I've seen bots outside Elden Root, to north west. I cannot fathom why anyone would put bots here, but they are ALL low CP (4-7) characters spending hours running against a large tree root. They have similar name, similar level, are in rags and auto-run for hours against what's basically a wall.

WakeYourGhost wrote: »

I’ve reported groups of Bots myself. In a day or two, they’re cleared out. Pretty decent response time, actually. Not perfect, but not the worst it could be by a long shot.

I would love it if they responded that fast. They respond, but not usually that fast.

I quickly went to a few hot spots today to update my observations for this reply. Here are some of the 160 bots I have seen in the last two weeks.

Shadowfen, Percolating Mire - 8 bots, Oldest 8/12/2017, Newest 2/3/2018
Shadowfen, Hissimir - 7 bots, Oldest 1/16/2018, Newest 2/6/2018 (today)
Rivenspire, Silverhoof - 11 bots, Oldest 1/7/2018, Newest 2/6/2018 (today)
Grahtwood, Brackenleaf - 8 bots, Oldest 11/14/2017, Newest 2/6/2018 (today)

Grahtwood, Karthdar, usually has so many bots that is takes patience to tally them all up. Today, I saw 27 bots running there. ZOS recently cleaned this place out, so 26 of them are new to me, but one guy was first seen there on 1/9/2018.

I reported quite a few bots in 2017. My last report was on December 13, 2017, almost 2 months ago. 7 of my reported bots are still running. I have seen them in the last few days.

I've also seen a ton of bot trains in Grahtwood over the past couple of days. Also reported them. Also still waiting on them being investigated. It's not a case of beating people to nodes...Its a case of someone using a script to farm 24/7, instead of actually playing the game as intended.

Fleshreaper wrote: »

From a company stand point, I would imagine that it's in ZoS best interest to protect ALL accounts. These "bots" whom ever they are have obviously purchased the game, same as you. How would you like it if you got perma banned just because you beat someone to a nod, so they reported you as bot. I have seen these type of post so many times and not once has any one ever stated how these "bots" were breaking the game for someone else. The only argument you ever get is, oh, they will destroy the economy. Yet, you have NO, idea as to what these "bots" are actually doing. Everyone always say, they never see them loot anything. What are they destroying the economy with, hopes and dreams?

It may also be developers working on software to detect these "bots".

Supporting bots does several negative things.

People will be less likely to subscribe if their gameplay is negatively influenced by Bots. What chance does one have in an economy that is unbalanced because Bots drive prices up the wall?

Bots are usually placed on hacked accounts. By overlooking bots, Zenimax is actively encouraging hackers to take over accounts of paying customers, who are very likely to quit the game after having their account stolen. This is due to the fact that most hacked accounts are from people who buy Gold from online Gold sellers. Very often these people use the same password and email to buy Gold as they do with their game account, leading to a very easy hack. It is usually done with 6 months or more between the Gold sale and the Hack, leading to less suspicion on where the risk came from.

It looks sloppy trying to play a game and seeing 10-20 characters running like a train around, killing and farming things you wanted for yourself. Many games have died due to not working against Bots and hackers and players loosing interest.

Vahrokh wrote: »

I've seen bots outside Elden Root, to north west. I cannot fathom why anyone would put bots here, but they are ALL low CP (4-7) characters spending hours running against a large tree root. They have similar name, similar level, are in rags and auto-run for hours against what's basically a wall.

Bad bot software

Juju_beans wrote: »

Vahrokh wrote: »

I've seen bots outside Elden Root, to north west. I cannot fathom why anyone would put bots here, but they are ALL low CP (4-7) characters spending hours running against a large tree root. They have similar name, similar level, are in rags and auto-run for hours against what's basically a wall.

Bad bot software

Nothing worse than a botter that doesn't even care about his (or her) bots.

Fleshreaper wrote: »

From a company stand point, I would imagine that it's in ZoS best interest to protect ALL accounts. These "bots" whom ever they are have obviously purchased the game, same as you. How would you like it if you got perma banned just because you beat someone to a nod, so they reported you as bot. I have seen these type of post so many times and not once has any one ever stated how these "bots" were breaking the game for someone else. The only argument you ever get is, oh, they will destroy the economy. Yet, you have NO, idea as to what these "bots" are actually doing. Everyone always say, they never see them loot anything. What are they destroying the economy with, hopes and dreams?

It may also be developers working on software to detect these "bots".

They were breaking the game pretty hard for folks trying to do the Betnikh quest during the New Life Festival. You know, the one where you have to kill a few wasps and wolves.

It was sooooooooooo much fun trying to find wolves you could kill to get their meat to complete the quest when you had bot trains instantly killing them as they spawned in over various places within the quest borders.

But, yeah, no, bots don't ruin the game or fun for anyone. Nope, not at all.

Seriously?

And you wouldn't see them physically loot anything if they have auto-loot turned on, which is likely the case.

lardvader wrote: »

In all seriousness I have yet to see a bot train even after 4500 h /played. I'm not saying they don't exist but is this less of a problem on PC EU or do they hide in the most secluded areas?

I don't know if EU is more or less active than NA, but both have them. After 4500h, chances are pretty good that you will see a bot train if you get out into questing areas. If those 4500h have been spent in cities and Cyrodiil, or just jumping from dungeon to dungeon using DF (or equivalent), then it is easy to not see them.

They can be found in areas in and adjacent to quest areas, and near wayshrines.

Just make certain that you report actual bots and not someone just farming a area. The other day I was farming a area for all the resources when I noticed someone following me. They would stop a few paces back, it'd pause it see if they moved before me in case it was a bot I was beating to the node but they waited until I moved to the next then followed again. I jumped over their head, turned and looked at the then went on. They stopped following at that point and went on a different direction.

I was thinking man they better not have false reported me. False reports are a nuance to players and GM's. A GM's time wasted on a false report means they could have done something to find a real bot instead.

Just be certain they are a real bot, take screens for evidence and send them on the response email. Not certain if the GM's are doing anything off of initial reports unless a account has x amount of reports in y amount of time. Follow up's I think are looked at more closely.

Grimm13 wrote: »

Just make certain that you report actual bots and not someone just farming a area. The other day I was farming a area for all the resources when I noticed someone following me. They would stop a few paces back, it'd pause it see if they moved before me in case it was a bot I was beating to the node but they waited until I moved to the next then followed again. I jumped over their head, turned and looked at the then went on. They stopped following at that point and went on a different direction.

I was thinking man they better not have false reported me. False reports are a nuance to players and GM's. A GM's time wasted on a false report means they could have done something to find a real bot instead.

Just be certain they are a real bot, take screens for evidence and send them on the response email. Not certain if the GM's are doing anything off of initial reports unless a account has x amount of reports in y amount of time. Follow up's I think are looked at more closely.

This is actually a risk when a studio is interested in bot reports, but does not deal with them and allows them to pile up.

I find it easy to tell a human from a bot, but a lot of people are not that way.