Final Fantasy XIV (Guide in first post)

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Frenzic

Lord Nagafen Raider
884
61
Gilgamesh is the #1 high end raid server.

Ah ok. I have not raided yet, but the bosses I've fought are a little annoying. I feel like I'm just running around dodging ground reticles. I was hoping this changes, but I don't think so.

Also can someone explain to me why cat girls are the hotness? I think the hyur females look good and have the bonus of not being a furry... Same with the bunnies. I thought maybe this was a Jap thing, but nope, seems tons of people are into it.
 

GuardianX

Perpetually Pessimistic
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Ah ok. I have not raided yet, but the bosses I've fought are a little annoying. I feel like I'm just running around dodging ground reticles. I was hoping this changes, but I don't think so.

Also can someone explain to me why cat girls are the hotness? I think the hyur females look good and have the bonus of not being a furry... Same with the bunnies. I thought maybe this was a Jap thing, but nope, seems tons of people are into it.

The thing that changes in difficulties is the tightness of the rotations on abilities and the overlaps and the damage. So Instead of you having 1 minute between X ability cycle, you have 45 seconds and the space you have to stand in is super small.

This is why raiders use addons and why those addons are things that show the exact center of your characters pixel foot-print.

I dunno, I never considered FFXIV fights to be super fun in terms of mechanics. They are all derivatives of "Don't Stand in Fire" and some of them have the ever fun "Figure out the Hat Trick". Most of the fights are a "Figure it out once and never fail it again" system in terms of mechanics, in harder modes this is a Bop-it level endeavour with marks everywhere on the map and moving to certain marks at certain times to avoid things. Starting the fight over if someone messes up the rotation.

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Sidebar, everyone should be using addons until they outright ban people for using addons. The only caveat is, don't talk about addons in game.

XIVLauncher -- XIVLauncher

100% take a look at this place if you haven't already, the addon "Simple tweaks" is a god-send.

An idea of how many people use it:
1678476575390.png


Penumbra -- allows you to do Visual changes to the game using 3rd party assets. you can go the full perv route or do like I do and get a HD render of your character instead of the "HQ" ones in game. Cool part is, if you have an appearance set for your character that's static, most likely someone has done a HQ version of it.

Visibility -- Allows you to hide other players not in your party / friends list / guild..

From the repo: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/daemitus/MyDalamudPlugins/master/pluginmaster.json

Yes Already -- Clicks conversational boxes, no more getting asked to leave an area ( has filters so you don't fuck up and leave a place you can't return to).
 
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Chysamere

FF14 Free Company Master
<WoW Guild Officer>
3,489
3,200
The thing that changes in difficulties is the tightness of the rotations on abilities and the overlaps and the damage. So Instead of you having 1 minute between X ability cycle, you have 45 seconds and the space you have to stand in is super small.

This is why raiders use addons and why those addons are things that show the exact center of your characters pixel foot-print.

I dunno, I never considered FFXIV fights to be super fun in terms of mechanics. They are all derivatives of "Don't Stand in Fire" and some of them have the ever fun "Figure out the Hat Trick". Most of the fights are a "Figure it out once and never fail it again" system in terms of mechanics, in harder modes this is a Bop-it level endeavour with marks everywhere on the map and moving to certain marks at certain times to avoid things. Starting the fight over if someone messes up the rotation.

---

Sidebar, everyone should be using addons until they outright ban people for using addons. The only caveat is, don't talk about addons in game.

XIVLauncher -- XIVLauncher

100% take a look at this place if you haven't already, the addon "Simple tweaks" is a god-send.

An idea of how many people use it:
View attachment 462601

Penumbra -- allows you to do Visual changes to the game using 3rd party assets. you can go the full perv route or do like I do and get a HD render of your character instead of the "HQ" ones in game. Cool part is, if you have an appearance set for your character that's static, most likely someone has done a HQ version of it.

Visibility -- Allows you to hide other players not in your party / friends list / guild..

From the repo: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/daemitus/MyDalamudPlugins/master/pluginmaster.json

Yes Already -- Clicks conversational boxes, no more getting asked to leave an area ( has filters so you don't fuck up and leave a place you can't return to).

I do not use addons - no addons are required for anyone for any content in this game. They're simply a crutch, and you'll instantly be banned if Square Enix gets a whiff of you using one.

They have repeatedly and unambiguously stated that addons are not allowed. Not that they tolerate them - that they are not allowed. If you get caught, you're done, simple as that.

There's no addon that adds functionality worth that.
 
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Frenzic

Lord Nagafen Raider
884
61
Thank you guys. I appreciate any advice.

I just hit level 50 yesterday, still doing ARR MSQ. I would like to do the content in order if possible. Finish everything from ARR before starting Heavensward etc.

If i'm on Adamantoise, can I still play with other NA players?
 

GuardianX

Perpetually Pessimistic
<Bronze Donator>
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I do not use addons - no addons are required for anyone for any content in this game. They're simply a crutch, and you'll instantly be banned if Square Enix gets a whiff of you using one.

They have repeatedly and unambiguously stated that addons are not allowed. Not that they tolerate them - that they are not allowed. If you get caught, you're done, simple as that.

There's no addon that adds functionality worth that.

Ehh I think you are over-reacting about the punishments. The people who streamed / uploaded the kill of their world first didn't even get perma banned from the looks of it.





Given they streamed / uploaded a video for world first in a tightly competitive / vindictive raiding scene, this should tell you all you need to know about their stance about addons.

---

As for "No addons are required", yeah I agree, you can play this game with a controller sitting on your couch...

Addons make this game infinitely more enjoyable though, from shit like making your house look amazing, to redoing textures or even changing their UI.

Either way, this will be the 2nd year of using addons for me, the water is fine..
 

Chysamere

FF14 Free Company Master
<WoW Guild Officer>
3,489
3,200
Ehh I think you are over-reacting about the punishments. The people who streamed / uploaded the kill of their world first didn't even get perma banned from the looks of it.





Given they streamed / uploaded a video for world first in a tightly competitive / vindictive raiding scene, this should tell you all you need to know about their stance about addons.

---

As for "No addons are required", yeah I agree, you can play this game with a controller sitting on your couch...

Addons make this game infinitely more enjoyable though, from shit like making your house look amazing, to redoing textures or even changing their UI.

Either way, this will be the 2nd year of using addons for me, the water is fine..


They deleted their accounts. I think all of them, but if not all, most of them. Those accounts were permanently tainted.

There are also streamers using mods, even benign ones, who have been banned by SE after being reported for using third party tools by the community.

They basically have a "don't ask don't tell" policy when it comes to mods. They don't want to know about them. BUT if they find out you are using them, your ass is done. YoshiP himself considers any addon giving a gameplay advantage to be cheating.

Personally I am not against UI mods or texture mods, or anything basically playing with your graphics. I am against anything giving gameplay advantage. That being said....

YoshiP has repeatedly warned us that if we keep pushing at it, he's going to be forced to bring the hammer down. When/if that happens, I don't want to lose my account. SE has been waggling a finger at us for years saying "Don't do it" so we have no ground to stand on if they pull the trigger.

Anyone should feel free to use mods if they want to, just be aware of the potential repercussions and never, ever talk about them in game. Ever.
 

Janx

<Silver Donator>
6,602
17,988
I do not use addons - no addons are required for anyone for any content in this game. They're simply a crutch, and you'll instantly be banned if Square Enix gets a whiff of you using one.

They have repeatedly and unambiguously stated that addons are not allowed. Not that they tolerate them - that they are not allowed. If you get caught, you're done, simple as that.

There's no addon that adds functionality worth that.
I use the add on that combines the 3 button rotations for those classes that have it (ex:mechanist and gunslinger). I main monk though so no go there due to rotation complexity. Also ACT because I like to know if my personal dmg is lagging and need to figure out how to up my game
 
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Zish

Trakanon Raider
49
27
Those people deleted their accounts completely voluntarily. It's a culture thing for them, something to do with "feeling shame" or whatever that is.

You 100% should use addons if you play XIV. They improve the experience dramatically. I would never suggest, however, using the raid addons that tell you exactly what to do, as it's the complete opposite of how the game was designed.

The only way they would or could find out you are using addons is if you're streaming it in public or if you admit to it in game. Which... why would you do either of these things?
 
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Chris

Potato del Grande
19,436
-10,732
Thank you guys. I appreciate any advice.

I just hit level 50 yesterday, still doing ARR MSQ. I would like to do the content in order if possible. Finish everything from ARR before starting Heavensward etc.

If i'm on Adamantoise, can I still play with other NA players?
It's a good idea to unlock everything so you can join more parties doing random roulette dungeon for bonus rewards.

ARR has some cool optional dungeons and the Binding Coil of Bahamut raid (queue may be long for this, I haven't done it and I have 100s of hours in the game). These will be the least run optional things since in ARR they released more content than was actually needed.

You can visit other data centers and play with us.
 
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Chysamere

FF14 Free Company Master
<WoW Guild Officer>
3,489
3,200
I use the add on that combines the 3 button rotations for those classes that have it (ex:mechanist and gunslinger). I main monk though so no go there due to rotation complexity. Also ACT because I like to know if my personal dmg is lagging and need to figure out how to up my game

I don't really consider ACT to be a mod. 99.9% of it is simply reading the saved combat log on your computer, and it doesn't interact with the game in any way. I've used it in the past, but not for awhile, purely because I wanted to check to see if I was doing something wrong.

There are some mods I would really enjoy. I hear there's one that makes macros work far more efficiently which I would die for because I'm a macro slut. But I won't use anything that requires XIVlauncher because I am positive SE can detect that if they want to and that's what the ban hammer is going to come down on.
 
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GuardianX

Perpetually Pessimistic
<Bronze Donator>
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They deleted their accounts. I think all of them, but if not all, most of them. Those accounts were permanently tainted.

So, you are saying that they didn't get banned...the PLAYERS deleted the accounts themselves?

I dunno that sounds like a pretty lax punishment for something they consider to be vastly against the TOS.

I don't really consider ACT to be a mod.

I mean I'm not trying to hammer the point home but even ACT uses memory / packet reading for their parsing which allows things like DPS meters as well as Cactbot.

1678479951389.png


the "Output" location is for debug, it's not reading your combat log.

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All hoensty, if you all read the TOS their list of actions that will get action taken against your account is pretty vast and TYPICALLY it all relates to some form of "Harassment". Even Yoshi-P has said that the primary reason for a person being banned for addons will usually relate to harassment and not the actual use of the addon.

AKA, Someone running a mod tells another person they would play better if they run a mod. That act of tellign a person to get a mod because they play bad is the reason for them being suspended, not directly them running a mod.
 

Zish

Trakanon Raider
49
27
But I won't use anything that requires XIVlauncher because I am positive SE can detect that if they want to and that's what the ban hammer is going to come down on.
They can't. They legally cannot use anything that tells them what other programs your computer is using.
 

Frenzic

Lord Nagafen Raider
884
61
Those people deleted their accounts completely voluntarily. It's a culture thing for them, something to do with "feeling shame" or whatever that is.

You 100% should use addons if you play XIV. They improve the experience dramatically. I would never suggest, however, using the raid addons that tell you exactly what to do, as it's the complete opposite of how the game was designed.

The only way they would or could find out you are using addons is if you're streaming it in public or if you admit to it in game. Which... why would you do either of these things?

Are those addons included with the ffxiv launcher? I took a quick peak at the plugins, but I'm limited at work. I'm curious which addons are really good. Can't really ask my guild mates about this one ;)
 

Cybsled

Naxxramas 1.0 Raider
17,105
13,629
Solo'd what, the new stuff to level 30 or something?

The final floor of the new deep dungeon. The story only goes to floor 30, but there are floors past that like PotD and HoH.
Those people deleted their accounts completely voluntarily. It's a culture thing for them, something to do with "feeling shame" or whatever that is.

You 100% should use addons if you play XIV. They improve the experience dramatically. I would never suggest, however, using the raid addons that tell you exactly what to do, as it's the complete opposite of how the game was designed.

The only way they would or could find out you are using addons is if you're streaming it in public or if you admit to it in game. Which... why would you do either of these things?

There is a legality element to mods in Japan. My understanding is there are potentially penalties that SquareEnix could suffer if they are found culpable in allowing them
 

GuardianX

Perpetually Pessimistic
<Bronze Donator>
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They can't. They legally cannot use anything that tells them what other programs your computer is using.

Ehh there are ways.

I feel like the easiest would be a patcher 1 way confirmation. Person runs the actual patcher, server receives a 1 way confirmation. Person doesn't run the patcher, 1 way confirmation doesn't happen, you still log in with a flagged account.
 

GuardianX

Perpetually Pessimistic
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The final floor of the new deep dungeon. The story only goes to floor 30, but there are floors past that like PotD and HoH.

Man that lights a fire under me, after i read what you said I looked up some WHM soloing it all. That dude was getting hit by EVERYTHING under the sun. Guess i just need to out-gear it.
 
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Chysamere

FF14 Free Company Master
<WoW Guild Officer>
3,489
3,200
They can't. They legally cannot use anything that tells them what other programs your computer is using.

Legally not in Japan, for now. Japan law changes pretty quickly. They're a bit more on top of the digital stuff than over there in the US. They also give a lot less fucks about your privacy, digital or otherwise. I can definitely see a world where SE following Japanese law is forced to ban people for mods.

Square Enix doesn't /want/ to be forced to ban people for Mods, they would much prefer people just STFU about them and do what they gotta do. But we were on the verge of it going too far late last year and YoshiP had to come out again and tell us to knock it the fuck off.

So, you are saying that they didn't get banned...the PLAYERS deleted the accounts themselves?

I dunno that sounds like a pretty lax punishment for something they consider to be vastly against the TOS.

I mean I'm not trying to hammer the point home but even ACT uses memory / packet reading for their parsing which allows things like DPS meters as well as Cactbot.

I'm saying they didn't get a chance to be banned. Would they have been banned? I'm not sure. I think I remember reading that all of them that got CAUGHT cheating deleted their account. You have to remember not every single member of the group was caught cheating. In fact, I believe there was a youtube video from the POV of one of their melee dps showing he was using no mods. But I also heard they were all pressured to use mods, so who knows.

I haven't used ACT for a long time, but I was under the impression you could disable all the live parsing stuff and simply work with the raw logs. Using it as an upload tool for FFlogs basically, or for your personal perusal. I may be wrong, I'm no expert.
 

Zish

Trakanon Raider
49
27
Are those addons included with the ffxiv launcher? I took a quick peak at the plugins, but I'm limited at work. I'm curious which addons are really good. Can't really ask my guild mates about this one ;)
I don't think they are, actually. There are some mods the XIVLauncher team do not have on their main list for one reason or another. (I assumed you were asking about the boss mods, but XIVLauncher does come with Dalamud which allows you to install various addons from an in-game menu)

There is a legality element to mods in Japan. My understanding is there are potentially penalties that SquareEnix could suffer if they are found culpable in allowing them
That's the first I've ever heard of any such law. Their stance has always been they disallow mods because 1. console players and 2. some mods are literally cheating.
 
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Cybsled

Naxxramas 1.0 Raider
17,105
13,629
There is an actual law in Japan called the Unfair Competition Prevention Law. A lot focuses on consoles (modding a console can lead to jail time technically), but it also has provisions for modifying a game or save file I think.

Regardless as to scope and if it could be applied or not to the PC game, I imagine SquareEnix doesn’t want to even open that can of worms since they are Japanese developers