This topic contains 13 replies, has 11 voices, and was last updated by 
ToxicFarmLand 2 months, 3 weeks ago.
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I’ll preface this by clearly stating that Miqo wasn’t the reason for my ban(s), I’ve used it fine within reason (usually max about 2x 5-hour periods on most days, so no crazy 24h schedules) but I finally got a somewhat generic email saying my account was terminated for violation of rule 2.2 (which includes rmt, power-leveling services, etc) which oddly enough, I hadn’t even rmt on that account. However I’ve paid out a few hundred million Gil to some people (one for leveling an account for me, another because a friend just literally wanted to show off having over a billion gil). However that crafter account was rmt-adjacent, so when they say it was banned as the result of a full investigation, they’re probably right. I’m fine having lost that well-leveled account, but oddly enough my one other account that definitely broke rule 2.2 didn’t even get an email saying it was suspended or terminated.
So I’m concerned about bans of association. There’s a lot of ways to connect different accounts logged into the game. If (when) my appeal fails, I don’t want to buy a new game account just to get it insta-banned. Have any of you gotten a permanent ban and successfully made a new account?
Also, the timing of the ban was incredibly unusual. They sent out that one email, and made it so I couldn’t log back in, but they didn’t kick me off the server when doing so which is either incompetent or genius. Because of knowing about the termination before it actually hit me, I got to dump all my gil and piles of mats into an FC chest and set up a line of successors to inherit it after the 30 days of inactivity. I’m concerned that this wasn’t incompetence, but a masterful trap by the staff. I asked some of my more professional contacts from a gil reselling company and they said EU (like my one account that actually did get banned) actually bans much easier than the rest, but an email in advance is still very abnormal. Oddly enough, the suspension email wasn’t TLS encrypted like all other emails from SQEX and I’d have thought it was a scam if not for the actual termination.
I’m able to get another ShB account for free from a friend who quit the game days after trying it out, which may help raise less flags from if I made two new accounts in replacement of the two I lost. My couple other accounts (which are much older) don’t seem to be actions against and it’s been 2-3 days since the others got terminated.
What kind of identifiers does XIV use? IP address bans are useless for a number of reasons. MAC addresses are easily changeable. But what about factors like CPUID? Could games record that sort of low-level information? All I can think before attempting to log in any new account is to 1. Backup my few files/scenarios 2. Nuke the SSD entirely (not sure if just reinstalling XIV would be sufficient vs reinstalling the OS and 3. Change MAC just in case before a fresh install. Am I missing anything obvious? Or am I over thinking this and some of you have been able to just make new accounts that then didn’t get banned?
I’m pretty confused, Miqo has been down for over a month so whatever you’ve been doing must have been something else. I’ve used Miqo since mid-ShB with little issues and usually not gathering for more than a few hours a day and I’ve only ever sold through retainers. If you’re selling/buying gil and doing shady transactions directly with other people you’re exponentially more likely to be flagged than if you’re just automating a bit of gathering/crafting.
It was a 3 year old post.
But I can chime in. I was banned for a non-miqobot related issue that was bot-related. Naturally, you don’t sh*t where you eat, so I didn’t use my main. It wouldn’t be hard to connect the two accounts though. Not sure what information they can get – but it is a different CC, but ultimately it links to the same address. I use my wife’s name on one FFXIV account and mine on the other. However, there is a clear “trail” to my account by way of mail or trades. Sometimes I tried to make it look “legit” as if it was an exchange of services, but when 99% of what the botted character did benefits my account, it wouldn’t be hard.
I was not banned on my main. However, I’m wary. Miqobot not working might be a good thing for me – from a self-centered stand point.
However, I will say – take the advice of others. Don’t be stupid about how you use it.
Somewhat of an aside, since this isn’t covering identifiers FFXIV uses, but a tip to be safe is to adjust any grids you pull out of the forums. There were times during EW where I was crystal farming with Miqo and occasionally someone else would be doing the same, using the same grid and all. This looked very sus when two people were following the same path, with micro stutters and all. Also for any legendary node gathering to add like 3,4 random anchor points to arrive at when waiting around a node to appear, since this also starts looking pretty suspicious when other people are doing the full gathering rotation along with you, and you ‘coincidentally’ always wait at the same spot.
Yep always modifying a little the grid here.
Anyways, it have been told to uses Miqo while at best being near it, so you can answer if someone talk to you or if you get teleported.I can almost always tell when I see another bot user, and sometime I just see bots that will do the same exact grid for like 6 hours in a row. Those are the high risk of getting reported.
I’ve been reported too in the past, since HW I had 3 times whisper and once a teleport in prison on my main from GM, but everytime I was there and was like “wassup?”. I mean, they know I’m using it but they didn’t catch me using it being afk. Maybe that makes a difference. They were telling me they had report from player and then were watching me, but I guess that since I was there to answer they had no solid proof. They probably had no way to prove it or justify a ban.
Ofc when that happens I do slow down a bit for a while, skip a month or two of botting. It all depends what are your goal also I guess. On my side, I uses it on very boring stuff, like when I did the diadem to get the pterodactyl, or to farm scrips so I can get pentameld, etc. Stuff that I watch a movie on the other screen and let miquo do the boring repetitive stuff
There are a few things people should always do…
1) Be near the computer when running Miqobot.
2) Setup chapters to run different zones for a given period with randomized breaks between and while running.
3) Adjust all grids to offset the patter in place, adding new points and intersections for additional pathways. Since the bot actively takes the path of least resistance, having tons of paths from as many nodes to other nodes, increases the randomness.Look no bot is 100% safe, but this one is extremely close. It has a natural offset when following pathways. Like others, I can point out bots when I’m on. Just use these tips and it will help massively.
I’ve been using the bot since well before EW and have never recieved anything like a ban or warning.
I also leave it running by itself for a few hours, during Make it Rain, Trust dungeons at night for gear for GC turn in and crystal grinding was able to feel up myself from Shard to Cluster and 4 other retainers before it went down.
However 1 thing I have noticed alot people say they get reported or banned for is diademMaybe I’m lucky or maybe I’m smart on where I farm, however I will say 1 thing to do that Lyfox has said more than once make sure to put yourself on /busy
If you are scared of bans, just never leave Miqo fully unattended as most who are suspicious try things such as trying to talk to you or trade/grouping you to see if you are really there.
if you respond to them they have no reason to doubt have nothing to give CMs for proof.Considering also the ability of tools that that are very much commonplace within screenshot and raiding communities Miqo is very mild.
Keep your goals modest and you will blend in just fine.
I am curious if those players who report AFK botters also report those idle AFKers in Limsa, because IMHO they’re even worse.
No, being AFK is not against the rules. What a weird thing to say.
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This reply was modified 2 months, 3 weeks ago by
Kouhei.
I am curious if those players who report AFK botters also report those idle AFKers in Limsa, because IMHO they’re even worse.
Strange stance, but like someone else said: standing around isn’t against any rule.
People report others for many reasons but only a handful really get action taken if the report was valid: consider some players will report others for sitting in a bench they like, this would go nowhere and continuing to do this leads to it backfiring on the reporter for wasting the answerer’s time. it is somewhat rare for a report to result in immediate punishment as thats mostly reserved for aggressive or harmful messages.
So if someone is trigger happy with the report button its more likely their reports get ignored. -
This reply was modified 2 months, 3 weeks ago by
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