how to annoy the bots/exploiters

lioslinn

1. find a node being bot harvested. In stonefalls there are literally dozens being harvested by 2-3 bots each, especially in the evenings
2. report them
3. pull an aoe mob on them. this interrupts the harvest and closes the harvest box if it's open
4. quickly harvest the node yourself, keep the popup box open (ie dont pick up the jute etc). avoid the aoe yourself
5. typically the bots will fight the mob, reposition themselves and start harvesting again so often there IS someone behind the bot looking on. It might be the same person for tons of bots, in fact there is often a lone bot in the middle of the area doing random crouch/jump/etc in the same spot, probably supervising the area
6. get cursed at by bot then cheer as they leave. Yes we did get cursed out, one of them even say'ed out loud asking if addons xyz were properly installed.

I know they are probably just repositioning the bot elsewhere but I've been doing this with a few other people and we managed to lock out a bunch of jutes. The bots did all leave. Unfortunately they returned when the players left.

Still it felt like a small victory. Call it a poor man's pvp but still it made us feel warm and fuzzy.

Ulvich

We could just flood their mailboxes with obscene letters. It's not like they're gonna report us, or anything.

Laerian

Ulvich wrote: »

We could just flood their mailboxes with obscene letters. It's not like they're gonna report us, or anything.

By the contrary, they can report you for spam and since they own/stole several accounts you can get a ton of false reports.

Since people was banned for no reason and since we don't know how the automated ban system works (if there is one), we can speculate a lot about the possible consequences of having a mad botter/hacker against you.

Yes, I've been annoying some bots too but I suggest everyone to interact the less possible with them. Don't break the rules because of them, this includes the chat insults and discussions about goldselling that some people start almost everytime the chat spam takes places.

Report them and move on.

wrlifeboil

Is that how you really choose to spend your time in-game?

lioslinn

Is that really how you choose to spend your time on forums? Why people feel the need to be cynical and belittle constantly on the web is beyond me.

After looking for jute in stone falls for 30 minutes it was quite satisfying to kick a few bots and be able to pick up the jute.The majority of bots will disappear if you keep the loot window open a minute or so; you can then harvest at your leisure.

I really hope zenimax assembles a team of data miners and figure out how to clearly identify bots, then have enough gutso to ban the accounts and not just delete the bot characters as I've heard.