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New megabot in Bleakrock

  • Wolf_Eye
    Wolf_Eye
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    danno8 wrote: »
    FluffWit wrote: »
    danno8 wrote: »
    Some people like to do things like PvP and trials, not sitting on resource nodes. To each their own, but that is why we don’t mind the modders, so we get cheap mats without farming ourselves

    But some people like to farm and sell mats. Bots make it not worthwhile, thus eliminating or minimizing a playstyle.

    Imagine if bots invaded Cyrodiil and using software with optimized algorithms started running around deleting all the actual players. But hey, they were selling all the RotW sets for cheap, so it's cool right?

    Or if bots started running vHM trials with you, completely trivializing the content because they are so good at it. Would that still be fun now that it's so easy to get titles and styles?

    On behalf of pvpers I ca assure you we don't fight for gold. Or gear. And we damn sure don't fight for those awful loot boxes we get sent every 20 minutes.

    We fight for Honor. For loyalty. For an unwritten code that's seldom spoken that PvEers could never understand. For the friends we've made in Cyrodiil who are fighting alongside us. And for the fallen brothers and sisters we've lost these last seven years.

    It's ok, we don't expect you to understand. Or to take up arms and fight with us. Just know- as you sleep soundly in your bed in Mournhold or Sentinel or Alinor tonight, that it's the men and women on the front lines in Cyrodiil allowing you to do so.

    I PvP too. And PvE. Please refrain from speaking on behalf of me or all PvP players.

    Also, what makes you think that PvE players don't RP honor codes just like you do? They fight alongside each other, have guilds that I am sure many consider to be their brothers and sisters, comrades and friends.

    I hope you are joking (or just RPing really hard) with that last line.

    I think they're just making a parody of a quote from A Few Good Men, the war movie.

    I don't think they meant it seriously.
  • Tenthirty2
    Tenthirty2
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    Gods sake, never mind the stupid pricing of stuff, that IS a lame excuse to look the other way.
    How about the fact that server communication\performance is no where near "good" with lag, disconnects, desyncs, assets not fully loading in zones, heck pick something.
    And before someone tries to counter with "bUt ThE eVeNtS", I was noticing these issues WELL before the year 1 celebration kicked off.

    [snip]

    Yeah, I'm salty about it. I love this game but [snip] I do not want to play what it feels like to be some 90yo geriatric with crippling arthritis who can barely lift her staff :/

    *sigh*

    <3

    [edited for profanity bypass & baiting]
    Edited by ZOS_Icy on August 30, 2021 5:49PM
    • "Some enjoy bringing grief to others. They remind M'aiq of mudcrabs - horrible creatures, with no redeeming qualities."
    • "When my time comes, I will smile. And that will be all." -Sir Nathain Galien
    • IGN: TenThirty2 (PC/PS: NA, PC/PS: EU)
  • BalticBlues
    BalticBlues
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    The SAME is going on PS4 EU.
    I reported bot trains and a bot master,
    but the bot master is still selling HUGE numbers of mats in guilds.
  • destroy6574
    destroy6574
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    I have a whole community , at least on Ps4/5 NA, that are willing and able to help "police" these bots.
    But we need some direction from the proper @zos
    We have yet to hear anything from them on what can be done. I understand one player alone cannot have an effect, but we are many.
  • Joy_Division
    Joy_Division
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    FluffWit wrote: »
    danno8 wrote: »
    Some people like to do things like PvP and trials, not sitting on resource nodes. To each their own, but that is why we don’t mind the modders, so we get cheap mats without farming ourselves

    But some people like to farm and sell mats. Bots make it not worthwhile, thus eliminating or minimizing a playstyle.

    Imagine if bots invaded Cyrodiil and using software with optimized algorithms started running around deleting all the actual players. But hey, they were selling all the RotW sets for cheap, so it's cool right?

    Or if bots started running vHM trials with you, completely trivializing the content because they are so good at it. Would that still be fun now that it's so easy to get titles and styles?

    On behalf of pvpers I ca assure you we don't fight for gold. Or gear. And we damn sure don't fight for those awful loot boxes we get sent every 20 minutes.

    We fight for Honor. For loyalty. For an unwritten code that's seldom spoken that PvEers could never understand. For the friends we've made in Cyrodiil who are fighting alongside us. And for the fallen brothers and sisters we've lost these last seven years.

    It's ok, we don't expect you to understand. Or to take up arms and fight with us. Just know- as you sleep soundly in your bed in Mournhold or Sentinel or Alinor tonight, that it's the men and women on the front lines in Cyrodiil allowing you to do so.

    As a PvPer, I am having difficulty reconciling how you cite honor but are totally cool with "modders" who make it frustrating for those people who do want to collect resource nodes.
    Edited by Joy_Division on August 30, 2021 6:37PM
    Make Rush of Agony "Monsters only." People should not be consecutively crowd controlled in a PvP setting. Period.
  • itscompton
    itscompton
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    Even if they investigate and ban a bot account and its related IP address the bot master can simply delete that installation, spoof a new IP address, then purchase a fresh copy of ESO, which you can almost always find on sale for only $8 dollars. After that it's just a matter of spending 2 minutes in character creation and they're right back in business.
    As long as that new account/bot lasts long enough before it gets reported/banned to farm enough resources to make $9 dollars in real money the bot master comes out ahead.
    Edited by itscompton on August 30, 2021 6:59PM
  • destroy6574
    destroy6574
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    Its true. Cant really track them, and all they have to do is wipe it clean and start over.
    The difference is, there hasn't been an organized community willing to constantly combat them.
    I have tons of fun chasing robots, collecting nodes. Im not just a farmer, im a GM of a Trials/Trading guild, and in an Alliance with 40 other guilds that stand AGAINST BOT FARMING.
    We are looking for solutions.
  • SeaGtGruff
    SeaGtGruff
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    theCampeR_ wrote: »
    I have no problems with bots. They provide a great public service supplying mats at reasonable prices. Some of us are not "swimming in gold".

    The "Bots" don't sell mats and collect gold to play the game or buy gear for their adventures. They farm that gold to sell for crowns on their main account or trade them for real money. Which in turn inflates crown:gold prices absurdly (which you can witness now) and as a direct result of that, mats or any other items that you can buy with gold, goes up in prices. So yeah, it's public service for someone who is as clueless as a duck.

    You are incorrect about that. There are bots selling in guild stores, there are bots selling in zone. Ive had bots that ive chased around try to trade with me. Theres a bot in north rimmen that stands there for hours, and I watch other bots AND players walk up to it and trade. Crown prices are not over inflated on ps4/5, Na server. The bots are not just selling Gold, for real life money, but mats also.

    Can someone explain to me what "bot" means? I thought I knew, but I'm getting the feeling that maybe people are using the term to describe actual players rather than some AI-driven program. Or is AI so good that it can drive a bot which can sell to other players and instigate (not merely respond to) trade requests?
    I've fought mudcrabs more fearsome than me!
  • Wolf_Eye
    Wolf_Eye
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    SeaGtGruff wrote: »
    theCampeR_ wrote: »
    I have no problems with bots. They provide a great public service supplying mats at reasonable prices. Some of us are not "swimming in gold".

    The "Bots" don't sell mats and collect gold to play the game or buy gear for their adventures. They farm that gold to sell for crowns on their main account or trade them for real money. Which in turn inflates crown:gold prices absurdly (which you can witness now) and as a direct result of that, mats or any other items that you can buy with gold, goes up in prices. So yeah, it's public service for someone who is as clueless as a duck.

    You are incorrect about that. There are bots selling in guild stores, there are bots selling in zone. Ive had bots that ive chased around try to trade with me. Theres a bot in north rimmen that stands there for hours, and I watch other bots AND players walk up to it and trade. Crown prices are not over inflated on ps4/5, Na server. The bots are not just selling Gold, for real life money, but mats also.

    Can someone explain to me what "bot" means? I thought I knew, but I'm getting the feeling that maybe people are using the term to describe actual players rather than some AI-driven program. Or is AI so good that it can drive a bot which can sell to other players and instigate (not merely respond to) trade requests?

    It's as you think; the bots are AI programs. But the bot's "Master" can take over control from the AI in order to trade with real players. That might be what they're referring to here. It's still a bot, even if it's AI is temporarily suspended just to do a trade.

    Otherwise, it's got to be a pretty complicated AI if it can trade with people, I would think? Unless there are some set commands that a buying player can use, which is totally possible.
  • Wolf_Eye
    Wolf_Eye
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    Holy heck, I just had the chance to watch the video. That is a disgustingly blatant disregard of the TOS.

    And you know, a previous MMO I was part of had an anti bot measure where you made less and less gold if you farmed in the same area for more than a set amount of time (I think it was like 40 minutes or something). If you farmed there long enough, you started to get 0 gold. But you also had to be in relatively the same area (like within a 20 foot set radius at all times or something).

    I'm not saying ZOS should try to implement something like this, but I feel like it might help while also affecting very little players. I know people might say "dolmens!" but I don't think it's ever taken me longer than 20 minutes to clear a dolmen, even on my weakest toon.
  • destroy6574
    destroy6574
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    This mega bot is back on RIGHT NOW. Same psns I reported days ago are still in group, and also theyve added 3 or so more bots. So this mega consists of 8 or 10 sorcs, shooting heavy attacks outward in all directions, constantly pulling in wolves. Ps4/5 na, im on the bot RIGHT NOW
  • destroy6574
    destroy6574
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    The new bots they added to it since the other night, run a little farther than the megabots heavy attacks, and pull in a few extra wolves with light attacks
  • rpa
    rpa
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    I do not know much about consoles but I was under impression reporting botters to Sony (whatever department handles paystations) might be more effective. Zos can ban eso account but Snoy can ban the physical console.
  • FlopsyPrince
    FlopsyPrince
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    Some people like to do things like PvP and trials, not sitting on resource nodes. To each their own, but that is why we don’t mind the modders, so we get cheap mats without farming ourselves

    Yeah, you can spend more time ganking in IC this week!

    (Not necessarily you in specific, but that would be the principle.)
    PC
    PS4/PS5
  • Amottica
    Amottica
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    FluffWit wrote: »
    danno8 wrote: »
    Some people like to do things like PvP and trials, not sitting on resource nodes. To each their own, but that is why we don’t mind the modders, so we get cheap mats without farming ourselves

    But some people like to farm and sell mats. Bots make it not worthwhile, thus eliminating or minimizing a playstyle.

    Imagine if bots invaded Cyrodiil and using software with optimized algorithms started running around deleting all the actual players. But hey, they were selling all the RotW sets for cheap, so it's cool right?

    Or if bots started running vHM trials with you, completely trivializing the content because they are so good at it. Would that still be fun now that it's so easy to get titles and styles?

    On behalf of pvpers I ca assure you we don't fight for gold. Or gear. And we damn sure don't fight for those awful loot boxes we get sent every 20 minutes.

    We fight for Honor. For loyalty. For an unwritten code that's seldom spoken that PvEers could never understand. For the friends we've made in Cyrodiil who are fighting alongside us. And for the fallen brothers and sisters we've lost these last seven years.

    It's ok, we don't expect you to understand. Or to take up arms and fight with us. Just know- as you sleep soundly in your bed in Mournhold or Sentinel or Alinor tonight, that it's the men and women on the front lines in Cyrodiil allowing you to do so.

    As a PvPer, I am having difficulty reconciling how you cite honor but are totally cool with "modders" who make it frustrating for those people who do want to collect resource nodes.

    Logically, this makes sense from any perspective but especially for PvP.
  • BalticBlues
    BalticBlues
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    Having reported so many bots in vain,
    and seeing bot masters selling thousands of mats per day,
    ZOS could you please tell us if botting is officially ok now?

    Because if botting would be ok now,
    we could set up a bot as well, running overnight when we sleep, so that
    we also never would have to buy mats in stores again,
    we also could make easy gold while we sleep,
    we also could buy anything else with all the gold.

    ZOS, something is not right if botters are rewarded big in this game.

    Edited by BalticBlues on August 31, 2021 9:09AM
  • Rowjoh
    Rowjoh
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    anyone that thinks blatant cheating in any aspect of life is ok or justifiable, is either a cheat themselves or will become one.
  • Bilkton
    Bilkton
    Technically selling to other players is not a gold sink, just gold transference.

    I mean I guess ZoS disappears a small % from the guild fee, but it's not like selling to a merchant where the gold actually goes *poof*.


    I should be clear that I am entirely anti-bot and think that in game currency balancing should be done by ZOS.

    The above is not quite the right interpretation though. It is not the point that guild stores are a gold-sink but that the over abundance of mats supply deflates the currency, the result of which is basically the opposite of a gold sink.

    It distorts the natural ratio of currency supply created in game to mats harvested in game. As the two are so heavily linked (mats form a very large part of the total economy) this makes everybody ‘wealthier’, as your wealth is your total asset holding (not just gold but all tradeable and non-tradeable items).

    Not saying players should be any more or less wealthy overall but their wealth should be determined by ZOS, not by bots!

    Sorry for the edits - my quoting went all awry!
    Edited by Bilkton on August 31, 2021 10:30AM
  • Warstory
    Warstory
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    Botting will always be a problem in MMO's as long as there is real life money to be made. I've only ever seen one MMO successfully battle botting in an effective way. They did so by having locked regional servers, blocking all VPN's, quick, easy, and convenient bot reporting tools, and banning botters fast. ESO has or does none of that. All a botter has to do is make a little more real life money than they spent on the account before losing it to a ban to stay in business.

    PC NA has a huge problem with botting in almost every aspect of the game, from bots grinding pvp rank in cyrodiil, and battlegrounds, chest bots, gathering bots, you name it. The bots are really easy to spot but reporting them does nothing. All you have to do to test that is go to Alik'r Desert and follow the dolmen grind. The crappy bots run from the wayshrines to the dolmens and back on foot, don't loot the chest, and take the exact path every single time. Report them when you see them and just pop in every now and then to check if they are still there. "Hint" they will be, for days or longer. Same goes for gathering bots in one of the newbie areas like Bal Foyen. They fellow the exact route but will auto log off for 5 minutes if you follow them for to long but log back on and keep going. Reporting them does nothing and they will be there for weeks until they decide to move someone else. Even the poormans node camping bots that do nothing but stand on a single node spawn and loot it. Super easy to spot and report, again nothing happens to them in a timely manner.

    The only time I've personally ever seen Zos take action in a timely manner is when there is a large bot pack or train and I've called out guild member to help mass report them, and those still took days to be removed. I've did my part in the past and now Ijdgaf because I know it's just waste of my time.
    PC NA
  • destroy6574
    destroy6574
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    Having reported so many bots in vain,
    and seeing bot masters selling thousands of mats per day,
    ZOS could you please tell us if botting is officially ok now?

    Because if botting would be ok now,
    we could set up a bot as well, running overnight when we sleep, so that
    we also never would have to buy mats in stores again,
    we also could make easy gold while we sleep,
    we also could buy anything else with all the gold.

    ZOS, something is not right if botters are rewarded big in this game.

    It is ridiculous. These large monopoly guilds are able to inflate major city trading bids to over 40 mil a week, on ps4/5 Na through botting gold. No honest guild can compete.
  • destroy6574
    destroy6574
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    rpa wrote: »
    I do not know much about consoles but I was under impression reporting botters to Sony (whatever department handles paystations) might be more effective. Zos can ban eso account but Snoy can ban the physical console.

    I have not yet found anywhere I can report Eso Bots to Sony.
  • biovitalb16_ESO
    biovitalb16_ESO
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    They'll get around to banning them after a 6 month investigation to see if they can find out if its a real player or not.
  • Eliran
    Eliran
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    Some people sell so expenive and then cry why they don't sell or why there are bots.

    This problem wouldn't exist in the first place if we didn't had this stupid guild store problems and had a unified AH properly ...

    At least for every major city.
  • biovitalb16_ESO
    biovitalb16_ESO
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    Eliran wrote: »
    Some people sell so expenive and then cry why they don't sell or why there are bots.

    This problem wouldn't exist in the first place if we didn't had this stupid guild store problems and had a unified AH properly ...

    At least for every major city.

    What? WoW has a unified AH among ALL their servers and they had huge bot problems back when I played (haven't played for about 5 years now). I don't see how a unified AH would even remotely help the bot issue.
  • The_one_i_seek
    The_one_i_seek
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    if u ban all bots prices for gold mats will b e even more redicolous so i rather enjoy them not skyrocketing them even more - dont wanna spend 50k / dreugh

    so why are u so mad about them they just make this stuff cheaper

    valid point
  • BXR_Lonestar
    BXR_Lonestar
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    The problem isn't the bots to be honest. The problem is that those bots you see there offload their bounty onto accounts not associated with the bots, so banning that account just means they need to go make another account for botting purposes. If you want to stop this from happening, you need to ban the person's main account, which I'm guessing is almost impossible to determine.

    Perhaps Zos can find a way to internally tag the mats that the bots pick up, so that when they're transferred to a main account for refining or sale purposes, they can ban the person's main account.
  • destroy6574
    destroy6574
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    The problem isn't the bots to be honest. The problem is that those bots you see there offload their bounty onto accounts not associated with the bots, so banning that account just means they need to go make another account for botting purposes. If you want to stop this from happening, you need to ban the person's main account, which I'm guessing is almost impossible to determine.

    Perhaps Zos can find a way to internally tag the mats that the bots pick up, so that when they're transferred to a main account for refining or sale purposes, they can ban the person's main account.

    We are starting to be able to identify various bot "masters" in game. They come into zone to mark routes, and place their bots.
  • Paulfood69
    Paulfood69
    Soul Shriven
    Ps4/5 Na
    There is a New MegaBot in Bleackrock!
    @ZOS_GinaBruno
    Can you please point us in the right direction to do mass reporting?
    I have teams of people identifying bots. At any given time , I have over 100 psns of Current Bots.
    I have spreadsheets of Bots selling in Guild Stores, of which guilds are linked together, and actual bot "masters" or programmers selling in these cheating guild stores.
    I have encountered 3 bot masters, who are still rumning around today, after being reported several times. 2 of them took me on a tour, spawned and despawned their bots, and sjowed me which ones were there.
    Reporting individual bots is useless,,but where and who can we do Mass Bot Reporting to?
    There are millions of us playing the game LEGITIMATELY, and we want the Same opportunities these large cheating Botting Guilds have.

    (Video of new MegaBot in Bleakerock)

    if u ban all bots prices for gold mats will b e even more redicolous so i rather enjoy them not skyrocketing them even more - dont wanna spend 50k / dreugh

    so why are u so mad about them they just make this stuff cheaper

    This is the opposite bot farmers make things more expensive than they need to be and it's impossible for people to sell their own mats.
  • destroy6574
    destroy6574
    ✭✭✭
    Paulfood69 wrote: »
    Ps4/5 Na
    There is a New MegaBot in Bleackrock!
    @ZOS_GinaBruno
    Can you please point us in the right direction to do mass reporting?
    I have teams of people identifying bots. At any given time , I have over 100 psns of Current Bots.
    I have spreadsheets of Bots selling in Guild Stores, of which guilds are linked together, and actual bot "masters" or programmers selling in these cheating guild stores.
    I have encountered 3 bot masters, who are still rumning around today, after being reported several times. 2 of them took me on a tour, spawned and despawned their bots, and sjowed me which ones were there.
    Reporting individual bots is useless,,but where and who can we do Mass Bot Reporting to?
    There are millions of us playing the game LEGITIMATELY, and we want the Same opportunities these large cheating Botting Guilds have.

    (Video of new MegaBot in Bleakerock)

    if u ban all bots prices for gold mats will b e even more redicolous so i rather enjoy them not skyrocketing them even more - dont wanna spend 50k / dreugh

    so why are u so mad about them they just make this stuff cheaper

    This is the opposite bot farmers make things more expensive than they need to be and it's impossible for people to sell their own mats.

    The bots actually do make it cheaper. They are able to sell a stack of rubedite ore on ps4 na for 5k, when the going rate for farmers is about 9k. The problem is, it takes about 30 min of farming to get a stack, and not worth selling at 5k, like the bots do. They also set the prices for other crafting mats so low, because they have so much of it, its not worth farming to some people. People say it will kill the market, but I disagree. Im paying mat farmers top prices for unrefined mats, and am making almost 10 times the return, at lowered tiered traders, because botting guilds are taking the main cities.

    Cheap mat prices as an excuse is ridiculous, its just laziness
    Edited by destroy6574 on August 31, 2021 3:14PM
  • HumbleThaumaturge
    HumbleThaumaturge
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    Ending "gold laundering" in guild stores might (or might not) reduce bot-farmers. I mean, ZOS (I am told) monitors gold transfers via player-to-player Trade and via Mail, but ZOS doesn't seem to monitor for "gold laundering." Like when a guild-store seller (the gold buyer) is selling 10 items for 50 times more than normal, and all items are bought by the same buyer (the gold seller), and the sum is just about 1 million gold. And this sort of trading occurs several times per day, each and every day, week after week, for months, with the exact same items sold each time (i.e., the sold items are returned after the gold transfer).

    Not only should ZOS monitor for gold laundering, but the guilty players should be perma-banned, and any guild that allows gold laundering should be abolished after just one (and only one) Warning.
    Edited by HumbleThaumaturge on August 31, 2021 8:27PM
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