Bot's on Market Board...? Really?

[MilitaryVet123]

That information is not detailed enough. It shows 41 accounts were suspended or terminated for botting. An unspecified number of RMT accounts were likewise actioned for botting, but were lumped in with all RMT related activity, which presumably includes people who buy gil and such, not just people botting. Finally, it does not address MB botting specifically, which is the only point of contention. As for whether or not it's an increasing problem, if that's the data you want to go with, then...

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing

The trendlines both have a negative slope. Even if I were to clean up the data so that it didn't hold the few weeks where SE did almost nothing, likely due to COVID-19, it's unlikely it would actually have a positive slope. It would likely be flat at best. In the case of the RMT advertising graph, the slope is likely negative due to a spike last fall, but it would still likely be flat even if you excluded that range. Of course the data still isn't detailed enough to tell us if botting itself is a greater or lesser problem, but this is a year of data that shows there isn't a whole lot of change and that, if anything, it has maybe gotten a tad better.

In any case, I've definitely observed and reported gathering bots, but unlike MB bots, you can easily tell if someone is botting (or at least exploiting) while gathering because their character will do stuff that should be impossible, such as cut through terrain. But MB bots? Like there was a guy on Balmung who used to be regularly accused of botting the MB and maybe he did, but whenever I went and competed in his markets, I could easily take them over and shut him out of sales. What kind of bot is less effective than a human at maintaining their MB listings? A useless one not worth not worth breaking down into hysterics over.



Since I'm guessing you haven't even done as much as you told me to do, what exactly is your evidence? A handful of random data samples not systematically collected combined with your frustration from not being as successful of a seller as you wish?

I have seen the bot first hand from a friend.

[Nixxe]

I have seen the bot first hand from a friend.

So that sounds really unreliable, unless you're indicating your friend was the botter, but at best you have proof of... one bot. Not exactly adequate for the claim that the MBs are overrun with bots.

[MilitaryVet123]

So that sounds really unreliable, unless you're indicating your friend was the botter, but at best you have proof of... one bot. Not exactly adequate for the claim that the MBs are overrun with bots.

You can keep living in fantasy-land if you wish.

[Nixxe]

You can keep living in fantasy-land if you wish.

The irony.

[Sqwall]

You can keep living in fantasy-land if you wish.

The irony.

I agree with Militaryvet123 as you are being fairly naive here. This is a KNOWN issue. I find it very concerning with a few bots on my server that when you throw them an invite, are literally underneath the map. Or have such a predictable pathing that is literally no strafing, jumping. Flying without a mount...like literally walking into the sky and clipping in city zones. I have been tracking one on my server for about 2 weeks. This "player" has all the symptoms.

1. Check the Market Board and find that they are in every single high end gear, high end mats, and high end miner/botanist/fisher category. You can literally SEE the name of the player that posted the mat...which is this player.
2. They have 5 retainers, and counted 3 of the retainers with 20/20 items. It took me some time to find them all, but the other 2 were in lower level mats.
3. The mats for 3 of the retainers were infact....the lowest prices on the MB. Majority were 490 gear, Brashgold plates, cobalt alloy ingots, dusk court cloth, etc;
4. I search for this "player" and found them in Am Arang, "farming". I tried inviting them...didn't respond. /tell no response. Physically looking for them in the zone...no where near the nodes...and I swept 4 times. Never ran into the "player".
5. I place an item on the MB and undercut this "player" by literally 1 gil.... a 490 crafting ring. This "player" you seem to think is legit....changed their posting as like they should. It took around 15 min of watching the MB. But they did....from FREAKING AM ARANG!!!!! There is NO retainer bell in am arang?! And I was so upset that I kept checking for 3 min were they were....STILL in am arange "farming". How could they access there retainer with out a bell?
6. Last but not least....i waited until they when to another zone....which this time was the housing in Limsa. Saw the address they were at....paid them a visit. Just a plain....jane....house....nothing special....just....a house. No decor...no paint...nothing. Now...if you would think you had all crafters leveled to 80....all gatherers leveled to 80...and only 1 level 80 tank (fast ques)...one would think....this seems suspicious as hell.

Stop being this naive....it's clear that something is up and makes no sense for even a simple detective work. The data and evidence shows this is clearly not right.

[MilitaryVet123]

I'll also say this: if you craft in endgame markets you'll immediately know what's going on.

[ElazulHP]

[Nixxe]

[Liam_Harper]

From google searching on this, it seems MB bots are far less publicly available than gathering or combat bots. Probably the main reason is because releasing it to the public is impractical, for example 2 or more bots competing and the fact that for the average player it's just not worth camping a MB for tiny profit and grinding prices into the dust when your bot could be out gathering or gil farming. The usual ff14 bots won't add the feature. MB bots do seem to exist, but they're created and sold by commission, or used by, private developers.

I find that sort of thing rather interesting, but it's very disturbing how much of a botting community there is. I think the biggest issues for prices are gathering bots creating massive supply and the fact crafting is just far too easy now, with demand at an all time low since there are ten times more sellers, but far less buyers since more people can just make their own.