Cheating We Can Stop It

Turelus

Taysa wrote: »

When multiple people have reported someone procing Selene's without attacking first, crit rushing much further than intended, marking fully stealthed players from much further than the game mechanics intended, among other things, and we still see that player daily, players tend to lose faith that ZoS takes cheating as seriously as they proclaim.

I know I will get my head bitten of for this but... Did anyone record all the various happenings and send them to ZOS for review? If so did they PM any members of staff specifically with the information.

@rhapsodious we're on the same page then, guess that was a bit of misunderstanding on my part, sorry.

KingMagaw

Turelus wrote: »

Taysa wrote: »

When multiple people have reported someone procing Selene's without attacking first, crit rushing much further than intended, marking fully stealthed players from much further than the game mechanics intended, among other things, and we still see that player daily, players tend to lose faith that ZoS takes cheating as seriously as they proclaim.

I know I will get my head bitten of for this but... Did anyone record all the various happenings and send them to ZOS for review? If so did they PM any members of staff specifically with the information.

To be blatantly honest, it is happening too much for players to keep trying to police these things. How many people run video recording software?, how many save it taking space on there computer, how many even know what is going on to do this? How many are even willing to give up there limited play time to do this?

Overall it seems like the onus for combating cheating is pushed to the paying player/customer here. This is not the direction it should be going, to my thinking anyway.

I fully believe it is well past time for ZoS to be handling this at a more professional level by having there own detection software that any legit player would be more than happy to run.

DHale

I report bots quite a lot. They are not removed and the same toon names and same at name are still running around days later. Especially on weekends when bothers know you won't be watching.

Turelus

KingMagaw wrote: »

Turelus wrote: »

Taysa wrote: »

When multiple people have reported someone procing Selene's without attacking first, crit rushing much further than intended, marking fully stealthed players from much further than the game mechanics intended, among other things, and we still see that player daily, players tend to lose faith that ZoS takes cheating as seriously as they proclaim.

I know I will get my head bitten of for this but... Did anyone record all the various happenings and send them to ZOS for review? If so did they PM any members of staff specifically with the information.

To be blatantly honest, it is happening too much for players to keep trying to police these things. How many people run video recording software?, how many save it taking space on there computer, how many even know what is going on to do this? How many are even willing to give up there limited play time to do this?

Overall it seems like the onus for combating cheating is pushed to the paying player/customer here. This is not the direction it should be going, to my thinking anyway.

I fully believe it is well past time for ZoS to be handling this at a more professional level by having there own detection software that any legit player would be more than happy to run.

The bots and cheats software will just get around that software though, that's why every MMO has botting.
I won't argue that ZOS needs to be more proactive and have better handling of reports (although from what Gina has said they are handling them) but there is no magic fix for this and that's why we need more active people working on it.

KingMagaw

Turelus wrote: »

The bots and cheats software will just get around that software though, that's why every MMO has botting.
I won't argue that ZOS needs to be more proactive and have better handling of reports (although from what Gina has said they are handling them) but there is no magic fix for this and that's why we need more active people working on it.

While i also agree ZoS needs to be more proactive on handling reports, pushing all the work to generate the reports to paying players/customers is not the solution.
Like i stated above some dont know, some dont even use recording software/any way to reference or review what happened.


And to use the excuse of the cheats software will only work around anything ZoS could put in place is going the wrong direction. Anything ZoS would implement to combat exploiting and cheating is better than nothing - that is a simple fact.


EDIT: The Cheating and Exploiting thread has all but died yet these actions are still going on quite regularly. It has died because of lack of input from ZoS and people are finding they are wasting their time (RE: Majority of the players posting in this topic, who still have some semblance of drive left to combat cheating.) Over the course of my game time, the majority of the tickets i have sent in have not been addressed, personally i dont waste anymore of my leisure time based on my direct experience. That should not be so.

Rouven

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

sirinsidiator wrote: »

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Hey guys,

We know that cheating players and botters takes away from your experience in the game, and also affects important aspects such as the economy or scoring. We do take this very seriously, and appreciate everyone who brings these to our attention. For the record, we are aware of the sites called out from the OP. While we can’t discuss specifics, we do our best to combat sites and programs that encourage breaking our Terms of Service.

As far as what you can do to help, telling us is the first step. If you run across someone you believe is cheating (whether it’s botting or exploiting), please report them. You can do so in-game or simply by messaging a staff member on the forums (it can be me, Jess, or any of the moderators). Keep in mind our TOS team suspends and bans botting accounts daily, and investigations are prioritized based on the number of reports received.

While this sounds nice, unfortunately I - and many others I talked to - had a different experience. A few weeks ago I reported several bots. I took the time to capture them on video and create a list of names which I sent via the ingame ticketing system. No answer.
I waited a few days and the bots are still running around.
I wrote a reply on the open ticket, pm'ed you here on the forum, asked other people to bring up the topic.
Only answer I got was a canned response on the ticket which got closed, but the bots are still running around.
In a final attempt, I brought it up in twitch chat before the previous ESO live and pm'ed the ticket number to @ZOS_RichLambert , but to this day I don't think it has been investigated as the videos have no views since I uploaded them to youtube.

Honestly, this doesn't give me the impression that you really care about getting rid of them. A simple answer like "thanks for sending us these videos, we will look into the issue" would have gone a long way, but all I got was silence or automated responses and no visible action at all after weeks. In the meantime I kicked the bots from my guild, so I can't see if they are still running around, but it would be nice if we could get an update when accounts we have reported were investigated or actioned, regardless of the outcome.

It's very possible that the original bots were removed, but these guys can simply just make a new account (and it's not uncommon for them to do so).

Train of thought here ... any character name that was removed in such fashion is not available any longer upon new character creation, maybe time restricted to one year (?).

zyk

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

We know that cheating players and botters takes away from your experience in the game, and also affects important aspects such as the economy or scoring. We do take this very seriously, and appreciate everyone who brings these to our attention. For the record, we are aware of the sites called out from the OP. While we can’t discuss specifics, we do our best to combat sites and programs that encourage breaking our Terms of Service.

@ZOS_GinaBruno There is no indication that ZOS utilizes industry standard best practices when it comes to mitigating cheating in ESO. Here's what actually trying looks like:

Valve cracked down on a record number of cheaters following the 2017 Steam Summer Sale July 6. More than 40,000 Steam users felt the wrath of the Valve Anti-Cheat (VAC) ban.
...
For context, Valve normally bans anywhere from 2,500 to 4,000 users, based on examining the Steam Database chart. To date, more than 6 million users have been banned by VAC since 2003.

“Got banned one day after the official release,” one cheater recounted. “Bought the game again… didn’t hack on it at all, just wanted to enjoy the game a bit. Two days later — banned again.

Blizzard Entertainment’s Chinese branch has a habit of not just suspending rule-breaking Overwatch players in large swaths, but also making their Battle.net handles public knowledge.

https://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/valve-bans-record-number-of-cheaters/
https://www.vg247.com/2016/06/03/overwatch-perma-bans-really-are-permanent/
https://venturebeat.com/2017/01/12/blizzard-bans-10000-overwatch-nuking-cheaters-in-south-korea/
https://www.polygon.com/2016/11/2/13501482/overwatch-bans-player-names-chinese
https://imgur.com/a/ZzSGi

Grim13

I used to report players, in vivid detail, complete with screenshots when possible, EVERYTIME I suspected something suspicious was happening.

I eventually grew tired of even the most overt cheaters remaining in game, regardless.

Some received bans... but they were always short bans and the player would inevitably be back.

Sometimes, these temporarily banned players would stop cheating for a short period of time, after... only to eventually begin cheating again.

I just can’t be bothered anymore, tbh. I don’t feel the outcome outweighs the effort.

Anne_Firehawk

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

sirinsidiator wrote: »

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Hey guys,

We know that cheating players and botters takes away from your experience in the game, and also affects important aspects such as the economy or scoring. We do take this very seriously, and appreciate everyone who brings these to our attention. For the record, we are aware of the sites called out from the OP. While we can’t discuss specifics, we do our best to combat sites and programs that encourage breaking our Terms of Service.

As far as what you can do to help, telling us is the first step. If you run across someone you believe is cheating (whether it’s botting or exploiting), please report them. You can do so in-game or simply by messaging a staff member on the forums (it can be me, Jess, or any of the moderators). Keep in mind our TOS team suspends and bans botting accounts daily, and investigations are prioritized based on the number of reports received.

While this sounds nice, unfortunately I - and many others I talked to - had a different experience. A few weeks ago I reported several bots. I took the time to capture them on video and create a list of names which I sent via the ingame ticketing system. No answer.
I waited a few days and the bots are still running around.
I wrote a reply on the open ticket, pm'ed you here on the forum, asked other people to bring up the topic.
Only answer I got was a canned response on the ticket which got closed, but the bots are still running around.
In a final attempt, I brought it up in twitch chat before the previous ESO live and pm'ed the ticket number to @ZOS_RichLambert , but to this day I don't think it has been investigated as the videos have no views since I uploaded them to youtube.

Honestly, this doesn't give me the impression that you really care about getting rid of them. A simple answer like "thanks for sending us these videos, we will look into the issue" would have gone a long way, but all I got was silence or automated responses and no visible action at all after weeks. In the meantime I kicked the bots from my guild, so I can't see if they are still running around, but it would be nice if we could get an update when accounts we have reported were investigated or actioned, regardless of the outcome.

It's very possible that the original bots were removed, but these guys can simply just make a new account (and it's not uncommon for them to do so).

With the same name? Because that is what it sounds like to me.

rfennell_ESO

Grim13 wrote: »

I used to report players, in vivid detail, complete with screenshots when possible, EVERYTIME I suspected something suspicious was happening.

I eventually grew tired of even the most overt cheaters remaining in game, regardless.

Some received bans... but they were always short bans and the player would inevitably be back.

Sometimes, these temporarily banned players would stop cheating for a short period of time, after... only to eventually begin cheating again.

I just can’t be bothered anymore, tbh. I don’t feel the outcome outweighs the effort.

Same. I've even had players that knew it was me that reported them whisper me to say they were back after a ban and then engage in threats. I even had a player tell me they showed him the video that they banned him for, and how he was going to get even in real life.

It's tedious to even add something to report system like a screenshot or video, and that's ZOS' doing. They have made it more and more arduous to report someone, it's like they really don't want to hear about it.

Last patch they ninjaed in a wrinkle to the report system, anyone you report (for anything) gets autoadded to your ignore list.

Chronicburn

rather just have an Auction House

KingMagaw

rfennell_ESO wrote: »

I even had a player tell me they showed him the video that they banned him for, and how he was going to get even in real life.

@ZOS_GinaBruno - please tell me that isn't a procedure you have in place to name a customer/player who took time out to report cheating.

If it is, it needs corrected asap or how can this ever promote players doing this?.

Dorrino

sirinsidiator wrote: »

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

sirinsidiator wrote: »

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Hey guys,

We know that cheating players and botters takes away from your experience in the game, and also affects important aspects such as the economy or scoring. We do take this very seriously, and appreciate everyone who brings these to our attention. For the record, we are aware of the sites called out from the OP. While we can’t discuss specifics, we do our best to combat sites and programs that encourage breaking our Terms of Service.

As far as what you can do to help, telling us is the first step. If you run across someone you believe is cheating (whether it’s botting or exploiting), please report them. You can do so in-game or simply by messaging a staff member on the forums (it can be me, Jess, or any of the moderators). Keep in mind our TOS team suspends and bans botting accounts daily, and investigations are prioritized based on the number of reports received.

While this sounds nice, unfortunately I - and many others I talked to - had a different experience. A few weeks ago I reported several bots. I took the time to capture them on video and create a list of names which I sent via the ingame ticketing system. No answer.
I waited a few days and the bots are still running around.
I wrote a reply on the open ticket, pm'ed you here on the forum, asked other people to bring up the topic.
Only answer I got was a canned response on the ticket which got closed, but the bots are still running around.
In a final attempt, I brought it up in twitch chat before the previous ESO live and pm'ed the ticket number to @ZOS_RichLambert , but to this day I don't think it has been investigated as the videos have no views since I uploaded them to youtube.

Honestly, this doesn't give me the impression that you really care about getting rid of them. A simple answer like "thanks for sending us these videos, we will look into the issue" would have gone a long way, but all I got was silence or automated responses and no visible action at all after weeks. In the meantime I kicked the bots from my guild, so I can't see if they are still running around, but it would be nice if we could get an update when accounts we have reported were investigated or actioned, regardless of the outcome.

It's very possible that the original bots were removed, but these guys can simply just make a new account (and it's not uncommon for them to do so).

I know that they can just make another account, but it does take time for them to get back to their target level.
Besides, what I mean is that it just doesn't look like the issue is taken serious when all I (and others) get after reporting them via several channels is silence and the bots are running around for weeks, selling considerably rare crafting materials at a price that is ruining anyone who does not cheat the system that way. This doesn't really encourage me to report them since it looks like it is futile and a waste of my time. Maybe you can somehow improve the process so it does not look like I am talking against a wall when I report bots?

Unfortunately we got the same wall when we report anything to ZOS. I stopped reporting out of place mechanics exactly because of that reason.

The only exception is Chip on ESOUI.com.

The rest of ZOS refuses to participate in any kind of meaningful communication.

rfennell_ESO

Dorrino wrote: »

sirinsidiator wrote: »

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

sirinsidiator wrote: »

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Hey guys,

We know that cheating players and botters takes away from your experience in the game, and also affects important aspects such as the economy or scoring. We do take this very seriously, and appreciate everyone who brings these to our attention. For the record, we are aware of the sites called out from the OP. While we can’t discuss specifics, we do our best to combat sites and programs that encourage breaking our Terms of Service.

As far as what you can do to help, telling us is the first step. If you run across someone you believe is cheating (whether it’s botting or exploiting), please report them. You can do so in-game or simply by messaging a staff member on the forums (it can be me, Jess, or any of the moderators). Keep in mind our TOS team suspends and bans botting accounts daily, and investigations are prioritized based on the number of reports received.

While this sounds nice, unfortunately I - and many others I talked to - had a different experience. A few weeks ago I reported several bots. I took the time to capture them on video and create a list of names which I sent via the ingame ticketing system. No answer.
I waited a few days and the bots are still running around.
I wrote a reply on the open ticket, pm'ed you here on the forum, asked other people to bring up the topic.
Only answer I got was a canned response on the ticket which got closed, but the bots are still running around.
In a final attempt, I brought it up in twitch chat before the previous ESO live and pm'ed the ticket number to @ZOS_RichLambert , but to this day I don't think it has been investigated as the videos have no views since I uploaded them to youtube.

Honestly, this doesn't give me the impression that you really care about getting rid of them. A simple answer like "thanks for sending us these videos, we will look into the issue" would have gone a long way, but all I got was silence or automated responses and no visible action at all after weeks. In the meantime I kicked the bots from my guild, so I can't see if they are still running around, but it would be nice if we could get an update when accounts we have reported were investigated or actioned, regardless of the outcome.

It's very possible that the original bots were removed, but these guys can simply just make a new account (and it's not uncommon for them to do so).

I know that they can just make another account, but it does take time for them to get back to their target level.
Besides, what I mean is that it just doesn't look like the issue is taken serious when all I (and others) get after reporting them via several channels is silence and the bots are running around for weeks, selling considerably rare crafting materials at a price that is ruining anyone who does not cheat the system that way. This doesn't really encourage me to report them since it looks like it is futile and a waste of my time. Maybe you can somehow improve the process so it does not look like I am talking against a wall when I report bots?

Unfortunately we got the same wall when we report anything to ZOS. I stopped reporting out of place mechanics exactly because of that reason.

The only exception is Chip on ESOUI.com.

The rest of ZOS refuses to participate in any kind of meaningful communication.

You can still go through the support system and update tickets to provide screenshots or videos, but to be perfectly honest they have gone through 3 iterations of the system and each time made it more and more complex to get to that point.

It used to be relatively simple, then they made it harder and now... even though I've done it, it's become so tedious that I've actually chosen not to bother; every time I go to it it's another email verification thing (which btw doesn't actually send out immediately, which is a joke) and then looking through the system to see where they moved the tickets to.

To be honest Gina and Jessica will help when they can and have, but it's a burden to have to resort to messaging them for something that ought be simple.

The reality of it all is even if you get through the system designed to frustrate you and confuse you so you don't finalize a report, ofttimes something that is blatant and obvious is not dealt with at all.

For what it's worth, and to be clear... I'm not even remotely bitter with ZOS or the game. It's not my intent to come off as caustic toward it, but I'm just stating what I find to be true.

Elsonso

rfennell_ESO wrote: »

You can still go through the support system and update tickets to provide screenshots or videos, but to be perfectly honest they have gone through 3 iterations of the system and each time made it more and more complex to get to that point.

Once people stop writing tickets, they can stop iterating on the system to make it more complex. Someday, they are just going to throw in the towel, change the URL, and not tell us what it is.

Chronicburn

Players cheating is not an issue in this game.

We are, however, cheated out of cool skills all the time by the devs nerfing.

We were cheated out of a functioning economy with the lack of an auction house.

We were cheated out of a good housing system with this instanced dog poo.

Crafters are cheated by not being able to jewelcraft in sets.

And the pvp system seems like it's a bit of a cheat too considering DAoC had a better 3 faction system like 20 years ago ...

Who cares if a few players bend the rules when they are just taking the dev's lead?

VvardeFellow

I don't agree. Cheating cannot be stopped, only curtailed to some extent. Point me to any if any games that had success eliminating cheating, perhaps they would lend their expertise.

Dredlord

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

sirinsidiator wrote: »

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Hey guys,

We know that cheating players and botters takes away from your experience in the game, and also affects important aspects such as the economy or scoring. We do take this very seriously, and appreciate everyone who brings these to our attention. For the record, we are aware of the sites called out from the OP. While we can’t discuss specifics, we do our best to combat sites and programs that encourage breaking our Terms of Service.

As far as what you can do to help, telling us is the first step. If you run across someone you believe is cheating (whether it’s botting or exploiting), please report them. You can do so in-game or simply by messaging a staff member on the forums (it can be me, Jess, or any of the moderators). Keep in mind our TOS team suspends and bans botting accounts daily, and investigations are prioritized based on the number of reports received.

While this sounds nice, unfortunately I - and many others I talked to - had a different experience. A few weeks ago I reported several bots. I took the time to capture them on video and create a list of names which I sent via the ingame ticketing system. No answer.
I waited a few days and the bots are still running around.
I wrote a reply on the open ticket, pm'ed you here on the forum, asked other people to bring up the topic.
Only answer I got was a canned response on the ticket which got closed, but the bots are still running around.
In a final attempt, I brought it up in twitch chat before the previous ESO live and pm'ed the ticket number to @ZOS_RichLambert , but to this day I don't think it has been investigated as the videos have no views since I uploaded them to youtube.

Honestly, this doesn't give me the impression that you really care about getting rid of them. A simple answer like "thanks for sending us these videos, we will look into the issue" would have gone a long way, but all I got was silence or automated responses and no visible action at all after weeks. In the meantime I kicked the bots from my guild, so I can't see if they are still running around, but it would be nice if we could get an update when accounts we have reported were investigated or actioned, regardless of the outcome.

It's very possible that the original bots were removed, but these guys can simply just make a new account (and it's not uncommon for them to do so).

Keep banning, keep selling accounts.

The employees can literally pay for themselves by policing this.

kyle.wilson

Ackwalan

Generally speaking, game companies don't ban people one at a time, unless it is a big cheat. For things like mat farming bots, they will compile a list and do a mass ban once a month/quarter or whatever. It is just more economical in both time and money to have some intern do all the data banning from a master list once a month/quarter then to have to deal with it every day. This might be the reason we see the same bot farm for a long time, they are on a list to be banned on the next scheduled hammer day, they are just not a big enough fish single out immediately.

Rahotu

JonnytheKing wrote: »

Guys we can do some thing if we all let zos know
[Snip]

[Edit to remove video that leads to cheat programs]

That got shut down fast by ZoS
the people running this game are out of control,in fact anything involved with Bethesda is a total money grab without any form of respect for the player,cheating is the drunken uncle at the party when you invited everyone to bring the entertainment with you because you couldn't be bothered paying to do it yourself
[Edit for accidental quote]

Rahotu

Dredlord wrote: »

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

sirinsidiator wrote: »

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Hey guys,

We know that cheating players and botters takes away from your experience in the game, and also affects important aspects such as the economy or scoring. We do take this very seriously, and appreciate everyone who brings these to our attention. For the record, we are aware of the sites called out from the OP. While we can’t discuss specifics, we do our best to combat sites and programs that encourage breaking our Terms of Service.

As far as what you can do to help, telling us is the first step. If you run across someone you believe is cheating (whether it’s botting or exploiting), please report them. You can do so in-game or simply by messaging a staff member on the forums (it can be me, Jess, or any of the moderators). Keep in mind our TOS team suspends and bans botting accounts daily, and investigations are prioritized based on the number of reports received.

While this sounds nice, unfortunately I - and many others I talked to - had a different experience. A few weeks ago I reported several bots. I took the time to capture them on video and create a list of names which I sent via the ingame ticketing system. No answer.
I waited a few days and the bots are still running around.
I wrote a reply on the open ticket, pm'ed you here on the forum, asked other people to bring up the topic.
Only answer I got was a canned response on the ticket which got closed, but the bots are still running around.
In a final attempt, I brought it up in twitch chat before the previous ESO live and pm'ed the ticket number to @ZOS_RichLambert , but to this day I don't think it has been investigated as the videos have no views since I uploaded them to youtube.

Honestly, this doesn't give me the impression that you really care about getting rid of them. A simple answer like "thanks for sending us these videos, we will look into the issue" would have gone a long way, but all I got was silence or automated responses and no visible action at all after weeks. In the meantime I kicked the bots from my guild, so I can't see if they are still running around, but it would be nice if we could get an update when accounts we have reported were investigated or actioned, regardless of the outcome.

It's very possible that the original bots were removed, but these guys can simply just make a new account (and it's not uncommon for them to do so).

Keep banning, keep selling accounts.

The employees can literally pay for themselves by policing this.

not if the botters have cut a deal with the game management to share the profits of the goldselling,as many games do

Turelus

Rahotu wrote: »

Dredlord wrote: »

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

sirinsidiator wrote: »

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Hey guys,

We know that cheating players and botters takes away from your experience in the game, and also affects important aspects such as the economy or scoring. We do take this very seriously, and appreciate everyone who brings these to our attention. For the record, we are aware of the sites called out from the OP. While we can’t discuss specifics, we do our best to combat sites and programs that encourage breaking our Terms of Service.

As far as what you can do to help, telling us is the first step. If you run across someone you believe is cheating (whether it’s botting or exploiting), please report them. You can do so in-game or simply by messaging a staff member on the forums (it can be me, Jess, or any of the moderators). Keep in mind our TOS team suspends and bans botting accounts daily, and investigations are prioritized based on the number of reports received.

While this sounds nice, unfortunately I - and many others I talked to - had a different experience. A few weeks ago I reported several bots. I took the time to capture them on video and create a list of names which I sent via the ingame ticketing system. No answer.
I waited a few days and the bots are still running around.
I wrote a reply on the open ticket, pm'ed you here on the forum, asked other people to bring up the topic.
Only answer I got was a canned response on the ticket which got closed, but the bots are still running around.
In a final attempt, I brought it up in twitch chat before the previous ESO live and pm'ed the ticket number to @ZOS_RichLambert , but to this day I don't think it has been investigated as the videos have no views since I uploaded them to youtube.

Honestly, this doesn't give me the impression that you really care about getting rid of them. A simple answer like "thanks for sending us these videos, we will look into the issue" would have gone a long way, but all I got was silence or automated responses and no visible action at all after weeks. In the meantime I kicked the bots from my guild, so I can't see if they are still running around, but it would be nice if we could get an update when accounts we have reported were investigated or actioned, regardless of the outcome.

It's very possible that the original bots were removed, but these guys can simply just make a new account (and it's not uncommon for them to do so).

Keep banning, keep selling accounts.

The employees can literally pay for themselves by policing this.

not if the botters have cut a deal with the game management to share the profits of the goldselling,as many games do

You need to stop watching YouTube conspiracy movies.

Huyen

lordrichter wrote: »

Rohamad_Ali wrote: »

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Hey guys,

We know that cheating players and botters takes away from your experience in the game, and also affects important aspects such as the economy or scoring. We do take this very seriously, and appreciate everyone who brings these to our attention. For the record, we are aware of the sites called out from the OP. While we can’t discuss specifics, we do our best to combat sites and programs that encourage breaking our Terms of Service.

As far as what you can do to help, telling us is the first step. If you run across someone you believe is cheating (whether it’s botting or exploiting), please report them. You can do so in-game or simply by messaging a staff member on the forums (it can be me, Jess, or any of the moderators). Keep in mind our TOS team suspends and bans botting accounts daily, and investigations are prioritized based on the number of reports received.

I believe you really believe all that Mrs Bruno but the history does not paint the same picture for some of Us . The cheating and exploits thread that was provided for the community to post all their concerns has gone without reaction or comment from ZoS a long long time. The CE meteor attacks that happened a long time ago was the first time we recieved any kind of response from ZoS , even though there were people posting about rampant cheating for years . It took a group of people completely disrupting the game until it was unplayable to finally get ZoS to do anything to stop it. Players were banned and then brought back. The message some of got was ZoS is lax on cheaters. It's ZOS's game though so we have to accept that's how it goes.

People report things all the time and still see the same exact botters and same exact people still in the game months later . I would not expect them to believe reporting resolves the cheating after so many unsuccessful attempts . This is the communities discouragement .

A lot of people are almost begging ZoS to hire GMs and police their own game instead of asking to police it for them and install a serious anti cheat program that doesn't get worked around in a couple weeks . That is what I believe people are trying to say is that the same old business as usual and hearing the same response is no longer working for them . They would like more from ZoS to keep the game fair for everyone and they want people ruining this gone .

This.

How many reports does it take to get the attention of ZOS? 5? 10? 50? 100? Do I have to stand there and rally the people in Zone chat so that enough will drop what they are doing and report bots to hit the magic number?

@Drummerx04 ... it is time to add a feature to your add-on? Send out a Zone message saying that there are reportable bots at <location>, come report them! Maybe you can work with some of the map pin add-on authors so that anyone running your add-on also gets a map pin set when someone else reports a bot by sending the "gps" coordinates through Zone chat.

None of this would be necessary of ZOS were really taking it seriously.

Your idea of the addon is great, but people wont do it anyhow, with ZoS giving hardly any response, or taking proper action against bots and cheaters. So reporting them is meaningless. I have encountered several cheaters as well, wich at this point I wont be doing any pvp, wich means I cant do the HoF trial. So unless ZoS brings on proper action, I'm not bothered reporting.

StackonClown

Why doesnt ZOS give us regular *generic* stats on what action it takes on cheating, botting, hacking etc.
This is called transparency.

The best I hear is 'trust us we are doing 'lots' but sorry, for a self proclaimed 'reason' we dont discuss further'. We are not asking for names!!! Give us regular numbers and the types of things you are catching - this will also be a deterent!

How hard is it to report something like the following every month:

'396 accounts permanently banned for using a 3rd party hacking tool' ??

People claim if you use a non-eso-compiled version of CE you will get caught immediately.
So surely people try and get caught, right??

Then tell us you are catching them and reassure us that PVP in particular isnt rife with a custom ESO version of CE.
We cant prove players are using CE!! so no point reporting, but surely your 'sophisticated tools' can and should be picking this up?!

ZOS claimed months back that they have implemented 'sophisticated cheat detection mechnisms' blah blah. So dont you want to give us a generic update on the outcome?

I've raised this on various threads and the only answer I can think of of is 'couldn't be bothered' or 'nothing to report'.

My opinion is that these people are *FOS* and are just here for the ride and to make as much cash as possible, I mean how much longer does ESO have left 3-5 years? "Forget CE and sell more crates!!!", shouts the exec.

Why can't ZOS devs install CE and see how much hacking is possible and keep fine tuning until its stamped out?? doesnt make money i guess.

I'm salty about this coz I dont like getting treated like a sucker.

Mondini

Here is something I never understand, why do people actually bot? Do they make any money from it or is it just to have ingame items. In OP's video there are 4 bots, I refuse to believe that after paying the cost to run 4 pc's to bot that you could make any real money.

Turelus

Mondini wrote: »

Here is something I never understand, why do people actually bot? Do they make any money from it or is it just to have ingame items. In OP's video there are 4 bots, I refuse to believe that after paying the cost to run 4 pc's to bot that you could make any real money.

Most bots are "working" for gold selling companies who make real money from it. Some players no doubt bot for gold/resources but it's not as common.

Elsonso

StackonClown wrote: »

Why doesnt ZOS give us regular *generic* stats on what action it takes on cheating, botting, hacking etc.
This is called transparency.

We suggested this. A community manager responded that it was a good idea and that they would pass it along. That is pretty much the end of that story. It is here in the forum if you search for it.

StackonClown wrote: »

Why can't ZOS devs install CE and see how much hacking is possible and keep fine tuning until its stamped out?? doesnt make money i guess.

Far from not installing CE and not seeing how it works, I have considered the possibility that they are an institutional user of CE. They have mentioned that they use bots to test. Automation software can cost a lot of money to develop and write. It is usually cheaper to source this from somewhere, and CE is one possible source. It isn't the only source, of course.

In any case, I am fairly confident that they know more about CE than the average person responding to threads on the subject in here. Knowing about something is not the same as doing something about it.

Turelus wrote: »

Mondini wrote: »

Here is something I never understand, why do people actually bot? Do they make any money from it or is it just to have ingame items. In OP's video there are 4 bots, I refuse to believe that after paying the cost to run 4 pc's to bot that you could make any real money.

Most bots are "working" for gold selling companies who make real money from it. Some players no doubt bot for gold/resources but it's not as common.

Farming for XP is also an objective. Max level accounts can be generated using this method, and are wide open for a new player to buy the account and step in and do all the game content. Players who want a max level account might do this while they are at work so that they can get to CP660 faster.

Universe

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

Hey guys,

We know that cheating players and botters takes away from your experience in the game, and also affects important aspects such as the economy or scoring. We do take this very seriously, and appreciate everyone who brings these to our attention. For the record, we are aware of the sites called out from the OP. While we can’t discuss specifics, we do our best to combat sites and programs that encourage breaking our Terms of Service.

As far as what you can do to help, telling us is the first step. If you run across someone you believe is cheating (whether it’s botting or exploiting), please report them. You can do so in-game or simply by messaging a staff member on the forums (it can be me, Jess, or any of the moderators). Keep in mind our TOS team suspends and bans botting accounts daily, and investigations are prioritized based on the number of reports received.

I do hope that you take it very seriously.
I have a mega thread about bots(8k views, 179 comments), video and pictures attached, yet the issue remains.
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/357289/bots-apocalypse-please-stop-them#latest
There was no Dev response to the thread even though it was bumped over a month, almost daily...
My thread wasn't the only one, there were many threads about bots over the years.

There is a need for a better anti botting & cheating system to resolve this.
The issue won't be resolved by players reports alone.
Also, please hire game masters to monitor the servers, 2/3 or more game masters who search for botters/cheaters and act per server in live according to logs, reports and scouting the game world would really make a difference
Reporting bots isn't the responsibility of the players, we play this game for enjoyment not to police this game 24/7.
I miss the sight of in-game masters wearing their special costume, years have past since I have last seen a game master.
Let it be called "The Return of the Game Masters"!

Thanks!

kevlarto_ESO

it's been going on so long and zos does not have the chonies to do anything about it, that's why I stopped my sub don't buy any new dlc's rarely play any longer I refuse to support a game that lets cheaters and exploiters run wild unchecked, while the honest players that come for a good game experience get the shaft.

I am Elder Scrolls fan and really disappointed at zos over this whole cheating thing, if you were in game the day the cheat engine came to light and seen the difference in pvp it was jaw dropping, all the sudden these players that were god's one day the next they were just average joe;s and this stuff still goes on today cheaters and exploiters will always find away, really sad, and sad individuals that that think they have to cheat to play, they will never gain any skill and they rob themselves of any good gaming experience, I guess sign of the times and the instant gratification generation.