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Are bots being banned during this event?

BlackTearsOfHope
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Serious question above, with the double nodes event.
If we report bots, will they be banned immediately?
They're like a plague in certain areas and should be dealt with, since they're taking away from actual players.
  • RedMuse
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    Bots are generally banned in batches. That is ZOS gathers a certain number of reports before purging them all in one go.
  • Goregrinder
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    RedMuse wrote: »
    Bots are generally banned in batches. That is ZOS gathers a certain number of reports before purging them all in one go.

    Yeah most MMORPG devs ban people in waves, rather than one by one on the spot.
  • Ackwalan
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    Those kind of reports get filed away. If any one particular account reaches XX number of reports it might get elevated and a person might look into it.
  • BlackTearsOfHope
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    Alright, thanks guys, appreciate the answers. :)
  • StormWylf
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    Serious question above, with the double nodes event.
    If we report bots, will they be banned immediately?
    They're like a plague in certain areas and should be dealt with, since they're taking away from actual players.

    Bots have been an issue since day 2 of ESO's release. it's a never ending problem.
  • FluffWit
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    I just put up with them but if they really bug you find a good farming route in a dlc zone. Bots don't buy dlc or sub for Plus so all you'll have to compete with is other players.

    I have three farming routes- one each in Bal Foyen, Hews Bane and Stormhaven. Bal Foyen is competitive and I have to fight other players and bots. Sometimes I enjoy that, when I don't I'll hit up one of the others.
  • six2fall
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    Lol zos hasnt ever done anything about bots & I doubt they ever will.
  • SeaGtGruff
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    FluffWit wrote: »
    I just put up with them but if they really bug you find a good farming route in a dlc zone. Bots don't buy dlc or sub for Plus so all you'll have to compete with is other players.

    I have three farming routes- one each in Bal Foyen, Hews Bane and Stormhaven. Bal Foyen is competitive and I have to fight other players and bots. Sometimes I enjoy that, when I don't I'll hit up one of the others.

    Um, Stormhaven is a base game zone. :#

    EDIT: As far as non-base game zones, a nice advantage of farming them is that you'll get the unrefined style mat for the zone's style-- with the possible exception of Vvardenfell, since the Morrowind chapter is now included with a purchase of the base game and hence is easily accessible to bots.
    Edited by SeaGtGruff on May 14, 2021 6:40AM
    I've fought mudcrabs more fearsome than me!
  • Varangian_af_Scaniae
    Serious question above, with the double nodes event.
    If we report bots, will they be banned immediately?
    They're like a plague in certain areas and should be dealt with, since they're taking away from actual players.

    How do you identify a bot? I have a few thousand hours in the game and I can't say I have seen a single player act in a strange way farming resources. In whatever zone I run thru their are plenty of resources everywhere. Maybe don't play during peak hours?
  • zaria
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    Serious question above, with the double nodes event.
    If we report bots, will they be banned immediately?
    They're like a plague in certain areas and should be dealt with, since they're taking away from actual players.

    How do you identify a bot? I have a few thousand hours in the game and I can't say I have seen a single player act in a strange way farming resources. In whatever zone I run thru their are plenty of resources everywhere. Maybe don't play during peak hours?
    Has seen them a couple of times, once in Grathwood and once in Desan, far to the west.
    The grathwood once was obvious, the Desan one just looked like players farming mobs waiting for the dolmen but they did not react to dolmen and after doing it I found they was bots in an fixed route.

    Not seen harvesting bots however.
    Grinding just make you go in circles.
    Asking ZoS for nerfs is as stupid as asking for close air support from the death star.
  • Varangian_af_Scaniae
    zaria wrote: »
    Serious question above, with the double nodes event.
    If we report bots, will they be banned immediately?
    They're like a plague in certain areas and should be dealt with, since they're taking away from actual players.

    How do you identify a bot? I have a few thousand hours in the game and I can't say I have seen a single player act in a strange way farming resources. In whatever zone I run thru their are plenty of resources everywhere. Maybe don't play during peak hours?
    Has seen them a couple of times, once in Grathwood and once in Desan, far to the west.
    The grathwood once was obvious, the Desan one just looked like players farming mobs waiting for the dolmen but they did not react to dolmen and after doing it I found they was bots in an fixed route.

    Not seen harvesting bots however.

    Well XP bots, I have seen them many times farming dolmens.
  • Alurria
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    In the years I have been playing this game I saw bots once or twice the first couple years. Unless you have followed these players and watched their movements how would you know if they if they were bots. You could be reporting a player who has a regular farming routine. I have never had a problem farming nodes in this game if someone runs toward a node I was heading for I usually just go find another.
  • BXR_Lonestar
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    As far as I can tell, the bots are out in full force. Seen a few bots farming up ancestor silk and mudcrab chitlins in Alik'r last night.
  • Pinesy
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    I've never seen a bot outside of the Sorcerer + Pet trains. How are you so sure these players are bots? Some people look very bottish going between nodes, if using lets say, harvest map to preview where nodes could be....
    Beezenees IGN (PC/NA)
  • Alurria
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    As far as I can tell, the bots are out in full force. Seen a few bots farming up ancestor silk and mudcrab chitlins in Alik'r last night.

    I go there and farm how can you tell people are bots? Seriously if you don't have a way to tell then this is just reporting people for nothing. I run around and farm I don't use add ons. But I want to know how it is people are so sure they are bots? Because if you are mad because another person is farming the area you are in and report them that is just abuse of the system.
    Edited by Alurria on May 14, 2021 2:58PM
  • Goregrinder
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    six2fall wrote: »
    Lol zos hasnt ever done anything about bots & I doubt they ever will.

    That sounds a little farfetched. They ban then in waves, just like most MMORPG's (There are like a hundred other MMORPG's, ESO isn't the only one). Just like cheaters in CSGO, once they get banned, they create new accounts, and start the process all over again. It's an endless cycle, been that way since the EQ1 days.
  • zaria
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    zaria wrote: »
    Serious question above, with the double nodes event.
    If we report bots, will they be banned immediately?
    They're like a plague in certain areas and should be dealt with, since they're taking away from actual players.

    How do you identify a bot? I have a few thousand hours in the game and I can't say I have seen a single player act in a strange way farming resources. In whatever zone I run thru their are plenty of resources everywhere. Maybe don't play during peak hours?
    Has seen them a couple of times, once in Grathwood and once in Desan, far to the west.
    The grathwood once was obvious, the Desan one just looked like players farming mobs waiting for the dolmen but they did not react to dolmen and after doing it I found they was bots in an fixed route.

    Not seen harvesting bots however.

    Well XP bots, I have seen them many times farming dolmens.
    Yes back then you could do that you always had the guys afk auto HA into the area.
    Saw one probably using an macro to shoot endless hail into the area every 6 seconds too. But he had joined the fight then dolmen went down. Don't really count these.


    Grinding just make you go in circles.
    Asking ZoS for nerfs is as stupid as asking for close air support from the death star.
  • Arrodisia
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    I've been seeing bots lately in the old starter zones, as well as Rivenspire, Bangkorai, Summerset and Vvardenfel. Blankets of nodes disappearing and no player visible, just bots. Please, look into this. It would be much appreciated.
    Edited by Arrodisia on May 14, 2021 4:09PM
  • redlink1979
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    Regarding resource nodes, usually the bots are in starter areas due to the fast respawn of the nodes.
    Consoles are plagued since ever: I can't go a single time to one of the starter areas (EU and NA servers) without at least finding n reporting 5-10 bots in the area farming resource nodes (mining nodes usually).
    "Sweet Mother, sweet Mother, send your child unto me, for the sins of the unworthy must be baptized in blood and fear"
    • Sons of the Night Mother [PS5][EU] 2165 CP
    • Daggerfall's Mightiest [PS5][NA] 1910 CP
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    • Bacon Rats [PC][NA] 1850 CP
  • Elsonso
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    RedMuse wrote: »
    Bots are generally banned in batches. That is ZOS gathers a certain number of reports before purging them all in one go.

    What would possibly lead you to believe that?
    How do you identify a bot? I have a few thousand hours in the game and I can't say I have seen a single player act in a strange way farming resources. In whatever zone I run thru their are plenty of resources everywhere. Maybe don't play during peak hours?

    They generally run whenever the servers are working. Most people probably don't notice them. At an uneducated glance, they just look like a player running across the map.

    I see them mainly in the starting zones. Usually, I don't even need to be in the zone for more than a minute or two before I see one. I report them when I am bored. In some places, it is like shooting fish in a barrel.

    I dunno what ZOS does with the report, or how often they do it. I tried to get someone at ZOS to provide basic feedback about whether the reports were useful or could be improved, but never heard back.
    PC NA/EU: @Elsonso
    XBox EU/NA: @ElsonsoJannus
    X/Twitter: ElsonsoJannus
  • BlackTearsOfHope
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    Identifying a bot isn't hard. There's a few things, especially on console, which I play, where there's no addons. 1. They'll always have a 'normal' looking screen name, the character name is a jumbled mess of letters, so, Sleeps-in-bed / jilijaiijilr. 2. If you follow and watch them, they'll follow the same route and they'll take out a map, after farming every node. 3. They always hide in a crevice, somewhere, for approx. 30 secs, while waiting for the nodes to respawn.
  • Indigogo
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    Level 3/4 sorc with a scamp. They follow a set path, never faltering which avoids any nps: hit a node, look at map, move to next spot. If you snatch it before them, they still stop at the node.

    Then you've got the mega groups of several farming wolves mudcrabs.

    As others said, they're everywhere on console.
  • Goregrinder
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    Elsonso wrote: »
    RedMuse wrote: »
    Bots are generally banned in batches. That is ZOS gathers a certain number of reports before purging them all in one go.

    What would possibly lead you to believe that?
    How do you identify a bot? I have a few thousand hours in the game and I can't say I have seen a single player act in a strange way farming resources. In whatever zone I run thru their are plenty of resources everywhere. Maybe don't play during peak hours?

    They generally run whenever the servers are working. Most people probably don't notice them. At an uneducated glance, they just look like a player running across the map.

    I see them mainly in the starting zones. Usually, I don't even need to be in the zone for more than a minute or two before I see one. I report them when I am bored. In some places, it is like shooting fish in a barrel.

    I dunno what ZOS does with the report, or how often they do it. I tried to get someone at ZOS to provide basic feedback about whether the reports were useful or could be improved, but never heard back.

    That's how Blizzard handled HB bots, they banned them in waves. They collected a giant listed of accounts that were flagged as a botter, and waited until enough data about the bot was collected, then would ban like 200k accounts at once every few months. Valve does the same thing with VACNET bans, but with cheaters. They do ban waves of X = amount of accounts every so often. I believe Activision did one last month or something banning like 200k cheaters at once. So ban waves for things like cheaters or botters have been pretty common in the online gaming industry for years and years at this point.

    That doesn't mean Valve (as an example) doesn't do spot bans when an account has been flagged, which i think is what you're implying what ZOS does by your question. Valve has VAC and VACNET. VAC detects a cheat on a machine and bans that account instantly. VACNET, uses a collection of listed accounts, collects data, then Valve manually issues a ban based on that list...aka...they hit a "Ban Hammer" button, with everyone on this Most Wanted List selected. Also known as a "Mass Ban".

    I don't know if ZOS has multiple systems in place like Valve does, but they do in fact ban multiple accounts in a single volley, which is what a mass ban is. Whether it's 1200 accounts at once, or 10k accounts at once...only they would know that. But it happens. Many of these accounts being accounts use by bot farmers.

    As someone with a mostly open mind, if you have evidence to present that refutes the claim that ZOS does ban waves or mass bans which include botter accounts, I'd be happy to take a look to analyze your sources!
  • Elsonso
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    As someone with a mostly open mind, if you have evidence to present that refutes the claim that ZOS does ban waves or mass bans which include botter accounts, I'd be happy to take a look to analyze your sources!

    ZOS has a tendency to do things the ZOS way. How Blizzard handles stuff is great for WoW, but doesn't apply to ESO. Obvious fact is obvious, I know.

    That said...
    • They say they ban people daily, but that statement is broad and may not mean that bots are banned daily. They may queue them up and do it once a year, for all I know.
    • They prioritize multiple reports, which means that Elsonso the Lonely reporting a bot may actually do nothing. I could game the system by reporting the same bots from multiple accounts, but I consider that to be dishonest. I report bots once.
    • I am not so certain that they still send people out into the world. This is one of those things that, if they decided to stop, we would never know. As this costs time and money, it is not off the table that they stopped doing this. For now, I assume that they do not do this anymore. (Edit: Why? I have seen armies of bots on console, so if they are in the game, they are not looking there)
    • Based on the statement below, and a couple other statements, I do have a belief that ZOS is mainly looking for bots that can be linked to RMT. Gold sellers. If they can do this, I think they will waste no time banning them. If they cannot, then I am not sure what the do, as these will be Joe Player.


    https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/3858917/#Comment_3858917

    In regards to our efforts to combat botting and automated play, we’re tackling it on two fronts: Game Development and Customer Support.

    On the Game Development front, we are auditing the monsters that are most commonly targeted by those who bot and automate play to ensure the spawn timers are what they should be. As we find them, we’re fixing any monsters that are instantly re-spawning or on a spawn timer that is shorter than intended.

    On the Customer Support side of things, our Terms of Service team suspends and bans accounts daily. We review all TOS reports that we receive, and prioritize the investigations of accounts that have received multiple complaints. We regularly send our Support Agents in-game to watch high-traffic areas such as Dolmens, and take action on any violators we identify. We turn over identified “black marketeers” and repeat offenders to Sony and Microsoft, which sometimes results in a ban of the individual’s PlayStation 4 or Xbox One. We also do other secret things.


    (p.s... I think "other secret things" involves making Alfiq videos, but I have not been able to find proof) :wink:
    Edited by Elsonso on May 14, 2021 6:46PM
    PC NA/EU: @Elsonso
    XBox EU/NA: @ElsonsoJannus
    X/Twitter: ElsonsoJannus
  • Goregrinder
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    Elsonso wrote: »
    As someone with a mostly open mind, if you have evidence to present that refutes the claim that ZOS does ban waves or mass bans which include botter accounts, I'd be happy to take a look to analyze your sources!

    ZOS has a tendency to do things the ZOS way. How Blizzard handles stuff is great for WoW, but doesn't apply to ESO. Obvious fact is obvious, I know.

    That said...
    • They say they ban people daily, but that statement is broad and may not mean that bots are banned daily. They may queue them up and do it once a year, for all I know.
    • They prioritize multiple reports, which means that Elsonso the Lonely reporting a bot may actually do nothing. I could game the system by reporting the same bots from multiple accounts, but I consider that to be dishonest. I report bots once.
    • I am not so certain that they still send people out into the world. This is one of those things that, if they decided to stop, we would never know. As this costs time and money, it is not off the table that they stopped doing this. For now, I assume that they do not do this anymore.
    • Based on the statement below, and a couple other statements, I do have a belief that ZOS is mainly looking for bots that can be linked to RMT. Gold sellers. If they can do this, I think they will waste no time banning them. If they cannot, then I am not sure what the do, as these will be Joe Player.


    https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/comment/3858917/#Comment_3858917

    In regards to our efforts to combat botting and automated play, we’re tackling it on two fronts: Game Development and Customer Support.

    On the Game Development front, we are auditing the monsters that are most commonly targeted by those who bot and automate play to ensure the spawn timers are what they should be. As we find them, we’re fixing any monsters that are instantly re-spawning or on a spawn timer that is shorter than intended.

    On the Customer Support side of things, our Terms of Service team suspends and bans accounts daily. We review all TOS reports that we receive, and prioritize the investigations of accounts that have received multiple complaints. We regularly send our Support Agents in-game to watch high-traffic areas such as Dolmens, and take action on any violators we identify. We turn over identified “black marketeers” and repeat offenders to Sony and Microsoft, which sometimes results in a ban of the individual’s PlayStation 4 or Xbox One. We also do other secret things.



    Yep, I would say the same thing. That ZOS has a priority structure in place when it comes to bans, and bots directly link to gold selling are properly at the top of the list. I also believe that ZOS does individual bans, and probably has a queue of them daily. I also believe that ZOS does "ban waves" (group bans, mass bans, insert classification here) in addition to individual bans. You can find posts by people on various forums dating as far back as 2014, with people referencing specific ban waves, and records of in game system messages and posts by CSR's implying they are in the process of banning a bunch of people...in a wave. Like ocean waves, or sound waves...a bunch of individual bans all done within a 24 hour period (however you want to define or classify it).
  • Elsonso
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    Yep, I would say the same thing. That ZOS has a priority structure in place when it comes to bans, and bots directly link to gold selling are properly at the top of the list. I also believe that ZOS does individual bans, and probably has a queue of them daily. I also believe that ZOS does "ban waves" (group bans, mass bans, insert classification here) in addition to individual bans. You can find posts by people on various forums dating as far back as 2014, with people referencing specific ban waves, and records of in game system messages and posts by CSR's implying they are in the process of banning a bunch of people...in a wave. Like ocean waves, or sound waves...a bunch of individual bans all done within a 24 hour period (however you want to define or classify it).

    I think that the "ban waves" that people see are mainly associated with a discrete event, not a collection over time. For example, if there is an exploit, ZOS may go through and ban everyone involved with that exploit. That would be considered a ban wave, but it is more just that ZOS is dealing with that instance all at once. This seems rather rare, tbh.

    I have not seen any case where, seemingly out of the blue, people are reporting large numbers of bots suddenly disappearing.

    I think that bots do disappear, as they do change names, but I cannot say whether it is because ZOS bans or because the botter relocates them somewhere else. I do see the same bots in other locations, from time to time.
    PC NA/EU: @Elsonso
    XBox EU/NA: @ElsonsoJannus
    X/Twitter: ElsonsoJannus
  • Goregrinder
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    Elsonso wrote: »
    Yep, I would say the same thing. That ZOS has a priority structure in place when it comes to bans, and bots directly link to gold selling are properly at the top of the list. I also believe that ZOS does individual bans, and probably has a queue of them daily. I also believe that ZOS does "ban waves" (group bans, mass bans, insert classification here) in addition to individual bans. You can find posts by people on various forums dating as far back as 2014, with people referencing specific ban waves, and records of in game system messages and posts by CSR's implying they are in the process of banning a bunch of people...in a wave. Like ocean waves, or sound waves...a bunch of individual bans all done within a 24 hour period (however you want to define or classify it).

    I think that the "ban waves" that people see are mainly associated with a discrete event, not a collection over time. For example, if there is an exploit, ZOS may go through and ban everyone involved with that exploit. That would be considered a ban wave, but it is more just that ZOS is dealing with that instance all at once. This seems rather rare, tbh.

    I have not seen any case where, seemingly out of the blue, people are reporting large numbers of bots suddenly disappearing.

    I think that bots do disappear, as they do change names, but I cannot say whether it is because ZOS bans or because the botter relocates them somewhere else. I do see the same bots in other locations, from time to time.

    I found a reddit post posted 3 years ago, discussing ban waves. A few people also commented on ban waves, and specifically referenced ban waves and why banning bots mostly has to be done in waves.

    https://reddit.com/r/elderscrollsonline/comments/7vo0gj/zos_time_to_hire_a_gm_antibot_ban_waves_not/

    Feel free to check it out if you have about 60 seconds of your day to spare. But a lot of people have been saying " ban waves" for years, and still to this day say it, and I'm not so sure it's simply due to coincidence. I think ZOS does in fact spot ban people, but to spot ban 300 different accounts a day would be too time consuming. It's less time consuming to track these accounts, have AI collect data on their activity, then spend maybe 20 minutes running a script that bans all accounts on a list.

  • Nestor
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    Serious question above, with the double nodes event.
    If we report bots, will they be banned immediately?
    They're like a plague in certain areas and should be dealt with, since they're taking away from actual players.

    How do you identify a bot? I have a few thousand hours in the game and I can't say I have seen a single player act in a strange way farming resources. In whatever zone I run thru their are plenty of resources everywhere. Maybe don't play during peak hours?

    They generally have nonsense account names and character names. The names are randomly generated alpha-numeric strings. They tend to run a fixed path, and, most bots tend to travel in trains and wear basic soul shriven gear.
    Enjoy the game, life is what you really want to be worried about.

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  • pleximus
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    Are they still a thing? I haven't seen them in years.
  • Bat
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    Bots on PC can be trickier to identify than opening a node and waiting for someone to stupidly just stop and try to pick it for themselves for a minute. Some bots have been improved upon and can detect if another player is *looking* at a node, not even having it opened. Don't ask me how the bot designers managed this feat, because I don't know, I just know that they did because some of the exact same bots that used to be stupid and stand around and try to pick a node when it was being previewed suddenly one day just moved past the node even if you were just in the vicinity of it and having it in your crosshairs. They will still, however, be easily identified by their programmed movements over a map.

    Another example of "bot farming" which is not technically a bot, is the macro user who idles at one specific node (usually blacksmithing, as to gather large quantities of jewellery dust). These can actually be pulled away from the node by using the Battered Bear Trap memento on them. They would follow you to the map's end if you were patient enough. It's quite hilarious.

    Another example which isn't exactly botting but a definite breach of terms in that it is used for automated farming and account levelling (the latter likely in attempt to illegally sell levelled accounts), is multiboxing, in which one person plays multiple accounts simultaneously on different rigs. You can easily tell a group of accounts is a multiboxer by the way the group moves like a hive minded cluster and how every member thereof fires off skills at the exact same time as each other.
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