The bot problem is rising and real.

[AngeliouxRein]

@KageTokage For science!! Your comment legit put a smile on my face. But As far as I was seeing, the guy that had his chocobo out had it parked like directly in front of a group of bots. Not to spoil too much of the story but it's that part of the story where your character is sent out to collect the bodies of merchants after they were attacked by almaj`aa. I think what was happening is that they couldn't click on one of the bodies and they ultimately went afk because of it. That's what it looked like. Some others were trying this in different areas, also..for science...lol

[KageTokage]

I think the reason that works is because the bots use the "Target/interact with nearest NPC/object" hotkey and chocobos are included within that.

I think I'll try for it a laugh some day. It won't hinder actual players since they can just click on the object/NPC instead.

[Zazay]

Thats been a thing since NN was first launched.People becomeing mentors and clicking every sprout name they see to join them.
Someone is either adding them on purpose to rmt spam NN and find potential novice players to sell gold to or one of the mentors is just trolling.

Those who are joined to the NN have usually normal names though. It is kinda hard to spot them if eg. you're a new mentor or don't keep track of those rmt bot advertising characters. Glad enough we have some dedicated people to instantly kick them out. But somehow they always return.

[Mirhd]

I think the reason that works is because the bots use the "Target/interact with nearest NPC/object" hotkey and chocobos are included within that.

I think I'll try for it a laugh some day. It won't hinder actual players since they can just click on the object/NPC instead.

Supposedly the people controlling the bot accounts can report you for interfering with them... Now, I don't know how true this is; it sounds pretty ridiculous to me. Do so at your own risk, I suppose.

[Zomkei]

could we make so we can right click on characters and report them for being a bot. Also maybe make a program that doesn't allow keyboard smash names.

right click -> report -> RMT, its already a feature. for the keyboard smash names, Roegadyn (specifically sea wolf) naming convention looks like a keyboard smash, so I don't think it'd be fair to those who use randomize or who prefer lore-friendly names.

[Hysterior]

I spent an hour reporting them yesterday.

It is probably useless, unfortunately.

I will share my experience as a CM on another MMORPG (Not FFXIV):
We had a LOT of bots. At first, I would go in-game, invisible in the starting areas. Spot a bot, ban it and check the IP. Ban all account in the IP.
Then I soon realised how useless that process was.

Bots change IP and can change MAC addresses on the fly. They can set a max amount of character creation per IP so they are not suspicious.
So manual CM-work of checking reports from users or even being in-game and baning them is useless.
The bots issue cannot be solved by manual work.

Good luck SE

[Kleeya]

Also maybe make a program that doesn't allow keyboard smash names.

It wouldn't even take half a day for bots to create a "normal names" generator, and piss players even more because the name they want to use is already taken by some bot. At least with what they are using now they have the decency of not using something you would want to choose.

[Luluna]

I have noticed a lot more this last week, mainly in Gridania doing the old skywalking.

I just Blacklist them if they are shouting.

[KageTokage]

Supposedly the people controlling the bot accounts can report you for interfering with them... Now, I don't know how true this is; it sounds pretty ridiculous to me. Do so at your own risk, I suppose.

I don't think the large-scale bot farmers would care enough to actually bother reporting for something that's not even obstructive to a legitimate player (Who could just click the NPC they're trying to reach or move closer so the hotkey targets the right thing).

I know from past experience that messing with the DoL/H bots is not a good idea, though.

[Nemmar]

right click -> report -> RMT, its already a feature. for the keyboard smash names, Roegadyn (specifically sea wolf) naming convention looks like a keyboard smash, so I don't think it'd be fair to those who use randomize or who prefer lore-friendly names.

You can only do that to those that post in chat though.

I have tried to report the bots flying around, but there is no option to do that by right clicking, and yes their names are gibberish and they will be gone before you can even type them down.

A right click report function for when you right click them in the field would be appreciated.