Teleporting/Botting Has taken over this game.

[Swag]

It's the people who buy gil are to blame for this. If there was nobody to sell their gil to they wouldn't do this.

I wouldn't mind seeing some buyers getting banned along with the sellers. The reason people think so little of buying gil is because there are no real consequences. Even those few who bought tons (and others who earned tons) merely had 90% of their gil seized--they weren't banned or suspended (beyond the period of the "investigation"). Amusing side note: Gil was only removed from characters--not retainers--so if you're rich, hide it there.

[Gyrus]

It's the people who buy gil are to blame for this. If there was nobody to sell their gil to they wouldn't do this.

This is NOT true. Conan had a max of 150-200 people playing, no one bought gill as funcom made it completely worthless (really, you didn't need it whatsoever) Guees what? We still had gold seller here and there. Mind you not at the level of FFXIV but they were still there. While i agree somewhat, I als have to disagree . These RMT insects will linger for a very long time. The most effective route is SE banning them with a sophisticated system. I'd be happy if they just remove the spam. I can deal with some botters more so than the constant flooding of chat.

In actuality, SE just need to get on the ball and handle the RMT infestation.

[ArcheustheWise]

Actually they just need to stop being so damn lazy, DO what they did in ffxi and have some gms in red. this ban 60 (sarcasm) people across all servers is not cutting it.....

They have taken over the AH severely.

[Zakalwe]

Botting has really killed MMOs for me, which is sad considering I've been playing nonstop for more than fifteen years now. [Snip] ..
The bots wouldn't be here without demand, and there is most definitely demand. I know more people who have purchased gil than who haven't. [more snip]…

I'd like to see the hammer come down on botters and gill-sellers more than anyone, but I don't expect any meaningful progress to be made. [yet more snip]

Wait a sec, you would like to see the ban hammer come down on botters and RMTs more than anyone? So I assume you report them when you see them, as do I. But then you say most of your in-game friends and acquaintances buy gil. They of course are the real scum bags who make the whole game-destroying RMT industry possible. If you aren't reporting them as well you really have no standing to complain.

[Chadzuk]

I'm honestly starting to believe they don't care and may even be in some way benefiting from it. I have the same people spamming cities for days and longer. Just log in and watch it, that's enough proof to ban the accounts. If it's a hacked account then the owner needs to put in a ticket and wait until someone can fix it (which will probably take 3 months anyway).

[Welsper59]

They really will have to make a movement soon to keep the mentality of the player base (generally) in line. FFXI wasn't as bad, from the mental state. RMT dominated numerous parts of that game, but their presence was only found out in the field, rather than in towns (albeit you would still see them). That's because there really wasn't any active advertisements going on. It kept that game from feeling like a typical F2P MMO because of that. Plus, with the mob difficulty and whatnot, it was fairly easy for players to MPK the bots/RMT/hackers.

The problem was that they took too long to make a noticeable move. People (myself included) easily got away with using hacks as a result. It becomes a fulfilling enough action once the players needs are satisfied. It just can't hit that point for the offenders, otherwise you're too late. The same mentality goes for gil buyers. If they can easily get away with it, and the RMT can easily fulfill their orders before getting banned/shutdown, corrective action is pointless. The idea that they know they can get away with it has already been planted. The damage is done, and it's there to stay.

[Zfz]

Edit: Yes your youtube video is *exactly* what was happening on my server.

At first I started filling in a report, then in that first 30 seconds I notices five more bots pop in, and I didn't get their names. Then it hit me that it's impractical to report these names, because they don't stop. I could sit there 24 hours and new names will keep popping up. So I recorded the thing instead.

Japanese forum mods have responded to my post over there and said they're aware of this and will be making backend changes to stop this. I guess the video did serve its purpose.

The mod response there is:
this post

[Gyrus]

fix it sE

now

[Moontide]

At first I started filling in a report, then in that first 30 seconds I notices five more bots pop in, and I didn't get their names. Then it hit me that it's impractical to report these names, because they don't stop. I could sit there 24 hours and new names will keep popping up. So I recorded the thing instead.

Japanese forum mods have responded to my post over there and said they're aware of this and will be making backend changes to stop this. I guess the video did serve its purpose.

Thank you. I'm glad that someone did as much as you did and bothered to translate it to our side also. It seems like the SE presence in the English side of the forums is too understaffed at most times to deal with these situations.

[Kosmos992k]

Botting has really killed MMOs for me

Yeah, but this is a chicken and egg situation, if people were not stupid and selfish enough to cheat by buying gil and XP from RMTs, these RMTs and their bots would have no reason to exist. The fact that they thrive so strongly and are so heavily present proves that there is a very large demand for their services. If people would stop buying their 'services', there would be no reason for them to exist, and they'd stop wasting their time. But until people stop cheating by buying gil, XP or whatever else, this will continue to be a problem.

Simple message to everyone, STOP CHEATING!

The problem was that they took too long to make a noticeable move. People (myself included) easily got away with using hacks as a result. It becomes a fulfilling enough action once the players needs are satisfied. It just can't hit that point for the offenders, otherwise you're too late. The same mentality goes for gil buyers. If they can easily get away with it, and the RMT can easily fulfill their orders before getting banned/shutdown, corrective action is pointless. The idea that they know they can get away with it has already been planted.

Which is why they need to;

a) identify the botting accounts - based on the account behavior,
b) trace the gil the bots generate to the accounts used to accumulate it
c) trace that gil to whichever account is being used to transfer it to the RMT customers
d) trace the accounts that the gil is transferred to

and then e) ban the whole bloody lot of them outright, by MAC and/or IP address if necessary.