SE please care about CHEATING & BOTS!!!

[Tsukatsi]

I have invested a lot of money in this game on multiple accounts. Most recently I purchased the immersive audio app. However, I am not able to immerse myself in the game due to you not taking action against rampant botting! On all the new servers, there are invisible bots killing all the quest monsters. They teleport all over the city (Gridania where I started and all the others) when they die and go back to botting.

In just under a half hour on the Seraph server, I was able to record all the following names teleport botting and killing quest monsters inside and outside the city respectively (I created a /say <t> macro and target them as they appear and press it to say their name so I can then copy it into the clunky reporting interface). These bots repeatedly teleport back to the city when they die, so their names came up many times over the half hour. I edited the duplicates:

Edited: SE bans people reporting bots not the actual bots!

Just stand by the city gate south of the Adventure Guild in Gridania to see this, or go outside there and look at the groups of quest mobs dying to invisible bots!

I have taken time out of my life to manually report all these cheaters ruining the game experience for legit customers. However as a MULTI BILLION DOLLAR COMPANY I feel it is inexcusable that you can't even invest in ONE MINIMUM WAGE GM to monitor new servers for this disgusting abuse. It is literally ruining the game and right now it is a very bad look for SE because IF you actually do anything about it (which I have no confidence you do) it certainly isn't improving the experience of your customers who have to see this.

With the content drought and lack of instanced housing after ten years, it certainly seems like you have plenty of time to make a little effort to actually do something about this. I expect better.

[Stormpeaks]

I have invested a lot of money in this game on multiple accounts. Most recently I purchased the immersive audio app. However, I am not able to immerse myself in the game due to you not taking action against rampant botting!

On all the new servers, there are invisible bots killing all the quest monsters. They teleport all over the city (Gridania where I started and all the others) when they die and go back to botting.

In just under a half hour on the Seraph server, I was able to record all the following names teleport botting and killing quest monsters inside and outside the city respectively (I created a /say <t> macro and target them as they appear and press it to say their name so I can then copy it into the clunky reporting interface). These bots repeatedly teleport back to the city when they die, so their names came up many times over the half hour. I edited the duplicates:

Guruervmols Meshango
Lsuyeffeno Bulilyo
Ndggxobinhqf Dulado
Rdsfhjispeq Aroneli
Hbpvhacvqn Mabalbi
Sd Dumono
Pj Bulimicha
Pndoyobuisg Koglka
Kampas Honpas
Gollado Potolado
Bsiyrtrhlpm Tunngi
Nqgjujgsgup Kogwazi
Mx Buppo
Iv Gunan
Dpokpgtnqkw Halbi
Nacalkrolnn Arolugi
Tetan Thatan

I have taken time out of my life to manually report all these cheaters ruining the game experience for legit customers. However as a MULTI BILLION DOLLAR COMPANY I feel it is inexcusable that you can't even invest in ONE MINIMUM WAGE GM to monitor new servers for this disgusting abuse. It is literally ruining the game and right now it is a very bad look for SE because IF you actually do anything about it (which I have no confidence you do) it certainly isn't improving the experience of your customers who have to see this.

With the content drought and lack of instanced housing after ten years, it certainly seems like you have plenty of time to make a little effort to actually do something about this. I expect better.

there's literally flying bots on all worlds, none excluded, you see them tping in uldah gridania and limsa and even outside of these areas, the customer service for this game and their so called "task force" are both an absolute joke, it's been for months and months if not years that these bots are doing that, on top of that, you have those gil sellers trading people in /busy mode (usually low levels) in major cities and then teleporting away magically once they are done trading.

It's ok, maybe we just need to create a gofundme so they can get some actual people to work on banning bots/hackers, since apparently they are a small indie company

PS : if I was you I would remove the names, they will actually ban you for naming and shaming, it already happened multiple times, even tho they know those people are just bots, they will ban you anyway, because hey, they cant ban the bots themselves but they'll gladly ban the players trying to call them out

[Avoidy]

It won't happen. For some reason banning people who float in spider clusters under the city all day every day is too hard.
God help you for mentioning them by name though. The cops are already on their way.

[NekoMataMata]

PS : if I was you I would remove the names, they will actually ban you for naming and shaming, it already happened multiple times, even tho they know those people are just bots, they will ban you anyway, because hey, they cant ban the bots themselves but they'll gladly ban the players trying to call them out

The naming and shaming rule isn't without reason. It wouldn't be hard to slip in other people's names with the bots in the hopes of seeing something happening to them or at worst case stirring up a witch hunt against them. It's just a minor precaution and it exists on reddit and even some of the bigger FFXIV discords.

[Archeron]

Bots are a problem in every single MMO, they're not going anywhere no matter how many GM's you pay. For every bot that will get banned 3 more will just take its place, and you need evidence of them being bots. Takes more effort than this small indie dev is willing to invest into it.

[Kes13a]

if SE really cared about doing anything, they should start banning people who buy gil

the bots will always return as long as their is a real money market for their product. if SE started banning the buyers of said product, and made it public they were doing so, that market would begin to dry up. most people would not want to lose their account.

[DixieBellOCE]

if SE really cared about doing anything, they should start banning people who buy gil

the bots will always return as long as their is a real money market for their product. if SE started banning the buyers of said product, and made it public they were doing so, that market would begin to dry up. most people would not want to lose their account.

And this is the truth of the matter.

If Square Enix took out the end consumer, Bots would disappear overnight because people are too scared to lose their accounts.

But then we all know half the RP community would be banned overnight, so it wont happen, cant lose those subs!

[Saraide]

SE really doesnt see RMT as a big issue. It's not an instant perma ban if you get caught doing it because both buyer and seller accounts have to pay the monthly sub anyway and any playtime beyond that isnt monetized. Seems more of a win-win scenario for SE and the RMT sellers.

[drtasteyummy]

Bots are a problem in every single MMO, they're not going anywhere no matter how many GM's you pay. For every bot that will get banned 3 more will just take its place, and you need evidence of them being bots. Takes more effort than this small indie dev is willing to invest into it.

And they're so willing. The reality is that a lot of people in every MMO buy gold, and if they can't purchase it, they leave. If they leave, that's bad for business, which means gold sellers equal good for the company. Gold buyers are like plugin users, on the surface, everybody condemns them, but behind the scenes, well, there's a different picture.

[Voidedge_Ragna]

I love their weekly report on bans, which shows they ban a bunch of rmt accounts, and then shows they ban between 1-8 players for using bots that are non RMT related, yet when you zone into limsa you will fall over 10 crafting bots per zone per server, not counting the 100s who are obviously fate botting and the list goes on.

Lets have a look at the current one

Time Period: May 18, 2023 to May 24, 2023

・Participation in RMT/prohibited activities
　・Accounts terminated: 2,147
　・Accounts temporarily suspended: 32

・Botting activity (excluding RMT vendors)
　・Accounts terminated: 8
　・Accounts temporarily suspended: 7
*Botting activity by RMT vendors has been included under "Participation in RMT/prohibited activities.

SE why do you report a number that you know is absolutely hilarious, remove the number and say you do "something" because like this all you do is show ignorance to botting or do you really believe out of ALL reports you got only those were real?

Right now is a prime moment to clap those with gathering bots jumping from the new nodes 24/7, but it is what it is.