Modders did it to themselves

[Aidorouge]

And to be honest, it could even be the best move for SE to strike now that the mood of the FFXIV players is at its worst since... probably a very long time and counting on a 8.0 to try to recapture the love of the players.

Recapture the love of what players though if too many of have left by then and have recommended against others to play it? Something like this isn't going to stop the hemorrhaging Dawntrail started, it's only going to make it worse, and it's certainly not going to give Square-Enix a mulligan if they botch 8.0.
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Kind of... But what the ToS actually states, and how they enforce that ToS are different, which is a problem really, because it's only otherwise ever stated in the "Disappointed dad" conversation, and of course if we are assuming this was done because of ToS and not some larger security concern, then at what point them deem "Don't talk about it" is very arbitrary, seeing as people have been openly discussing it for years.

Not that I disagree with you, but when there is a disparity like the one presented here, then the rules do actually become very meaningless, since they are undermining their own rules, and doing it in such a way that actual enforcement is kind of arbitrary, again, allowing Mare to fester openly for years before electing to take an action.

To say nothing of the OTHER openly well-known mods that Square-Enix somehow still isn't going after, once more raising the issue of inconsistency.

If I had to make a top 5 list of "open secret" mods, Mare would be THIRD.
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As for comparing it to Parsing, they may not be linked in an adventurer plate, but they are certainly doing it via Lodestone, and then people aren't exactly being subtle with 'Allagan Melon' either.

I'd say the parsing thing was way worse because I don't recall having to copy & paste a phrase into my profile for Mare so my Lodestone WOULDN'T get its data scrapped like I had to do with "fflogs-hidden" and "tomestone-hidden".

That's arguably more intrusive/prompts harassment from others, yet there's some in this topic who think ACT is totes harmless while Mare was Satan-incarnate.
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I think some of you are under the illusion that by banning the degenerates SE is going to finally focus on delivering good traditional MMO content.

LOL

Well, you have to remember that some of these same people also legitimately believe that the game will return to a "golden age" and make more money if all the casuals get cast out too, so the delulu is strong.

[Zackneifein]

Recapture the love of what players though if too many of have left by then and have recommended against others to play it? Something like this isn't going to stop the hemorrhaging Dawntrail started, it's only going to make it worse, and it's certainly not going to give Square-Enix a mulligan if they botch 8.0.

I think you didn't understand what I meant (or I didn't express myself correctly, English isn't my first language).

I never said that it was going to stop the loss of players. I said that now the game is at its worst since before Shadowbringer, it's the perfect time to do the unpopular things. The loss of Mare isn't going to kill FFXIV but create drama for sure. If we take the hypothesis that it's Square Enix that chose to act against Mare, doing it now is a better idea that waiting the 8.0 and risking a bad buzz during a possibly "good" momentum for FFXIV.

To say nothing of the OTHER openly well-known mods that Square-Enix somehow still isn't going after, once more raising the issue of inconsistency.

If I had to make a top 5 list of "open secret" mods, Mare would be THIRD.

We still don't know, at my knowledge, if it's Square Enix. And if it is we don't know the reasons. Maybe Mare specifically is problematic and all the other well-known "third party software" aren't so they didn't had to act.