Bots Infested Bal Foyen and Bleakrock

Omnevolus · May 2014

There are a ridiculous amount of bots flying, zipping, popping up from underground, appearing, disappearing, even running around like normal players with somewhat normal names, albeit still in soul shriven clothes, farming the integrity right out Bal Foyen, and Bleakrock to a lesser degree, with complete impunity.

The bot situation in ESO is, well, there is only one word for it: SHAMEFUL.

Update:
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR DOING WHATEVER YOU DID OR DIDN'T DO TO MAKE THE BOT PROBLEM A NON-ISSUE!!!

Ever-grateful.

KerinKor · May 2014

I totally agree, new players are being royally screwed in their efforts to level crafting and ZOs response to reports is woefully inadequate, 12+ hours after a report is made and the bot is still running around is not remotely a viable 'solution'.

starkerealm · May 2014

Maybe it's just me, but those, "thank you for informing of this" responses are feeling more and more... hollow? Snide? I'm not sure. I am sure that I can't take them at face value anymore, and if ZoS wants me to actually think they do care about the game, they need to do a lot more about the bots, and yesterday.

Aeradon · May 2014

I concur. I made a new character just yesterday, it was beyond crazy.

Sharee · May 2014

1, they need an autoban system that detects obvious hacks like clipping through terrain, flying and teleporting

2, Against the non-teleporting kind of bots, they need a specialized function to allow player report bots with a single keystroke. Any character 'tagged' this way will be run through a set of conditions, and if he meets them it will get automatically banned. The conditions would be secret to prevent abuse, but they might be something like "low level in a high level zone, check. Wearing prisoner garbs, check. collected unreal amount of resources in the last hour, check. garbage name, check. passed the same point on the map 300 times in the last hour, check. All met: ban"

starkerealm · May 2014

Sharee wrote: »

1, they need an autoban system that detects obvious hacks like clipping through terrain, flying and teleporting

2, Against the non-teleporting kind of bots, they need a specialized function to allow player report bots with a single keystroke. Any character 'tagged' this way will be run through a set of conditions, and if he meets them it will get automatically banned. The conditions would be secret to prevent abuse, but they might be something like "low level in a high level zone, check. Wearing prisoner garbs, check. collected unreal amount of resources in the last hour, check. garbage name, check. passed the same point on the map 300 times in the last hour, check. All met: ban"

Honestly, we just need a GM to sit in those zones, and look at the list of players in that zone, and go through it, trimming out anything that's obviously a bot. Watching the behavior, and clearing it.

I know, I know, there's 15 zones in the game, and all of those are instanced over and over, but, seriously, it's like they've given up at this point.

Yankee · May 2014

Sharee wrote: »

1, they need an autoban system that detects obvious hacks like clipping through terrain, flying and teleporting

2, Against the non-teleporting kind of bots, they need a specialized function to allow player report bots with a single keystroke. Any character 'tagged' this way will be run through a set of conditions, and if he meets them it will get automatically banned. The conditions would be secret to prevent abuse, but they might be something like "low level in a high level zone, check. Wearing prisoner garbs, check. collected unreal amount of resources in the last hour, check. garbage name, check. passed the same point on the map 300 times in the last hour, check. All met: ban"

I think they did have your first item for awhile, but it was also kicking some legitimate players for just falling through a hole in the game world.

I am sure they are working on it but they should have done some hack testing and been much more prepared at launch.

New players have a pretty sad introduction to the game right now.

Sharee · May 2014

starkerealm wrote: »

I know, I know, there's 15 zones in the game, and all of those are instanced over and over, but, seriously, it's like they've given up at this point.

Its one huge megaserver with all players together. If they were all in daggerfall you could not see the floor through the bodies.

You can see it because there are hundreds of instances of daggerfall. So there are not 15 zones, there are 15 zones times how many instances of each zone are active at any given moment. It is not possible to have a GM patrolling every single one.

starkerealm · May 2014

Yankee wrote: »

Sharee wrote: »

1, they need an autoban system that detects obvious hacks like clipping through terrain, flying and teleporting

2, Against the non-teleporting kind of bots, they need a specialized function to allow player report bots with a single keystroke. Any character 'tagged' this way will be run through a set of conditions, and if he meets them it will get automatically banned. The conditions would be secret to prevent abuse, but they might be something like "low level in a high level zone, check. Wearing prisoner garbs, check. collected unreal amount of resources in the last hour, check. garbage name, check. passed the same point on the map 300 times in the last hour, check. All met: ban"

I think they did have your first item for awhile, but it was also kicking some legitimate players for just falling through a hole in the game world.

I am sure they are working on it but they should have done some hack testing and been much more prepared at launch.

New players have a pretty sad introduction to the game right now.

Yeah, it was handing out bans for people falling through the world, because of... whatever causes that glitch.

As far as I can tell, it seems most of their automated ban systems have been catching legitimate players indiscriminately, based on the complaints on the forums. You know, taken with a grain of salt, and all that.

Seravi · May 2014

Yeah I made one three days ago there was nothing to be found on Stros M'kai because of the bots. I have reported them and reported them over and over and over again. It's not just the starter islands as the bots have infested pretty much every level of the game. Even V levels are being over run. I reported an NPC that you kill and it instantly re spawns. That post is now two pages deep with no replies. I researched it and this NPC was reported two weeks ago by others as well. When I logged off last night there must have been 60+ bots there. I left Riften wayshrine two days ago at 3 AM and after I walked out of the shrine, 20+ bots spawned in and within seconds took flight and went through the buildings flying like they had wings.

The one thing I am noticing is there are very few players on the starter islands now. It use to be fun meeting new folks on the islands and moving through levels with them. I know lots have moved up in levels but you should be seeing new players to the game coming around and I just don't see it.

starkerealm · May 2014

Seravi wrote: »

Yeah I made one three days ago there was nothing to be found on Stros M'kai because of the bots. I have reported them and reported them over and over and over again. It's not just the starter islands as the bots have infested pretty much every level of the game. Even V levels are being over run. I reported an NPC that you kill and it instantly re spawns. That post is now two pages deep with no replies. I researched it and this NPC was reported two weeks ago by others as well. When I logged off last night there must have been 60+ bots there. I left Riften wayshrine two days ago at 3 AM and after I walked out of the shrine, 20+ bots spawned in and within seconds took flight and went through the buildings flying like they had wings.

The one thing I am noticing is there are very few players on the starter islands now. It use to be fun meeting new folks on the islands and moving through levels with them. I know lots have moved up in levels but you should be seeing new players to the game coming around and I just don't see it.

Well, the hit the main zone, see the bot swarm, maybe they sort out how to go back to the starter islands, and if they do, they find everything picked over by the bots, then they close the game, unsubscribe, and never come back. I'm not sure if I see the mystery.

Seravi · May 2014

Well ZOS needs to do a lot on their side to fight this mess. It can't all be on their shoulders though. The reason the bots have done so well here is there is a huge group of insane players that don't mind paying gold for things they can find if they just walk 10 steps. I feel sure they can see everything being said in chat so program something that flags players selling and buying this mess. Give them a 24 hour ban to start. If the dbase sees they have been flagged again, perm ban them and be done with it. There is NO reason to purchase the easy to find mats on the map.

Gold sellers attack the forums and they shut down PM's. The game is being attacked by hacking bots and gold sellers. Please focus on this! When someone reports an instant spawn NPC as I and many other have, get your code gurus on the phone and have them disable that spawn with a quick push update. Or use it to your advantage and have GM's there banning every single bot and player abusing it. Hire me and I will be more than happy to do this for you.

PharmaChief · May 2014

Sharee wrote: »

starkerealm wrote: »

I know, I know, there's 15 zones in the game, and all of those are instanced over and over, but, seriously, it's like they've given up at this point.

Its one huge megaserver with all players together. If they were all in daggerfall you could not see the floor through the bodies.

You can see it because there are hundreds of instances of daggerfall. So there are not 15 zones, there are 15 zones times how many instances of each zone are active at any given moment. It is not possible to have a GM patrolling every single one.

Here's an idea then... allow as to transfer to a different instance when we are annoyed by bot infestation. So if i am in an area full of bots, i can move myself to another instant where those bots hopefully don't exist and continue playing... they could implement a simple security measure like asking as to type a simple pictogram to stop bots from also traveling between instances...
By the way i wouldn't mind typing a simple pictogram each time i changed zone or used a wayshrine if that would keep bots from traveling freely and fast around the world...

GreySix · May 2014

Actually found resources on Stros M'Kai yesterday with my alt crafting character, but did see several harvesting bots. Many were the usual nonsense names, but they were at least not using hacks I could detect.

Reported only the two obvious ones: One was teleporting from node to node, and another was travelling underground between nodes.

starkerealm · May 2014

PharmaChief wrote: »

Here's an idea then... allow as to transfer to a different instance when we are annoyed by bot infestation.

Yeah... until the bots start to spread out across all the instances. I have, unfortunately, seen that before.

Vorkk8383 · May 2014

They have GM's in game banning and they make a huge annoucement out of it. GM-WHATEVERNAME is here banning for 15 minutes! Contact them with bot locs. 15 mins every so often isn't enough. These guys are on 24/7 and very active in what is considered USA night time. For a month or two, they need GM's on around the clock. Trust me, they won't be bored. There will be bots to ban over and over. I don't get why they refuse to do this. Can they not pay a few people to do this? I'll do it for a free sub, Zeni! I bet you I can ban a good 200 per day for a good month.

GreySix · May 2014

Its like others said above. GMs can be in only one instance (out of dozens) at a time, and of course if they announce their presence, then some botters actually paying attention may log off or sign on with different bots.

Vorkk8383 · May 2014

GreySix wrote: »

Its like others said above. GMs can be in only one instance (out of dozens) at a time, and of course if they announce their presence, then some botters actually paying attention may log off or sign on with different bots.

Totally valid point. Which is why they need them on 24/7 for a month or two. Even if they announce themselves, the bots will risk logging on to make money...they will have to try and log on at some point. If there's GM's on 24/7 for a month or two, they could get SO MANY bots. The report thing isn't going on too well. They likely are getting so many tickets and are behind. I've seen bots in the same area for 12-15 hours. Have GM's on, the tickets that come in will be more about bugs and game imbalances, etc. They can clear up most of the tickets bu adding constant GM's. The players will contact them directly and BOOM the GM is there in a few minutes at most and the bot is gone.

ZOS_EveP · May 2014

This message has been moved to General Discussion.

Wavemoore · May 2014

ZOS_EveP wrote: »

This message has been moved to General Discussion.

The fact that they are just lobbing all the bot related posts over to General proves they've given up. They don't want to hear about it any more and are tired of our complaints, no matter how valid.

Drachenfier · May 2014

patrick.loiselleb16_ESO wrote: »

They have GM's in game banning and they make a huge annoucement out of it. GM-WHATEVERNAME is here banning for 15 minutes! Contact them with bot locs.

I've seen posts about this, but have yet to see a single instance of this in game, was playing nightly.

haven't logged in for two days, fastest MMO drop in my gaming history.

Ohioastro · May 2014

it's not dozens of instances; it's thousands of instances. The total population is tough to pinpoint, but there are anywhere from hundreds of thousands to millions of players. There can't be less than many thousands of shards at any given moment in time.