New Botting Method

Enemy-of-Coldharbour

So, I was doing the quest for Shattered Grove in Auridon when I noticed 3 bots harvesting bears and wolves. However, instead of all three running a predetermined course together in single file, they did the following. They were 3 stamsorcs all with really long nonsensical gibberish names. They would start stealthed, stacked on each other next to the same tree until the bears and wolves all respawned (exact time, every time). They would then pop Lightning Form and all three would take off running in a different direction on a specific course to agro the mobs on ‘their route’ and then burn them down with an AOE at the end of their route. They would then return to the exact same tree and repeat the process. To determine if they were bots I tried interacting with them and even poaching their pulls. I got no responses so I reported them. Looks like botters are trying to be more clever. What sucks about bots in this location is it’s a quest hub and you need one of those bears to complete your quest.

@ZOS_GinaBruno
@ZOS_JessicaFolsom
@ZOS_MattFiror
@ZOS_RichLambert

Nestor

Bots are a scourge on this game.

Tan9oSuccka

Yep. They do this with Mudcrabs in Alikr Desert as well.

GreenHere

Not sure if they're trying to outwit being detected, or simply find more efficient ways to farm mats...

Either way, interesting, thanks for reporting. Definitely don't want bot farmers owning a quest area.

Apherius

It's not " new " .

They were doing the same thing 1 year ago at the same spot.

Fischblut

And I thought the most "clever" method I saw were bots with randomized paths and actions in Coldharbour (which took me long to make sure it's a bot), and a bot wearing basic 500 crowns worth costume in fail attempt to disguise itself in Bleakrock But this is something I haven't seen.
Although I have seen a large group of bots waiting in stealth, while few of them go kill mobs, then return, enter stealth and next few bots go kill mobs again, in Rift. Apparently the botter thought that large group of stealthed and stacked on top of each other characters in PvE would be less suspicious than large group of templars jabbing mobs together at the same time

Mrsinister2

Fischblut wrote: »

And I thought the most "clever" method I saw were bots with randomized paths and actions in Coldharbour (which took me long to make sure it's a bot), and a bot wearing basic 500 crowns worth costume in fail attempt to disguise itself in Bleakrock But this is something I haven't seen.
Although I have seen a large group of bots waiting in stealth, while few of them go kill mobs, then return, enter stealth and next few bots go kill mobs again, in Rift. Apparently the botter thought that large group of stealthed and stacked on top of each other characters in PvE would be less suspicious than large group of templars jabbing mobs together at the same time

Those huge groups of templars were kinda fun to watch tho lol

BozzyTheDrummer

What I am having a hard time understanding, is how do people do this? I understand that obviously, someone has to have the game, create said character (because i see these bots at low level and in very high CP levels on Xbox) they give them saw gibberish name and I assume play the character long enough to get these skills?

What I don't understand, is are these bots being actively controlled by people? Is it something or some program that is controlling these bots to do these specific task (i.e. farming resources, etc...)

Actual people aren't controlling these things are they? Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I cannot wrap my head around it.

Last bots I encountered were in Camlorn a couple weeks back. They were EVERYWHERE. you couldn't even see the floor in certain areas in there due to the amount of bots and the piles of werewolf corpses.

The_Brosteen

Dont waste your time, they don't care

Starlock

It’s not new. Honestly, there are a few regular spots you see this stupid ***. Given how predictable it is, there is no excuse for this to be happening on the part of the company. You wouln’t even need a mythical game master (we all know those do not exist) - just an autodetect and ban protocol in the bot farm spots.

PrinceDamien

Not new. I've seen that exact same thing like a month ago. or maybe even two.
Now I know they are still there however.

ADarklore

What I don't get is, ZOS knows the areas this occurs in, so WHY can't they employ someone to go to these areas a couple times per day and see if bots are present?!? Instead they force PLAYERS to 'report' them when they could easily do this themselves.

kimaeril

I was in that same spot in Auridon and there was a character that was a Templar all by themselves with the gibberish name and @ name. They kept doing the Biting Jabs attack over and over. They were there two nights in a row doing the exact same thing. I'm sure they were a bot but just weird they were by themselves.

I need that quest on a few of my characters but don't want to even try it because of the bots there.

Kelces

The_Brosteen wrote: »

Dont waste your time, they don't care

Or rather, they didn't realize, they can make more money by those accounts having to be renewed and therefore would get them more $$$!

adriant1978

ADarklore wrote: »

What I don't get is, ZOS knows the areas this occurs in, so WHY can't they employ someone to go to these areas a couple times per day and see if bots are present?!? Instead they force PLAYERS to 'report' them when they could easily do this themselves.

Probably because a) it would cost them money to employ said person, and b) at least some of the botters are probably paying for ESO+ so they'd lose money by banning them.

RexyCat

ADarklore wrote: »

What I don't get is, ZOS knows the areas this occurs in, so WHY can't they employ someone to go to these areas a couple times per day and see if bots are present?!? Instead they force PLAYERS to 'report' them when they could easily do this themselves.

Maybe it is ZoS way of prolonging its own content in game and the more time you spend on A ) make sure it is a bot, B ) reporting it and then wait to be able to finish what ever you where doing....all this takes time from players which could have been used on doing other things in game.

The real question is how much impact does botting have on server resources?

Kelces

adriant1978 wrote: »

show previous quotes

ADarklore wrote: »

What I don't get is, ZOS knows the areas this occurs in, so WHY can't they employ someone to go to these areas a couple times per day and see if bots are present?!? Instead they force PLAYERS to 'report' them when they could easily do this themselves.

Probably because a) it would cost them money to employ said person, and b) at least some of the botters are probably paying for ESO+ so they'd lose money by banning them.

Ironic, really. Many players do that voluntarely for years, but get ignored. ZoS shouldn't complain about addidional expenses, that they bare responsibility for.

Edit: And for point b), read my previous comment.

Shantu

BozzyTheDrummer wrote: »

What I am having a hard time understanding, is how do people do this? I understand that obviously, someone has to have the game, create said character (because i see these bots at low level and in very high CP levels on Xbox) they give them saw gibberish name and I assume play the character long enough to get these skills?

What I don't understand, is are these bots being actively controlled by people? Is it something or some program that is controlling these bots to do these specific task (i.e. farming resources, etc...)

Actual people aren't controlling these things are they? Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I cannot wrap my head around it.

Last bots I encountered were in Camlorn a couple weeks back. They were EVERYWHERE. you couldn't even see the floor in certain areas in there due to the amount of bots and the piles of werewolf corpses.

A simple Google search will reveal that using a programming language like Python you can analyze visual changes in defined areas of the screen. When an anticipated change occurs, you can then code a series of keyboard and mouse commands to execute the bot behavior. Not easy to do, but with enough knowledge and motivation to cheat, obviously very doable.

Because this is all done by programs running outside of ESO, apart from employing people to play the game and observe the behavior, not much ZOS can do about this. This is likely why they rely on reports from other players.

D0PAMINE

They'll see what other accounts are connected or doing business with then then terminate it.

Avnr

I say , nerf sorc and problem solved

XxCaLxX

This has been going on in bleakrock on Xbox NA for awhile now.

Androconium

Shantu wrote: »

show previous quotes

BozzyTheDrummer wrote: »

What I am having a hard time understanding, is how do people do this? I understand that obviously, someone has to have the game, create said character (because i see these bots at low level and in very high CP levels on Xbox) they give them saw gibberish name and I assume play the character long enough to get these skills?

What I don't understand, is are these bots being actively controlled by people? Is it something or some program that is controlling these bots to do these specific task (i.e. farming resources, etc...)

Actual people aren't controlling these things are they? Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I cannot wrap my head around it.

Last bots I encountered were in Camlorn a couple weeks back. They were EVERYWHERE. you couldn't even see the floor in certain areas in there due to the amount of bots and the piles of werewolf corpses.

A simple Google search will reveal that using a programming language like Python you can analyze visual changes in defined areas of the screen. When an anticipated change occurs, you can then code a series of keyboard and mouse commands to execute the bot behavior. Not easy to do, but with enough knowledge and motivation to cheat, obviously very doable.

Because this is all done by programs running outside of ESO, apart from employing people to play the game and observe the behavior, not much ZOS can do about this. This is likely why they rely on reports from other players.

Ah yes: a simple google search. It never occurred to me that you could run programmes from outside of the game to be able to manipulate what takes place in the game.

This should be reported to the police as hacking. Because that is what you just described. Hacking. If there is real-world cash being generated at the end of the process, then that could be described as fraud.

If that is really the case, then i hope no-one is enabling hacking and fraud activity, because that is illegal in most countries.

Ardaghion

I saw something similar on the Xbox recently, I wouldn't call the ones I saw bots for that reason but they were all harvesting metal/jewelry nodes. I've seen up to a dozen level 3 "players" all with random names and gamer tags camping these nodes for hours and harvesting as soon as the node spawns. They twitch around a bit while hidden then stand up to harvest, then drop back to hidden, timing it it looks like the nodes respawn every 2 minutes. Looking at the gamer profiles they have only 5 Xbox achievement points, only from starting ESO. Their friends list only consist of the other "players."

I've also seen the same toons using the bankers in the outlaw refuges. They are only harvesting iron and pewter so they can't be making a lot of gold or getting a lot of mats. But if there's enough of them it might be worth the effort.

While it could be a sophisticated program running multiple or Xbox family accounts it's more likely some gold selling operation has hired low wage people to sit there and camp/harvest mats, then drop them into a shared guild bank where the mats can be sold for gold in the guild traders system.

Waffennacht

I've seen normal bots on Xbox

I've also seen things were it looked like an actual player was controlling like 6 characters at once, all of the characters were *almost* in the exact same spot

I've looked into these bots' names. From what I gather it's an Asian language typically, and the account itself is one created for this purpose only. So even if they were to get banned, it was a dummy account and not the main one

Armatesz

Ardaghion wrote: »

I saw something similar on the Xbox recently, I wouldn't call the ones I saw bots for that reason but they were all harvesting metal/jewelry nodes. I've seen up to a dozen level 3 "players" all with random names and gamer tags camping these nodes for hours and harvesting as soon as the node spawns. They twitch around a bit while hidden then stand up to harvest, then drop back to hidden, timing it it looks like the nodes respawn every 2 minutes. Looking at the gamer profiles they have only 5 Xbox achievement points, only from starting ESO. Their friends list only consist of the other "players."

I've also seen the same toons using the bankers in the outlaw refuges. They are only harvesting iron and pewter so they can't be making a lot of gold or getting a lot of mats. But if there's enough of them it might be worth the effort.

While it could be a sophisticated program running multiple or Xbox family accounts it's more likely some gold selling operation has hired low wage people to sit there and camp/harvest mats, then drop them into a shared guild bank where the mats can be sold for gold in the guild traders system.

You would be surprised at what can be programmed, even on xbox... more often you are actually not dealing with a human at all. They stick to pre programmed routes and if there is a problem with one route they will switch up to another set area that is still in the programmed area to deal with. They're not human if you are implying, I highly doubt many are human.

Cpt_Teemo

Kelces wrote: »

show previous quotes

The_Brosteen wrote: »

Dont waste your time, they don't care

Or rather, they didn't realize, they can make more money by those accounts having to be renewed and therefore would get them more $$$!

Except for the fact like 95% of those accounts are either stolen or used with stolen cc's, and then people have to charge back and ESO has to give back to the bank.

Azuramoonstar

Enemy-of-Coldharbour wrote: »

So, I was doing the quest for Shattered Grove in Auridon when I noticed 3 bots harvesting bears and wolves. However, instead of all three running a predetermined course together in single file, they did the following. They were 3 stamsorcs all with really long nonsensical gibberish names. They would start stealthed, stacked on each other next to the same tree until the bears and wolves all respawned (exact time, every time). They would then pop Lightning Form and all three would take off running in a different direction on a specific course to agro the mobs on ‘their route’ and then burn them down with an AOE at the end of their route. They would then return to the exact same tree and repeat the process. To determine if they were bots I tried interacting with them and even poaching their pulls. I got no responses so I reported them. Looks like botters are trying to be more clever. What sucks about bots in this location is it’s a quest hub and you need one of those bears to complete your quest.

@ZOS_GinaBruno
@ZOS_JessicaFolsom
@ZOS_MattFiror
@ZOS_RichLambert

this isn't new, I've seen bots do this since my early days in ff11. I saw bots do this in ff14 even glitching under the ground, you did good about reporting it.

Kelces

Cpt_Teemo wrote: »

show previous quotes

Kelces wrote: »

The_Brosteen wrote: »

Dont waste your time, they don't care

Or rather, they didn't realize, they can make more money by those accounts having to be renewed and therefore would get them more $$$!

Except for the fact like 95% of those accounts are either stolen or used with stolen cc's, and then people have to charge back and ESO has to give back to the bank.

Let's say this is correct, than there is obviously a method of determining what is a "stolen" account. Otherwise those numbers are purely made up...

goldenflameslinger

I usually report suspected bots. However, part of me always feels bad because what if some level 6 kid is really named "asdfydasbefisbadifbiwebfi" and is just AFK for a few minutes and just happens to be squatted down on top of a node spawn. I would feel really bad if he got banned because I was profiling him.

Armatesz

Cpt_Teemo wrote: »

show previous quotes

Kelces wrote: »

The_Brosteen wrote: »

Dont waste your time, they don't care

Or rather, they didn't realize, they can make more money by those accounts having to be renewed and therefore would get them more $$$!

Except for the fact like 95% of those accounts are either stolen or used with stolen cc's, and then people have to charge back and ESO has to give back to the bank.

I guess the 5% are us console players as they just create accounts and have 5 gamerscore going around and collecting stuff. Yeah I've heard horror stories of friends of mine getting their accounts stolen.

Runs

Kelces wrote: »

show previous quotes

Cpt_Teemo wrote: »

Kelces wrote: »

The_Brosteen wrote: »

Dont waste your time, they don't care

Or rather, they didn't realize, they can make more money by those accounts having to be renewed and therefore would get them more $$$!

Except for the fact like 95% of those accounts are either stolen or used with stolen cc's, and then people have to charge back and ESO has to give back to the bank.

Let's say this is correct, than there is obviously a method of determining what is a "stolen" account. Otherwise those numbers are purely made up...

ZOS either waits until there are a ton, or until the stolen cards are actually found and charged back, then does a mass banning on the stolen card created accounts.

Evidence of this was seen a few years back when tons of people who thought they bought legitimate codes, from those scummy reseller sites, lost their accounts. Some of the people had been playing for several months before they lost their account. ZOS did allow them to keep the accounts if they bought the game through ZOS or an approved reseller.

Although 103.65% of statistics on the internet are made up.