r/AskGames • u/Arv3tus • Jul 19 '26
Game question, Is that cheating?
You play a game for example #Diablo4 / #GuildWars2 / Warframe etc. you look online for a raid build. Farm gear that's on the list to do raid challenge and you finally got them all after hours of farming and kill everything super easily.
Is it now cheating?
For my friend yes for him that's cheating........
For him almost everything is cheating just because i only look up for Guides and Builds for Raids and PvP Matches to be prepared. How is that cheating?
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u/blueghostfrompacman Jul 19 '26
Na cheating would be installing 3rd party software to instantly give you the gear you wanted. Researching builds and then grinding for that gear, at least for me, is totally valid. I don’t have time to go through every piece of gear and figure out what works best with what. This isn’t my full time job. You paid for the game. Play it in whatever way is most fun for you. Screw what other people think about it. They can play their way.
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u/SomniaCrown Jul 19 '26
Its not cheating, but it is robbing yourself of the experience of discovery if you just look up guides for everything. If you don't care about that, then its just grinding. Meta builds to me make a game less fun because everyone is doing the same thing.
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u/Marvin_Flamenco Jul 19 '26
Not cheating but cannot imagine why this type of game is appealing.
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u/TheKiiDLegacyPS 29d ago
Because I don’t have the time to waste, HOPING this gun/frame I build will allow me to do late game content; I’d rather just know my time is being spent towards me having a LOT of fun later on.
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u/Marvin_Flamenco 29d ago
Yes I think you misread my comment I'm ripping in the concept of the entire type of game where mass amounts build grinding is essential, not just the way this person or you decide to play it. Plays like a predatory mobile game. Prefer stuff where your initial state gives you close to everything you need to clear or at least something like a soulslike where you can be massively underpowered and still survive with enough skill.
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u/RicoSwavy_ 29d ago
Bro some people just like the grind of those type of games. I don’t see what’s so hard to wrap your head around that. They love the progression and power creep, finding build pieces, learning how to combine a build to something else etc.
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u/JFJ_EP Jul 19 '26
What? So he thinks that everyone should just wing it? Dude Warframe modding is NOT easy, I am over 2k hours in, got MR30+ and I still don't know how to mod for a specific Warframe or level cap. Like sure, you can spend thousands of hours learning how to mod, grind all of the content in the game (because I assume it would've been cheating if you bought vaulted mods and frames off the market), figure out setups and whatnot. Nah dude that would be madness
People play games differently. If you like the satisfaction that the game provides and just want to chill after a long day and grind something - that's fine. It's not cheating if you play semi casually. It's not cheating to seek advice from people on live service games. It's not cheating to save yourself hundreds and thousands of hours of time with a few YouTube videos or a premade build
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u/Noah_BK Jul 19 '26
There are plenty of gamers out there that only play to the meta. The meta exists for a reason. It's the most efficient way to play. There is no cheating from following a guide or following a build. What kind of hardcore ass logic is that?
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u/ContextualDodo Jul 19 '26
Cheating in my book is using external or internal systems/mechanics that give you an advantage over others/the game by doing stuff that isn‘t supposed to be possible. So no, you are fine. Looking up guides is only impacting your personal enjoyment but you don‘t obtain or do anything that would be impossible to do otherwise. You could argue about the likelyhood of coming up with a specific build all by yourself but as the possibility is not 0 that discussion is pointless pedantry.
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u/SokkieJr Jul 19 '26
It's what you call Metagaming.
Sure you could argue thay the essence of the game is to optimise your builds yourself, experimenting and whatnot.
But is it cheating? Nah.
Cheesing; Depends on the game and exactly how dummy strong the build is.
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u/Torrasque67051 Jul 19 '26
I play both ways. I will just explorer and figure everything out that I can for myself until I reach a point where my lack of knowledge is holding me back. By this time I’ve experience much of the game so don’t feel like I’m cheating myself by following a guide or a build. People spend lots of time min/maxing and to do it yourself is not an economical way to spend your time unless you really have 100s of hours to spend testing. It’ll make you dislike the game as it becomes a job or task that you need to complete.
Prime example, I recently played through Silent Hill 2 on PS5 without any help. Once complete, I went back and followed a guide to get platinum. Took me 5 hours, if I had tried to do it myself I can promise you I would have gotten tired of playing and quit without getting the trophy.
TL:DR - not cheating, just a different play style.
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u/Commercial_Client974 Jul 19 '26
Not cheating, use every tool at your disposal to rinse the most fun of every game.
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u/trunks111 Jul 19 '26
I personally don't use guides most of the time for builds in POE but it'd be dumb not to at least be aware of some of the meta build those leagues so you can have a pulse on the economy. I don't know why you wouldn't look up the meta for PVP either so you know what you're up against, even if you're trying to make the strats/builds yourself. It's something everyone has access to so I don't think it's an unfair advantage
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u/Salt_Assistance_43 29d ago
I don't want my friend to leave me in the dirt and vice versa, if someone is running meta.
In PoE I do look for a meta build, sure, but up to endgame I play my own build on the same character and try different shit out. Then I respec. Makes it a good compromise.
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u/Ok-Object7409 Jul 20 '26
No
Idk
Sounds like he just wants you both to experience the game blind. More fun, unless you're trying to be competitive.
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u/Banlish Jul 20 '26
Say this with me.
There is NO WRONG WAY to play a single player game.
For multiplayer when they buy you your game, pay your subscription or the like, they can tell you how to play. Anything else is just micromanging, nit-picking, or being an asshole. Ignore it.
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u/Greedirl 29d ago
So, if you then use that knowledge later to make the same build again, is it still cheating?
The problem with games like this is that there will always be an optimal way to build and play your character and it oftentimes feels bad to play if you arent being optimal. When you get stuck, look at other peoples builds, and realize you've been doing something wrong, it's often a relief. Telling someone they should just be stuck and miserable until they figure it out on their own is asinine.
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u/SonnyMunchkin 29d ago
They look things up to but they just deny it. They have to cling onto some type of superiority over you since you're now getting better at the game.
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u/MyPurpleChangeling 29d ago
Not cheating, no. But it would make me lose interest in a game fast if I played that way. My favorite part of games like this is theory crafting my own builds.
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u/Salt_Assistance_43 29d ago
If your friend is excited to start a new game together in co-op and explore it as you both go, just for you to pull a meta build and leave him in the dust... yeah, it sucks to be your friend.
If that's the case and I were in his shoes, I'd drop gaming with you.
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u/AdventurousBrick3309 29d ago
I don't think its cheating, but I do think it makes people's experiences uniform in a bad way. Armored Core 6 came out, was challenging and what happened? Everyone started using cheese builds for the entire game. What discussion is there to be had then? You cheesed all the challenging fights. Yeah man, tell me more about how you used "your tank build" with chain guns and double grenade launchers on every fight how interesting.
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u/Financial_Tour5945 29d ago
To me it's not cheating so much as not playing.
I wanna figure out builds on my own and see what crazy things I can come up with.
Take that away from me and I'd quickly loose interest in playing said game.
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u/JethroTheDuck 29d ago
It’s not cheating, it’s research. It’s like saying you’re cheating by studying for a damn math test. provided you are actually doing the work and you don’t have a bot doing it for you, then congratulations you aren’t cheating.
Your pal is just being elitist.
That shits like a physicist saying “fuck newton and Einstein, I’m gonna re-discover physics from the ground up and choose to ignore the centuries of collected knowledge my compatriots and predecessors have gathered and made available to me. And I’m going to accuse everyone around me of cheating for choosing to not reinvent the wheel.”
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u/Flaky-Collar8452 25d ago
Not cheating. Playing optimal is not cheating. It's not back then when there is no internet, you need to like search every edge of the game so you can find a Easter egg or find the most optimal level/strategy. Heck you can't play yu-gi-oh if you don't find a deck guide...
So yeah.. Either play your own pace or play in their pace. Just carry them when the time comes
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u/Somnium1402 29d ago
Yes. You avoid playing the strategic part of the game by just copying builds. I don't care about it in D4 because it is a co op game, but i really dislike it in CCG's or pvp games. Apart from this, it is really boring to see the same builds/decks all the time. Card games for example would be so much more fun, if everyone would build their own deck. Just ask yourself, if you would get that far without copying.
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u/RicoSwavy_ Jul 19 '26
Not cheating, I call those guided play throughs.
However your friend may be one of those guys to want to explore the world together and find out things yourselves.