Another ban wave, another disappointment.

[KageTokage]

Month after month, I keep reporting the same bots who are controlling the aethersand and consumable market on my server along with occupying multiple large houses while leaving them totally barren, but they continue to exist for whatever reason.

I even recorded/sent footage of one's erratic movements and ability to clip through walls, but that apparently wasn't sufficient evidence (As though you'd even need more then the sheer amount of time they spend online coupled with the amount of items in their storage/shops).

At this point, I really don't understand what it takes to get anything to be done about them (I suppose I can't be truly disappointed if I don't actually have any hope that they'll take action, though).

The ban wave reports give the illusion that the GMs/action team/whatever are making a meaningful effort in curbing cheaters, but the reality is that vast majority of the bans are being handed out to mass-produced RMT spammers and warp hacking gil farmers who come back faster then they can even ban them, while the gather/craft/PvP botters/hackers who are actually having a negative impact on the gameplay experience of others regularly slip under the radar.

I feel like if there was more of an outcry (Like there was with the whole housing fiasco), they might actually pay attention to this issue.

[Chiramu]

FFXIV just need a bigger team, particularly a larger community support team. The current sized support team can't keep up with the amount of players coming into the game, I really can't believe Square is not putting money into this. If you want a growing game with a large community, you need community support.

[NolLacnala]

I really can't believe Square is not putting money into this.

I can believe it. SE has their priorities, specifically Not-FFXIV, aka their other IPs

[Steel_Arrow]

FFXIV just need a bigger team

It has nothing to do with the size of their team. Our server reported several notorious botters for months. I even persistently grabbed GMs to say, hey, come look, catch it in the act. I also posted video evidence to youtube to submit that via their web form, and every other method that the supervisory GM suggested. In at least three separate cases, the botters changed their name, and left the server. After a year of repeated reports from an entire server community, it's safe to say that it's a policy issue, not a team size issue - in other words, that they don't actually care. The only effective thing was the side effect - word got out, and they fled to escape their negative reputation on the server. But they're still doing it, just somewhere else.

[Kohdo]

FFXIV just need a bigger team, particularly a larger community support team. The current sized support team can't keep up with the amount of players coming into the game, I really can't believe Square is not putting money into this. If you want a growing game with a large community, you need community support.

Up until recently Square was putting FFXIV profits into the development of other titles (they may still be doing so) so it's unsurprising they haven't seen fit to allocate more funds to the community support team.

[Kyuuen]

Month after month, I keep reporting the same bots who are controlling the aethersand and consumable market on my server along with occupying multiple large houses while leaving them totally barren, but they continue to exist for whatever reason.

No way you can know this part. For all you know the player simply has deeper pockets and thus controls the market simply because they know people will buy at their prices. Unless there's some way to track retainer names to their owners that I'm unawares of.

As to the matter of the slow bans. From what they explained before they don't want to simply ban the obvious small fries that show up. They do a lot of investigating and trace work in attempt to find sources. Or at least that's what they've said before.

[KageTokage]

No way you can know this part.

You can when you see them selling several dozen stacks of 99 consumables with their name on it, coupled with the fact that whenever they aren't gathering, they're sitting in/outside their houses and crafting for hours on end.

I know some people are devoted to making money and all, but these guys are online and active 24/7. Even the richest legit (?) players on my server don't spend more then a few hours crafting daily.

[Kyuuen]

You can when you see them selling several dozen stacks of 99 consumables with their name on it, coupled with the fact that whenever they aren't gathering, they're sitting in/outside their houses and crafting for hours on end.

I know some people are devoted to making money and all, but these guys are online and active 24/7. Even the richest legit (?) players on my server don't spend more then a few hours crafting daily.

Hence why I mentioned why they're slow with their bans. They're trying to decipher who is legit and who is not. Being online constantly isn't a rule breaking offense, just because player A is on for 18 hours a day doesn't make them a farmer/seller. Controlling the market certainly, but there's no rules against that.

While not 100% accurate, you can kind of tell the crafter/gatherer types that tend to buy the same stuff over and over and then see a retainer with 3-4 stacks of that item being sold or even when you see a lot of crafted items, look for the name.

Which shows that it may be a player attempting to control the market, which isn't illegal. If we follow that logic a lot of people are gil farmers/sellers. As mentioned in my reply, they're slow in their bans due to an extensive investigation in trying to find sources and actual farmers/sellers.

[Shouko]

Hence why I mentioned why they're slow with their bans. They're trying to decipher who is legit and who is not. Being online constantly isn't a rule breaking offense, just because player A is on for 18 hours a day doesn't make them a farmer/seller. Controlling the market certainly, but there's no rules against that.



Which shows that it may be a player attempting to control the market, which isn't illegal. If we follow that logic a lot of people are gil farmers/sellers. As mentioned in my reply, they're slow in their bans due to an extensive investigation in trying to find sources and actual farmers/sellers.

I never claimed they were bots, I'm saying that you can find out to a small degree which retainers belong to which retainers.

[Shouko]

No way you can know this part. For all you know the player simply has deeper pockets and thus controls the market simply because they know people will buy at their prices. Unless there's some way to track retainer names to their owners that I'm unawares of.

As to the matter of the slow bans. From what they explained before they don't want to simply ban the obvious small fries that show up. They do a lot of investigating and trace work in attempt to find sources. Or at least that's what they've said before.

While not 100% accurate, you can kind of tell the crafter/gatherer types that tend to buy the same stuff over and over and then see a retainer with 3-4 stacks of that item being sold or even when you see a lot of crafted items, look for the name.