Sky-BOT-Rankings (Saint title for ALL) Issue

[Prince_Darian]

It is my opinion, Square Enix should discontinue doing the "Skybuilder Ranking" gameplay until they can say they have FULLY addressed the "bot problem."

It is completely unfair for FF14 to have a competition for a limited time Title, OR ANY REWARD, that relies on a "top score" to win. This ranking season was FILLED with bot users, and no matter how much players swear they aren't, the daily numbers from all top 12 players, across all servers and data centers, TELL A DIFFERENT STORY.

Until SE can say that not ONE SINGLE PERSON CHEATED TO TOP 12, anyone who made top 100 should get the Saint title as well as the Beatus/Beata title.

This may not be much, but it will make it that those who "bot" to the top did it for nothing, and maybe, just maybe, someone will learn a lesson that, "IF ONE PERSON CHEATS, NO ONE GETS A SPECIAL REWARD"

Until the bot situation is dealt with, no score based competition can ever be considered FAIR. With each passing ranking season, more bot users play without fear of bans or any type of punishment. How can any player say with confidence that they have a fair chance of winning? I know after this past week, I lost a lot of faith in SE and the Devs.

Thank you, and have fun playing. (except you bot players)

[Luna_Goldtatze]

Well, I can't confirm that there are many bot users on my server. I think you underestimate how much time people spend on this competition.
I work full time and farmed 6-8 hours every day after work to get my 5 place as a botanist. I tell you honestly that was a hard time.
Had I been unemployed I would have been able to score more points. (As long as I would have mentally endured it

[Prince_Darian]

Well, I can't confirm that there are many bot users on my server. I think you underestimate how much time people spend on this competition.
I work full time and farmed 6-8 hours every day after work to get my 5 place as a botanist. I tell you honestly that was a hard time.
Had I been unemployed I would have been able to score more points. (As long as I would have mentally endured it

every single server, in every single data center, has a bot in every top 12 spot.
I also understand how dedicated some people are, but mathematically speaking, for someone to get the most possible allotted points a day, EVERY DAY, without skipping a beat, is not real. Only bots do that.

I have had plenty of people making up excuses for cheaters, and the "some people have no life" excuse is old, and tiresome.

but thanks for putting in your input!

[Luna_Goldtatze]

I can't really say that there is a bot in every Top 12. At least not on Shiva. The top-ranked people at BTN all farmed 8-15 hours a day, and they saw each other and wrote to each other or showed themselves emotes. So clearly no bot behavior

Of course you are right that on some servers there are really people who farmed 24/7, which can't be explained without bot.

Nevertheless I think that everybody who wanted to participate seriously and had the time had a chance for a top 12 rank.

[Sabrenn]

Anyone could've seen me crafting the entire duration in limsa, next to some friends who also earned saint crafting next to me.

Yes there may have been botters, but I don't think our effort should be discarded because the rest of the 13-100 rankers want the title.

I had Beata last season and decided to work harder this time and earned my place. I didn't complain about not getting it last time, in fact I was surprised I even ranked in 4 different categories then.

Don't take it away from us because you couldn't rank high enough. That's just petty.

There's better ways to ask about score moderation.

[Jojoya]

This ranking season was FILLED with bot users, and no matter how much players swear they aren't, the daily numbers from all top 12 players, across all servers and data centers, TELL A DIFFERENT STORY.

If you think everyone in the top 12 in all classes on all worlds were bots, you're pretty darn bad at crafting and gathering.

Certainly there were some bots among the top 12 in some classes on some worlds but the problem wasn't extensive as your hyperbole claims.

I totally disagree that someone who only had a couple of thousand Skyward Points at the end of a 10 day competition should get a Saint title. You're talking about an hour of effort doing normal, not even Expert, level 80 crafting.

You sound like someone who wants a reward without putting in the required effort.

[Espritduo]

Bots are incredibly inefficient. They excel at putting hours in, not at doing what they do well. When a person is also willing to put those hours in, as was the case for pretty much all the top 12 scorers, you will find that the bots can't keep up. Yes there were botters, but the reality is the human grinders were outscoring them per hour AND putting in close to the same hours (20+ hours per day). At that point, the humans are effectively "out-botting" the botters. For example, on FSH, someone mentioned that the bots were capable of scoring around 160k points per day. A human putting in massive hours and actually grinding FSH efficiently could put in 250-300k points per day, while still getting a few hours sleep. When you look at the number 1 fishers, worldwide, you will see they put out way more than a bot running 24hrs a day ever could.

Yes there were a few botters, but not nearly as many as you want to believe. It is a problem, but not something to burn the whole system down over. Those who put in the hours and worked at it got in the top 12, even if there was a bot or two in the mix. Crafting was especially easy to rank in because of how spread out it was across 8 classes. You could easily do one or two hard days of crafting and secure your spot in the top 12 if you wanted, on pretty much any server.

[Zolvolt]

I'm sorry, but if you paid attention to the top twelve you will see how many bots in top 12 were completely erased from the leaderboards for the final rankings. So not only were the inefficient but many of them were were deleted from rankings. Its also incredibly disappointing to see people stepping on the efforts of those who put in the 15 hours/day manually, (which the high placers actually did) especially when people are min-maxing so bad that their food prep. drinks, and bathroom breaks were utilizing the unavoidable afk time. (like when you gather from a +5 node on miner/btn). They really put in the work for those titles. Is there an argument to be made about Sky builder rankings being a sleep deprivation contest? absolutely. Is there a discussion that bots are running amuck in the top 12? absolutely not.

I mean I work from 7:30am until 5 pm monday -friday and worked saturday for 3 hours and still hit 9th on Sarg for miner. Most jobs were not flooded with work-from-home try hard players. You just had to sacrifice your personal life and responsibilities to get there. If you can't put in more hours then someone else who can is going to beat you.

[Prince_Darian]

If you think everyone in the top 12 in all classes on all worlds were bots, you're pretty darn bad at crafting and gathering.

Certainly there were some bots among the top 12 in some classes on some worlds but the problem wasn't extensive as your hyperbole claims.

I totally disagree that someone who only had a couple of thousand Skyward Points at the end of a 10 day competition should get a Saint title. You're talking about an hour of effort doing normal, not even Expert, level 80 crafting.

You sound like someone who wants a reward without putting in the required effort.

LOL, yes go and attack how I play this game without actually knowing me. A very typical white knight tactic!

Say what you want about letting the top 100 get the Saint title, but in the end, the Saint title is TAINTED due to bot activity. Your denial of the problem wont change that, and your attitude fuels bot users to continue cheating.

[Prince_Darian]

I'm sorry, but if you paid attention to the top twelve you will see how many bots in top 12 were completely erased from the leaderboards for the final rankings. So not only were the inefficient but many of them were were deleted from rankings. Its also incredibly disappointing to see people stepping on the efforts of those who put in the 15 hours/day manually, (which the high placers actually did) especially when people are min-maxing so bad that their food prep. drinks, and bathroom breaks were utilizing the unavoidable afk time. (like when you gather from a +5 node on miner/btn). They really put in the work for those titles. Is there an argument to be made about Sky builder rankings being a sleep deprivation contest? absolutely. Is there a discussion that bots are running amuck in the top 12? absolutely not.

I mean I work from 7:30am until 5 pm monday -friday and worked saturday for 3 hours and still hit 9th on Sarg for miner. Most jobs were not flooded with work-from-home try hard players. You just had to sacrifice your personal life and responsibilities to get there. If you can't put in more hours then someone else who can is going to beat you.

Oh I've been paying attention, and here in Primal Data Center, not one person was taken down from leadership board, even those actually CAUGHT botting. Once again, another person SWEARING that people with bot numbers aren't actually botting. SAD!