The red line is crossed now - Bots, cheaters, hackers, gil-seller

[Vnolan]

They went and changed the rules to punish more players. How about they start with punishing those basically everyone agrees on?

Except everyone doesn't agree on it. You have the botters themselves, friends/peers of the botters and players that benefit from the bots, whether it be from lower prices on goods, faster PVP queues or easier completion of FATEs.

EDIT: If you're worried about losing subscription money keep in mind if legit players are too discouraged by these cheaters they may quit too then you just lose even more money in the long run if you do nothing.

Botting activity would have to really pick up for that to happen. The average player doesn't know how to spot the bots or thinks they get taken care of in those ban waves. Whenever the topic of botting gets brought up, you either have the OP incorrectly suspecting players of botting, or they have identified them properly, but other players will jump through hoops to claim it isn't botting.

The number of unsubs would need to not only reach the number of subs lost by banning the bots, but it would need to account for the extra money spent to do it.

And yet mods ignore this thread^^

What do you expect them to say? Canned response directing players to report suspicious activity to the STF won't work because everyone knows the chance of them acting on a report is about the same as rolling a 1000 on your relic substats. Canned response saying they'll be directing feedback to the Devs won't work because this topic isn't new. Saying they can't do anything about it would have more players doing it.

Just thought about something.. Since the rules changed about being banned for obstructing people's play and enjoyment of the game..

That's always been a thing.

Couldn't people report those players an FCs who buy entire housing plots? The rule is 1 house per person and 1 FC house too.. Taking multiple houses or an entire ward would obstruct other players from getting a house, thus impacting their play and enjoyment of the game?

If you couldn't report it before, chances are you can't report it now. You can find out for sure by contacting a GM in-game.

I mean if the GMs say something like "portal sniping" in Hydatos is bannable, when its a public dungeon and you can't rightfully claim ownership on a portal that's open to 144 people..

Portal sniping is not bannable unless the sniper is doing it to inflict grief on other players. If a premade asks for all of the portals, you're free to refuse or just completely ignore their request. Remember there is an item that gives players instant access to a portal.