Final Fantasy 14's latest raid race is over, but the contest hasn't been without its drama, as one of the players in the initial winning team was caught red-handed using an unauthorized plugin.
Earlier this week, Patch 7.11 rolled out in the MMORPG, adding the new level 100 Futures Rewritten Ultimate raid (or FRU) to the mix for any players looking for a real challenge. So began the race to be the first to clear it, and in the last few hours, it appeared the winner had been declared when a team called GRIND shared screenshots of their victory. However, fellow players were quick to notice that something was… off.
In a now-deleted tweet, one GRIND member's screenshot showed a small, red dot in the center of their screen. This, it was speculated, was evidence of the 'Pixel Perfect' plugin in action. Pixel Perfect Plus, for example, can help players better feel the distance between themselves and their foes, as well as display hitboxes for their player character and enemies. It didn't take long for Frosty, the creator of the MogTalk website which hosts leaderboards of world-first raid finishes, to launch an investigation.
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"I had our team research the plugin that was used by the team and its capabilities makes it eligible for disqualification from the MogTalk leaderboard. GRIND did not approve this member to use the plugin and do not agree with the actions he took," Frosty says, adding that the situation "opens up again the conversation of what the community wants from the FF14 World Race and what the expectations are from the teams."
I do believe this opens up again the conversation of what the community wants from the FFXIV World Race and what the expectations are from the teams. I will work to create a public conversation with all involved to make more clear rules and a better race scene overall.November 29, 2024
Following this, one of the members of team GRIND has taken to Twitter with an apology, saying (translated by Google and DeepL) that the team had a "policy" not to use any external tools. They add that there's "no evidence" of any of the other members using such plugins, but say: "I apologize for causing trouble to the community due to my lack of management."
チームとして外部ツールは使用しない方針でしたが踊り子がツールを使用していたことが踊り子の鍵垢経由で発覚しました。他のメンバーに使用の事実はありませんので、メンバーへの誹謗中傷は控えていただきたいです。自分の管理不足でコミュニティに迷惑をかけてしまって申し訳ありません。 https://t.co/fl3nXk9Dj7November 29, 2024
This isn't the first time that an FF14 raid winner has been caught cheating – last year, a similar situation kicked off when the first team to complete the Omega Protocol Ultimate raid was found to be using third-party tools, with director Naoki "Yoshi-P" Yoshida calling the debacle "extremely disappointing." As outlined in the MMO's terms of service, using third-party tools is prohibited, and potentially a bannable offense for those who keep doing it.
Even if GRIND was removed from MogTalk's World Race leaderboard, a new winner has now been crowned. Team Kindred is now sitting proudly at the top of the ranking, followed by Lucrezia, who crossed the finish line just nine minutes later, so it ended up being a really close race.
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