Modders did it to themselves

[Doomed_Raven]

Imagine if CBSIII had this same enthusiasm for the many thousands of Lalafell RMT bots teleporting through the ground and actively wrecking the in-game economy, or hindering the ability to do certain field content/logs involving mobs.

I don't use mods as on PS5 and don't care what people do behind closed doors with clothes/aesthetics, though I can understand it starting to harm the IP if it got out of control and too public (i.e that billboard ad).

[Clerith]

S.E. is losing players no matter what direction they take with mods and plugins.
If they crack down more strictly on third-party mods, plugins, and launchers, many players will look for other games where modding isn't a major problem.
And it's not just about visual aspects — some launchers also help with connectivity.
On the other hand, inaction also significantly damages the reputation/sales, while also making the game very unsafe for minors.


To elaborate on it;
A YouTuber recently showed what the game looked like with Mare and Synchshells.
And it's just as Mare's creator admitted: "A lot of it is absolutely disgusting and problematic — to the point where he openly said he's lost some faith in humanity"—
and that can absolutely ruin the fun and perspective on the game for many.

It also showed, that neither the players' appearances nor their emotes can be trusted to be what you see, and that's just a very bad feeling/realization to have.
You're constantly questioning what you're seeing and don't want to sit next to characters you don't know.
And that, in turn, destroys the immersion enormously.

And not only that, but players can also "abuse" other players' characters and their minions and post screenshots of their actions on Discord.
Or you might be invited to an in-game wedding and later find out that everyone except you was naked.
And let's not pretend that only Rohblox has a problem with groomers/stalkers.
18+ clubs are openly advertised. There is no age verification for these things, and the game is rated 12+ in my country.
This means that the game simply cannot be safely recommended to minors – which also leads to fewer players (of the good kind) and sales.

That aside, Mods also affect the store in more than just one way.
Many people will tell you, that they only purchased something because they saw a modified version of it.
However, the ability to change appearance and races at any time through mods also leads to a loss of sales.

Both approaches, in turn, lead to a loss of players and money.
But only one approach is morally correct (to me at least).
And if nothing changes, then the game should definitely be given an "18+" age rating in every country.

[Saraide]

He's a world first raider that's had a lot of influence in combat perception in the player base because he's objectively really damn good at FFXIV. You can actually trace the healer rage and boycotts directly to him as and a few others in the media tour for Endwalker did the preview dungeon with no healers and cleared it with zero deaths. He's SO good he's on the shortlist of players that indirectly shape the meta.

But he's also stuck as a single game streamer that has had the air that he doesn't like the game he plays anymore and hasn't for a while, but actually makes bank during the ultimate and savage raid launches so he can't move on.

Healer outrage was a thing long before that media tour and his community was at the time openly hostile to anyone in support of the healer strike thread. That media tour run was merely the final straw.

Xeno himself wasnt hostile (unlike arthars) but did vehemently disagree with one of the core points of the healer strike thread which was nerfing tank self sustain.

[Xurtan]

Healer outrage started back in Stormblood, because for anyone that mained the role the writing was on the wall for homogenization and loss of class identity.