Too many BOTs, too many RMTs, too many PL-service sellers. we need these banned.NOW

[twipler]

Look, I just want to have my formal complaint go out to FFXI/Square Enix. Before I start, though, I want to say this. I love this game. I enjoy the storyline and the vast amount of things it offers for me to do and keeps me entertained. It has been one of my favorite MMORPGs all time. I have spent a lot of money on this game, through the months of membership I've forked over cash for, compared to many of the other games out there that require no upkeep. But, at the time, it had been worth it.
Recently, I returned to this game to see some changes I really don't like. I saw spam botters, RMTs, and rule breaker spam everywhere. In chat all day. 24/7. Spamming yell chat in every city. "Plevel" for such and such a zone. Selling services to help beat such and such a boss. For job point/xp gains. Why do we have this? And why so much and in such high concentration? I mean, I pay $20+ a month. Where is my money going to? Isn't there suppose to be some type of controls on this? Yet, here I am looking at a screen of spam, with perhaps 1 in 3 yells being a normal person with a message I want to see. The rest of it is likely some person living in a foreign country, selling gaming services for gil so that they can use that gil on a website somewhere to sell for money to some foolish and gullible adventurer who is too lazy to do the work themselves. I'm sick of looking at screens of spam. I'm sick of reporting all these people only to see nothing done about it. Day. after. day. Coming back to the same spam the next day. then the next.
In addition to this. I go to places like Sky to harvest crystals only to be met with a crystal farming bot at pretty much every elemental spawn location. Sometimes I saw more than 1 crystal farming bot at a single location. I would follow them. I would watch their movement and behavior. They neither responded to my chat, my waving. They were more often than not /anon, as well. They had the exact same (or very similar pattern) of movement as they traversed Sky. I would know they were bots, when through a 30 minute period of me camping a certain element, a bot and it's trusts would return to my camped elementals every 5 minutes...even though each time I had killed them all. They neither responded to me, nor acknowledged me...just passed by me using the exact same pathing as they did the last time. On a rare occasion, they managed to find an elemental spawn before I did and would attack and kill it. Again, not acknowledging me an any way. Only to continue their movement pattern all over.
You need to know, for a player like me--this is very frustrating. I've reported numerous times your spamming RMTs and players breaking rules (spamming services related to Pleveling is against your code of conduct, is it not?) Yet, here I am weeks later only to see all these bots still interrupting and frustrating my gameplay. All these RMTs and cheaters spamming yell chat...and me wondering if you folks over at SE give a damn about your customers.
I'm highly considering quitting this game. And in fact, I've already cancelled service. I would highly suggest for you to consider my plea and work harder to deal with your huge problem with bots and spammers. I had a discussion with my linkshell, and they also talked about many other places with bots (places I never visited, so I could not verify). People pay you a large amount of money each month for a game they expect to have--at least to some extent--monitored by people in charge to keep a tight reign on bots and other irritations to players. I mean, after all--what am I paying my $20 a month for? You haven't come up with any new DLC in ages. Surely, the least you could do is keep your game cleaned up a bit of all these annoyances, can you not? But you aren't even willing to do that. So my plea is this. You will be losing customers by neglecting your responsibilities to your game we pay a nice chunk for each month. I will not continue to feed you $20 a month when I feel the people in charge of the game don't care enough about their customers to monitor and deal with the problem of bots and spammers that FFXI has. I would suggest it sooner than later. It will not be long before you lose my business. I will not keep logging in to a screen full of RMT spammers or a trip to Sky where I have to compete for crystals with a bot. It just makes this game more frustrating than it is worth.

Here are some of the names of players I've blisted because they were RMT spamming, botting, or otherwise. I have no idea which is which, but they all warrant an investigation: moonquakea
mmozzskdlkasdma
ebryrr
djjjdmm
maguo
ouzo
maaaat
nnmm
dhozzb
nohonh
wakakae
feeoo
dhooz
wakakav
kyniker
pplma
vipskyexp
kooro
waryd
nohohv
lokaloka
nohohy
maaaata
kimerzzc
nohohx
fudue
dizzybulll
rehh
djjdmmm
dhpoz
kingshuyang
keeooo
mergis
poomoo
ebryrr
expexpeexp
jpsell
yooh
maguo
nohohn
fudua
nnmm
kimerz
djjjdmm
moonquakes
yanhoo
quzo
feeoo
vipexp
yaapi
vipple
fehound
nohohp
yyxx
pplma
kooro
feeooo
blkuyfvb
aavaa
mikrokosmos
jimimia
wakakat
ebryra
blkuyfv
wakaat
rehh
nohohv
nmnn
kerzzc
dhpoz
vipexps
vvxx
uxux
yezi
moliya
nohob
loredana
yooh
yaapi
fudua
vippl
kooro
wwyyxx
irohani
ruchubachuba

NOTE: and this list is not all inclusive--it was just 3 of my 8 character's blist. I'm too lazy to log into all my characters and have to list every one.

[Haldarn]

It's not that I don't sympathize with all that you've said, but have you considered our Lord and Saviour Server Transfer off Asura?

[twipler]

What? leave to a dead server, so I will find no people to group with, unable to sell items on GE or otherwise? No, I came from Odin and left because I wanted a populated server. I already had the experience of being on a low population server.

[twipler]

But this still doesn't solve the problem. If the server I was on started becoming populated, bots would just start showing up there. The problem won't change unless upper management does their part.

[Alhanelem]

What? leave to a dead server, so I will find no people to group with, unable to sell items on GE or otherwise? No, I came from Odin and left because I wanted a populated server. I already had the experience of being on a low population server.
There are no "dead" servers. You can find people to play with on any of them if you know where to look.

You seem really frustrated with botters. We offered you a solution. There is a lot less of it on other servers, even the next-biggest ones. I'm on Shiva. I have no problem selling stuff. I have no problem playing with other people. Asura is not "populated," it's over-populated. And with that over population comes a surplus of botters, cheaters and RMT, because like you, they went to where the most people are. You could not pay me to transfer to Asura. When I came back on Shiva after a long break, linkshells were practically pouncing on me, that's how excited they were to see a returning player.

You need to understand that bigger population does not automatically equal better. High pop servers have their own problems. You need to decide which problem is worse to you. Taking longer to find people to play with, or having RMT bots making the /yell channel unusable and getting in the way of doing some contents at all.

Also, by joining a smaller server, you're helping to make that server bigger, and therefore make a lot of other player's experiences better. It is much better that the servers have balanced populations rather than two or three having 80% of the population.

[twipler]

why are we making excuses for this company? I pay plenty of money each month to this game--a lot more than many of these other F2P options (which aren't as good of games, but that's not the point). They have produced no additional expansions, yet they keep sucking me dry each month. Do I love the game itself? Yes. But I expect them to do their part and deal with bots. They aren't doing it. I'm not going to make excuses for them because of server populations. Stop being a doormat to this game.

[twipler]

while in theory what you say sounds reasonable. But the reality is, they've been closing servers because of the waning population (and I have no doubt that part of it is because of this botting they are doing nothing about). So you're expecting me to do the charitable thing and join a low population so that I can help balance it out? I can guarantee you no one will follow me. That's just not going to happen. And back to the point before, once a server starts to populate, then the bots will start swarming. As long as they do nothing, then the bots and RMTs will just swarm to where the people are. Not like they care. Their paycheck is where the people are.

[Catmato]

But the reality is, they've been closing servers because of the waning population

That's not the reality. They haven't closed any servers in 10 years.

[Alhanelem]

why are we making excuses for this company? I pay plenty of money each month to this game--a lot more than many of these other F2P options (which aren't as good of games, but that's not the point). They have produced no additional expansions, yet they keep sucking me dry each month. Do I love the game itself? Yes. But I expect them to do their part and deal with bots. They aren't doing it. I'm not going to make excuses for them because of server populations. Stop being a doormat to this game.
I mean, we're not making excuses.. I'm just offering you some control over your experience. We all want SE to deal with the botting/cheating/etc.

The only other way to reduce the impact of this, besides switching servers, is to speak with your wallet and unsubscribe.

Also, name-shaming is against the rules of this forum, so you might want to delete that list of names from your post, and send them to the STF instead.



they've been closing servers because of the waning population
The poster above already covered this, but we've had the same number of servers for over a decade. This has not been a regularly occurring thing. And most likely, it's going ot stay this way for a while still.



I can guarantee you no one will follow me.On the contrary, i've seen multiple people switching off Asura as the botting situation has continued to escalate. This is a problem that mostly only exists on Asura. It's not even as bad on the most popular server for JP players from what i've been able to discern.

If you know where to look, you can find people to play with on any server. Not being on the biggest one doesn't have to mean not being able to do stuff.

[Gwydion]

I mean, we're not making excuses.. I'm just offering you some control over your experience. We all want SE to deal with the botting/cheating/etc.

The only other way to reduce the impact of this, besides switching servers, is to speak with your wallet and unsubscribe.

Also, name-shaming is against the rules of this forum, so you might want to delete that list of names from your post, and send them to the STF instead.
The poster above already covered this, but we've had the same number of servers for over a decade. This has not been a regularly occurring thing. And most likely, it's going ot stay this way for a while still.


On the contrary, i've seen multiple people switching off Asura as the botting situation has continued to escalate. This is a problem that mostly only exists on Asura. It's not even as bad on the most popular server for JP players from what i've been able to discern.

If you know where to look, you can find people to play with on any server. Not being on the biggest one doesn't have to mean not being able to do stuff.

I don't agree with the last part. I've seen 1 shout in 24 hours on a low population server and it's pretty terrible.

[Haldarn]

I don't agree with the last part. I've seen 1 shout in 24 hours on a low population server and it's pretty terrible.

I think Al was alluding to that shouts aren't where to look. #ShellsNotShouts

[Alhanelem]

I don't agree with the last part. I've seen 1 shout in 24 hours on a low population server and it's pretty terrible.
Well that's part of your problem. Shouts aren't the way to do stuff anymore. Joining linkshells is how you get stuff done.

What are the shouts and yells like on Asura? From what i've seen on FFXIAH, it's mostly RMT bots and mercenaries.

@Haldarn I'm stealing your hashtag. :cool:

[Uriah]

Title, ten characters

[Alhanelem]

Title, plus "On Asura" appended to the end.

It's better that we just let all the bots plague asura so the rest of the servers can be mostly free of them. :)

[Uriah]

Title, plus "On Asura" appended to the end.

It's better that we just let all the bots plague asura so the rest of the servers can be mostly free of them. :)

I actually don't disagree with that. Just make the AH game-wide so people can freely leave without losing the only important thing.

[Alhanelem]

Just make the AH game-wide so people can freely leave without losing the only important thing.While this sounds nice it would likely backfire since it links the economies of the worlds together and thus would help the RMT as much as anyone else.

[Uriah]

The AHs are already linked by RMT transferring every week, so no. It would help normies "more" and cut RMT stranglehold off.

(and lose square hundreds of thousands of dollars from server jumpers)

[Zenion]

Just make the AH game-wide so people can freely leave without losing the only important thing.


(and lose square hundreds of thousands of dollars from server jumpers)

"We've considered this suggestion, but technical limitations prevent us from implementing anything of that sort."

... though honestly I'd consider linking auction houses across servers to be closer to the actually difficult side of the technical limitations scale. There probably isn't any actual point of contact between any two servers besides PlayOnline; making them interact would mean whole brand new communications infrastructure that never existed before. How would that even work? Make the auction house its own little free-floating mini-server that all the others have to communicate back and forth with to handle transactions? Just imagine the lag and congestion... it'd be like a prime-time Vagary run just to buy a stack of sushi.

Lovely thought for FFXI-2, though, not that that's ever going to be a thing.

[Pixela]

No game has cross server auction houses, it's incredibly complicated to add and very expensive also.

They would have to re-write the entire auction house system.

[Uriah]

No game has cross server auction houses, it's incredibly complicated to add and very expensive also.

They would have to re-write the entire auction house system.

The entire AH system is trash, so that's a good thing. Every single part of it is trash.

Undercutting, silent bid system, delivery system, 7 item limit. Good. Do rewrite the whole thing. It isn't an "auction" at all.

[Alhanelem]

Undercutting,Tired of people complaining about undercutting. It's part of supply and demand. Yes, FFXI's system kind of facilitates it, but it will happen in any game with any form of trading or exchange between players. Stuff is worth what people are willing to pay for it.
If people list stuff for sale and it's not selling, they lower the price to entice a buyer until it sells. That's how capitalism and supply and demand work. If you list sometihng and it sells quickly,the price will rise because the demand is exceeding the supply.

People actually complain about this even more in FFXIV where you can see all the listings and their prices. people will go "why cant u just go 1 gil below so the price doesnt drop". That's not how it works, even if somebody does that, someone else wont because they're impatient and they want a sale, and a 1 gil savings isn't going to entice someone to buy something they're on the fence about (Also, the fee can vary depending on where the selling retainer is located, so a slightly cheaper item can cost more depending on the buyer's location). Supply exceeds demand, you have to lower the price. Demand exceeds supply, you raise the price. Ideally you achieve equilibrium but since supply and demand are always changing, it isn't realistically possible. The only thing you can ddo if someone undercuts you is you undercut them.

You can't have a free market economy without undercutting.

[Uriah]

it's not simply undercutting. It's the fact that you can place an item for 1g and have it sell for whatever the person pays.

It should not work that way. If there are 100 items up at 1m and 1 item up at 1g but a person pays 1.1m it should go to the most appropriate seller, not the lowest seller. It encourages scumbags.

You should "bid" your amount, but if a seller is selling for less than your "bid" the seller should only get what they placed it for. They placed it for 1g they should only get 1g regardless what you offered to buy it for.

[Alhanelem]

I'm not saying it's not a flawed system (as i said, the system facilitates it to a degree), I'm just saying it's a reality of any free market economy. Frankly I think the fault in your scenario lies with the people who don't try lower amounts after looking at the sales history. I always try smaller amounts. You might get that 1 g seller or at least save a k or two. And then, well it sucks to be the person who listed the item for too cheap who bet on that not happening.

[Sirmarki]

And then, well it sucks to be the person who listed the item for too cheap who bet on that not happening.

That's because that there is so much gil in circulation (obtained from dubious ways most likely) that some people just don't care and bid 10k for say a stack of Earth Crystals (which are 3k) because they can't be bothered to check history, because they dont need to.

[Alhanelem]

That's because that there is so much gil in circulation (obtained from dubious ways most likely) that some people just don't care and bid 10k for say a stack of Earth Crystals (which are 3k) because they can't be bothered to check history, because they dont need to.
I mean if that was true, everything would cost like 100k now, even the most common junk.

[Auriga]

It's not that I don't sympathize with all that you've said, but have you considered our Lord and Saviour Server Transfer off Asura?

Oh wow.. another elitist serving the empire of "get gud" on Asura >.>

Another player who simps for rmt I'll bet, someone should look into his inbox transactions an scour the account registry for ties to shady char names like skjbgksjdbgs.

Rise up loyal players, rise an fight these cheaters. Send them back to the abyss where they belong.

[BobbinT]

well... chiming in on OP says, I've been enjoying my stay over Bahamut, which is place for ppl to hang over from the stress that is Asura, though we've also been plagued by bots as well, but always still has room for us regular players to grind stuff. Probably another thought to decide using transfer system, especially since many Asura survivors we met generally felt alot of gratitudes after breathing the cleaner air that is Bahamut. ;)

[Auriga]

well... chiming in on OP says, I've been enjoying my stay over Bahamut, which is place for ppl to hang over from the stress that is Asura, though we've also been plagued by bots as well, but always still has room for us regular players to grind stuff. Probably another thought to decide using transfer system, especially since many Asura survivors we met generally felt alot of gratitudes after breathing the cleaner air that is Bahamut. ;)

For once a post that isn't one of the troll brigade. -> Alhanelem, Sirmarki, Sp1cyryan.

I hear your idea, an raise you a yagudo drink. However.. I do not think its time to abandon my server just yet. More of us need to unite against the elitist & rmt threat so that the game might be saved from what is (to me) clearly a large volume of CoD players who think their attitude is welcome everywhere they go like rude jocks at a dinner they think they own just because they walked in the door.

They need to be taught some manners. Press on the vote to remove this trash from the game! /cheer

[Sirmarki]

For once a post that isn't one of the troll brigade. -> Alhanelem, Sirmarki, Sp1cyryan.

What?.....

[Alhanelem]

What?.....
I don't get it either. This guy comes and posts on a forum accessible to the entire FFXI community and gets mad that anyone has anything to say- apparently in the belief that because feedback is given here, no one is allowed to comment but SE, looking for official posts when it's been quite literally years since we've gotten much more than major news posts (i.e. the digest, version update notices, etc) here.

And apparently merely posting in this person's presence constitutes a "flame war."

[Sp1cyryan]

What?.....

Not liking what someone says is clearly trolling. Lol