Solution to the Dungeon Boss Botting problem

Habeas

Set a rule where if a player kills a dungeon boss more than 5 times in an hour, they are flagged for open pvp and can be killed by other players in the dungeon.

Bluejay

Here is a better idea I think...

- When a player enters a part of a dungeon where a boss can spawn, apply a 'Terror' debuf with a count down timer. The timer would vary from boss to boss.

-The range of applying the debuf could be tuned so that if you stay anywhere near attack range of the boss, you get the debuf. It could be made large enough so that you couldn't just step out of the range and back in.

- The Terror debuf would fade in a few seconds after you leave the boss' area.

- If the terror debuff counts all the way down to 0, apply a 'Fear' affect where the character runs in random directions for 30 - 40 seconds.

- You could even track the number of 'fear affects' that occur over a time period and add 10 more seconds to the length of the fear up to some cap for each application. (So the fear affect becomes a stackable debuf with a 1 hour fade duration or something like that).

This will solve the bot problem, adds additional challenge to boss encounters, uses mechanics already in the game so requires limited resources to implement, and will not prevent human players from playing the way they want.

The goal of stopping bots is not to stop players from attacking the boss as many times as they want, it's to prevent automated systems from hogging the boss so that human players don't even have a chance. The solution is to apply conditions that make it difficult if not impossible for an automated system to solve.

billcamp42

I would suggest making killing the boss a daily quest.
Remove boss loot, make his loot a quest turn-in.
If they can only get loot from them once a day, they aren't going to camp them.

Mynski

Whatever the fix, the problem is getting out of hand. Each location has 5-10 bots fighting the boss and normal players have a low chance to get any loot. The solution should be simple to employ, like the 5/hour limit.

Hexo

Here's an idea; instanced dungeons!

MasterSpatula

Or they could just show us they actually take the problem seriously by having GMs respond immediately whenever someone files a ticket. They can come up with all the "fixes" they want; none of them will take the place of actually dealing with the immediate problems at the moment they arise.