Many people cheating, automated bot to farm drops to synth spheres for Escutcheon

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Originally Posted by Dzspdref

Watching other people killing same exact groups of targets and telling me they are getting cards to drop about 1 out of every 4 or so kills.
Either my character is blacklisted against card drops (got every other possible item those targets could drop), or there's something VERY wrong with the drop rates.

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..Or.... They are lying to you!?

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Originally Posted by Dzspdref

Well the cards are a LOT rarer to drop than expected.
I was in Moh Gates Map#2 on the VT+ mobs and after 250+ kills with my THF99 with TH+9 in gear (which caps at +8 for gear, I know), I got ZERO CARDS to drop.
That was also using Aldo and Nanaa Mihgo in trusts for 2 more TH help.
Watching other people killing same exact groups of targets and telling me they are getting cards to drop about 1 out of every 4 or so kills.
Either my character is blacklisted against card drops (got every other possible item those targets could drop), or there's something VERY wrong with the drop rates.
SE, you really screwed the poop on this one. You need to open up the available drop rate, or make more targets viable options.
Want to get rid of the bots? Make spheres /ex too. Can't sell what cannot be sold and only used by the owner or /tossed. Already they cannot be NPC'ed, just add on "cannot sell". Period.

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not ALL mobs drop cards. lol. you wasted so much time killing the wrong things. Drop rate is about 20%

#rekt

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Originally Posted by Halley

not ALL mobs drop cards. lol. you wasted so much time killing the wrong things. Drop rate is about 20%

#rekt

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i know not all "mobs" drop cards. I was killing EXACT same targets others were killing and watching them synth into spheres as examples.
I know this because i saw them losing cards in my chat log during their failed synths, too.
I wouldn't have posted what I put if I hadn't had personally viewed/verified my info first.
So no, I didn't "waste my time", I am just damn unlucky for drops it seems.
Thank you for the response.

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Originally Posted by Dzspdref

i know not all "mobs" drop cards. I was killing EXACT same targets others were killing and watching them synth into spheres as examples.
I know this because i saw them losing cards in my chat log during their failed synths, too.
I wouldn't have posted what I put if I hadn't had personally viewed/verified my info first.
So no, I didn't "waste my time", I am just damn unlucky for drops it seems.
Thank you for the response.

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Maybe group size can affect drops in some way? Drag along a buddy and kill 10 things.

Treasure Hunter: The only cap from gear is "one less than total cap minus traits", which would be TH13 total (aka TH+10 from gear,) for a mastered THF.. Last official word is that equal/greater current TH prevents the proc rate from decreasing, so +14 or above should be overcap and effectively give zero benefit. I have seen TH14 proc before, (about 3x in the last year!) so I know it exists. However, even as a THF, I doubt that 13/14 have that much actual impact except on drops w/ seemingly infinitesimal drop rates to begin with. It's rather rare to find anything that will live long enough for the proc system to make it all the way up too. :/

Also, I'm pretty sure that the odds are probably better to win a PowerBall jackpot than for a TH1-3 trust to bump proc up to TH14 from TH13. :x


**Dev Note: Raise Treasure Hunter base proc rate, even if only for 12-14! Especially for job master, this needs to happen! Also, updated official word on Treasure Hunter mechanics would be much appreciated.

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Originally Posted by Nyarlko

...updated official word on Treasure Hunter mechanics would be much appreciated.

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This x1000000000000.

Update notes said

The drop rates of the following items have been increased

Carbuncle’s Ruby / Elshimo Marble / Shoalweed / Desert Venom / Bruised Starfruit / Lucky Egg

I tested Elshimo marble and if this was increased, it wasn't by much, maybe 1% better with TH8+. This doesn't really help the creation of spheres SE.

To make other areas viable for sphere farmers, drop rate has to be at least as good as palborough mines.

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Originally Posted by VoiceMemo

Update notes said

The drop rates of the following items have been increased

Carbuncle’s Ruby / Elshimo Marble / Shoalweed / Desert Venom / Bruised Starfruit / Lucky Egg

I tested Elshimo marble and if this was increased, it wasn't by much, maybe 1% better with TH8+. This doesn't really help the creation of spheres SE.

To make other areas viable for sphere farmers, drop rate has to be at least as good as palborough mines.

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Now takes me ~3-7x kills to get a Carbuncle's Ruby rather than the ~5-10x kills that it used to take on Buburimu beaches. (JM THF w/ TH+10, rarely goes above 9.)
Try testing that instead maybe? It's possible that the increases differ by item.

I don't need carbuncle's ruby desynth, produces transfixtion, fusion, or light. Out of that only thing I use is Light in my skillchain paths, so it would not be efficient for me.

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Originally Posted by VoiceMemo

I don't need carbuncle's ruby desynth, produces transfixtion, fusion, or light. Out of that only thing I use is Light in my skillchain paths, so it would not be efficient for me.

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Given how the supply of sphere material was just vastly increased, I don't think it would be that hard to find another player or two to trade spheres with. Might be worthwhile farming the ones you don't need if you can get them faster and trade for the ones you do need?

I really need to unlazy, farm up a couple hundred thousand crystals and polish off the percentage on mine so I can participate in the sphere-based madness myself(s) ~_~

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Originally Posted by Nyarlko

Given how the supply of sphere material was just vastly increased, I don't think it would be that hard to find another player or two to trade spheres with. Might be worthwhile farming the ones you don't need if you can get them faster and trade for the ones you do need?

I really need to unlazy, farm up a couple hundred thousand crystals and polish off the percentage on mine so I can participate in the sphere-based madness myself(s) ~_~

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No one seems wanting to trade. I've yelled a few times to try to trade my fusion spheres away for light or dark spheres at 2:1 ratio, which is about what the gil cost is, but not one tell. I think majority of the people farming spheres are trying to SELL them. There are so many in bazzar near the focalizer. Not many people are trying to make the shield legit without botting.

The only ones i use atm are Induration, Reverberation, Distortion, Gravitation, Fusion, Light, Dark. Any others I have "stored" on my machine but I never use really. Even then I rarely use the dark ones. I might be pawning off them to you two (Nyarlko & Voicememo) just to clear out what I am not using, especially after I finish my Apex Crystal.

IDK about you danallen but my estimation based on farming spheres every day, and synthing 10x 6 step skillchains a day will take me approximately 340 or so more days to complete.

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Originally Posted by VoiceMemo

IDK about you danallen but my estimation based on farming spheres every day, and synthing 10x 6 step skillchains a day will take me approximately 340 or so more days to complete.

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Better start buyin that shit if you're seriously making it.

Why do I need to buy? I can synth them myself and do little per day, eventually will finish, what's the rush? Is it not the journey that counts, I finished all my other in game goals using this method and it gives me something to do.

If I buy, finish it then what? I just stand around game doing nothing.

You finish it so you can actually use it.

Before 2000 other people do making it literally useless.

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Originally Posted by Halley

You finish it so you can actually use it.

Before 2000 other people do making it literally useless.

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A completed Escutcheon will function identically whether you finish it tomorrow, or next year. Even if 2000 other people have one, it does not actually cut down on how useful it is, only how much initial profit you will be looking at. "Profitability" does not equal "usefulness". ^^ (That is excluding the silliness of expecting 2000 people to be playing this game on any server but Asura at this point. lol)

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Originally Posted by VoiceMemo

IDK about you danallen but my estimation based on farming spheres every day, and synthing 10x 6 step skillchains a day will take me approximately 340 or so more days to complete.

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...which also goes to our point of HOW did some people complete their shield in less than a few weeks, and even note that some even did MULTIPLE shields in that time? There's is something perplexingly (is that a word?) wrong about that in my opinion...

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Originally Posted by Dzspdref

...which also goes to our point of HOW did some people complete their shield in less than a few weeks, and even note that some even did MULTIPLE shields in that time? There's is something perplexingly (is that a word?) wrong about that in my opinion...

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"Perplexingly" is indeed a word, and was used correctly in your sentence.
Should've been "There's something..." or "There is something..." though. "There's is something.." is "There is is something.." XD

I kinda figure that those who finished early are those who 3box+ to ensure that the spheres kept flowing thru a multi-character supplychain while their mains continuously craft-chain in town. Plus were willing to throw many extra dollars at SE to enable them to server-hop all over and buy up all the available spheres regardless of the costs involved in doing so.

Before anyone complains about multiboxing=botting again, I know from personal experience that it's quite possible to handle up to 6box manually w/ proper hardware setup, game macros, and practice. LOTS of practice.. ^^;; Not too many people are going to have the desire/funds/space to setup 6x computers to use at the same time though, so it's rather unlikely to take it that far, but 2-3boxing is easy to accomplish successfully without cheating in the slightest.

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Originally Posted by Halley

Better start buyin that shit if you're seriously making it.

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And if you are sooo concerned about my progress on shield, you are welcome to make/buy spheres and give them to me.

I mean why would I help you make it when you said you're quitting due to the way the update made spheres.

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Originally Posted by Halley

I mean why would I help you make it when you said you're quitting due to the way the update made spheres.

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I said no such thing, I said "PLEASE SE PLEASE I'm BEGGING YOU BAN BOTS FASTER. I'm on the verge of retiring from the game over this. "

It's the BOTS not the cards that were added that were making me want to quit.

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Originally Posted by Nyarlko

A completed Escutcheon will function identically whether you finish it tomorrow, or next year. Even if 2000 other people have one, it does not actually cut down on how useful it is, only how much initial profit you will be looking at. "Profitability" does not equal "usefulness". ^^ (That is excluding the silliness of expecting 2000 people to be playing this game on any server but Asura at this point. lol)

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Again if you really think there were enough spheres on the AH within that first month to even fund maybe 1 shield I really dont know where your head is. No matter what you are telling yourself or saying the only people who finished the shields that first month were botting 24/7 w/ 0 competition. Only reason it slowed down is because there was/is competition

Bots still present in P mines. Since crafter keeps changing but farming bot stays the same I'm guessing a team of RMT. But alas seem se cares for the money rather than abide by the rules they have set forth for players. They prefer gilseller money over a 12 year + loyal player who plays on vanilla FFXI.

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Originally Posted by VoiceMemo

Bots still present in P mines. Since crafter keeps changing but farming bot stays the same I'm guessing a team of RMT. But alas seem se cares for the money rather than abide by the rules they have set forth for players. They prefer gilseller money over a 12 year + loyal player who plays on vanilla FFXI.

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Sadly they appear to be everywhere. I have crossed various zones over the last couple of days and seen it practically around every corner. Set path, killing mobs, set weapon skills and abnormal movement.
I'm getting pretty bored of filling out STFU forms.

Anyone want to team up daily at around 5am eastern time to farm p mines and beat the bots? equal split of spheres produced.

Hope is not lost, Fujito just posted a rather long letter about botters/cheaters. ^^
Here's the unedited GTrans version, with the only changes being me re-adding the links which get lost in copy/paste.

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Originally Posted by Fujito Youji via Google Translate

Hello.

Thank you for always writing information on BOT and cheating, opinions.
I am looking forward to seeing you, but I have decided to refrain from comments because the subject to deal with is delicate data.

However, on the other hand, since comments including misunderstandings that the management side is not dealt with correctly were seen,
again, in order to correctly tell the stance as "Final Fantasy XI" and the current situation of the effort, a
special task force (hereinafter referred to as " STF), we will issue the following comments.

Although it is a long post reading it is a serious posting, it is important, so please read it carefully and be appreciated if you can understand it.

As for this thread
, I am sorry, but I will close it because the reporting route is gathered in the original report form, and a situation where misunderstandings are getting misunderstanding is coming.


■ About cheat act · stance on BOT acts As
also stated in the usage agreement, cheat acts and BOT acts are clearly prohibited in "Final Fantasy XI".
If the action is confirmed, measures will be taken to suspend temporary use of the account or to suspend permanent use.
This stance will not change consistently from the beginning of the service of "Final Fantasy XI".


■ Activities of STF STF is a unit that expertly deals with and deals with organizational activities,
such as Real Money Trade (RMT), cheat acts leading to it, and BOT acts
that adversely affect the game.

The crackdown on STF is roughly divided into a survey conducted by analyzing a log (information recorded in detail of character's behavior) and a survey
that logs into the game and actually monitors the behavior of the character while hidden We are.

Inspection by logs has the advantage that information can be obtained in bird's-eye view across multiple world areas,
but the amount of information is enormous, correspondingly, it takes time to refine and scrutinize.
Investigation in the game is advantageous in that it is possible to grasp "what is going on right now" more than the log rather than the log,
but since it takes a lot of human effort, the range that can be checked at one time is limited .
In the actual survey,
regulations will be promoted by combining the advantages of each method, identifying the problem areas (such as area and character behavior) in the game, and logging them one-shot.


■ Please report!
A report from you is very helpful to quickly detect the problems occurring in the game and increase the initial speed of the investigation. Thank you very much.
We are committed to endeavoring to preclude valuable information we receive earlier, so please continue your continued cooperation. Please use the form of " Report to Special Task Force

" for reporting . Since the STF staff is directly looking through this window, we can deliver information reliably at the earliest possible time, and it is in a format that can describe information necessary for investigation without leakage.



There are a lot of reports that we have on the forums that we do not have all the necessary information for investigation.
For example, a report saying "There are lots of BOTs in the world," the seriousness is very transmitted,
but it can not be fully utilized as information to solve the problem.
Also, it is not recommended from the viewpoint of privacy to post the name of the reporter's character in an unspecified number of forums to be viewed.
In some cases posts may be deleted according to the forum guidelines, so please summarize the report in a special form.

※ For information on STF activities, please also refer to the following pages.
Monthly handling account number and frozen gill amount history
Opinions and requests for STF

* All URLs can be traced from "Rules & Manners" on the left of the official page. These incorrect actions that are


not easily dealt with while reporting
should adversely affect the game, so it should be dealt with promptly.
On the other hand, in strict response to the suspension of account suspension, with careful judgment
, I hope you understand that you need to spend enough time.

Even in cases where it is said that it is obvious, not to judge, it is not judged by deemedisation, and
the fact is checked by checking actions one by one. Although it is a rare case, the following is an example of the survey results actually found.

Report: There are 18 BOTs who have party with anon in one area
Certainly up to 17 people used BOT but only one was an unrelated player.
I was invited by a party silently when I was there but it was a case that I was acting differently.
※ It is not based on talk but it is based on the result of follow-up survey by log.
Report: RMT trader character with appropriate name is exhibiting extensively at auction
It was a second character specialized in loot and material selling.
Because it does not play on the main, the character name is often appropriate.
Second characters are often not raised compared to the main character, there are times when you are
watching a play style that repeats monotonous work or a long time bazaar.
BOT and cheat are often active in groups, and related characters are also present in other area / world.
I will refrain from explaining how the police are being specifically enforced because it will spur a giant,
but take time to avoid missing other people while dealing with a corner of the iceberg We are addressing all at once.


■
In the past I have not had much opportunity to touch the STF as much as possible in order to prevent giving information to the outside as much as
possible, but in response to the opinion that "the achievement of the activity can not be felt " I commented on the current activities.
The crackdown on fraud is a long-standing event and it is a project that can not be resolved overnight, but the attitude towards fraud by
encouraging players to enjoy "Final Fantasy XI" comfortably
is the 16th anniversary It is a part that has not changed all the time now.
We will continue our efforts to respond to your requests, so please continue your favors toward the future.

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Well they closed the thread on Japanese Forum... They don’t want people to discuss about cheater/botter on the forum.

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Originally Posted by Minamikun

Well they closed the thread on Japanese Forum... They don’t want people to discuss about cheater/botter on the forum.

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They want people to use the proper forms and templates and methods to make reports. They closed that thread because they wanted to prevent anyone from doing otherwise.

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Originally Posted by VoiceMemo

Anyone want to team up daily at around 5am eastern time to farm p mines and beat the bots? equal split of spheres produced.

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Oh man how did I miss this. If only I was working on the shield, I'd join you in a second.

July will bring along with it Wave 3 for all Dynamis – Divergence areas.
Other additions include new synthesis recipes for those in possession of aurum tome key items and the monthly updates to Ambuscade.


Well, guess the cheaters will get richer off their illgotten gains.

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Originally Posted by VoiceMemo

Well, guess the cheaters will get richer off their illgotten gains.

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Huh, who would've thought games are more like real life than fantasy.
Crazy, right?

I've been waiting months for bots to get banned for farming spheres, not ONE has been banned yet. And now when I search for all farming locations for spheres I see bots everywhere.

SE do you really not care about the Terms of Service that you have set and just care about money from subscriptions now?

If this is so please change the terms of service and say 3rd program party use is allowed, because this is essentially what you are doing by turning a blind eye to the massive issue of bots killing mobs for items to desynth to spheres, and the cheaters profiting off their illgotten gains.

I'm really considering retiring from game if this continues because the T4 shield is one of 2 things left in the game for me. I don't mind competition between other REAL players, but to fight bots daily is not what I want to do.

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Originally Posted by VoiceMemo

I've been waiting months for bots to get banned for farming spheres, not ONE has been banned yet. And now when I search for all farming locations for spheres I see bots everywhere.

SE do you really not care about the Terms of Service that you have set and just care about money from subscriptions now?

If this is so please change the terms of service and say 3rd program party use is allowed, because this is essentially what you are doing by turning a blind eye to the massive issue of bots killing mobs for items to desynth to spheres, and the cheaters profiting off their illgotten gains.

I'm really considering retiring from game if this continues because the T4 shield is one of 2 things left in the game for me. I don't mind competition between other REAL players, but to fight bots daily is not what I want to do.

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I think it's too out of control now. I have yet to see any evidence of removal of the typical offenders, and I'm not just referring to shield makers.
It doesn't take long to stand there in Palborough Mines to see that these people are clearly cheating, and these players simply don't care.

I'm starting to to feel the same, as is a friend of mine.
It's a two teir game, with some players playing vanilla FFXI, and others playing with third party software.
It's essentially saying some players are driving go-karts following the speed limit, and others are driving sports cars at unchecked speeds.

We know a huge majority of people are using 'non-standard' versions of FFXI now. This is publicly evident on the likes of Youtube and Twitter with players streaming. Players using various add-ons/plugins to give them an advantage over the people who use the 'legitimate way' of playing 'out of the box' FFXI.

How does SE deal with it? It's tough, because its gone too far now, as I said above. Something needs to be done though, as it's like the wildwest out there. I also wish there was some kind of moderation on the /yell system, just as there is on these forums.

As I said before, make the spheres /ex. You CANNOT sell them.
You either make them to use, or nothing at all.
That would kill every single sphere synthing 'bot out there (although groups of real players teaming up would not be affected, although they couldn't make any gil from it and ONLY the person that can make/use spheres would benefit... at first)
If this is done, then every single /yell for "I sell spheres cheapest!"... or anyone farming them for resale would get turned off. Instantly. And those trying to make a shield would have much less competition for targets, alleviating all "legal" players' problems.
And for those saying "Oh you can't change them to /ex, it's too difficult in programming"... sorry it is not difficult at all. Remember how hard it was for them to make rare/ex items only rare, or even stackable and not rare now too? Literal flip of a switch.
And for the rest saying "Then how am I going to make all my gil I want to make?".... Easy; go do something else. Plenty of ways to make gil nowadays it's sickening, because it now makes things just waaaay too overpriced too.
Remember when 1~2 million was a godly amount of gil? I went thru my first 10+ years of playing and NEVER had more than 250,000 gil at a time and survived just well. Might have hit 350~400k once or so, but spent it on items so i could enjoy the game or level my crafting.

For all the gigantic obvious mistakes they make trying to keep this game going, spheres being sellable was one of the largest.

The entirety of the shields, from the very start, all the way to the end.

Maybe even crafting in general, tbqh.

At this point I'd welcome what they did to chocobo digging/fishing. Implement a limit of the amount of spheres you can produce per day. Since only a person with T3 shield can produce them that would limit the amount people can farm in any zone.

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Originally Posted by Dzspdref

As I said before, make the spheres /ex. You CANNOT sell them.

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Can you make synthesis stuff /ex?

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Originally Posted by Justuas

Can you make synthesis stuff /ex?

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The cards they made to turn into spheres are EX, half the items that turn into spheres are ex too

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Originally Posted by Isola

The cards they made to turn into spheres are EX, half the items that turn into spheres are ex too

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Sad thing about that is the card drop rate and synth rates are horrendous for time spent compared to non-card target item recipe drops.
Friend and I farmed the cards off efts/leeches for nearly 3 hrs on THF x2 with base TH8 each and we each can proc up to TH13.
Killed nearly 400+ targets, got only ~50 cards (so ~12% drop rate).
From those ~50 cards using success rate food and gears, I got only 13 spheres (Guessing ~25% success rate).
Not liking the fact to get enough spheres via cards you'll have to kill nearly 1,680,000+ targets to get enough spheres to "possibly" complete shield.
Even still with just regular sphere recipes, makes me want to know HOW some people have now gotten 6~8 shield fully completed in less than 2 months.
Not allowed to post names here, but I know of one person on Asura that has done that, plus few others that have more than one, having most likely bot-farmed them all.
There MUST be some synergy recipe they used on the Focuser II we haven't figured out yet.
My best is ~45 spirit for T3 using light sphere ... that's IF i get some HQs.

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Originally Posted by Dzspdref

Not allowed to post names here, but I know of one person on Asura that has done that, plus few others that have more than one, having most likely bot-farmed them all.

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.. How sly of them..