Square Enix needs to make a add-on detector!

[Cheremia]

And there's still more!
Not only do arenas have these totally random patterns on the ground that are in no way whatsoever tied to the exact spot and size of aoes, you even have handy dandy markings on the floor for small safe spots. Like that tiny little triangle safespot on 7s bird cleaves that just happens to be exactly on the little arrow marker on the floor. It's magic. And a complete coincidence of course.
Or the front Bough coincidentally ending exactly on the little hitbox arrow.
It's almost as if having some fight knowledge and awareness allows to pixel-dodge with precision because the ground tells you "stand here and you're safe".

Woah you're a cheater for knowing these things!
How dare you, I'm gonna call mom on you, you monster!

[Axxion]

And there's still more!
Not only do arenas have these totally random patterns on the ground that are in no way whatsoever tied to the exact spot and size of aoes, you even have handy dandy markings on the floor for small safe spots. Like that tiny little triangle safespot on 7s bird cleaves that just happens to be exactly on the little arrow marker on the floor. It's magic. And a complete coincidence of course.
Or the front Bough coincidentally ending exactly on the little hitbox arrow.
It's almost as if having some fight knowledge and awareness allows to pixel-dodge with precision because the ground tells you "stand here and you're safe".

is it wrong to say that another note is trying to use add on for a pug group?

[Shibi]

HOW would people know that arenas have markers on themself sometimes and know from those where aoes go, too??? Woaaah....

I admit, it took me too long to understand that those random pretty floor patterns are actually not just random pretty patterns. Most certainly people with skill should know about those hints and be able to use them for prior pixel perfect placement.

(I recall the light switch coming on when I did notice that there were safezones, mechanic range hints, add-rez spots, cardinals, and more built into the floor graphics in those ornate arenas. My mind was blown.)

[Fourbestintoner]

Please square-sama, scan my computer because of a few bad seeds, uuaahh.

[Ransu]

Let me make this short and sweet...
In my honest opinion, if you use add-ons you are cheating. Add-ons is why I no longer do Savage raids. The lack of add-ons is why I came to play Final Fantasy XIV from World of Warcraft starting with beta.

It has gotten so bad, that when you go into any pug instance with other players you can actually see who has almost flawless timing avoiding mechanics. Hence cheating.

Now the main motivation for this for me stems from my own experience. I play 14 on the PS5. I don't play on PC like I used to because of accessibility issues. PS5 players cannot use add-ons and many do also play on PS5 would also like to use add-ons but can't(even if I wouldn't recommend it). And yet again, this gives PC players an unfair advantage doing content especially if they use add-ons.

I already know I'm going to get vitriol for this post, but I don't care because I will speak facts. If you use add-ons, Square Enix needs to implement a detector for those add-ons and you need to be penalized for cheating because that's exactly what you're doing. There is no Gray zone to this, using computer programs to give you prompts in fight mechanics is nowhere near equatable to any other thing other than botting.

If you cheat, you should face the consequences of you cheating because it's exactly what add-ons are in ff14!

1.) Its not cheating.

2.) I can do most mechanics with my eyes closed due to running the content so many times. I don't need an add-on for that.

[Xaphire]

Let me make this short and sweet...
In my honest opinion, if you use add-ons you are cheating. Add-ons is why I no longer do Savage raids. The lack of add-ons is why I came to play Final Fantasy XIV from World of Warcraft starting with beta.

It has gotten so bad, that when you go into any pug instance with other players you can actually see who has almost flawless timing avoiding mechanics. Hence cheating.

Now the main motivation for this for me stems from my own experience. I play 14 on the PS5. I don't play on PC like I used to because of accessibility issues. PS5 players cannot use add-ons and many do also play on PS5 would also like to use add-ons but can't(even if I wouldn't recommend it). And yet again, this gives PC players an unfair advantage doing content especially if they use add-ons.

I already know I'm going to get vitriol for this post, but I don't care because I will speak facts. If you use add-ons, Square Enix needs to implement a detector for those add-ons and you need to be penalized for cheating because that's exactly what you're doing. There is no Gray zone to this, using computer programs to give you prompts in fight mechanics is nowhere near equatable to any other thing other than botting.

If you cheat, you should face the consequences of you cheating because it's exactly what add-ons are in ff14!

You're either not very good at the game, or you're baiting people. Mechanics in this game are amazingly well telegraphed, oftentimes, the floor of the boss arena actually shows you where safe spots are in its very design.

[Saraide]

If dodging mechanics in pugs indicates cheating for you then you have not understood ff14 combat design in the slightest. Therefore your opinion on how to combat cheating is irrelevant at best.

[Kazhar]

So...pre-positioning? That thing you can do when you know the fight?

This fight in particular has an element of randomness which makes early pre-positionning impossible.

[Iyrnthota]

This fight in particular has an element of randomness which makes early pre-positionning impossible.

Wouldn't be the first time I've taken a coin flip.

Like, I'm not saying there's no-one using those kind of add ons, but the whole "you can tell cause of the way they do" is a bit much.

[caffe_macchiato]

I already know I'm going to get vitriol for this post, but I don't care because I will speak facts. If you use add-ons, Square Enix needs to implement a detector for those add-ons and you need to be penalized for cheating because that's exactly what you're doing.

Sadly, your prediction was correct. Because Square looks the other way, it’s up to the community to self-moderate, and it seems like more and more players embrace and deeply appreciate the value that plugins and addons bring to the game. And because raiding is run almost entirely by community pressure, there’s nothing we can do but yield to those who have more power and influence than us console/vanilla players. Anything that has a competitive advantage will be propagated quickly over the internet and any attempt to downgrade it, other than bySquare Enix itself, will fail to work.

We also need to realize that FFXIV is nine years old. This is no longer a new game where the code has yet to be explored and people find the vanilla experience refreshing. FFXIV is aging and addons are the most significant upgrade to the game’s backend since patch 2.0. Square Enix has deliberately refused to upgrade the backend or add significant QOL features. Whenever there’s a development void, players will fill it with third-party tools.

It happens to all aging games on PC. It’s sad that our favorite game has fallen by the wayside, but SE has put the power in our own hands to fix it. Maybe it’s time to be like WoW and pick up the slack. After all, with the three(!) new farm simulators that SE just announced for the Switch, they’ve got their hands full and don’t have time to maintain QOL for an old game like this.