Bot farming

Mystic_warrior71

I have found Bot farming in Khenarthi's roost today. This is another form of stealing especially from new players in the starter zones. Why is this being allowed? Players have been banned for other reasons and this should be a ban offense. Cheating is cheating! How can it be stopped?

MidniteOwl1913

It's been a huge problem for a long time and as far as I can see nothing is ever done about it.

Many of the starter areas are populated mostly bots. I'm on the console I understand it's not as bad on the PC.

Hämähäkki

It's true, it has been a problem for a very long time, but it has been worse. ZOS does ban bots from time to time but as long as there are gold sellers, there will be bots. Sad but thats how it is. I don't know if ZOS has any legal options to close those gold selling websites. So if you can get rid of those gold sellers, the bots will disappear too.

Pelanora

What is bot farming in ESO?

fizl101

Pelanora wrote: »

What is bot farming in ESO?

People chain low level characters together so that they all do exactly the same actions and then they run a circuit gathering resources - mudcrab farming is popular for example as the resources are refined for dreugh wax.

More common on console because once you have an account you can create new free accounts. They often have strings of rubbish names as the psn ID, and are usually all low level pet sorcs (at least the trains I see)

opalcity

Pelanora wrote: »

What is bot farming in ESO?

Bots running pre-programmed routes to resource nodes, which make it nigh impossible for real players to farm those mats.

They'll be low level, have a familiar, the similar pattern of name, run an identical route around an area of a zone. Once you know what to look for, you'll recognise them in other places.

opalcity

I've asked this question in other threads. You can see them in most starter zones, I always report them as farming bots. Yes, Zos does take action because I've seen them banned - unfortunately a new one pops up almost immediately to take its place.

Then you've got mudcrab massacres like the beach in North West Alik'r, or the beach in the bay by Haven wayshrine, where you have a cluster of multiple bots all running around together killing mudcrabs. You can report one or two, but the cluster makes it so difficult to report them all. They kill so quickly, it's impossible to farm mats or do Chitinous endeavour.

Something needs to be done at a much higher level, the best we can do is keep reporting them, or hope Zos throws in active gamesmasters. I'd happily volunteer to play whack-a-mole with bots if Zos wanted to give me a banhammer to wield.

Dolphinsgal

opalcity wrote: »

I've asked this question in other threads. You can see them in most starter zones, I always report them as farming bots. Yes, Zos does take action because I've seen them banned - unfortunately a new one pops up almost immediately to take its place.

Something needs to be done at a much higher level, the best we can do is keep reporting them, or hope Zos throws in active gamesmasters. I'd happily volunteer to play whack-a-mole with bots if Zos wanted to give me a banhammer to wield.

I totally agree I'd also be willing on console to do a couple rounds in the starring zones each day and ban/kick the bots off the server, but I don't think this will ever happen sadly.
I also report them when I can, in the comments part of the report I try to add that there looked like x number running with them all with the similar names with the first x number at end of name and going up to x number.

Hämähäkki

opalcity wrote: »

I'd happily volunteer to play whack-a-mole with bots if Zos wanted to give me a banhammer to wield.

That sounds like an excellent idea. Give players the ability to ban other players. Lets see how that works out

Brrrofski

The real victims here are mudcrabs.

MILLIONS have fallen to lightning heavy attacks, boundless storm ticks and scamp AOEs, just so WE can enjoy cheaper Dreugh Wax. It has to STOP.

In all seriousness, they've been around since launch on console. There's 10 spots I can go to right now that probably has a posse of bots slaughtering crabs, or has a handful of them walking a very weird and deliberate path, picking up all metal and jewellery nodes that they encounter.

Should ZOS do something about it? Absolutely.

Have they tried? More than likely.

For some reason though, they've never made a dent.

I think most of us on console have sorted or grown user to it. Most people know to avoid certain places if they want to farm. And I guess when we do need to buy gold mats, at last we get them for cheap?

opalcity

Hämähäkki wrote: »

opalcity wrote: »

I'd happily volunteer to play whack-a-mole with bots if Zos wanted to give me a banhammer to wield.

That sounds like an excellent idea. Give players the ability to ban other players. Lets see how that works out

Well that's how moderation has worked in forums for decades. There would have to be a vetting process, and players would need to show a clean track record.

Yes, there is the potential there for some people to take advantage, like with any position of authority, so then the penalty for that would have to be severe - total ban with no refund.

What do you think would be a good way to stop bots?

Hämähäkki

opalcity wrote: »

Hämähäkki wrote: »

opalcity wrote: »

I'd happily volunteer to play whack-a-mole with bots if Zos wanted to give me a banhammer to wield.

That sounds like an excellent idea. Give players the ability to ban other players. Lets see how that works out

Well that's how moderation has worked in forums for decades. There would have to be a vetting process, and players would need to show a clean track record.

Yes, there is the potential there for some people to take advantage, like with any position of authority, so then the penalty for that would have to be severe - total ban with no refund.

What do you think would be a good way to stop bots?

The thing is, all players are more less anonymous through out the internet and you can not punish them for taking advantage of their power. If you ban them, they make a new account for 5 bucks.

It is hard to get rid of those bots and like i said before, the best option in my eyes would be to shut down these gold selling sites. If those sellers keep sitting on that gold, the bots will vanish immediately.

opalcity

The thing is, all players are more less anonymous through out the internet and you can not punish them for taking advantage of their power. If you ban them, they make a new account for 5 bucks.

It is hard to get rid of those bots and like i said before, the best option in my eyes would be to shut down these gold selling sites. If those sellers keep sitting on that gold, the bots will vanish immediately.

That's a good point, and why I suggested a thorough vetting process. For example, Someone who has played consistently for at least a year, possibly has eso+ (therefore has something to lose), has evidence that they've committed to the grind etc. Sure, they can buy back in, but they'd have lost a lot.

I agree, it would be awesome if Zenimax, or even Microsoft, could do something about the root cause of the problem and the gold selling sites.

Hämähäkki

opalcity wrote: »

The thing is, all players are more less anonymous through out the internet and you can not punish them for taking advantage of their power. If you ban them, they make a new account for 5 bucks.

It is hard to get rid of those bots and like i said before, the best option in my eyes would be to shut down these gold selling sites. If those sellers keep sitting on that gold, the bots will vanish immediately.

That's a good point, and why I suggested a thorough vetting process. For example, Someone who has played consistently for at least a year, possibly has eso+ (therefore has something to lose), has evidence that they've committed to the grind etc. Sure, they can buy back in, but they'd have lost a lot.

I agree, it would be awesome if Zenimax, or even Microsoft, could do something about the root cause of the problem and the gold selling sites.

Belive me, even people with years of experience in the game and crowns and eso+ and whatnot, wouldn't care to make a new account. I am the best example, I started playing on PC but switched shortly after to PS4 and vice versa last year.
I simply didn't mind making a new account and start all over, because it is awful easy to get back on track. ESO has become so beginner friendly, that you can level up your account to good cp in no time.

redlink1979

Mystic_warrior71 wrote: »

(...) Why is this being allowed? (...)

Bots aren't allowed but bots are in their essence undetectable, since they do not inject any code into the game. That's why players need to report them if they see them.

Pelanora wrote: »

What is bot farming in ESO?

Bots are programs that will read your platform's memory to locate your character in the game world and then either follow scripted paths to farm or even find their own paths. Bots are a very effective way of getting around farming certain areas or events for hours and hours at a time, since the script can do it all for you. Using bots you are able to farm gold and items at a pretty fast rate (or do specific tasks as gathering nodes or crafting etc), and level up your characters passively. Some bots are even able to sell items to the players or at vendors in order to make you even more money. .

robwolf666

Mystic_warrior71 wrote: »

I have found Bot farming in Khenarthi's roost today. This is another form of stealing especially from new players in the starter zones. Why is this being allowed? Players have been banned for other reasons and this should be a ban offense. Cheating is cheating! How can it be stopped?

It's been a problem for years, and I've lost count of how times I've reported them. They either aren't doing anything about them, or if they are, the bot is simply replaced with another. But hey, a cheaters gotta cheat, right.

ZOS shouldn't look at this as someone simply cheating however, they should look at it as a security issue. These people are obviously breaching server security to use code (or whatever) to change how the game works. If they can do that, what else are they capable of doing?

Holycannoli

I haven't seen a suspected bot on PC in years. They were a plague very early on at delve bosses but pretty much extinct now.

Zorrin

PC users can't just keep making free accounts like console users can. They would have to actually keep buying copies of the game. I do remember encountering them all over the place long ago though. Trains of templars spamming jabs across the Alik'r sands killing harpies lol. They are still a massive problem on console however (especially Xbox NA in my experience) to the point of trying to get your seals of endeavor for harvesting is nearly impossible in the starter zones.

xosaara137ox

https://www.xbox.com/play/media/A5XER455

ALL the time on console, they don’t even try to go unnoticed anymore.

Holycannoli

Zorrin wrote: »

PC users can't just keep making free accounts like console users can. They would have to actually keep buying copies of the game. I do remember encountering them all over the place long ago though. Trains of templars spamming jabs across the Alik'r sands killing harpies lol. They are still a massive problem on console however (especially Xbox NA in my experience) to the point of trying to get your seals of endeavor for harvesting is nearly impossible in the starter zones.

This game is free on console?

Dawnblade

Holycannoli wrote: »

I haven't seen a suspected bot on PC in years. They were a plague very early on at delve bosses but pretty much extinct now.

They nerfed delve XP and added a long-ish respawn timer to bosses because of the early bots.

On PC, I imagine it is much easier to develop sophisticated bots that are harder to spot while at the same time, it isn't as easy to create new throw-away accounts on PC as on console - so generally less noticeable.

Androrix

xosaara137ox wrote: »

https://www.xbox.com/play/media/A5XER455

ALL the time on console, they don’t even try to go unnoticed anymore.

I play PC and have not noticed this so much. That said, the snapshot you attached is absolutely...horrific! I have to believe devs can do something about that.

fizl101

Androrix wrote: »

xosaara137ox wrote: »

https://www.xbox.com/play/media/A5XER455

ALL the time on console, they don’t even try to go unnoticed anymore.

I play PC and have not noticed this so much. That said, the snapshot you attached is absolutely...horrific! I have to believe devs can do something about that.

This is something you can go and see on a daily basis on console. They have favorite spots to go farming

DragonRacer

Holycannoli wrote: »

Zorrin wrote: »

PC users can't just keep making free accounts like console users can. They would have to actually keep buying copies of the game. I do remember encountering them all over the place long ago though. Trains of templars spamming jabs across the Alik'r sands killing harpies lol. They are still a massive problem on console however (especially Xbox NA in my experience) to the point of trying to get your seals of endeavor for harvesting is nearly impossible in the starter zones.

This game is free on console?

No, but here is how it can work on PlayStation (not sure if XBox is similar).

Primary account buys the game and pays for PlayStation Plus (aka online gaming access).

Any other accounts created on that PlayStation (all you need is a new email address per account) will have access to playing at least the base version of that game online without having to buy that game again or pay for another PlayStation Plus subscription. It's how, say, Dad has a primary account and ESO on his PS4 and his son has his own account/user name, but can also play ESO.

So, in theory, one account bought the game one time so any other accounts on that console can now piggyback off the PlayStation Plus and games of that primary account so long as that primary account remains the primary on that console.

xosaara137ox

DragonRacer wrote: »

Holycannoli wrote: »

Zorrin wrote: »

PC users can't just keep making free accounts like console users can. They would have to actually keep buying copies of the game. I do remember encountering them all over the place long ago though. Trains of templars spamming jabs across the Alik'r sands killing harpies lol. They are still a massive problem on console however (especially Xbox NA in my experience) to the point of trying to get your seals of endeavor for harvesting is nearly impossible in the starter zones.

This game is free on console?

No, but here is how it can work on PlayStation (not sure if XBox is similar).

Primary account buys the game and pays for PlayStation Plus (aka online gaming access).

Any other accounts created on that PlayStation (all you need is a new email address per account) will have access to playing at least the base version of that game online without having to buy that game again or pay for another PlayStation Plus subscription. It's how, say, Dad has a primary account and ESO on his PS4 and his son has his own account/user name, but can also play ESO.

So, in theory, one account bought the game one time so any other accounts on that console can now piggyback off the PlayStation Plus and games of that primary account so long as that primary account remains the primary on that console.

Same on Xbox for primary console

ZOS_Bill

As there is already another thread discussing bots, we have decided to close this thread. Please use the thread below for further discussion.

Bot overload PS4 NA