Friend suspended for too many S rank attempts

[Doozer]

What fixation? There's no pleasing you is there?

An appeal has already been tried, as stated in the original post.

It just seems like a weirdly unnecessary detail. If they weren't botting, what did it matter if they sold the mats or not? Especially since there are plenty of bots that don't farm enemy drops for sale.

If you're going to declare someone's innocence in a public forum, expect people to ask questions or have their doubts. Anyone trying to shut down suspicion or curiosity are not helping your friend in the long run.

[kono-]

If there are hunts designed that require kill-counts of large quantities, then there needs to be clear explicit training to GMs to see that there are individuals who actively participate in spawning these types of rare mobs for their own enjoyment. Including for others to come and get credit to work towards their achievements. (Yoshi shared how much he likes seeing the mounts flying together for The Hunt!) Actively participating in killing 300 mobs to fulfill the hunt spawn requirement does not affect any person's game play or any individual's character except the person wrongly reported for playing the game as intended. This report and this result of a suspension needs to be re-evaluated and audited. GMs not properly researching the case, instantly denying the appeal, and providing a generic template as a response was not the appropriate solution.

The person directly affected deserves their appeal to be re-evaluated and an apology. This was handled really poorly and at this point makes many hunters concerned for future hunt spawn attempts; especially if we enjoy the flow or repetition that kill-count spawns offer (Minhocao, Leucrotta, Okina, Ixtab, Sphatika, Ruminator, [insert new Dawntrail mob(s) here]). If 300 is reportable, what will Dawntrail look like?

To the person unable to respond to the forums due to their suspension, we can't wait til you come back to do these dreaded kill-counts we all hate to do. :^) Thank you for being a mentor to the Hunt community and celebrating all of our achievements that we are able to reach due to your incredible teamwork and mentorship.

To the GM or team that handled this case, please just try to do better. Especially with whatever DT will bring in terms of kill-count S rank spawn requirements.

[TeaRenin]

I also found it really weird that OP had such a fixation on not selling mats from killing enemies as if that automatically makes it botting. Why not sell drops if you're killing enemies legitimately?

The only mats you get from spawn attempts on Sphatika are Amra from the Vajralangula mobs, as Asvattha and Pisaca drop none. I'm more impressed that person even kept them; they were downright worthless before the alchemist relic and I think most of us still can't be bothered to sell them.

[kono-]

Yeah tbh chump change. More value in making it a meme. But I'm pretty sure we've all gathered more in Diadem mats so like ???? why that would be a reason for suspension or suspicion is beyond me. No violation of ToS for hoarding mob/game/loot drops for personal enjoyment.

[thepurpletigress]

This is honestly ridiculous, and super worrying... SE needs to re-evaluate this suspension ASAP.

[Doozer]

The only mats you get from spawn attempts on Sphatika are Amra from the Vajralangula mobs, as Asvattha and Pisaca drop none. I'm more impressed that person even kept them; they were downright worthless before the alchemist relic and I think most of us still can't be bothered to sell them.

The fact that they're nearly worthless makes it even weirder to mention it at all. Oh well.

[SephiraLyn]

i find it very hard to believe someone would get banned for that when there are so many bots still running around freely after being reported for much longer and more often, and more people running around after being reported for much worse things.

[JellaW]

Assuming that the information provided is true, would really show that this GM doesn't understand how this game works. From S rank spawns to any gathering achievements, a lot of grinds in FFXIV are repetitive and can seem to an outsider as an automated process, when it's usually a half-asleep player moving by muscle memory while looking at their second screen. And even when it's actually a bot, reports are routinely ignored if there is no "selling gil" message. This suspension should be reversed, or many players will fear getting reported just for mindlessly grinding in public maps.

That said, it would be interesting to read the email sent to this person, if OP can provide it. Since it is strange to get a severe penalty from the go and skip the warning/3 day ban steps.

[Rifneno]

The fact that they're nearly worthless makes it even weirder to mention it at all. Oh well.

Fortunately, no one needs to justify anything to you. You find it hard to believe someone was keeping trophies? I find it hard to believe anyone who jumps in on a "unjustified ban" post, calls out the victim, and then says "this shouldn't be dealt with in a community forum" even though traditionally community forums are the ONLY way stuff like this gets addressed, is anything but a rabble rouser. But hey, you don't need to justify your comments to me anymore than anyone needs to justify someone taking trophies to you.

[TeaRenin]

The fact that they're nearly worthless makes it even weirder to mention it at all. Oh well.

Ehh personally i do feel it seems natural to try to make it clear there was no (direct) profit motive tied to the mobs, since that'd probably be a lot of people's first assumption about why someone would bot mob kills.
Just tossed my two cents there because I think if anything in OPs post is true, its probably that part.

The rest of it gets a big shrug from me. Seen people cheat for dumber reasons, really.
I do, however, think there's a point to be made about maybe reconsidering putting the mob kill requirements back to the ~200 from StB.
If they raise it to 400 some of us are still gonna solo that, may as well make it less tempting for someone to cheat at all :')