How to deal with the infamous bots :)

Blackwolfe5

Hehe, one of the bot operators said something in Mandarin (I googled it), apparently something about my mother. I guess I pissed him off.

Heh, I've gotten bored writing bot reports, so I have started "funnyfying" them.

I add things like: "I used to be an adventurer like you, but then I took a bot to the knee" or "Look, more footprints! Oh wait, wrong game. But anyway, the footprints are from a bot"

Squishy

adamrussell52_ESO wrote: »

Someone posted that you can COD a lockpick to a bot and they will think you are their boss and give you the gold.

@adamrussell52_ESO carefull there, trading with bots for gold... probably not a good idea... If ZOS tracks gold activites with bot accounts... you know...

AeliaVicusPlave

Discovered a new funny game today - Betty-netching - just around Othrenis Wayshrine the plains are infested with botters on Jute nodes, but - there are also Betty Netches. So I pulled one of the Ladies, later 2 of them to a Bot, used a HPregen pot and dodged the AOE of the Betty...well done, Bots down after a short time. But those pissers use potions and rezzing Crystals, obvious scripted ...so I had to do it several times, until the lovely small crosses on the ground becomes a bit more perpetual. Oh, and not to mention the help of a Bull Netch a bit later, who makes myself run a bit too...but - mission accomplished, disturbed the bots, lowered their amount of Crystals for rezz - and the comments from one of the bots in chat was lovely too - "angry" - "honor"

Squishy

AeliaVicusPlave wrote: »

But those pissers use potions and rezzing Crystals, obvious scripted ...so I had to do it several times, until the lovely small crosses on the ground becomes a bit more perpetual. Oh, and not to mention the help of a Bull Netch a bit later, who makes myself run a bit too...but - mission accomplished, disturbed the bots, lowered their amount of Crystals for rezz - and the comments from one of the bots in chat was lovely too - "angry" - "honor"

The E or R keys are used to loot I'm guessing, so eventually, it'll rez them .
Crytals are not endless though, they'll eventually end up at the shrine.

I was in a dungeon, on my new low level alt, and it seems they updated their software.

Now, they no longer roam around, but they TP to the targets, then back to the spawn point. They TP max 10 meters or so.

As such, I managed to aggro 2 rangers mobs, and the AOE killed them all in under 10 seconds.

IT's been awfully hard to do, since players kept killing my aggro, even got me to loose my cool for a bit...

I would suggest to add debris near spawn points, with the spawn, that changes randomly, so you and the boss have to move around to fight. Alternatively, add random lower level spawns, spawning at random spots in the room, which do NOT get closer than let's say 20 meters. That way, it'll be incredibly hard, if not impossible to script for that.

I would suggest adding more walls in boss' rooms, so the bots have to move to get to the boss (breaking LOS), and adding small obstacles, than needs a small jump. If the boss spawn moves to a randomish position, with obstacles, the bots will most likely be unable to fight it most of the time with the LOS cut, ranged would not be an option either.

I did however, notice that they seem to be mostly in Glenumbra's starter zone. I did another alt for a bit to try a build, and I saw no spam, and no bots in the dungeons I visited. But in Glenumbra, it was bot central...

I did meet a GM, as soon as he logged in, I pmed to tp to me. I think he got some bots, but I'm pretty sure a few Tped away using travel to shrines (blue star map, and the sound), just a few seconds after the GM's announcement.

I think they have an alert setup, thankfully, I picked a few names, and told the GM to follow those guys (which I also reported).

I would advise the gm's to simply tp to bosses, and not say anything, as I really think they have some alert thing going on.

Squishy

I just found another large group in s'tros, where the crew members are held.

They seem to move by TP only, and killing them, even if they rez at the shrine doesn't stop them. IT seems they just tp to mobs regardless .

Squishy

Tonight, I was dealing with the new kind of bots, only teleporting to mobs, and using that glide exploit to sort of control the mobs where they want (ie: in front of them).

I found them horribly EASY to kill. Simple tag the mobs, before the bots, which'll make them move of their original position .

It seems the bots can NOT deal with power attacks knocking them back, and they're also extremelly vulnerable to attacks from the back, and AOE's.

I seen a few of them actually teleporting 3 to 5 meters backward, and attacking the mob (or empty space), in case something's behind them.

So to deal with the bots, I think the dev's first need to increase knockbacks from mobs, and ranged support, from behind (about 15 meters would do it from what I've seen so far).

I'm not sure what those bots are trying to achive, since my inventory was full already, from simply tagging the mobs, and the gold gain is too low to be of any use. Xp is also bound to be next to nothing.

I'm suspecting their sole purpose is to increase their numbers, while being "active", possibly for the Jute exploits.

I'm assuming the more players are around, the faster the nodes respawns. I'm assuming to avoid the current situation, fighthing players in the area is taken into account also for the node gathering,and if these guesses are correct, the bots are simply generating combats, not caring about gold or loot, to increase the spawn rate of nodes... Just a guess though.

If all this is correct, you need to implement some counters.

If a player kill the same mob more than 10 times in let's say 30 minutes, all nodes within the area despawns, and will not respawn for 10 minutes. If when they respawn, the same players kills the same mobs again for 10 minutes, the nodes despawn for 30 minutes, then 90, then 180. Multiply by 3, this will make any kind of automated gathering in that area worthless in about 40 minutes.

Sure the player base will suffer lightly, but personally, I'm willing to see a decrease in node spawns if the bots go away.

The bots I got slaughtered tonight, simply rezed at the shrine, healed, and started all over again. I was at it for a good 2 hours, and no operator came whining, so I'm assuming those are 100% automated, in a loop, not caring what happens to them or the loot. Unlike dungeons, when the operators got VERY annoyed if I got their bots killed, or stuck behind crates.

They seemed to TP to the exact same spots non stop, regardless of mobs being there or not, and launch the same attacks over and over again, so I basically aggroed the mobs from their spots, and waited the 2nd lance attack, at which point, they are stuck with basic attacks with no magicka, and the mobs slaughtered them after I trained the mobs to their attack position.

Behing on a loop, they of course rezzed, one by one, so they respawned, and got slaughtered one after each others automatically, until the differences in HP regen made them respawn together again.

AeliaVicusPlave

A half hour ago a [Gamemaster Sir Kill-a-Bot] removed the bot groups near Fort Arand Wayshrine on EU server. Earlier me and 2 other players badgered the bots with pulled Netches and Archer NPC, and I blocked nodes by opening but not looting them. One of the bots was running around actively from group to group, obviously a kind of supervisor. There are still some groups around, and I assume, the removed groups will be replaced soon.

Squishy

When I see a very suspicious behavior, I report an account, detailing what I suspect if it is not obvious. Otherwise, I see a Fggfjghfh standing at the bank for a long time, I report it as probable bot.

I think it is better to report something, even if it's not accurate, as long as you mention it is a suspicion only, due to "insert weird pattern/behavior here"

AeliaVicusPlave

Yep, I report suspicious characters too...as you mentioned, Fsgxcck or asdfffeee at the bank or the crafting station

P.S. Just logged into Stonefalls, and all removed Bot groups around Fort Arand Wayshrine has been replaced, not yet 5 to 6 on every spawn, but at least 2, sometimes 3. On some groups one of higher level among them, to kill/survive Netches probably. One of them I remember by name - reported him about 2 weeks ago, when he was lvl. 3, now he is lvl.6 and still farming Jute.

Squishy

Only 2 bots in this usually busy spot.

They were different though. Templars, but trying to use bows. Only 2 of them, dying quite often, and gliding, rather than teleporting.

They were going in a circular pattern, but still dropping right on the mobs, which kinda defeated the purpose of using bows. I'm suspecting they're trying to find a solution to their weakness to Ranged/ ranged AOE. So, far they do not seem to be very sucessful considering they're dying every 2 or 3 mobs ^_^.

They also had fairly normal names, so those might have been AFK botting players though.