Regarding Bot-driven Gil Farmers

[Dustytome]

So, where does that leave us? We've done what SE asked: supply reports with sufficient information to conduct an investigation. Despite us having done so, month in and month out these operations not only continue, but also expand in scope and affect a growing number of markets. On the day I login and see level 60 crafted items bearing that character's signature and competing items being auto undercut, I'm out. I'm not going to get angry, flip tables, or hijack donkeys and goats like a straight-up OG (#DonkeyGate), I'm just out since that will be my only remaining recourse of action.

I hope they take action soon. We removed a botter from our FC this morning after reporting them. Fate grinding some classes up, I've found central highlands was more bots than actual players today, including a multi-box bot. I'm getting extremely tired of reporting them and I'm not even sure the in-game reports are going anywhere when I'm told to also submit a separate form to get the report to this special team. If the special team is the only one allowed to do anything about this then shouldn't the in-game reports be going directly to them?

[Welsper59]

I hope they take action soon. We removed a botter from our FC this morning after reporting them. Fate grinding some classes up, I've found central highlands was more bots than actual players today, including a multi-box bot. I'm getting extremely tired of reporting them and I'm not even sure the in-game reports are going anywhere when I'm told to also submit a separate form to get the report to this special team. If the special team is the only one allowed to do anything about this then shouldn't the in-game reports be going directly to them?

We still have players on Leviathan that were rather infamous for their botting in Northern Thanalan during the beginning of HW, to get all jobs to 60. There's even evidence on YouTube to showcase bot behavior, and at least one speed hacked (ran faster than mounts and only mounted to make it look like they were going at a normal speed... even though they moved a lot faster than every single other player there). Non-stop reporting during that period. They do not care about people cheating in the game, so long as it does not constitute serious issues (harassment, real time server hacking, etc).

Speaking as someone that has played XI since it launched, thus being familiar with how SE tends to handle RMT and cheaters, not much has changed. I think they gave up their efforts when much of the unique XI attempts to curb 3rd party program use were just temporary. Not surprising it continues today. I could announce on the forums here that I cheat, exactly what it is I would use, and the likelihood of action taken is next to none... if not extremely late. Even Blizzard is like that, apparently. People have been reporting that they're getting banned at the start of Legion (end of last month) for suspected cheating from 2+ years ago lol.

[Millen1]

I think SE looks at botting as a plus and minus. If the game it slow and they need to keep players doing things they allow more botting. If new content is popular they crack down on bots a bit more. I have played on ps3 and ps4 now since 2013 launch. I have seen waves of bots come and go, they seem to be most active when the content turns players off and they seem to disappear when there is a lot of new content to do. I also think it is cultural that they let it slide on NA servers since they feel we are going to do it anyways where it is not common on JP servers as I understand it.
In the end, as a crafter and gathering, I feel it devalues the game content and my motivation. I want to play this game with other players, not against a bunch of bot programs.

[MikeWW]

I really like that crafting/gathering is easy to get into and is rewarding, much more so than other MMO's I've played. But if someone goes crazy with botting he can have a really negative impact. I know some people on my server who run gathering bots, they are always online regardless of time of day and flood the market. Whether they just sit on hundreds of millions of gil or sell it, they make gathering less rewarding for a large number of gamers.

[Seyoun]

Also look at Landborne and Leafborne Aethersands and legendary / folklore node mats. They're being hit.

Our leafborne and landborne are down to 7.5k...in stacks of 99. I'm sure the newly released 3.4 legendary mats will be next once the bot is geared up.

[Mwynn]

People still doing this since a Year, I mean we have Players being 24/7 Online and always in Mining/Botanist Class.

Heck they even stack with other Gatherers in Mid-Air waiting for the Unspoiled Node to appear, isn't that too obvious?...



and this.... is just harmless, sometimes there are like 5-10 Gatherers cluttered at once <_<