Bot report response time is hilarious

The time it needs for Square Enix to respond to rampant high-level bot reports is mental and I cannot understand why there's not some kind of Interaction with GMs that can just yeet those people out of the instance and question/ban them.

There are still bots running that I've seen from the 5.1 SHB patches, farming 24/7 Aethersands on Sinus Lacrimarum and Labyrinthos just like back then in SHB in Rak'tika.

Why?
What is so hard in banning seriously obvious bot behavior?

SE needs to stop worrying about the bots and just start banning the root cause.

people buying gil. without that incentive, there would be little desire for the groups that run the bots to make gil by various means.

SE needs to stop treating the symptom of the problem, and give the buyers a serious vacation, then a ban.

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Originally Posted by Kes13a

SE needs to stop worrying about the bots and just start banning the root cause.

people buying gil. without that incentive, there would be little desire for the groups that run the bots to make gil by various means.

SE needs to stop treating the symptom of the problem, and give the buyers a serious vacation, then a ban.

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And how do you propose to address that issue without nuking a bunch of innocent players in the process?

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Originally Posted by Darthgummibear

And how do you propose to address that issue without nuking a bunch of innocent players in the process?

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I was thinking just pick people at random.. how else?

you honestly think SE has no way to track gil buildups on their OWN SERVERS? and then track that gil to where it goes? do I think they would hire people to do it? of course not, but it is the only way to do it. get rid of the supply of real money to these groups and suddenly, running bot rings isnt so attractive. the people buying are the problem, start actioning them.. and the overall bot issues lessen

https://i.imgur.com/q64KlpE.gif

aren't you supposed to report bots to the task force and not wit the general report feature?

https://support.na.square-enix.com/c...382&la=1&fty=2

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Originally Posted by Kes13a

I was thinking just pick people at random.. how else?

you honestly think SE has no way to track gil buildups on their OWN SERVERS? and then track that gil to where it goes? do I think they would hire people to do it? of course not, but it is the only way to do it. get rid of the supply of real money to these groups and suddenly, running bot rings isnt so attractive. the people buying are the problem, start actioning them.. and the overall bot issues lessen

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And what criteria would they use that wouldn't penalize legitimate players?

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Originally Posted by Darthgummibear

And what criteria would they use that wouldn't penalize legitimate players?

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back in the olden days, companies did that all the time. its possible to do.

legitimate players would have legitimate and traceable reasons for moving large sums of money. most buyers AND seller will not. or are you defending buying gil?

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Originally Posted by Kes13a

back in the olden days, companies did that all the time. its possible to do.

legitimate players would have legitimate and traceable reasons for moving large sums of money. most buyers AND seller will not. or are you defending buying gil?

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While this is technically true, those same companies had more manpower. This would require a not insignificant number of staff dedicated to this exact purpose. The most realistic course of action would be to nuke the botting programs, but they have expressed zero interest in doing so. Both solutions require a large amount of resources in a situation where those resources are already strapped to the limit. And no, certainly not defending it. People who buy gil are cancer.

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Originally Posted by Fawkes

https://i.imgur.com/q64KlpE.gif

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I take it that the one on the right is the content creators? lmao

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Originally Posted by Darthgummibear

While this is technically true, those same companies had more manpower. This would require a not insignificant number of staff dedicated to this exact purpose. The most realistic course of action would be to nuke the botting programs, but they have expressed zero interest in doing so. Both solutions require a large amount of resources in a situation where those resources are already strapped to the limit. And no, certainly not defending it. People who buy gil are cancer.

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I dont disagree they would need more, far more than their 4 person STF now. basic fact is they are doing next to nothing and show little interest in actually dealing with the problem in any reasonable way

Yes, i've done that multiple times, but as I said in the headpost, i still see those players running around almost every day farming Aethersand and limited Nodes on the second

I don't think there is a response time after spending close to a year sending staggered reports trying to get one of the bot tycoons on my server banned and failing to get them or any of their three alts purged.

Its completely out of control, I stood in the Carline Canopy the other night and counted over 80 bots coming through in less than 5 minutes. That's completely beyond manual reporting but a GM could sit there for an hour and ban 1,000 bot accounts without breaking a sweat. The fact that isn't happening shows they don't care so I don't bother reporting bots anymore.

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Originally Posted by Zaniel

Its completely out of control, I stood in the Carline Canopy the other night and counted over 80 bots coming through in less than 5 minutes. That's completely beyond manual reporting but a GM could sit there for an hour and ban 1,000 bot accounts without breaking a sweat. The fact that isn't happening shows they don't care so I don't bother reporting bots anymore.

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Ironically, those are the ones that are actually actioned regularly, but they come back so quickly that it doesn't matter.

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Originally Posted by KageTokage

Ironically, those are the ones that are actually actioned regularly, but they come back so quickly that it doesn't matter.

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*SE selling keys to anyone with a pulse*
SE: the money is always right!
*continues to sell keys*

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Originally Posted by Darthgummibear

While this is technically true, those same companies had more manpower. This would require a not insignificant number of staff dedicated to this exact purpose.

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Small indie developer, profit margins very tight, please understand.

I do a good bit of mat farming and crafting, not so much for the gil as it's impossible anymore to battle the bots, but just bc I enjoy it and can save gil crafting myself. Sometime the obvious ones are OBNOXIOUSLY obvious lol, like 6+ of them with the Busy ball all flying the exact same flight path, landing the exact same, messing up the same even. Idk why it would be hard to action these.

Yeah, surely normal players could often appear bot-like, heck I'm sure people wonder why I would farm for 8 hours straight lol. [ funny side note, I farmed for those darned new Sublime liquids for 10 hours the other day and got 1x lol. Gave up on that sadness XD ] But the super obvious ones are really easy to spot.

Also noteworthy, idk how it is on other servers, but if you hang around Faerie New Gridania Aetherite bridge and watch the Chocobokeep, you can count dozens of bots some days earning the achievement from underground, teleporting up above ground, then going back underground for a moment for some reason, then back up above ground a few moments, then teleporting normally away to who knows where. Sometimes they even glitch out and pile up at the Aetherite. Almost always with whacky names nobody would ever pick to play like Dgkjsadfoiyu Msdrsdkjgbnmcr.

Like, even Fate Farmers are the most obvious ever.

Today I decided to farm for some materials via Bicolor Gemstones and I saw someone still botting them in Ultima Thule after having reported them earlier this year when the expansion came out.

Its actually mindblowing how easy it is to just not get banned regardless of getting reported or not.
At this point I'm somewhat convinced that the weekly "ban report" that Square puts out only counts those that are actually teleporthacking and whatnot.

Theres no way they can convince me they actually ban any of the other ones that "try" to hide it but are still incredibly obvious.