Will anything ever be done about farming bots?

Hardhearted

Always frustrating to try to collect resources when there's several bots running around grabbing them all up.
An ongoing issue. I occasionally report them, but nothing ever seems to happen.
I'm on the XBNA so am surprised that such bots can even exist.

joshisanonymous

Personally, playing since beta and I've maybe come across obvious bots once or twice ever. I haven't seen gold seller spam in years. This is on PCNA.

robwolf666

They don't seem to be as bad as they used to be right now, but they still pop up primarily in starter zones.

Seems to me ZoS need to find a way to link these bot accounts to the main accounts of the people using them and ban that main account as well as the bots. (But they probably already know that).

DragonRacer

PC seems to have that problem way less than console, it seems. PS NA suffers both from bot farmers and gold sellers.

DenverRalphy

The number of bots on PSNA has been dramatically reduced. The last few times I farmed Craglorn I couldn't help but notice the distinct lack of them. I remember commenting about it with guildmates who'd made similar observations.

Admittedly that was a couple of months back though. In the past bot zapping usually seemed to happen in waves, with bots repopulating within a couple days (if not hours). So I dunno if the more aggressive updated countermeasures are still making as big an impact.

SwordOfSagas

Short answer is no, as long as it's completely free to make a new account they will never go away.

Orbital78

Report and appeal to have them double check.

SwordOfSagas wrote: »

Short answer is no, as long as it's completely free to make a new account they will never go away.

I think this is the console problem, though I am not familiar with it as my last console was a SNES. From what I have heard you can make infinite free accounts on consoles? Unsure if they can hardware ban or what, but I think that is why they are common than on PC. Though PC had thousands of Epic accounts given away.

LootAllTheStuff

Orbital78 wrote: »

Report and appeal to have them double check.

SwordOfSagas wrote: »

Short answer is no, as long as it's completely free to make a new account they will never go away.

I think this is the console problem, though I am not familiar with it as my last console was a SNES. From what I have heard you can make infinite free accounts on consoles? Unsure if they can hardware ban or what, but I think that is why they are common than on PC. Though PC had thousands of Epic accounts given away.

On XBox at least you need to have some version of GamePass to play ESO. Not sure if you can set that up as a family sharing thing or not though. That said, I'm always seeing people who've had their account hijacked because it was tied to an old email they no longer had access to and predated MFA. Probably a lot of whack-a-mole going on at the XBox account level.

SwordOfSagas

LootAllTheStuff wrote: »

Orbital78 wrote: »

Report and appeal to have them double check.

SwordOfSagas wrote: »

Short answer is no, as long as it's completely free to make a new account they will never go away.

I think this is the console problem, though I am not familiar with it as my last console was a SNES. From what I have heard you can make infinite free accounts on consoles? Unsure if they can hardware ban or what, but I think that is why they are common than on PC. Though PC had thousands of Epic accounts given away.

On XBox at least you need to have some version of GamePass to play ESO. Not sure if you can set that up as a family sharing thing or not though. That said, I'm always seeing people who've had their account hijacked because it was tied to an old email they no longer had access to and predated MFA. Probably a lot of whack-a-mole going on at the XBox account level.

Yep I'm on Xbox and have made 10+ eso accounts all with one gamepass sub.

Radiate77

Until old-gen consoles are no longer supported, this problem won’t go away,

Even if their systems get turned into paper weights, bad actors just buy more for pennies and set up their operation again. The cost of setting back up needs to rival the gain of having been set up, and the only ways to do that, are to act fast on banning, and raise the entry point for players.

Hardhearted

SwordOfSagas wrote: »

LootAllTheStuff wrote: »

Orbital78 wrote: »

Report and appeal to have them double check.

SwordOfSagas wrote: »

Short answer is no, as long as it's completely free to make a new account they will never go away.

I think this is the console problem, though I am not familiar with it as my last console was a SNES. From what I have heard you can make infinite free accounts on consoles? Unsure if they can hardware ban or what, but I think that is why they are common than on PC. Though PC had thousands of Epic accounts given away.

On XBox at least you need to have some version of GamePass to play ESO. Not sure if you can set that up as a family sharing thing or not though. That said, I'm always seeing people who've had their account hijacked because it was tied to an old email they no longer had access to and predated MFA. Probably a lot of whack-a-mole going on at the XBox account level.

Yep I'm on Xbox and have made 10+ eso accounts all with one gamepass sub.

Then I'd think that ZOS could ban anyone using that gamepass sub once they confirm botting on one account using that sub. Make the botters get a new gamepass everytime and not just create a new login. Or would that be a Microsoft thing? Does ZOS even see what the gamepass info is?

What led me to my original question is that I've been burning through mats (platinum mostly) doing writs/master writs and started actively collecting it from nodes. A few days ago - no problem. Yesterday, a single bot - easy to bypass and collect materials. This morning, at least three bots running the same route with minor variations - impossible to continue and gave up, had to move on to a new location where there also bots aplenty.

Saccopharynx

Xbox NA here, I see them constantly. I like to farm mats in the starter zones and I'm always trying to get to ore nodes before they do. Its incredibly frustrating, but it doesn't seem like there's an easy fix.

ZOS needs to hire gamemasters or something on Xbox just to go cull bots. Trying to report on console with a controller is a pain in the butt (no keyboard) and waiting weeks to know if it even worked doesn't take care of the problem in the meantime. If reporting bots was actually easy, that might make it worth it to sit there and report the 10+ ones that run by me every day, but it isn't and maybe that's why people don't do it as often.

I'd do it, hire me to squish bots, I'm disabled and unemployed, I have literally nothing else to do 🤣

Hardhearted

Saccopharynx wrote: »

Xbox NA here, I see them constantly. I like to farm mats in the starter zones and I'm always trying to get to ore nodes before they do. Its incredibly frustrating, but it doesn't seem like there's an easy fix.

ZOS needs to hire gamemasters or something on Xbox just to go cull bots. Trying to report on console with a controller is a pain in the butt (no keyboard) and waiting weeks to know if it even worked doesn't take care of the problem in the meantime. If reporting bots was actually easy, that might make it worth it to sit there and report the 10+ ones that run by me every day, but it isn't and maybe that's why people don't do it as often.

I'd do it, hire me to squish bots, I'm disabled and unemployed, I have literally nothing else to do 🤣

The thing about reporting is that I'm never sure what category to use - they need to make one just for bot behavior. I, also would be willing to hammer the bots and would do it for free if they actually responded to the reports and banned them. Heck, make it an endeavor "Report and clear x bots"

Elsonso

joshisanonymous wrote: »

Personally, playing since beta and I've maybe come across obvious bots once or twice ever. I haven't seen gold seller spam in years. This is on PCNA.

Playing since launch.

I have reported tons of bots, lost count... couple hundred, mainly on PC-NA, but also PC-EU, and I have seen them on XBox NA and EU, but it is a pain to report them so I don't. I only report when I am absolutely sure that they are a bot. Wrote specialized addon software to help identify and report bots.

My most famous reported bot, and where I learned a lot about how to identify bots, was a creature farmer that ran the same circle in Shadowfen with his cleric bot-friends day and night for a couple months before ZOS finally stepped in and stopped him. He would run the circle until full, then take a wayshrine to Ebonheart, sell stuff to a merchant, then go back to Shadowfen. I reported him twice, the second time because I thought maybe ZOS had not received the report. I would check in on him daily, at first, then less frequently once I realized ZOS was not going to take any immediate action. Watched him level up from a newbie. It was like watching a child grow up.

At one point on PC NA, I could just go to Bal Foyen and find 2 or 3 within minutes, report them, and move on. If I wanted to, I could usually go there every day and find a bot that I had not yet reported. They all travelled one of a few paths, which I learned over time. They all got stuck or did some goofy move at the same place in their route. It was so obvious, after I learned what to look for, that all they had to do was run past me. I knew which path they were on and where to go to watch, and when they did their bot behavior for that route, I just reported them.

Anyway, I tired of doing what ZOS was supposed to be doing and stopped reporting them. Still see them, though. Not as often these days. Finding bots on PC NA was easy, once I learned what to look for. Like shooting fish in a barrel. It was a target rich environment. ZOS could have hired someone to do what I was doing.

SwordOfSagas wrote: »

Short answer is no, as long as it's completely free to make a new account they will never go away.

If it costs ZOS money to address them, and does not cost them revenue to ignore it, then my expectation is that ZOS simply ignores them.

Zorrin

I also play on XBNA and reporting the bots will get them removed! Sometimes within 30 minutes even They'll be back eventually of course, but you can at least have some time to get your weekly harvesting endeavor done in an easy starter zone

As for the category, I always just do the cheating/exploiting one and type "farming bot" or "node bot" or something in the text field.

Hardhearted

Zorrin wrote: »

I also play on XBNA and reporting the bots will get them removed! Sometimes within 30 minutes even They'll be back eventually of course, but you can at least have some time to get your weekly harvesting endeavor done in an easy starter zone

As for the category, I always just do the cheating/exploiting one and type "farming bot" or "node bot" or something in the text field.

Thanks. I just got back 3 support tickets that said that they did find a violation and that they've taken appropriate action. First time I've seen that - so something positive.

frogthroat

On PCEU one of the biggest, if not the biggest trade alliance quit. Multiple guilds. Bots ruining the economy was a huge reason.

Now Argonian Kitchen (multiple guilds) are quitting, probably because of the recent changes to the game but I can't help but wonder if the bots ruining the economy is partially responsible. The guilds did have trading places pretty much every week for years - each of the guilds.

redlink1979

The problem exacerbates on consoles because you buy the game once and you can create numerous accounts as you wish.