It's no wonder there's server issues

Lynx7386

Iluvamir dolmen outside vulkhel guard has like 50 bots spamming staff attacks 24/7.

Mind doing something about this, zos? I'm sure you rake in enough money from crates to hire a few gms to handle these things.

JKorr

I've reported several dolmens with bot infestations.

Despite the people claiming clown crates are fantastic because that money will be used to make improvements in the game, the bots are still there, and spreading to even more dolmens.

BlackSparrow

They are constantly doing something about it, and they can do more faster if you keep reporting them.

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Hi everyone,

We know there have been a lot of questions recently about botting, automated play, what’s a Terms of Service Violation and what isn’t, and what we’re doing to combat TOS-violating behavior. We’d like to answer some of those questions and provide insight.

Per our Terms of Service, this is the definition of botting and automated play:

Utilizing automation for your character is a violation of our Terms of Service. This is defined as taking action on your character, without human input, to further advance your progress in the game. Which is considered botting.

Recently, some of you have asked if it’s okay to put tape or a rubber band on your controller. The short answer is “No.” Automating your character in any way, including placing tape or a rubber-band on a console controller, is considered a violation of our Terms of Service, and action may be taken on your account. You must be actively controlling your character.

In regards to our efforts to combat botting and automated play, we’re tackling it on two fronts: Game Development and Customer Support.

On the Game Development front, we are auditing the monsters that are most commonly targeted by those who bot and automate play to ensure the spawn timers are what they should be. As we find them, we’re fixing any monsters that are instantly re-spawning or on a spawn timer that is shorter than intended.

On the Customer Support side of things, our Terms of Service team suspends and bans accounts daily. We review all TOS reports that we receive, and prioritize the investigations of accounts that have received multiple complaints. We regularly send our Support Agents in-game to watch high-traffic areas such as Dolmens, and take action on any violators we identify. We turn over identified “black marketeers” and repeat offenders to Sony and Microsoft, which sometimes results in a ban of the individual’s PlayStation 4 or Xbox One. We also do other secret things.

So how can you help us with our efforts to get rid of those who are botting and/or automating their characters? Reporting them to us is a huge help, and we do review every ticket we receive.

Here are some steps for using the in-game reporting tools:

On PC/Mac
Radial Menu
Reporting players via the radial menu is the preferred method. Walk up to the player you wish to report and Press [F] to open the radial menu. Select “Report Player” then let go of [F] to open the Report Player window. Press [E] to report the player for botting, or [R] to open the Ticket Creation page.

Chat Window
You can also Right-click on a player character name in their chat window and choose the “Report Player” option.

Press [E] to report a player for chat spam, including spamming gold sales advertisements. This will automatically send a report and does not require you to open and fill out a ticket.

Press [R] to report another player for something unrelated to spam. Choosing this option opens the Ticket Creation page.


On PS4/Xbox One
Radial Menu
As with PC/Mac, reporting players via the radial menu is preferred. Simply walk up to the player you wish to report and press the [Menu] button on Xbox One or [Options] button on PlayStation 4 to open the radial menu. Select “Report Player” then let go of [Menu] or [Options] to open the Report Player window.

Customer Service Menu
Navigate to the Player Menu ([Menu] on Xbox One or [Options]) on PlayStation 4 and find the Help Menu.
From there, select the Customer Service Menu and proceed to fill out a ticket under the appropriate category type.

Please provide the following information when reporting another player:

• The name of the player you are reported
• The reason why you are reporting them (Spam, Botting, or Harassment)
• The time of the incident
• The megaserver that the reported player is playing on

If you wish to include visual proof of the violation, such as screenshots or video footage, simply reply to your Support Ticket to update it and add the files.

We hope this info helps – thank you for being a part of our community and continuing to report any potential TOS violations you see!

Sigtric

How do you link 50 accounts to server issues? Bots or otherwise

Ashtaris

Bots are getting to be a real problem again and hopefully ZOS will take a more active role in getting rid of them. I've seen bot trains in Shadowfen and Rivenspire just farming XP and loot. If the devs don't get a handle on it soon, it could get to be as bad again as it was when the game launched.

Tandor

No point posting about bots being present if you don't bother to mention the platform and server.

zaria

Patch note, changed the AI behavior of monsters at dolmen so they can travel farther from dolmen.
Bring popcorn.

I have never seen it on pc, farmed both Alkir and Ardudin a lot, might be lucky with instances or this is more common on consoles. Anyway an change in moster behavior should fix this.
Its a bit weird as other monsters always attack you if you attack them. Yes if the group is large enough they might be able to kill the monsters but an smaller group would be toast.

mystfit

I wondered about this. I'm a new player and happened to walk past my first one of these and couldn't for the life of me figure out what all those people were fighting since nothing was there at the time A group of real people invited me to their party and I had fun doing a few rounds of these!

JKorr

Tandor wrote: »

No point posting about bots being present if you don't bother to mention the platform and server.

Of course including a line on the report form that it is required so people will do it without thinking is really difficult or something. The servers are separate; all the reports from ps4, xbox1, and pc are dumped in a large mixed pile? I could see server, but why would the different platforms be lumped together?

komodozermike

Solution: players will not get XP or any treasure for bosses they've already killed.

Is there a major glaring issue with this that I'm simply not seeing?

NewBlacksmurf

Sigtric wrote: »

How do you link 50 accounts to server issues? Bots or otherwise

@Sigtric Its their idea that more than 50 are doing this if they only see 50.
While their post lacks a lot of details, multiple posts and the DDOS attacks align around the end of 2016 to current, when those attacks began consistently on the weekends, we have seen a large increase of bots.

These types of things actually have different impacts but on consoles its more of a FPS and economy hit as well as gameplay influences.

I can confirm that it appears, little to nothing is being done as I screen shot each gametag before reporting and yesterday night i saw the same gamertag....doing the same thing, in the area I reported them in last week.

For consoles, it would be better if ZOS and Sony/Xbox worked together as there are a lot of vids on this stuff going on......many aren't reporting vids, just WTH is this or are you serious....and look at this m.f.er type of stuff

Turelus

BlackSparrow wrote: »

They are constantly doing something about it, and they can do more faster if you keep reporting them.

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Hi everyone,

We know there have been a lot of questions recently about botting, automated play, what’s a Terms of Service Violation and what isn’t, and what we’re doing to combat TOS-violating behavior. We’d like to answer some of those questions and provide insight.

Per our Terms of Service, this is the definition of botting and automated play:

Utilizing automation for your character is a violation of our Terms of Service. This is defined as taking action on your character, without human input, to further advance your progress in the game. Which is considered botting.

Recently, some of you have asked if it’s okay to put tape or a rubber band on your controller. The short answer is “No.” Automating your character in any way, including placing tape or a rubber-band on a console controller, is considered a violation of our Terms of Service, and action may be taken on your account. You must be actively controlling your character.

In regards to our efforts to combat botting and automated play, we’re tackling it on two fronts: Game Development and Customer Support.

On the Game Development front, we are auditing the monsters that are most commonly targeted by those who bot and automate play to ensure the spawn timers are what they should be. As we find them, we’re fixing any monsters that are instantly re-spawning or on a spawn timer that is shorter than intended.

On the Customer Support side of things, our Terms of Service team suspends and bans accounts daily. We review all TOS reports that we receive, and prioritize the investigations of accounts that have received multiple complaints. We regularly send our Support Agents in-game to watch high-traffic areas such as Dolmens, and take action on any violators we identify. We turn over identified “black marketeers” and repeat offenders to Sony and Microsoft, which sometimes results in a ban of the individual’s PlayStation 4 or Xbox One. We also do other secret things.

So how can you help us with our efforts to get rid of those who are botting and/or automating their characters? Reporting them to us is a huge help, and we do review every ticket we receive.

Here are some steps for using the in-game reporting tools:

On PC/Mac
Radial Menu
Reporting players via the radial menu is the preferred method. Walk up to the player you wish to report and Press [F] to open the radial menu. Select “Report Player” then let go of [F] to open the Report Player window. Press [E] to report the player for botting, or [R] to open the Ticket Creation page.

Chat Window
You can also Right-click on a player character name in their chat window and choose the “Report Player” option.

Press [E] to report a player for chat spam, including spamming gold sales advertisements. This will automatically send a report and does not require you to open and fill out a ticket.

Press [R] to report another player for something unrelated to spam. Choosing this option opens the Ticket Creation page.


On PS4/Xbox One
Radial Menu
As with PC/Mac, reporting players via the radial menu is preferred. Simply walk up to the player you wish to report and press the [Menu] button on Xbox One or [Options] button on PlayStation 4 to open the radial menu. Select “Report Player” then let go of [Menu] or [Options] to open the Report Player window.

Customer Service Menu
Navigate to the Player Menu ([Menu] on Xbox One or [Options]) on PlayStation 4 and find the Help Menu.
From there, select the Customer Service Menu and proceed to fill out a ticket under the appropriate category type.

Please provide the following information when reporting another player:

• The name of the player you are reported
• The reason why you are reporting them (Spam, Botting, or Harassment)
• The time of the incident
• The megaserver that the reported player is playing on

If you wish to include visual proof of the violation, such as screenshots or video footage, simply reply to your Support Ticket to update it and add the files.

We hope this info helps – thank you for being a part of our community and continuing to report any potential TOS violations you see!

Maybe they could employ like five people to GM each server? I mean what's the minimum wage in the US these days? Pretty sure that's not going to break the bank to employ 30 people to reply only to bot tickets.

Jitterbug

komodozermike wrote: »

Solution: players will not get XP or any treasure for bosses they've already killed.

Is there a major glaring issue with this that I'm simply not seeing?

Didn't get the sharpened Spinner's Inferno Staff in your first try? Tough luck.

Lynx7386

Its not a bad idea. No xp rewards for dolmen except for the first attempt. Same for delves that have been completed.

You still should get loot, but to my knowledge botting doesn't work so well for looting things. At dolmens the loot really only comes from the chest, so all those xp bots spamming attacks wouldn't get anything.

parkham

Just report them in game.

Katahdin

komodozermike wrote: »

Solution: players will not get XP or any treasure for bosses they've already killed.

Is there a major glaring issue with this that I'm simply not seeing?

No one with a new character will ever be able to get help completing bosses because there is o incentive to do then once you did them.

alexkdd99

komodozermike wrote: »

Solution: players will not get XP or any treasure for bosses they've already killed.

Is there a major glaring issue with this that I'm simply not seeing?

Talk about NEVER getting that piece of loot you want. If you could only get 1 drop per a boss the game would quickly be gone. Seems a pretty glaring issue to me.

Tomg999

What's the best way to tell it's a bot? Especially at Domens & in Public Dungeons?

DreadKnight

Bots are on Xbox1 24/7 too, but why should we report them - I mean it's not like it's easy and why should we be doing the job of the devs? Does ZOS even have an XBox1 on site? can they like - turn it on an play it for a while --the Bots are there plain for all to see at Alikia Dolmens and in Glenumbra.......wtf?

@ZOS_JessicaFolsom @ZOS_GinaBruno

You guys CAN see this right?

Tandor

JKorr wrote: »

Tandor wrote: »

No point posting about bots being present if you don't bother to mention the platform and server.

Of course including a line on the report form that it is required so people will do it without thinking is really difficult or something. The servers are separate; all the reports from ps4, xbox1, and pc are dumped in a large mixed pile? I could see server, but why would the different platforms be lumped together?

I referred specifically to posting, not reporting. This topic serves no purpose without mentioning the platform and server.

DMuehlhausen

Sigtric wrote: »

How do you link 50 accounts to server issues? Bots or otherwise

That many characters spamming spells or attack over and over is something the server has to process. It's not designed to do that as normally the Dolmen would spawn and be active for what 5 minutes, the nothing going on there. Now though people are just standing there casting spells forcing the server to more than it's designed to

kevlarto_ESO

This is why I do not buy from the crown store or spend any money outside of my sub, the lack of intervention by zos to get these out of the game, along with cheaters and exploiters when I see them taking long term action I might open up my wallet a bit, I am still on the fence about buying Morrowind.

JKorr

Tomg999 wrote: »

What's the best way to tell it's a bot? Especially at Domens & in Public Dungeons?

Go to some of the dolmens that have rocks or high spaces. You'll see bots standing there spamming heavy attacks at nothing; the dolmen hasn't dropped yet.When the anchor finally drops, the bots attacks are hitting where the spawns usually drop. If the spawns move, the bots are still targeting the same empty spot.

Example for you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNs1A8Lx5TE

Bots running farming routes.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nEJYxU1Fs9w

Tandor wrote: »

JKorr wrote: »

Tandor wrote: »

No point posting about bots being present if you don't bother to mention the platform and server.

Of course including a line on the report form that it is required so people will do it without thinking is really difficult or something. The servers are separate; all the reports from ps4, xbox1, and pc are dumped in a large mixed pile? I could see server, but why would the different platforms be lumped together?

I referred specifically to posting, not reporting. This topic serves no purpose without mentioning the platform and server.

Apparently its all the platforms. About the only point in posting is to get others to post in-game.

ItsDyvim

Here is the problem with reporting bots:

They will not investigate unless you have video evidence, collaborated by 3 others, also with video evidence. With @names and characters names with exact times and dates, server and platform.

So report to heart's content. THEY are doing everything they can.

phileunderx2

It would help if they couldn't stand up on the tent as that is where most of the bots are.

WhiteCoatSyndrome

Maybe instead of a Thieves' Guild event there should be a Report Bots and Bugs event.

valthierX

That's the first time I saw this. Thanks for the video.

zaria

Katahdin wrote: »

komodozermike wrote: »

Solution: players will not get XP or any treasure for bosses they've already killed.

Is there a major glaring issue with this that I'm simply not seeing?

No one with a new character will ever be able to get help completing bosses because there is o incentive to do then once you did them.

Have fun getting overland sets, necropotente is an BiS set for sorc with pet, and you can not craft jewelry.
And as other says hard for new players as nobody will kill overland bosses or dolmens.

Just adjusting monster behavior so it works like standard ones would work well enough, an large lethal AoE from anchor would also work.

Auros

If people buy gold, then don't expect bots to disappear... otherwise I agree, ZOS can track such behaviour, but maybe this can cause even more laag ...

MakoFore

the problem is- is that the suspension is like only 3 days. guys that probably can't even play during the week anyway- set off their bots for a couple days- get to level up 10-20 cp overnight- , get suspended til the weekend- its still a profit for them. i see the same people botting, getting banned- then coming back.

not only is it ruining the integrity of the game- is making dolmen s unplayable and really putting stress on the servers. this has to be a top concern 4 the gamemasters- but they seem content to turn a blind eye unless a forum post or video is made - that will embarrass them.