Dear Square Enix - this is tragic, it really is sickening and disgusting

http://i.imgur.com/kYF348N.jpg
I bought a 4th retainer today
I support this game
I love it more than anything
I understand these ...things...keep the material flow cheap or some such but I go out and farm my own stuff when I need it

It is disgusting to see, however i've said it before and i'll say it again, these bots/gil/gold sellers will always exist if there if a market for it, the game is a few years old now, if there was no market for profit wouldn't stick around, in fact you can tell which servers are craving into it by the larger presence and more tenacious attitude of them. I've played three servers over my time during FF14 ARR and i've noticed they're a lot more active on certain servers while barely present on others.

Unfortunately there is only so much SE can do, and as players all you can really do is report them. It's easier to avoid purchasing gil from gil spammers than it is purchasing items these bots.

The other day on my alt server of cerberus i found four bots inside that small cave located the furthest south west in corthas, farming the mobs there for days.

Personally I won't even buy shards from the ah any more. it's a pain farming them myself but I can't bring myself to buy them from the ah knowing they are more than likely from rmt.

Also depends from server to server.
Some got more gilseller spams while other don't.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by charlemagne

Personally I won't even buy shards from the ah any more. it's a pain farming them myself but I can't bring myself to buy them from the ah knowing they are more than likely from rmt.

---

mining and gathering relaxes me anyways
I just put some good music on and go mine wheneve I feel sleepy and just want to do nothing other than listen to music and doze off from time to time.
Mining and botany were made for that :)

who needs their botted up filthy shards when we can get better ones ourselves

Chrome isn't loading that picture for some reason. What is it about?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ShinigamiKiba

http://s25.postimg.org/9qwwii125/2015_04_29_00027.jpg

I bought a 4th retainer today
I support this game
I love it more than anything
I understand these ...things...keep the material flow cheap or some such but I go out and farm my own stuff when I need it

---

And your point being...?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bluevann

Chrome isn't loading that picture for some reason. What is it about?

---

I reuploaded it to imgur
it wasn't loading for a friend either, hope it works now for everyone

it's a pic of a bunch of bots I saw in limsa earlier

Tragic, sickening and disgusting? All words that do not describe this situation. They will never be able to get rid of bots 100% when people are keeping them in business by buying gil from them so they can buy wins. Sorry bud, just going to have to build a bridge and get over it like the rest of us.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Nadrojj

Tragic, sickening and disgusting? All words that do not describe this situation. They will never be able to get rid of bots 100% when people are keeping them in business by buying gil from them so they can buy wins. Sorry bud, just going to have to build a bridge and get over it like the rest of us.

---

At least in WoW if they were from the opposite faction you could kill them
same in TERA tho i never saw many bots in TERA, maybe it didnt have any who knows

I love FF14 so much and I know little can be done about them but damn
when you see a group of clones like this with names consisting of random characters or gil selling sites ban their asses asap imo

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Zephyr-Umbra

It is disgusting to see, however i've said it before and i'll say it again, these bots/gil/gold sellers will always exist if there if a market for it, the game is a few years old now, if there was no market for profit wouldn't stick around, in fact you can tell which servers are craving into it by the larger presence and more tenacious attitude of them. I've played three servers over my time during FF14 ARR and i've noticed they're a lot more active on certain servers while barely present on others.

Unfortunately there is only so much SE can do, and as players all you can really do is report them. It's easier to avoid purchasing gil from gil spammers than it is purchasing items these bots.

The other day on my alt server of cerberus i found four bots inside that small cave located the furthest south west in corthas, farming the mobs there for days.

---

Less activity on other servers is due to restrictions on character creation.

These gilselers not even bother to send you tells anymore, they do shouts, yell, say, everything anything to blatantly advertise, not even putting weird randomized symbols.... They either desperate or people actually buying gils massively... Why would you even need gills in this game?? All the best gears are FREE by doing end game stuffs. Almost every crafting items can be farmed for free, only the highest level materials are rare, but you will get them by doing more contents. I rather SE sell these items (for people who do not want to spend time farming) - and kill gill seller in the process. Or just don't buy gil, end of story.

Sadly the only way to stop RMT forever would be to make gil pointless. Make housing acquired through achievements rather than gil (like, points, buy with company seals and whatnot), negate all forms of trading between players (to prevent win selling), and maybe turn the market board into an NPC that players supply and who sells the items supplied on a first-come, first-served basis at a price set up by the game and not by ourselves (example: I trade 3 potions that the NPC automatically sells for 20 gil, but two other players traded potions before me, so I have to wait for their own to be sold before mine can be bought by someone), to stop people from selling minions or rare loot at absurd prices.

Housing, clears, rare items. For as long as these things keep asking for millions, people will need millions, and they will look to gil buying.

(Materia used to be in the list of gil sinks, but SE is thankfully making them not required with the Scrips system incoming in 3.0)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Evergrey

Also depends from server to server.
Some got more gilseller spams while other don't.

---

I got 6 friend invites within 1 hour on the least populated EU server. It's getting ridiculous and there is no way to stop it.

It seems they target some people more than others which creeps me out.
I get spammed with their crap every few minutes and it's driving me nuts
I just want to swing my Zeta axe a few times at these bots and never hear from them again but that's impossible in this game lol
then again it's not like dead/ko'd players can't send tells and shout so it wouldn't do much good

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by charlemagne

Personally I won't even buy shards from the ah any more. it's a pain farming them myself but I can't bring myself to buy them from the ah knowing they are more than likely from rmt.

---

Boycotting the obvious bot-gathered materials is a wise yet unfortunately uneffective strategy. The plyerbase's laziness will always trump principles in gaming. The same can be said about the RMT nightmare; crack down on the buyers in the form of permanent bans and you will see a decrease. Yet this seems to be an overlooked or ignored solution.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by charlemagne

Personally I won't even buy shards from the ah any more. it's a pain farming them myself but I can't bring myself to buy them from the ah knowing they are more than likely from rmt.

---

Eh, I haven't bought or farmed Shards in a loooooooong time, and not because I don't use them...

Those two extra (pay2win) Retainers being Miner/Botanists gets me all the Shards/Crystals I'll ever need. As long as SE doesn't suddenly make Ventures difficult to accrue I'll only ever have to lift a finger to get Clusters, but it's more likely come Lv60 they can even farm those for me...

Were I less lazy and less tasteful, I'd be posting a LimeGuy meme with Shards/Ventures right now. Seriously though, I find Ventures for Shards to be incredibly useful, you may want to look into doing that. Everyone may... I don't know how RMT can own the Shard market when my Retainers can bleed Shards... Do people prefer getting HQ Hippo skins every 18 hours or something?

Op - I'm with you on the sickening - those things are hanging round right in the damn inn on my server too. I keep reporting them, but I am discouraged.

I think the vast majority of the playerbase fully understand that SE are not taking any steps to alleviate the problems that spambots are causing it's player base, so we've given up.

Personally I've put my /tells on to a tab so I never read them (got fed up being /busy constantly), RMT's response? Friend requests for rmtsite'com sellzgilzklja, like, seriously, the only way to block RMT spam bots in this game is to be busy, constantly.

Obviously you can't possibly suggest that SE could do something about it but aint, you end up getting banned if you for one instance question the ability of SE, so best not to suggest they are anything other than perfect in their handling of RMT.

I see that fairly often tbh, also i swear i have seen a guild that are actually gil sellers as every time i log in and go to east shroud (crawler coccoons) these 2 or 3 players are always mining the same things, that or they realllly love mining to be doing it hours on end and every day, lol

You love FFXIV more than anything else?

Son, a few gold sellers are the very least of your problems.

My opinion? Stop paying for that extra retainer for about 10 months, swipe right on tinder and when a match comes? Whip out your wallet full of mullah and shout the lucky lady (man?) to a big mac.

My opinion counts extra because I'm legacy and paid more than another person.

Your weird fourth point: It's weird and I don't think you understand what you think you understand. I think you think you understand economics, but I don't think you do.... but you think you do, and are trying to say you do...even though you know that you don't know.

If you're at the point that a game has elements which are sickening and disgusting to you then perhaps it's time to take a break for a few months, and check back with 3.0, or when you see updates which provide the necessary adjustments?

All I see is 5 bots wearing the fuglist version of BLM AF in the history of Final Fantasy.

It's a shame you can't use those giant Roe arms to grab them all up into a bear hug and squeeze the life out of them...

Gil would probably flow from them as you squeezed like toothpaste from a tube too.

http://i.imgur.com/F5r5aDw.png

http://i.imgur.com/N8wdZ1q.jpg

Scenes like these make me want to unsubscribe.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by aerialrave

http://i.imgur.com/F5r5aDw.png

http://i.imgur.com/N8wdZ1q.jpg

Scenes like these make me want to unsubscribe.

---

Beat you to it!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by aerialrave

http://i.imgur.com/F5r5aDw.png

http://i.imgur.com/N8wdZ1q.jpg

Scenes like these make me want to unsubscribe.

---

All im seeing is pvp slaughter.

Found a couple on my server a couple days ago... :c http://i.imgur.com/ogTpZKS.jpg

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Pence

You love FFXIV more than anything else?

Son, a few gold sellers are the very least of your problems.

My opinion? Stop paying for that extra retainer for about 10 months, swipe right on tinder and when a match comes? Whip out your wallet full of mullah and shout the lucky lady (man?) to a big mac.

My opinion counts extra because I'm legacy and paid more than another person.

Your weird fourth point: It's weird and I don't think you understand what you think you understand. I think you think you understand economics, but I don't think you do.... but you think you do, and are trying to say you do...even though you know that you don't know.

If you're at the point that a game has elements which are sickening and disgusting to you then perhaps it's time to take a break for a few months, and check back with 3.0, or when you see updates which provide the necessary adjustments?

---

This guy doesn't understand what figure of speech means
this guy

XFD

I don't see where the problem is.. cheap shards? That should be good for our crafters.. They're causing us no harm

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by aerialrave

http://i.imgur.com/F5r5aDw.png

http://i.imgur.com/N8wdZ1q.jpg

Scenes like these make me want to unsubscribe.

---

For me, I sit there and note down as many names as I can and I write up a ticket. Takes a white because the names are gibberish but the GMs need to know where to view this botting activity.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by LordHadi

I don't see where the problem is..

---

My problem with rmt is having to stay on busy status the entire time I'm logged on this game, so I don't have to hear and get 5 tells/friend requests every 5 minutes, especially during cutscenes, ruining my game immersion. I live on busy and don't receive ready checks in duty now and only socialize in this mmo through fc chat and my five linkshells. Since when is driving your customers into antisocial states to avoid constant harassment a healthy foundation for a socially driven game like an mmo?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bluevann

Sadly the only way to stop RMT forever would be to make gil pointless.

---

True, but then it comes in the form of other tradeables.

Like, if we really want to get into the nitty gritty of how best to bludgeon RMT's to death, the easiest way is to remove all forms of tradeable "currency" in the game. We have gil, gc seals, alliance marks, and now gold saucer points. This is just... kinda stupid. Other games did the "new untradeable currency" thing too, and all it does is fragment things and make a mess.

Like here's a proposal that only solves one problem:
- Remove Gil as a tradeable. HQ items can only be traded via the market boards. Crystals can only be traded for other crystals.
- Only the Retainers can trade gil, retainers would be programmed to "buy X at Y up to Z quantity" and "Sell X at Y for quantity Z" up to 20 of each. Players wouldn't be able to buy anything off the board unless their retainers have the gil for it. Retainers would only be allowed to "exist" in one market. Items can not be placed below NPC sell price nor 5% above the highest last-sold-for price. Items that are listed and not sold in one week are automatically delisted and returned to the retainers inventory.

This cripples the ability to trade items and gil

Targeting botting itself is usually best solved through some kind of PvP/Bounty system, but since it's easily abused, requires some kind of game mechanic that is more forgiving of mistakes. So maybe summoning a high level monster to kill the target would be more appropriate (eg summoning an aggressive version of the A-rank hunt target, or a Morbol) with bait tagged to the target.

The only real way to fight RMT is to leverage the player base who hates RMT by giving them tools to disrupt and report RMT activities. The same tools tend to be used to abuse/grief actual players, so it's a bit of a conundrum.

I don't want to tempt fate, but Phoenix server doesn't seem to have this problem at all.

If SE made shards easier to get through gathering there would be fewer people buying them, and fewer people filling the gilsellers coffers. Of course, they don't so this sort of thing remains as prolific as ever. Getting 1 shard per harvest is incredibly dull and slow given the rate at which you burn through them crafting. Wards only work once per node, and even then eat up so much GP that it can't be done regularly.

The gathering classes need a buff to make it more viable to get your own rather than rely on the marketplace. It won't happen, but we can always dream.

it was like this in 1.0 too

packs of lala running around

don't think it will ever change unfortunately

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by LordHadi

I don't see where the problem is.. cheap shards? That should be good for our crafters.. They're causing us no harm

---

You don't see the big picture. This is the root of the supply chain. They make their gil off the shards and give it to their respective gilselling websites, which is part of what keeps them running and spamming other people with /tells.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by LordHadi

I don't see where the problem is.. cheap shards? That should be good for our crafters.. They're causing us no harm

---

The gil the RMT make from the shards is sold to players who can then pay more for stuff on the ah. This drives up prices for everything else. It means the crafters who can make the expensive stuff make even more gil relative to gatherers and other players, distorting the economy. This helps cement and widen the divide between the haves and have nots in terms of gil.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Zabuza

You don't see the big picture. This is the root of the supply chain. They make their gil off the shards and give it to their respective gilselling websites, which is part of what keeps them running and spamming other people with /tells.

---

The big picture is the root of the problem are players who buy the gil making it profitable to create bots, and farm the gil to sell them. If people just didn't buy gil then problem would be gone but scrubs need their T13 buys

http://i.imgur.com/Bd0QVYJ.jpg

The guys in the opening post are still there.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SevenHeavens

it was like this in 1.0 too

packs of lala running around

don't think it will ever change unfortunately

---

http://i.imgur.com/pmqVom1.jpg
Oh the memories...

Apparently I don't change my "Found some RMT" pose even after 4-5 years.