Taking Action Against Cheaters in ESO

knaveofengland

give them time we are all used to super fast bb fast every thing , these things take time

Requiemslove

@Eaton68_ESO. In the 6 years and more I play lotro [I still play sometimes] not one single time have I ever seen any bots, gold spammers or anything in that vein. The reason why is because the devs of that game designed it in a way that gave no incentive for the sad pathetic wastes of space that are as I type this, plaguing ESO, to sink their fangs in. In fact, once you get past a specific point in that game [and it aint far, like lv 35-40] the average player finds making coin so easy, they just tend to forget about it. So my point here is this, if lotro could do it, as in even before WB bought the game, when it was a game made by a relatively unknown games company...then surely ESO can do it, you know, with the backing of the conglomerate animal that must surely be Bethesda. I know they have never done this sort of thing, and the people behind lotro have done two others, and other mmo makers have more than one mmo to their name. But I surely think the ESO devs and everyone connected to this mmo are going to be looking into ways to kill the gold-spammers and loot-bots. I guess my point here is this game is only been out since April 4th...so have a lil faith. They will get there in time.

duckrustlerb16_ESO

DirectAim wrote: »

Accounts that get ignored by 10+ people within 5mins in zone chat are flagged for banning.

Remove limit to number of accounts I can ignore.

Boy will this cause an issue if it was implemented. If a Bot can farm a boss it can also auto ignore a zone chat person. The bots would get anybody who dared to speak in zone chat banned in a flash.

SypherDiass

when people say flagged for banning , they mean ( as i understand it ) their account will be reviewed with a view to ban by a GM , if bots were able to auto report , they could implement a system that states , if you report say 10 people for no reason , YOU get a 7 day ban for wasting their time , that i think would deter bots from auto reporting people ..

IceTitan

Why not just make it so that if you killed the boss once. You get phased into a seperate phase of the dungeons. So bots for one wouldnt be farming the primary public phase. And make the second phase boss drop nothing, or minor things. Would make the botters that much more obvious.

kamohs212eb17_ESO

I wrote some ideas in another thread:
http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/discussion/comment/705326/#Comment_705326
How do you think, it is possible to release them?

Sarenia

Bots don't seem to have been slowed down at all by the boss loot timer in dungeons.

I'm not sure what "a few minutes" translates to in real time, but it's not long enough to dissuade them apparently.

Medicius

IceTitan wrote: »

Why not just make it so that if you killed the boss once. You get phased into a seperate phase of the dungeons. So bots for one wouldnt be farming the primary public phase. And make the second phase boss drop nothing, or minor things. Would make the botters that much more obvious.

I think there are a couple of problems with this. First, the coding. Second, the hardware requirements.

Frankly, I think they should continue to just ban the accounts. It nets them more money when the botters re-purchase the game, and keeps boss camping bots to a minimum for those of us that want to play for our enjoyment.

Vaerth

I am proud to say I have caught 7 botters so far! Should we all have a contest? Top 5 players to catch the most bots gets "Hero of Tamriel" title!

Kind of a fun way to change a bad situation into a fun/funny one

Tannakaobi

Here is what should happen - Once you kill a boss, any boss for the tenth time your get the achievement 'I am a bot' The reward for this achievement is an unmovable title 'I am a bot' which also triggers a re-spawn in another phase. A dark cold place with all the dead bosses, millions of them waiting to eat you.

thilog

SypherDiass wrote: »

when people say flagged for banning , they mean ( as i understand it ) their account will be reviewed with a view to ban by a GM , if bots were able to auto report , they could implement a system that states , if you report say 10 people for no reason , YOU get a 7 day ban for wasting their time , that i think would deter bots from auto reporting people ..

Can't put something like that in game.. if you reported 10 people for spamming or botting but gm's couldn't get proof that they are/were does that mean you get 7 day ban.. i think not.

I would suggest a more direct approach.

Mob spawn in botting instances to be determined by the number of players present within say a 20m distance of the spawn location. If the number of players is greater than 4, spawn should increase by 2 mobs for each player. If players exceed 8, elite mobs should spawn in groups of 2-3. At lv 36+ Elite mobs should be the norm.

Or

For instance completion mobs
All mob unique drops should be limited to once per character.
All experience should be limited to once per character.

This will not stop groups of aedric spear bots running around preset routes, but it would clear 80% of all instances with sky shards.

Or and my favourite option.

Employ Gm's to patrol known bot locations who can kick botters and report them correctly for higher level employees to judge and ban.

Botting is extremely easy to spot.

What annoys me most, is that I am seeing the same botters over and over and higher and higher level.. and Nothing is being done about them. No matter how many times they are reported. This claim that thousands of accounts were banned.. offers no evidence that this is true.

devolutedub17_ESO

kylemelhuishb16_ESO wrote: »

Here is what should happen - Once you kill a boss, any boss for the tenth time your get the achievement 'I am a bot' The reward for this achievement is an unmovable title 'I am a bot' which also triggers a re-spawn in another phase. A dark cold place with all the dead bosses, millions of them waiting to eat you.

I suggest the bodies of the banned accounts be strung up outside the dungeons for a couple of days where everyone can go and beat the body and get a debuff called 'Blood of the Banned'. Doesn't do anything, but would make us feel better and see the actual body count of banned accounts.

deheartb14_ESO

You know, all the glitches, lagging, exploits, etc that a lot of people are complaining about were anticipated by me and essentially I find my gameplay is relatively smooth and enjoyable despite all that.

But considering that I have never ever ever EVER seen so much botting and bot camping and cheating (Even today) in ANY MMO that I have ever played, I end up feeling disappointed in ESO.

Also in my opinion, there should never be more forum moderators than in-Game Moderators.

Sarenia

Just saw about a dozen bots in a "bot train" destroying everything in the Stormhaven goblin camp. Fun times.

Of course I tried to report them, but it's a little hard when they're constantly running and piled on top of each other simultaneously. And when all their names are like "zuoxks" it's even more annoying.

Bollanger

Give us the possibility to ignore entire countires and/or ISP's. That would help alot. You know where those game wreckers dwell, so lets hear it. I cancelled my sub cause of your lame excuses of what you have done. This is the first MMO ever that has to be played solo cause of spam. We have to ignore/mute Zone . It loses the MMO part due to that. You got my e-mail address... so keep in touch.

kamohs212eb17_ESO

Sarenia wrote: »

Just saw about a dozen bots in a "bot train" destroying everything in the Stormhaven goblin camp. Fun times.

Of course I tried to report them, but it's a little hard when they're constantly running and piled on top of each other simultaneously. And when all their names are like "zuoxks" it's even more annoying.

I saw similar bot train in Shadowfen two hours ago, they killed nonstop quest mobs in Camp Crystal A.. FRAPS dont allow me to write all their path or re-cycling (dunno why, record is just stop after 30 sec video), but here are nicknames:
plpla
plplb
plplc
Plple
plplf
Vkdab

I dunno even if it have any sence to report them. It looks like:
"Dear TechSupport, i make video with another bunch of bots. Here are link. Please, ban them".
"Dear player, we will assume your issue has been resolved if we do not hear from you within 168 hours (7days)".
What does it means? O_o

Ryvee

you don't even need any ''evidence'' to report them, just report those guys as Bot and let Zenimax do their job.

They will investigate those players and choose an action. You will never know the outcome, the reply Email: "Dear player, we will assume your issue has been resolved if we do not hear from you within 168 hours (7days)" is a standard automated message.

Apophiss

This Add-On helps immensely in reporting bots: FastReport
EVERYONE should have this Add-On (I have no affiliation)

As for the dungeon Boss farming, after receiving the dungeon achievement, you get nothing from killing them again. You can help others, but no reward from the kill. This will not alleviate the bot-swarm infestation plaguing the dungeons, this will only be accomplished by GMs. I am positive that Zenimax would not have a shortage of volunteers who would gladly sit in a dungeon and tag these parasites for extermination.

There needs to be hardcore steps taken. Before the only people playing will be the bots and their customers who bought gold.

I already have 3 friends who are not going to continue playing past the first month. And I am having a hard time committing to another month.

It is extremely sad for a game of this quality and scope. I hate going into an overcrowded dungeon, and being the only human there playing that is actually at the keyboard.

kamohs212eb17_ESO

k. so what about cheaters?
i frapsed one guy in dungeon who used speedhack, teleportation etc. and it doesnt seems that he was bot

Musonius

How can speed hacking even be possible? Are you devs so stupid and incompetent you allowed anything client side that can be used to cheat like this? ALL casting, movement, loot, swing, etc.,, etc., checks should ALWAYS be done server side.

Apophiss

kamohs212eb17_ESO wrote: »

k. so what about cheaters?
i frapsed one guy in dungeon who used speedhack, teleportation etc. and it doesnt seems that he was bot

These players should be permanantly banned. PERIOD.

It's obvious that there is a limited number of GM's, and an overwhelming number of offenders. Zenimax needs to hire many, many more GM's.

SypherDiass

FINALLY WE SEE SOMETHING BEING DONE IN GAME .....

i have a screenshot i have tried 5 times to add to this post , it wont seem to add it despite me selecting the file , i will post a link underneath , i am not trying to promote my guild , but i dont put my images anywhere else .

http://www.prophetrage.net/forum/m/20733695/viewthread/12471223-devs-taking-action-at-last/page/1

Nefar

Vaerth wrote: »

I am proud to say I have caught 7 botters so far! Should we all have a contest? Top 5 players to catch the most bots gets "Hero of Tamriel" title!

Kind of a fun way to change a bad situation into a fun/funny one

I've reported over 30 in one day in a single dungeon.

Nefar

Musonius wrote: »

How can speed hacking even be possible? Are you devs so stupid and incompetent you allowed anything client side that can be used to cheat like this? ALL casting, movement, loot, swing, etc.,, etc., checks should ALWAYS be done server side.

In all fairness, no game is immune to hacking. Clearly, by your own admittance, you don't know how speed hacking works, so how can you go calling their programmers 'stupid and incompetent'?

ed.radleyrwb17_ESO

Train of Shame

Saw such a bot train in Shadowfen. I could not even target them to report them... but my spouse did so all good.

The level of botting I am seeing when I have been playing is making me feel griefed.

Once I can't get boss LOOT and normal quest mobs on the map I feel that these botters have gone beyond gold farming to a point of griefing players.

IP Ban

Please IP ban the ranges where these bots are operating

ashronthasb16_ESO

I just got logged off due to, by a message 'someone else logged into my account'. The reason this happened, is because you had to use the login name in the handle, for guilds and friendslists, and banlists and such. It's sheer stupidity, by my not so humble opinion. Neverwinter (online) have the same issue, never liked strangers to be able to juggle around with my account name.

RianaTheBosmer

I don't report gold sellers, not after getting banned for nothing. Yes my account was restored with a "we have erroneously banned you" email but if I can get banned when I'm doing nothing wrong and others get banned for reporting spammers and still others for legitimately sending gold in game to friends and family, what else are they going to choose to ban you for. If I'm erroneously banned again, I will quit the game. I went for a month to month sub just in case this happens. I was signed up for a 6 month sub but that's not going to happen in this game not after what happened to me and many, many others.

Samuruzi

I suggest the following to circumvent current botting and gold spamming problems:

BOTTING:
Each boss will have its own boss room. When you enter, you are entering a separate phase of the dungeon. When you beat it with your group, or solo, you will have to exit and wait 24 hours before it will spawn again for you.

GOLD SPAMMERS/GOLD SELLERS:
Create new locations in-game called "Trading Halls". Here, within the trading hall, will have its own chat. It can also feature a place where players can post ads (up to one per player) and other players can read them and search/filter at any of the other trading halls. The trading halls of each zone can even share the same item postboard. Anyone idle in the trading hall for more than 10 minutes should be kicked back outside.
It can have an auction room within the trading hall where players can meet and perform auctions. These auctions can also have their own chat, controlled and regulated by the auction-holder. Auctions will have to be verified that they are only for in-game items.
Additionally, make it difficult for gold sellers by making these the only places to trade and advertise, any trading done outside of this should be an offense. Zone chat will be for discussions only, no trading activities allowed. Moderate these trading halls and you will see who the spammers are, and simply delete their character if there is reasonable grounds based on their activity. No more sending gold through mail, you have to actually meet at a trading hall bank, and go through the proper channel. A limit on gold transactions can also be implemented.

Obviously I do not have all the answers, and I'm not even sure how exactly gold sellers work, but more to the point, we, the ESO players, should not be the ones constantly reporting the offenders. Zenimax needs to have moderators do sweeps, we are not PAID to do this work, and it takes away from the playtime which we PAY for. Maybe you can add special players willing to become dedicated reporters and have some kind of real-life, or in-game compensation. The bulk of us need not worry about this rampant problem.

SypherDiass

still there is a cap on the number of people we can ignore, the game is not fun when chat is filled by these *** .... i dont want to report them and leave them to continue spamming my chat window with gold selling .... i want to be able to ignore them so i can continue with THE MMO PART of this game .... paying to play this game solo , with everyone else running around is a joke.

why is there even a limit on how many people we can ignore ? more fundamental oversight from zos that is going to cost them players..... LOTS OF PLAYERS

i am now back off to play something else where i am not frustrated and angered by the lack of service being offered .....

IF SOMEONE IS BANNED THEIR NAME SHOULD AUTOMATICALLY COME OFF OF AN IGNORE LIST ...... that would also show us that you are banning the scum we are reporting for gold selling ... as it is now , i am not even willing to play the game , why should we even bother to report them if we cannot ignore them ? shall we spam you with reports every time that person spams chat ? it will be worse than ever for spending more time reporting than playing .....

and after yesterday went soo well too ...... such a let down , what was the point in the patch ? i havent noticed you fixed anything .... i did notice that i was able to get hits onto a dungeon boss yesterday ..... but now they dont drop loot ..... still people farming the boss , i got credit for finishing the dungeon by walking into the bosses room when they were killing the boss, i thought i would at least try and get 1 piece of loot for the troubles of running round in the cave ......... but NOOOO , 5 times i think i did more than 10 % damage on a dungeon boss to try and make myself eligible for some loot , 5 times i got nothing ..... i went to a different dungeon , SAME THING there so , now you CAN at least get dungeons finished ..... its just now its a COMPLETE WASTE OF TIME unless there is a skyshard in the dungeon if you want anything in the way of loot / gear

the only place worth visiting dungeons is CYRODIL , cos you never see them there as they are too scared of being found by players .....

.... and the gaming industry wooden spoon award goes to ZOS for being more short sighted than STEVIE WONDER.....

Seabhac_SHC

One of the main setbacks for people reporting and ignoring is that the sellers are running multiple accounts that have separate purposes; advertising being a major one where this designated type of account will run under a script. Generally these "scripts" will create characters then log into the game and advertise before logging out and eventually cycling through all the characters on the account before deleting them and starting over again in an attempt to avoid ignore lists.

This results in players ignoring characters that are generally deleted in a fairly short time after being added to the ignore list which in turn fills up their list quickly. Taking the cap off the list is one way to help legitimate players in their effort to stamp out these advertising bots but; I would have to suggest that ZoS take this even further and have the ignore function work for entire accounts automatically under a "spam designation" so that any character created from that account is ignored without having to take the extra steps of adding the user id.

This can simply be done by allowing players to add a designation word in the ignore command IE; /ignore_spam

Doing this would go a long way in helping players permanently ignore these accounts without extra steps, of course removing or increasing the ignore cap would also be a step in the right direction. ZoS I dare say should even take this further by tying in an automated report for spam into the above command so that the entire process to report and ignore these accounts is brought down to one action for all players.

ZoS should also take steps in following the money trail for these accounts and start black listing the credit cards and payment sources that are backing these accounts. That would be a real step in the right direction and deliver a costly problem for these companies and organizations that are behind the sellers and bots.