Formal Letter to SE about RMT situation.

[Gilben]

(english isn't my main language, so be gentle for any mistakes)

OK, i may have some ideas for SquareEnix :
- first, the sellers/spammers : restrict the free trial account for the /tell and /friend functions at ... at least level 15
- second, the actual botters : see with blizzard how they are done this
- third and made this public : perma BAN of any gil buyer account

[Dualblade]

(english isn't my main language, so be gentle for any mistakes)

OK, i may have some ideas for SquareEnix :
- first, the sellers/spammers : restrict the free trial account for the /tell and /friend functions at ... at least level 15
- second, the actual botters : see with blizzard how they are done this
- third and made this public : perma BAN of any gil buyer account

http://support.na.square-enix.com/fa...5382&kid=70929

Information of free trial accounts, including restrictions already in place.

[Gilben]

http://support.na.square-enix.com/fa...5382&kid=70929

Information of free trial accounts, including restrictions already in place.

Already seen that and this is actually inacurate. I've created my account (trial at first) at the begining of this year (february) and, when on trial period, i could /tell and /friend individuals, even at level 3. So, there is two possibilities :
- set in place only at the latest patch
- or not actually in place
Pick your choice. (too lazy to try now)

[SpiritMuse]

Already seen that and this is actually inacurate. I've created my account (trial at first) at the begining of this year (february) and, when on trial period, i could /tell and /friend individuals, even at level 3. So, there is two possibilities :
- set in place only at the latest patch
- or not actually in place
Pick your choice. (too lazy to try now)

When I did the trial some 2-3 months ago I couldn't use the /tell or the /yell or the /shout at all, nor could I trade or use market boards, though I could friend people. This is the free trial were talking about right, not the trial period you get when buying the game?

[KisaiTenshi]

Here's some comparative info: SE bans less than 10,000 accounts a week, WoW bans 100,000
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2484318,00.asp

If you're a World of Warcraft player, you might notice fewer people hanging around your favorite digital gathering spots this weekend. And if you're a World of Warcraft player who used third-party hacks to give yourself an in-game advantage over other players, you're probably sitting around wondering what to do with all your new free time.
According to a post from a Blizzard community manager, the game's developer recently hit a large number of players with in-game bans for doing just that—using third-party tools to game the game. According to one of the game's support staff, in an in-game conversation with a player, more than 100,000 World of Warcraft accounts were suspended for cheating.

[Zorvan]

Here's some comparative info: SE bans less than 10,000 accounts a week, WoW bans 100,000
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2484318,00.asp

Blizzard is also the only dev company to have successfully sued both bot makers AND an RMT company. Of course, they're the only successful ones because they're the only ones who bothered to try.

[tocsin]

Here's some comparative info: SE bans less than 10,000 accounts a week, WoW bans 100,000
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2484318,00.asp

Also consider that according to a large majority of hacking and botting sites, ffxiv is a MORE favorable game to bot on than wow is, and has been for over a year. There are more bots on FFXIV, than there are on WoW nowadays.

Couple that 100,000 accounts that Blizz suspended (they didn't even ban, just a temporary suspension) to the fact that SE is currently boasting only about 700k active subs. Getting rid of the bots and RMT, SE would likely lose around 1/6th of their active population, which is a HUGE financial loss.

WoW lost 4.5 million dollars in that ban. I don't believe SE and FFXIV has that kind of cash cushion to take that kind of loss, like blizzard/Activision can.

[Rizon]

/snip

Right now SE is running the risk of losing the entire NA market. That is what will happen if this problem carries over to 3.0. Remember that the influx of new players is neglagable. No matter how die hard people are they will endure only so much before they move on to something else. If that happens SE will suffer a a shot to their reputation that would be devastating. Their goal of becoming a global company could be irretrievably lost and they will be relegated to being a regional company for the foreseeable future. Is that a price they are willing to pay? They need to answer that question immediately and let subs know before they actually shell out money for an expansion that is not viable from a company with no future.