Please Report Bots

Today we found a number of sets of pirate bots operating in Leviathan, in Thanlan and in Coerthas. They usually involve pairs or three identical characters and a main character or we suspect an operator. Some are static, some attack low level enemies over and over, and some appear and disapper as if under the control of the operator.

Please report as soon as you see them. Be sure to get full details of the character names and any details of the main character Operators. I found one today that was Level 50 with all blue jewelery so someone had made a significant investment.

I am very sad to see this kind of abuse happening and have reported it fully, and hope that this can be stopped fast. It has ruined other games such as Silk Road for example and is a danger to us all. It is not a joke.

The most immediate sign is exact duplicate characters often stacked on each other. Watch for them and report immediately.

Instance bot:

identical characters going in and out of instances, usually hide near the border between zones, not far from a camps. So people that might see them are just running to another zone.
Often spotted East Shroud just near passage to south Shroud or Coerthas just near passage to Mor Dhona.

Legit multi boxers don't have to hide.

Yes that sounds like what is being used. There is no reason for there to be multiple instances of a character that are identical.

You stop the bots by stopping the people that buy gil / services from them. If they don't sell gil / services then they are probably not worth worrying about imo. If the people buying the stuff got nailed I would not have to stay in busy status 80% of the time to avoid tells from the people selling it. No customers = No merchants = a lot less bots = other bots not selling not worth the time.

SE made it so complicated to report that I don't bother of it anymore, I saw a bunch of then in Thanalan too, but usually bots have complicated names to spell so ya. Instead of giving us the option to click and report we have to to through a series of menus.

Well i dont mind making the effort when i have time, and just wanted to share this info. I agree the best way would be for ppl to stop buying from the pirates but since we can clearly identify when they are in action like described above, it is helpful to share with ppl who may not know what it means. SE does pretty well actually, compared to other MMOs i have studied and i am glad it is such a fine game. Most of the time the bots have not been really that evident but recently we noted there was seemingly an increase but i suspect it maybe one or two active operators and it is worth the effort to shut them down esp since one I saw had a high level character that clearly took effort to create and destroying their net may discourage them. Reporting does help if we have the time.

What about the people in chats that always post crap about buying gil? How do I report them. Am still very new to the game and Final Fantasy as a whole

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Originally Posted by CrisGer

Yes that sounds like what is being used. There is no reason for there to be multiple instances of a character that are identical.

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Actually, most multiboxers like to play clones. Just search "multiboxing" on google images.
Best bet is to check if they have chocobo and stuff, usually instance botters don't. And if they move with follow and stuff, i guess that's a boxer.

Im not bothering to report them anymore, i did it once, filled out this super annoying report thing, and they were still botting there 2 weeks later, no thanks, i dont like wasting my time..

You know what's sad? Me and my GF played MMORPGs for a long time, using the same names (King/Queen of course)

We both love being Magic users/ Demonologists, so SMN was our choice award. At the same time, it's easier for me to teach her all the mechanics of a new game, since it's the same skills (duh)

We aren't equipped the same way. Except when we had DL gear full set? As was everyone..

She's from Japan playing on NA server. So yes, it can happen that she lags.

Her first CT at the time, with random peeps except one FC mate: since we obviously wiped at Atomos, they out-of-the-bat suspected me of multi-boxing. She was vote kicked, of course me and my fellow mate left.

Nowadays, I am playing a different class (PLD) so there's no confusion.

Still, for me not to be able to play as a Duo SMN (the Demonic Abysses) because that's what we like but there is some [insert word here] that cannot make a difference between a real player and a botter, or someone that multi-box, is very saddening.

[Thank you for reading]

In regards to reporting: Not only SE makes it difficult to create an account so you can play the game, they make it hard to report as they could make (they still can) a button that when you click on the player and report, it will tell them

the server you are on, the time, the location from <pos>, the name of the one you clicked, etc...

I don't believe it's hard to make, and this should be a close to top priority since they ask us to collaborate.

I don't see lots of my friends bothering with reporting, that should be a "hello" to them to .. see that something's wrong in their process and re-evaluate, and then correct.

We all want to get rid of pests, SE, let us work better with you, for the sake of this great game.

Thank you.

Found a legitimate player botting by Costa del Sol on the level 30 trees (water shards/crystals). You could tell they were botting because they would bee-line to each tree in a particular order. Each point has three trees it can spawn at, for example Tree 1-A,B,C; 2-A,B,C, etc. The character will run to tree 1-A; if that point is not up, then they run to 1-B, then 1-C. Once the character engages in a spot, there is about a 4-5 second pause and then they'll start swinging. Once done, they will bee-line to the next set of trees and repeat 2-A, 2-B, etc.

I stopped reporting gilseller-botters because there's not really an end to them. Any GM could just sit in the same spot they appear and just click their ban button.

What irks me though is real players botting. I have no tolerance for them.

Legion your attitude is not welcome here. You can take your negativity to some other game. I care about the game and the quality of it and others do too fortuantely I am sorry to see such negative thoughts in my thread.

as for botting of any kind it is illegal and against the rules to cheat. Period.

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Originally Posted by Thaliss

Legit multi boxers

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LOL. While there is nothing wrong with multi-boxing in and of itself, it's ridiculous. It's the ultimate sign of someone who should just be playing a single-player game or one of the many MMOs that give you access to fake party members.

It's also hard to do without using some sort of automation programs, so I doubt there are many 'legit' multi-boxers out there.

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Originally Posted by TheRogueX

LOL. While there is nothing wrong with multi-boxing in and of itself, it's ridiculous. It's the ultimate sign of someone who should just be playing a single-player game or one of the many MMOs that give you access to fake party members.

It's also hard to do without using some sort of automation programs, so I doubt there are many 'legit' multi-boxers out there.

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Man. I miss multiboxing FFXI. That game was fantastic - I could take my friends THF and go farm things that people couldn't solo, so I could make some good money. XD THF+RDM was way op.

FFXIV, I could probably do it with less effectiveness, and definitely NOT in meaningfull content...

Report bots, nothing happens.

Take vid and show in forums, due to frustation, banned.

Not sure if ppl should report at all. Might as well let then grow.

As hard as it is to report, I can confirm that reporting does indeed work. I've seen chronic botting on Malboro be reduced to a trickle. I have also seen numerous low lifes get banned or temp banned for being such "special" human beings. My multiple convos with GM's also has provided me with useful insight into how the system works.

When reporting a player always include the Name, Zone you encountered the infractions, and importantly the time, including your timezone.

If you're reporting them for botting, be sure to give information that can definitively prove suspicious activity. Just saying "This guy is a bot" is not enough. Make sure you report teleport hacking, repeated actions, if the player appears to be moving on "rails", etc.

Remember that Square Enix also bans in waves. Just because you don't see the bot or low life banned in a week or two, doesn't mean they won't be banned.

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Originally Posted by Lumia

Found a legitimate player botting by Costa del Sol on the level 30 trees (water shards/crystals). You could tell they were botting because they would bee-line to each tree in a particular order.

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I would have not thought this to be a bot. I run an optimal rotation for crystals. It takes forever to harvest them. Maximizing them by getting the +1 additional swing / item is the best way to get them. As far as running directly is not hard either because they appear on the map. If you have farmed enough crystals you pretty much know the tree / plant / rock cycles.

The delay could be from someone just having a crappy computer or a bad connection. The things I might report are: seeing someone running into a rock and jumping over and over for an extended period of time, constant run speed and teleporting. I don't report people for running patterns, having afk / busy (I keep busy up almost 24/7 to avoid rmt tells) or being in an area for and extended time.