Sooooo.... I'm probably going to be banned soon.

That's right... I'm probably going to be banned soon. For the following reasons:

- Communicating with suspected RMT

- Logging in from suspicious IP addresses

- Not using a "Verified by Visa" credit card

The first two are considered bannable offenses by SE. Teia was banned for responding to /tells from RMT... you know, the ones that you get every other hour offering gil at the low, low price of $36... no... $30, no... $20/million? Even if it was telling them not to bug you, giving them a piece or your mind, it doesn't matter to SE... It's like cutting off the hand that feeds you just because you see that the fingernail is dirty.

Teia was a temp ban... She's back now, but I have only seen her login once since the ban was lifted. Personally, I don't blame her if she decides not to come back.

Wutangwarrior was permanently banned for logging on from what SE calls "suspicious IP addresses". Apparently a set of 4 numbers is now considered illegal by SE's standards. Better watch out and make sure that first number isn't 127! If it is, you are probably suspicious as well and should be banned! I guess SE is assuming that unless you are logging in from one location only, with a router that never reboots, you are not a real customer. I guess what they're saying is that their REAL customers are losers who never leave the house and would never dream of travelling to another location.

Finally... starting at the beginning of this month, SE started adding an extra requirement that the credit card that you use to pay for FFXI must be one that participates in some weird validation program. Now keep in mind that these validation programs do not offer extra protection to the customers, but instead serve to protect the companies. Hence, very few banks have bothered with these services. If your credit card does not work with these programs, you will not be able to use it.

Why am I probably going to be banned?

Let's see... just this evening, I was talking in /tells to a level 7 Galka MNK called Wutangforever. It's a trial account, and everyone knows that only RMT use trial accounts. So... anyone caught talking to them is most likely going to be banned.

Secondly, I'm planning on taking a trip in the near future. Since changing IP addresses is now considered a permanently bannable offense, if I login even once from a hotel network, that means I'll be banned. I was planning on logging in to help out with events, so that means this will be a 2nd strike against my account, meaning that I'll probably not only be banned, but SE will take this as proof and permanently ban me! I mean... their customers could not possibly have any desire to travel, right? Much less have jobs that require them to travel?

Finally, the credit card I've been using to pay for FFXI is expiring in October. I've checked with the programs, and found that it does not work with the validation programs that SE now requires. Hence, going forward, I will not be able to update the CC info with new expiration dates and will no longer be able to pay for FFXI.

How much gil will SE remove by banning Ascule?

To save SE some work for their monthly banning reports, I'll summarize how much gil SE will be removing from FFXI.

Ascule has almost entirely Rare/Ex armor. None of that is sellable, so all SE is doing is removing some junk items from the game. Ascy's primary sellables are:

- Azoth

- Adder Jambiya

- Peacock Charm

In total, approximately worth 5M gil. Let's round that up to 5M including the little gil I actually have.

That's awesome! 5M gil removed from the server. SE can proudly put that on their next report.

At the highest RMT advertised price of $36/mil, that's nearly US$180 that would have gone into my pocket that they prevented me from making!

But wait... $180... my investments fluctuate more than $180 during the day. I could lose, or earn $180 with a single eyeblink and not even notice. I'm actually insulted that they think that I would play this game for money... The amount of time in the game would work out to an hourly wage of $0.05/hour... Would you think that someone with this sort of investment would be involved in RMT activities?

Apparently I would, according to SE.

Conclusion

The Salvage bannings in the beginning of the year gave us one look at how SE thinks. Their current string of bannings gives us a look at what they think of their own customers and fans. Their GM and customer service attitude have given us a glimpse at how little they they think of their customers. Their latest mini-expansions have shown what they think they can pass off as content to their customers. Finally, the quality of their coding and testing show us how little they actually invest in their own product, what they try to get away with selling to their most loyal customers.

So... to put things into perspective... if SE were a car company and you bought their car...

- They'd sell a car where people discovered that you could use biodiesel to drive... and once they find out that their customers are using the cars in this way, they'd confiscate the car

- They'd sell a car in California, and if you drive to Nervada, they'd confiscate your car

- If you talk to anyone selling used cars, they confiscate your car

- If you try to talk to the company, they'll simply say "no comment"

- The manual for the car would consist of a piece of paper, two pencils and a circle. Any attempts to ask the company what it meant would get either no response or "this is all the information we will give you... oh, and if you try to turn the key to start the car, we'll transform all your wheels into cubes"

- They would not only charge you for the car, but things such as the steering wheel, brakes and seats are all optional

- Worse... they'd sell you the car, let you drive it during all summer... then when it comes to winter when you want windshield wipers... they'll sell those to you... individually

- They'd also announce that the windshield wiper sales are a great success. That it rained during the winter had nothing to do with it.

- They'd release a new feature called "Cruise Control" for free to all their current customers. However, it would be stuck at 100Mph with no way of turning it off. They would not be responsible for any speeding tickets that you get.

- They'd also agree to lend you money to buy the car... but after paying off the car in various monthly payments, you'd suddenly have to show them a picture of your pet cat. What? You don't have a cat? Well, too bad... they're taking the car back!

And don't get me started on how augmented weapons are nothing but SE's own "cash for clunkers" program where you take perfectly fine Haubys and throw them away!

So... let's see... SE is planning on releasing this new game called Final Fantasy XIV. I've already described in a previous post how SE is basically recycling everything from XI... not just the concepts, character designs, but even gameplay and developers. They've advertised this themselves. Furthermore, in the same interview, they admit that they are trying to get FFXI players to move over to XIV... for what reason, I have no idea...

It seem to be like... they want to kill FFXI and are doing their best to do so... in the process alienating their own customers... Not only that, they are pretty much guaranteeing that if you move over to XIV, you'll have the same experience you had before.

I don't know about you... but paying money for this sort of service and attitude... seems like willingly throwing money at the classroom bully.