Formal Letter to SE about RMT situation.

[Velhart]

They actually have a full-time dedicated anti-RMT and anti-cheat staff known as the Special Task Force. How big the team is, I don't know, but they operate over both FFXI and FFXIV in dealing with reported RMT and cheaters/bots. They are the people who ban around 2000 accounts for RMT activity per week in FFXIV alone.

It is the same team that was formed during the FFXI days, and if history has shown anything, they barely made a dent on anything. Like I said, they need to expand and strengthen their team. You can ban 2000 a week if you want, but those same 2000 are coming back the next week doing what they do best. They need stronger preventative measures, not just squashing the bugs that make it in.

[Niwashi]

They have a task force, but that task force doesn't have the tools they'd need to be effective. Until we as players get the right-click "Report RMT" option we've been asking for since launch, the task force isn't going to be getting the immediate reports that they'd need in order to be of use. The RMT spam will only go away once the system is upgraded to the point where they can be banned immediately, as soon as they start sending messages to anyone.

As long as there are reporting delays followed by investigation delays followed eventually sometime later by a ban, then the RMT bot will have already had time to make money, so it will just be immediately replaced. Once the bot's very first /tell can become a report within a couple seconds, show up that same second on the screen of the task force member who's on duty for real-time monitoring of these reports, and be banned within a few seconds after that, then the bot account won't have made enough money to be financially viable to replace. It takes real-time reporting, real-time monitoring, and real-time bans to eliminate this issue. The software should be taking care of all the "paperwork" for documenting these reports and bans, rather than making both players and the task force get bogged down with it.

[Zabuza]

So what can be done? Short of a massive unsub over the RMTing, is there any possible way to get SE to even recognize this as an issue that exists? Or perhaps step up their efforts against the RMT? Does there need to be a formal petition with 20,000 signatures or something?

[Kassiekane]

/signed

So what can be done? Short of a massive unsub over the RMTing, is there any possible way to get SE to even recognize this as an issue that exists? Or perhaps step up their efforts against the RMT? Does there need to be a formal petition with 20,000 signatures or something?

They know it's a problem, they are just being quiet about it. The lack of additional action is what's causing issues. Everyone in this thread can agree that banning thousands of dummy accounts every month is a waste of time. In my opinion, if they are not going to step it up then they need to lower the sub price of the game, because RMT severely impacts the integrity of quality in which Square Enix claims they care about in their Final Fantasy games.

[SummerSkye]

Single worst RMT of any MMO I have played. The community managers HAVE to have noticed this thread. I am on a pretty full server and it is insane. I have also had two different recruit a friend players not shell out a month's subscription BECAUSE of the RMT. As great as the game looks, they can't take it serious with this amount of spam (a little random spam is normal in an MMO, but not like this)

My point is that I love this game, it is like a giant thank you to all of us long time Final Fantasy fans. We need new players coming in to keep the game growing and moving in the right direction. The fact that I KNOW community managers have read this post and haven't even posted a canned "we will report this up to the powers that be and get back to you" is pathetic...and they are great in nearly every other regard.

[Zabuza]

Single worst RMT of any MMO I have played. The community managers HAVE to have noticed this thread. I am on a pretty full server and it is insane. I have also had two different recruit a friend players not shell out a month's subscription BECAUSE of the RMT. As great as the game looks, they can't take it serious with this amount of spam (a little random spam is normal in an MMO, but not like this)

Yeah, here on Zalera we average a /tell every single minute. Sometimes we won't get a /tell for 3 minutes or so, but then get 3 /tells at once. You go into any city and the shout spam is happening too, it's not just Ul'dah. I could show so many chat logs which prove it is like this all the time, but I think the one in the very first post of the thread was enough to prove it. I live with it because I moved my /tell tab and turned off the chime. This means I pretty much never see any legit /tell I receive because I barely even look at that tab anymore. If I get friends request spammed I go /busy. This is not something I should have to do, and new players definitely won't know to do this right off the bat. Imagine how immersion breaking it would be if you were watching the cutscenes from the end of 2.55, which is over 30 minutes, and hearing the /tell chime throughout the whole thing because of RMT spam.

[Tincuptaru]

I'm a trial account, as a new player yes RMT spam is highly discouraging. Out of the 14 days I didn't bother playing that often until I learned about "/busy" I have played a lot of free to play games, and the gold spam is about on par with that. This is bad considering I will have to pay for the full game and then a subscription after. As I am on disability I have to deeply consider all purchases, and the RMT spam greatly hurt this as I feel like I am in a low quality free to play game. From what I have played I love the story, love the game, but I am not going to pay for something where people can just cheat their way through.

[Zabuza]

I'm a trial account, as a new player yes RMT spam is highly discouraging. Out of the 14 days I didn't bother playing that often until I learned about "/busy" I have played a lot of free to play games, and the gold spam is about on par with that. This is bad considering I will have to pay for the full game and then a subscription after. As I am on disability I have to deeply consider all purchases, and the RMT spam greatly hurt this as I feel like I am in a low quality free to play game. From what I have played I love the story, love the game, but I am not going to pay for something where people can just cheat their way through.

And this is exactly why SE needs to take care of this issue. You heard it here from a new player SE. I guarantee you a lot of new players will share this guy's opinion. Lost potential subs and $ for you.

By the way, I am now going to be making this thread a petition. I wish to make this an organized front. I'm sure SE will ignore that too, but there is no harm in trying. I wish to take a tally to see just how many are dissatisfied. If you agree that SE's level of customer support has been poor in the area of combating RMTs, and wish for a change, please reply with /sign or /signed from now on at the bottom of your replies. I am compiling the signature list as we speak.

[SummerSkye]

I'm a trial account, as a new player yes RMT spam is highly discouraging. Out of the 14 days I didn't bother playing that often until I learned about "/busy" I have played a lot of free to play games, and the gold spam is about on par with that. This is bad considering I will have to pay for the full game and then a subscription after. As I am on disability I have to deeply consider all purchases, and the RMT spam greatly hurt this as I feel like I am in a low quality free to play game. From what I have played I love the story, love the game, but I am not going to pay for something where people can just cheat their way through.

This is exactly why the TWO new players I brought to the game (who both love the FF franchise) did not subscribe. We need new blood coming into the game or it will become stagnant. We all KNOW that community managers have seen this thread and may be reading this very post and yet say nothing. It is very disheartening.

[LandricFrey]

By the way, I am now going to be making this thread a petition.

You mean like in THIS thread? Yea, good luck with that.