Character Cloning - The New Cheat?

[Eekiki]

Lol topic derailed so hard just over the use of toon.

Anywho, I've seen this quite often. Even have some SS somewhere on my ps3 & ps4. It's usually a party of BLM's, and the group I see most often is part of the same FC. Am looking on their lodestone page and it's pretty much a lalafellian army of clones.

They're taking over!

They're RMT bots. This is what they've done since 1.0, and even in FFXI. A full party of Tarutaru / Lalafell BLMs running around collecting "product".

[Suki-]

They're RMT bots. This is what they've done since 1.0, and even in FFXI. A full party of Tarutaru / Lalafell BLMs running around collecting "product".

Yeah figured as much~ ^^ trouble with these is unless you see them breaking rules or doing some obvious cheating you can't really report them.

What would you say? "X Y & Z were in a party together. They looked and geared exactly the same and were following each other around." Mm hmm

[LineageRazor]

In regards to the original post, unless I'm misinterpreting what they wrote, the concern was that someone was duping, and I don't think this issue (always a cause for concern in an mmo) was directly addressed in this thread.

No, this likely was NOT a case of RMT finding a way to build a single character, and then split that character into several characters with the same gear. As others have mentioned, it is not uncommon for RMT to level identical characters in groups in order to sell them to buyers later. (Less frequently, legit multiboxing players might do the same thing, not to sell characters but just for fun - in those cases, though, they are unlikely to create identical characters.)

The reason that the characters all have identical gear is the same reason why cars off an assembly line will have identical tires. The RMT have a process for building characters, and sticking to it is more efficient. Level to 10, buy X, Y, and Z gear. Level to 20, buy A, B, and C gear. etc. The end result is a bunch of identically geared characters. No duping or cheating involved.

[TheBlackHulk]

Its a TOON! leave it to the "master" race to be snobs about something else in the gaming community. Your a blight.

[Lunavi]

My character is not a Toon ;__; She is a cute Elezen female who has a tragic past that haunts her. On the outside she shows nothing, but all she does is trying to make everything right and fullfilling the cause her parents died for.

[ubernoobNTH]

She is a cute Elezen female who has a tragic past that haunts her. On the outside she shows nothing, but all she does is trying to make everything right and fullfilling the cause her parents died for.

Sounds like a typical anime character. A toon she is.

[ispano]

Sounds like a typical anime character. A toon she is.

Sounds like a character the player created. Most people I know that laugh at people using the term toon, tend to try to use the most correct word to describe something. So when they see someone use the word toon to describe a character, even though the usage goes far back, it doesn't feel right in the slightest.

[Truefaith87]

My character is not a Toon ;__; She is a cute Elezen female who has a tragic past that haunts her. On the outside she shows nothing, but all she does is trying to make everything right and fullfilling the cause her parents died for.

My characters backstory is better. He is out after the man who, on one stormy night in Old Gridania, stole my Dark Pretzel that my parents bought for me. I SEEK VENGENCE AND HUNGER TO BE SATED! I AM THE GRUMBLING TUMMY IN THE NIGHT. I, AM, FATMAN!

[fixitman]

Back on topic:

It is very doubtful that these are multi-boxing RMT bots. I used to triple- and quad-box in WoW, and I have always despised RMTs. I do have two service accounts in FF14, but rarely login to both at the same time. I will eventually be doing so to slightly increase gathering efficiency, but that is only for my own crafting needs. My gaming time is limited, making it difficult to get what I need when each specific unspoiled node only spawns every 70 minutes (earth time). Being able to get 2-4 HQ from a node vs. 1-2 means I might be able to make 1 upgrade per day instead of 1 every 2 days.

If RMTs were indeed multi-boxing, you would see them all over the place. Unfortunately, "boxing" just takes too much effort for very little reward in FF14. Although it is allowed, SE did not make it advantageous to do so. RMTs will naturally look for the most efficient way to make gil, and I can assure you that "boxing" is far from efficient. If you see a "boxer" in FF14, they are most likely a regular player who is just bored and looking for a greater challenge.

[Gnova]

I'm not sure how a term used to refer to a online PC since the 90's has become derogatory.
If someone has an issue with "toon" I would assume they are newish to the MMO genre.
If someone would use avatar to describe their character I would probably go into a laughing fit.

It's strange how language changes though.
I remember after leaving EQ saying to a group I was gtg after a brief afk. They all got pissed off at me and I realized that outside of EQ gtg doesn't mean "good to go" after a afk return.

As for the OP, you probably just saw a multi-box RMT farmer.