SE we have bots problems

i like report behometh is have bots problem

i figure set up we report are server for bots problem


their teleport all over place to mobs and stuff

i would if i could get screen shot but i can't
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Qw5...ew?usp=sharing

i was able upload it to google drive but i not sure how upload it to the forum

you don't report bots here on the forum. you do it in game and the report gets forwarded to the special task force.

Reads like if that thread was written by a bot. Yeah there is a problem, be thankful SE takes care about it without installing spyware on your pc to see if you run bots etc.

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Originally Posted by DrWho2010

the report gets forwarded to the special task force.

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Who do basically nothing.

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Originally Posted by Vahlnir

Who do basically nothing.

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They do ban them in pretty big waves. The issue is that they don't seem to realize the fact that most bots just auto-delete their characters after an hour or so before making a new one to continue the cycle. It'd be nice if they could find a way to get them chat banned for a time with enough reports and then attribute a full ban to the account when the task force can actually look at it on an individual basis, but it'd be hard to implement something like that without having it be abusable by normal players.

The way I see it, the game has (or had) 4 bot problems; none of which are "I see people violating the ToS and it annoys me."

1) By far the worst - in early Heavensward, gillseller bots constantly whispered people. If you weren't there, you have no idea of the scale; you'd usually get a tell every second. Most people turned off chat entirely, because it was completely impossible to hold a conversation. SE pretty much fixed this; now, at most, people get around once a day the message about "SE should not allow this! Log onto fakesite.xyz!"

2) Bots sometimes monopolize kills of world mobs needed to advance the MSQ. I wouldn't be surprised if tomorrow's ARR rework removes these quests; there have been far fewer of them in the expansions too.

3) Bots sometimes monopolize instances, particularly Amdapor Keep, preventing anyone from queuing in. I've never experienced this myself; but there seem to be fewer outraged threads about it lately, so perhaps its died down?

4) Bots distort the marketboard. True, but this is a benefit to buyers, and only affects some methods of selling things to earn gil. SE's put in a number of methods to make gil that bots basically can't do as well (notably maps and deep dungeon); and taken steps that result in materia - pretty much the only thing people actually need to buy, and a former bot money-maker - being nearly free.

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Originally Posted by Enla

They do ban them in pretty big waves.

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Right. Though is it broken down by server cluster? At times, it really does feel as if the development team are unaware of what is going on over on the NA and EU server clusters when it comes to certain issues.

For example, European players are still waiting for the ability to get their hands on the Fat Black Chocobo mount that Japanese and North American players had promotions for long ago.

I'm starting to worry that there's an issue with feedback not making its way to where it needs to go and with the rarity in which our community representatives post and make themselves known, it's very difficult to know if a legitimate issue in need of attention is actually being highlighted.

i would think the problem with the fat black chocobo is a lack of promotional partnerships that can be efficiently done in the EU.

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Originally Posted by Theodric

Right. Though is it broken down by server cluster? At times, it really does feel as if the development team are unaware of what is going on over on the NA and EU server clusters when it comes to certain issues.

For example, European players are still waiting for the ability to get their hands on the Fat Black Chocobo mount that Japanese and North American players had promotions for long ago.

I'm starting to worry that there's an issue with feedback not making its way to where it needs to go and with the rarity in which our community representatives post and make themselves known, it's very difficult to know if a legitimate issue in need of attention is actually being highlighted.

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Oh I definitely agree there. It does feel like half the time the NA/EU side of the equation is basically left out to dry because the developers don't seem to understand how to adequately handle us and our concerns over the bots. I want to believe that the majority of the bots being removed are from the NA/EU worlds and that SE is trying to come up with ways to negatively impact bots without impacting the playerbase, but sometimes it does kinda feel like we're screaming at a brick wall.

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Originally Posted by Enla

They do ban them in pretty big waves. The issue is that they don't seem to realize the fact that most bots just auto-delete their characters after an hour or so before making a new one to continue the cycle. It'd be nice if they could find a way to get them chat banned for a time with enough reports and then attribute a full ban to the account when the task force can actually look at it on an individual basis, but it'd be hard to implement something like that without having it be abusable by normal players.

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They ban RMT. Not actual player controlled bots. There's a notorious botter on my server and despite video evidence, he's been at it for over a year. He's even go so far as to outright mock them. Square does literally nothing unless it's downright blatant.

There are also a ton of bot FCs with a few of them active for a long time.
You can easily check them on the loadstone.

Let's place the tinfoil on my head and let me tell you my guess. They don't do to much against the bots because when they do the daily DDOS starts to become a problem again.
So they decide for the smaller evil.

the special task force is so useless market board bots gather bots teleporting everywhere jesus why square enix even have them in the first place

ffxiv is the most RMT bot friendly game i'v ever played

Cause a taskforce can't deal with dozens of servers with thousands of bots? It's not thaaaaat hard to understand. Just ask yourself why you can't do double of the work you do atm in your actual job, if you have one. The solution isn't upgrading cause fighting bots and gilsellers with just manpower takes so much more ressources than what they actually do, they get after the big fishes. Not the bots but mostly the people who sell gil and have big amounts. Ofc it's shitty for all people that sell stuff on the marketboard. But i think you would also have a problem if we double the cost of our subs so they can fight bots with manpower and not tactics.

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Originally Posted by Ranaku

Cause a taskforce can't deal with dozens of servers with thousands of bots? It's not thaaaaat hard to understand. Just ask yourself why you can't do double of the work you do atm in your actual job, if you have one. The solution isn't upgrading cause fighting bots and gilsellers with just manpower takes so much more ressources than what they actually do, they get after the big fishes. Not the bots but mostly the people who sell gil and have big amounts. Ofc it's shitty for all people that sell stuff on the marketboard. But i think you would also have a problem if we double the cost of our subs so they can fight bots with manpower and not tactics.

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SUre they can listen to reports and see if the bots respond, if they continue to craft and gather but won't respond then BOOT it really is that simple :) whats so hard about that?

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Originally Posted by Ranaku

Cause a taskforce can't deal with dozens of servers with thousands of bots? It's not thaaaaat hard to understand. Just ask yourself why you can't do double of the work you do atm in your actual job, if you have one. The solution isn't upgrading cause fighting bots and gilsellers with just manpower takes so much more ressources than what they actually do, they get after the big fishes. Not the bots but mostly the people who sell gil and have big amounts. Ofc it's shitty for all people that sell stuff on the marketboard. But i think you would also have a problem if we double the cost of our subs so they can fight bots with manpower and not tactics.

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The special task force is useless and a waste of SE money, if SE allows GM to ban them you will see massive drops.

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Originally Posted by Ranaku

Cause a taskforce can't deal with dozens of servers with thousands of bots? It's not thaaaaat hard to understand. Just ask yourself why you can't do double of the work you do atm in your actual job, if you have one. The solution isn't upgrading cause fighting bots and gilsellers with just manpower takes so much more ressources than what they actually do, they get after the big fishes. Not the bots but mostly the people who sell gil and have big amounts. Ofc it's shitty for all people that sell stuff on the marketboard. But i think you would also have a problem if we double the cost of our subs so they can fight bots with manpower and not tactics.

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Go to ephemeral node how many of those bots u see have those busy status on and plays 24/7

And every GM has to review first if it's really a bot...who the heck should pay for that? xD You know how much time that takes with all the bots? You know what the sole reason behind bots is? They are replaced in hours.

You actually see on the reports how many people they take out and they are many, for such a little team taking out so many bots etc. if that wouldn't be the case we would get overrun by gilsellers and bots. But whatever, people will always complain about stuff they don't understand at all. Math hard, flaming SE easy, i get it.

The problem is the vast majority of the bots they're getting rid of are not made to last and are immediately replaced the instant they get banned.

The ones they should be placing higher priority on removing are the DoL/H bots that won't come back instantly due to needing to re-level their jobs before they can start abusing the marketboard again.

There's been multiple weeks where there were zero bans of the "normal" bots that aren't using hacks to teleport around the place...which is kind of unacceptable when there's well over a dozen I run into on a daily basis on my server alone and many have been around since as far back as HW.

Giving GMs bot-banning powers would just pile extra work on the escalation resolution team. For no purpose.

The best ways to beat the bots are system-based: fix the loopholes that allow teleport/trespass hacks; track patterns of automation on reported accounts. The best way of all is to track the flow of gil. Given that they have the capacity for complete knowledge of where every gil in-game comes from and goes to (not as individual elemnts, no, that wouldn't be necessary; we're talking about bulk flows here), it should be possible to ban RMT accounts (the bots that grind the cash, the bot-fed sellers and the cheating muddyfunsters who buy the illicit money, all of them) faster than they can make money.

I've heard reports that some people performing mass gil transfers between characters have been contacted by the GMs unexpectedly due to them mistaking it for some kind of RMT transaction, so it seems like they do actually monitor that to an extent.

It would not surprise me if the RMT vendors have felt them and the STF out enough to know what will/won't get their attention, though...or botters in general for that matter.

One kept mass murdering story required mobs in Mor Dohna, for about a hour or however long it takes to do MSQ+ a 24 man raid