Curse

Ancalagon06 · Jun 24, 2005, 01:04 AM // 01:04

I dunno, but it wouldn't be hard to stop, there's a group of hydras half-way down the path, all they'd have to do is move them over about 20 game feet, and then they would cast meteor and knockdown the bots as they tried to run.

Silmor · Jun 24, 2005, 01:49 AM // 01:49

Well, I can confirm ArenaNet is aware of the abuse going on in this exact location so I have no doubt matters will be taken care of soon enough.

Lilanthe · Jun 24, 2005, 01:54 AM // 01:54

Man, I just went there and it's true... It's quite lame of these bots.

Gedscho · Jun 24, 2005, 02:06 AM // 02:06

why wouldnt they let a bot do random emotes, pathing and "storaging"?
it would be easier to let em not be THAT recognizable.

sometimes when i get randomly clicked (in a good mood i accept nearly everything just for giggles) and some person joins that doesnt talk, is always in the background and plays.... mechanically.... but picks up loot very accurate... i ask myself...... do they have bots that join parties?

and please dont tell me solomorelootblabla. please feed my paranoia.

MaglorD · Jun 24, 2005, 02:09 AM // 02:09

Most of these bots were created by ppl to make lots of money to be sold on ebay. They're just enterprising scumbags hoping to cash in on stupid ppl who buy in-game gold for real money.

ManadartheHealer · Jun 24, 2005, 02:11 AM // 02:11

Bots and their users are stupid, lame, and useless.

Shadowsting · Jun 24, 2005, 02:14 AM // 02:14

But watching them provides great amusement........

Gedscho · Jun 24, 2005, 02:33 AM // 02:33

wouldnt it be easier to use a bot that constantly monitors the npc traders?

Paladin_Adoni · Jun 24, 2005, 03:17 AM // 03:17

I hope they dont think Im a bot !

I sometimes do this over and over and over and over!

GULP LOL

Synncial77 · Jun 24, 2005, 03:25 AM // 03:25

Just because they're doing the same thing over and over doesn't mean that they're all bots. I stood at the entrance for a fair amount of time and watched the droves of people go through. At any given point you'll see from 3 to 9 people running to the exit.

Anyways, after watching this for a while I was recognizing a number of names over and over again. So, I tried private messaging a number of them. I'd say that 3 out of the 8 I tried responded almost immediately to my "Hello, can I ask a question".

It was funny, the first one replied with "Hi". I asked where he was headed. "I chinese" he says. So I type S? SE? E? <direction> and he responds "Hi". Anyways, I went along my merry way and started exploring outside. The funny thing is he would periodically type "Hello" and "I miss you" randomly a number of times after. Bot? Someone screwing with me? Hard to say.

Another person simply said "Hi" and that's it.

A third actually grouped with me and showed me exactly what they were doing.

Anyways, don't assume that they're ALL bots. I was pretty excited and ran that run a few times. That's the first farming spot I've ever seen and it was cool getting all those drops. They're not anything too special. The highlight was a 13-23 bow that my ranger will make good use of.

In my inexperienced opinion, the ones that are most likely bots are the ones who aren't in guilds (although many probably are too). Virtually every other place I've been this far into the game I've basically seen no one who wasn't in a guild...until here. Quite a few actually.

**And, yes, I'm aware that many professional companies that use bots also pay people to sit there and monitor the bots and respond to private messages. But, I'm still saying that alot of these characters are probably truely being controlled by humans.****

Magus · Jun 24, 2005, 03:41 AM // 03:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sanji

From my previous experiences, game companies do not ban farmers nearly enough to make what they do unprofitable. At least, I'm making this presumption because they have not disappeared from online gaming yet.

You're absolutely correct, and from my experience in most MMORPG's, botters usually make up a huge portion of the population, like 20-50% (and no, I'm not joking, Ragnarok Online, for example had 50%, if not more bots), but these companies also accept monthly fees. The companies are either usually very conservative about the criteria for conclusive evidence for a player being a bot (i.e., you have to send like 10 screenshots, then they have GM's go in and investigate more) or they turn a blind eye to it completely. This is because the companies get a lot of money through the monthly fees paid by botters, and they don't want to lose 20-50% of their income, so they usually ignore the situation. Arenanet fortunately is not corrupt because the monthly fee is not an issue.

Still though, official game companies are generally very conservative about banning bots as opposed to free, player-run online games (I've staffed at a MMOG programmed by a few of my friends and we were really quick to ban bots.)

Also, bots actually are not easy to detect. The exact repitition thing does not apply to most bots. In the bots' code, it's very easy to insert some rand's here and there so that the actions are never exactly the same.

But I do agree that bots should be stopped now, rather than just nerfing the particular spots for the reasons that it hurts casual players and that the botters will simply find the next best place and abuse it later on.

sojen · Jun 24, 2005, 05:23 AM // 05:23

Maybe AN should have some detector, whereby, when the same people keep zoing in and out about the exact time or so. Spawn a nice big level 50 monk boss who heals, smites, and protect. Let's see the botter kill that Hahaha. Hell~ Even 8 level 20s' might not be able to kill it. Considering they make the boss cast all spells in 0.1 sec, do melee and range dmg as well for 500 dmg per hit. O.o How's that??

KuTeBaka · Jun 24, 2005, 05:42 AM // 05:42

Ive had a good spot of chests in the past, i dont know if this is a glitch or not, but once i went there and there was not a chest in sight. Of course, me being a human i spotted this rather quickly and rezoned, but imagine what would happen if it happened to a bot.

The Ages · Jun 24, 2005, 05:59 AM // 05:59

I Say Botters can be a good thing for A.Net, Find them ban them they buy another box

Just dont catch them to quick or they might deside there profits are not worth it

On a more Serious note, Guild wars out of all MMO's (If you call it that) has the most incentive to stop Farming Enterprizes. sense they are not paying a steady fee what dmg can be done to there bottom line buy removing there accounts? None at all, If anything they free up some more bandwith.

NoChance · Jun 24, 2005, 06:02 AM // 06:02

these wreckage/chest farming sites can be fixed by perhaps making them spawn at different (random) locations every 20 mins or so.

how do these bots work anyway? if you move a wreckage, say 10 feet to the north, does that bust their program? if so, respawning the wreckage randomly within a small circle would work. (however, i have a feeling the bots are, or can be, much more sophisticated).

it was really fun watching the bots yesterday, though...

any of you here is burninator?
if so, did you get your frosted griffin wings?

Static · Jun 24, 2005, 06:30 AM // 06:30

Wow im sitting there watching the bots come and go in Seekers Passage D1. Its so sad, i hope they get banned tomorrow , they're lagging everything.

Doctor Anomalo · Jun 24, 2005, 06:46 AM // 06:46

they should incorporate public execution. once a week, in ascalon city, two guards are shown escorting a banned character to a blood stone where a third hooded guard beheads him. the body stays for a few minutes before the next condemned character is hauled out.

hanging or crucifying are also options.

Static · Jun 24, 2005, 06:56 AM // 06:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doctor Anomalo

they should incorporate public execution. once a week, in ascalon city, two guards are shown escorting a banned character to a blood stone where a third hooded guard beheads him. the body stays for a few minutes before the next condemned character is hauled out.

hanging or crucifying are also options.

I like your idea, maybe they can send the banned charecter in an arean with lvl 40 hydras/giants/charr and whatnot and watch the person get what he disserves

Doctor Anomalo · Jun 24, 2005, 06:57 AM // 06:57

that's a great idea for a gold sink. you pay to watch the hydras rip the banned character apart.

Static · Jun 24, 2005, 07:01 AM // 07:01

I can almost imagine the banned charecters get shred to pieces, man that would be sick