Friend suspended for too many S rank attempts

[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.

[VGramarye]

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.

I think that's just the minimum punishment for botting

Anyway, I also know the spawner in question. He definitely doesn't bot. What he does do is attempt kill count spawns dozens of time per week (most involving 300 mob kills) because he enjoys it, and I'm sure that puts him in the top small fraction of a percent of accounts in terms of mobs killed. S rank spawning is a niche activity, and I doubt all GMs are familiar with the requirements to spawn each of them. Absent that context, I'm sure the behavior looks suspicious, but he really is just playing the game in a way he finds fun that actually helps out a lot of other people by spawning a ton of high effort S ranks.

[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 :')

[Orea]

I also know the person in question, and have passed by them plenty of times during their spawning attempts and they're movements certainly don't seem like bot behavior. I'll often fly by /pet them and always get pretty quick replies, and can also vouch that they're always responsive and helpful in CWLS even during their spawn attempts. They're just a generally helpful and nice dude who loves his Sphatika attempts (and if all the Sphatika are down, then maybe a Nunyunuwi, Udumbara, Okina, or Ixtab to tide him over).

And to echo the other's concerns here, it's not super reassuring to know that going for the kill chain S ranks could lose you your account with apparently no real recourse. :(

[Athenaeum]

Everyone makes mistakes, and in fact, I do believe that most GM actions tend to be warranted, because SE wouldn't pay for something with a low success rate, and players wouldn't play that. Part of the reason Primal is mad is because this person spends most of their time in Thavnair spawning this as their comfort activity, on a PS4, as they showed with their login records. They actively chat during attempts, and interact with the people on the field as they run around. I do think it's a natural habit to be skeptical when you don't know the person. Like the GMs.

I'm bringing attention to this because I want GM, or other SE employee, attention on this. I don't think they get many reports involving SPAWNING S ranks, just perhaps early pulling and resets/despawns. Since players had to figure out spawn conditions every expac, I doubt GMs are well-versed on them. GMs usually don't point to specific instances, to prevent retaliation and circumventing anti-bot measures. But nearly everyone that knows the person agree they're just being humanly weird. This is also a worrying trend because how do other spawners know when SE considers them a bot for doing content SE created? It really seems like the GMs just looked at say total kills over a week/month/year, and then ignored or didn't have access to:
- chat logs
- movement/actions
- motive
- effect
- why anyone would develop and run a bot for a PS4
- there's content specifically requiring this.

Thus I also feel safe complaining about it with their consent, because it's not a case of someone crying their bot was caught and then getting publicly roasted with proof. People that bot tend to do so for monetary gain, achievements, or glory in some other form. So, when I thought about making this post, I thought about comparing it to what I consider bot behavior, which would be when they either mass kill mobs on the field (to level up), or farm instances. There's also the gather/crafter botting. So when it's not achievement or glory related, I assume it's related to drops.

[callmenat]

If they're a PS4 player how in the world can they be botting?? SqEx really messed up here with not even looking at the appeal fully. Can activity like this be flagged on the server or would this have to be some sort of situation where they got hit via manual report?

[MitsukiKimura]

Sounds like someone did a personal report against them and the GM's did a bad evaluation. Their ToS is so against the player they can just ban you outright without reason. Not all Gm's are bad but you'll get that one where nothing you say can help you and that's the end of it.

[Zeeningg]

exactly some of them are just fucking shmucks, i lent a good friend i knew for ~8yrs 5million gil.... a pitiful amount i didnt really care about to bid on a house, he wins it, shares estate with me, 3 weeks ago by i've dumped another ~15mil into decorating our shared house that i was super happy about(this is someone i spoke like HOURLY to on discord for YEARS) then one day logs on removes me from shared estate, leaves linkshell, blacklists me ingame so i goto msg on discord that hes been hacked.... blocked, so im like huh???? i wait a few weeks and start getting whispers from his new FC mates to "leave him alone" which was bizarre as no interaction, finally i got fed up and wrote "kili invidia is a scumbag scammer" in my player search comment, LITERALLY 3 MINUTES LATER(they HAD to have been player searching me, no?) get a whisper from his new FC leader asking me to remove that comment and stop harassing him or i'd "face repercussions" i was like sure ill remove it just let me know why he did this?? it's so random we'd been friends for 8 yrs..... 10mins later i get pulled out of a fucking roulette into a jail cell with a 3 IQ GM that ABSOLUTELY DID NOT CARE WHATSOEVER about what he did or that he robbed me and harassed me for 2-3 weeks, 3 day fucking suspension for "harassment" i was like WTF!!?!?!!?! i didn't play for like 6 month after that because i was so butthurt.

3 days cause it was my 2nd report, 1st was a warning for askking a dancer "what the fuck is wrong with you" because they kept clicking the sword in susano, not doing the ATE and then saying "LUL DANCER TANK!!" in party chat... 4 TIMES IN A ROW!!!! obviously its a wipe when that happens... GM said i should have just left.... yeah NO you idiot

[Infindox]

Banning someone for this seems extremely bizzare when the S ranks are literally set up that way. There's other problems in the hunt community that need more attention.

[Jojoya]

First, coming here isn't going to change anything. He has to go through the appeal process as explained in the email he would have received. Any attempts to appeal in other ways won't work.

While I have no doubt you are all honest and accurate about his hunt activity, I suspect your friend may not be sharing all the relevant information honestly with. There are some suspicious things about what you're saying he's told you.

- Just because someone says they play on PS4/5 does not mean they don't also play on PC as well. I have several friends that play using both, usually depending on whether they're at home (PS) or traveling (laptop PC). Or it could be they're lying about playing on PS4 altogether, though if what my PS friends have told me is correct that could easily be confirmed if you're also using PS and are friends on PSN.

- A check on google shows that a very simplified form of botting is possible on PS4/5 using a programmable mouse in place of a controller (didn't see any results related to programmable keyboards, all the results were mouse specific). While I'm sure your friend's hunt related activities are on the up and up, what is he doing in his downtime? Even KC spawners have some downtime on occasion.

- GMs aren't going to care about how much amra is dropping or what your friend does with it. That your friend would even bring it up is a sign that they're trying to spin a tale to cover for the real reason.

- If GMs were banning players simply for working on KC spawns, we'd see a lot more spawners getting banned on a regular basis.

There's always the chance that what your friend is telling you is 100% complete and accurate, and that the GM was poorly trained for doing botting reviews but as I said at the start of my reply coming here does nothing to help. It has to go through the required appeals process. You're not going to get your friend reinstated by making a forum post.