Curse

1druid1 · Sep 21, 2010, 09:34 AM // 09:34

Hi All

With all the recent account bans regarding bot farming and the such, a lot of the usual money making means are becoming somewhat of a hazard.

Just like a bot a player farming the same area over and over again gets to a point when the farm becomes second nature and the moves become nearly identical each time, because of this unless you vary the play style each time you farm, accounts are being banned for botting, even if they are not.

I am a casual player only and to be honest the only farms I have done is either feathers or Vaettirs and only for maybe an hour or 2 at a time.

I had stopped playing for a while there and just really started up again and created a couple of new characters to play with, I am now at the point where I want to kit them out but dont have the funds.

Playing through the campaigns and selling the loot ect doesnt really net much of a profit, also being a solo player, dungeons and the like arnt the easiest options.

So I guess my question is, is farming still the most viable means of making money even with the appharent botting bans or is there better ways to make money nowadays to afford the good stuff like armour and weapons.

Cheers

Druid

AexIndex · Sep 21, 2010, 09:40 AM // 09:40

Zkeys are the best way to make money...

Simple take a PvP character do some AT's, MaT's or farm the GvG/HA quest.

You can use the coins/rp's to make your character look better and you make tons of money by selling the zkeys.

Missing HB · Sep 21, 2010, 09:52 AM // 09:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by AexIndex

Simple take a PvP character do some AT's, MaT's .

Nice joke. Anyway , idea was good yes , you can usually go HA and form a sfway team with blahks and tutella ( due to the fact that many players are playing during that quest , i guess you should be able to complete that quest between 10 and 30mn ( if you're unlucky on opponents..)).

You can also do RA quest ( if you are ok at monk , it shouldn't be a problem to make 3 wins fast i guess..). Otherwise , you can still do the 6k factions points each day on zaishen defy .

Spiritz · Sep 21, 2010, 10:27 AM // 10:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1druid1

Hi All

With all the recent account bans regarding bot farming and the such, a lot of the usual money making means are becoming somewhat of a hazard.

Just like a bot a player farming the same area over and over again gets to a point when the farm becomes second nature and the moves become nearly identical each time, because of this unless you vary the play style each time you farm, accounts are being banned for botting, even if they are not.

I dont think we`re much of a threat on bans on a lot of farms - look at w/n an raptores and ive not heard of them gettin bot bans thru suspicious actions.
Way i do things when farming is do diff farms - instead of say 8hrs broken into 3 hrs vaetires 2 hrs xxx and 3 hrs xxx do a few runs of each then swap an swap again.I dont think theres a bot that is programmed to do farm switching auto so that way we shudnt show as "bots".
Most bots are also spotted via actions or stupidity ( cant walk round a post so it sticks in outpost) - actions would be the exact route each time but us humans dont make exact route nor almost exact time.
Bot may take say 5 mins on a set route each time with maybe a few secs diff - a human player wont take exact route , may take a few steps one way an routes altered or phone goes etc and they stop and chat then resume so human time varies a lot.

Astral_Nomad · Sep 21, 2010, 10:34 AM // 10:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spiritz

I dont think we`re much of a threat on bans on a lot of farms - look at w/n an raptores and ive not heard of them gettin bot bans thru suspicious actions.
Way i do things when farming is do diff farms - instead of say 8hrs broken into 3 hrs vaetires 2 hrs xxx and 3 hrs xxx do a few runs of each then swap an swap again.I dont think theres a bot that is programmed to do farm switching auto so that way we shudnt show as "bots".
Most bots are also spotted via actions or stupidity ( cant walk round a post so it sticks in outpost) - actions would be the exact route each time but us humans dont make exact route nor almost exact time.
Bot may take say 5 mins on a set route each time with maybe a few secs diff - a human player wont take exact route , may take a few steps one way an routes altered or phone goes etc and they stop and chat then resume so human time varies a lot.

you have a point... a human cannot make precision moves as a bot can because the human mind can only get a message to a hand or arm to move within about 400ms approx. it may appear perfect to the human eye but that isnt any better with speed at interpreting what its seeing. humans are random that way. with a bot, the numbers are consistent every time. no change in terms of gameplay.

Arduin · Sep 21, 2010, 11:16 AM // 11:16

http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/a...t10452416.html

Not saying the ban was because of the OP farming.

*lemming* · Sep 21, 2010, 11:20 AM // 11:20

Between Guru threads and Gaile's support page, there's been a lot of false positives, as much as Gaile would like to downplay it.

dark_slayer · Sep 21, 2010, 02:35 PM // 14:35

My secondary mule account got banned for botting. I haven't used the account in about 4 months. Except to trade stuff to my primary. Tryed to appeal ban with no luck. And no I never botted.

That account is linked to the same NCsoft master account as my primary, but yet my primary is not banned........Im afraid very afraid.

Karate Jesus · Sep 21, 2010, 02:37 PM // 14:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by lemming

Between Guru threads and Gaile's support page, there's been a lot of false positives, as much as Gaile would like to downplay it.

^ this. And honestly, if you really want to avoid the massive "bot net" they keep tossing out, you'll probably just have to avoid popular bot farms.

Stay away from raptor farming and ToPK farming, and you'll probably be fine. Do dungeon runs or speed clears, people don't seem to be getting banned for those as much.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dark_slayer

That account is linked to the same NCsoft master account as my primary, but yet my primary is not banned........Im afraid very afraid.

Keep trying. Some people have gotten their accounts back after even 6 months of trying.

If nothing else, you should request a refund. Many people (including many botters) have gotten refunds.

Miss Puddles · Sep 21, 2010, 03:03 PM // 15:03

If you think there is a chance that what you are doing ingame is going to result in a false positive for botting, don't do it.
If you get wrongfully banned, keep appealing.
Other than that, I don't know what else to tell you that hasn't been said in the many other threads about this exact issue.

Iuris · Sep 21, 2010, 03:18 PM // 15:18

Me, I usually take the "I was banned but never botted!" posts with a large grain of salt and doubt all those people really were banned in error.

It's become a pattern for people who get banned to get on forums and complain about it, protesting innocence and pressuring Anet to reinstate their accounts.

Heh, I'd hazard a guess that Anet's staff unbanned some of those just to finally shut them up and be able to get on with the real work...

Errant Venture · Sep 21, 2010, 03:50 PM // 15:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iuris

Me, I usually take the "I was banned but never botted!" posts with a large grain of salt and doubt all those people really were banned in error.

It's become a pattern for people who get banned to get on forums and complain about it, protesting innocence and pressuring Anet to reinstate their accounts.

Heh, I'd hazard a guess that Anet's staff unbanned some of those just to finally shut them up and be able to get on with the real work...

Most of the accounts banned for botting since the may banwave (when they finally started sniffing for a few particular .dlls) have been false positives. The only way to bot now (unless you're particularly good at suspended thread injections to hide a .dll) are pixel-based box which are virtually undetectable by empirical means. This means that anet relies solely on /reports to ban people, and most of the people banned are not botters. So really, all you have to do to farm these areas (or get away with botting them) is to farm in an empty asian district where there aren't players /reporting every player they see more than twice.

AngelWJedi · Sep 21, 2010, 04:31 PM // 16:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iuris

Me, I usually take the "I was banned but never botted!" posts with a large grain of salt and doubt all those people really were banned in error.

It's become a pattern for people who get banned to get on forums and complain about it, protesting innocence and pressuring Anet to reinstate their accounts.

Heh, I'd hazard a guess that Anet's staff unbanned some of those just to finally shut them up and be able to get on with the real work...

funny i was one of the people falsely banned long time ago for gold selling. turns out from what i got from gaile and others it was a mistake on their end. so no not every i was banned is a botter. xD so 50/50 of the time it is a innocent person.

Karate Jesus · Sep 21, 2010, 04:47 PM // 16:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by AngelWJedi

funny i was one of the people falsely banned long time ago for gold selling. turns out from what i got from gaile and others it was a mistake on their end. so no not every i was banned is a botter. xD so 50/50 of the time it is a innocent person.

Same here. I've been banned falsely two times. Once for gold selling (lol) and once for botting.

Both times I was able to prove that my account had never been involved in either activity. It's a bit ridiculous.

End · Sep 21, 2010, 05:19 PM // 17:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Astral_Nomad

with a bot, the numbers are consistent every time.

If done properly they will always be consistently within the designated range and if they've stopped putting in random sleeps then they've gone way downhill -.-

afya · Sep 21, 2010, 07:07 PM // 19:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by AngelWJedi

funny i was one of the people falsely banned long time ago for gold selling. turns out from what i got from gaile and others it was a mistake on their end. so no not every i was banned is a botter. xD so 50/50 of the time it is a innocent person.

I got banned once loooooong ago for gold selling, among the same day 2 of my friends also got banned. 2 of us escaped, one never been able to get her account back.

lets assume my friend really sells gold which i don't think she would, Anet still bans 2 innocent accounts. So probably 66/33 thats innocent XD

jray14 · Sep 21, 2010, 07:13 PM // 19:13

You can follow the advice in the money-making sticky at
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/h...t10438248.html
and I would add z mission/bounty/combat quests to the list.

Yeah, it's a bummer they're so sloppy with their bot detection, and that they keep on insisting they're perfect.

RedDog91 · Sep 21, 2010, 09:13 PM // 21:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by Errant Venture

farm in an empty asian district where there aren't players /reporting every player they see more than twice.

I should probably do this every Monday. I've been reported twice (that I know of) for "botting" on Mondays when I'm shooting Nick-item videos (or scouting out locations to film by repeating them a few times)

Shayne Hawke · Sep 21, 2010, 10:41 PM // 22:41

Get really good at Snowball, wait about three months, and start dominating DvG tournaments so that you can rake in 20-50 Z-Keys every eight hours. Totally safe.

Errant Venture · Sep 22, 2010, 09:37 PM // 21:37

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shayne Hawke

Get really good at Snowball, wait about three months, and start dominating DvG tournaments so that you can rake in 20-50 Z-Keys every eight hours. Totally safe.

Not going to dominate snowball tourneys unless you're use pick-up and drop&dodge bots. I guarantee you my (hypothetical) bot can send the pickup packet faster than you can mash your keyboard xD It's how random whoru pve guilds beat gold-winning capes at snowball last year in every AT