when will ZOS do something about the bot epidemic ?

ItchyTheRat

it is utterly tragic and disgusting to every day come across trains and trains full of bots running around in the game, and no matter how many times they get reported, nothing ever happens, it has become really really bad lately, yet it only becomes worse and worse somehow, its almost like at the launch

Altaire

never or next thursday.

Kalante

The real tragedy is that people think zos actually cares enough to fix anything.

Sheezabeast

TelvanniWizard

Perhaps they will fix it if they see some way of earning money eliminating the bots. Like launching your very own bot destroyer staff for only 10.000 crowns (also available in crates) .

FoolishHuman

I haven't seen a bot for months. If they are running about at some far off area it's really not a problem for us players.

Tandor

I appear to be on the same server as the OP (PC EU) and haven't been bothered by bots since very early on after the launch when I witnessed delves being cleared by ZOS GMs. The main issue then was them flying around harvest nodes but in recent months I've only seen one suspected bot doing that in Rivenspire and that was some months ago. The dolmens seem to be much clearer of Afkers now which is a good thing.

Where are the main problem areas for bots these days? If it is a resurgent problem then it might be worth starting a topic that coordinates information on platform/server, zone, and the actions being performed. Most of the complaints on the forum don't even note the platform/server so it's impossible for ZOS to follow them up.

ItchyTheRat

Grahtwood has at least 2 areas full of bots, Reapers march has at least one more, Auridon as well, basically, anywhere you can farm hide scraps

Turelus

The issue is the report system doesn't seem to be streamlined.

If you can do reports (of at least one) and say in the report location/server/time as well as it being a train rather than a single bot, then take the ticket number and send it to a ZOS member (normally post it in a forums thread) then they escalate it and nuke them (although more will be made).

As I've said in so many threads and banged on at them about, the tools for players and the flow of information for ZOS needs to be reviewed so it's a faster and more reliable process from report to ban.

ItchyTheRat

Turelus wrote: »

The issue is the report system doesn't seem to be streamlined.

If you can do reports (of at least one) and say in the report location/server/time as well as it being a train rather than a single bot

oh I've done that, many many times, yet, no response what so ever, you of all people should know my distaste for bots and the like

Reverb

Not going to happen. At this point, I can only assume that Zeni openly supports bottling and gold selling.

Turelus

ItchyTheRat wrote: »

Turelus wrote: »

The issue is the report system doesn't seem to be streamlined.

If you can do reports (of at least one) and say in the report location/server/time as well as it being a train rather than a single bot

oh I've done that, many many times, yet, no response what so ever, you of all people should know my distaste for bots and the like

Problem is the tickets get lost in oblivion after you hit send, yet if we have a number and say "hey ZOS check this one" it's handled in a day.

It really shouldn't be that way, whatever stops that ticket going direct to the people ZOS give it to when we give them numbers needs to fixed.

Report > lands on desk > hammer gets slammed > people rejoice.

That's as simple as it needs to be, we won't ever "win" because of the nature of RMT and the more people buy/sell gold for real money the more this will happen, but at least we can slow it and make it more effort and thus push their prices to a level less people want to buy gold/items.

pkuronen

You can see those bot leveled people in the vet content doing petty damage, getting killed and kicked

kevlarto_ESO

No, zos to busy making that next mount for the crown store, if people would stop spending money in this lame game maybe they would try to fix something or do the noble thing and pull the plug since the game has been in a state of beta for how many years now. ZOS is worse than SOE was back in the day never thought another company turn into that much bantha poodoo

Turelus

kevlarto_ESO wrote: »

No, zos to busy making that next mount for the crown store, if people would stop spending money in this lame game maybe they would try to fix something or do the noble thing and pull the plug since the game has been in a state of beta for how many years now. ZOS is worse than SOE was back in the day never thought another company turn into that much bantha poodoo

So what you're saying is there are no in game GM staff because they're all concept and 3D artists now?

KingMagaw

When is it not okay for players to buy the game, subscribe and THEN do work that is on ZoS remit?

ZoS should be handling this mainly with the odd player sent in report. All i am witnessing is players continually sending in reports and seeing the same bot train there days/weeks/months after the fact. ZoS are quick to close down the forum threads so it appears they go away, shame.

Turelus

KingMagaw wrote: »

When is it not okay for players to buy the game, subscribe and THEN do work that is on ZoS remit?

ZoS should be handling this mainly with the odd player sent in report. All i am witnessing is players continually sending in reports and seeing the same bot train there days/weeks/months after the fact. ZoS are quick to close down the forum threads so it appears they go away, shame.

I've not seen ZOS close too many botting threads which were about reporting bots or issues of botting. Thread locks generally only happen when people go off topic and start smack talking one another or the thread is just bashing ZOS (neither of which solves the botting problem).

There is a really bad issue of how slow reports are dealt with as I keep saying. I believe Jess said a while back about looking at the tools regarding mass bot reports or a report area, but that might have been something which got forced onto the sidelines or just not deemed worth doing.

It also doesn't help that because of the apparently apathy from ZOS (which I don't believe is the case) and the communities rumour mongering (see "ZOS benefits from RMT" post earlier in this thread) then people stop reporting and more bots get a free pass.

stevepdodson_ESO888

ItchyTheRat wrote: »

it is utterly tragic and disgusting to every day come across trains and trains full of bots running around in the game, and no matter how many times they get reported, nothing ever happens, it has become really really bad lately, yet it only becomes worse and worse somehow, its almost like at the launch

i don't know if this will help, but i came across and add-on (Bot Scanner 2000) you might want to look at
http://www.esoui.com/downloads/info1818-BotScanner2000.html

(btw - good to see you are still around Itchy, The Spirits of Nirn still miss you...well I do at least)

ProfessorKittyhawk

I know what they'll have us do for Fatal Fredas!

All these bots will be made to where other players can kill them and when they do, the bots get perma death.

Great idea ZOS. What will you think of next?

Love Wizard

Probably never, to be quite honest. I think it's time to implement a third party anti cheat though, that would scan for e.g bots/macros and such. But I don't think it's something ZoS will really prioritize.

Tasear

I am worried about bot sellers.

P.S to those lurkers watching me far in audrion I am totally human..or so been lead to believe, even though I can run around in same area farming materials... cough notice how sometimes lose my direction.

It might help if we had a better reporting system and didn't allow names like fgdl to join.

P.S gold sellers doings 'com to get away with it.

Tandor

KingMagaw wrote: »

When is it not okay for players to buy the game, subscribe and THEN do work that is on ZoS remit?

ZoS should be handling this mainly with the odd player sent in report. All i am witnessing is players continually sending in reports and seeing the same bot train there days/weeks/months after the fact. ZoS are quick to close down the forum threads so it appears they go away, shame.

It's possible, of course, that ZOS are banning accounts and that the bot-runners then open new accounts and use the same character names. While I'm not saying that it is the case, it's certainly possible that you're seeing successive generations of the same bots!

Games are no different to other aspects of life - where there is a demand, a supply will form. ZOS need to perma-ban those caught buying gold, and players need to be pro-active both individually and through their guilds in reporting players they suspect of buying gold or selling materials in massive quantities.

Turelus

Tasear wrote: »

I am worried about bot sellers.

P.S to those lurkers watching me far in audrion I am totally human..or so been lead to believe, even though I can run around in same area farming materials... cough notice how sometimes lose my direction.

It might help if we had a better reporting system and didn't allow names like fgdl to join.

P.S gold sellers doings 'com to get away with it.

I think the botters would just take the extra seconds to type "bob the great" or something. I've seen bots with actual names before in attempts to seem less bot like.

The best way to solve this botting issue is the make the market not profitable for them, i.e. we stop buying gold. Which isn't ever going to happen with the mindset of some people.

Otherwise I agree we need a better system in place. I wondered if a thread where we could post ticket numbers for ZOS to take directly and deal with would be helpful, but I wasn't sure if we as a community would respect its purpose and just do that, or be 12 pages in and arguing why X is better than Y because of Z.

npuk

Xbox EU is also becoming bad for bots.

Players need to stop buying their warez and using gold sellers.

THWIP71

Tasear wrote: »

I am worried about bot sellers.

.

Yeah, they're not to be trusted.

KingMagaw

Turelus wrote: »

KingMagaw wrote: »

When is it not okay for players to buy the game, subscribe and THEN do work that is on ZoS remit?

ZoS should be handling this mainly with the odd player sent in report. All i am witnessing is players continually sending in reports and seeing the same bot train there days/weeks/months after the fact. ZoS are quick to close down the forum threads so it appears they go away, shame.

I've not seen ZOS close too many botting threads which were about reporting bots or issues of botting. Thread locks generally only happen when people go off topic and start smack talking one another or the thread is just bashing ZOS (neither of which solves the botting problem).

There is a really bad issue of how slow reports are dealt with as I keep saying. I believe Jess said a while back about looking at the tools regarding mass bot reports or a report area, but that might have been something which got forced onto the sidelines or just not deemed worth doing.

It also doesn't help that because of the apparently apathy from ZOS (which I don't believe is the case) and the communities rumour mongering (see "ZOS benefits from RMT" post earlier in this thread) then people stop reporting and more bots get a free pass.

There has been a specific and tangible drop off from ZoS communicating with forum users, especially in the Cheating and Exploiting thread, which has basically died - Not because these issues don't happen because it is blatantly obviously ZoS doesn't care enough to reply.
When you tag someone, continuously over x months and it is ignored, do you think this encourages players to helping police the game or discourage it?. Personally i was definitely discouraged.

@Tandor I wont speak on those topics because i have been banned from forums and only back on. If you reference my posts i have always spoke out and have a hard stance on Cheating and Exploiting as well as gold selling and botting. ZoS doesnt have the same stance and it frustrates me. If they let people using Cheat Engine back, i have no belief they take anything serious.

It is more about aesthetic damage control by closing threads and banning posters than it is about addressing problems. It is like a lot of manpower just got sucked away.

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/374249/zenimax-restrict-your-api#latest

This is a debate, 9,200 views, which is a lot to my thinking. Multiple times by multiple people tagging ZoS employees not 1 answer other than Bethesda mods coming in removing comments and closing the thread without it being addressed. Simplistically it is these actions that even discourage me posting as what is the point if not to get any clarification or feedback or something.


Addition onto that last ticket i sent in, over 1 week talking to them and i was then told we dont give out that information. All i was asking was if furnishing achievements/learning recipes affect Legendary writs. Yes or no answer. Should of been easy yet i get nothing but a time waste.

Turelus

KingMagaw wrote: »

Turelus wrote: »

KingMagaw wrote: »

When is it not okay for players to buy the game, subscribe and THEN do work that is on ZoS remit?

ZoS should be handling this mainly with the odd player sent in report. All i am witnessing is players continually sending in reports and seeing the same bot train there days/weeks/months after the fact. ZoS are quick to close down the forum threads so it appears they go away, shame.

I've not seen ZOS close too many botting threads which were about reporting bots or issues of botting. Thread locks generally only happen when people go off topic and start smack talking one another or the thread is just bashing ZOS (neither of which solves the botting problem).

There is a really bad issue of how slow reports are dealt with as I keep saying. I believe Jess said a while back about looking at the tools regarding mass bot reports or a report area, but that might have been something which got forced onto the sidelines or just not deemed worth doing.

It also doesn't help that because of the apparently apathy from ZOS (which I don't believe is the case) and the communities rumour mongering (see "ZOS benefits from RMT" post earlier in this thread) then people stop reporting and more bots get a free pass.

There has been a specific and tangible drop off from ZoS communicating with forum users, especially in the Cheating and Exploiting thread, which has basically died - Not because these issues don't happen because it is blatantly obviously ZoS doesn't care.
When you tag someone, continuously over x months and it is ignored, do you think this encourages players to helping police the game or discourage it?. Personally i was definitely discouraged.

Tandor I wont speak on those topics because i have been banned from forums and only back on. If you reference my posts i have always spoke out and have a hard stance on Cheating and Exploiting as well as gold selling and botting. ZoS doesnt have the same stance and it frustrates me. If they let people using Cheat Engine back, i have no belief they take anything serious.

It is more about aesthetic damage control by closing threads and banning posters than it is about addressing problems. It is like a lot of manpower just got sucked away.

The problem is when ZOS did or does communicate they get jumped on and insulted. This community demands answers then when they get them all they do is make sarcastic replies, demand people be fired or scream ZOS didn't listen.

The cheating and exploiting thread became a toxic pool which is one of the reasons I left it and started to focus on smaller threads like this to talk about issues.

There is a lot which needs to be done on both sides (community and ZOS) to solve issues, but the longer people keep up this "Grr ZOS" and us vs them mentality the longer we're going be ignored. People don't have to think ZOS or ESO is sunshine and rainbows, but posting with a mature attitude and being polite goes a long way towards helping build communication than constantly trash talking spreading rumours and buying into the "Grr ZOS" rhetoric.

Idinuse

The_Protagonist

FoolishHuman wrote: »

I haven't seen a bot for months. If they are running about at some far off area it's really not a problem for us players.

Tandor

Turelus wrote: »

KingMagaw wrote: »

Turelus wrote: »

KingMagaw wrote: »

When is it not okay for players to buy the game, subscribe and THEN do work that is on ZoS remit?

ZoS should be handling this mainly with the odd player sent in report. All i am witnessing is players continually sending in reports and seeing the same bot train there days/weeks/months after the fact. ZoS are quick to close down the forum threads so it appears they go away, shame.

I've not seen ZOS close too many botting threads which were about reporting bots or issues of botting. Thread locks generally only happen when people go off topic and start smack talking one another or the thread is just bashing ZOS (neither of which solves the botting problem).

There is a really bad issue of how slow reports are dealt with as I keep saying. I believe Jess said a while back about looking at the tools regarding mass bot reports or a report area, but that might have been something which got forced onto the sidelines or just not deemed worth doing.

It also doesn't help that because of the apparently apathy from ZOS (which I don't believe is the case) and the communities rumour mongering (see "ZOS benefits from RMT" post earlier in this thread) then people stop reporting and more bots get a free pass.

There has been a specific and tangible drop off from ZoS communicating with forum users, especially in the Cheating and Exploiting thread, which has basically died - Not because these issues don't happen because it is blatantly obviously ZoS doesn't care.
When you tag someone, continuously over x months and it is ignored, do you think this encourages players to helping police the game or discourage it?. Personally i was definitely discouraged.

Tandor I wont speak on those topics because i have been banned from forums and only back on. If you reference my posts i have always spoke out and have a hard stance on Cheating and Exploiting as well as gold selling and botting. ZoS doesnt have the same stance and it frustrates me. If they let people using Cheat Engine back, i have no belief they take anything serious.

It is more about aesthetic damage control by closing threads and banning posters than it is about addressing problems. It is like a lot of manpower just got sucked away.

The problem is when ZOS did or does communicate they get jumped on and insulted. This community demands answers then when they get them all they do is make sarcastic replies, demand people be fired or scream ZOS didn't listen.

The cheating and exploiting thread became a toxic pool which is one of the reasons I left it and started to focus on smaller threads like this to talk about issues.

There is a lot which needs to be done on both sides (community and ZOS) to solve issues, but the longer people keep up this "Grr ZOS" and us vs them mentality the longer we're going be ignored. People don't have to think ZOS or ESO is sunshine and rainbows, but posting with a mature attitude and being polite goes a long way towards helping build communication than constantly trash talking spreading rumours and buying into the "Grr ZOS" rhetoric.

I agree entirely with this. It would be a start if every time people mentioned their pet complaint, be it lag in Cyrodiil, skill balancing, bots, or whatever, they stopped adding "but ZOS only care about the Crown Store and Crates". At the moment ZOS have very little if any reason to communicate with us and I can't say I blame them for not doing so.

KingMagaw

Turelus wrote: »

The problem is when ZOS did or does communicate they get jumped on and insulted. This community demands answers then when they get them all they do is make sarcastic replies, demand people be fired or scream ZOS didn't listen.

The cheating and exploiting thread became a toxic pool which is one of the reasons I left it and started to focus on smaller threads like this to talk about issues.

There is a lot which needs to be done on both sides (community and ZOS) to solve issues, but the longer people keep up this "Grr ZOS" and us vs them mentality the longer we're going be ignored. People don't have to think ZOS or ESO is sunshine and rainbows, but posting with a mature attitude and being polite goes a long way towards helping build communication than constantly trash talking spreading rumours and buying into the "Grr ZOS" rhetoric.

So it is the players/forum users fault that ZoS doesn't reply anymore?, sounds legit for a company to do. Additionally, from the topic i linked which is one of many, 9.2k ~views, many posts asking for clarification and what do i see tonight, ZoS posting a useless meme and ignoring topics like these.
Is this proactive in giving me confidence as a customer that issues will be addressed with anything other than a meme if anything at all?. Should i even spend time detailing bugs in the game to be either ignored, topic closed down or like my last support tickets wasted time on my part.

We can all be mature to a point and personally that point in when my time is being wasted. I will stop posting because topics like this got me banned from forums recently which doesn't encourage me to post or to report bots or exploits in the game, how could it ever?.