Please make "impossible" levels of playing worth investigating for botting

[Lucerna]

Hello forum crew,

I started playing FFXIV on the Balmung server during patch 2.5. With so little time before the next expansion, I only just got my gathering classes to level 50 in time for Heavensward. However, I knew that I wanted to be able to make gil so I could help friends get items they want. So I started putting a lot of time and effort into gathering in the early patches of the expansion.

A lot of the gathering done at this time was at unspoiled nodes. I wasn't able to work during the early Heavensward patches, so I had a lot of time to invest. I started to meet other gatherers at these nodes, and we had a lot of friendly chats while waiting for the next unspoiled nodes to spawn.

However, there were max level gatherers who never spoke. They also took the same path from the Aetheryte to the same waiting spot safe from enemies and then to the node when it spawned. Every time. And they never stopped. If I couldn't sleep I would log on to gather and they were there without fail. If I took a break for a meal they'd be at the nodes when I got back. And no matter when I started my next gathering spree, they were there.

And they kept gathering.

I reasoned that they were using a botting program- because what other conclusion is possible for characters doing nothing but taking the same routes to the same nodes with no breaks and never talking? So I filed thorough botting reports on every one, thinking they would be dealt with in time. The first report was filed in patch 3.1.

And they kept gathering.

Every so often, I'd see one of the all-too-familiar names not in their pack. So I ran player searches to see if my reports had finally taken affect. I would see them in a different zone, so I'd investigate but only to see them farming Aethersands or another set of node patterns.

And they kept gathering.

Their numbers grew during Heavensward. There are multiple Free Companies, one with a house, whose only members are the ghostlike bots I saw at every unspoiled or legendary node. The markets were flooded. High end materials that I spent months investing on being able to gather were selling for under 100 gil apiece. I kept checking the unspoiled and legendary nodes, hoping time and time again that my reports had done SOMETHING- that I would be able to put my hard won skills and gear to use.

And they kept gathering.

(( to be continued in first post ))