After a year and a half of play, the BOT situation in ...

SpiritofESO · January 2021

... starter zones is as bad or worse than before.

1) Too many resources too close to one another on too short a respawn timer in a low-danger environment. THIS is the number one issue.

(Legitimate players do not need resource nodes respawning every minute or two.) (The BOTS are harvesting and selling their resources so that they can earn Game Gold which they then resell. This is an old business model.)

Actual players cannot compete with this degradation of resource nodes.

2) Reduce the resource nodes, increase the spawn times, put in place MOBs powerful enough to defeat one BOT with a banekin pet to draw aggro.

3) Hire and put in place ACTUAL GAME MASTERS. Within one minute or less of entering a Starter Zone I can see BOTS operating openly and freely. Exploiters will make new accounts until such time as it is no longer profitable for them to do so.

Sarannah · January 2021

Changing how resource nodes work does not get rid of bots, it just makes things more annoying for actual players. Placing mobs near nodes is already frustrating enough for real players as well. You fighting mobs allows other players/bots the time to pick the resource node clean. Another issue with reducing resource node amount/respawns, is that some resources are already too rare.

ZOS does need to hire gamemasters for specific issues: Bots, fake roles, etc. This is the only thing that will work eventually.

I haven't seen any bots on EU for a long time though, ever since ZOS removed the coldharbour-tour exploit.

SickleCider · January 2021

I don't agree with point number one. I do rely on those nodes to respawn quickly. When I need materials (and keep in mind furnishing mats can only be looted, not refined) it saves me a lot of time to run a circuit in an area I'm familiar with, rather than go hunting.

But we really do need to deal with those bots somehow.

Eedat · January 2021

what platform are you talking about?

Tandor · January 2021

I haven't seen them in the starter zones on PC EU for a very long time, while on PC NA the sorcerer bots that ran around an island on the coastline where the chests are and who were auto-set to attack the mud crabs went a little while ago, and I haven't seen any elsewhere on that server.

I certainly don't agree with placing mobs near nodes, all that means is that while I'm killing the mobs to access the nodes someone else will ride up and take the nodes.

UntilValhalla13 · January 2021

They're still rampant on PS4 NA, and none of the devs really bother with console it feels like. They need to just remove gold mats from low crafting-tier nodes. That would help somewhat.

The bots are very easy to spot, and have the same naming pattern, as well as movement pattern. They're even programmed now to check their maps briefly, (in the same spots, every time), to make them look like actual people.

Starlock · January 2021

SpiritofESO wrote: »

1) Too many resources too close to one another on too short a respawn timer in a low-danger environment. THIS is the number one issue.

(Legitimate players do not need resource nodes respawning every minute or two.) (The BOTS are harvesting and selling their resources so that they can earn Game Gold which they then resell. This is an old business model.)

2) Reduce the resource nodes, increase the spawn times, put in place MOBs powerful enough to defeat one BOT with a banekin pet to draw aggro.

Hmm. Are you sure?

When I think about the level of grind baked into the crafting system, I'm not sure sure it is accurate to say that legitimate players don't need rapidly spawning resource nodes. It takes many, many, many stacks of resources to refine into enough improvement materials for our gear. This design provides an incentive for bots to exist. If improvement materials were easier to come by, there would be no need for bots to exist and there would be little to no profit in it. As such, what you propose here - making resources harder to come by - would actually compound that problem, wouldn't it?

SpiritofESO wrote: »

3) Hire and put in place ACTUAL GAME MASTERS. Within one minute or less of entering a Starter Zone I can see BOTS operating openly and freely. Exploiters will make new accounts until such time as it is no longer profitable for them to do so.

In the absence of making improvement materials easier to obtain, thus eliminating the need/incentive for bots to begin with, this is one of the only other solutions. It begs the question as to why this isn't done. Unfortunately, we're not likely to get any answers about that. Perhaps with the coming change in management there will be some more transparency and intervention. In my experience, I've gotten a lot more traction reporting accounts through Xbox than I have to ZoS.

Eiagra · January 2021

Solutions that punish starting players/legitimate players just as much as bots aren't going to be well-received.

When I was starting out, one of the very first things my sister and I did was figure out who was going to hold which resources, because we wanted to have enough to craft gear as we leveled up. Harvesting materials was also a nice way to just chill and do something that wasn't demanding.

There isn't really an easy fix for this. Would be nice if there were, but botting in general has been a problem for... how long? Not just for this game, but games in general.

ApostateHobo · January 2021

UntilValhalla13 wrote: »

They're still rampant on PS4 NA, and none of the devs really bother with console it feels like. They need to just remove gold mats from low crafting-tier nodes. That would help somewhat.

The bots are very easy to spot, and have the same naming pattern, as well as movement pattern. They're even programmed now to check their maps briefly, (in the same spots, every time), to make them look like actual people.

Yeah ps4 NA they are REALLY bad. You honestly can't harvest any metal nodes in khenarthi's roost unless you try extremely hard to get ahead of a bot, but then odds are there's multiple bots running the same route so it's pointless to even try. I go through and report as many as I can regularly, but it doesn't seem to make a difference.

Mythreindeer · January 2021

I once new a bot named Jode
Who ran from node to node
He collected mats
Became rich and fat
I once knew a bot named Jode
Often reported
He never retorted
I once knew a bot named Jode
Preferred console accounts
Made cash in large amounts
I once knew a bot named Jode

Cirantille · January 2021

I am actually curious

Sometimes when you go to a node, it disappears without you even touching so you can not pick them

Is that related to bots?

Sarannah · January 2021

Cirantille wrote: »

I am actually curious

Sometimes when you go to a node, it disappears without you even touching so you can not pick them

Is that related to bots?

I believe this happens when while walking towards the node, you are transported to another shard(server shard). This shard does not contain that node, even though it still displays on your screen. Making it disappear when you interact with it.

redlink1979 · January 2021

UntilValhalla13 wrote: »

They're still rampant on PS4 NA, and none of the devs really bother with console it feels like. (...)

Console servers are plagued. On PS4 I always send inumerous reports when I go to starter areas, in both servers.

Anotherone773 · January 2021

Are you sure its just not players? I run around starter islands all the time and i dont see any obvious bot activity. I do see really efficient high level players gathering from chests and nodes.

Blacknight841 · January 2021

Eiagra wrote: »

Solutions that punish starting players/legitimate players just as much as bots aren't going to be well-received.

When I was starting out, one of the very first things my sister and I did was figure out who was going to hold which resources, because we wanted to have enough to craft gear as we leveled up. Harvesting materials was also a nice way to just chill and do something that wasn't demanding.

There isn't really an easy fix for this. Would be nice if there were, but botting in general has been a problem for... how long? Not just for this game, but games in general.

There are many ways to identify a bit and there is an east solution to it. For instance, an account has a number of hours played, date created, materials harvested, enemies killed. That is enough stats to flag any account that is a bot. The in game log keeps track of every thing the account does, this is hidden in eso, but games like BdO have them visible to the user. If the account is created, and has killed no enemies on a daily basis, but has harvested nothing but materials in the same zone since creation... then it is probably a bot. Heat maps alone could mark a bot. Percent divergence from a route over a certain amount of time can flag people using bitted controllers, so on.

Blacknight841 · January 2021

Anotherone773 wrote: »

Are you sure its just not players? I run around starter islands all the time and i dont see any obvious bot activity. I do see really efficient high level players gathering from chests and nodes.

The answer is YES. Without question. They are completely obvious. Even some of the really “efficient” high level players use modified controls, and those too are easily identifiable if you watch them a bit.

jircris11 · January 2021

SpiritofESO wrote: »

... starter zones is as bad or worse than before.

1) Too many resources too close to one another on too short a respawn timer in a low-danger environment. THIS is the number one issue.

(Legitimate players do not need resource nodes respawning every minute or two.) (The BOTS are harvesting and selling their resources so that they can earn Game Gold which they then resell. This is an old business model.)

Actual players cannot compete with this degradation of resource nodes.

2) Reduce the resource nodes, increase the spawn times, put in place MOBs powerful enough to defeat one BOT with a banekin pet to draw aggro.

3) Hire and put in place ACTUAL GAME MASTERS. Within one minute or less of entering a Starter Zone I can see BOTS operating openly and freely. Exploiters will make new accounts until such time as it is no longer profitable for them to do so.

Sadly so long as ppl buy from them bits will exist. As crummy as it is we can only blame ourselves.

Starlock · January 2021

jircris11 wrote: »

SpiritofESO wrote: »

... starter zones is as bad or worse than before.

1) Too many resources too close to one another on too short a respawn timer in a low-danger environment. THIS is the number one issue.

(Legitimate players do not need resource nodes respawning every minute or two.) (The BOTS are harvesting and selling their resources so that they can earn Game Gold which they then resell. This is an old business model.)

Actual players cannot compete with this degradation of resource nodes.

2) Reduce the resource nodes, increase the spawn times, put in place MOBs powerful enough to defeat one BOT with a banekin pet to draw aggro.

3) Hire and put in place ACTUAL GAME MASTERS. Within one minute or less of entering a Starter Zone I can see BOTS operating openly and freely. Exploiters will make new accounts until such time as it is no longer profitable for them to do so.

Sadly so long as ppl buy from them bits will exist. As crummy as it is we can only blame ourselves.

Huh? How is it reasonable to blame ourselves? Is there some secret technique to knowing if you are buying something from a bot in a guild store? Could you share this with us?

ApostateHobo · January 2021

Anotherone773 wrote: »

Are you sure its just not players? I run around starter islands all the time and i dont see any obvious bot activity. I do see really efficient high level players gathering from chests and nodes.

Well they're all level 3 sorcs using a scamp, have keyboard smashed character names, weird randomly generated usernames, and they run along a set loop stopping in spots where a node would be whether it's actually currently there or not. So yes they are definitely bots not real players.

Rowjoh · January 2021

Can't remember the last time I saw a 'Bot' on PC EU or PC NA server - I spend about an hour every day farming nodes.

Is this topic related to Xbox/Playstation ?

Jeremy · January 2021

SpiritofESO wrote: »

... starter zones is as bad or worse than before.

1) Too many resources too close to one another on too short a respawn timer in a low-danger environment. THIS is the number one issue.

(Legitimate players do not need resource nodes respawning every minute or two.) (The BOTS are harvesting and selling their resources so that they can earn Game Gold which they then resell. This is an old business model.)

Actual players cannot compete with this degradation of resource nodes.

2) Reduce the resource nodes, increase the spawn times, put in place MOBs powerful enough to defeat one BOT with a banekin pet to draw aggro.

3) Hire and put in place ACTUAL GAME MASTERS. Within one minute or less of entering a Starter Zone I can see BOTS operating openly and freely. Exploiters will make new accounts until such time as it is no longer profitable for them to do so.

Trust me when I say this, but the bot situation has greatly improved. You should have seen this game when it first came out if you think it's bad now. haha