? Simple logic. You can’t use add-ons on the Playstation consoles. A good chunk (around half) of FF14 players are on console, so they’re unable to use them (a big part of the reason even QoL add-ons are against the ToS). Also, it stands to reason that fewer PC players use them than don’t, if only because not everyone is going to think to go looking for them to see what appeals to them. And of those who do, at least some are going to decide that none of them are worth using. Varied tastes in that regard, you know.

I’d like to say that add-on users are a small minority; but while reason suggests they are a minority (I’d be surprised if half of the PC players use them, reducing the most that could be to 25%) reason does not suggest how large or small that minorty may be.

[Mikey_R]

Why should they give a list? Do you even know what that would imply?

Ignoring the fact of ToS or anything else like that, it would potentially mean the Dev team would need to allocate resources to test 3rd party programs to check that they do not interfere with the gameplay in a malicious way at all. Ontop of that, every time a mod would update, they would need to do it again, just to double check that nothing malicious was added after they had been approved.

You can say, well, SE do not take responsibility for 3rd party tools, however, if someone uses a 3rd party program that has been approved by SE, then if something goes wrong, where do you think the finger will go? It's not MY fault it failed, or messed up my game, it was approved by SE after all.

This is just potentially scratching the surface of what could go wrong or the wasted dev time that would accumulate from trying to maintain an 'official' list of addons. Much easier and simpler to just ban them all.

[Ranaku]

That’s a fallacy. You are suggesting that the only reason many players play is because of their add-ons. I’d suggest to you, instead, that most players don’t use them; that users are the minority.

How do I know this? Simple logic. You can’t use add-ons on the Playstation consoles. A good chunk (around half) of FF14 players are on console, so they’re unable to use them (a big part of the reason even QoL add-ons are against the ToS). Also, it stands to reason that fewer PC players use them than don’t, if only because not everyone is going to think to go looking for them to see what appeals to them. And of those who do, at least some are going to decide that none of them are worth using. Varied tastes in that regard, you know.

I’d like to say that add-on users are a small minority; but while reason suggests they are a minority (I’d be surprised if half of the PC players use them, reducing the most that could be to 25%) reason does not suggest how large or small that minorty may be.

Still most serious communities the game has are build with and around third party tools. Be it gposers who use stuff like gshade and tools to pose. Be it raiders using damage meters to gather data to improve themselves. Be it guide makers who rely on data from damage meters to actually find the perfect rotations for jobs, no dummy training in the entire XIV world can tell you how to play your job right. Be is housing maniacs who rely on tools to actually do stuff that should be in the game anyways. Roleplayers who heavily rely on chataddons cause the chat in XIV is outdated and just plain bad...try to read something when hundred players are in the same house with you. These communities would most likely die out if third party tools would be gone and that would hit the game really like REALLY hard.

And while it might be true that not even half the playerbase is using mods it is also true that most of the good publicity the game gets comes from people using these third party tools. Be it as i said gposers which you can find all over social media. They passively promote the game more than you could ever imagine and throwing all the goodwill SE has with these players out of the window could deal a huge blow to the stock.

Console players don't really do anything to promote the game everywhere. I mean you can see it with all the streamers that jumped on the game recently, like Asmongold and Preach and all these they also visited a community that basically exists cause of third party tools which is the roleplay community.

[Necrotica]

If they just delete all the twitch streamers for using mods, they will lose a lot of free advertising.

This shock and awe approach to enforcing the new ToS is not making the game better. And I do not give a damn about PVE mods. The PVP stuff is what they should focus on removing.

[StriderShinryu]

But they can't. As said in the letter, they can't identify and track every single piece of software that every user uses. They also need to leave necessary wiggle room for newly developed tools or software that may be developed in the future, or if additional features that are added to existing software that take it from "okay" to "not okay." There's already enough internet lawyering going on around the issue and they need to leave the door open to combat that.

[Canadane]

They gave you a list.
None.

[MintnHoney]

You are suggesting that the only reason many players play is because of their add-ons.

I'm not suggesting any particular number, nor do I suggest minorities or majorities. I don't even really suggest that "the only reason many players play" is because of their add-ons. If anything, I'm suggesting that a hard ruling on what can and cannot be used wouldn't jive with a majority of players, whether they do ("omg, I can't have ears or get numbers? I quit!") or, in fact, do not use mods ("omg, they're allowed to have ears AND/OR "CHEAT?" I quit!"). The exaggeration of Japan going catatonic over the loss of the housing addon is just me referencing the outrage they had when people were being suspended for using that addon to more easily simulate certain glitches in order to decorate their houses. In fact, the recent suspension of Hiroro has sparked outrage from JP as well, which I'm sure will die out (if it hasn't already) but will still need to be dealt with or else could result in people leaving whether they use mods or not.

The situation is also not as black and white as it being one side vs. the other, as some people will have no interest in modding but may not necessarily like that the game has a certain stance against it, or players may leave because friends stop playing, or the benefits reaped by the public via reliable raiding guides or rotation guides are more difficult to create, or because the social media aspect is now impacted. Players are not quite so easy to sort into labels and baskets, and a hard and very direct stance on something that has had a vague stance for so many years is liable to have a noticeable effect on business.

That being said, by all means, go off. Considering that there is absolutely no real way to know what percentage of the population does or does not use 3rd party tools of any kind, including those who might decide to hack their PS4 to implement add-ons or mods (where there's a will, there is a way), I'm not even going to bother trying to quantify and determine the exact numerical risk that a hard decision would have for a game that I have absolutely no personal stake in. I just believe that they'll never give a terribly specific stance in order to avoid said risk for one of their cash cows.