A lots of farming bots

Trinity_Is_My_Name · December 2018

For those on PC that want to report BOTS there is an addon called Bot Scanner 2000. I use it and it works very well. It fills the reports in so all you have to do is submit them.

https://www.esoui.com/downloads/info1818-BotScanner2000.html

qbit · December 2018

Skwor wrote: »

ihazzit wrote: »

DeathStalker_X wrote: »

IMHO, ZOS is simply stupid in not banning bots - they ruin things for everyone. It's not THAT hard to code against it.

Yes it is, it's extremely difficult, very labor-intensive, and to this day generally ineffective. Any anti-botting technique and associated algorithms would require a team of developers to implement and maintain and continuously update and that's really not very practical. Plus, the botters will find a workaround anyway for any current implementation of anti-botting methods. There are some new studies which are still ongoing that are attempting to find more practical and hopefully effective techniques but as of right now whatever technique ZOS is using, if any, is probably as good as it's going to get.

We do not need code to solve this. Fact is we will always have bots. It is the quantity and frequency of them now that is a huge problem.

All we need is an active GM to play the game, look for them for a few hours several times a week, then ban the account and IP when discovered. This would make the bot issue managable.

Another simple and reasonable solution is pick some trusted players who farm, give thier bot reports a priority and repeat above process.

Yeah let’s ban the IP. So legit players that happen to get that banned IP can *** off. 🤦‍♂️

Ardaghion · December 2018

DirkRavenclaw wrote: »

Rinlan_Darius wrote: »

Like this farming ore https://youtube.com/watch?v=RV7wDYxCDqY

This wasnt necesarrily a Bot. As i commented on the Video, this Character was looking at the Map or into the Inventory. It was no Duel Invite send or tried to talk to the Player. I sometimes need a few more on me, i stay for 20 or 30 mins at a spawnpoint around, sometimes even with my Sorc. Doesnt make me a Bot.

The PS4 gamertag is a good hint but a good bot test is to lay down a memento and pull them off the node. If I can lay down a bear trap a few times and drag the player off the node, especially far enough away so that they no longer respond to the node then it's a sure bet to be a bot.

If I come back hours later and the player is still standing there away form the node it's probably not a player. As for the inventory check, a real person has to return to the bot and deliver the mats to a bank. There's also a need to prevent being logged off for inactivity.

O_LYKOS · December 2018

Make sure you keep reporting them.

When all the farmers are banned, market prices will increase. So i'd like to see everyones reactions after.

qbit · December 2018

O_LYKOS wrote: »

Make sure you keep reporting them.

When all the farmers are banned, market prices will increase. So i'd like to see everyones reactions after.

We just won’t buy your overpriced mats. Other bots will come and farm them and undercut you. That’s how it will respond.

Samsgaard · December 2018

BWS2K wrote: »

"Third party tools, the use of "bots", "speed hacks", "deep-link", "page-scrape", "robot", "spider", algorithms or other programs that copy or monitor any part of the Services (including, but not limited to, the Game(s) and/or forums), software that transmits, manipulates, or distributes (including, but are limited to, "mirroring") the data stream or any aspect of the Services to another computer, server websites or other publication or distribution media, or software that permits You to use Services without human input are examples of methods not authorized by ZeniMax." - Terms of Service, the only truth that matters.

The sentence directly before that one is: "You agree not to use any hardware or software or any other method of support that is not authorized by ZeniMax or that may in any way influence or advantage Your playing abilities, or influence or advantage Your use of the Services." Which I think might apply to multi-boxing, since it might qualify as an advantage of sorts.

This is usually what the multi-boxing controversy comes down to in other games. Having multiple accounts and having multiple clients running at the same time is permitted. You want to manually operate characters on different accounts to interact for--say--a trade, no problem. And if you're able to manually operate two clients independently at the same time for something as complicated as running around and fighting, lucky you. But using "third party tools" so that one is a master client and action in the others are slaved to it (which is how sustained multi-boxing with a whole train of characters works) is officially impermissible. Of course, enforcement is another matter...

BWS2K · December 2018

O_LYKOS wrote: »

Make sure you keep reporting them.

When all the farmers are banned, market prices will increase. So i'd like to see everyones reactions after.

Prices will rise for, like, a week. At best. Then they'll settle back down to what people are willing to pay for them because that's literally how markets work. I understand where this belief comes from but it's simply not true.

Salvas_Aren · December 2018

BWS2K wrote: »

Salvas_Aren wrote: »

I've heard so many rumors about bots, no clue what is true.

Bots are good, bots are evil, bots pay for ESO+, bots reduce the risk of major hacks and account theft, bots are the result of account theft, bots clear drug money, bots get banned, bots get not banned, Zeni does not care, Zeni has no idea what to do ...

Pick the truth you like the most.

"Third party tools, the use of "bots", "speed hacks", "deep-link", "page-scrape", "robot", "spider", algorithms or other programs that copy or monitor any part of the Services (including, but not limited to, the Game(s) and/or forums), software that transmits, manipulates, or distributes (including, but are limited to, "mirroring") the data stream or any aspect of the Services to another computer, server websites or other publication or distribution media, or software that permits You to use Services without human input are examples of methods not authorized by ZeniMax." - Terms of Service, the only truth that matters.

The sentence directly before that one is: "You agree not to use any hardware or software or any other method of support that is not authorized by ZeniMax or that may in any way influence or advantage Your playing abilities, or influence or advantage Your use of the Services." Which I think might apply to multi-boxing, since it might qualify as an advantage of sorts.

According to these ToS, my Internet Security is forbidden, since it constantly monitors my network traffic.

But hey, good boys like you play without firewall, huh?

Nerftheforums · December 2018

Stop reporting bots please. It takes a lot of effort to shut the report threads down, it would be best for all of you just start playing something else and thank the devs for the effort they (don't) make.

BWS2K · December 2018

Salvas_Aren wrote: »

BWS2K wrote: »

Salvas_Aren wrote: »

I've heard so many rumors about bots, no clue what is true.

Bots are good, bots are evil, bots pay for ESO+, bots reduce the risk of major hacks and account theft, bots are the result of account theft, bots clear drug money, bots get banned, bots get not banned, Zeni does not care, Zeni has no idea what to do ...

Pick the truth you like the most.

"Third party tools, the use of "bots", "speed hacks", "deep-link", "page-scrape", "robot", "spider", algorithms or other programs that copy or monitor any part of the Services (including, but not limited to, the Game(s) and/or forums), software that transmits, manipulates, or distributes (including, but are limited to, "mirroring") the data stream or any aspect of the Services to another computer, server websites or other publication or distribution media, or software that permits You to use Services without human input are examples of methods not authorized by ZeniMax." - Terms of Service, the only truth that matters.

The sentence directly before that one is: "You agree not to use any hardware or software or any other method of support that is not authorized by ZeniMax or that may in any way influence or advantage Your playing abilities, or influence or advantage Your use of the Services." Which I think might apply to multi-boxing, since it might qualify as an advantage of sorts.

According to these ToS, my Internet Security is forbidden, since it constantly monitors my network traffic.

But hey, good boys like you play without firewall, huh?

:: gives up ::

Drummerx04 · December 2018

Trinity_Is_My_Name wrote: »

For those on PC that want to report BOTS there is an addon called Bot Scanner 2000. I use it and it works very well. It fills the reports in so all you have to do is submit them.

https://www.esoui.com/downloads/info1818-BotScanner2000.html

Thank you for shamelessly advertising my addon, lol.

qbit · December 2018

Drummerx04 wrote: »

Trinity_Is_My_Name wrote: »

For those on PC that want to report BOTS there is an addon called Bot Scanner 2000. I use it and it works very well. It fills the reports in so all you have to do is submit them.

https://www.esoui.com/downloads/info1818-BotScanner2000.html

Thank you for shamelessly advertising my addon, lol.

Oh you’re the developer of that script. What you’ve achieved is probably getting a lot of people blacklisted for spamming the player reporting functionality. Nice job. I have never reported a player for anything. I feel my reports will get a higher priority over the auto-reports they’ve probably already setup a filter for. Generated by your lua script.

Salvas_Aren · December 2018

Drummerx04 wrote: »

Trinity_Is_My_Name wrote: »

For those on PC that want to report BOTS there is an addon called Bot Scanner 2000. I use it and it works very well. It fills the reports in so all you have to do is submit them.

https://www.esoui.com/downloads/info1818-BotScanner2000.html

Thank you for shamelessly advertising my addon, lol.

I thought that this is BWS2Ks job.

BWS2K · December 2018

Salvas_Aren wrote: »

Drummerx04 wrote: »

Trinity_Is_My_Name wrote: »

For those on PC that want to report BOTS there is an addon called Bot Scanner 2000. I use it and it works very well. It fills the reports in so all you have to do is submit them.

https://www.esoui.com/downloads/info1818-BotScanner2000.html

Thank you for shamelessly advertising my addon, lol.

I thought that this is BWS2Ks job.

Meh. It's the holidays. I don't have the energy for much, as is probably apparent, lol

Zweible · December 2018

As usual, went to farm Mats and the same three bots were doing the same three routes as they have been doing for months. The normal player cannot keep up with the scripted harvesting bots. As usual, I logged out in defeat.

Skwor · December 2018

qbit wrote: »

Skwor wrote: »

ihazzit wrote: »

DeathStalker_X wrote: »

IMHO, ZOS is simply stupid in not banning bots - they ruin things for everyone. It's not THAT hard to code against it.

Yes it is, it's extremely difficult, very labor-intensive, and to this day generally ineffective. Any anti-botting technique and associated algorithms would require a team of developers to implement and maintain and continuously update and that's really not very practical. Plus, the botters will find a workaround anyway for any current implementation of anti-botting methods. There are some new studies which are still ongoing that are attempting to find more practical and hopefully effective techniques but as of right now whatever technique ZOS is using, if any, is probably as good as it's going to get.

We do not need code to solve this. Fact is we will always have bots. It is the quantity and frequency of them now that is a huge problem.

All we need is an active GM to play the game, look for them for a few hours several times a week, then ban the account and IP when discovered. This would make the bot issue managable.

Another simple and reasonable solution is pick some trusted players who farm, give thier bot reports a priority and repeat above process.

Yeah let’s ban the IP. So legit players that happen to get that banned IP can *** off. 🤦‍♂️

You sound like a botter. An IP ban can be as broad or narrow as needed. Also you will note I said account as well but I guess then you will argue they should not be banned either? Try to work on a solution instead of trying to find fault.

MLGProPlayer · December 2018

Elwendryll wrote: »

Rinlan_Darius wrote: »

Prices for purple and gold ingredients to upgrade jewelry fell in the trade guilds at least 20% (PS4 EU). I think this is the result of bots.

Or you know... Prices fell because the demand is lower now that every end game player golded everything, and the supply is higher...

Supply is higher because of bots. It would drop significantly if they were cut out from the market.

MLGProPlayer · December 2018

DirkRavenclaw wrote: »

Rinlan_Darius wrote: »

Like this farming ore https://youtube.com/watch?v=RV7wDYxCDqY

This wasnt necesarrily a Bot. As i commented on the Video, this Character was looking at the Map or into the Inventory. It was no Duel Invite send or tried to talk to the Player. I sometimes need a few more on me, i stay for 20 or 30 mins at a spawnpoint around, sometimes even with my Sorc. Doesnt make me a Bot.

You can program a script to perform any action, including opening map, inventory, etc. (most botters do that to make their bots look less like bots). Humans do monitor their botting accounts of course too. How else would they sell the materials?

BWS2K · December 2018

MLGProPlayer wrote: »

Elwendryll wrote: »

Rinlan_Darius wrote: »

Prices for purple and gold ingredients to upgrade jewelry fell in the trade guilds at least 20% (PS4 EU). I think this is the result of bots.

Or you know... Prices fell because the demand is lower now that every end game player golded everything, and the supply is higher...

Supply is higher because of bots. It would drop significantly if they were cut out from the market.

Which is why prices would undoubtedly spike for a brief time - but they would go back down to whatever people are willing to pay for them. Unlike the real world, materials are available for everyone to harvest themselves so no one is beholden to the market. What happens right now is that the bots are flooding the market which devalues the items, but without them the prices wouldn't soar sky high forever because not nearly as many people are going to be interested in suddenly paying crazy prices for something that is commonly available and historically cheap. Nix the bots and the prices will ultimately remain mostly unchanged.

On the flipside, consider that botters control both sides of the supply/demand dynamic by both denying the nodes to active players and setting the prices (no matter how low). That's why it works as well as it does.

Rinlan_Darius · December 2018

DirkRavenclaw wrote: »

Rinlan_Darius wrote: »

Like this farming ore https://youtube.com/watch?v=RV7wDYxCDqY

This wasnt necesarrily a Bot. As i commented on the Video, this Character was looking at the Map or into the Inventory. It was no Duel Invite send or tried to talk to the Player. I sometimes need a few more on me, i stay for 20 or 30 mins at a spawnpoint around, sometimes even with my Sorc. Doesnt make me a Bot.

I think they use programmable gamepads, and opening a card or inventory between the ore recovery is used so that the game does not throw you offline. They also use a combat pet for the same purpose - just to not go offline.

Rinlan_Darius · December 2018

[/quote] Yeah let’s ban the IP.[/quote]
It is necessary to ban the PS4 or XBox, not the IP.
It would be the most painful way, but Sony or MS will never go for it.

EphemeraCrawford · December 2018

Yes an in-game GM presence patrolling a zone would help curtail the bots. When I see a train of them I get slightly ahead, see where they're heading and tag their prey with a bowshot. It's does nothing to them except annoy, but it gives me a little pleasure to follow them around messing things up.

Rinlan_Darius · January 2019

Not a single response from the ZOS to hundreds of my bots reports.
Full ignore.
The bots (the same ones) stand in the same places and do the same thing.
Very good work, ZOS.

Malmai · January 2019

Farming is good.

Oberstein · January 2019

Where those people get those bots in first place?

Rinlan_Darius · May 2019

The number of bots has tripled and even more. What is ZOS waiting for? Maybe they do nothing, because they pay a subscription ESO+ for each bot?

Deathlord92 · May 2019

I know pain I’m from PS4 Eu to what use to take me 1 hour to farm 1k ore now takes me hours and sometimes days when bots increase atm I farm 100 ore a day made it a daily ffs 😡

bulbousb16_ESO · May 2019

Skwor wrote: »

All we need is an active GM to play the game, look for them for a few hours several times a week, then ban the account and IP when discovered. This would make the bot issue managable.

Ban the IP? Won't that affect legitimate users?

BWS2K · May 2019

The best anti-bot program is players who take a couple seconds to file a report. We're not getting more GMs, it would seem, and it's worth a lot of money for botters to be able to exploit/circumvent any taken measures. If you don't want to take those few seconds, then fine. Ask in zone chat before you do and maybe there's others who've noticed the same thing and then you can all report them. Make zones not worth the effort for botters. It's not easy, and I'm not saying it is, but it's really the only thing we can do (which isn't the same as banning, btw - reporting means ZOS is supposed to look at the report and decide... hence more reports, more frequently, the higher likelihood that action will be taken). Happy Gaming!

Ohtimbar · May 2019

GMs could solve this, but that would cut into ownerships yacht fund.