Best part of a new patch? Third party tools not working.

[Nyxs]

With how you made your char and how you glam perhaps you should use em.

[Reinha]

Couldn't use chat bubbles so couldn't clear. So frustrating.

[Reinhardt_Azureheim]

Why do people care so much if others use cactbot? Its not like the EX fights are remotely difficult.

To be honest in our group we simply run with the policy "you can use it, but we don't recommend it" as I am calling for my group for one and we worry about overreliance on the tool. It slows improvement if used excessively.

[Leifei]

Congratulations to all of the players who cleared content today *without* the use of third party tools as the game is intended to be played. Thank you!

[Fredco191]

R.I.P. to the people who use that one plugin for cosmetic mods.

[caffe_macchiato]

FFXIV is an add-on game now. It took us nine years to get where WoW is, but we finally did it. Many people in this thread are grateful and happy for our plugins. They use them for the same reason WoW players do: QoL and to add new features that take the company a while to do.

Being the “add-on free game” has always been a bragging point for us. “We don’t need add-ons!” we used to tell ourselves. But then we did. And so the gap between FFXIV and WoW has closed. One less argument we have in our favor.

If anything, the games have become outright reversed from where they were two years ago. WoW is easier for new players to grasp thanks to Dragonflight, and WoW players don’t need a smorgasbord of third-party programs running. All plugins are QoL only (graphics mods aren’t allowed), and they all run in-line. FFXIV uses several third-party programs including ACT, Cactpot, Dalamud, and xivlauncher. Their plugins are small and modular, while ours are these behemoths running on spaghetti code and require numerous executables running in the background. And we say this is less add-on intrusion than WoW.

And that’s not to mention the massive growth in popularity that graphics mods have seen in the past year. Even if you don’t use them, you likely know someone who does. And they’re not just client-side: with Mare, you can share your mods with others. Ever see someone with “Mare Lamentorium” in their adventure plates? Yep. And if you think it can’t possibly affect you, try getting into a screenshot contest or do roleplaying without it. The community has changed and it’s not going back. And you’re okay with it.

This is the ideal FFXIV character. You may not like it, but this is peak performance.

[Vahlnir]

[ThaCa]

Everyone is always talking about the third party but what about fourth and beyond?

[Renalt]

This is the ideal FFXIV character. You may not like it, but this is peak performance.

[RecoveryPotion]

With how you made your char and how you glam perhaps you should use em.

This almost made me laugh out loud at work :x