FFXIV Team Caught Cheating While Clearing Challenging New Raid

Image: Square Enix/Kotaku/PngAAA/Leon Bennett (Getty Images)

A Final Fantasy XIV raid team has had its world record revoked after being caught using tools that developer Square Enix considers a form of cheating.

Unnamed_, an FFXIV raid team, has become the first in the world to complete the Omega Protocol, an exceptionally difficult new ultimate raid first introduced to the MMO in patch 6.31 last week. However, shortly after the official FFXIV Twitter account congratulated the team on their achievement, a video circulated online of an unnamed raid player using UI mod plugins to make the game bigger. in-game camera in order to get a better view of the raid battle, according to PC Player. (The use of third-party tools is prohibited in FFXIV.) The incident led to the team being punished, and game director Naoki Yoshida expressed his deep disappointment.

As reported by PC Gamer, Square Enix removed the achievements of the eight unnamed raid players for completing the raid and the team record was removed from FFLogs, a website that tracks FFXIV raid data.

One of the weirdest aspects of the story is how the cheating was revealed. Everything seemed normal on Monday morning when the team posted screenshots of their kill and established themselves as the first in the world to erase the Omega Protocol. However, as PC Gamer reports, later that day an unlisted YouTube video surfaced showing a member of Unnamed_ in the raid using a mod that allowed them to zoom out of the action and see the battle from a broader perspective. As for the origin of the video, unnamed member Feuer E’, who watched his teammates tackle the Omega Protocol raid via Discord’s screen sharing feature, claims that someone hacked into his channel. YouTube and uploaded the video there. The name of the YouTube channel, which translates to “Divine Judgment”, was created two days before the video’s post date. You can watch the video below.

ズームハック絶オメガ

FFXIV players often use plugins for quality of life purposes, such as modifying cosmetic items or damage logs, but using camera plugins is considered a no-no, in especially in World First raids, a constant source of tension between high-level players. and Square Enix.

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While some FFXIV players online have poked fun at raid team cheating by posting memes, others have pointed out how common plug-in usage is in the community, especially to complete a raid.

Kotaku has contacted Square Enix for comment.

The in-game rewards the team earned during the raid have been revoked. According to a translated screenshot of a message between a raid member and an FFXIV game master, whose translation has been verified by PC Gamer, the GM told a team member Unnamed_ that, although ‘they didn’t cheat directly, they “still took advantage of that cheating, and therefore profited from it,” before asking them to delete the items they received.

“Apologies for the late notice. We all just got some in-game punishment for this,” unnamed member Tatsuya Suzuki wrote in a tweet. caused to the FFXIV dev team, the community and all my friends. I will be careful in my activities from now on.

Yoshi-P’s Punishment

In a blog post, game director Naoki “Yoshi-P” Yoshida explained how he was “extremely disappointed” with the raid team’s use of third-party UI mods, “as player”.

It’s extremely disappointing for me personally to see this fuss around third-party tools again following what happened with Dragonsong’s Reprise (Ultimate). As the person responsible for full oversight of FFXIV, it is my responsibility to implement countermeasures and control the use of these tools, as well as to educate people not to use these types of third-party tools – this is especially unfortunate when I, as a gamer, encourage anyone who learns this content through trial and error and strives to clean it up.

At the end of the blog post, Yoshi-P reiterated that if the FFXIV team discovers “illicit use of third-party tools” in the future, he will not recognize this raid team as “the true world first”. .

Read more: Final Fantasy XIV director asks you not to be jerks

“I want to specifically apologize to the large number of you who continue to clear this content without using third-party tools, constantly streaming your progress, and continuing the process of trial and error,” wrote Yoshi-P at the end of the FFXIV blog post. “However, know that the Development and Operations teams notice all your passion. Be sure to take good care of yourself as you continue to tackle the Omega Protocol (Ultimate).