Quote Originally Posted by Jojoya View Post
Not everyone who bots is a RMT trader. There are plenty of "real" players out there using some form of 3rd party automation to crank out crafted items while they're afk.

Do you honestly think those players are going to hesitate using that automation to get their leaderboard bragging rights when rankings are based on number of items contributed?
Okay, those players might be a problem in the beginning. How long they are a problem depends on how many top entries get the rewards.

Looking at the great company rankings on Lodestone, it doesn't seem like there's too many botters engaging in that. I could probably get to my server's top 10 if I wanted. But I guess maybe GC seals have been around long enough to not be interesting anymore.

Quote Originally Posted by Jojoya View Post
SE made a mistake basing rankings on "greatest contribution" instead of greatest quality. If the rankings were based on the greatest quality from a limited number of turn-ins, players manually crafting have a decent chance to end up at the top of the rankings over players who automate. When the rankings are based on how much you turn in, only those who automate have a chance to win. It's a futile effort to try to compete against those breaking ToS.
Yes, single (or few) high-quality returns would have been better. It might not deter bots that are programmed cleverly enough, but at least macro crafters could not win just by spamming lots and lots of items. And obviously the items should have uncapped collectibility, or at least a ridiculously high number that no one can reach in order to avoid ties at the first place with perfect scores.