Regarding Bot-driven Gil Farmers

[birdy_reene]

I thought they used same rules FF XI where was only illegal if not at keyboard.

"You may not create or use any unauthorized cheats, bots" <---directly from the User agreement. Warping around the map at lightspeed, editing marketprices while not having access to the retainer cause your at a node, Sounds like die hard botting to me. Even if its "Attended" this guy is in clear violation of the ULA and TOS.


2.1 Cheating and Botting. You may not create or use any unauthorized cheats, bots, automation software, hacks, mods or any other unauthorized software or hardware designed to modify the Game and gameplay. In addition, you may not take advantage of game system bugs and exploits during gameplay.
2.6 Hacking and Circumvention. You may not hack, disassemble, decompile, or otherwise modify the Game or server computer code, whether the Game code is located on a DVD, Blu-rayTM disc, your computer/console or on Square Enix's servers, except as expressly permitted by Square Enix or applicable law.

2.7 Modifying or Creating Derivative Software. You may not modify or cause to be modified any files that are a part of the Game or Service in any way not expressly authorized by Square Enix, and may not make any derivative works of the Game

[Seyoun]

Yo Contrite, it's-a-me, Veena!

Hello all, I'm another 3-star crafter/career gatherer on Zalera. I was talking to a friend of mine just last night about this particular cheater. I have no need of gil but seeing this character teleporting around and hitting the nodes 24/7 has me really questioning the worth of what I'm doing.

Should I really be pounding cans of Monster on the weekend to stay up for 32 hours, risking death by taurine poisoning when cheaters can around-the-clock the nodes with no effort at all? Should I be sitting at the marketboard for hours refreshing the prices every 5 seconds to catch undercuts in real time when bots do this automatically all day long without getting bored, falling asleep, or keeling over dead of a heart attack?

Should you?

What's the worth of what we're doing? (To be clear I am not implying that anyone should start cheating. My position is that noone should cheat and those who do should be banned.)

Honestly, I've given up reporting. It seems to accomplish nothing. There's two players on our server that are not bots that openly use teleport hacks in front of everyone to see - they're that brazen. For example, at the adamantite node one of them appeared out of thin air near the node, having previously been in another area seconds before, but was standing in line of sight of the magitech bit. It aggroed and bust a cap in that candy backside so the player teleported away to drop aggro then immediately teleported back - right there with all the high level gatherers there watching.

Sometimes I wonder if we're suckers for playing legit!

P.S.: I'm joking about being poisoned by taurine consumption but yes, I do stay up for 30+ hours on the weekend crafting, gathering, and camping the MB, refreshing prices like a fiend and here's a bit of advice: Monster Zero and Raspberry Starbucks refreshers is for winner dawgs! *slaps the can of Red BS out of your hand*

[Charlayy]

SE doesn't care the sooner you except that the better. They need those bot subs to keep this game afloat.

[aesteval]

Also, we have confirmed that he somehow even while out in the field can change market prices. Cause just to test this the other day, I fallowed him around out in Dravania and while he was farming, A friend of mine threw up a load of crystals for less than him, and immediately his prices changed while I still had eyes on him.

Uhm...how do you know the market retainers in question belong to that bot and not a different bot? You can't unless you can see the account details in regards to retainers. It's only speculation otherwise.

I think there may be similar bots on Ultros. Some of the stack sizes, number of stacks, and price drops on some mats are absolutely insane.

[synesthetic]

I think SE does care, but they really need a better system to report these players. And probably more manpower.
In my experience, reporting ingame, even with a billion screenshots, doesn't do anything. Sometimes, I'll get a response advising me to report this sort of thing through the website, directly to the Special Task Force (STF). What happens if you don't? Unless I'm feeling cynical, I have no idea.

I'm pretty sure I have gotten at least one player banned through it though. A regular player even, not an RMT. Because I recorded him teleport-hacking a few times over a couple of weeks, uploaded the videos to YouTube each time, and included them in each of my reports. They were indisputable evidence given the game mechanics I was highlighting. The analytics info for each of the videos show 1-2 views from Japan, and since I set the videos to unlisted, I know those views had to have been from someone reading my reports. Within the next few weeks, I stopped seeing his character around. Instead, I saw what was probably an alt running around, and eventually it was renamed to something similar, and the guy leveled and dressed this alt up to be a smaller copy of the original. So I'm pretty sure that -something- happened to his main, whether temp or perma banned.

So have heart. They do seem to care. It probably helps them a lot if you can keep your reports short and concise, and with solid evidence. (And maybe be fluent in Japanese? I managed in English, at least.) Keep trying.

The layout of the lodestone changes once in a while, but currently, go to "Help and Support" > "Customer Service Suggestions & Feedback Bug Report"
and scroll down to the bottom to "Report a case to the Special Task Force".

[Larkyspur]

I see this guy around all the time. It made me sad when I started seeing him at the legendary nodes...but I feel a bit better trade blocking him from going to the next area. If someone were sitting at that computer they wouldn't just stand there for 10 minutes while someone messed with them. I'm relatively new to the crafting/gathering scene and it's just kind of disheartening. Hopefully something happens..

[Chalbee]

I think there may be similar bots on Ultros. Some of the stack sizes, number of stacks, and price drops on some mats are absolutely insane.

I agree! The price fluctuations and stack sizes are...wow!

[Toranja]

That implies botting, doesn't prove it's unattended though.

I do not care that it is unattended. Botting is botting.

This is an issue and deserves a reply. The next time someone interviews Yoshida, they can throw this in his face for once.

[Zigabar]

I do not care that it is unattended. Botting is botting.

This is an issue and deserves a reply. The next time someone interviews Yoshida, they can throw this in his face for once.

I wouldn't be surprised if the interviewers are given a list of things they cannot ask.

[MaeIsMean]

He literally does the bot skipping, from node to node in the area, and only truly teleports to leave the area.

Also, we have confirmed that he somehow even while out in the field can change market prices. Cause just to test this the other day, I fallowed him around out in Dravania and while he was farming, A friend of mine threw up a load of crystals for less than him, and immediately his prices changed while I still had eyes on him.

Just a question, how do you know that those retainers are tied to that account?