Hurtfan wrote: »

Once a bot is reported, it should be immediately transported into Cyrodiil where it can be dispatched of property. Instead of a faction's symbol above its head, there should be a robot head, with "Shame" in red letters on top of the robot head.

I like this idea because I can't seem to kill anyone in Cyrodiil, but I bet I could pwn a bot.

Some of the bot trains I've seen are about the size of a full raid.

I report them as much as I can when I come across them. I still can't figure out how this happens, especially on console. I mean, who has the time on their hands to do all of the coding and crap? And then, if they are real players, to play the game?

Then, why do the farm? for mats to sell? Where? They certainly aren't in any of the trading guilds are they?

I mean, what trading guild is going to let "bfhr7" character name asdf123 into their guild?

So say they are selling this stuff on a black market, through external websites, probably for real world cash...who is buying this crap and why?

I mean, if people are buying in game crap with real world money, why not just offer some of this crap in the crown store. 1.5k crowns for a stack of mats...

Really, though, what the hell are bots even doing in the game? They are always low level and always farming some stupid wolf, bear, or mud crab. So.... what they have a billion stacks of hide? What's that gunna get them?

I report one from each train I see. I give date, location, time and that they are part of a bigger bot train.

The three trains that were circulating in my farming spot that I reported are gone now.

boombazookajd wrote: »

So.... what they have a billion stacks of hide? What's that gunna get them?

i assume it gets them dreugh wax, which can be sold for gold, which can be sold for money.
if wax gets so cheap that the bots put themselves out of business, do we win? i hope it's before gold gets too cheap.

I'm on console and i see mass groups farming. When i say mass groups I'm not talking about the Chinese farmers. About 10-15 Sorcs all with pets all in lightning form all spamming the same moves in unison. Betnikh, Craglorn, Auridon, Bangkorai, Bleakrock, Kenarthis Roost anywhere there is a consistent supply of hide to be farmed. I've reported them several times to no avail. Whats a console player to do with this?

Skwor wrote: »

Please put more into addressing the botting epidemic. We have BOT trains farming mubcrabs that could not be more obvious and Craglorn bots that farm 24/7 which I report on a daily basis.

There has to be a way to automate BOT bans. Steam has VACBAN which I know is not perfect but it is effective against third party apps, surely ESO could develop something similar OR create a group of verified players whose BOT reports are automatically elevated for review, you could even train them on how to spot a BOT. This would force multiply efforts to find and remove BOTS.

The frustration is getting to the point where someone might publically post bot software so everyone ends up botting, just to balance things out, if this current epidemic continues.

@Skwor What server? What location?

@ZOS_Holden
What can be done on console? I've reported them several times and everyone i have reported is still there.

ZOS_Holden wrote: »

Hello @Skwor,

Thanks for reaching out to us, we truly appreciate you bringing this to our attention. We understand this can be frustrating and would advise using the in-game report function in the future, as those reports go directly to our moderation team.

Again. thank you so much, your reports are very helpful and greatly appreciated.

The in-game report function isn't enough to deal with the bots.
This has been discussed many times.
Please take a look on the discussion I opened in July 2017:
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/357289/bots-apocalypse-please-stop-them#latest

There are many old discussions about bots.
The bots are keep coming for years and they will remain unless something will be done.
Please take additional steps to stop the bots, such as:
1. Active Game masters patrolling the servers and banning the bots on-sight or per reports 24/7 or most of the week(The easiest solution to this issue. I will be happy to see Game Masters involved in keeping the peace).
2. An automatic system to ban the bots if found positive for botting(system of this type will have to be very good in checking if a player is botting in order to avoid false positives, i.e mistakenly banning a real player for botting).

thatlaurachick wrote: »

Hurtfan wrote: »

Once a bot is reported, it should be immediately transported into Cyrodiil where it can be dispatched of property. Instead of a faction's symbol above its head, there should be a robot head, with "Shame" in red letters on top of the robot head.

I like this idea because I can't seem to kill anyone in Cyrodiil, but I bet I could pwn a bot.

Well, except that I am aware that I get reported all the time by noobs who have never seen/heard of Coward's Gear. Pretty sure the GM's (if they really exist) have me on white list, because I'm not being automatically transported to the "bot server" anymore. It always sucked to go from an instance that was full of nodes to one that's bare.

@thatlaurachick Why are people reporting you as a bot?

Skwor wrote: »

Please put more into addressing the botting epidemic. We have BOT trains farming mubcrabs that could not be more obvious and Craglorn bots that farm 24/7 which I report on a daily basis.

There has to be a way to automate BOT bans. Steam has VACBAN which I know is not perfect but it is effective against third party apps, surely ESO could develop something similar OR create a group of verified players whose BOT reports are automatically elevated for review, you could even train them on how to spot a BOT. This would force multiply efforts to find and remove BOTS.

The frustration is getting to the point where someone might publically post bot software so everyone ends up botting, just to balance things out, if this current epidemic continues.

Maybe they're trying to ensure that innocent people don't get caught up and misclassified as bots?

skywarnmc27 wrote: »

I often wonder if ZOS are the bots sometimes..Would boost subs, and I have reported specific bots, in specific places, and a week later they are still there doing the same thing. No use reporting them. I get a spam email from ZOS, telling me thank you but we cant talk about it, and then nothing ever happens. Cynical perhaps, but who knows.

I would not say you are cynical.
I have played a number of MMOs over the years and have seen this problem in almost all of them.
I have seen both countless threads about the problem on the forums for the various games as well as the bots themselves.
I have like so many others reported them, I come back a week or even a month later and see the bots are still there.
And I'm not talking about another bot having taken the previous ones place, I'm talking about the very same bot.

That combined with the canned(copy/paste) response like the one we got in this very thread from the GMs/devs gives the very distinct impression that the GMs and by extension the developers dont care that these bots are in fact disrupting the game for legitimate players.

Ley wrote: »

Just to play devils advocate here. I have heard some compelling arguments suggesting that bots are a sign of a healthy game and they help the game economy. Further arguing that a lot of the materials that the average player enjoys would be beyond their affordable means, if not for bots.

I would argue that anyone defending such actions are either
A. Botting themselves and dont want to lose the advantage they get from that.
B. Are somehow benefiting from those the do the botting and dont want to lose those benefits.

I cant for the life of me comprehend how its somehow healthy for the game to have these bots running around and clearing out any and all resources that the players need and thus preventing them from getting said resources for their own gameplay.

In all likelihood these bots are working for the same people who are selling gold, and if they are actually selling these resources back to the players and not just vendoring them to get the gold, I would be surprised if they would not sell them at a significant markup as they are likely to some extent controlling the market by this.
After all they need a means of generating the gold they are selling.

Even so, if I'm not mistaken this is a breach of the TOS and a bannable offense.

i want bots on my xbox, please please, pretty please. we need parity with the PC

ZOS_Holden wrote: »

Hello @Skwor,

Thanks for reaching out to us, we truly appreciate you bringing this to our attention. We understand this can be frustrating and would advise using the in-game report function in the future, as those reports go directly to our moderation team.

Again. thank you so much, your reports are very helpful and greatly appreciated.

When they are in stacks of 100 so you can't even see there name and in nearly every zone. I have been reporting since 1T and it's only gotten worse!