The Final Fantasy XIV team has reminded the community on a few occasions that the use of third-party tools is not allowed under the terms of service. Now Naoki Yoshida has an even stronger warning: if the community wants higher level battle and raid content, it only makes sense to keep developing it if people aren’t trying to use tools to get their way through it.
This is far from the only MMORPG to not like or to prohibit the use of third-party tools, though several of them have varying policies on their use. Final Fantasy XIV’s policy on this is unequivocal though, and Yoshida reiterates this, saying “This has always been the case and will continue to be so, and unless announced otherwise, there are no plans to enact any changes”.
Following the release of The Omega Protocol (Ultimate) in 6.31, the team has received info about some exploits and leaks that have involved the new content. One of these involved a cutscene that would play when you clear the new content, which was shared before anyone had ever finished it. Something similar had happened with Dragonsong’s Reprise (Ultimate), so it’s easy to understand the strong response over The Omega Protocol.
“We are conducting an investigation on the matter, including reviewing of reports we have received, as well as self-confessions and other information” he says, noting that security is a priority, and those responsible will be banned. Yoshida also vows to keep expanding on prevention tactics.
The race to World First clear is at the heart of this issue, with some trying to find a shortcut, and with this not the first issue of this nature, changes are coming. After the World Clear details started coming in, the team shared info on them, including clear times. Yoshida will not do that for the time being, until there’s more internal discussion on handling the situation.
It’s understandably frustrating for the team to keep creating content that is challenging and able to be cleared without the use of tools to see people opt to take an advantage for some temporary glory.
You can read the full update over at Final Fantasy XIV.
