We are pleased to present the full digest of the Letter from the Producer LIVE Part LVII! If you missed the live stream, or if you just want to watch it again (and again), check it out below!
* Don't forget to select 720p option to watch the video in HD!
Patch 5.2 Special Part 2
Continuing from the previous LIVE letter, we covered more of the upcoming content that will be implemented in Patch 5.2! We showed gameplay for certain sections, so be sure to check out the video.
Echoes of a Fallen Star Trailer
We kicked off the broadcast by revealing the trailer for Patch 5.2.
Patch 5.2 is scheduled to release on Tuesday, February 18.
Regarding Mods and Third Party Tools
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Near the end of last year, inappropriate screenshots that were created using mods and the usage of third-party tools in endgame content became a hot topic, so we went over these topics to provide our stance as the development and operations teams.
Before the matter of whether mods are allowed or not, posting inappropriate screenshots using mods violates simple public decency, so please don't do it. Not only will you face risks such as account suspension, you may even face penalties in real life.
In addition to this issue of decency, we are aware that there has been constant debate over whether mods are allowed or not. “Mods” refer to the addition of graphics and maps that do not exist in the game, or data that alters the game’s programming. Installing and playing with these is a violation of the FFXIV Terms of Service. As such, our answer to “Are mods allowed?” would be “It’s prohibited by the Terms of Service.”
In some cases, there have been games where mods improved their gameplay value and led to growth in their community activity, and the developers officially endorsed the mod. Situations like these where the players, community, development and operations teams respected each other brought about this “mod culture,” which we believe isn’t something that should be broadly categorized into “good” or “bad.”
Next we’ll move onto third-party tools. As a premise, the use of third-party tools is also prohibited by the FFXIV Terms of Service. As such, like mods, if we were asked whether using third-party tools is allowed, our answer would be “Please don’t use them.” However, what would be considered a “tool” will vary for each person, making it extremely difficult to draw a line. The developers also do not have the right to confirm what kinds of applications are installed on your computer or smartphones, and do not have the right to ask you to refrain from using certain applications.
Suppose we were asked “Are we allowed to use FFXIV and voice chat programs at the same time?” Voice chat doesn’t directly interact with FFXIV’s data, and whether it should be considered a third-party tool is ambiguous, so it’d be difficult to provide a definitive answer. Even ACT, which calculates damage values based on the battle log displayed in-game, is difficult to determine as a tool or not and would be considered a grey area.
With that ambiguity in mind, the development and operations teams have taken the stance of “Please don’t use third party tools.” This is because using third-party tools puts that player’s account at risk.
We understand some of you would like us to clearly define what’s allowed, or simply prohibit all tools. However, it is impossible to individually verify an infinite number of applications and software, and we cannot determine what would be considered “all tools” due to the ambiguity of what constitutes the definition of a “tool” in the first place.
However, calculating another player’s DPS and posting that information online to shame them is clearly harassment and warrants a penalty. That would be an issue even before we consider whether using tools is allowed or not. Additionally, we often receive requests for an official damage calculation tool, but we would never implement one. The reason for this is because it may become the root of many disputes within the community.
Finally, we’d like to explain our policy on plugins, such as those for ACT. In the category of plugins, there are some malicious ones that negatively disrupt game balance or fraudulently manipulate memory. Some examples include the plugin that automatically placed waymarks that was widely talked about in the community, and the plugin that placed self-made graphics on invisible AoEs to make them appear to be visible. Keep in mind that these have an extremely high risk of resulting in a penalty. The development and operations teams have been working on the system side to prevent these types of malicious plugins.
Tools, reporting wars, penalties... these wouldn’t be relevant to you if you were enjoying the game normally. We’d like for players to enjoy the game itself, and we also would like to enjoy working together with our players as we develop the game.
Additional Waymarks and New Save/Load Feature
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As a result of our countermeasure against the plugin mentioned above, as of Patch 5.2 you will no longer be able to place waymarks once a battle has commenced. However, implementing only this would cause a loss of functionality for many players for what a small group of plugin users did. To counteract it, we increased the number of waymarks to eight to lessen the need for re-placing the waymarks during each phase. We will also be adding new features that can save and restore waymark positions per content. This means you’ll be able to save and replicate the position of waymarks that were placed by other players as well. We showed this off in the gameplay as well, so be sure to check it out.