To Automate, Or Not To Automate

Hello folks. The general consensus among many FFXI players these days is: get it done as quickly as possible. There's no time to feel pride. There's no time to try anything different. We take the route of least resistance, happily smashing the easy button to acquire our shinies. But when does it get to the point you're no longer playing the game? When does it get to watching the computer play it for you? SE has never had much control over what 3rd party tools can do, and nowadays .. they've given up entirely outside of any extreme examples of "printing money".

I've always tried to shy away from automation, but it's becoming ever clearer that players find it necessary. Not only that, but they feel the need to slate others for not doing so. To some, it's becoming the expected norm. It's the same for farming gil .. no one wants to graft anymore, they'd rather stick bots in an area, go to sleep, and come back to easy money. Threads don't devolve in to "what job is best/worst" anymore. Instead, they devolve in to "you suck because you need react", "you suck because you need to bot for gil", or "you suck because you use luas to automate your job".

I have never used organizer, or anything similar. I have never used React. I can see the benefits though. Like, if I botted .. I'd have more gil and many more ultimate weapons. If I used Organizer, I'd never be late for a WS (distractions eliminated). If I used React, I probably wouldn't be getting killed by the Tonberry shadows from last months Ambuscade (they were so annoying to react to).

I am guilty of somethings though. Like, I recently tried the Voidwatch script which lets you trade, pop, and take rewards out of the chest automatically. I also used to bypass the Sparks NPC to get Shields quicker (before SE changed it). The only automation I look for are convenient quality of life things which saves my fingers. But when does it cross the line? And when do you start letting the game play by itself? And why should we even care if others do? It's their subscription after all. What's more important? Learning how to play the game "properly"? Or using as many tools as possible so you don't need to learn?

Is it more important to use React so you don't wipe your Ambu party (and get stuck in the Asura queue)? Or show you don't need it and can learn (with some wipes) to do so manually? Are you Ok with people leaving after a failed run because your pride got in the way of using React? Or do players suck because they feel they need it? And botting has always been around in some form, and I know some who do. Many don't have the time (or motivation) to farm manually every day. I never have the motivation (nor do I multi-box). Am always telling my linkshells how lazy I am. So gil doesn't come from nowhere for me, not like those who do. Am I wrong? As a LS leader, should I be taking advantage of these shortcuts? Or do I set a better example by showing I can earn everything without?

This isn't a thread about bashing one playstyle or the other. What it's about, is better understanding why some feel the need to, or not to, shortcut the game to the point of (almost complete) automation. How do we "react" to things in situations when React would have saved us? How do we farm (and stay motivated) gil without bots? Can we find ways to better educate those players who just copy/paste dump a lua? So on days when Windower isn't working they can actually play FFXI vanilla? Believe it or not, I can still play vanilla. How alien would it be to some though? With no scripts? No luas? No addons? Impossible. I would like to see a for vs. against debate which remains on topic. It would be appreciated, but am not expecting it. Let us know what you think about automation play in FFXI? Thank you.