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Ban Disclaimer

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Josh Freeman edited this page Nov 2, 2019 · 6 revisions

⚠️ Bans! ⚠️

If you use this library, you are using it at your own risk.

  • Can I be banned for using this library?

Potentially: YES.

  • What is the likely-hood of this happening?

Low/Depends.

So the above probably seems cryptic and it is for 1 simple reason: SE is Cryptic.

Firstly, it is important to understand a few facts:

  • The "Sight" API which the Companion APP uses is NOT PUBLIC. Square-Enix have not endorsed using this, nor have they provided any information on how to use it. In-fact, abuse of the API will immediately result in a Ban for the TOS violations noted at the bottom of these docs.

  • The "Sight" API does not talk directly with the game servers, instead what it does is put a request into a queue, and then a service on Square-Enix's end will process this queue and get the data from the game. This means each request will respond almost instantly and you'll either get a 202 (not yet) or a 200 (here is your data).

  • As of 4th June 2019: (I will update this date if I learn more) SE do not have any auto-detection built in to detect illegitimate users. I have used many accounts, including my personal accounts and the bans have been inconsistent.

    • As of 2nd November 2019: This is still the case. Previously thought codes (210010) that resulted in a ban have been discovered to just mean "Unauthorised", which can also just mean your companion app is out of date. Many users are using this library for their own uses, with their own accounts with no risk. So long as you keep to a low usage amount, you'll be fine.

What bans have occurred?

I have experienced many bans, however there have been no real-connection:

  • On-demand Market info: No ban for 4 months
  • Mass market parse with 30,000 errors: 3 accounts banned
  • 1 Account banned that only pinged 1 single server
  • Accounts fine for 5 weeks, then immediately banned after World-Visit (no change my end)
  • Accounts fine for another 6 weeks, but 1 got banned after 1 week.... (all accounts did the exact same parsing).
  • I get several hundred errors a day... No ban
  • I've gone from 2000 items a minute to getting banned, to 1000 items items no ban, to 500 items to getting banned, to 200 items a minute with ban... to 50 items a minute with a random ban. Zero useful stats from this.

At this time, my best guess is:

  • If you login and query a market every now and then, nothing will happen. This is no different than using the app and I've used my personal account many times to do this.
  • If you perform an automated query of several items every 15 mins or an hour, you'll likely be okay.
  • If you start firing off thousands of items a minute, you will get banned.
  • If SE servers are under stress (patch just came out), expect to pause your system or get banned..

Do I need a new account after a ban?

Yes. A ban for abusing the companion app is 100% irreversible. You will get 0 warning, infact you'll only know you're banned because you keep getting error codes and when you log into mog station it will say "Account Suspended". At this time you'll still be able to do stuff on mog station (like buy a sub....) but don't, within the next week (when a ban-wave is posted on Lodestone) your account will be fully deactivated and marked as fully suspended. This is when you'll receive your TOS Violation email.

To get back up, you must buy a new account, you only need ARR which is $10 on the official SE Store. Cheaper than a sub... The free-trial you get with the purchase has Companion Access.

  • There is a 8/day character creation limit (this is a full 24 hours from the time you created your very last character). Note: June 4th 2018 - I am expiring 4/day limits... Maybe due to ShadowBringers expansion.
  • Note: There is a maximum of 10 purchases for FFXIV on the official SE store. So you're best off going to Amazon or buying from G2A or something...

So, whats the email?

Dear Customer: 

This notice is to inform you that we have terminated the FINAL FANTASY XIV 
service account registered to this e-mail for one or more violations of 
the FINAL FANTASY XIV User Agreement that occurred on [DATE] Specifically, 
you have violated following Section(s) of the FINAL FANTASY XIV User Agreement. 

------------------
FINAL FANTASY XIV User Agreement 
2. LICENSE LIMITATIONS 
2.1 Cheating and Botting. You may not create or use any unauthorized cheats, 
bots, automation software, hacks, mods or any other unauthorized software 
or hardware designed to modify the Game and gameplay. 
In addition, you may not take advantage of game system bugs and 
exploits during gameplay. 
2.5 Data Mining. You may not intercept, mine or otherwise 
collect information from the Game using unauthorized third party software. 

SQUARE ENIX ACCOUNT TERMS OF USE 
5. Prohibited Uses 
v.Interfere with or disrupt the Website or Services or servers or 
networks connected to the Website or Services, or disobey any 
requirements, procedures, policies or regulations of networks connected 
to the Website or Services; 
xiv.Use any robot, spider, other automatic device, or manual 
process to monitor or copy the Website or Content without 
SQUARE ENIX's prior written permission;
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