a new level of botting

NeKryXe · March 2017

there's a player who has one character stopped in Hew's Bane, near the Thieves Den, automatically collecting ancestor silk 24h a day non-stop, at least since the beginning of the Thieves Guild's anniversary. it's really easy to spot him, just go there and see.

i find it really weird, how this cheaters manage to keep a character for days online without ever get kicked, when i'm always logged of just if i'm afk for a few minutes. it's really unfair. anyway, i reported the cheater, as usual, and it would be nice if more people does the same.

Ajaxduo · March 2017

It isn't just Hew's Bane there are large groups of bots farming Dolmens, node bots, groups of bots farming quest mobs/fast spawns in all areas. The situation is out of control, comparable with to the launch bots. They really need to act soon.

NeKryXe · March 2017

Ajaxduo wrote: »

It isn't just Hew's Bane there are large groups of bots farming Dolmens, node bots, groups of bots farming quest mobs/fast spawns in all areas. The situation is out of control, comparable with to the launch bots. They really need to act soon.

i knew about the bots on dolmens and anchors for a long time, and i've been reporting them every time i can, but until now nothing changed. but the node bots, standing 24h a day for the whole week online cheating! WOW! that's really too much obvious and easy for ZOS to catch.

at firsts i even thought it was a bug in my account, because i couldn't believe that someone could leave one character in the exactly same spot for so many days. but then i noticed that the character is in front of an ancestor's silk node and that it is always collecting it.

really hard to understand how hard it is to ban or reset this guys accounts.

KerinKor · March 2017

Thing is, how do you PROVE they're there 24/7 .. the fact they're there whenever you are on isn't proof they're not there when you aren't, see what I mean?

NeKryXe · March 2017

KerinKor wrote: »

Thing is, how do you PROVE they're there 24/7 .. the fact they're there whenever you are on isn't proof they're not there when you aren't, see what I mean?

i can't prove but i'm pretty sure. i've been monitoring this guy since the start of the event. first i was alone watching him, since i was doing hew's bane all week, and then i had help of 3 friends from my guild. at least in the last 3 days we can confirm that the character was there 24h a day. you can help too if you want to free the game from cheaters

anyway, i'm sure that ZOS can prove it to you

zaria · March 2017

Has thought about it, you probably can not rubber band it but need an keyboard macro.
Press E every 5 seconds or something.

Very hard for players to notice, even if they see he pick resource and just standing there he might well be on guild chat.
However its pretty marginal, assuming 5 minutes respawn time on node, 12 in an hour. or 36 raw silk.
However if you go on an vacation it will have an effect.

Solution is simple, you know the small daeric rifts you get sometimes, 3 mobs then an mini boss and 1-2 mobs.
Drop on players who do suspicious stuff.
To be nice perhaps just one mob

SirAndy · March 2017

KerinKor wrote: »

Thing is, how do you PROVE they're there 24/7 .. the fact they're there whenever you are on isn't proof they're not there when you aren't, see what I mean?

So, that's your char then?

We don't have to "prove" anything.
ZOS can easily check to see how long this "player" has been online and been standing in the same spot farming a node.

altemriel · March 2017

Lol, this one has to go check out these adventurers, they maybe got stuck in some magical gate or something. Maybe this one can help somehow.

With serious-looking fur
Maoimii

Turelus · March 2017

KerinKor wrote: »

Thing is, how do you PROVE they're there 24/7 .. the fact they're there whenever you are on isn't proof they're not there when you aren't, see what I mean?

Players shouldn't have to prove this. GM's should have access to server logs, it's not hard to tell if someone is online for a whole week 24/7 they're probably not an actual player.

That's asking for logic to be used in dealing with bots though.

Elsonso · March 2017

KerinKor wrote: »

Thing is, how do you PROVE they're there 24/7 .. the fact they're there whenever you are on isn't proof they're not there when you aren't, see what I mean?

As SirAndy says, we don't have to PROVE anything.

NeKryXe wrote: »

really hard to understand how hard it is to ban or reset this guys accounts.

I think they are woefully understaffed and entirely too dependent on behavior modification to resolve these problems.

What platform and geography? So that we can add him to our Celebrity Tour. With all the attention on Dolmens, it is a lot easier for the more subtle botters to do their thing without people noticing.

NeKryXe · March 2017

lordrichter wrote: »

What platform and geography? So that we can add him to our Celebrity Tour. With all the attention on Dolmens, it is a lot easier for the more subtle botters to do their thing without people noticing.

PC, EU Server, Hew's Bane, near the Thieves Den entrance outside Abah's Landing.

looks like the player was online recently, because the character moved slightly since my last screenshot :')

Cêltic421 · March 2017

The bots at dolmens are they just heavy attacking? On PS4 there are lots at several dolmens just heavy attacking. I just figured they rubber band their controller to get xp while away or doing something else. Am I wrong about this? Does dolmen chest stay there till you loot it so someone heavy attacking while afk for couple hours can come back and loot several chests? Or is it just afk xping?

HatchetHaro · March 2017

SirAndy wrote: »

KerinKor wrote: »

Thing is, how do you PROVE they're there 24/7 .. the fact they're there whenever you are on isn't proof they're not there when you aren't, see what I mean?

So, that's your char then?

We don't have to "prove" anything.
ZOS can easily check to see how long this "player" has been online and been standing in the same spot farming a node.

Lol haha yeah right.

ZOS doesn't even have the competence to look at character inventory.

mb10 · March 2017

Why do people care so much about botters?
Theyre a bit annoying but the prices of mats go down lol.

I dont understand the genuine frustration with bots, just let ZOS deal with them. Im pretty sure those bots dont come onto the forums.

NeKryXe · March 2017

maybe it's a trauma, but i really enjoy this game and i already saw a few mmos ruined and closing because of cheaters. they may not annoy you but slowly they corrupt the game and people start loosing interest.

SirAndy · March 2017

HatchetHaro wrote: »

SirAndy wrote: »

KerinKor wrote: »

Thing is, how do you PROVE they're there 24/7 .. the fact they're there whenever you are on isn't proof they're not there when you aren't, see what I mean?

So, that's your char then?

We don't have to "prove" anything.
ZOS can easily check to see how long this "player" has been online and been standing in the same spot farming a node.

Lol haha yeah right.
ZOS doesn't even have the competence to look at character inventory.

There's a difference between what they *can* do and what they *want* to do and what they actually *do*.

No "lol haha" needed, technically, they *can* easily check, just as i said ...

NeKryXe · March 2017

yes they can. obviously.

i already had a few items missed in some glitch and after contacting ZOS they checked the logs of my bags and bank and restored the lost items in my account.

Inquisitor_Wind · March 2017

NeKryXe wrote: »

there's a player who has one character stopped in Hew's Bane, near the Thieves Den, automatically collecting ancestor silk 24h a day non-stop, at least since the beginning of the Thieves Guild's anniversary. it's really easy to spot him, just go there and see.

i find it really weird, how this cheaters manage to keep a character for days online without ever get kicked, when i'm always logged of just if i'm afk for a few minutes. it's really unfair. anyway, i reported the cheater, as usual, and it would be nice if more people does the same.

if you are in PC EU , i seen one guy too , he was in same place for last 2-3 days camping on a cloth node , near the entrance to outlaw's refuge

NeKryXe · March 2017

Inquisitor_Wind wrote: »

if you are in PC EU , i seen one guy too , he was in same place for last 2-3 days camping on a cloth node , near the entrance to outlaw's refuge

yep, PC EU. that's the one. it's impossible to miss. when you get out of the outlaw's refuge you will see the character there bellow, close to a spot with a bag.

that character has been permanently there since since the beginning of the Thieves Guild's anniversary automatically collecting ancestor's silk.

Inquisitor_Wind · March 2017

NeKryXe wrote: »

yep, PC EU. that's the one. it's impossible to miss. when you get out of the outlaw's refuge you will see the character there bellow, close to a spot with a bag.

that character has been permanently there since since the beginning of the Thieves Guild's anniversary automatically collecting ancestor's silk.

yeah i've seen him and repoted him like few days ago , still see him there now

Elsonso · March 2017

mb10 wrote: »

Why do people care so much about botters?
Theyre a bit annoying but the prices of mats go down lol.

I dont understand the genuine frustration with bots, just let ZOS deal with them. Im pretty sure those bots dont come onto the forums.

Because they are cheating. People who play honestly don't get the same things they have. For all the aggressivenes that ZOS shows, they might as well just remove ghat part of the ToS and let everyone do it.

Lokey0024 · March 2017

There is such a thing as attended macrobotting. You multibox several accounts, use macro software and set them up as background applications and go about doing your computer job and periodically check (or have a promt set up) to see if you get messages from GMs. Respond in a timely manner and you have no issues. I never tried it with ESO (im on ps4) but ive seen it on several other pc games.

SydneyGrey · March 2017

mb10 wrote: »

Why do people care so much about botters?
Theyre a bit annoying but the prices of mats go down lol.

Price of mats goes down because they flood the market at the guild traders, which means nobody else can make any money selling those materials. It's an incredibly selfish thing to do. Not to mention they keep cleaning the nodes so other people have a hard time getting nodes. It's hard for me to find nodes for myself when there are 5 bots in one area clearing the nodes as soon as they spawn. It's selfish and a crappy thing to do to other players.

phairdon · March 2017

Lokey0024 wrote: »

There is such a thing as attended macrobotting. You multibox several accounts, use macro software and set them up as background applications and go about doing your computer job and periodically check (or have a promt set up) to see if you get messages from GMs. Respond in a timely manner and you have no issues. I never tried it with ESO (im on ps4) but ive seen it on several other pc games.

Watched a youtube video of a player doing what you're describing, with gw2. Guy had 10 accounts. Farmed ore nodes, made 10k gold doing so. 10k is a lot of gold in that game.

Vizier · March 2017

KerinKor wrote: »

Thing is, how do you PROVE they're there 24/7 .. the fact they're there whenever you are on isn't proof they're not there when you aren't, see what I mean?

Zos can easily tell what the activity is of a particular account or character. It's all logged. If it stands on a node collecting it for a week straight without sleep, it's reasonable that is not a person. If it is a person it is someone account sharing which is also against the EULA. They don't need "proof." They merely need a reasonable expectation of wrong doing. This isn't a court of law.