Bots - new levels???

S2RDK · August 7

I have only played ESO for 3 years, so please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

But - I've gotten a feeling that the level of bots are getting out of hand - sure - mostly in the starter areas - but where else am I to go, if I want to complete the Luminous Ink Achievement?

Ulvich · August 7

I suggest farming ink (if that's what you are looking to do) in Craglorn. Make the "loop" and farm everything you can. This way you have a chance to get nirn as well.

bmnoble · August 7

All I did was stop using my mount, harvest nodes from point A to B whenever I was going somewhere, got to the 50 ink needed for the skill style around the middle of July.

I made a point to finish maxing out the mages guild on one of each class, collecting nodes at the same time, doing the same with the Psijic skill line on those same characters at the moment stuff I had been putting off for years.

As of the 500 ink to finish the achievement that will happen when it happens not going out of my way to farm for that one, will collect ink as I need it got around 60 ink stockpiled for when I have figured out what skills and characters I want to use it on.

Oznog666 · August 7

Because of the ink I'm farming one of the starter islands almost every day for at about 30 to 60 minutes but I never ever saw bots. But I'm playing on PC EU maybe there are no bots at all? What I see of course are other player using special gear like ring of the wild hunt which make them faster, sometimes ppl might think running that fast must be a bot.

fizl101 · August 7

On PS EU there are bots in Bleakrock, Betnich etc, with random letter names, farming the same handful of nodes in a circuit. If you drop a bear trap or meatsack in front of their stopping point before the node spawns in they pick it up and run to their next point. Every day or two they are zapped by ZOS and a new one is created by the bot masters

Orbital78 · August 7

S2RDK wrote: »

I have only played ESO for 3 years, so please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

But - I've gotten a feeling that the level of bots are getting out of hand - sure - mostly in the starter areas - but where else am I to go, if I want to complete the Luminous Ink Achievement?

I am guessing you're on console, PC-NA has a few bots but not that bad. I guess you missed out on the double drops in Cyrodiil? It was dropping like candy for me. The explorers event in September will be your next chance to get tons of inks, nice thing about that event is it is all zones.

DenverRalphy · August 7

Farm the DLC zones.

Despite what the "Experts" say, farming the what used to be starter zones is garbage. Perhaps it's anecdotal, but I find my drop rates are much better in zones that weren't once considered "starter" zones. And that's despite the lower nodes per second harvest rate. Additionally, you can avoid bots if you stick to DLC zones.

Again, I'll stress that this is purely anecdotal on my part. But then I average an ink drop (many of those drops receiving the Plentiful Harvest bonus) every 10-15 mins in my favorite farm spot in a DLC zone, while people screaming that they never see ink drops are usually farming the starter zones because that's what the "experts" say to do.

Elsonso · August 7

S2RDK wrote: »

I have only played ESO for 3 years, so please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

But - I've gotten a feeling that the level of bots are getting out of hand - sure - mostly in the starter areas - but where else am I to go, if I want to complete the Luminous Ink Achievement?

On XBox, the bots seem to be farming only ore nodes, Not sure why, but they will run right past other resources to get to an ore node. They are an annoyance, and the army of bots running around serves as a reminder of the value ZOS places on getting rid of them.

If you are going to farm for Ink, doing it in a DLC area is probably best if the goal is to avoid bots. Bots can go anywhere in the base game, even Craglorn, but buying something to access a DLC zone is asking a lot of them.

S2RDK · August 7

Orbital78 wrote: »

S2RDK wrote: »

I have only played ESO for 3 years, so please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

But - I've gotten a feeling that the level of bots are getting out of hand - sure - mostly in the starter areas - but where else am I to go, if I want to complete the Luminous Ink Achievement?

I am guessing you're on console, PC-NA has a few bots but not that bad. I guess you missed out on the double drops in Cyrodiil? It was dropping like candy for me. The explorers event in September will be your next chance to get tons of inks, nice thing about that event is it is all zones.

Hi
I'm glad you got a lot of ink Cyrodiil - but my skills/gear/setup only gets me killed in pvp =(
No, actually I'm on the PC-EU megaserver - I have collected around 250 inks by now - the half is from the last 14 days in starting areas, just running and picking everything up. But nodes keep disappearing on me - one morning 5 nodes - one right after the other.

runa_gate · August 7

On PC/NA I saw something i hadn't seen for a very long time - a teleporting bot in Shadowfen, just appears, picks a node, reappears not too terribly far away, picks a node, too quick to report it or even catch the name

Elsonso · August 7

S2RDK wrote: »

No, actually I'm on the PC-EU megaserver - I have collected around 250 inks by now - the half is from the last 14 days in starting areas, just running and picking everything up. But nodes keep disappearing on me - one morning 5 nodes - one right after the other.

My guess is that those nodes were partially looted by someone that came by earlier. I would especially think this if they were in a logical farming order. They will despawn after a timeout if they still have something in them. You might have just got there right as they were despawning.

Alternately, it could be desync between the server and client as to whether those nodes are actually there. The server won't let you pick a node that is not there, even if the client insists it is there. They usually sort it out as you approach it, if they are in disagreement.

Orbital78 · August 7

S2RDK wrote: »

Hi
I'm glad you got a lot of ink Cyrodiil - but my skills/gear/setup only gets me killed in pvp =(
No, actually I'm on the PC-EU megaserver - I have collected around 250 inks by now - the half is from the last 14 days in starting areas, just running and picking everything up. But nodes keep disappearing on me - one morning 5 nodes - one right after the other.

You don't even really need to pvp to farm nodes, and it sounds like you can use harvest map. It is too late this round now though. The disappearing nodes is cherry picking probably, resources aren't worth much at all these days on PC-NA, they are probably after ink too. Some addons have a considerate mode, but it is off by default. People do it with treasure chests too, leave behind a random style mat that isn't worth anything.

Orbital78 · August 7

runa_gate wrote: »

On PC/NA I saw something i hadn't seen for a very long time - a teleporting bot in Shadowfen, just appears, picks a node, reappears not too terribly far away, picks a node, too quick to report it or even catch the name

I haven't seen that, but there is around a dozen on PC-NA, I don't think ZoS is enforcing rules against it currently.

zaria · August 7

Orbital78 wrote: »

S2RDK wrote: »

Hi
I'm glad you got a lot of ink Cyrodiil - but my skills/gear/setup only gets me killed in pvp =(
No, actually I'm on the PC-EU megaserver - I have collected around 250 inks by now - the half is from the last 14 days in starting areas, just running and picking everything up. But nodes keep disappearing on me - one morning 5 nodes - one right after the other.

You don't even really need to pvp to farm nodes, and it sounds like you can use harvest map. It is too late this round now though. The disappearing nodes is cherry picking probably, resources aren't worth much at all these days on PC-NA, they are probably after ink too. Some addons have a considerate mode, but it is off by default. People do it with treasure chests too, leave behind a random style mat that isn't worth anything.

This if you stay away of the keeps, resources and the common travel routes for attacks you are unlikely to get into PvP.
Can happen but is rare, on he downside Cyrodil is low in nodes compared to other zones.

Grendalism · August 7

The number of bots seems to have Definitely increased.

I routinely report 10-20 per week (which TBH ZOS could easily employ an intern to do - it’s not difficult to spot them).

There should be an achievement for reporting 100 bots!!
(Or, add it to the list of endeavours!)

Grendalism · August 7

(Forgot to say, this is on PS-EU server)

Nharimlur_Finor · August 7

Bots are automated characters.

I get the feeling some players describe real, player-controlled characters farming nodes as 'bots'.

Orbital78 · August 7

LaintalAy wrote: »

Bots are automated characters.

I get the feeling some players describe real, player-controlled characters farming nodes as 'bots'.

Some could be mistaken at times but the group I am talking about is all associated and share one or two instances covering all the cloth nodes and most of the ore. They aren't "bot's" but afk script/macro users. If they die, they can sit dead afk for hours at a time and all do the same sequence of events. They will be there for days at a time sometimes, unless they all get disconnected or there is a server downtime.

I don't think I have seen many "true" bots on PC-NA but was suspicious of a few that run similar routes in Craglorn. Mounting up in the same spot and running almost the exact same paths, if not the exact.

TheMajority · August 8

LaintalAy wrote: »

Bots are automated characters.

I get the feeling some players describe real, player-controlled characters farming nodes as 'bots'.

Yeah I agree. My mom did get harassed & accused of being a "bot" and had a player thowing mudballs at her for a long time, follow her and whisper accusations just because she like to farm on stros'mkai for mats and follows a route that she likes in particular to do it.

she's retired and she has time to play this as much as she wants or go fishing, these are her two favorite activities along with dress up and houses. she's 85 years old and i just want people to stop whsipering her mean stuff

went to her house to teach her how to block people and show her place to farm where she won't have people bother her all the time, but she miss her "beach resort" now but is afraid to play there because of people mudball her and whisper things

she play on PC, I cant understand why they think she a bot because she have nice clothes nice mount and over level 2k

Elsonso · August 8

Farming in the starter zones makes it easier to get falsely accused of bottling. That is where there tend to be a lot of them, and so people just assume bots without checking, first. I blame ZOS… players should not have to police the game of bots for the studio.

MidniteOwl1913 · August 8

TheMajority wrote: »

LaintalAy wrote: »

Bots are automated characters.

I get the feeling some players describe real, player-controlled characters farming nodes as 'bots'.

Yeah I agree. My mom did get harassed & accused of being a "bot" and had a player thowing mudballs at her for a long time, follow her and whisper accusations just because she like to farm on stros'mkai for mats and follows a route that she likes in particular to do it.

she's retired and she has time to play this as much as she wants or go fishing, these are her two favorite activities along with dress up and houses. she's 85 years old and i just want people to stop whsipering her mean stuff

went to her house to teach her how to block people and show her place to farm where she won't have people bother her all the time, but she miss her "beach resort" now but is afraid to play there because of people mudball her and whisper things

she play on PC, I cant understand why they think she a bot because she have nice clothes nice mount and over level 2k

Why whisper if they think she's a bot? The bot can't respond, it's just 1 and 0's...

I'm sorry that someone in-game was mean to your mother whatever the reason they thought they had there is no excuse for that. Report them.

katanagirl1 · August 8

TheMajority wrote: »

LaintalAy wrote: »

Bots are automated characters.

I get the feeling some players describe real, player-controlled characters farming nodes as 'bots'.

Yeah I agree. My mom did get harassed & accused of being a "bot" and had a player thowing mudballs at her for a long time, follow her and whisper accusations just because she like to farm on stros'mkai for mats and follows a route that she likes in particular to do it.

she's retired and she has time to play this as much as she wants or go fishing, these are her two favorite activities along with dress up and houses. she's 85 years old and i just want people to stop whsipering her mean stuff

went to her house to teach her how to block people and show her place to farm where she won't have people bother her all the time, but she miss her "beach resort" now but is afraid to play there because of people mudball her and whisper things

she play on PC, I cant understand why they think she a bot because she have nice clothes nice mount and over level 2k

Bots are all level 3, a high CP player doesn’t fit.

Elsonso · August 8

MidniteOwl1913 wrote: »

Why whisper if they think she's a bot? The bot can't respond, it's just 1 and 0's...

I'm sorry that someone in-game was mean to your mother whatever the reason they thought they had there is no excuse for that. Report them.

I would definitely report them. Bots are best observed and reported, not interacted with. It is amazing how many people advocate breaking the ToS or CoC just because they are a bot and people think they won't get reported.

katanagirl1 wrote: »

Bots are all level 3, a high CP player doesn’t fit.

Mostly, yes. Not as a hard rule, though.

In the past, ZOS has not been exactly dedicated to ridding the game of bots. Several years ago, I watched a Level 3 bot train level up in Shadowfen doing very little other than killing wildlife for mats in a wide circle. One notable bot that I named "King of Shadowfen" ruled for 5 months back in 2017 as ZOS did nothing about it. He disappeared one day, which I attributed to natural causes, not ZOS taking any action. And yes... it was obviously automated and not a player controlling the character.

Anyway... not all botters are gold sellers harvest mats to see outside of the game for cash. I used to see bots all the time on PC. Every day. I don't report bots anymore (waste of my time, not my job, ZOS is not paying me enough) but back then I tried to report only the ones that were not players. If I saw a bot that was high level, or had fancy gear and pets following them, I held off. Yes, they were running some sort of bot software. That much was obvious. Once I learned to see the hand of the automated software, it was hard to unsee it. However, if I saw them in the game doing other things, I simply dropped the matter.

Bots are not notable because they are low level and have gibberish names, or are Sorcerers with a scamp following them. Those are just common traits. Bots are notable because they don't behave like the other players.

TheMajority · August 8

katanagirl1 wrote: »

TheMajority wrote: »

LaintalAy wrote: »

Bots are automated characters.

I get the feeling some players describe real, player-controlled characters farming nodes as 'bots'.

Yeah I agree. My mom did get harassed & accused of being a "bot" and had a player thowing mudballs at her for a long time, follow her and whisper accusations just because she like to farm on stros'mkai for mats and follows a route that she likes in particular to do it.

she's retired and she has time to play this as much as she wants or go fishing, these are her two favorite activities along with dress up and houses. she's 85 years old and i just want people to stop whsipering her mean stuff

went to her house to teach her how to block people and show her place to farm where she won't have people bother her all the time, but she miss her "beach resort" now but is afraid to play there because of people mudball her and whisper things

she play on PC, I cant understand why they think she a bot because she have nice clothes nice mount and over level 2k

Bots are all level 3, a high CP player doesn’t fit.

that don't change the fact that my mom was harassed and called a bot, so I don't know why you point this out to me, when I know that and am confused by why a player would even think she was one and go to the trouble of trying to disrupt her play. I believe many player are accusing normal harvest activity of being botting when its not

MidniteOwl1913 wrote: »

TheMajority wrote: »

LaintalAy wrote: »

Bots are automated characters.

I get the feeling some players describe real, player-controlled characters farming nodes as 'bots'.

Yeah I agree. My mom did get harassed & accused of being a "bot" and had a player thowing mudballs at her for a long time, follow her and whisper accusations just because she like to farm on stros'mkai for mats and follows a route that she likes in particular to do it.

she's retired and she has time to play this as much as she wants or go fishing, these are her two favorite activities along with dress up and houses. she's 85 years old and i just want people to stop whsipering her mean stuff

went to her house to teach her how to block people and show her place to farm where she won't have people bother her all the time, but she miss her "beach resort" now but is afraid to play there because of people mudball her and whisper things

she play on PC, I cant understand why they think she a bot because she have nice clothes nice mount and over level 2k

Why whisper if they think she's a bot? The bot can't respond, it's just 1 and 0's...

I'm sorry that someone in-game was mean to your mother whatever the reason they thought they had there is no excuse for that. Report them.

I think they thought it was a test, they threatened "if you don't respond to me I will report your account as a bot" but even after my mom said she's not the harassment contined. i did report it, fortunately she had not any problems since, but it was a distrubing situation for an older woman who just want to play harvesting and who does not know english 100%

katanagirl1 · August 8

Elsonso wrote: »

MidniteOwl1913 wrote: »

Why whisper if they think she's a bot? The bot can't respond, it's just 1 and 0's...

I'm sorry that someone in-game was mean to your mother whatever the reason they thought they had there is no excuse for that. Report them.

I would definitely report them. Bots are best observed and reported, not interacted with. It is amazing how many people advocate breaking the ToS or CoC just because they are a bot and people think they won't get reported.

katanagirl1 wrote: »

Bots are all level 3, a high CP player doesn’t fit.

Mostly, yes. Not as a hard rule, though.

In the past, ZOS has not been exactly dedicated to ridding the game of bots. Several years ago, I watched a Level 3 bot train level up in Shadowfen doing very little other than killing wildlife for mats in a wide circle. One notable bot that I named "King of Shadowfen" ruled for 5 months back in 2017 as ZOS did nothing about it. He disappeared one day, which I attributed to natural causes, not ZOS taking any action. And yes... it was obviously automated and not a player controlling the character.

Anyway... not all botters are gold sellers harvest mats to see outside of the game for cash. I used to see bots all the time on PC. Every day. I don't report bots anymore (waste of my time, not my job, ZOS is not paying me enough) but back then I tried to report only the ones that were not players. If I saw a bot that was high level, or had fancy gear and pets following them, I held off. Yes, they were running some sort of bot software. That much was obvious. Once I learned to see the hand of the automated software, it was hard to unsee it. However, if I saw them in the game doing other things, I simply dropped the matter.

Bots are not notable because they are low level and have gibberish names, or are Sorcerers with a scamp following them. Those are just common traits. Bots are notable because they don't behave like the other players.

I’m on PS NA, so trust me, I’ve seen a lot of bots.

At least on my server every single one is level 3 and they can be found in all starter zones and Craglorn.

Some are single farmers with the sorcerer familiar pet and some are groups controlled by one single sorc.

Maybe they are different on PC, but I highly doubt a high CP account would be botting. Perhaps you are confusing a dedicated farming player for a bot, too.

Arrodisia · August 8

Players suggesting we should farm elsewhere to accomodate bots is a new level of crazy imho.

While I may not play every platform,only PC right now I sure as heck won't make bot life easy for them. It's a cancer in every game and I'm glad they ban waves of them when they can.

The_Boggart · September 9

Bots in craglorn, lm lvl 50 and got iron ore out of plundered resources, we need more wasps to kill the low level gits

fizl101 · September 9

And aggro on the bot not just their scamp too, I report them all the time, but they come back hours later

robwolf666 · September 9

S2RDK wrote: »

I have only played ESO for 3 years, so please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

But - I've gotten a feeling that the level of bots are getting out of hand - sure - mostly in the starter areas - but where else am I to go, if I want to complete the Luminous Ink Achievement?

Cheaters should be banned... and deploying bots is cheating and being too bloody lazy to collect resources properly.