Cheaters and Add-ons

[Jeeqbit]

why the devs do little next to nothing to stop the rampant cheating that happens in this game.

1. They do, but they are only willing to stop cheating if they can detect it from the server side. This is because putting spyware on the client side would violate laws in some countries according to them, but realistically it wouldn't be good PR and there would be ways to circumvent it anyway.
2. They are more concerned if the "cheating" actually affects the server. This tends to result in them acting quickly because anything that can affect the server stability is a concern.
3. They also do not like if it causes an unfair advantage and if they find out about it, they do act on it but like I said, they are not willing to collect evidence directly from a person's computer so it's rarely acted on in practice if it doesn't leave any evidence or affect the server.

how can we fight the rampant cheating that happens in the game?

The answer to that is for the developers to implement the features of these "add-ons" where appropriate and possible, which is what they have committed to doing to tackle this issue. After all, people are using them because they want these features in the game and they are not.

With a new ultimate on the horizon i can only imagine of what type of cheat people will come up with so they can clear the fight...

You're right that they can't prevent it, but it's happened since early in the game's history (yes it was even happening in Heavensward), so the answer is this:

If you want to feel you did it legit, don't use them.
If you want to cheat, then I guess you can just deal with knowing that you did and hopefully it makes you feel good that you did?

It's not quite as black and white as that. There are people with disabilities whom find it helpful to use add-ons to keep up with others.

I don't use them to clear raids personally because I value the muscle memory you grow from not using them and how it shapes your brain for raiding better, but if someone else uses them, I don't really care. I only care that, one way or another, they are doing the mechanics right and not holding me back when we are meant to be at a certain prog point.