Quote Originally Posted by Breakbeat View Post
How long has this been a problem?
For this specific case on Alpha: I joined right after World Transfer opened and it either was already a problem or started to become one soon after. For a while it seemed over but then it started again, with more bots each time as it seems. Reported around 150 or so by now, the first wave I noticed it was 20.

However, bots in the NN seem to have been a problem for longer. In ye olde days it was another kind of bot though, they got trouble with advertisement bots who joined, shoutet their spam and left again. So I don't know if that's comparable. The 0 spamming ones seem to be fairly new, in a very loose definition of "new". Here is a collection of threads I could find regarding the general problem of bots in NN:

https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...with-spam-bots
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...out-of-control
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...ising-and-real.
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...novice-network
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...ork-Bot-Issues

Older threads about ads:
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...Novice-Network
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...Novice-Network
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...Novice-Network

There are a few others, but you get the big picture. A little disheartening to see how long this has been a thing...