Third party tools are a game design failing in a multi-platform game

[Johners]

I'll drop the hot take at the start but third party tools are a failing in a multi-platform game and lack of any proper anti-cheat mechanisms on PC lets the entire player base down, especially PlayStation users.

This parts seems to be forgotten or just willingly ignored in the entire third party tools discussion. Square Enix are developing and publishing a multi-platform game that's also cross-platform and they're failing an entire group of them by not properly enforcing the existing terms of service.

Before people do the "console OMEGALUL" thing that I've seen a lot around the plug-in discussion, they're a massive part of the player base and in Japan there simply isn't the PC gaming that's in Western markets. There's a duty on Square Enix to design a game that's fair and equal for the entire player base regardless of how they choose to play. This extends to the toolset available to players via the default UI and ensuring both input methods (controller and KB+M) are both balanced.

I appreciate some of quality of life user interface mods but at the same time, some of these are a product of people playing other MMOs and wanting that same experience in FFXIV. A notable example with streamers was Limit Max getting an exact replica of his WoW UI in this game but that also extends to plugins to replicate mouseover macro functionality that WoW has which I personally know many people that use.

Square Enix seemingly don't like to truly confront the player base in a way they'd take negatively and up until now, every discussion on third party tools has mostly been rewording the terms of service and asking people not to use it. Unfortunately the game is too popular for the "don't do it stance" statement to actually work anymore and the solution is proper moderation from SE, not self-moderation from the community.

At least they finally addressed the implications of console support in the most recent letter regarding third party tools but until they're actually willing to implement the client-side anti-cheat they'd need to enforce this, absolutely nothing changes. They're between a rock and a hard place. On one side it's ever improving plugins with more visibility than ever. On the other side it's implementing an anti-cheat for the PC users so they can actually solve the problem.

[Miracle_Diva]

They should've worked on improving things like UI since long time ago. Then people wouldn't have to use plugins to get QoL changes.

[Larirawiel]

I'll drop the hot take at the start but third party tools are a failing in a multi-platform game and lack of any proper anti-cheat mechanisms on PC lets the entire player base down, especially PlayStation users.

And again, there is not something like a "proper anti-cheat mechanism". Anti-cheat-mechanisms are useless and dangerous. It is like anti-virus-software. Does it protect you? No. Does it open new security holes into your system? Propably yes.


Cheers

[Johners]

They should've worked on improving things like UI since long time ago. Then people wouldn't have to use plugins to get QoL changes.

I'm aware that some quality of life changes are needed and Yoshi-P has said this himself. That said, what exactly should they do? You might be using 5 QoL UI plugins but someone else is using 10 and another is using 7. Even when they make the necessary changes, they're not going to please everybody and the cycle will continue unless they also introduce mechanisms to stop these tools from working. There is still an underlying problem is some users not wanting due to ToS risks or simply not being able to use these tools and that's a game design problem in a cross-platform title.

[Sebazy]

I think you're overlooking just how much of the blame for this lays squarely in SE's hands and always has done.

Remember BCoB turn 5? One of our tanks for prog was on PS3. Twintania's dive-bomb markers routinely wouldn't load in time or at all on the PS3 version and the client latency for EU players back then meant she had absolutely no chance if she just reacted to us moving either. We had to have her on the phone to get the clear because the game client just wasn't up to the job.

There are plenty of more modern if less extreme cases of this to this day where SE's client is just plainly subpar and the explosion of QoL features seen in some of these mods are a result of that. The ridiculously small cooldown counters. Not being able to see buff and debuff durations in the party bar. Being able to save more than 5 way marks total. Shields showing up on your own HP bar as well as the party bars. AST being able to get the Heavensward Card control style back to save on hotkeys. The list goes on and on.

These are things that a game raking in 200 mill+ a year shouldn't be overlooking.

[Thorio]

No matter how perfect a game may be people will always want 3rd party tools. I thought it was common sense.

[VelKallor]

They should've worked on improving things like UI since long time ago.

Ui is a huge improvement on that ageing dinosaur they use in WOW

A parser isnt QOL at all..its a tool misused and abused to berate, harass and discriminate against players. Personally Id like to see parsers under a blanket ban. You dont need them to run content and people clear content w/out them easily.

[Miracle_Diva]

I'm aware that some quality of life changes are needed and Yoshi-P has said this himself. That said, what exactly should they do? You might be using 5 QoL UI plugins but someone else is using 10 and another is using 7. Even when they make the necessary changes, they're not going to please everybody and the cycle will continue unless they also introduce mechanisms to stop these tools from working. There is still an underlying problem is some users not wanting due to ToS risks or simply not being able to use these tools and that's a game design problem in a cross-platform title.

That is SE's problem to solve. They are so slow on implementing things people need in the game. It took them up to 6.1 to finally add [Obtained\Unobtained] status on items. I think it's pretty ridiculous.

Ui is a huge improvement on that ageing dionsaur they use in WOW

A parser isnt QOL at all..its a tool misused and abused to berate, harass and discriminate against players. Personally Id like to see parsers under a blanket ban. You dont need them to run content and people clear content w/out them easily.

No one is talking about parsers. Who hurt you?

[DezereDawn]

Ui is a huge improvement on that ageing dionsaur they use in WOW

Good thing that's getting a top to bottom rework in the next expansion eh?
also, while parsers aren't *TECHNICALLY* QOL, that's ignoring the other 90% of mods people use that are, basic shit like seeing what song is playing, actually usable weaving while not playing on extremely low latency, seeing debuff and buff timers etc are all shit the base game should be doing

this game's ui is disfunctional, slow, and overstylized just like WoW's, the only saving grace is that the hud can be customized, but that doesn't save the 80% of the ui that can't, and will remain inefficient until square decides to do something about it

[SwingLifeAway]

Ui is a huge improvement on that ageing dionsaur they use in WOW

A parser isnt QOL at all..its a tool misused and abused to berate, harass and discriminate against players. Personally Id like to see parsers under a blanket ban. You dont need them to run content and people clear content w/out them easily.

The game literally has tight DPS checks in hard content. Parsers and loggers allow you to see where the problem is and address it. Do people use it in the way you describe? Yes, they certainly do. But that doesn't mean that it is all it is. Nuclear energy doesn't just level cities, it can also power them. Just matters how you wield it.