Re: Regarding the Use of Third-Party Programs and Player Safety

[Sarevok_Thordin]

The "fix" is a joke and half-baked.

Stop having the client do any kind of processing and have it do a simple "isOnAccountBlacklist(Target)" check on the server with a simple yes/no return.

The client should not be seeing IDs AT ALL. Honestly shocked at this.

[Wyssahtyn]

the level of incompetence on display from these devs, while expected, is still kind of shocking lol. there was only ever one acceptable fix for this entire issue and they still screwed it up. like, did the idea of "stop sending trackable info to clients" just not come up at all?

[NaoSen]

I was so dead set sure that this would be fixed in this patch to the point of siding with SE in another thread that it would be fixed. Since SURELY you cannot be stupid enough to half-ass it when you've taken heat on it, spoken about it on live letter etc...
Anything reversible will be reversed yet still they do it ????

The "fix" that isn't a fix didn't even need a major patch to implement they just used it to justify blacklist reset or as a patch feature point.

Why does this community have to be so freaking weird that this is even a issue to begin with, we have websites that maintain a profile of you based on your lodestone information history going back years (Past name's, free companies etc... whatever lodestone exposed), plugin's that once more use lodestone to maintain character name changes (It was in the github readme as one of the plugins that inspired it). "Want to be a weirdo ? Come play FFXIV, there's a home for you here !"

[Kaurhz]

I was so dead set sure that this would be fixed in this patch to the point of siding with SE in another thread that it would be fixed. Since SURELY you cannot be stupid enough to half-ass it when you've taken heat on it, spoken about it on live letter etc...
Anything reversible will be reversed yet still they do it ????

The "fix" that isn't a fix didn't even need a major patch to implement they just used it to justify blacklist reset or as a patch feature point.

Why does this community have to be so freaking weird that this is even a issue to begin with, we have websites that maintain a profile of you based on your lodestone information history going back years (Past name's, free companies etc... whatever lodestone exposed), plugin's that once more use lodestone to maintain character name changes (It was in the github readme as one of the plugins that inspired it). "Want to be a weirdo ? Come play FFXIV, there's a home for you here !"

Honestly I don't think the weird-ness is actually exclusive to XIV, some other communities are just as bad... The only major difference is that Yoshida's stance on third party tools, etc., just allows for these things to go utterly unchecked in broad daylight because heaven forbid we risk upsetting players by taking a hard stance on topics that should have a hard stance. If there were a backbone and if they actually enforced their own ToS, then people wouldn't dare try this stunt, just as they wouldn't in many other games.

[Kazuke_Miso]

Honestly I don't think the weird-ness is actually exclusive to XIV, some other communities are just as bad... The only major difference is that Yoshida's stance on third party tools, etc., just allows for these things to go utterly unchecked in broad daylight because heaven forbid we risk upsetting players by taking a hard stance on topics that should have a hard stance. If there were a backbone and if they actually enforced their own ToS, then people wouldn't dare try this stunt, just as they wouldn't in many other games.

They do enforce their ToS, it's just against players using Ungarmax, someone saying "your DPS sucks", or people posting an ERP party under Other on PF.

Oh, but against the big boys? No, nah, never.

Just based on the fact that it wasn't a priority for them to fix it ASAP, it was always clear that this wasn't really a concern for them. And it sucks, really. I hate that I'm talking like this about a game that I used to love dearly.

This game genuinely feels like maintenance mode in all but name. The content might as well be pumped out of an AI with how regurgitated and formulaic they are. They're just going through the motions.

[kajv95]

I was so dead set sure that this would be fixed in this patch to the point of siding with SE in another thread that it would be fixed. Since SURELY you cannot be stupid enough to half-ass it when you've taken heat on it, spoken about it on live letter etc...
Anything reversible will be reversed yet still they do it ????

The "fix" that isn't a fix didn't even need a major patch to implement they just used it to justify blacklist reset or as a patch feature point.

Why does this community have to be so freaking weird that this is even a issue to begin with, we have websites that maintain a profile of you based on your lodestone information history going back years (Past name's, free companies etc... whatever lodestone exposed), plugin's that once more use lodestone to maintain character name changes (It was in the github readme as one of the plugins that inspired it). "Want to be a weirdo ? Come play FFXIV, there's a home for you here !"

I was wondering how you felt about this, considering everything that was said before (and admittedly, I was rude about it... sorry!)

For me, this was unfortunately completely within expectations. It took them a second addressing after "kindly stop pls" didn't work and considering the incredibly bad explanations we've had in the past, such as while they were explaining why the hiding players at quest NPCs feature was so limited, I just don't think anyone there really cares. It's often all a bunch of lip service that doesn't really make sense if you have any background in computing.

Just based on the fact that it wasn't a priority for them to fix it ASAP, it was always clear that this wasn't really a concern for them. And it sucks, really. I hate that I'm talking like this about a game that I used to love dearly.

I definitely agree with that last statement, this game is... genuinely inviting to weirdos, and the community is overall very accommodating for it as well.

[brinn12]

The stalking plugin was the breaking point for many players who decided to quit recently, yet even that wasn’t enough to make SE take real action. Instead, we got a 'solution' that makes updating the plugin slightly harder.

At this rate, I don’t know what else needs to happen for them to wake up, but I’d rather not be around to see it.

[MatchaokaCha]

Another reason I regret re-subbing to this shittified game just to have fun with a friend. There's no defending this company in any way at this point.

[ONLYSTEEL]

Another reason I regret re-subbing to this shittified game just to have fun with a friend. There's no defending this company in any way at this point.

Honestly I would never sub to FF14 just to play with a friend lmao. I pretty much only play BG3 or Helldivers 2 with friends right now. Low-key glad none of my friends are interested in FF14 anymore.

[chip793]

Yet another one for the long list of things that were patched without actually being patched. Emote cancels, teleport trading, you name it, it's probably got a workaround in the current version because the game's held together with paperclips and prayers running on PS3/4 architecture.