Has anyone noticed a decrease in botting activity in light of recent events?

[XenoCranel]

Giving more tools and power to GMs in-game wouldn't really do anything to negatively impact gameplay but help the FF14 Team actually do their job better.

Honestly, just have them sit in gathering zones for like 5-10 minute based on reported botters and ban them on the spot.

[Paladinleeds]

Giving more tools and power to GMs in-game wouldn't really do anything to negatively impact gameplay but help the FF14 Team actually do their job better.

I actually had an idea for that. "Sting ops". So things like bots, RMT, etc, get the GMs to start up a "Sting campaign" designed to try and catch them. Complete with non-GM characters. Act like a normal player interested in the services, reach out, make contact, compile evidence while doing it, and ban once enough evidence has been compiled. Would require more staff, but the effectiveness would be great. Because it's humans doing it, they can adapt to the new moves being played by the offenders, and keep fighting.

[XenoCranel]

I like to spend some time and record them on Camtasia, then send the vids in. They come is large clumps on Mateus, then aren't seen for like a month or so ... who knows? It might be working.

Yeah, I do that too. I use OBS and have it on in case I run into bots while gathering which is 9/10 times. Just recently recorded a lala bot borked in Yanxia. I send them the recordings anyways regardless if they take it as evidence or not when I report it through the website.

[KageTokage]

I just felt throwing it out that if anyone is uncertain of how to identify a gathering bot, there's a very obvious behavior they all share, which is that they cannot take flight while moving. They'll always come to an abrupt stop, jump in place, then start flying. I assume it's due to some limitation in the botting scripts not allowing them to queue multiple movement "inputs" at the same time or some such.

I actually had an idea for that. "Sting ops". So things like bots, RMT, etc, get the GMs to start up a "Sting campaign" designed to try and catch them. Complete with non-GM characters. Act like a normal player interested in the services, reach out, make contact, compile evidence while doing it, and ban once enough evidence has been compiled. Would require more staff, but the effectiveness would be great. Because it's humans doing it, they can adapt to the new moves being played by the offenders, and keep fighting.

This wouldn't work, since as far as I can tell, the RMT farmers strictly use expendable accounts. They form a FC using one of their bots, deposit all of their farmed gil into the FC chest, then if someone wants to buy gil, they'll just invite them into the bot FC, quickly complete the transaction, then continue with their business. They can amass a huge amount of gil in such a short period of time that it's hardly a setback if they get banned, and unless they get banned with such frequency that they can't even get enough gil to make a decent-sized transaction, they're going to keep at it.

The sad thing is is that it's almost guaranteed that anyone who's gullible enough to make a purchase from them is going to get banned once the FC that gave them the money gets cracked down upon, with no lasting consequences for the RMTers.

Prevention is really the only thing that can stop RMT when it's almost fully automated.

[Paladinleeds]

This wouldn't work, since as far as I can tell, the RMT farmers strictly use expendable accounts.

Ah, I was referring more towards those who sell services like clears for real money (apparently people do), when referencing RMT. Those who would be hit harder by being banned from the game. As for the bot operations for RMT, I aren't so sure how to stop that. Maybe legal action?

[Thaeryden]

A reduction in botting? Nope, not here. In fact, I just got done reporting 11 bots in one fell swoop, which is about the normal amount for my reports, but it was only a fraction of those that I saw... it was just those I could actually click on to get their names.

I would report them more often, but it get's tiring that I can't just r-click on someone and select "report for cheating" and let SE sort it out. It's hard enough trying to click on this many idiots when they're stacked all on top of one another.

(I start Shadowplay recording, then one by one I try to click on them, snap a screenshot so I have their names, then I write it up and include all the names in one report.)

This teleport/blinking exploit I keep seeing the small armies of random-letter named bots doing... how has SE not fixed this yet?

[KisaiTenshi]

This teleport/blinking exploit I keep seeing the small armies of random-letter named bots doing... how has SE not fixed this yet?

If it's bots that are doing the quests, the fastest way to do it, is to go to the search players, search for only sprouts. The button mash bots will stick out like a sore thumb, but so will seeing a bunch of level 50 BLM's all in the same location.

[XenoCranel]

If it's bots that are doing the quests, the fastest way to do it, is to go to the search players, search for only sprouts. The button mash bots will stick out like a sore thumb, but so will seeing a bunch of level 50 BLM's all in the same location.

Yup I do that. It's the best way honestly, but since most of the botting activity I see are gathering bots for players controlling the MB, they are the only ones I report.

[Brill_]

I didn't get a single shatter queue in my frontline roulette last week. If thats because less bots are queueing up, then yes, I've noticed.

[XenoCranel]

I didn't get a single shatter queue in my frontline roulette last week. If thats because less bots are queueing up, then yes, I've noticed.

mm PvP has been dead for quite some time so I don't think that's a good way to measure.