Curse

Gaile Gray · Jun 28, 2005, 12:51 AM // 00:51

Hey, guys,

We're not keeping things vague as in "not wanting to tell you stuff." But really, "closed exploit" is sufficient info for those who know about it to know "Ah, yes" and for those who didn't know about it to say "Well, I don't know what it was, but I'm glad it was taken care of."

Think of the challenge of trying to put all sorts of information in every line of the Update Notes (which are huge for this week!). "Closed exploit (location) which was done by (A, B, and C) and the closure solved (X, Y, and Z)."

I feel pretty sure we're giving the info that we should give without overloading on the minor details. If you have specific questions, you're welcome to ask them and I may be able to provide more details.

Seeker's Passage was a thoroughfare of bots running a limited run, with little risk, in order to plunder a few chests. It's closed now, or will take more effort to accomplish, which means that real players won't be penalized and bots will, hopefully, find themselves out of business.

hydrak · Jun 28, 2005, 12:58 AM // 00:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gaile Gray

Seeker's Passage was a thoroughfare of bots running a limited run, with little risk, in order to plunder a few chests. It's closed now, or will take more effort to accomplish, which means that real players won't be penalized and bots will, hopefully, find themselves out of business.

I have 2 questions:

1. Are the botters banned from this exploit? or are they just being stopped from the update?

2. Does arena.net ban accounts based on information provided by another player?

salja Wachi · Jun 28, 2005, 01:17 AM // 01:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by StandardAI

You're a rat off to ruin other peoples fun, you should be so proud of your self.

and you are an idiot for wanting exploits to go unchanged

Dazzler · Jun 28, 2005, 01:21 AM // 01:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gaile Gray

Hey, guys,
Seeker's Passage was a thoroughfare of bots running a limited run, with little risk, in order to plunder a few chests. It's closed now, or will take more effort to accomplish, which means that real players won't be penalized and bots will, hopefully, find themselves out of business.

My only concern is that this was accomplished by making that area VERY hard for regular players to pass through--you know people do walk through EA's for reasons other than to farm chests. Couldn't the chests have just been moved to the center of an area already loaded with monsters instead of raising the monster difficulty?

What I *wish* you could do was use your anti-farming code on chests like you do for mob drops: If you repeatedly zone in and out and open the same chest then the chest stops dropping goods until you go do something else for a while.

corax5 · Jun 28, 2005, 01:21 AM // 01:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by hydrak

2. Does arena.net ban accounts based on information provided by another player?

I smell fear...im sure Anet dont just ban people because of another persons suspicions, they will look into those suspicions, but it doesnt necesarily mean a ban. Well i dont work for Anet so i could be completly wrong, but thats probably right.

And as to your first question, i think botters do get banned, even if they cant use the exploit or theyr bots become obsolete, the fact is, they did something they wern't supposed to. IF someone robs a bank, then later the bank gets a new impenetrable security system, the thief will still get punished for robing it, even though he cant anymore.

I think.....

Vwoss · Jun 28, 2005, 01:22 AM // 01:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by salja Wachi

and you are an idiot for wanting exploits to go unchanged

Well there are other places still...

salja Wachi · Jun 28, 2005, 01:29 AM // 01:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vwoss

Well there are other places still...

when they are found they will be dealth with in the same manner

Vwoss · Jun 28, 2005, 01:45 AM // 01:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by salja Wachi

when they are found they will be dealth with in the same manner

They really only should be nerfed if they are being used as an unfair exploit, as done by botters.

salja Wachi · Jun 28, 2005, 01:52 AM // 01:52

what do you think a-net does?????? they watch a certain area when it comes to their attention. bot are pretty easy to find, if you are looking for them. then they take out the exploit and ban the botters pretty simple

exploding flowers · Jun 28, 2005, 02:07 AM // 02:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tactical-Dillusions

I emailed ArenaNet of a massive chest farming location and several names were forwarded to them.
I noticed one guy several times at town X coming in and out.
I got curious so i looked closer and i saw what looked like a whole guild there....at least 11 members of the same guild...doing the same thing. Only two of them were AFK, the rest must be amassing a fortune.
I showed my girlfriend the activities (she often watches me play) and even she saw it with her own eyes. "Look, [mr X] is back again!"

I started a chart to show how many times each of them was coming and going. Every two minutes for one of them.
I even pointed out to my girlfriend that the next time "Y" would return, the character (or bot) would nudge to the left on the way out, stop, turn, cross to the right, turn again and head on out. Sure enough, like clockwork, the bot did do EXACTLY that!
They even made stops to the merchant and storage ffs!!

Two of them in particular were very hardy farmers. They didn't hide the fact that they were bots but the others were more obscure but still followed a pattern, just resting after each stop for a couple of minutes.

In the end i had to stop making the chart because i felt angry. Only the thought of foiling their plans made the sicky feeling go away.

There were two other guys doing it who weren't in the guild but i could only remember the name of one of them to forward.
Identity? No, i can't say unfortunately but i know they are now being watched! It's always nice to get an immediate and personal thankyou from the powers that be.

Ban those disgusting botters...please make nerfing either temporary or non-existent. Us honest folk have been cheated enough.

I call upon the community to band together to keep ArenaNet working on expansions and goodies...not to be tied down with monitoring and nerfing.

Keep up the good work A'Net, you can be sure of the support of the community as always.

you really should be careful who you call a bot.

i chest farm when i'm really broke. i repeat the same actions over and over for about 30 minutes at a time, rest, then repeat. and whoever's there for that 30 minutes watching me might think i AM a bot. i rezone again and again then go to merchant, then storage then run out. it's decent money, but not enough for me to gain 100Ks or actually max out my storage like other "seemingly legit" farmers out there (example: the players that sells bows that drop in UW for 100K or whatever).

instead of being a snitch to anet about these "bots", why dont you PM them next time to see if they are. if they reply, good, if they dont? maybe they just dont want to deal with you.

anet can handle monitoring their game, and i'm sure they dont need more false claims on who and who's not breaking the rules.

Studio Ghibli · Jun 28, 2005, 02:08 AM // 02:08

Unless you're doing it like clockwork.

Mormegil · Jun 28, 2005, 02:13 AM // 02:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by StandardAI

You're a rat off to ruin other peoples fun, you should be so proud of your self.

And you sir, are as clever as a bag of rocks.

exploding flowers · Jun 28, 2005, 02:19 AM // 02:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Studio Ghibli

Unless you're doing it like clockwork.

then i'll let anet monitor me and let them decide if i'm a bot.

Levian Lain · Jun 28, 2005, 02:25 AM // 02:25

I posted this in the bot thread, but I took a movie of bots constantly running out of the reach:

Bots on the run
15mb, xvid codec

Stev0 · Jun 28, 2005, 03:18 AM // 03:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tactical-Dillusions

It's always nice to get an immediate and personal thankyou from the powers that be.

I'm not powers that be but I say thank you.

Stev0 · Jun 28, 2005, 03:23 AM // 03:23

I'd like to add that because of those individuals who used bots to exploit these chests. Honest people will lose out. The items that these bots pick up flood the so called economy and I SERIOUSLY doubt that gold prices for these goods are lowered because of it.

So Anet should think about righting the wrong these people are doing instead of wronging the 'right' people who are playing the game.

Dax · Jun 28, 2005, 03:44 AM // 03:44

Chalk one up for the good guys. It's amazing when people realize what's good for the game as whole instead of what's in it for them.

FrauValis · Jun 28, 2005, 04:24 AM // 04:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stev0

I'd like to add that because of those individuals who used bots to exploit these chests. Honest people will lose out. The items that these bots pick up flood the so called economy and I SERIOUSLY doubt that gold prices for these goods are lowered because of it.

So Anet should think about righting the wrong these people are doing instead of wronging the 'right' people who are playing the game.

I agree totally. There should be some kind of reward for being a good player...I’m just really really afraid that eventually this game may end up with no money, no items, no monsters and no experience points.

I don’t bot, exploit or even farm I get my money fair and square by completing missions...but now it's getting harder and harder to do.

Which is sad because this is one of the best online games I have played (especially fun when a group of random strangers teams up and wins a mission ....good times) and will continue to play.

I know Anet is doing the right thing they don’t want people breaking the rules and making things unfair for everyone...but on the same hand you cant keep punishing the normal players for the greedy actions of these exploiters...there has to be some way to balance nerfing and mob boosting with rewards for honest play.

If anyone can figure it out Anet will.

*I hope that didn't sound to whiney and complainy...I do love this game it just makes me so mad when greedy people run the fun for us all*

theclam · Jun 28, 2005, 04:32 AM // 04:32

I think that this change has made the game better (albeit slightly). But I don't see how bots would ruin the economy. Traders keep prices low and the barrier to entry into the economy is extremely low (all you need is to have access to the Temple of Ages and a little free time), so no one is getting cut out.

Dreamsmith · Jun 28, 2005, 04:35 AM // 04:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by salja Wachi

and you are an idiot for wanting exploits to go unchanged

Actually, he's not an idiot. StandardAI was caught botting a while back and had one of his characters deleted (in part because he was actually griefing other players in the Arena with his activities). Every time ArenaNet cracks down on hackers, cheaters, and griefers, they take a bit more of the enjoyment out of the game for him and people like him.

Of course, he's said a number of times he hated the game and is going to stop playing. If only he wasn't completely full of hot air and would actually back up his words with actions... <sigh> We should be so lucky...