You can try a shout in te area to see if anyone will let you group up for credit, or relog a few times to get different instances.

I have to admit that the problem of bots farming...anything is annoying, but it really got to me last night for the first time.

Adventuring along my merry way, I come across an iron node. I run up to it, but upon clicking on the node, I notice an almost ghost-like blur right in front of me, then just briefly caught a swatch of a name that went something like "tvvyrrrvrrr r".

I'm typically pretty easy going these days, but not this time. I ran around in circles and battled with this bot for resources as they appeared, but only once was I able to beat him. The remainder vanished before my very eyes, usually followed by a quiet swish, some directionless footsteps and that maddening tvvyrrrvrr r nametag - danged bandit. I did happen to notice that the toon was stripped down to skivvies in one brief, mirage-type appearance.

I eventually gave up, poured another glass of wine and later found myself in one of area's dungeons, where, upon reaching the end I was faced with exactly what is stated in the OP: a dozen or so no-names farming.

I was disheartened.

The funny thing is, they must all have been related to my new node-bandit friend, as each member's name of the dungeon-stealing brigands were all similar (tfvvvvvrr, rvyyyt, jjjsbbvvv...you get the idea).

And although the night was pretty much ruined by this nonsense, I did sit back, noticed a pattern (and flaw) in the no-names' approach and snatched my update.

As my first update to any dungeon (I've been focusing on other things) I can tell you that it does impact my game play significantly. Just seeing those jokers running around town with impunity, brandishing those snoring-sounds names, puts a real damper in my play time.

I'm not sure why it bothers me as much as it does, but the fact remains that this is impactful and needs to be addressed one way or another.

They are banning people, and I am surprised that this is not common knowledge given all of the people getting accidental bans.

When I report people for spamming me with gold guild invites or sending me emails about gold websites, I almost never hear from them again and if I do it is within just a couple hours.

I don't even put them on ignore anymore because it is a waste of my time.

Now, I do not follow Zone so I never report anyone there and cannot say how long it takes to get rid of them in there. Based on the fact that they are rapidly adapting and changing what they do and how they say it, I have to guess that the lifespan is fairly short, maybe a couple days at the most.

Now, on the topic at hand....

I never report boss farmers, bots or otherwise, no matter what their name is or how many are piled atop each other. That way lies madness, and takes time, which could get me reported for standing there. No, I just stay far far away from the bosses during peak hours. During off hours when few people are around and I can get in and out quickly, different story.

Personally, I think that what most people think are teleporting or invisible bots farming materials in the wilds is a quirk (bug) of the game, not something sinister. I have seen chests that fade out when I approach them and reappear when I step back and I have seen these chests do that for several minutes. I have seen everyday players simply appear, or disappear, right in front of me and all they are doing is running past me. I have chased after players that have simply vanished and when I get close enough they fade back in. I have seen players that appear to be just standing idle pop down roads because they are running by me and I am simply not getting the animation and live updates.

So, I have not reported any bot farmers, either. Although, if I can catch one I will report them.

I am not sure what Zenimax thinks of multiboxing, and I have seen what looks like that in a dungeon with 2 or 3 characters all running in a line. They were stumbling around getting caught on everything and I actually felt sorry for them because whatever they were doing, it clearly was not working. But, I am not sure what Zenimax thinks of that and I do not report it if I have not been told they are interested.

Also please note the number of people complaining of getting banned "out of nowhere" on these forums.. I think they are cracking down on it , they just do waves of bans..

I think the problem people right now have is that it appears that zenimax does not have a dedicated bot hunter at the moment. A GM that does nothing else than hunting bots and investigating bot reports.

In my opinion that is exactly what we would need right now. Not tomorrow, not next week, but right now while they are working on a mitigation.

ElliottXO wrote: »

I think the problem people right now have is that it appears that zenimax does not have a dedicated bot hunter at the moment. A GM that does nothing else than hunting bots and investigating bot reports.

In my opinion that is exactly what we would need right now. Not tomorrow, not next week, but right now while they are working on a mitigation.

Good idea, perhaps it will help to stop some of the bleeding. What ever they do, they need to get a solid and workable solution soon.

ElliottXO wrote: »

I think the problem people right now have is that it appears that zenimax does not have a dedicated bot hunter at the moment. A GM that does nothing else than hunting bots and investigating bot reports.

In my opinion that is exactly what we would need right now. Not tomorrow, not next week, but right now while they are working on a mitigation.

This, 100%. I know there are dedicated Elder Scrolls players out there RIGHT NOW who would volunteer some of their play time daily to be those bot hunters, too.

Daverios wrote: »

What I think you may not be aware of is banning these accounts is absolutely ineffective because every single last one is bought with stolen CC info.

It is very effective because it gets them out of the game. It is not permanent, which is maybe what you meant.

I have said a couple times in threads that they are taking two approaches. One is banning, which must be done continuously to weed out current offenders. The other is detection and blocking, which takes longer to develop but is intended to reduce the number of people who need to be banned in the future.

ElliottXO wrote: »

I think the problem people right now have is that it appears that zenimax does not have a dedicated bot hunter at the moment. A GM that does nothing else than hunting bots and investigating bot reports.

No, they probably don't have a dedicated bot hunter. They probably have a team of them. Just because someone is not standing there in flowing golden robes with "Game Master" floating over them does not mean they are ignoring the situation.

The worst thing anyone can do in this game is assume that they are not being watched.

BOT's are terribly difficult to stop.. It is also costly on companies.. This has plagued all MMO's to date.. WOW was hit hard with bot's as well. They use a client side program to help detect them, but that is not the most efficient method and easily bypassed by the botter's.

There are new proven analysis by doing Bot detection through server side packet logs through behavior analysis and trajectory analysis on the packets. Both of these methods have shown very positive results and if implemented it is very difficult for bot's to combat around them..

There are case studies ran against WOW worlds and other MMO worlds with these approaches that have proven high success rates.. I don't recall all the detail of the findings but I do know this is a industry wide issue and there are very talented people working on these methods to provide companies help with this problem.

I hope Zenimax is looking into this as we speak.. In the meantime we will just have to do it the old fashion way of reporting to a GM.

little_kitty_feetub17_ESO wrote: »

ElliottXO wrote: »

I think the problem people right now have is that it appears that zenimax does not have a dedicated bot hunter at the moment. A GM that does nothing else than hunting bots and investigating bot reports.

In my opinion that is exactly what we would need right now. Not tomorrow, not next week, but right now while they are working on a mitigation.

This, 100%. I know there are dedicated Elder Scrolls players out there RIGHT NOW who would volunteer some of their play time daily to be those bot hunters, too.

I would totally dedicate a toon (Or account) to have the ability to BOT HUNT dungeons. Make him like V1 (Unable to LOOT) and 250k health.

THAT would be the way to fix the BOT problem. BOUNTY HUNTING OPTIONS.

shamsb14a_ESO wrote: »

Bots? WTF are you talking about? I regularly go into the public dungeons and stand there farming the boss until my bags are full; it is by far the quickest way to get mats for crafting. I've never seen a bot, only other players doing the same thing as me. How can you tell that someone standing still, spamming 5-5-5-5-5 until the boss spawns isn't a player sitting at their keyboard for 15 minutes? You can't. I have seen nothing that makes me think there are bots in the game. Whining teenagers complaining on the message boards, sure. Not bots.

Good trolling.

shamsb14a_ESO wrote: »

Bots? WTF are you talking about? I regularly go into the public dungeons and stand there farming the boss until my bags are full; it is by far the quickest way to get mats for crafting. I've never seen a bot, only other players doing the same thing as me. How can you tell that someone standing still, spamming 5-5-5-5-5 until the boss spawns isn't a player sitting at their keyboard for 15 minutes? You can't. I have seen nothing that makes me think there are bots in the game. Whining teenagers complaining on the message boards, sure. Not bots.

hmm..blind,stupid or troll?

This issue is making me FURIOUS as hell! I just logged out coz I couldn't take it anymore! Took me about TWELVE tries just to get a hit in just now (dungeon NW of Elder Oak Tree - Grahtwood, but really, this is in EVERY damn public dungeon). Once I managed to get the kill (and "completed" update), I saw my loot there, in the HEAP of bosses, so I couldn't get my loot because of the huge pile that never vanishes.

FIX IT! THIS IS RUINING IT FOR ME PERSONALLY! It's really NOT that hard to fix.

#1. SET ALL CHARACTERS TO ONLY CREDIT THEM FOR ONE KILL (1 x boss XP, 1 x loot, THAT'S IT!). Once you trigger the "Completed" in a public dungeon, it's triggered and you can't kill that boss again. No XP, no loot, no bots... see where I'm going with this.

PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, THIS:
"Public Dungeon & Delve Boss Monsters – Also based on feedback, we will be placing a timer on how often you can get loot from public dungeon and delve boss monsters. This timer is shared across all boss monsters in public dungeons and delves. This will not impact loot timers for quest-specific monsters or overworld group bosses. Watch the patch notes for news on when this change will go live."

...BS is not gonna work. Try this instead (and sorry for the spam but I'm livid and I've been trying NOT to come here and rant but enough is enough.

#1. SET ALL CHARACTERS TO ONLY CREDIT THEM FOR ONE KILL (1 x boss XP, 1 x loot, THAT'S IT!). Once you trigger the "Completed" in a public dungeon, it's triggered and you can't kill that boss again. No XP, no loot, no bots... see where I'm going with this.

#1. SET ALL CHARACTERS TO ONLY CREDIT THEM FOR ONE KILL (1 x boss XP, 1 x loot, THAT'S IT!). Once you trigger the "Completed" in a public dungeon, it's triggered and you can't kill that boss again. No XP, no loot, no bots... see where I'm going with this.

#1. SET ALL CHARACTERS TO ONLY CREDIT THEM FOR ONE KILL (1 x boss XP, 1 x loot, THAT'S IT!). Once you trigger the "Completed" in a public dungeon, it's triggered and you can't kill that boss again. No XP, no loot, no bots... see where I'm going with this.

EASY!

I love this game and I really want to be a long-term subscriber, but at this stage it's frustrating the hell out of me (and I'm not the only one, as you can clearly see from the 50 odd posts on complaints about boss farming). This needs to be high priority!!