Zonureskin map bots: The latest blight on the economy.

[KageTokage]

For the past couple weeks, I had noticed a full party of unusual players (Obviously level-skipped, no FC or titles, wearing unmelded crafted 510 gear) idling in various places in ShB; most commonly by the Fort Jobb aetheryte in Lakeland.

I had a strong suspicion they were bots and gave them one of the usual tests by standing at max range and changing my gear from DoH to tank to see if they would detect the missing HP and immediately start spamming heals on me as bots are prone to doing...which they passed with flying colors.

However, it was only recently that I caught them in action, and as the title suggests, they were running Zonureskin maps to farm gil and drops. This includes entering the portals as I'd see them occasionally disappear for some minutes after clearing out the enemies at a map.

There is a tank bot that serves as their leader and is the one who initiates the teleport after each map and arrives at the map location first, with the others trailing behind in a huge conga line which makes their scripted behavior all the more obvious.

The thing I found especially alarming was how they were sustaining their behavior...which is by having multiple additional mule accounts (Of various levels, some freshly made level 2 characters) that repeatedly buy/mail them maps from whatever server's marketboard they're stationed at, which was easily observable in the purchase history.


I felt a need to bring it up because it has the potential to tank the prices on treasure map items, which is no good for those seeking to earn gil through means other then crafting, as treasure maps have historically been one of the better ways to make a profit in part due to the fact that they previously weren't being exploited by bots.

I am also curious as to whether or not this same behavior is happening on other DCs, as if it's part of some large-scale RMT scheme, it's liable to be present elsewhere.

It would be greatly appreciated if others helped to report these cheaters and hopefully get some action taken against because botters tend to just keep pushing their limits the longer they're permitted to get away with something, and the sheer scale of this operation would make it a lot harder for the STF to simply dismiss like they would a single DoH/L bot.

I obviously cannot bring up their names here, but they are nonetheless rather readily identifiable by simply searching for level 80s in Norvrandt and looking for a party full of generically-named, FC-less players with only a single level 80 DoW/M job each, though it should also be noted that while "off-duty", their preferred idle spot is on one of the ships in Eastern La Noscea. If they are in neither location, it generally means they are simply in the process of doing a treasure map portal.

[Greyhawk]

It's an albeit obvious and at the same time unfortunate display of SE only relying upon those that are reported by players, and not being proactive instead of reactive in the continued fight against these turd towels.

[Wrestlefire769]

It's an albeit obvious and at the same time unfortunate display of SE only relying upon those that are reported by players, and not being proactive instead of reactive in the continued fight against these turd towels.

And, as I've said, I believe a schism on the part of SE as to whether they really oppose botting, etc.

[KageTokage]

It's an albeit obvious and at the same time unfortunate display of SE only relying upon those that are reported by players, and not being proactive instead of reactive in the continued fight against these turd towels.

They are proactive...just not with any of the bots that actually matter as those gibberish-named teleporting gil farmers seem to get purged on a weekly basis without any player input.

It's about as productive as stomping ants because it doesn't even take 24 hours for them to hit the level cap and start farming away again, whereas purging bots like the mentioned will have more of a lasting effect due to the ShB leveling process taking considerably longer and costing them more money to get accounts going in the first place.

[Kes13a]

we have seen those kind of bot parties on Zalera, and dutifully reported, and of course, because SE is so against cheating, they are still in operation.

[ForteNightshade]

They are proactive...just not with any of the bots that actually matter as those gibberish-named teleporting gil farmers seem to get purged on a weekly basis without any player input.

It's about as productive as stomping ants because it doesn't even take 24 hours for them to hit the level cap and start farming away again, whereas purging bots like the mentioned will have more of a lasting effect due to the ShB leveling process taking considerably longer and costing them more money to get accounts going in the first place.

Not to mention, these types of bots are typically ran by players who otherwise actively play the game. We both know the infamous one on Cactuar. If SE actually did something, it would certainly have an impact. Hell, I know people who freely admit to botting/zone hacking and etc. Why don't they care? "Because SE never does anything anyway. You're more likely to get banned for parsing." It really speaks volumes to how poorly they handle player bots, and their lackadaisical approach is why we've seen such a huge increase going back to Stormblood. No one is remotely worried they'll get in trouble because, frankly, they likely won't.

[Jijifli]

Why don't they care? "Because SE never does anything anyway. You're more likely to get banned for parsing."

This right here is exactly the problem.

Why am I more likely to get a punishment for swearing, or running a dps meter, than a guy who is not only actively cheating to gain an advantage over me, but is ADMITTING TO IT IN CHAT on top of that. This stopped even being a "Can't prove it" issue when there are literal logs from some people in game and they do nothing.

These bots are not hard to detect. Sure, some might be able to blend in quite well, but those at least are actively trying to. There's a problem when 80% of people I see gathering show all the same bot signs and are still up months and even years later, despite multiple reports, still breaking everything it can with its advantage.

If anything, Square has shown silence on that matter. And silence does speak, and what it speaks here is "It's okay to bot if it's not obv rmt"

[Theodric]

I've also noticed a steep decline in the amount of treasure map groups present in the party finder. I've been trying to get a group for weeks, now, with little success. During prime time hours, too.

[Anhra]

It might be possible a unpopular opinion from my side, but i think Square Enix deserves this kind of Bot infestation were currently facing. I mean, how many times have you, i and anyone else reported them? for how long are we doing this and how long will we have to do so? i say its a war of attrition of which we, as the players, cant ever win. Every possible way that could allow players to take matters into their own hands (like griefing tactics which are aganist the terms of service or open world PK which is nonexistent in this game), cant be taken into consideration and Squeenix themselves as a company, take this way too easy on the EU/US side.

From the way i see it, it will only get worse. they already control most of the content by now and the only thing they will never control completely, is PvP because that would be too much of a effort to them.

A good number of MMOs got ruined because of Botting getting out of hand, for being allowed to do as they please, i wonder if this game becomes one such a game.

[Wrestlefire769]

This right here is exactly the problem.

Why am I more likely to get a punishment for swearing, or running a dps meter, than a guy who is not only actively cheating to gain an advantage over me, but is ADMITTING TO IT IN CHAT on top of that. This stopped even being a "Can't prove it" issue when there are literal logs from some people in game and they do nothing.

Because there are people within the company who are in league with them.

There is no other answer, neither logically nor if you take one honest look at the history of the Square-Enix MMO's and what it has literally taken to get even a remote punishment on that level of player.

The last time they really took action against players who did this kind of stuff on any realistic level, it GUTTED endgame on XI and became a historically bad move for SE because of the number of players who openly embraced these illegal conducts, up to and including account-selling -- isn't that right, Order of the Blue Gartr?

It might be possible a unpopular opinion from my side, but i think Square Enix deserves this kind of Bot infestation were currently facing. I mean, how many times have you, i and anyone else reported them? for how long are we doing this and how long will we have to do so? i say its a war of attrition of which we, as the players, cant ever win. Every possible way that could allow players to take matters into their own hands (like griefing tactics which are aganist the terms of service or open world PK which is nonexistent in this game), cant be taken into consideration and Squeenix themselves as a company, take this way too easy on the EU/US side.

Have you figured it out yet? They've got someone buddy-buddy with them, and I can name him by name if the guy I suspect is still with the North American Community Team. (Which is one of the reasons nothing here is going to get back to SE Japan on the subject -- which is the only way things get changed, but what happens when they do and the entire top level of the game goes with the RMT and the like?)

And I don't think that person is alone. What happened is that the community of the game has become far more important than even the law surrounding it. So much so that Square-Enix actually got sued by an ex-player and WON, and the decision stated that there was no obligation on their or anyone else's part to enforce ANY ToS!! (I believe that was Leung vs. Square-Enix, IIRC.)

This company, especially on the NA side, has been in league with the cheaters and encouraging the cheaters for a decade and a half now. And anyone who's paying attention can see this. It's one of the reasons I think this is my... FOURTH? go-around -- and that the only reason I am doing so is because of the COVID-19 stay-at-home orders and the like... And if they found out who I was by name, they could probably ban me immediately.

From the way i see it, it will only get worse. they already control most of the content by now and the only thing they will never control completely, is PvP because that would be too much of a effort to them.

A good number of MMOs got ruined because of Botting getting out of hand, for being allowed to do as they please, i wonder if this game becomes one such a game.

And that's the goal of RMT, the botters, the third party program types, etc.: To control the content so you have to go through them to actually play the game. And now with the ToS making Obstruction (of any kind and of ambiguous nature) illegal, you now could have the situation that, if they have the backing of the community, it could be legal not only by default, but by DEMAND, and if you don't, you are holding back the future of FFXIV -- something I've been accused of in each of my previous MMO tours here.