Are we going to keep pretending that PC and console players are the same?

[ForteNightshade]

The "don't ask, don't tell" mod policy is bizarre. Either allow mods or don't. It would make everything simpler if Square would make a call on this and, if they decide to go the "no mods" route, then actually include some sort of anti-mod software if they want to equalize console and PC players. Arguably, even without mods, PC players will always have technological advantages over console players, though.

Bluntly stated, the reason they won't do this is they can't. We have long moved past the point of putting that rabbit back in his hat. Taking a stance of "no third party" and actively forcing DRM would cost them millions. The sheer number of players using mods and/or plugins is staggering. And a not insignificant number of those players will quit the game instantly the second they attempt this. Which is why SE takes the stance they do. It essentially the best of both worlds from their perspective. Players can customize to their heart's content but if they make it too public, SE always has the agility to step in.

[Azureskies01]

Bluntly stated, the reason they won't do this is they can't. We have long moved past the point of putting that rabbit back in his hat. Taking a stance of "no third party" and actively forcing DRM would cost them millions. The sheer number of players using mods and/or plugins is staggering. And a not insignificant number of those players will quit the game instantly the second they attempt this. Which is why SE takes the stance they do. It essentially the best of both worlds from their perspective. Players can customize to their heart's content but if they make it too public, SE always has the agility to step in.

Let's say for a second that you are right even though you aren't. What incentive would SE have for keeping the teams that make any difficult/challenging content if they know for a fact people are just going to cheat to complete it? I'll answer the question as I'm not sure you would be able to understand it, there would be none. Yoshi-p has stated as much himself so yeah lets just all continue to think that them banning cheaters will end up killing their game somehow. Even though by allowing cheaters to exist in their game with no recourse they are hamstringing their own development teams.

I look forward to the day when they disable CC and stop coming out with savage and ults just for you, random player that like to cheat. <3

[ForteNightshade]

Let's say for a second that you are right even though you aren't. What incentive would SE have for keeping the teams that make any difficult/challenging content if they know for a fact people are just going to cheat to complete it? I'll answer the question as I'm not sure you would be able to understand it, there would be none. Yoshi-p has stated as much himself so yeah lets just all continue to think that them banning cheaters will end up killing their game somehow. Even though by allowing cheaters to exist in their game with no recourse they are hamstringing their own development teams.

I look forward to the day when they disable CC and stop coming out with savage and ults just for you, random player that like to cheat. <3

Holy assumption batman. Glad to see you argue in good faith. I didn't mention a single plugin nor that I have any installed but you immediately accused me of using cheats. I mean, guess I could slay with a cute hairstyle but I dunno. <3

Putting all that aside, you yourself have acknowledged the widespread use of third party these days. That isn't exclusive to just the raid scene. In fact, appearance mods have become even more ubiquitous. Not to mention simply QoL plugins like chat bubble. Throwing around assumptions that only cheaters use third party is just plain ignorance at point. So when you advocate for DRM, all of these player demographics are being impacted. To put into perspective the size of the RP community alone, well... two very popular plugins have unique download estimations exceeding half a million. Once you account for everything else, we've reached the point where there are more PC players using at least some form of third party than not.

So let's do a bit of math here. If say, 100,000 players--less than 10%-- of the playerbase quit after a completely full proof form of DRM broke all third party tools. That's an estimated loss of 18M USD, annually. Not only is that a very low estimation but is just the subscription fee, no retainers or Mogstation purchases. Suffice it to say, it's an enormous amount of money suddenly gone for no actual benefit. Square Enix gets literally nothing out of enforcing this.

As for why bother developing hard content. Has it ever occurred to you the majority of players don't actually cheat? Those cheat plugins don't make up even a fragment of the QoL ones or mods, all of which do nothing to impact actual gameplay. AM is only a thing in Ultimate PF, which is a fraction of an almost small fraction. Something to keep in mind too, is Ultimate was never intended for party finder. JP, famous for how active their PF scene is, barely touches any of the Ultimates, including the hilariously power crept UwU. And their solution for Gaols is to kill four players so the mechanic can only function on the remaining three (it can't target the MT), thus nullifying it completely. TOP and DSR basically don't exist in PF for them. So this notion that cheating is taking over just isn't really a thing outside a very specific niche in a fight never designed for a PF environment.

In other words, they'll design hard content for everyone else because most players aren't using those particular plugins.

The problem with banning cheaters is it's an all or nothing deal. They aren't going to pick between this plugin or that one. All of them will go away, which will have a much larger impact than AM ever did.

[Saraide]

Let's say for a second that you are right even though you aren't. What incentive would SE have for keeping the teams that make any difficult/challenging content if they know for a fact people are just going to cheat to complete it? I'll answer the question as I'm not sure you would be able to understand it, there would be none. Yoshi-p has stated as much himself so yeah lets just all continue to think that them banning cheaters will end up killing their game somehow. Even though by allowing cheaters to exist in their game with no recourse they are hamstringing their own development teams.

I look forward to the day when they disable CC and stop coming out with savage and ults just for you, random player that like to cheat. <3

SE makes ultimates and savage because that drives engagement for months for tons of people with very little investments in terms of new assets. Not out of the goodness of their hearts or for the love of challenging content, they do it for money.

[Turtledeluxe]

SE makes ultimates and savage because that drives engagement for months for tons of people with very little investments in terms of new assets. Not out of the goodness of their hearts or for the love of challenging content, they do it for money.

What does that have to do with the post you responded to? Yoshi P has directly stated there is no point in difficult content if people are just going to cheat. Sorry your adoring game has contradictory policies.

[Azureskies01]

What? Anticheat not being the same as anti piracy software? Shocking.



BattleEye specifically is an absolute garbage fire. I found that out when playing Ark.

Denuvo has been shown to reduce performance in pretty much every capcom title it is put in. Where as something that you say is somehow more intensive is implemented in every competitive shooter and online game without those same performance hits. When the analogy goes right over the person's head �. I guess the forums don't like emojis so ill just say Woooshhh as the text version of what the emoji was.

Battleye isn't going to catch everything but Rainbow Six uses it to at least some degree with some of the ban waves due to having it in their game. Also that game runs just fine with using BE. We understand that you want your cheats but next time use logic when you want to argue a point.

If your anti cheat doesn't have ring 0 access, I don't think it's gonna be of much help...

True, the more access the anticheat has the easier it would be to find and ban cheaters so thank you for making the case for using something like nProtect like Helldivers 2 does.

The "don't ask, don't tell" mod policy is bizarre. Either allow mods or don't. It would make everything simpler if Square would make a call on this and, if they decide to go the "no mods" route, then actually include some sort of anti-mod software if they want to equalize console and PC players. Arguably, even without mods, PC players will always have technological advantages over console players, though.

This is true, the fact that you can get a widescreen monitor will give you a slight advantage and there are a million other things that PC players would be able to do for a slight advantage. However there is a big **** difference between a widescreen monitor and AM/cactbot/1 key rotations/zoom mod/ any and all other plugins out there.

[PercibelTheren]

Denuvo has been shown to reduce performance in pretty much every capcom title it is put in. Where as something that you say is somehow more intensive is implemented in every competitive shooter and online game without those same performance hits. When the analogy goes right over the person's head �. I guess the forums don't like emojis so ill just say Woooshhh as the text version of what the emoji was.

Battleye isn't going to catch everything but Rainbow Six uses it to at least some degree with some of the ban waves due to having it in their game. Also that game runs just fine with using BE. We understand that you want your cheats but next time use logic when you want to argue a point.

I never said anticheat was more of a performance hit than Denuvo. I said it tanks performance, which it does, especially on weaker machines. I just took issue with you comparing the two because it's apples to oranges. Anticheat works very differently from what people theorise Denuvo does, too. I also pointed out that anticheat software is invasive and you seem not to have any comebacks to that.

Battleye is a big part of the reason I refuse to play on official Ark servers. It crashes people's games, randomly kicks them, I've had it give me a BSoD, too.

I do find it funny that the moment someone disagrees with you, you accuse them of cheating. I have never installed a single plugin and I don't plan on it. This is largely an issue of principle and privacy for me. Would not wanting a cop looking over my shoulder automatically mean I must be doing something illegal? If you're going to get snarky, at least have something to say that isn't putting words in my mouth and accusing me of cheating.

[Turtledeluxe]

That depends.

PC and console players are the same.

Cheaters and modders are, unfortunately, not the same as PC and console players.

I hope this helps you.

I should've actually read the full post I guess because the title of the thread doesn't really match what you are asking imo. You are asking if the devs will implement an anti cheat feature. The answer to that is: no.