SE forms RMT taskforce

Sakino · Post by **Sakino** » Thu Nov 09, 2006 2:25 pm

Special Task Force (11/06/2006)

We are pleased to announce the official formation of a special task force as of October 2006 that will operate within the greater management team.

Formation of the Special Task Force
The management and development teams have been continuously working to combat the proliferation of RMT and the use of third-party tools within FINAL FANTASY XI. However, it was decided that the formation of a special task force was necessary to specifically address the various occurrences of misconduct that adversely affect game balance.

Focus of the Special Task Force
This special task force aims to reduce or eliminate altogether any elements that adversely influence the world of FINAL FANTASY XI, and to encourage a fun and fair playing environment. The main targets of the task force are as follows:

- RMT (Real Money Trading)
- Third-party Tools

With regards to RMT, we have begun investigation of around 100 web sites in Japan and 50 in North America, and are planning to focus our efforts on the largest and most active sites (30 or so sites in Japan, and 10-15 sites in North America).

We also plan to continue combating the use of third party tools by introducing measures against a wider range of tools (not just those that increase movement speed), and focusing on particularly notorious individuals and organizations.

Specific Duties
The special task force will continue measures currently being taken against tools that increase movement speed, and also expand investigations to include other types of third-party tools. We plan to focus specifically on those tools that allow automated farming, obstruct gameplay for other players, or are related to RMT activities.

We will address the RMT issue mainly through eliminating the presence of gil sellers, but also by warning or penalizing specific players who buy gil regularly and/or in large amounts.

The task force intends to conduct investigations into gil sellers. These investigations seek to eliminate the channels for RMT transactions, as well as sources of gil, and curtail the activities of those who farm gil for the purposes of RMT.

Results of Current Measures
Pursuant to the announcements on the official FINAL FANTASY XI homepage, we have banned multiple accounts in four separate instances and continue to do so. In comparison to the rising and falling numbers of banned accounts, the number of account holders has seen a steady decline.

When canceling accounts, we have seen a trend towards account holders possessing multiple accounts. During the measures taken in July 2006 this trend was prevalent when banned accounts were held by over 2000 users. However, in October 2006 when 1,400 accounts were banned, the number of account holders had decreased to the 300 mark.

Accordingly, the number of accounts being banned per account holder is increasing, and we are progressing in our efforts to remove organized groups of account holders from the game.

As was previously stated, we have adopted a new method of investigation that reaches beyond the in-game limitations, and targets the actual RMT sites.

Within a month, these investigations into RMT sites have resulted in the termination of around 100 accounts, and the removal of several billion gil from the game. At the same time, we have confirmed that several of these sites have shut down or ceased RMT activities related to FINAL FANTASY XI.

To build on this success, we intend to continue refining our measures against third-party tools and RMT, and further expand our field of investigation. We are working on ways to track repeat offenders, and will continue to bring you announcements concerning all account terminations.

Your Understanding
The special task force will be making all possible progress towards the goals stated above.

However, even with the new methods we have adopted, there still remain some areas that are difficult to cover. Analyzing the game log is a massive undertaking that takes time to produce results and so we ask for your patience in this matter.

To avoid falsely accusing account holders, all investigations will be conducted with equal thoroughness and care. RMT investigations in particular often include organizations formed through multiple accounts, and time must be spent confirming each case.

While it may be initially difficult to see any progress, rest assured that we are building a fair playing environment one dungeon and one notorious monster at a time. While the special task force will be independently gathering information, we also hope to enlist the cooperation of the community in our investigations.

We hope that our players enjoy the game as it was intended and avoid involvement in activities that violate the user agreement.

http://www.playonline.com/pcd/topics/ff ... etail.html

Post by **Shirai** » Thu Nov 09, 2006 3:21 pm

They give numbers, they say to have banned accounts, but honestly looking at the bigger well known RMT... they are still around...

Sky is completely taken over, the same group of 50+ characters have botted and killed Behemoth every day since that last 2 months, King Behemoth excluded, they just claim and Call for help to sike the rest.
They recently killed Adamantoise and now Aspidochelone (The HQ Adamantoise that drops several very wanted abjurations.), they sell the Abjurations, Kirin's osode, Byakko's Haidate you name it...
The only (H)NM I haven't seen them at are Fafnir, the grand CoP Wyrms and sea gods but that is just a matter of time.
Our LS hasn't been able to claim a single Demigod or NM in a month, either they are killed before our regular farm times or we just enter within windows and are mysteriously outclaimed on every one of them.
Even when one spawn right in our face!!
If other legit endgame shells outclaim us... ok... too bad.. it happens, but these are botting RMT with 100+ GM reports against them and they still roam around.

And as far as I can read from several other endgamers here and several other boards, it's exactly the same on several other servers.
Next to that every RMT character that has been banned has been replaced by 3 to 10 new characters.
Forgive me if I don't put any faith in this team.

Wanta · Post by **Wanta** » Thu Nov 09, 2006 9:54 pm

This isn't a problem SE can solve. It's the players who created this problem and only they can stop it.

SE can delete storage accounts and ban a few buyers, then the price of gil will go up, but the actual gilfarmers are players like anyone else. You can't prove they're gilsellers if they're not promptly offering you rmt.
Only way to put them out of business is if no one feeds them anymore. Sadly, that's unlikely to happen.

People justify their buying gil by telling themselves that they can't earn anything because rmt monopolize everything. It's a vicious circle.

Okuza · Post by **Okuza** » Thu Nov 09, 2006 11:21 pm

Actually, SE created the RMT problem and is continuing to support it. The task force isn't solving the problem -- it's contributing to it (free advertising for RMT). The "RMT problem" is almost entirely due to the ease in which a small group can monopolize content in FFXI. Most of the rest is due to extreme advantages to those who bot. Both monopolizatoin and bot advantages are due entirely to the game system designed by SE. There are simple solutions to both.

Unfortunately, SE has no interest in solving the problem. They're instead engaged in a giant ego-war with RMT. IMHO, unless they solve at least the monopoly issue with a change in the game system to prevent it, most of the MMORPG people will leave for Vanguard when it comes out. Most of the FF people will probably stay, but FFXI is definitely in a downward spiral right now. ; ;

Read this on another forum and thought it was particularly apt. It was advice to previous FFXI player that was asking "should I come back to FFXI?"

Nadesico (BG forum) wrote:Not to be critical but at the moment I'd compare FFXI to a buffalo being taken down by a pack of wolves. They may not get it right away, but they keep tearing away at it's flesh, wounding and bleeding it until it just rolls over and dies.

Overall server populations have dropped, RMT running rampant, more poor content updates then good, not to mention the time sink. I think you'd be better off steering clear.

Post by **Ambrey** » Thu Nov 09, 2006 11:33 pm

Its sad because the real good players that really care about the game and their fellow players have already quit or are thinking of quitting. When I hear someone say; "Should I come back to FFXI?", the first response that comes to my mind is no, don't waste your time.

Don't get me wrong, I loved the game for a long time, I still miss many of my friends that I made while playing it. But its not worth going back to or in new players cases, start playing.

The best thing SE could do right now (imo) is pull the plug and scrap FFXI and start over on a completely new FF MMORPG and design it to be more effective in a better economy and ways to proof it against RMT's. FFXI was beautiful though, great graphics, loved the job system but there was so many much they could've done with it.

But that's just my opinion.

Okuza · Post by **Okuza** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 12:15 am

Honestly, I've never played another MMORPG that has artwork even close to as good as FFXI's. The job-system is also unique and makes FFXI far more replayable than any other game. Pre-75, I'd even say the jobs are very well balanced, too. There are a lot of other things wrong with FFXI, but those are some of the things they got right. End-game is one of their failures. FFXI has less end-game than WOW and that's really saying a lot.

It's not to suprising, though. SE has stated over and over that they do not want people playing at level 75. They haven't quite said what they do want people to do, but I'd assume they want people to return to low levels and play new jobs. So, when SE hears whining about level-75 frustrations and quit-threats, they think "Uh, so? Quit. We don't want you anyway."

Tianshii · Post by **Tianshii** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 12:43 am

This brings to mind [GM] Dave and his ban-stick (or was it a sword? no matter

)
Lemmie have this ban-stick and I'll hunt down the RMT myself

I do wonder how this "1337" SE Special Task Force can totally miss the nortious RMT. Isn't mob monopolizeation not allowed according to SE's terms of agreement?

It's not to suprising, though. SE has stated over and over that they do not want people playing at level 75. They haven't quite said what they do want people to do, but I'd assume they want people to return to low levels and play new jobs. So, when SE hears whining about level-75 frustrations and quit-threats, they think "Uh, so? Quit. We don't want you anyway."

interesting you bring that up... I recently got pretty sick of the whole end-game epeen drama fest & did go back to mess around with low level jobs. I'm having fun doing that.
I've also started 2 assault mission groups. I'm having fun with them.
Soon, I'll be helping people complete CoP missions. I really liked that story and I enjoy helping people enjoy CoP

Those things are fun for me and RMT can't ruin that, at least... for now...

I really hope against hope they tackle the RMT issue, but I have a feeling it's exactly like someone else brought up.
It will never stop until the demand for gil does.

Sakino · Post by **Sakino** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 1:52 am

So far on my server I've seen several gil seller accounts banned and the prices in the economy have dropped 25%-50% (according to AH parcer numbers).

Most servers have had a trend in decrease of prices only a few like fairy have seem some increases.

http://www.ffxiah.com/big_graph.php?serverid=&span=1

Keavy · Post by **Keavy** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 3:29 am

Blah blah blah bitch bitch bitch.

"Only YOU can prevent RMT"

Bitch bitch bitch yadda yadda yadda

...and the broken record plays on.

Sakino · Post by **Sakino** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 3:38 am

Keavy wrote:Blah blah blah bitch bitch bitch.

"Only YOU can prevent RMT"

Bitch bitch bitch yadda yadda yadda

...and the broken record plays on.

Meow!

Post by **Sugami** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 1:32 pm

If prices at IGE rise and AH prices drop then they're doing something right.

On Bahamut Scorpion Harness is 1.7-1.8mil, Hauby is 2.7-2.9mil, that's the cheapest I remember those items in the 2 years I've been playing.

Makes me glad I stopped playing with about 1mil in the bank, if I'm lucky I can buy a Hauby when I next start playing again

Stockyboy · Post by **Stockyboy** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 1:53 pm

Sugami wrote:If prices at IGE rise and AH prices drop then they're doing something right.

On Bahamut Scorpion Harness is 1.7-1.8mil, Hauby is 2.7-2.9mil, that's the cheapest I remember those items in the 2 years I've been playing.

Makes me glad I stopped playing with about 1mil in the bank, if I'm lucky I can buy a Hauby when I next start playing again

Fail, on Phoenix I've seen SH going for 900k, and hauby for 1.8mil.

SH+1 is like 5m >_>;

To people thinking of quitting or comming back, quit, don't come back, but don't go to WoW, it sucks D:

Post by **Tivia** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 1:59 pm

Too little too late. I hate to be the voice of cynicism but...

If SE seriously wanted to stop this they would have started this years ago and enacted a Ban on the spot policy. This is at most a token measure to appease the majority of the customer base and keep them paying.

100 accounts banned? Please. 5,000 accounts banned would be a little more attention worthy, and a little more realistic. But since that is $75,000 a Month in revenue that is never going to happen.

Keavy · Post by **Keavy** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 3:40 pm

My earlier comment was in reference to the fact that we all have been having this same argument for the last two years and I, for one, will be playing FFXI instead of bitching about it.

Sakino · Post by **Sakino** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 8:42 pm

Keavy wrote:My earlier comment was in reference to the fact that we all have been having this same argument for the last two years and I, for one, will be playing FFXI instead of bitching about it.

/nod

Agreed.

I still enjoy FFXI so I still play it. If I ever lose that enjoyment I will cancel my account.

Post by **Ambrey** » Fri Nov 10, 2006 11:10 pm

When I first started playing FFXI, the 1337 gear such as the Hauby's, SH, Snipers and Emp Hairpins and such were a max of 250k... ah those were the days.. I miss them.

Tianshii · Post by **Tianshii** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 12:36 am

I miss those days too, Ambrey.
I simply do without if I can not get an item I want that RMT are stalking.
If the group I roll with thinks I need that item & offer to help me get it, that's great. If not, then I presume I am doing fine w/out that piece of gear and keep on keeping on.

Sakino · Post by **Sakino** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 2:51 am

Ambrey wrote:When I first started playing FFXI, the 1337 gear such as the Hauby's, SH, Snipers and Emp Hairpins and such were a max of 250k... ah those were the days.. I miss them.

Eh, maybe someday the servers will reach again those numbers (if current trends continue). However there is always that hardcore player who played since day 1 of FFXI and has billions of credits on reserve. Those players can set the price range for rare items like kraken clubs... But I could see synthed items like SHs and Hamburgens (Yes, it's my pet name for them) come down in price.

Pheonixhawk · Post by **Pheonixhawk** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 10:55 pm

So what if RMT is camping everywhere, they wanna take all the NM's fine. The best items are millions and millions of gil? meh no worries. Ill use the awesome and not too expensive junk. RMT are human. You can camp and clain NM's just as good as they can. It's sad though how people would try to make cash from someone elses work...

Stockyboy · Post by **Stockyboy** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 11:04 pm

Pheonixhawk wrote:So what if RMT is camping everywhere, they wanna take all the NM's fine. The best items are millions and millions of gil? meh no worries. Ill use the awesome and not too expensive junk. RMT are human. You can camp and clain NM's just as good as they can. It's sad though how people would try to make cash from someone elses work...

Cause they use hacks, so you aren't competing with a retard, but now a lazy retard who probably has a claimbot.

Kintrra · Post by **Kintrra** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 11:06 pm

{Um...} no PH, actually you /can't/ camp as well as an RMT, cuz you're only one person.

They've usually got a whole team that keeps those single characters online 24/7. Plus they'll bothack, warphack, claimhack, you name it, they'll do it. Ordinary players aren't capable of matching all that without risking their own accounts in the process.

Stockyboy · Post by **Stockyboy** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 11:07 pm

The only way I beat the castle O RMT was by having 7 friends with me, alliance ftw, think that was the day we got fuma and kote for my friend, never been back camping those NMs since.

Post by **Alya Mizar (Tsybil)** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 5:48 am

Kintrra wrote:{Um...} no PH, actually you /can't/ camp as well as an RMT.... bothack, warphack, claimhack, you name it, they'll do it. Ordinary players aren't capable of matching all that without risking their own accounts in the process.

Not so. I had a friend who was a NM hunter. He could make a good living off them. It was his delight to outclaim RMTs. Mithra RNG

IRL a 15 YO American Vietnamese.

But then again on Garuda our longest lasting RMTs did not use obvious hacks. I watched one group fishing for Angel Skins. They were pulling enough other monsters that I know they were not even using a fishbot. At least not the ones as sophisticated as the ones that Tivia has described.

Pheonixhawk · Post by **Pheonixhawk** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 7:30 am

I'll still give it a try. And yes, of course ill have more than one person with me. Even if it all it does is caus an annoyance to RMT, then its well worth it.

Post by **Shirai** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 11:25 am

Hmm...

The Huge RMT force in sky has mysteriously vanished!
They have been replaced by a new group, however smaller then the previous
and a lot more stupid.
Seen them wipe on an Aura Statue, an Aura Pot. Pretty funny to see.

Next to that they already have their first GM call against them for when we outclaimed Ullikummi on them and they tried to block our kiting path.

Stockyboy · Post by **Stockyboy** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 11:36 am

Shirai wrote:Hmm...

The Huge RMT force in sky has mysteriously vanished!
They have been replaced by a new group, however smaller then the previous
and a lot more stupid.
Seen them wipe on an Aura Statue, an Aura Pot. Pretty funny to see.

Next to that they already have their first GM call against them for when we outclaimed Ullikummi on them and they tried to block our kiting path.

This news makes me think differently. Although I'm not sure if SE will target the smaller RMT, like the ones always in castle O, atleast they're getting rid of some.

Okuza · Post by **Okuza** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 11:48 am

After days and days of watching RMT warphack across the zone and claim stuff over and over again, we finally managed to snag and slay Zippy today. He spawned right on top of us just as we were about to give up. Claimed and killed with nin,nin,blm,blm,cor,rdm.

It was just zippy, no big deal, but what made it fun was that RMT suddenly appeared in the zone at full alliance strength not 30s after we claimed and pulled. Their PLD was dancing around us looking folorn and lost with nothing to tank. I'm sure he was trying to steal it with CureIV+Invincable, but we all had blockaid on. Sky is just hell right now. SE very badly needs to do something about it.

The only results I've seen from the RMT pogrom is an economic depression that would make Herbet Hoover proud. Prices may be low, but it's impossible to make gil anymore. Not sure about the rest of y'all, but I made a ton of gil during the RMT inflation days. It's actually *worse* now. Not only can't make gil, but now can't do sky, too.

Fortunately I spend most of my FFXI time in Dynamis. RMT haven't killed that yet, though I'm expecting them to. If you think about it, a good dynamis run nets about 5m gil profit each run if you sell off all the currency. Assuming the RMT have enough characters to do Dynamis 1-2 times a day, that's FAR better than camping Ulili, which is only about 4M every 12H.

Post by **Shirai** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 12:50 pm

Okuza wrote: Fortunately I spend most of my FFXI time in Dynamis. RMT haven't killed that yet, though I'm expecting them to. If you think about it, a good dynamis run nets about 5m gil profit each run if you sell off all the currency. Assuming the RMT have enough characters to do Dynamis 1-2 times a day, that's FAR better than camping Ulili, which is only about 4M every 12H.

Yes and no,

Dynamis has a cooldown time of 3 days upon entering one, which means every 3 days an RMT force "can" make 5 mil.

Dynamis is hardly profitable for RMT unless they have enough characters to keep all Dynamis' occupied 24/7, which would make it inprofitable beacuse of the accounts you have to posess and pay for every month.
Also if we could enter Dynamis every time we wanted Dynamis would be occupied every day, everyone would have a relic weapon and currency value would drop to a point where it's just not profitable.

Post by **Sugami** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 1:18 pm

Dynamis currency is pretty hard to sell too.

Makes me glad I don't do that endgame crap

Okuza · Post by **Okuza** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 2:03 pm

Shirai wrote:Dynamis has a cooldown time of 3 days upon entering one, which means every 3 days an RMT force "can" make 5 mil.

That's why I said "enough characters." They'd also need enough people, too. It would be pretty hard to hydra dynamis, though I've heard that a few folks have taken to BLMga'ing their way through it. BLMga is easy to hydra.

For example, let's say there are 5 RL people. Each one has a set of accounts with 3 level 75 characters. One manages the BLMga force. One does pulling. One does tanks. One does heals. One does sleeps. There you go. Probably wouldn't net 5m right off. They'd need to get efficient and good at it first. I bet they could do a 2-3m profit right from the start, though.

Sugami wrote:Dynamis currency is pretty hard to sell too.

Not at all. Our shell sells off currency to cover glass fee then splits the rest with the people present. Usually all of itsells within a few minutes of completing the run. We have a couple shells that buy from us and they just pounce on the bazaars and snarf it all up. 'Course the pricing has to tbe right, too. You can't expect to get what you see not selling night after night in Rolanberry Fields, but it's pretty close to that.

LOL, I can't believe I'm posting the kernel of a "How to RMT Dynamis" guide.