Formal Letter to SE about RMT situation.

[Rizon]

Hush hush, SE are doing all they can, give them some credit and don't be so ungrateful!

I call Shenanigans to this.

[Kaaylryn]

First I want to /sign this thread. I also want to add, that I believe that SE is using RMT accounts to bolster their 2 million account claim. But, I think what is most funny or perhaps tragic is the way that RMT actually thumbs their noses at SE as a company. I just received 2 friend invites from RMT whose very names are RMT advertising. This is RMT telling SE that they are too incompetent to do anything about it. I find this to be rather sad.

[Seig345]

Started playing FFXI again recently, and I gotta say, it's been nice actually being able to use the /tell system again... I know it's likely because the RMT all moved on to here, but, still, it's nice, I'd nearly forgotten what it was like to -have- a /tell system.

[SpiritMuse]

Already seen that and this is actually inacurate. I've created my account (trial at first) at the begining of this year (february) and, when on trial period, i could /tell and /friend individuals, even at level 3. So, there is two possibilities :
- set in place only at the latest patch
- or not actually in place
Pick your choice. (too lazy to try now)

When I did the trial some 2-3 months ago I couldn't use the /tell or the /yell or the /shout at all, nor could I trade or use market boards, though I could friend people. This is the free trial were talking about right, not the trial period you get when buying the game?

[KisaiTenshi]

Here's some comparative info: SE bans less than 10,000 accounts a week, WoW bans 100,000
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2484318,00.asp

If you're a World of Warcraft player, you might notice fewer people hanging around your favorite digital gathering spots this weekend. And if you're a World of Warcraft player who used third-party hacks to give yourself an in-game advantage over other players, you're probably sitting around wondering what to do with all your new free time.
According to a post from a Blizzard community manager, the game's developer recently hit a large number of players with in-game bans for doing just that—using third-party tools to game the game. According to one of the game's support staff, in an in-game conversation with a player, more than 100,000 World of Warcraft accounts were suspended for cheating.

[Zorvan]

Here's some comparative info: SE bans less than 10,000 accounts a week, WoW bans 100,000
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2484318,00.asp

Blizzard is also the only dev company to have successfully sued both bot makers AND an RMT company. Of course, they're the only successful ones because they're the only ones who bothered to try.

[tocsin]

Here's some comparative info: SE bans less than 10,000 accounts a week, WoW bans 100,000
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2484318,00.asp

Also consider that according to a large majority of hacking and botting sites, ffxiv is a MORE favorable game to bot on than wow is, and has been for over a year. There are more bots on FFXIV, than there are on WoW nowadays.

Couple that 100,000 accounts that Blizz suspended (they didn't even ban, just a temporary suspension) to the fact that SE is currently boasting only about 700k active subs. Getting rid of the bots and RMT, SE would likely lose around 1/6th of their active population, which is a HUGE financial loss.

WoW lost 4.5 million dollars in that ban. I don't believe SE and FFXIV has that kind of cash cushion to take that kind of loss, like blizzard/Activision can.

[Rizon]

/snip

Right now SE is running the risk of losing the entire NA market. That is what will happen if this problem carries over to 3.0. Remember that the influx of new players is neglagable. No matter how die hard people are they will endure only so much before they move on to something else. If that happens SE will suffer a a shot to their reputation that would be devastating. Their goal of becoming a global company could be irretrievably lost and they will be relegated to being a regional company for the foreseeable future. Is that a price they are willing to pay? They need to answer that question immediately and let subs know before they actually shell out money for an expansion that is not viable from a company with no future.

[tocsin]

snip.

While I can completely understand your thought process on this one, I don't see SE losing the ENTIRE market in NA. there is a large subsection of people on the verge of leaving, but there is also a subsection of people who will stay regardless of RMT spam.

Also, as to whether they are willing to take that risk, see the lack of response they have given, and you already have your answer. The NA playerbase has always been an oversight for SE, from the terrible localization of classic games, to the lack of customer support, to the lack of international release of many of its top games. FFXIV has been very similar, with only questions asked by the JP playerbase answered, and then translated over to a thread here.

Also, considering that most bots are located in NA, I wouldn't be surprised if bots and RMT comprised more than 50% of the NA playerbase.

[Zabuza]

While I can completely understand your thought process on this one, I don't see SE losing the ENTIRE market in NA. there is a large subsection of people on the verge of leaving, but there is also a subsection of people who will stay regardless of RMT spam.

Also, as to whether they are willing to take that risk, see the lack of response they have given, and you already have your answer. The NA playerbase has always been an oversight for SE, from the terrible localization of classic games, to the lack of customer support, to the lack of international release of many of its top games. FFXIV has been very similar, with only questions asked by the JP playerbase answered, and then translated over to a thread here.

Also, considering that most bots are located in NA, I wouldn't be surprised if bots and RMT comprised more than 50% of the NA playerbase.

Quite sad when you think about it. The clock is ticking, there isn't that much time left to fix this before the expansion comes out. It was like this in FFXI as well, NA concerns taking a backseat to JP ones. Though this is most likely because it is easier to communicate with JP for them, /shrug. Still no excuse. I wish there was someone who was willing and able to translate my OP into Japanese and post it on their forums, but even then I don't think SE would do anything. I have spoken to SE in the only language that SE cares about, by refusing to buy Heavensward. Despite how good of an expansion it ends up being, they don't deserve my money or support for the horrible way they have handled this. Why is their customer support on the NA side of things so infamously terrible? Why has this not been changed when they've had over a decade to fix their NA customer service?