I think AGS needs to come to terms with the idea that the bot problem is much more harmful than they have previously given it credit for. Things like, “converting RMT buyers into legitimate players,” or the concerns of the business side of the company need to take a back seat to fixing the problem. These solutions will be unpopular but I think they are worth while and I’ll explain why. Bots are choking off our ability to play the game while wreaking havoc on the economy. West Coast players are completely locked out of the game while East Coast players who are able to log in are finding game systems breaking down under the bot load such as the dungeon finder messages being delayed until timeouts have passed and random quest items not spawning (Cliff’s Surfing daily surfboards simply don’t spawn/load for me.)
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Two factor authentication. I believe Steam already has this somewhat or completely implemented. Requiring some sort of Steam Guard, CAPTCHA and/or two factor authentication to log into the game will be a minor inconvenience to players but it’s something we all live with in multiple other games and life activities. I don’t think any player staring at a 10,000 person queue will balk at the idea of getting a code off their phone to play.
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Publicly announce new harsher penalties for RMT buyers. I am not talking about outing their user names. I’m talking about a website post and a section in a patch note that clearly outlines the penalties. They should have their items downgraded, gems, materials, and engraving levels removed, they should have their gold go negative, and repeat offenders should be permanently banned. Put up a public post with numbers of punished players. Be very vocal and upfront with how many people are getting hit on a weekly basis. Create a strike system with escalating consequences. The first strike should be severe but recoverable, future strikes will become nearly insurmountable burdens, the final strike will be a permanent ban. Some will say that this lets off past RMTers too easy. That honestly can take a back seat to just fixing the problem going forward. If you fix the bots, nobody will care in a week or so. Of course many are likely to claim they were falsely accused and some small percentage of those will be correct. They can appeal and, if they are found to be innocent, they can have the penalty removed. This will probably require hiring some more people to handle all this banning and punishing.
Those are the two big options that come to mind. There may be others that other people can come up with. The priority right now needs to be getting rid of them so the game can start recovering and growing again. Otherwise people are just going to give up on your game.