AFK Leveling

[Mini_M]

This is to the Devs. AFK leveling is ruining the game, SP parties are so easy that a person can just latch on and not do a thing and gain SP. Whether the party is a grinding party or leve linking party people are getting SP while not at their computer screen. This is happening because party members do not have to pull their own weight in parties and this makes this kind of situation possible. This is pretty much botting with a safety net. Archers can rank from 1-50 without shooting a single arrow, gladiators can hit 50 wearing a weathered sword and shield in their underwear.

Yes AFK leveling is a effective method of gaining SP because every knows you only need 4-5 active members to effectively kill anything that is worth good SP. For example in a r40-45 leve linking party doing Ranine Reveries in which the SP is capped at 3-4 star rating only 5 of those 8 members have to be active for the party to complete the leve which leaves 3 spots open for AFK leechers and such but regardless of who did what everyone gains the same SP.

Edit: Since my post is confusing for lots of people I'm going to borrow panda's picture to better explain myself.

http://i461.photobucket.com/albums/q...1298656210.jpg

Yeah who cares if you afk because you need to use the potty or having a cig break. But if you're ranking entire jobs from 1 to 50 without ever having to engage in combat then yes its a problem. Why is it a problem? Because you don't have to be at your screen to gain SP. Botting requires you to not be at your screen while gaining SP. Do you seem the similarities?

Yes there are people out there doing this, and a solution to this would be a new method of SP distribution to party members.

Edit 2: This isn't about one or two people AFKing for a few minutes at a time. What I'm pointing at is organized AFK leeching. Whole parties dedicated to AFK leeching, Linkshells that organize these AFK parties. Report them all you want, b-list them, avoid them, but I'm only trying to inform the community of what they're doing so we can shun them and not get involved.

[Akumu]

There will always be AFK leechers regardless of SP distribution(unless they go back to XIV original way *cringe*).

Solutions:
1)Kick anyone that AFK in the party too long.
2)Only party with your Ls members

edit: Who would even allow someone to go from r1-50 with r1 gear? It's not the AFK Levelers fault if you become their sucker with such obvious methods.

[Molly_Millions]

MIKU LS is well known for this on Fabul, they'll have two party members actually fighting and two in tow who just provide links for sp. It's sad really.

[insaneshadow]

AFK leveling? How does that work? I'm not gonna try it nor am I doubting you since I'm pretty sure it happens a lot but, I just can't get my mind around it. Do their characters move with the group while they're away or do they occasionally come back to move their character to follow the group? I seriously learn something new everyday lol.

[Cairdeas]

They could implement the following rules to gain SP. You have to earn atleast 2 points from the bottom to get SP.

1 Point: Perform enough damage to remove at the minimum 6.33% of the monsters total HP.
1 Point: Perform a Buff or Defensive Buff that affects the fight. (Casting Stone skin that gets worn out by damage Taken. Using a skill that modifies another skill)
1 Point: Use enough ability's and spells that you heal 25% of your total HP as damage (Must heal actual damage taken.)
2 Points: Use a reflex skill that requires outside input to perform (Feint, etc.)

[Sojiro]

There will always be AFK leechers regardless of SP distribution(unless they go back to XIV original way *cringe*).

Solutions:
1)Kick anyone that AFK in the part too long.
2)Only party with your Ls members

Agreed, if i'm part of any party (outside of LS') and someone is going afk a lot and leeching then its a boot. If someone is ok with one of their group going AFK while they SP...well more power to them, I would be ok with a friend or LS mate going AFK a bit during some groups (not all the time). I don't want to see the horrendously random SP gains we had at the beginning of this game to try and combat it. I don't really see this as some huge problem, and i'm sure all MMO's have this to a certain degree.

[Akumu]

MIKU LS is well known for this on Fabul, they'll have two party members actually fighting and two in tow who just provide links for sp. It's sad really.

Is the two in the Ls? or is it just two picked-up?
If all four are in the Ls I still see no problem. However if two are random people and have a problem with it then stop joining them. The good thing about FF online community is everyone has a rep.

[Mini_M]

Random SP again would be out of the question since people would only cry and whine about it again.
Still this is happening within linkshells and the linkshell leaders are supporting and doing this themselves.
Then what? Confront the leaders about this? Obviously this would lead to drama and people leaving with our current player base we don't have the luxury to pick and choose linkshells. Only way I can think of is having others read it so we can condemn these one or two players and have them removed from our already capsizing community.

[Akumu]

Random SP again would be out of the question since people would only cry and whine about it again.
Still this is happening within linkshells and the linkshell leaders are supporting and doing this themselves.
Then what? Confront the leaders about this? Obviously this would lead to drama and people leaving with our current player base we don't have the luxury to pick and choose linkshells. Only way I can think of is having others read it so we can condemn these one or two players and have them removed from our already capsizing community.

I understand your frustration because if i'm working my butt off why should someone be surfing the web(or whatever) and getting all the reward for no effort. However regardless of the population size jerks will be jerks and idiots will be idiots. If you are in such a Ls you should really consider looking for another while you are still currently in the first one. If you disagree with the leader's ways(and the Ls is run like a monarchy) then it is time to move on.

[Eldaena]

lol they could take out auto follow to prevent this. =p