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

[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.

[DragonFlyy]

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

Just like every other MMO out there. Ban a bot, they just make a new one (most of those are stolen accounts so it's no loss to the botter.) Implement code to stop botters, they adjust to it within hours. It's something that has plagued MMOs since the early days of Everquest (probably even before that). Basically it's a part of the genre.

[Kes13a]

Just like every other MMO out there. Ban a bot, they just make a new one (most of those are stolen accounts so it's no loss to the botter.) Implement code to stop botters, they adjust to it within hours. It's something that has plagued MMOs since the early days of Everquest (probably even before that). Basically it's a part of the genre.

screw coding to stop the bots, we all know that will never work.

ban the buyers. a persons account has sentimental value, sunk cost value, time and effort value, of course bots make more bots, because its lucrative. a personal account... is far less throw away. come down hard on the buyers and the market for the bot generated gil... dries up

the only way top decrease the bots.. is to decrease the market they serve... no extra code needed at all

[KageTokage]

Just like every other MMO out there. Ban a bot, they just make a new one (most of those are stolen accounts so it's no loss to the botter.) Implement code to stop botters, they adjust to it within hours. It's something that has plagued MMOs since the early days of Everquest (probably even before that). Basically it's a part of the genre.

XIV has enough progression walls in place that it's comparatively difficult to get a meaningful bot of any sort up and running in the first place which makes keeping them in check easier.

The endgame DoH/L bots have to buy both a job and story skip then grind through the entire EW MSQ just to have access to what they want to farm, then they still need to level their non-combat jobs to an extent that lets them farm relevant items.

The only ones I'd actually consider unassailable are the mentioned ARR teleport bots because they rely on sheer numbers to actually get any significant gains.

[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.

[Ivtrix]

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.

Bot banning happens generally in waves as to not tip off the bot makers to what bit of their script the devs can detect

Combatting botting is not as easy as it sounds and the devs in any game not just FFXIV are always one step minimum behjnd

[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.