Gathering bots

[Elamys]

On Balmung at least it seems there are a number of players who bot gathering, and it's getting completely out of hand. There's one particular FC of them who used to be just three people, but changed names and is now growing, and I have never seen a person of this FC who I felt was playing legitimately. But not all of the botters are in this FC.

They pull up the timed nodes such as adamantite at the exact same time, in the exact same spot, right on top of each other. They follow the same path to the node and use the same exact actions. They never change gear, glamour, or appearances, in fact, they use the generic appearances you get when you choose a race. When not at timed nodes they are at ephemeral nodes, gathering 24/7.

Today I witnessed three of them going to the gold ore node, not on a mount, but running. They followed the same paths and turns and sprinted at the exact same time.

[Elamys]

They do not respond if addressed and make no reaction to any "changes" at the node. Several days ago an A rank spawned on the lumythrite ore node. One of the botters appeared at the exact same spot as usual. While the normal people there all pulled to the side and stealthed to avoid the mob, this one dismounted as normal and was of course oneshotted. There's not exactly any way to miss a gigantic A rank, furthering my belief that these aren't real players.

It's just impossible to be gathering as much as these people are and the frustrating thing is it feels as though nothing is done. It is getting out of hand. The number of botters I see gathering has ballooned uncontrollably over the past 2 months to the point where it feels that I'm more likely to see a bot than a real player when I'm gathering.

[Chocolys]

There is gathering bot squads on Moogle as well. I think every server has them.

I've also noticed "normal players" using teleport-moves to appear directly at Fates or Hunt mark spawn spots.

[Nezerius]

the frustrating thing is it feels as though nothing is done.

That's because nothing is done, really.

If I'm thinking of the same FC that you're referring to in your post, then I can safely say that this person has been gather botting since at least the start of 3.0. Possibly in 2.x as well. I've reported them multiple times, but they just happily continue to bot unspoiled/legendary/ephemeral nodes.

I also remember them completely crashing the glass fiber market, back when they were newly added.

[Culfinrandir]

Leviathan checking in. Yep, we have them too. However the big problem, in my opinion, is player botters who spend 24/7 gathering all the rare nodes. I know one that is a definite bot because whenever SE makes changes that break their botting software I see them making mistakes, like not using Stealth in Azys Lla or porting out just as a node pops. I hate that one person in particular.

[Azervich]

G'day,

I encountered a bunch of them yesterday arvo on a Japanese server (Unicon) at 15:50 through to 16:30 AU Melb time, heaps of them with jumbled names levelling, one of the interesting things I saw was that they would become visible and invisible. here's some images, time is 1 hour slow.

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q...psf16z9sb4.png
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q...psxwntwrgc.png
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q...pswjqx7hjj.png
http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q...pspzbjuqgv.png

as you can see they're invisible while defeating the mobs, I remember FFXI would get heaps of them like this and they where known as fishing bots and the RMT bots that camped NM's.

I never thought I'd see this on a Japanese Server, lol

[Chocolys]

Yes I see similar hunting bots once in a while, they're "underground" most of the time so you can't see them, but if you click on monsters they have engaged you can then see the monster target: name and position of the bot.

[MicahZerrshia]

We would have less of this problem if ppl who botted or purchased gil faced harsher disciplines. They tend not to perma ban actual players who do these types of activities.

I think they do little or make a show of doing something when little is done simply because rmt are good for the bottom line. They buy multiple copies and now have to sub for at least a month which all gets added into the profit margins. They also won't ban legit players because they know if botting is kept to an acceptable degree they wont loose any players over it and allowing legit players to bot or buy gold and not perma ban them also keeps subs being maintained.

RMT bots are good business for SE even if they are annoying to us.

[ChloeGrace]

SE doesn't give a rat's butt about the bots who flood the MB with their crap.
They want the bank characters where the RMT store their gil for distribution. Ban that account and its a serious hit on the RMT business, not to mention millions/billions of gil removed from circulation, which also helps to curb inflation.