More Final Fantasy XI Bannings, Besieged Changes

Square Enix wipes 5000 accounts from its MMORPG

February 21, 2007

Square Enix announced today that approximately 4000 accounts have been terminated from its online RPG, Final Fantasy XI, while another 1000 have been suspended. This comes as the next wave in increasingly frequent bannings of users involved in real-money trade (RMT) — that is, the trading of real-world currency for Gil, the virtual currency of FFXI.

Of the bannings, the majority were for using hacks that alter the mechanics of the game — specifically increasing character movement (750 cases), modifying ability timers (1900 cases) and bots to repeatedly perform actions (650 cases). The remaining cases were individuals known to be involved in RMT, many of whom had previously been banned, but signed up for the game again.

This latest attack against RMT has removed about 50 billion gil from circulation.

Besieged Changes

Square Enix also announced changes to Final Fantasy XI's Besieged battle system. The beastmen armies will again be augmented, with a new level cap of 170, creating a Level 7 Besieged. New monster types for each beastmen group will also be added.

To give players a fighting chance, new offensive items will be added to the collection of temporary items that players obtain when entering a Besieged fight. In addition, the NPC generals will obtain special abilities to use in battle.