Squadron limit break (Ungarmax) can be used in regular duties by any job

[MuseTraveller]

Thank you for the detailed explanation!

[Hasrat]

Though, kinda makes me wish there were some quick and simple way to contact the STF when we witness those teleport/speed hacks and the like. Would be nice if swifter action knocking those down could hurt the practice a little more.

[KageTokage]

I'm glad Yoshi-P came out to address this personally, and that they're making an effort to overhaul how reports are handled to try to make sure issues are addressed in a more timely manner.

I still feel doubtful that the bots and hackers are ever going to be much less of an issue when the same individuals have been getting away with it for years, though. Whatever method of detection they're using evidently is flawed if so many players are slipping through the cracks, because all bots and hacks require some manner of third-party program to be active.

[HaroldSaxon]

FFXIV Producer and Director Yoshi-P here.
I’d like to comment further on the situation surrounding the bug which allowed players to execute the squadron limit break Ungarmax outside of command missions.

I'm going to preface this and say your response is very good - both in the actual detail and the actions taken. However, I do have some lingering concerns.


What about the bans for players caught using the Ruin 4 hack? While it is great that it has been fixed, there is an entire FC on Diabolos that was caught using it, who went around harassing players inside and outside of the game who reported them and were vocal about the issue. All of the players have been consistently logged in. Would it be possible for you or another GM to write up a report of actions taken for this incident?

What about the bans for players using the cast speed hack? You commented on the player in question a few years ago and he was never banned for it. He was eventually banned for harassment and has come back on a new account and was caught again last week.

Can you also ask your support team to consider reports that include video evidence and/or FFlogs evidence to help you pinpoint players to investigate using your ingame logs - because quite often the people inside of the instance are complicit with the act of cheating and are not likely to report it - especially in 8 man content.

As a further point, please can you investigate the server issues that many raiders on EU have been having recently? http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...aos-Datacenter

All in all, I hope that lessons are learned from this and the stance against cheaters persist for the future

[karionsiand]

Video evidence maybe.... but FFLogs evidence... I mean Yoshida and FFXIV knows about FFLogs and I think that it's enough that they don't start to ban every uploader player, but I think that they understand that 90% of FFLogs is a good use to our community even being "ilegal" acording to Terms of Service of FFXIV. But I doubt so much, that developer team start to use logs from FFLogs to take disciplinary actions for other "ilegal" actions.

Square-Enix Team: FFLogs.... well ok... we have to do us it doesn't exist cause its against Terms of Service of this game... same for ACT... but if you don't harass players with them we won't take actions against your account... we will just ignore it, but suggest to don't use them. But use it as proob to take disciplinary actions to other players.... I want to think that FFXIV team have even better battle logs than FFLogs to GM team queries.

[RagingAvatar]

FFXIV Producer and Director Yoshi-P here.
I’d like to comment further on the situation surrounding the bug which allowed players to execute the squadron limit break Ungarmax outside of command missions.

<snip>

Finally, I would like to deeply apologize to you all yet again for the inconvenience this has caused. We are committed to doing everything in our power to provide you with a stable and enjoyable gameplay experience free of bugs. However, I must reiterate that to exploit such a clear and obvious bug like this is to violate the terms of service, and ask that you not do so.

We hope you will continue to enjoy your time in the world of FINAL FANTASY XIV for years to come.

Thank you for such a wonderful response - these things happen.
Please continue to work hard to develop our world!

[Commander_Justitia]

Not only was this a major bug that was created by developer error, it persisted for months due to our failure to properly process user reports

Even if it is unlikely, there is a chance for false positives. To use a macro for a skill is no witchcraft, it could have been made for Squadron Dungeons only and was used by accident in other content. This is probably how the bug has spread in the first place.
If there is legitimate doubt, you don't ban. As this was no different than other bugs, dev team should have taken responsibility for it(because quoted reasons) and not the players.

[HaroldSaxon]

Video evidence maybe.... but FFLogs evidence... I mean Yoshida and FFXIV knows about FFLogs and I think that it's enough that they don't start to ban every uploader player, but I think that they understand that 90% of FFLogs is a good use to our community even being "ilegal" acording to Terms of Service of FFXIV. But I doubt so much, that developer team start to use logs from FFLogs to take disciplinary actions for other "ilegal" actions.

Square-Enix Team: FFLogs.... well ok... we have to do us it doesn't exist cause its against Terms of Service of this game... same for ACT... but if you don't harass players with them we won't take actions against your account... we will just ignore it, but suggest to don't use them. But use it as proob to take disciplinary actions to other players.... I want to think that FFXIV team have even better battle logs than FFLogs to GM team queries.

As I said in my post - not as evidence to ban someone, but as an easy way of quickly identify players to investigate further. I mean, its how the Ruin 4 hack and this exploit was discovered publicly in the first place.

[Ghishlain]

-Snip-

Thank you for this response. I appreciate the detailed response and the look into the way the internal processes function for your development. I also appreciate that you state where the processes failed to work and what corrective actions were taken to fix these processes, as well as the detailed information in determining who used this exploit and how your team arrived at the decisions they have with these individuals.

It is terrible that such an exploit fell through the cracks but I am pleased with the response provided in this regard. I understand that it's impossible to find everything and be perfect in every aspect of QA-testing but I do hope the measures you put into place allows for a large amount of time to occur before the next major exploit is discovered.

[Moltera]

Was great to see a response like this, thank you for taking the time to share it with us.