Bots Apocalypse - Please stop them

twev

Bot train of sorcs with twilights running the harpy circuit at Tears of the Dishonored in Alik'r.

It's funny in that if you camp the upper/south end of the circuit near where the skyshard is, and kill the 3 groups of harpys that spawn there, the bot train makes the complete circle anyway and deliberately passes through the (now empty) spawn points even though the harpys aren't there as long as you do that to them.

ilander

Lord wrote: »

They are probably working on a way to resolve the issue before making a response in this thread.
It is a very complicated issue and there is legal evidence to gather before they ban thousands of accounts(whatever the number of bots accounts may be).
If they will implement an anti bot system/code which will ban thousands of accounts of innocent players, it could be the worst crisis this game ever faced.

Yeah.. you're not wrong there.. the banning of the 300 accounts about 2 months ago for an exploit to do with skill points was very badly carried out and it turned out that a fairly large number of people hadn't done anything wrong, they just happened to gain multiple skill points in that area at the same time, some of whom were using full training sets with an XP scroll and Psijic Ambrosia so would they even have noticed getting extra skill points at all? On top of that, they unbanned a lot of people without saying why they had been unbanned, nor did they apologise for the inconvenience they caused with their lack of grasp of the situation.

I was more just keeping it in the public eye because i'm farming in Grahtwood a lot just now and its a pretty hot topic in the zone chat as well a lot of the time.

I am, however, struggling to see what grounds these people (or 1 person multiboxing) could use for retaining their accounts after this kind of thing and to be honest, it is blatantly obvious this is a bot train at Karthdar and not 14 people with exactly the same movements/reactions etc so in this case why are they not being kicked first and they can appeal their case (if the bots are coded well enough to do that sort of thing of course ) in retrospect due to the highly suspicious nature of their gameplay. I'd be keen to see what sort of legal loopholes botters would use to get around this if any.

peoplecallmeleo

you had a chance for "Botspocalypse" and you missed it. I hope that thought never leaves your mind

Elsonso

qsnoopyjr wrote: »

Lord wrote: »

Hello,
Every day I find bots in different parts of Tamriel.
The bots are ruining the game's economy.
ZOS needs to do something about this.

Recent screenshots of bots farming south of Karthdar, Grahtwood, PC Europe server(NO naming & shaming, UI is hidden):




The bots are still there
Server: PC EU
Bots count: over 40+
Please stop them and implement anti bot system @ZOS_JessicaFolsom @ZOS_GinaBruno

One person with multiple accounts, boxing all of them.
You have players in World of Warcraft that 32 box. They do raids all by themselves.

Nothing wrong with boxing.

Maybe in WoW... not here.

bottleofsyrup

The bots I reported at Glister Vale are still there despite my tickets being marked as "solved". Same account names, same characters. Are bots not being banned anymore, @ZOS_JessicaFolsom @ZOS_GinaBruno? Primary ticket was 170719-002305 which included the ticket numbers of the other reports.

BrianDavion

what ZOS needs to do is start actually responding to complaints PERIOD . I see people who are serial harassers STILL running around the game despite being reported by large numbers of people.

twev

BrianDavion wrote: »

what ZOS needs to do is start actually responding to complaints PERIOD . I see people who are serial harassers STILL running around the game despite being reported by large numbers of people.

I suspect that the unofficial position is that most of the people who file tickets will just forget about them and move on, maybe even to other games, which reduces the overall workload of the people who have to administer issues.

I mean, 'some' Veteran Admin depts. had a 'rule' that issues filed with the office had to be responded to within 365 calendar days, so policy in some offices was to shred anything still on file awaiting action at 340 days.

Sine qua non,
Sine die,
Ne plus ultra.

Elsonso

bottleofsyrup wrote: »

The bots I reported at Glister Vale are still there despite my tickets being marked as "solved". Same account names, same characters. Are bots not being banned anymore, @ZOS_JessicaFolsom @ZOS_GinaBruno? Primary ticket was 170719-002305 which included the ticket numbers of the other reports.

The use of "solved" does not mean what people expect. In this case, it means it has been passed up to the people that handle that sort of thing. You can expect no further action on the ticket. (A statement that can be freely interpreted in multiple ways... possibly correct in all of them)

Nemesis7884

can't you have some sort of system that if a player doesnt move outside a certain area for a certain amount of time (like a 10 m radius within 30 minutes) he gets automatically killed or something?

baltic1284

The problem is define botting to each player that means something different I just got done reporting a bot for 4 days now and nothing has happened yet at all. The main issue isn't that they don't get the reports it is that ZOS itself does not act on theme in a timely manner tp improve game quality and game life community wise.

Skjoldur

BrianDavion wrote: »

what ZOS needs to do is start actually responding to complaints PERIOD . I see people who are serial harassers STILL running around the game despite being reported by large numbers of people.

Also positive feedback that the reported accounts were banned would help a lot to show people that their efforts are actually having an impact.

Right now it just feels that reporting does not do anything so I get why most people just don't take the time.

Universe

baltic1284 wrote: »

The problem is define botting to each player that means something different I just got done reporting a bot for 4 days now and nothing has happened yet at all. The main issue isn't that they don't get the reports it is that ZOS itself does not act on theme in a timely manner tp improve game quality and game life community wise.

Indeed.
This is not rare to see the same bots in the spot/s weeks after being reported.
I hope that ZOS will try harder to resolve this issue, right now almost nothing is being done.

Skjoldur wrote: »

BrianDavion wrote: »

what ZOS needs to do is start actually responding to complaints PERIOD . I see people who are serial harassers STILL running around the game despite being reported by large numbers of people.

Also positive feedback that the reported accounts were banned would help a lot to show people that their efforts are actually having an impact.

Right now it just feels that reporting does not do anything so I get why most people just don't take the time.

Yes.
A lot of people just don't bother reporting since most of the time the bots remain after being reported for days or even weeks etc.
But it is still important to report and include any screenshots/videos to support your claim.
If reporting multiple bots, it is important to include the names of all of the associated accounts(if possible).

redshirt_49

I feel some people severely overestimate the number of people assigned to handling and investigating these issues.

And the fact of the matter is, you cannot just ban all the bots and make the problem go away. The botters aren't this stupid. The accounts get banned. They get replaced. In the time it takes to have reports sent in, investigated and acted upon those bots will have already payed for themselves ten times over.

So, you figure, use an automated system that bans suspicious account activity, gold buyers and the likes.

Rockstar did that on GTA:O. You know what happened immediately? Innocent people were getting banned by the hundreds and that number went up even further as cheaters dumped large wads of cash on unsuspecting players and getting them banned in droves.

The dev team is ALWAYS playing a game of catch-up in this chase because they are outnumbered and have to work within a system that ensures that innocent accounts do not get caught up in this.

Banning gold buyers solves nothing as it's like the police going after drug addicts instead of dealers. The dealer does not lose his trade because his product is in demand. Criminal punishment or not does not affect his line of supply and demand. Same with the gold sellers. Find them. Ban their accounts. Their bots pay for the lost accounts in just a day or two.

It's a game that the devs cannot win without a significantly larger team working on JUST this issue and significantly less scrupulous methods of intervention.

Elsonso

redshirt_49 wrote: »

I feel some people severely overestimate the number of people assigned to handling and investigating these issues.

So, let's take a step back. What is less than "one person"...

Mostly kidding. I figure there are maybe three of them.

redshirt_49 wrote: »

Rockstar did that on GTA:O. You know what happened immediately? Innocent people were getting banned by the hundreds and that number went up even further as cheaters dumped large wads of cash on unsuspecting players and getting them banned in droves.

This is mainly because amateurs are really really bad at creating the AI necessary to see the human behavior. Instead, they go by the criteria method, and this is not good.

redshirt_49 wrote: »

It's a game that the devs cannot win without a significantly larger team working on JUST this issue and significantly less scrupulous methods of intervention.

ZOS needs to be more visible in how they handle this stuff. There is a reason why cops sit on the side of the road while doing paperwork. People see them, and they slow down. Any effective measure against bots also has to include copious amounts of telling us what they are doing. All the time. Not just quarterly, when Jessica and Gina have time to throw together a press release.

TheInfernalRage

I'm new in this game, but this explains the Sorc horde I saw in Rivenspire. PC/NA.

sevomd69

Don't see as many as PC but saw a whole mess of bots in Stormhaven near Bearclaw Mine... farming... you guessed it... bears...

Edit: XBNA

Elsonso

TheInfernalRage wrote: »

I'm new in this game, but this explains the Sorc horde I saw in Rivenspire. PC/NA.

Yeah, they like that location.

redshirt_49 wrote: »

I feel some people severely overestimate the number of people assigned to handling and investigating these issues.

A flip side to this, one that I failed to mention, is that the scale of cheating in this game may be a whole lot larger than people think it is.

Ardan147

redshirt_49 wrote: »

Banning gold buyers solves nothing as it's like the police going after drug addicts instead of dealers. The dealer does not lose his trade because his product is in demand. Criminal punishment or not does not affect his line of supply and demand. Same with the gold sellers. Find them. Ban their accounts. Their bots pay for the lost accounts in just a day or two.

It's a game that the devs cannot win without a significantly larger team working on JUST this issue and significantly less scrupulous methods of intervention.

As long as there are people willing to spend real money for in-game gold, there will be bot farmers attempting to profit off of this market. As long as the bot accounts are able to bring in more (real) money for the gold sellers than the cost of the account before they get banned, then the gold sellers will just keep creating new accounts. In order to actually make a dent in the number of bots running around, ZOS needs to attack the demand. Ban players who buy gold or other in-game items for real money (ban the sellers too when you catch them, of course). Make sure the player base knows this, knows it well, and knows (or at least can be made to believe) that if they do the chance of being caught will be quite high. (ZOS could even go so far as to create some honeypot accounts as traps for prospective gold buyers; players who buy gold from these accounts will then subsequently get banned. Make gold-buying risky enough and the market for it will collapse.)

One idea that ZOS could explore would be to make crowns tradeable among players. While it would essentially let players buy gold for money, that money would be going to ZOS. Players not wishing to endanger their accounts would take this route, and botters would not be able to earn anything that would be usable outside of the game. Though there would (probably) still be a black market for gold bought with real money that would be cheaper than using the money to buy crowns and then selling them to another player, but anyone caught would be banned, and (hopefully) most players would decide that whatever money they might save isn't worth the risk. (Me personally, if I was able to buy crowns from other players for gold I probably would, but there is absolutely no way in hell I would risk my account by running bots or any other form of cheating just to acquire extra gold.)

Ardan147

lordrichter wrote: »

TheInfernalRage wrote: »

I'm new in this game, but this explains the Sorc horde I saw in Rivenspire. PC/NA.

Yeah, they like that location.

Rivenspire is where Necropotence gear drops, which is one of the most popular sets in the game (for sorcerers anyway).

I have a locked chest run in Rivenspire that I frequently do (earlier today I got a purple Ring of Necropotence out of it); of course I'm actually controlling my toon each time and absolutely nothing about it is at all automated (even if I do happen to possess the social skills of a robot ). Each run is also different, based on what monsters are in my way and also what chests (and other resource nodes) happen to be there at any given time. I wouldn't be able to perfectly duplicate a previous run even if I tried (though for what purpose only Akatosh knows).

Euant

Not that this is helpful but I have changed my outlook on bots. Now when I come across them in random places I like to think about what a massive group of people like that would be doing in the middle or nowhere. Is this a new cult? A group of walking stick enthusiasts? Is it someone's birthday but they forgot whose? Always a different story.

Elsonso

Euant wrote: »

Not that this is helpful but I have changed my outlook on bots. Now when I come across them in random places I like to think about what a massive group of people like that would be doing in the middle or nowhere. Is this a new cult? A group of walking stick enthusiasts? Is it someone's birthday but they forgot whose? Always a different story.

Interesting.

The only time I ever left ESO for any length of time was over bots and gold sellers, and they dealt with them while I was away. This time, they are not dealing with the bots. For some reason, I am hanging around thinking that if I just wait one more day, one more week, they will deal with them. I don't think they never will. I dunno exactly why.

Personally, I think they quietly changed the policy against using the automation that allows these bot trains, or have dreamed up some justification that allows them to stay in the game. Cheaper that way.

Universe

lordrichter wrote: »

Euant wrote: »

Not that this is helpful but I have changed my outlook on bots. Now when I come across them in random places I like to think about what a massive group of people like that would be doing in the middle or nowhere. Is this a new cult? A group of walking stick enthusiasts? Is it someone's birthday but they forgot whose? Always a different story.

Interesting.

The only time I ever left ESO for any length of time was over bots and gold sellers, and they dealt with them while I was away. This time, they are not dealing with the bots. For some reason, I am hanging around thinking that if I just wait one more day, one more week, they will deal with them. I don't think they never will. I dunno exactly why.

Personally, I think they quietly changed the policy against using the automation that allows these bot trains, or have dreamed up some justification that allows them to stay in the game. Cheaper that way.

The bots world, who knows if they will ever be stopped.

@ZOS_JessicaFolsom @ZOS_GinaBruno I noticed that you are happy to respond to crown crates and crown store related questions and complaints but when it comes to important issues, like botting and major bugs(like the CC immunity not working) threads, you almost never respond.
Please respond in this thread whenever you have spare time.
Have a good day!

RazerKlang

finally a thread i totally agree with. they should see this as a growing issue and start to do somthing more about it. rather then when we come around them. agree with most of statement allready posted here

RazerKlang

not toatlly true but everytime i see one standing on one spot and only do heavy attack im suspicous

Fuxo

Fun fact: all bots repeatedly queue for group dungeons and battlegrounds and have fun declining the ready check. So now you know who to blame for broken dungeon finder.

celner4_ESO

ZOS_AntonioP wrote: »

Hello there,

Recently we've had to remove several comments for being off topic and for being mostly flame. Keep in mind that flaming is against the Forum Rules and should be avoided to prevent action on one's own account.

Thank you for understanding.

@ZOS_AntonioP

I love how you can comment in this thread about having to remove comments because of "Flaming", yet no word on how you'll approach the bot issue? Doing Great

celner4_ESO

Lord wrote: »

lordrichter wrote: »

Euant wrote: »

Not that this is helpful but I have changed my outlook on bots. Now when I come across them in random places I like to think about what a massive group of people like that would be doing in the middle or nowhere. Is this a new cult? A group of walking stick enthusiasts? Is it someone's birthday but they forgot whose? Always a different story.

Interesting.

The only time I ever left ESO for any length of time was over bots and gold sellers, and they dealt with them while I was away. This time, they are not dealing with the bots. For some reason, I am hanging around thinking that if I just wait one more day, one more week, they will deal with them. I don't think they never will. I dunno exactly why.

Personally, I think they quietly changed the policy against using the automation that allows these bot trains, or have dreamed up some justification that allows them to stay in the game. Cheaper that way.

The bots world, who knows if they will ever be stopped.

@ZOS_JessicaFolsom @ZOS_GinaBruno I noticed that you are happy to respond to crown crates and crown store related questions and complaints but when it comes to important issues, like botting and major bugs(like the CC immunity not working) threads, you almost never respond.
Please respond in this thread whenever you have spare time.
Have a good day!

EXACTLY.

@ZOS_GinaBruno
@ZOS_KaiSchober
@ZOS_JessicaFolsom
@ZOS_GaryA
@ZOS_TristanK
@ZOS_AntonioP

Ardaghion

RazerKlang wrote: »

not toatlly true but everytime i see one standing on one spot and only do heavy attack im suspicous

That's exactly what I was seeing on Xbox-NA in Shattered Grove Auridon. I wouldn't call them bots, more likely they are AFK standing in a spot just in front of spawn points. The controller is setup to heavy attack along with both pets active. I grabbed a few videos and will report them but I think going after the bots/gold farmers here is counter-productive.

What ZOS needs to do is reduce the ability to farm in the same spots. They could randomize the spawn points, alternatively they could reduce the spawn rate after a preset limit.

In Shattered Grove you could allow killing all the NPC wolves and bears 3x and then no respawns for an hour. This shouldn't impact players doing the local quest but would significantly reduce the appeal of static farming in this area. Real players that want to farm are perfectly capable of moving from area to area in a loop.

Universe

celner4_ESO wrote: »

Lord wrote: »

lordrichter wrote: »

Euant wrote: »

Not that this is helpful but I have changed my outlook on bots. Now when I come across them in random places I like to think about what a massive group of people like that would be doing in the middle or nowhere. Is this a new cult? A group of walking stick enthusiasts? Is it someone's birthday but they forgot whose? Always a different story.

Interesting.

The only time I ever left ESO for any length of time was over bots and gold sellers, and they dealt with them while I was away. This time, they are not dealing with the bots. For some reason, I am hanging around thinking that if I just wait one more day, one more week, they will deal with them. I don't think they never will. I dunno exactly why.

Personally, I think they quietly changed the policy against using the automation that allows these bot trains, or have dreamed up some justification that allows them to stay in the game. Cheaper that way.

The bots world, who knows if they will ever be stopped.

@ZOS_JessicaFolsom @ZOS_GinaBruno I noticed that you are happy to respond to crown crates and crown store related questions and complaints but when it comes to important issues, like botting and major bugs(like the CC immunity not working) threads, you almost never respond.
Please respond in this thread whenever you have spare time.
Have a good day!

EXACTLY.

@ZOS_GinaBruno
@ZOS_KaiSchober
@ZOS_JessicaFolsom
@ZOS_GaryA
@ZOS_TristanK
@ZOS_AntonioP

ZOS responded in the CC immunity bug thread:
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/362111/wtf-happened-to-cc-immunity/p1

I don't know if they will respond here too, but at least we are trying to bring this issue to their attention.

Demolitionary

Was in Stonefalls PC/EU, at the battleground near the dolmen.

I thought they were just a group of players waiting for the dolmen so I followed them, I then realized they carried on when the dolmen was up.

Mostly Sorcs with pets running in circles killing everything as it spawned..

Will look when home from work to see if they are still there and will report them.