The bot problem is rising and real.

[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