Crafting Bots destroying the economy

[BlueMaybeimalion]

N**** Lo****r @ Sephirot
H**** Bo***e @ Ravana
D**** I***t @ Sophia
T**** N**s @ Bismarck

N****n Lo****r first appeared about 7 months ago. Pentamelding all high level items and selling them on the marketboard. Not really a problem, til you try and sell the same thing and you're immediately undercut. Except this also happens with non-melded tools/armor/weapons.

I've discovered the same thing on Ravana and Sophia servers and convinced it's the same person/group of crafting bots. They all have Free Companies with about 10 members so they can spread out the sales but are generally sold by the main crafter bot.

N****n Lo****r did appear to get a suspension for a week but is now back and has put up pentamelded items at stupidly overpriced prices ... as if it's trying to make up for the losses it suffered while suspended. Edit: the prices have dropped down to "reasonable" prices ... except they're undercutting ME on the pentamelds i've put up.

For those saying "it's just someone repricing" ... it isnt. it's most definitely a bot. No one is that efficient at undercutting others by 1 gil EVERY HOUR.

Pretty sure Zurvan will see the rise of one of these crafter bots before the year is out.

SE has been very relaxed about solving this problem.
I reported N****n Lo****r 7 months ago in game regularly as did many other high level crafters who no longer craft because of this d0uchebag. And several times to the STF online outside the game. I think many others dont craft any more because of it as well.

When is Square going to actively do something permanent about these obvious bot users. They craft. meld and sell their items for what? gil to sell probably.

[Kes13a]

nothing will ever be done until they go after the people who BUY the gil.

without putting a damper on that, the botters will always have an incentive to create more, so the cycle will never end. the market is already broken, and until they go after the cause, and not the symptom, this will never change.

its one of the reasons I craft for personal and FC use only now. can you beat them? sure can.. but its a job. at least 8 hours a day changing prices to always be lower every 10 minutes or when you notice they undercut. its not worth that kind of effort in my opinion. I still care about crafting, but much less stressful once you stop playing with the bots. a human cannot fight automation.

now if one day, SE goes after the buyers.. might be worth crafting again to sell. but thats it.

[DragonFlyy]

You should remove the names from this post or it will get deleted and you will get a forum vacation. Naming and shaming is against the rules and they are serious about it.

[BlueMaybeimalion]

You should remove the names from this post or it will get deleted and you will get a forum vacation. Naming and shaming is against the rules and they are serious about it.

The shame is theirs. Not doing anything about these obvious crafting and repricing bots. Took 7 months of reporting Nareen Lothkor almost weekly for it just to get a 1 weeks suspension. After checking other servers and seeing the same thing happening there, those names need to be reported as well.

If they are so adamant about naming and shaming BOTS, they need to do something more effective about them. especially the obvious ones.

[Jojoya]

Going to edit the names out of the quote before replying.

XXXXXX XXXXXXX first appeared about 7 months ago. Pentamelding all high level items and selling them on the marketboard. Not really a problem, til you try and sell the same thing and you're immediately undercut. Except this also happens with non-melded tools/armor/weapons.

I've discovered the same thing on Ravana and Sophia servers and convinced it's the same person/group of crafting bots. They all have Free Companies with about 10 members so they can spread out the sales but are generally sold by the main crafter bot.

XXXXXX XXXXXXX did appear to get a suspension for a week but is now back and has put up pentamelded items at stupidly overpriced prices ... as if it's trying to make up for the losses it suffered while suspended.

Pretty sure Zurvan will see the rise of one of these crafter bots before the year is out.

SE has been very relaxed about solving this problem.
I reported XXXXXX XXXXXXX 7 months ago in game regularly as did many other high level crafters who no longer craft because of this d0uchebag. And several times to the STF online outside the game. I think many others dont craft any more because of it as well.

When is Square going to actively do something permanent about these obvious bot users. They craft. meld and sell their items for what? gil to sell probably.

Sounds more like a normal player than a bot if they're using "stupidly overpriced prices" for their listings. Bots sell low, not high. They want to keep items moving so they can list more as soon as possible, not have it sit there for several days hoping to get lucky.

Regardless, nothing is going to happen by you posting here other than you may end up getting a forum vacation for breaking the forum rules. You're not the first to brind up the bot problem and you won't be the last but the STF doesn't read the forums. Use the special link on the Support site webpage to report suspected bots.

[Oizen]

This is hilarious to me considering gil is a worthless currency to begin with.

[Bsrking5]

Gil is worthless, spend time doing what you like. Chasing gil is the same chasing BiS or top parse. Sooner you learn what's good enough, the sooner you enjoy the game more.

[KageTokage]

I've been seeing the same people bot farming since I first start playing back in mid-HW and had been issuing staggered reports up until ShB where an interview they had with the STF convinced me to stop bothering.

When you can't get action taken even against the bots who are acting while maintaining AFK status and/or using hacks to speed up their farming, you know there's something extremely wrong with how they go about detecting them, but they seem to have convinced themselves their current methods are getting the job done.

Sounds more like a normal player than a bot if they're using "stupidly overpriced prices" for their listings. Bots sell low, not high. They want to keep items moving so they can list more as soon as possible, not have it sit there for several days hoping to get lucky..

I've seen both semi-auto bots where everything but the listing of items is automated, and full auto bots that engage in automatic listing/undercutting that makes them several mangitudes more annoying.

I'm inclined to think it's mostly the latter who are involved in RMT practices.

[Ayleon]

Made the effort to set up my lodestone forums account just to say: thankyou for posting about this

Know that you have a fellow sympathiser on Sophia as I have been tormented by that Sophia dude for what feels like the last year (probably around 7 months like you with the Sephirot guy but feels like longer xD)

I won't lie, I'm an enjoyer of making gil. Even if it isnt rly worth anything in the end im sure it's just the big number go up endorphins that gets me. Makes me happy and it's what I have fun doing in the game. That and im saving for a housing plot

But yes, can confirm that it's the same situation on Sophia. Only just had a brief respite last week where I hadn't seen the guy's retainers and legit praised the twelve and prayed he never came back. But alas, my beloved rival made their return just this morning where he managed to promptly undercut 99% of my items by 1 gil (that 'beloved' part was pained sarcasm btw in case you didnt get that). I suspect their suspension may have ended. Or who knows mby they finally got bored for a bit but decided to come back, but doubt that considering the similar situation with you

In any case, I'll be continuing my pleas to GMs through the support desk at least until im too bored to care anymore. Best of luck to you though on Sephirot as well as anyone else with those other server guys! If my assumption is correct in that the Sophia dude's previous absence was due to suspension we may have hope that the support desk reports are actually being read and actioned if there's enough of them... might be high on hopium over here tho :')

[texas_boy]

I finally had my fill of messing with all the bots on the market board. Had played the 'undercut by a gil' game for far too long and it just became ...tiring.

I spent a few weeks gathering mats to make the Rinascita MH weapons, decided on what my absolute lowest price I would sell for was and put up one of each on the board. It's been an interesting two weeks and have most definitely identified the bots. Typically within minutes of posting an item there will be 6 or 7 retainers that put up the same item, undercutting by a gil each. I'll leave my item priced as-is, and eventually their stuff will sell then mine will sell. Only difference is I've got a retainer with multiples of each item so once mine sells I'll turn around and put another one up and will normally sell 3 or 4 this way before the bots get their stuff back up.

This has actually been quite the enjoyable experience - making a bit of gil, keeping the prices at a reasonable level and knowing that the bots are not raking in their ill-gotten gains all in one go.

I'm retired and have a lot of time for this and will probably keep this up for a while. Wish it was this easy in rl to make the coin!