Could SE finally be waking up, or is there something else at play here?

Been noticing a couple of heartening developments that the GMs appear to be doing:

The first is that it appears that a single GM has been scouting Empyreal Paradoxes (or, more, the lobbies for the Shinryu Abyssea boss fights) for bot-skillers -- those people outside every...  damned....  possible...  area who repeatedly use spells or the like to bot themselves silly, or so it often seems.

Well, somebody's been looking for them in some of the more out-of-the-way places.

Also, a report from FFXIAH stating that a PLD was caught flee-hacking to sac in Delve.  (Geez, you fuckers too cheap for Mazurka???)

Reactions have been predictable, but there is one ominous overtone I do need to make note of:

It is not much of a secret that it really does appear, Adoulin notwithstanding, that the absolute future of the MMO division of Square-Enix is whether they can get Final Fantasy XIV off the ground again.

It should also be no secret that the real word about that Square-Enix was going to start de-emphasizing Final Fantasy XI into what was then called "Rapture" (think of how that term is used!) came about just after the largely-North American Salvage bans of January 22, 2009.

It is widely believed that Square-Enix is deliberately attempting to kill Final Fantasy XI.

Frankly put, the easiest way to do it is also the one thing that Square-Enix needs to do if they are going to have an MMO division at all -- enforce their damned rules.

Conservative estimates are putting it at 80% of the North American playerbase which would have to be removed if the rules were enforced.

Keep all this in mind as the Mog Resort and three new areas are opened this week.