The bot problem is rising and real.

[Monsoon_Lues]

Botting has always been a thing as far as I can remember while playing this game. But it just got to a whole new level, and someone needs to fix this once and for all. They've gotten better and smarter, they don't instantly teleport across the world now, you can see them walk in the sky, basically flying, or walk through walls and underground. They SWARM ARR areas at this point, reporting does nothing, they ban one and 20 more come out. I can't stand around Ul'dah 2 damn seconds without seeing 3 or 4 of them flying over my head. It's not a single datacenter or server problem anymore it's all over and it's getting bad, real bad. If I open the player search and look for people from lvl 1 to 50 in ARR areas, 85% of the results are bots. Is that the "new playerbase" that the devs want? All it would take is a lil surface detection check. A real anticheat. Please.

Here's some screens I managed to capture in just five minutes of looking during the day
https://imgur.com/l6chwlK
https://imgur.com/6t8MDn5
https://imgur.com/KJfjnuo
https://imgur.com/4hzJFuD
https://imgur.com/W86dx66

I'm from EU, but it seems like it's a heavy issue even on US, give a watch to this video and see for yourself https://youtu.be/p01FTSHNQz0

If we don't give a damn about it and just accept it like it's an impossible thing to resolve, we normalize the problem and it will only be worst as time goes on. We need more people talking about this. Not just a handful while the rest looks the other way "cause it's just arr".

[KitiaraIornsight]

I agree it’s a major issue. It took me 5 minutes to load into new Gridania because of the HUNDREDS of bots in that single zone. They are breaking physics, creating the log in queue problem for a low population server. They are joining the novice network and clogging it up.
I spent an hour reporting them yesterday.

[KageTokage]

They are joining the novice network and clogging it up.

They actually can't get into NN without being invited by a mentor (They accept virtually all forms of invitation with no hesitation, whether it be parties, FCs, or NN), so someone has to be doing it deliberately.

[Metalwrath]

. They are joining the novice network and clogging it up.

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.

[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.

[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

[miraidensetsu]

If not for botting (that's hard to actually prove), why not ban them for bug exploit or hack? They're doing impossible things for players who's legally playing.

For me, the solution is launching some solution that makes sure that no process will mess with FFXIV's packets and makes sure that the client has the exact checksum of a non modified client.

But... But... Muh parser... Sorry, guy. Using parser was illegal to begin with.

[Thamorian]

If not for botting (that's hard to actually prove), why not ban them for bug exploit or hack? They're doing impossible things for players who's legally playing.

For me, the solution is launching some solution that makes sure that no process will mess with FFXIV's packets and makes sure that the client has the exact checksum of a non modified client.

But... But... Muh parser... Sorry, guy. Using parser was illegal to begin with.

Client/packet checksum wouldn't affect parsers. Parsers only read, not modify, your network information to gather combat log data.

[null4646]

Client/packet checksum wouldn't affect parsers. Parsers only read, not modify, your network information to gather combat log data.

ACT intercepts and scans packets being sent to and from the game, gathers that data and produces results that a player playing legit cannot see or benefit from. It can also scan memory directly. It has plugin capability and is used for far more than simply parsing combat log data. It can be used to have raid callouts timed exactly, and gather mob hunt locations without moving. Now, this is a rabbit hole, and no something like ACT is not on the same level of other programs that actually modify the packets themselves, but it is still a form of cheating, gives the user an advantage unavailable to those that play by the rules and is prohibited by the ToS. It is not a gray area. SE doesn't turn a blind eye. As with botting and more nefarious tools, they don't give a crap.

[Machi_Machiavelli]

If not for botting (that's hard to actually prove), why not ban them for bug exploit or hack? They're doing impossible things for players who's legally playing.

For me, the solution is launching some solution that makes sure that no process will mess with FFXIV's packets and makes sure that the client has the exact checksum of a non modified client.

But... But... Muh parser... Sorry, guy. Using parser was illegal to begin with.

Would probably screw anyone who uses internet security software that performs SSL inspections etc.