The bot i found that SE wont do anything about

[Flower]

A lot of the time the bots are "macro" bots meaning they use autohotkey along with scripting to push buttons on the keyboard for you. This type of bot cannot be tracked or proven unless a GM sends them a tell and they dont respond while the bot is actively doing something. So technically regardless of how many times you report this person chances are they cant be caught botting if SE cant prove they are. Also just bec you couldnt reach something does not mean the THM couldn't either. Sometimes you cant hit mobs depending on the angle your at, and THM's range is much much further than a CONJ could even be comparable to an Archers range.

[Hiemdall]

Yeah something is odd with the character. I looked at the history and it killed 400 mobs in 1 day. While possible if playing for 24 hours non-stop i find that highly unlikely for a real player. How does one bot anyways?

[Kilta_Firelotus]

A lot of the time the bots are "macro" bots meaning they use autohotkey along with scripting to push buttons on the keyboard for you. This type of bot cannot be tracked or proven unless a GM sends them a tell and they dont respond while the bot is actively doing something. So technically regardless of how many times you report this person chances are they cant be caught botting if SE cant prove they are. Also just bec you couldnt reach something does not mean the THM couldn't either. Sometimes you cant hit mobs depending on the angle your at, and THM's range is much much further than a CONJ could even be comparable to an Archers range.

with was a staff hit not a magic power. I seen something similar its a hack.

[SilvertearRen]

Are you listening Square Enix? Get on the case - you're risking getting your image tarnished by rampant RMT just like FFXI did before it got "saved".

Active prevention is the best measure when dealing with RMT, cheaters, and hackers.

[Xandre]

There are other threads that are similar to this and it's interesting how many people seem to be okay with it. They usually say something along the lines of the accused character not harming anyone and it's nothing to concern yourself with. As others have mentioned, there's a decent amount of players that use third-party tools to their unfair advantage and I would imagine that at some point, perhaps once there's a healthier player population, that the STF will take further action. For now, I'd keep reporting characters and let SE do the rest.

[Colino]

But on topic: Report him and move along. Yeah it's annoying to deal with but SE is busy on other things now and honestly I can't blaim them for not being on 100% of the time just to remove some bots.

[Abriael]

A lot of the time the bots are "macro" bots meaning they use autohotkey along with scripting to push buttons on the keyboard for you. This type of bot cannot be tracked or proven unless a GM sends them a tell and they dont respond while the bot is actively doing something. So technically regardless of how many times you report this person chances are they cant be caught botting if SE cant prove they are. Also just bec you couldnt reach something does not mean the THM couldn't either. Sometimes you cant hit mobs depending on the angle your at, and THM's range is much much further than a CONJ could even be comparable to an Archers range.

Unfortunately this is true. If the bot isn't a program that directly interferes with the FFXIV program, there's little that can be done. The special task force can be "special" all you want, but doesn't visit people's homes to discover what they're doing. They're mostly there to act on gil spammers (in fact those have been cracked down pretty fast on FFXIV), but there's very little to do against the ones that "work" on the gathering part, simply because the evidence is so hard to get.

The farmers that go around with the hundred lala followers that stand at the aethrite are pretty much the same. They aren't necessarily bots, but possibly it's someone multiboxing, and while botting is prohibited, multiboxing isn't.

Finally, the range issue. I would have been surprised myself if I didn't notice a detail. Syncronization of movement (and just movement) is quite delayed in the game in some cases. I play a lot while in voice chat with my girlfriend, and since she's rather new, I used to lead her around to see places and unlock aetherites for a while during her first days.
Seeing her on my screen, she looked like several tens of yards behind me, so I stopped to wait for her, and she'd tell me "why do you continue to stop?" and I was "well, I'm waiting for you", and she'd reply "i'm right here behind you". "umh, no? I see you all the way behind me?" "I'm just a couple steps behind, don't worry and keep going".
It's very probable that the THM you see is already much nearer to the target mob on his own screen, and attacking the mob, while you see him moving towards the mob just a bit later.

Of course it's just a theory, but it fits my findings. I did a lot of reporting on the gil spammers during the first days of the servers, and I always saw them disappear a few minutes afterwards, so I'm inclined to think that the special task force is effectively doing what they can. Unfortunately some illicit activities are much harder (and sometimes even impossible) to prove than others.

GMs have policies to respect, and to act on, and the ones that make that policies have to be quite lax in order to avoid false positives (which can mean banning a legit customer). No matter if a gil farmer is an evident one for me, you, or even the GM that will investigate. If he doesn't fit the policies nothing can be done. And gil farmers ave gotten more and more refined, with time, at keeping their activity as much as possible in between the borders of the eula, just skimming near the breach, but not getting into it, or at least doing it without leaving tangible proof behind.

[Kallera]

1. There is no economy, theres no reason to buy anything other than a 40+ set.

2. They dont affect you in anyway at all, infact they reduce price vastly on everything due to the new market windows. If it wasnt for bots Shards be still 250-300 lol.

3. You can earn just as much gil as bots do from level 1, then stock up on that gil as its useless.

4. Wtf is "the botters know the code better than devs", you even know how a bot works? i dont even understand what you're trying to say here lol.

Most bots aint even RMT they're buddy key players who doing it for personal gain.

Are you trying to defend this practice? I think no matter how lousy a game is, cheating is cheating. They clicked on the same user agreement we all did. Those lower costs on shards are going to stay with shards, most of my time ingame is devoted to crafting and supplying for the market, we are just as important to this game's community.

[cdreamworld]

Unfortunately this is true. If the bot isn't a program that directly interferes with the FFXIV program, there's little that can be done. The special task force can be "special" all you want, but doesn't visit people's homes to discover what they're doing. They're mostly there to act on gil spammers (in fact those have been cracked down pretty fast on FFXIV), but there's very little to do against the ones that "work" on the gathering part, simply because the evidence is so hard to get.

The farmers that go around with the hundred lala followers that stand at the aethrite are pretty much the same. They aren't necessarily bots, but possibly it's someone multiboxing, and while botting is prohibited, multiboxing isn't.

Finally, the range issue. I would have been surprised myself if I didn't notice a detail. Syncronization of movement (and just movement) is quite delayed in the game in some cases. I play a lot while in voice chat with my girlfriend, and since she's rather new, I used to lead her around to see places and unlock aetherites for a while during her first days.
Seeing her on my screen, she looked like several tens of yards behind me, so I stopped to wait for her, and she'd tell me "why do you continue to stop?" and I was "well, I'm waiting for you", and she'd reply "i'm right here behind you". "umh, no? I see you all the way behind me?" "I'm just a couple steps behind, don't worry and keep going".
It's very probable that the THM you see is already much nearer to the target mob on his own screen, and attacking the mob, while you see him moving towards the mob just a bit later.

Of course it's just a theory, but it fits my findings. I did a lot of reporting on the gil spammers during the first days of the servers, and I always saw them disappear a few minutes afterwards, so I'm inclined to think that the special task force is effectively doing what they can. Unfortunately some illicit activities are much harder (and sometimes even impossible) to prove than others.

GMs have policies to respect, and to act on, and the ones that make that policies have to be quite lax in order to avoid false positives (which can mean banning a legit customer). No matter if a gil farmer is an evident one for me, you, or even the GM that will investigate. If he doesn't fit the policies nothing can be done. And gil farmers ave gotten more and more refined, with time, at keeping their activity as much as possible in between the borders of the eula, just skimming near the breach, but not getting into it, or at least doing it without leaving tangible proof behind.

I agree. I've seen people run across a bridge next to the bridge. I've seen people run over mountains and hills. But they are still running the right direction as the paths. The npc do it sometimes. I've always assumed on their screen, they are running the right path. This game have different zones and if you're on a different zone, you will look like you're in a different place. That's why sometimes you can't auto follow a person. I bet on his screen, he's probably close to the mob.

But watching the video, this person do look like something is scripted to fight these mobs. Maybe they have a macro to auto reply a GM too?

[Kilta_Firelotus]

in the end none of the fighting goig on here what lil there is, is meaningless
the STF is dowb till the battle system and job system is fixed. They have them working with other parts of the game atm since change is more dire.

Once those are done the STF will be back in full force.