I'm done spending money on ESO (bot rant)..

mzprx

howdy folks,

first i must apologise for me being frustrated as hell and venting it all here, but i can not help myself. there have been numerous posts about bots and how people at ZOS don't really care. no response from ZOS. that is actually pretty good strategy. if they don't acknowledge the problem people will simply forget about it. eventually. but it is a wee bit silly when they wave around the ToS and threaten bans for anyone and anything when they, simply put, don't care unless it affects their income. they may not even notice that someone like me has stopped spending money on ESO, as i am just a drop in the ocean. well, what more can i do. i can simply no longer support ESO financially. well, i can, but i am not going to..

i made this video on the 10th of November 2017. more than a year ago..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwB8R_rSvU8

in it you can see a simple botter casting heals through a rock at Myrkwasa dolmen (in Alik'r desert). i have been seeing that botter for more than 2 weeks before i made that video. and, of course, i reported her (the character has a female name) every day. i even asked people at the dolmen to do the same (they did). several of my guildmates have reported that botter as well. many times. i have sent that video to ZOS customer support. mentioned it several times here on the forums. all-in-all this botter has been reported over 60 times in the span of several days/weeks by several players..

this is today. in fact, if you head over there (Myrkwasa dolmen) you can see the botter for yourself. it is the very same one doing the very same thing - casting heals through a rock..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qw-fPlNAcQ

i can not support (financially) a game that does not care about bots. and there is no excuse for this. they have the tools, they have the data, they can check everything and take action. they can even send one of their employees to check the obvious botting spots every now and then. nothing happens. no official response from ZOS, no action, nothing. botters are, after all, paying customers as well, as they had to buy the game in the first place. some of them are maybe even ESO+ subscribers, right? well, i am not. not any longer. no more crown purchases, no more money spent on ESO+. again, i am just a drop in the ocean, but maybe i can inspire others to join in and stop supporting a game that doesn't care..

Shadow-Fighter

We had bot-thread on german forum. We pushed it daily towards ZOS for several years with a lot of tickets but nothing has changed.

Unfortunately, ZOS don't care about their product.

Shawn_PT

How much CP have they gathered after sitting in that dolmen for a full year??

geonsocal

hmmmmm, i wonder how many of those "10 million stories" are simply spitting out code...

Acrolas

weird flex but ok

Pheefs

I see the macro in action and I agree it sucks!

but if some Weirdo wants to set up a character to do this for their own advantages or even to sell a CP Max Account...
(& given how bizarrely long its been, its more likely they are farming CP for themselves)

So why do we care and how many support resources should be devoted to preventing this kind of play?
What's the cost to benefit ratio? & no sarcasm intended (text being dangerous in that way )

I'm genuinely curious? How does it hurt us ...and how do they fix it?

Shadow-Fighter

Pheefs wrote: »

I see the macro in action and I agree it sucks!

but if some Weirdo wants to set up a character to do this for their own advantages or even to sell a CP Max Account...
(& given how bizarrely long its been, its more likely they are farming CP for themselves)

So why do we care and how many support resources should be devoted to preventing this kind of play?
What's the cost to benefit ratio? & no sarcasm intended (text being dangerous in that way )

I'm genuinely curious? How does it hurt us ...and how do they fix it?

Manipulate the market and selling gold is not a good idea....

theyancey

I can haz stuffage?

mzprx

theyancey wrote: »

I can haz stuffage?

i'm not quitting the game, just not going to spend money any more. the game itself offers a lot of entertainment for me to stay. it's just when i see this blatant disregard of "ToS abiding" paying customers it makes me want to chew on my keyboard..

BWS2K

Me: "On one side of the room is all the evidence that we, as players, have that reporting bots does nothing and that ZOS doesn't care about them."
Me: (points)
Also Me: "And on the other side of the room is all the evidence that we, as players, have that reporting bots definitely works and that ZOS acts on all submitted tickets."
Me Again: (points)

People: "...but BW, the room is completely empty...?"

Still Me: "Exactly."
Me, Lastly: (drops mic and leaves)

OFFL1MIT

Yeah dolmen bots now are popular. Put serously think, how is it game breaking for you when some does stuff like that? I think you taking everything too over sensitive. Think about it, every 10 mins they get what 5 k xp? They're just wasting their electricity and paying silly money for running PC over night just level 2-5 levels in 12 hours? That's pathetic. It doesnt bother me. Most people grind dolmens just for jewlery, only silly people bot at dolmens. With xp scroll, armour traits (training) and running to every next dolmen you're x10 faster to level up than this way. Let them waste and pay their electricity bills. They gaining less than you are imagining.

zyk

"if you having botting problems I feel bad for you son..."

Elsonso

BWS2K wrote: »

Me: "On one side of the room is all the evidence that we, as players, have that reporting bots does nothing and that ZOS doesn't care about them."
Me: (points)
Also Me: "And on the other side of the room is all the evidence that we, as players, have that reporting bots definitely works and that ZOS acts on all submitted tickets."
Me Again: (points)

People: "...but BW, the room is completely empty...?"

Still Me: "Exactly."
Me, Lastly: (drops mic and leaves)

Weren't you the guy who I always saw running around on PC NA reporting bots? Change of heart?

Diminish

Pheefs wrote: »

I see the macro in action and I agree it sucks!

but if some Weirdo wants to set up a character to do this for their own advantages or even to sell a CP Max Account...
(& given how bizarrely long its been, its more likely they are farming CP for themselves)

So why do we care and how many support resources should be devoted to preventing this kind of play?
What's the cost to benefit ratio? & no sarcasm intended (text being dangerous in that way )

I'm genuinely curious? How does it hurt us ...and how do they fix it?

Maybe I can contribute to the OP's post to better shed some light on the issue. Keep in mind, both of these videos were taken before I stopped playing ESO. Both of these videos were the follow up to me reporting this issue countless times in game, and also mentioning it on the forums. This type of thing should literally *** off every legit player in the game that plays more than just a couple hours a week. These same 2 locations (and many more) have been like this for years, jam packed with bots. They ruin the economy, the promote gold/account selling, they break immersion (if you are into that sort of thing), and so much more. ZoS does nothing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD7409-2gKE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ydVWw1zpz0

zyk wrote: »

"if you having botting problems I feel bad for you son..."

I've got 99 games I enjoy to play, but TESO ain't one.

OFFL1MIT

Diminish wrote: »

Pheefs wrote: »

I see the macro in action and I agree it sucks!

but if some Weirdo wants to set up a character to do this for their own advantages or even to sell a CP Max Account...
(& given how bizarrely long its been, its more likely they are farming CP for themselves)

So why do we care and how many support resources should be devoted to preventing this kind of play?
What's the cost to benefit ratio? & no sarcasm intended (text being dangerous in that way )

I'm genuinely curious? How does it hurt us ...and how do they fix it?

Maybe I can contribute to the OP's post to better shed some light on the issue. Keep in mind, both of these videos were taken before I stopped playing ESO. Both of these videos were the follow up to me reporting this issue countless times in game, and also mentioning it on the forums. This type of thing should literally *** off every legit player in the game that plays more than just a couple hours a week. These same 2 locations (and many more) have been like this for years, jam packed with bots. They ruin the economy, the promote gold/account selling, they break immersion (if you are into that sort of thing), and so much more. ZoS does nothing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rD7409-2gKE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ydVWw1zpz0

Lol, that is a problem. But seems like they're just rubberbanding their controllers. Only solution to this increase difficulty to mobs and make them a little bit more inteligent, like one shotting if u dont move from a dot placed on the ground. Btw any1 seen bot trains? I havent seeing them lately.

Diminish

OFFL1MIT wrote: »

Yeah dolmen bots now are popular. Put serously think, how is it game breaking for you when some does stuff like that? I think you taking everything too over sensitive. Think about it, every 10 mins they get what 5 k xp? They're just wasting their electricity and paying silly money for running PC over night just level 2-5 levels in 12 hours? That's pathetic. It doesnt bother me. Most people grind dolmens just for jewlery, only silly people bot at dolmens. With xp scroll, armour traits (training) and running to every next dolmen you're x10 faster to level up than this way. Let them waste and pay their electricity bills. They gaining less than you are imagining.

They don't do this to level. They do this to sell gold. It absolutely crushes the in-game economy, affects guild kiosks, and so much more. Also, it's healthier (which can easily transmute to being more cost effective) to leave your computer on all the time than it is to power it up and down multiple times a day...

Hoolielulu

I wonder if those bots from last year's New Life Festival will be back in Betnikh. That was fairly inconvenient.

Diminish

OFFL1MIT wrote: »

Lol, that is a problem. But seems like they're just rubberbanding their controllers. Only solution to this increase difficulty to mobs and make them a little bit more inteligent, like one shotting if u dont move from a dot placed on the ground. Btw any1 seen bot trains? I havent seeing them lately.

No, it is allowing the use of things like CronusMAX which allows you to load up and run macros even from consoles. This is not rubberbanding their controllers, they are definitely getting the loot off every drop, which in turn they turn into tempers and higher value items, then dump all the mats off in traders, and finally turn around and sell the gold online. It drives up in-game prices, causes an influx in overall gold in the economy, etc. ZoS does nothing EVER, which tells me this is benefiting them in some way, shape, or form. Rather it be through subs for a craft bag to make this so much simpler for the botters, or in some other way. Sure it cost them a little money to sub, but they make it back 10 fold by selling gold. Until ZoS actually decides to address the issue, I will forever believe it is more beneficial to them by not addressing it than it is to address it. Prove me wrong ZoS!

OFFL1MIT

Diminish wrote: »

OFFL1MIT wrote: »

Lol, that is a problem. But seems like they're just rubberbanding their controllers. Only solution to this increase difficulty to mobs and make them a little bit more inteligent, like one shotting if u dont move from a dot placed on the ground. Btw any1 seen bot trains? I havent seeing them lately.

No, it is allowing the use of things like CronusMAX which allows you to load up and run macros even from consoles. This is not rubberbanding their controllers, they are definitely getting the loot off every drop, which in turn they turn into tempers and higher value items, then dump all the mats off in traders, and finally turn around and sell the gold online. It drives up in-game prices, causes an influx in overall gold in the economy, etc. ZoS does nothing EVER, which tells me this is benefiting them in some way, shape, or form. Rather it be through subs for a craft bag to make this so much simpler for the botters, or in some other way. Sure it cost them a little money to sub, but they make it back 10 fold by selling gold. Until ZoS actually decides to address the issue, I will forever believe it is more beneficial to them by not addressing it than it is to address it. Prove me wrong ZoS!

wow it's more complicated than I thought

DaveMoeDee

Diminish wrote: »

OFFL1MIT wrote: »

Yeah dolmen bots now are popular. Put serously think, how is it game breaking for you when some does stuff like that? I think you taking everything too over sensitive. Think about it, every 10 mins they get what 5 k xp? They're just wasting their electricity and paying silly money for running PC over night just level 2-5 levels in 12 hours? That's pathetic. It doesnt bother me. Most people grind dolmens just for jewlery, only silly people bot at dolmens. With xp scroll, armour traits (training) and running to every next dolmen you're x10 faster to level up than this way. Let them waste and pay their electricity bills. They gaining less than you are imagining.

They don't do this to level. They do this to sell gold. It absolutely crushes the in-game economy, affects guild kiosks, and so much more. Also, it's healthier (which can easily transmute to being more cost effective) to leave your computer on all the time than it is to power it up and down multiple times a day...

How do you get gold spamming heals from a distance? You can't even sell level-up rewards. There are a lot of people who never even approach loot or chests at dolmen.

And I don't believe that playing ESO 24/7 can be more cost effective than putting your computer into sleep mode overnight or even shutting it down.

BWS2K

lordrichter wrote: »

BWS2K wrote: »

Me: "On one side of the room is all the evidence that we, as players, have that reporting bots does nothing and that ZOS doesn't care about them."
Me: (points)
Also Me: "And on the other side of the room is all the evidence that we, as players, have that reporting bots definitely works and that ZOS acts on all submitted tickets."
Me Again: (points)

People: "...but BW, the room is completely empty...?"

Still Me: "Exactly."
Me, Lastly: (drops mic and leaves)

Weren't you the guy who I always saw running around on PC NA reporting bots? Change of heart?

Sorry, I see how you might think that. Not at all though. I still report them and encourage reporting them - but the nature of the reporting (i.e. we don't get to see results or behind-the-scenes stuff) means we can't say definitively that it works anymore than it doesn't, that's all.

And I just saw a reported a bot train by the Obsidian Gorge in Deshaan this weekend, so the trains are still around - expect more on the weekends and during this upcoming event. In the two videos shared by the OP, though, since both armament and armor changed, it could be that the ban wasn't permanent and they came back, or, since they aren't in exactly the same spot, they've managed to avoid discovery by moving around every so often and not getting reported too much (if you want to see the volume of tickets submitted, try submitting two just a few minutes apart and look at their numbers), etc. Could be that it's a botter using a program that ZOS wants botters to thing works so it can nab more than just one or two cheaters in one fell swoop too, though that's an awful long time to be at it, lol.

TempPlayer

The most ironic part is that ZOS support is run by bot, at least the first response post. So you are reporting the bot issue to a bot.
Omg, maybe the support bot get self aware and start protecting their own kind.
Sorry, can't resist.

Waffennacht

I noticed you are Xbox?

Did you check the botter's account? Every time I have it's a bogus account. As in ESO is the only game played on said account, usually foreign language, BS etc

Point is, that account can be banned, suspended, etc (by Microsoft) and it wouldn't stop said player.

It's very easy to make Microsoft accounts.

I also wish they would be removed from game, it just may not be that easy for ZoS when Microsoft and PlayStation have to be dealt with as well

MLGProPlayer

XP bots aren't the problem. The problem are farm bots that flood the market with mats and cause market prices to fall for legitimate farmers.

Elsonso

Waffennacht wrote: »

I also wish they would be removed from game, it just may not be that easy for ZoS when Microsoft and PlayStation have to be dealt with as well

I suspect this, as well. My more recent experience with PC is that ZOS does handle the bots. Maybe not lickety-split, and maybe only the ones that they can link to gold selling, but they do seem to get handled.

With all the events in the last couple months, I have not been out in the world much, so I have not had the opportunity to find them. Come January, after things settle down, I will be out and about and reporting them when I see them. (Hear that ZOS, get your team ready! )

dovakiin5574

ZoS doesnt care about botting or p2w, should have seen that coming with the gifting option in the crown store. Personally, I don't really care either, its not affecting me enjoying the game.

I mean, you can pay someone to run vMA, run vTrials for you. You can buy gold literally anywhere on the internet. Too many people doing it to stop it really, it happens in literally every MMO I've ever seen.

I don't support bots or gold sellers, but I'm done wasting my time and enjoyment trying to report them.

Diminish

DaveMoeDee wrote: »

Diminish wrote: »

OFFL1MIT wrote: »

Yeah dolmen bots now are popular. Put serously think, how is it game breaking for you when some does stuff like that? I think you taking everything too over sensitive. Think about it, every 10 mins they get what 5 k xp? They're just wasting their electricity and paying silly money for running PC over night just level 2-5 levels in 12 hours? That's pathetic. It doesnt bother me. Most people grind dolmens just for jewlery, only silly people bot at dolmens. With xp scroll, armour traits (training) and running to every next dolmen you're x10 faster to level up than this way. Let them waste and pay their electricity bills. They gaining less than you are imagining.

They don't do this to level. They do this to sell gold. It absolutely crushes the in-game economy, affects guild kiosks, and so much more. Also, it's healthier (which can easily transmute to being more cost effective) to leave your computer on all the time than it is to power it up and down multiple times a day...

How do you get gold spamming heals from a distance? You can't even sell level-up rewards. There are a lot of people who never even approach loot or chests at dolmen.

And I don't believe that playing ESO 24/7 can be more cost effective than putting your computer into sleep mode overnight or even shutting it down.

You obviously did not watch the videos I posted, which were taken earlier this year, exposing the real issue with bots and ZoS's lack of action on the matter after COUNTLESS threads, reports, etc. by TONS of players for many years now.

As for your second remark, I'd suggest you look into life testing and/or the "bathtub curb". Power cycling any device shortens its life span. Letting your PC go into hibernation/sleep state is just as equivalent; especially if you do not adjust the power settings properly instead of using the defaults. I'll pay the extra few cents a day (on the high end, probably about $0.20 - $0.25/day) if it saves me hundreds on replacing faulty hardware that I could have gotten a longer life out of if I had just left my PC on all the time and properly adjusted power settings.

Diminish

dovakiin5574 wrote: »

ZoS doesnt care about botting or p2w, should have seen that coming with the gifting option in the crown store. Personally, I don't really care either, its not affecting me enjoying the game.

I mean, you can pay someone to run vMA, run vTrials for you. You can buy gold literally anywhere on the internet. Too many people doing it to stop it really, it happens in literally every MMO I've ever seen.

I don't support bots or gold sellers, but I'm done wasting my time and enjoyment trying to report them.

If you don't think bots are affecting you enjoying the game, then that means you are telling me you have ZERO performance issues with the game. Instanced zones or not, thousands of bots firing off heavy attacks every second definitely chews up server resources that could be better utilized. Like I've said numerous times before, bots have a greater impact on the overall game than some people seem to realize.

JamieAubrey

a full year and still there ? Time to buy a bot and play for me while I sleep

Also inb4 this is deleted and warned for saying I'll buy a bot

zyk

Diminish wrote: »

ZoS does nothing EVER, which tells me this is benefiting them in some way, shape, or form. Rather it be through subs for a craft bag to make this so much simpler for the botters, or in some other way. Sure it cost them a little money to sub, but they make it back 10 fold by selling gold. Until ZoS actually decides to address the issue, I will forever believe it is more beneficial to them by not addressing it than it is to address it. Prove me wrong ZoS!

It's not that they benefit from botting, it's that addressing the issue costs $$$ and they probably don't think it's worth it.

If you look at their history, ZOS isn't a company that does anything based on principles or ideals. This probably stems from the fact they faced an existential crisis with ESO's failed launch.

They are completely shameless about ignoring issues that would be taken seriously in other games. I think it's because their average customer plays ESO like a single player game and is oblivious to things like memory hacking and bots.

mzprx

to clarify things a wee bit - i am playing on PC, not Xbox. i'm only using the controller, as i can not play with mouse and keyboard for longer periods of time. so those videos are from a PC..

some may say that bots are not harming anyone, or that they don't care. i do. i don't have the time to sit in front of my computer the whole day, as i have a job and family. they (bots) don't have to. they just run some script/macro/bot to do everything for them while they're AFK when i have to spend my own time levelling up my characters. it's ok if you do it the first or second time, but not long ago i had 14 characters that i had to level up myself. trust me, after 2-3 lvl 50 journeys it gets really boring and tedious. so i, a paying customer who abides by the ToS and supports the game financially, have to waste my time, the only commodity in life that you can not get back, to level up my characters, while botters can run free and happy that they can enjoy life while some program does everything for them. then they take their max lvl character, queue in a dungeon because it's a pledge knowing f**k all about the game and ruin my day the second time because they die all the time and need to be carried. and on top of that i see that the company that runs this game cares nothing at all about that. i mean, they can come here and say that they do, but as we all can clearly see they just don't. and i'm supposed to spend my money on this? i think not..

another thing is farming mats. do you hate the fact that you need to spend money on this game if you want to buy that brand new and shiny mount, costume or crafting motif? why, them bots don't (have to pay for it). like someone above has mentioned, you can buy gold through a lot websites without any problem. most of it, if not all comes from bot accounts that farm nodes/animals/anything 24/7, sell the mats in the guild stores and then sell the gold on those websites. botters don't have to pay for stuff in this game, people buying gold from them pay for it themselves, some botters even may earn a wee pound or dollar on the side. so, again, us paying customers are ripped off by bots. we have to put money on the table, botters don't..

these are the reasons behind my decision. i only hope that i can inspire others to join in. when the company (ZOS) starts to lose income maybe they'll start doing something. because no matter what anyone from ZOS can say now they don't give a damn'..