Square Enix planning Final Fantasy XIV UI overhaul to stop players turning to mods

While addons and UI mods are generally accepted in other MMOs like World of Warcraft or The Elder Scrolls Online, Final Fantasy XIV has always taken a strong stance against modding the game. Still, there are some raiding groups that still use them in an effort to be amongst the first teams to clear new end-game content. Due to the continued popularity of UI mods, the Final Fantasy XIV developers will be exploring new UI enhancements.

This week, the first teams managed to clear Dragonsong's Reprise (Ultimate), which prompted Square Enix to also issue a statement on the use of mods in the game, saying: “As stated in the terms of service for FINAL FANTASY XIV: the use of third-party tools is strictly prohibited. Players who are determined to be using third-party tools will have their accounts suspended, or permanently banned for repeat offenses.”

While the developers do frown on the use of 3rd party tools to make changes to Final Fantasy XIV, they are also taking the onus on themselves to make things in the base game better. As Square Enix puts it, the team believes that players continue to use these tools because the existing functions in-game are insufficient.

With that in mind, in an effort to discourage the use of add-ons in the future, Square Enix will also be reviewing the most prominent UI mods and then looking to apply some of those ideas to the main game and enhance the functionality of the HUD. Creating such changes will “take some time” though, so it could be a while before a major UI update rolls out.

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KitGuru Says: The Final Fantasy XIV team has always been very receptive to feedback, which is one of the reasons the MMO is so popular today. It will be interesting to see what additions the team makes after taking a look at the most-used UI mods. 

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