Is it OK to use bots in FFXIV?

[ElazulHP]

Honestly, with how bad the bots are I'd say start monitoring for all third-party programs and ban people that use them. Unfortunately, they won't do this because they're terrified to anger the 1% of the players that do the Ultimates/Savages and use ACT.

[Kes13a]

I do agree that it's a massive problem, just not so much that it is a 'simple solution', at least I can't see it being such!

failing to do much of anything isnt going to make the problem go away either. FF XIV is regarded as a "bot friendly game in the botting communities". why? because it is VERY well known SE does virtually nothing against serious botters in NA and EU and pretty much just content themselves banning teh most obvious bots like RMT barkers and the droves of kjsdghfskjdfh kjshdfkjsdhf harvesters

[Kyrj]

I mean judging by the state in game? Yeah sure. They're literally everywhere and sure every month or so I've been told they do a ban wave, but honestly who tf cares? The damage is already done. What do they accomplish with that ban wave? Not a single thing.

Actually that's not true they do accomplish something. A waste of time and money, so you know...there's that.

I mean I hate to dog on SE here but the bot situation in this game is a joke and what's more of a joke is how they're handling it.

[Veliaire]

Lots of people undercut and don't need a bot to do it. I check my Retainers fairly regularly every day and adjust the prices to undercut when possible. No bot needed.

Yes, but do you check 40 retainers every 20 minutes every day of the year? Its pretty easy to tell who is a human being is who is a bot in this game. Lets not try to pretend otherwise.

[Liam_Harper]

Morally no. In terms of rules, Enix seem to be treating it like ACT. Don't openly tell anyone and they'll turn a blind eye. They haven't even acknowledged it's a rapidly spreading issue or taken any measures. Sure it's not easy to tackle bots in large MMO's, but Enix don't even seem to try. A STF of 3 people in Japan, for the entire game, is a joke.

[Jijifli]

Morally no. In terms of rules, Enix seem to be treating it like ACT. Don't openly tell anyone and they'll turn a blind eye. They haven't even acknowledged it's a rapidly spreading issue or taken any measures. Sure it's not easy to tackle bots in large MMO's, but Enix don't even seem to try. A STF of 3 people in Japan, for the entire game, is a joke.

Except you can even admit it in game. I had an ex-fc member actively admit in game chat that he botted his materials, but because he had no crafter he needed other members to make his raid stuff. He even admitted to some of how it works (If you whisper the bot enough, it feigns afk and stops gathering, in case it's a gm.)

This player is still active, and it's been years. You'd think someone actively admitting it would do something, but Square doesn't want to say goodbye to their $15 a month from that person.

[KageTokage]

After how poorly they handled the cheaters in the restoration rankings (Only a handful of them actually got removed, and it was strictly DoL bots not DoH), I'm thoroughly convinced they just don't care and what little effort they do put in is just a token measure so people can't say they aren't doing anything.

[Veliaire]

After how poorly they handled the cheaters in the restoration rankings (Only a handful of them actually got removed, and it was strictly DoL bots not DoH), I'm thoroughly convinced they just don't care and what little effort they do put in is just a token measure so people can't say they aren't doing anything.

Why should they? This game is taking in record profits as more and more people subscribe. The cash shop has never done better. What reason do they have to improve when the community isn't willing to hold them accountable? FFXIV has the best crafting/gathering system I've seen in an mmorpg and its a shame that Square Enix invested so much effort into creating it only to let it be destroyed by bots.

I've been playing this game since 1.0 but I feel strongly about this issue and don't see myself renewing my subscription as frequently as I do. I'm usually subbed year round but I may change that to 3 months out of the year... and if Ashes of Creation is as good at it looks, I might just stop playing this altogether once that comes out.

[tdb]

It's not ok to bot, and neither should you. I would say it undervalues the effort people put into the game, which is true for some people, but equally, so it kills any enjoyment and achievement you get in the game since ultimately it is largely predicated on the tools you used rather than your own personal effort and time

Well, there's some aspects of the game which are fairly unfun. One such aspect is crafting things for the DoH relic tools. Pressing a macro button hundreds of times at half-minute intervals is not what I consider fun. Of course that doesn't make it ok to bot, but it's easy to understand why there's desire for it.

[Kes13a]

Well, there's some aspects of the game which are fairly unfun. One such aspect is crafting things for the DoH relic tools. Pressing a macro button hundreds of times at half-minute intervals is not what I consider fun. Of course that doesn't make it ok to bot, but it's easy to understand why there's desire for it.

should try DoL relics....