So I"ve reported these bots...

[Lufir]

I'm pretty sure SE doesn't really care. They have the whole "turn the other cheek" mindset as long as you don't admit you are using it. I.E. People are still using parsers and radar programs, so why should they ban players who use botting programs?

[Azper]

It's frustrating. I see the same Lalafell farming wind shards in Central Shroud day in and day out, running the exact same path, using Sprint at the exact same time, in the exact same gear. Same goes for these two Mi'qote in Eastern Thanalan at the Burning wall, wearing identical gear, standing in the same place and not moving, farming golden fleece enemies.

Frankly I've given up, since it is abundantly clear that SE doesn't care.

[ZodiacSoldier]

I hate the RMT's spammers. The fact that they whisper me don't bother me to much since I can just black list them.

What really gets on my nerves, is when they take all the good names. I was going to make an Alt called asdfasdf hjklhjkl, but dang it, an RMT stole it from me.

[Sartori]

I wonder if I sent a letter to Mr. Phil Rogers and asked him if he would rather have the bots subs or me and my wifes subs, what he would say....

What the heck I think I will, might get their attention who knows.....

[Fyrebrand]

Don't buy gil and you will have no bot problem

You might as well have said "don't commit crimes and there will be no crime problem." Just because I don't do it doesn't stop others from doing so. I don't see what your point is.

[Zefiris]

My blacklist is almost full and I disabled Tell.

Sometimes I see rmt shout in Grindania. But yet is not reason of I disable shout or say, and stay only with guild/party chat.

[synesthetic]

I can understand a lot of RMT bots not getting banned since it would be worth it to figure out how to stop them at their core, or hinder them on a more substantial level. Kinda like dandelions; plucking their flowers and leaves does nothing, they'll grow back as long as you leave the root intact. Banning RMT botters and spammers won't stop them from just making new characters and continuing within a few minutes.

And aside from that, some RMTs have been a supply of some more annoying items that most players wouldn't want to bother farming. I don't mean shards and such, since those are easily obtained by anyone, and people would definitely jump on that market more if RMTs stopped flooding it. I mean stuff more like crafting mats for relics from Wanderer's Palace. More than once, I've seen the supply of Bloody Grimoire Bindings (needed to make both SCH and SMN relics) get exhausted on the MB, and one day I saw 30 new ones suddenly put up by 3 different retainers at very low price. Whenever I do end up with WP through DF, people still skip all of the chests, and I'll be lucky if one of them gives me a binding.
Scenarios like this could be addressed by the devs eventually, but for now, I have a little appreciation for the dirty work done.


What bugs me the most is that I've reported non-RMT bots, and months later, I'll see them running around fine and enjoying their ill-gotten goods. Like people who botted FATEs to get alex when novuses came out. Miner bots who go after G3 soils. Spiritbonding bots. Even worse when the bot is such an obvious-bot that I can't even ignore how retarded the programming was, and I had to continue seeing it for over a month.

It's like, how much more specific do I have to be when I report them? I send in multiple reports describing their exact pattern each time--where they'll run, why, what skills they'll use, where they'll return to--and point out stuff like how their gear is obviously all broken, because the bot has under 3k HP and is now doing so little and taking so much damage that they have to run away by the time any monster's health is down to 50%.

[Nakiamiie]

Remember kids, when you make an MMO, the RMTs are your biggest and best customers~

Looking at the past updates, it makes sense.

All we are getting lately is grind content and mindless farming, combined with the fact that SE doesn't ban bots... they are making updates to ENCOURAGE botting, not discourage it!

So, here is the business model: Start the game with a good long story to attract initial players and increase the popularity. Then, the gil seller will come in further boosting the 'popularity' rating of the game (subscription numbers). Make content to make the life of botters easier to make sure they stay in the game. After that, SE just needs to retain a small bit of its actual player base to prevent the botters and RMT to go away.

Wow, it's just so clear now!

Until SE puts actions behind its words, I have no reason to think otherwise.

[whoopeeragon]

Until SE puts actions behind its words, I have no reason to think otherwise.

o_o But they do...

I'm not sure about bots, but they do have actions towards RMT. I'll take care when saying that SE doesn't do anything, because they do crack down on RMT, just not farming bots.

http://eu.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodest...4a9106df4efbe5
http://eu.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodest...0d0b22727db840
http://eu.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodest...4aeef49d45b5ff
http://eu.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodest...bfd15b638cc1ef
http://eu.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodest...3c336cc3fd7537
http://eu.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodest...d92ab2bdc95792

Now, if only they would pay more attention to bots as well, that would be good. But they do have actions against RMT.

[Nakiamiie]

o_o But they do...

Then why are the botters still not being banned?

Instead of letting them act freely in the game, they should seriously start giving warnings and bans.

I'm not sure how they proceed to emit warning and bans, but it's just really slow!

Furthermore, if they stopped making stupid mindless grind for content, there would be less botters.
We were promised great things for ARR, but it seems like that fire has died. The devs seems to want to build grand features but are held back by whatever.
We hear the preview of a new feature, it sounds awesome and really well thought. When it comes out, it has been water down to a mindless simple feature.

That's what I'm talking about.
By making the grind less mindless and lengthy, and more interesting and complex, that'll make the job of botters much more difficult. Players will have a lower tendency to resort to such things.
As for RMT, they'll always be there anyway, so they can just make the game for us, not them.

Don't get me wrong because of my sarcasm in my previous post. The devs look like they are working very hard on the game, but it truly seems like something/someone is just toning down their efforts.
I'd like to believe that SE is here for a profit and entertaining us. Not just the money.