Gold sellers in game, need game masters

eroticmuppet

There has been an ongoing issue in the game with gold sellers setting up low level accounts in starting zones, swarming the areas, and selling off the mats for gold which they sell online. Recently however, the problem has exploded. There are bot farmers sitting on nodes, as well as low level toons running programmed accounts. They have pretty much taken over Stros M'kai, Khenarthis Roost, Betnihk, and are working on Bal foyen currently.

This issue is making it extremely difficult for players to gather their own materials, either for personal use or to sell. As a result more and more players are resorting to buying materials from these gold sellers, effectively letting the people running these bots to set prices for the in game economy. Players doing this, however, run the risk of getting banned for trading with these farmers, whether or not they are aware that the farmers sell the gold they get.

In my opinion, the responsibility for this rests entirely with ZoS. I understand that if these bot accounts are banned, they simply make another one and are back at it the next day. I cant accept that as the answer for the lack of action in dealing with these bots. In 2 1/2 years of playing the game, I have never once seen a game master anywhere. A single game master moving through the problem zones a couple times a week could make a huge difference in the sheer volume of bots that we are seeing right now. Please make the minimal investment it would take to allow players who enjoy farming and selling to do so.

Ruinhorn

You really think no one knows about it?
It's an old and common problem. ZOS doesn't care. I had a ton of screenshots, videos, names, everything.
Did anyone at least answer my reports and my suggestions to provide all materials about bots?

No.

It's an MMO. And it's ESO MMO. Bots will exist here forever.
We've been asking to fix "running on top of the mount" bug since... Almost release? What are we talking about? Don't ask anything. You get what you get, whether you like it or not. Adapt or don't play.

Tandor

Pretty useless post frankly without any information as to which platform and server you're talking about.

As for game masters, when they're in the game they tend not to want to be seen, rather they are watching others. That said, in the first few months on PC EU I did see a game master in a delve and he announced that everyone present should step back, after which he swept an area kick on those still close to him. I haven't seen one since, but then I've only rarely seen bots since and none recently including in the starter zones.

While ZOS have some responsibility for dealing with this sort of thing, there is also a massive responsibility on the part of the players that buy from third parties as well as any guilds that are involved e.g. with traders.

D0PAMINE

Just report and move on, that's all you can do. This game hasnt had Gamemasters in years.

Bekkael

I’m on Xbox NA, and yeah, I saw this recently when I went to Bal Foyen. All low lvl characters that had same usernames with different numbers at the end. They were all parked right on top of all the nodes close to the wayshrine. I was trying to get a few mats myself just for my own personal crafting needs (I don’t sell anything) and couldn’t due to so many bots. 🙄 I left to try my luck somewhere else.

Dr3sden

They exist just some issues occur in different instance. The soultion to issue is to link zone chats from one area so it's easier to see.

phairdon

Not encountered any bots on the starter Islands on PC/NA. Just taken a character through Cadwell's quests. Doing the same on another.

eroticmuppet

Yeah I play on PS4 NA. The bots were pretty much always around doing scrap farming and in craglorn, but it didnt interfere with the game too much. Its exploded lately, they're taking over the beginning zones and even places like malabal tor

Delsanab14_ESO

I have less issue with bots selling mats for cheap as I do with guilds artificially buying their own items at excessive prices to manipulate the TTC and MM values.

eroticmuppet

Delsanab14_ESO wrote: »

I have less issue with bots selling mats for cheap as I do with guilds artificially buying their own items at excessive prices to manipulate the TTC and MM values.

Where do you think they're getting the large volume to do something like that. None of the top trading guilds on my server are supported by their own farming efforts

Alowishus

You should've seen early access/launch. They were so rampant you actually did see GMs appear and destroy them. I saw one appear in Windhelm all ghost-like a la The Prophet when he appears to you and *poof* obliterated khajiit bots. It was funny actually. They were pretty good at getting it under control.

Elsonso

eroticmuppet wrote: »

Yeah I play on PS4 NA. The bots were pretty much always around doing scrap farming and in craglorn, but it didnt interfere with the game too much. Its exploded lately, they're taking over the beginning zones and even places like malabal tor

If there is no player there and you suspect a hacked concole, report them to Sony. I am pretty sure that is against Sony ToS.

If they just have a rubberband holding down the button so that they can claim the node as soon as it comes up, report them to ZOS.

starkerealm

eroticmuppet wrote: »

Delsanab14_ESO wrote: »

I have less issue with bots selling mats for cheap as I do with guilds artificially buying their own items at excessive prices to manipulate the TTC and MM values.

Where do you think they're getting the large volume to do something like that. None of the top trading guilds on my server are supported by their own farming efforts

And you know this via your extensive, psychic, knowledge of the economy. Right.

I understand your theory, but without hard evidence to back it up, evidence that you do not have, it's just a suspicion. So, saying, "yeah, they've got so much money, clearly they're botting," is just a lazy shorthand for, "they're successful, clearly they cheated."

Unless you mean, the botted mats saturate the market... at which point, "Maybe?" But, even that's a little suspect, as the vast majority of high level mat sales occurs with Ruby Tier mats, and low level characters can only collect, at most 50% Ruby Tier. They can get Iron Tier, which doesn't have the same market. They could be refining it, then selling the tempers and wax, but even then, alleging that the bulk of the upgrade mats on the market comes from botting is a tough sell, especially when people can, stockpile stacks of the stuff legitimately.

Delsanab14_ESO

eroticmuppet wrote: »

Delsanab14_ESO wrote: »

I have less issue with bots selling mats for cheap as I do with guilds artificially buying their own items at excessive prices to manipulate the TTC and MM values.

Where do you think they're getting the large volume to do something like that. None of the top trading guilds on my server are supported by their own farming efforts

I've literally been asked to do this by Alinor, Rawl'kha and other traders. They do it. Give someone 200,000 gold buy a item with it, get that gold back, rinse and repeat with another. It happens. It may not happen on everything ever, but it happens.

I also hate the put on take off put on take off put on take off types and then when it's finally put on it's at a higher price but appears numerous times on the TTC.

Delsanab14_ESO

Alowishus wrote: »

You should've seen early access/launch. They were so rampant you actually did see GMs appear and destroy them. I saw one appear in Windhelm all ghost-like a la The Prophet when he appears to you and *poof* obliterated khajiit bots. It was funny actually. They were pretty good at getting it under control.

Obliterated in terms of like special explosion or just oh they're logged off and banned?

eroticmuppet

starkerealm wrote: »

eroticmuppet wrote: »

Delsanab14_ESO wrote: »

I have less issue with bots selling mats for cheap as I do with guilds artificially buying their own items at excessive prices to manipulate the TTC and MM values.

Where do you think they're getting the large volume to do something like that. None of the top trading guilds on my server are supported by their own farming efforts

And you know this via your extensive, psychic, knowledge of the economy. Right.

I understand your theory, but without hard evidence to back it up, evidence that you do not have, it's just a suspicion. So, saying, "yeah, they've got so much money, clearly they're botting," is just a lazy shorthand for, "they're successful, clearly they cheated."

Unless you mean, the botted mats saturate the market... at which point, "Maybe?" But, even that's a little suspect, as the vast majority of high level mat sales occurs with Ruby Tier mats, and low level characters can only collect, at most 50% Ruby Tier. They can get Iron Tier, which doesn't have the same market. They could be refining it, then selling the tempers and wax, but even then, alleging that the bulk of the upgrade mats on the market comes from botting is a tough sell, especially when people can, stockpile stacks of the stuff legitimately.

So you came here pretty salty lol. I didnt whine or complain about what they're doing, I'm asking for action on the bots. Buying from bots isnt great, but its a problem because there are bots to buy from. Thats pretty much the entire point of my post, would like the devs to address an increasing problem.

Somone else asked what i meant by exploding, and i mean there has been a huge increase in the number of bots compared to even a few months ago.

WhyMustItBe

I haven't seen or heard of a GM appearing in-game since before Dark Brotherhood was released.

Callous2208

How much would you be willing to pay for GM appearances in game and/or resources put into sniffing out and banning bots? Asking for a developer.

eroticmuppet

How much is eso plus + 2 or 3 rounds of crates each month. About that much

Callous2208

eroticmuppet wrote: »

How much is eso plus + 2 or 3 rounds of crates each month. About that much

Not enough. Prices have gone up. Mounts are going for 800 gems now. Haven't had a quality DLC since Orsinium, and now you ask for GM involvement. Nay peasant! You and the rest of the rabble take your wallets to the crown store more often and perhaps we can talk GM presence in game!

eroticmuppet

A discerning player has arrived, reading between the lines. My peasantly ways are the real issue, I can see that now. For each zone regularly cleaned from bots, I will buy crown crates. If they IP ban all traffic that isnt NA or EU, I will sign over my paychecks.

Callous2208

eroticmuppet wrote: »

A discerning player has arrived, reading between the lines. My peasantly ways are the real issue, I can see that now. For each zone regularly cleaned from bots, I will buy crown crates. If they IP ban all traffic that isnt NA or EU, I will sign over my paychecks.

You've piqued our interest. Ensure that your fellow players follow suit and it shall be done.

Perwulf

ZOS serverS controlS botS.

Edit:
Skynet taking over.

AbysmalGhul

eroticmuppet wrote: »

Yeah I play on PS4 NA. The bots were pretty much always around doing scrap farming and in craglorn, but it didnt interfere with the game too much. Its exploded lately, they're taking over the beginning zones and even places like malabal tor

It hasn't exploded lately. You've been fortunate enough not to be in the same instance as the bot farm. They've been running rampant practically since day one

eroticmuppet

Unfortunately the zones I farm dont instance. There are a couple areas in bleakrock that do, where the city is either on fire or not, but none in stros, bal foyen, khenarthis or betnihk. Folks would obviously seek separate instances if it was a possibility.

Skwor

Sad truth is a great game is dying due to lack of developer interest. A game can only be carried so far by devs who do not play it.
Bots will always be an issue but 1 GM can go a long way in minimizing the impact. We can't even get that from the ESO devs.
I have easily submitted 30 plus bot reports in the last 3 weeks it has become such a joke that I now write how embarrasing it must be to never respond to a repot in every one I make.
All I get is an auto response telling me to put the bot on ignore, so there is your answer, per ESO devs if you ignore a problem it will go away.

jircris11

Ruinhorn wrote: »

You really think no one knows about it?
It's an old and common problem. ZOS doesn't care. I had a ton of screenshots, videos, names, everything.
Did anyone at least answer my reports and my suggestions to provide all materials about bots?

No.

It's an MMO. And it's ESO MMO. Bots will exist here forever.
We've been asking to fix "running on top of the mount" bug since... Almost release? What are we talking about? Don't ask anything. You get what you get, whether you like it or not. Adapt or don't play.

Not that they don't care it's that gold sellers are a dime a dozen. I'll ones account and they are back within minutes.

eroticmuppet

Yeah, its frustrating because it can be pretty enjoyable to just group up with a couple friends and run around a map a bit at the end of the day. It can also be really enjoyable running against someone else on the same route as you. What is not enjoyable is spending time trying to bear trap the stationary bots off nodes and timing nodes off the stupid programmed bots.

It might be a lost cause, but i'm going to give it a go.

Reverb

Lots of people will say that Zeni doesn't care about bots or gold sellers (or exploiters) . That's not true, they care and they would prefer these things weren't in the game. But they'd prefer them to just go away on their own, and they aren't going to put more than minimal effort into getting rid of them.

So they care, but not enough to do anything about it.

eso_lags

Game masters dont exist in eso. Certainly not on console.

Emma_Overload

There are no bots at endgame, either in PvE or PvP. Quit monkeying around in the starter zones and actually play the game. You will go for years without seeing any bots.

If all you want to do is mindlessly grind mats for personal profit, don't come to the forums expecting everyone to sympathize with your selfish desire to drive up prices.