As the third Final Fantasy 14 Ultimate race in a row ends in MMO raiders caught using add-ons, World Race lead bans them outright: "Not everyone will be happy, but I think this is the best way forward"
The latest Final Fantasy 14 Ultimate raid has not come without its drama as players hoping to snag the top spot in the race to clear the fight first were caught and disqualified for cheating - a situation that has resulted in a controversial complete rework of the World Race's rules.
Following patch 7.1 and the arrival of Futures Unwritten, Square Enix's most recent Ultimate raid, the drama surrounding the use of third-party add-ons and tools has once again surfaced. After a static known by the community as "GRIND" cleared the latest Ultimate last week and beat other teams in doing so first, it was discovered that at least one member had been using one of the MMO's most infamous plugins while participating in the World Race.
It wasn't the first time that a World Race winner had been caught "cheating" via add-ons - last year, a similar debacle unfolded when the winning team was found to be using third-party tools after completing the Omega Protocol Ultimate raid, prompting director and producer Naoki " Yoshi-P" Yoshida to dub the situation "extremely disappointing." It also happened during Dragonsong Ultimate, the Ultimate raid race preceding Omega Protocol.
These three Ultimate-related "cheating" scenarios in a row have prompted the World Race Tracker lead himself to completely rework the rules - and they're controversial, to say the least. "No add-ons can be used and no terms of service" with Final Fantasy 14 can be broken, according to the new guidelines. This means no third-party tools, including damage-tracking software like ACT - one that a massive portion of the MMO's raiding base uses.
I have written up my thoughts on my perspective and decisions regarding The FFXIV World Race and it's future:https://t.co/SYj93XuLhqNot everyone will be happy, but I think this is the best way forward.December 3, 2024
"No datamining attempts should be made by members of the team or someone who is trying to support the team," reads the second rule - and possibly the least
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