Does SE really not care about bots?

[Anova]

While the bots are undoubtedly annoying, especially in their competition for SB spots, the main damage they cause is to the economy. I think the majority of SE's effort is in deterring goldsellers from destroying the marketboards.

It is no coincidence that SE limits trades to retainers and players on their friend list. It lets them track gold farmers and gil exchanges, especially if they know which characters are generating the gil for the goldsellers. This in turn lets them identify which players may be buying gil or which characters are acting as 'banks' and stop them before they do too much damage to the market. In that way, they are doing the most damage to botters and the most good to the game economy. Proof enough can be seen on the marketboards. Despite the number of bots and some ridiculous prices on the marketboards, prices are still fair.

In short, SE doesn't like bots but they let them go to be able to catch the bigger fish. At least, that is how I see them working. That said, I do wish there was something more we could do about SB bots.

[Gilthas]

I guess it depends on the servers.

I haven't seen bots farming fleece or snurble tufts for months now on Phoenix. Even bots beneath the ground teleporting between nodes are rare now (or they're botting nodes that don't have anything useful so I rarely see them).

On the other hand, the bots farming wind crystals/shards in the Central Shroud have been there for almost since the game went live and I've reported them several times before simply giving up.

What I do see more of now is bots that are likely farming instanced content. They're usually hiding at zone lines like the one from Mor Dhona to Northern Thanalan and contantly, I assume, popping in and out of instances.

[Volcano]

The only real hope is getting a GMs attention, reporting them "normally" usually never does anything, or they might get banned a month and a half later. i used to report them every day, but then after about 10+ times of seeing the same bots still there 4+ weeks later i just gave up, sometimes i think SE just ignores reports entirely. or they simply do not care enough to act on them, and of course, the longer you leave bots alone the more damage they do.

Even just recently i reported 2 harvest bots and a week later, they are still in the same spots. It's safe to say they really do not do anything. If they do they work very slow and by then the bots would have done enough of there job for it not to matter.

I will never understand how they can quickly jump on in game exploits quick Tanking titans, other random, minor advantages players find in small fights, in days of finding out, but a bot takes weeks/months to "maybe" get banned.

[cryptic_angel]

There are no consequences in this game for botting and buying gil.

Know several players that do both and they have been playing that way for close to a year now.

[gamesmart]

There are no consequences in this game for botting and buying gil.

Know several players that do both and they have been playing that way for close to a year now.

That's what people who exploited stuff in XI said before they all got banned.

[cryptic_angel]

That's what people who exploited stuff in XI said before they all got banned.

That was years ago when game companies actually punished cheating players. Now, sub numbers, even subs of players that break the rules, are the influential wind that sways the developers one way or another.

[gamesmart]

That was years ago when game companies actually punished players. Now, sub numbers, even subs of players that break the rules, are the influential wind the sway the developers one way or another.

And yet people are still getting banned on a regular basis according to the Lodestone posts. People do still get banned, or at the very least suspended - like a certain someone on Behemoth related to hunts (anyone on my server should know who I'm talking about).

[cryptic_angel]

And yet people are still getting banned on a regular basis according to the Lodestone posts. People do still get banned, or at the very least suspended - like a certain someone on Behemoth related to hunts (anyone on my server should know who I'm talking about).

yet, we can still see the same toons botting... Lets face it, the special task force bans a few hundred accounts every now and then while most of the cheaters go unpunished.

Just take time to notice some bots the next time you're out in the open world. Write those names down and go check back in a few months to see if they are still there. It might surprise you.

Dang that's exactly what i just did tonight >.< that's reassuring.

For any botter worth it's 2 Gils, I'm sure they read Forums and then remove them before SE will do anything so..

Here is the real interesting part about some bots. A novice programmer can write a script that will bot, chat, teleport, and even log off after being whispered. The game client is unable to tell if you are running a script or not. Thus, you can freely bot and SE has no way to really catch you. It's very unfortunate that is is so easy to cheat and so many players get away with it.

[Yurimi]

And yet people are still getting banned on a regular basis according to the Lodestone posts. People do still get banned, or at the very least suspended - like a certain someone on Behemoth related to hunts (anyone on my server should know who I'm talking about).

Not hard to make a post stating numbers that dont actually exist though its as simple as checking the reports inbox then say taking 5% of that number and saying they were banned but in reality they just clicked delete all.

[ErnestoGiovanni]

There are a bunch of karakuls near the ogres north and around to the west of dragonhead as well as another cluster to the west and a little north near the gate to ishgard. If i had that situation of farm the crap out of fleece myself, and throw up fleece for a better price and watch it fly off the boards.