Reporting bots - are we wasting our time?

zyk · October 2018

No, it's important to report botting every time you see it, even if ZOS doesn't take it seriously. By reporting it, the data exists for a more responsible manager to identify the issue in the future and correct whatever management issue currently exists in ZOS.

Unfortunately, current ZOS execs don't take cheating seriously, but that may not always be true. Perhaps the record of unaddressed cheating is what will eventually lead to a change inside ZOS.

MilwaukeeScott · October 2018

Rocki wrote: »

am I wasting my time reporting them?

Yes

Elsonso · October 2018

MilwaukeeScott wrote: »

Rocki wrote: »

am I wasting my time reporting them?

Yes

Are there many bots on PS4 these days?

Jayman1000 · October 2018

Rocki wrote: »

What makes you say they're going to be there no matter what? Ever wonder why WoW doesn't have bot trains? It's because they have GMs that take action against people botting, pretty simple really.

or... maybe it's not that simple. ESO game you can get for scraps and then play without a subscription forever. purchasing tons of accounts is as cheap as dirt. Can you say the say the same for WoW? Not in the least. 1) you can't buy wow for scraps. 2) you have to pay considerable sub fees to be able to play. 3) Blizzard has chosen to scan users harddrives which is sort of a serious privacy concern. Additionally they seem to have poured a huge amount of resources into automatic bot detection (something which the scanning of users pc's at all times is a big contributor to making that possible).

PhantomOcelot · October 2018

You are wasting your time reporting in general. I have not seen a single game where reports actually mean anything. Except maybe Overwatch (huge emphasis on maybe).

AnonomissX · October 2018

I am on the xbox console.

CONSOLE people! Pay close attention to what I say next, because context is everything. Botting is against the terms from ZOS and modded controllers are against the TOS of Xbox. There are bots, and there are bots that COMPLETLY lock other players out of swaths of nodes in beginner areas.

The bot trains that kill animals or NPC at least let you get your hit in and you too can get the scraps and drops. And just one bot on one node would be irritating, however, moving on to the next ore spot is just part of the game.

= HOWEVER =

Pay attention here, this is the worst of the worst. On the xbox console, NA server where I play, a good 1/3 of the ore nodes around the beginning areas, like my favorite runs on the coast in Stros M'kai, will be players with a basic gamer tag like "InsulatedBiscuit237", character name a random mix of letters like "ZZDDGGHH" and they are in rags, no higher than level 3-5. I call them "squatters".

They are particularly bad, because they STAND or SQUAT over the ore nodes, don't move, but WITHOUT FAIL hit the ore before you can EVERY TIME. Even if I wave Breath of Life with my resto staff, which makes them draw their weapon, they don't flinch, they don't miss getting the ore before you do. EVER.

On Xbox, you jump if you hit the green "A" button. Also, that is the contextual button to pick up a node when it appears. So, for the bot to hit the node without fail, the have to be spamming that green "A" button! So...why are they NOT jumping up and down? Why are they grabbing the node before regular players WITHOUT FAIL?

They HAVE to be using a modded controller, one that sends a repeated signal to the A button. Oh, how to prove it? Walk up to ALL the squatters, and drop a "questionable meatsack" in front of them. Every squatter will pick up the meat and barf EVERY single time. WITHOUT FAIL.

So, I like to farm my own ore, so I can refine it, use the ore for Writs and get gold mats to improve my armor and weapons. I MAKE gold selling the gold mats. Am I to understand, instead of playing the game as intended, I have to now SPEND gold, go buy the mats and be happy? Be happy some jerk with an xbox farm, multiple accounts, and modded xbox controllers is breaking both ZOS and the xbox TOS is locking me out of farming ore and my usual enjoyment of the game?

Try arguing your way out of THAT one.

Gatviper · October 2018

Persecuting and banning bot accounts would mean payment increases for ZoS, while those accounts at the same time have the potential of bringing some possible benefit in various ways, like ESO Plus sub. I've seen that happening in other games, like Everquest II which had the in-game currency traders from dubious websites spamming the game chat with their "clever" advertisement to a point of severe aggravation for players, while not much if anything was done against them if reported. It was just too much of an effort, and there have been "whispered" rumors, which got some confirmations when a friend of mine complained to the game owners, and became banned to a "prison" server for getting too much attention of other people.

As long as not too many people become annoyed by such possible bots, and it becomes too noticeable outside of the game community, I doubt there will be much done against it. Most likely ESO has the same skeleton crew EQ2 had with the case mentioned above, all for the most optimal increase of income.

Mr_Bear · October 2018

Yes, wasting your time.

Elsonso · October 2018

AnonomissX wrote: »

I am on the xbox console.

CONSOLE people! Pay close attention to what I say next, because context is everything. Botting is against the terms from ZOS and modded controllers are against the TOS of Xbox. There are bots, and there are bots that COMPLETLY lock other players out of swaths of nodes in beginner areas.

They HAVE to be using a modded controller, one that sends a repeated signal to the A button. Oh, how to prove it? Walk up to ALL the squatters, and drop a "questionable meatsack" in front of them. Every squatter will pick up the meat and barf EVERY single time. WITHOUT FAIL.

Report them.

I also want to add that if they are using modified equipment, they are probably also violating the Microsoft ToS. In my opinion, contacting ZOS about a Microsoft ToS problem just delays things. ZOS probably just forwards this stuff on to Microsoft to be resolved. When they have a chance. Contact XBox support directly and report them for using modified equipment. After that, report the same to ZOS.

Gatviper wrote: »

Persecuting and banning bot accounts would mean payment increases for ZoS, while those accounts at the same time have the potential of bringing some possible benefit in various ways, like ESO Plus sub.

Typical bots do not run ESO Plus. It is an added expense, and they don't need it. Besides, they might not last long enough to get to the end of their subscription.

Gatviper wrote: »

Most likely ESO has the same skeleton crew EQ2 had with the case mentioned above, all for the most optimal increase of income.

It is already apparent that ZOS is not running a skeleton crew, or have things in place on PC that allows them to effectively run with a skeleton crew. There are bots on PC (NA) but they are nowhere near the historical levels, at the moment.

So, yes, report bots and other cheaters to ZOS. Report violations of the XBox or PSN ToS to the appropriate console company.

BWS2K · October 2018

I will add, since this thread has gone on longer than any other I've seen without getting closed (kudos to everyone - we've avoided naming and shaming and being uncivil!), that the actual botters are paying attention. If not here in the forum, in the game. This is fact. When I started reporting bots, there were a lot of people very active in zone chats about how to spot bots, hoping to garner help and inform others. Within a week or two, the bots had been changed so that many of those tips no longer applied or were not as obvious - and this applied to zones I hadn't been in. Remember that this isn't just simple cheating or annoying - for the botters, it's a source of income, and they're usually scamming people who purchase these accounts/resources for real money.

jd24 · October 2018

In other games I found that after reporting them, you follow them around for 5 minutes recording them and putting it on the forums with a "is this botting?" title works well.

NolaArch · October 2018

I have reported them but nothing seemed to ever come of it. I’d still see the same bots running around. I just don’t bother anymore.

BWS2K · October 2018

joedraper24b14_ESO wrote: »

In other games I found that after reporting them, you follow them around for 5 minutes recording them and putting it on the forums with a "is this botting?" title works well.

If you do that, the thread will be closed and edited because of the naming-and-shaming rule here. You can, however, send the link along in a reply to the e-mail notification you get from the report so that ZOS has the video as well, which is helpful.

Megatto · October 2018

Why did Zos get rid of the GM's anyway? We clearly need them for banning these bots

Elsonso · October 2018

BWS2K wrote: »

I will add, since this thread has gone on longer than any other I've seen without getting closed (kudos to everyone - we've avoided naming and shaming and being uncivil!), that the actual botters are paying attention. If not here in the forum, in the game. This is fact. When I started reporting bots, there were a lot of people very active in zone chats about how to spot bots, hoping to garner help and inform others. Within a week or two, the bots had been changed so that many of those tips no longer applied or were not as obvious - and this applied to zones I hadn't been in. Remember that this isn't just simple cheating or annoying - for the botters, it's a source of income, and they're usually scamming people who purchase these accounts/resources for real money.

Where automation is being used to run bots, it is possible that there is a live person in the game, standing somewhere, watching and listening to the people who are reporting the bots. They see and hear what is happening and change the profiles to adapt.

It was interesting to watch how they adapted to people locking the nodes and holding the bots there.

joedraper24b14_ESO wrote: »

In other games I found that after reporting them, you follow them around for 5 minutes recording them and putting it on the forums with a "is this botting?" title works well.

Here, we don't do the forum thing. We simply report them in the game.

Megatto wrote: »

Why did Zos get rid of the GM's anyway? We clearly need them for banning these bots

My theory is that ZOS realized that GMs running around in the game is pretty public, but less efficient. I doubt they got rid of them. The might even have more of then now that they did a couple years ago. I think they are less visible because they don't spend their time in the game so that we can see them. They do their work out of sight.

Blacknight841 · October 2018

Last time I saw a gamemaster on the Xbox NA server was back in 2016 during the pig farm. As far as reporting goes, if they wanted to do something about it, they could do something about it. There are plenty of ways to deal with other the bots: they could make it so the same node cannot be picked up twice in a row by the same person; they could put a proximity sensor on it, like with surveys; they could disconnect players that press the a button too many times in a row (I get kicked for spamming when editing too many notes in the guild rosters), so why is it possible to spam the same button over and over again, standing in the same spot and using a bottled controller; they could make it so that linked paths are detected. if Several players have identical paths, with no variation, they get booted; and countless other things that can be done to combat it.

At this point it is a clear sign that they do not care about it. Do not waste your time reporting the bots, as they will be there the next day no matter what you do.

... but if you see an issue in the crown store, make sure to send in that ticket right away, you should expect it to be fixed ASAP.

zyk · October 2018

Megatto wrote: »

Why did Zos get rid of the GM's anyway? We clearly need them for banning these bots

It all comes down to maximizing profit. There are technical solutions this game needs to mitigate cheating, not only in the form of bots but also memory hacking and other methods, but ZOS doesn't want to pay the price.

This is probably the reason they don't do social bans and why it basically takes a death threat or overt racism to get banned. They don't want to pay the customer service costs.

It relates to the extremely casual direction the game has taken. Their main audience probably doesn't know what a bot is and are oblivious to 90% of the topics posted in this forum.

I continue to play ESO only because I'm invested in it and may not take another game this seriously again. But if I do, it won't be a Zenimax product. I have zero faith in them.

iiYuki · October 2018

Its a waste of time, people report bugs for months and they dont get fixed, what hope do we have of ZO$ checking on people when they're reported as an alleged bot.

Alchemical · October 2018

It is a waste of time because unless ZoS either 1) implements invasive anti-cheat measures a la Warden that checks your processes for botting software or 2) sues the primary bot maker into retirement, then it doesn't make a difference, because botters just get a new account and start again. It took BOTH for Blizzard to begin to curtail WoW's bot problem. And it was several long, expensive law suits. And there are still bots.

The only other deterrent is being a dead MMO with no players. Wildstar sure as hell doesn't have any bots playing.