Crafting and Marketboard botting

[Liam_Harper]

Is there any way to combat the bots in this game?

Sadly, no.

Some do get banned, but it's usually the careless ones who are far too obvious with their botting and give the STF some sort of solid proof they can use, like admitting it in chat/tell or ground hacks. Otherwise, the STF are extremely limited in their regulations as for what constitutes as definite proof of botting. They can't scan your computer and they won't take 24/7 activity, extremely precise movement patterns or even a broken bot loop as certain evidence.

Not to mention the STF is tiny and based in Japan and doesn't have the manpower or inclination to tackle the tens of thousands of reoccurring bots across all servers.

[Krojack]

Sadly, no.

Some do get banned, but it's usually the careless ones who are far too obvious with their botting and give the STF some sort of solid proof they can use, like admitting it in chat/tell or ground hacks. Otherwise, the STF are extremely limited in their regulations as for what constitutes as definite proof of botting. They can't scan your computer and they won't take 24/7 activity, extremely precise movement patterns or even a broken bot loop as certain evidence.

Not to mention the STF is tiny and based in Japan and doesn't have the manpower or inclination to tackle the tens of thousands of reoccurring bots across all servers.

The fact that you still see bots teleporting around in the game shows that the server net code is poor. So SE could start by fixing this.

I remember in my early days of playing WoW that you would see this. Bots teleporting around, going into cities and killing themselves to spell out websites using dead bodies on the ground. Blizzard over time fixed their client/server code and prevented this. Are all bots gone? no, but a vast majority are.

[Kes13a]

The fact that you still see bots teleporting around in the game shows that the server net code is poor. So SE could start by fixing this.

I remember in my early days of playing WoW that you would see this. Bots teleporting around, going into cities and killing themselves to spell out websites using dead bodies on the ground. Blizzard over time fixed their client/server code and prevented this. Are all bots gone? no, but a vast majority are.

I agree. there will ALWAYS be bots as the some people say as an excuse but the reality is, SE does little to even try and prevent it or punish it. if they even bothered to put in some effort to stop the problem, but that seems either beneath... or beyond them.

[Reap00]

I agree. there will ALWAYS be bots as the some people say as an excuse but the reality is, SE does little to even try and prevent it or punish it. if they even bothered to put in some effort to stop the problem, but that seems either beneath... or beyond them.

The people that say there will always be bots are 100% correct. Bots make money. They will ALWAYS be a part of mmos. ALWAYS. SE bans one they create 100 more. It is a constant battle that will never end. The only way the war on bots could and would end is if people stopped buying gil. We know that will never happen.

[Liam_Harper]

The people that say there will always be bots are 100% correct. Bots make money. They will ALWAYS be a part of mmos. ALWAYS. SE bans one they create 100 more. It is a constant battle that will never end. The only way the war on bots could and would end is if people stopped buying gil. We know that will never happen.

It was not a problem in the past like it is now. In the past crafted items sold for a decent price and many sellers were recognizable crafters, even in mid-Stormblood when we saw the first of the crafting nerfs to make it easier. Bots existed, but they didn't have complete control of the markets.
It's true that items would not sell for the same prices as in the past even if bots didn't exist, due to the sheer simplicity of crafting/gathering driving up supply and lowering demand. But it definitely has an effect when one botter can churn out thousands of pieces of gear a week at close to material cost, while extracting thousands of materia from their gear in the process from Spiritbond.

Bots existed, but they're rampant now. Several things contribute to this issue.

-Crafter/Gatherers are so easy to level. Even if Enix caught and banned your character, it's a simple matter to bot back to 80 again and get back on track.
-Crafters are so easy to gear, materia is so cheap, materials are so easy to gather with bots and items are so easy to craft.
-Cross world trading exists. Set up retainer alts on other worlds and not only are your gil coffers harder to detect, you get the entire data center as your market.
-You can craft in the safety of your home. Enix can't scan your computer for botting software so as long as you don't admit you bot, you're undetectable.
-The STF is not equipped to handle bots and reports rarely work unless the bot screwed up. Therefore it's absolutely fine to bot without consequence.

Basically Enix have created a Bot Heaven this expansion, while simultaneously having no tools whatsoever to combat them.

[BlackHaloJT]

It was not a problem in the past like it is now. In the past crafted items sold for a decent price and many sellers were recognizable crafters, even in mid-Stormblood when we saw the first of the crafting nerfs to make it easier. Bots existed, but they didn't have complete control of the markets.
It's true that items would not sell for the same prices as in the past even if bots didn't exist, due to the sheer simplicity of crafting/gathering driving up supply and lowering demand. But it definitely has an effect when one botter can churn out thousands of pieces of gear a week at close to material cost, while extracting thousands of materia from their gear in the process from Spiritbond.

Bots existed, but they're rampant now. Several things contribute to this issue.

-Crafter/Gatherers are so easy to level. Even if Enix caught and banned your character, it's a simple matter to bot back to 80 again and get back on track.
-Crafters are so easy to gear, materia is so cheap, materials are so easy to gather with bots and items are so easy to craft.
-Cross world trading exists. Set up retainer alts on other worlds and not only are your gil coffers harder to detect, you get the entire data center as your market.
-You can craft in the safety of your home. Enix can't scan your computer for botting software so as long as you don't admit you bot, you're undetectable.
-The STF is not equipped to handle bots and reports rarely work unless the bot screwed up. Therefore it's absolutely fine to bot without consequence.

Basically Enix have created a Bot Heaven this expansion, while simultaneously having no tools whatsoever to combat them.

All points noted what you said is exactly what is happening. Just came back from 3 month break and wow what happened? I don't log in for 24/7 straight but you do notice the same people ruling the market board are sitting in their apartments always online. I don't mind competition from other players but it is hard to compete with bots crafting non stop and running programs to auto undercut. Why isn't this obvious to SE?

Coming from playing FFXI for 15+ years in its early days players feared the STF team. They would ban hammer and set a example of not to cheat. Now or days bots rule that game also. It isn't just plain RMT it is largely the player base because they know SE has gotten lazy. Either they don't care and/or there is still a great language barrier that has never been broken. You can tell by forums responsive from both games over the years. Sure you see them make a example by banning or at least posting they ban.

They created their own monster even though they always had the tools to combat it. It is their game we just play by their rules.

[MevariNavalo]

... killing themselves to spell out websites using dead bodies on the ground.

Man, I wish our bots were that entertaining.