GM NEEDED ASAP!! SEND GM TO HOLLOW CITY IN COLDHARBOUR!!!

KerinKor · May 2014

jamesharv2005ub17_ESO wrote: »

The forum mods are not gamemasters.

No of course they're not, but being patronising towards your customers isn't a good PR strategy either.

And yes, it's VERY patronising to reply to an OP who posted:

butthurtlocker wrote: »

I've probably submitted over 50 tickets already

with:

ZOS_AmeliaR wrote: »

If you haven't already done so, please make sure to use the reporting function to ensure these accounts are investigated by the appropriate team. Thank you!

which kind of shows that was posted by someone who never even read the OP!

jamesharv2005ub17_ESO · May 2014

KerinKor wrote: »

jamesharv2005ub17_ESO wrote: »

The forum mods are not gamemasters.

No of course they're not, but being patronising towards your customers isn't a good PR strategy either.

And yes, it's VERY patronising to reply to an OP who posted:

butthurtlocker wrote: »

I've probably submitted over 50 tickets already

with:

ZOS_AmeliaR wrote: »

If you haven't already done so, please make sure to use the reporting function to ensure these accounts are investigated by the appropriate team. Thank you!

which kind of shows that was posted by someone who never even read the OP!

Who was patronizing? They cannot do anything about it. You must report them in-game.

crush83 · May 2014

jamesharv2005ub17_ESO wrote: »

KerinKor wrote: »

jamesharv2005ub17_ESO wrote: »

The forum mods are not gamemasters.

No of course they're not, but being patronising towards your customers isn't a good PR strategy either.

And yes, it's VERY patronising to reply to an OP who posted:

butthurtlocker wrote: »

I've probably submitted over 50 tickets already

with:

ZOS_AmeliaR wrote: »

If you haven't already done so, please make sure to use the reporting function to ensure these accounts are investigated by the appropriate team. Thank you!

which kind of shows that was posted by someone who never even read the OP!

Who was patronizing? They cannot do anything about it. You must report them in-game.

Sounds like your reading comprehension is on par with the "forum moderators".

Here's a hint: read KerinKor's last sentence.

ZOS_AmeliaR · May 2014

If you run into a swarm of bots and can't report them all individually, it's totally acceptable to submit a single report with as many names as you're able to identify and a description of the type of activity you're seeing (e.g. camping a dungeon boss, surrounding a resource node, etc.). Keep in mind that you'll need to have targeted at least one of the bots to submit your report, that way the GM who receives your report has the specific location data he/she needs to track down the swarm.

Armoril · May 2014

ZOS_AmeliaR wrote: »

We understand that bots can be very frustrating to encounter in-game, but please understand that we cannot assist with these types of issues on the forums. We have an in-game system in place that allows you to report violations of our Terms of Service, including bots and other forms of cheating.

If you haven't already done so, please make sure to use the reporting function to ensure these accounts are investigated by the appropriate team. Thank you!

It is humanly impossible to catch every single one of them and report them. I would need an army of players the size of their army of bots. For every one that I did report, 10 more got past me and disappeared while I was doing reports. And after something like 10 minutes of constant reporting, and seeing no end to the waves of bots moving through the zone, I gave up. Because this is a problem on a much larger scale than what one player can take care of with a report. We're not talking about one bot, not 5 bots, not 20. I'm talking dozens, and dozens, and dozens of them.

I understand that this isn't something that forum moderators handle. On the other hand, reporting them would be barely touching the tip of the iceberg. There needs to be somebody in there doing something about it. If players reporting them isn't effective to catch even half of the bots in this area, then the sad truth is that these people are just going to get away with this cheating/exploitation. And I'm sorry, but that's unacceptable.

Udaku · May 2014

What?Oo We need to report every gfghfghuffhf name in the report? Oo
Who designed your anti-bot programs? Jay Wislon?

Reykice · May 2014

jamesharv2005ub17_ESO wrote: »

crush83 wrote: »

KerinKor wrote: »

ZOS_AmeliaR wrote: »

We understand that bots can be very frustrating to encounter in-game, but please understand that we cannot assist with these types of issues on the forums. We have an in-game system in place that allows you to report violations of our Terms of Service, including bots and other forms of cheating.

If you haven't already done so, please make sure to use the reporting function to ensure these accounts are investigated by the appropriate team. Thank you!

You have no idea, have you?

You have no idea the scale of the problem.

You have no idea how totally inadequate your reporting mechanism is.

You have no idea how long it takes to report even on bot that isn't stationery.

You have no idea!

They aren't paid to have an idea. They are paid to click through a knowledge base screen and deliver a canned response. Sometimes, they'll even append an extra sentence to the canned response in order to make it sound more personal...

Hard to blame them though when they are overwhelmed with tickets because they are vastly understaffed. I will and always have place blame on the suits who are laughing their way to the bank.

No they are paid to moderate the forum. I know everyone thinks their issue should take center stage but they go in order. The bots have been there basically since launch they know about them and are working on a solution. So throwing a tantrum does nothing. The forum mods are not gamemasters.

Exactly, the bots have been here since launch... we have repeatedly asked for GM`s in the game and while there may be some they are clearly not enough.

They should divert their Game Testers to bot duty until things are under control, as a tester should know how to recognize a bot and is used to look more carefully at the game.

At this point in time anything would work... i refuse to believe that the company that made the game is unable to fight off some bots, the impression i`m getting is that they don`t dedicate enough resources to this.

EDIT: Just so people know, there is a bot reporting addon, you set a key, target a player and press the key and it opens a reporting window with the name and exact location bla bla.

Not sure i`m allowed to link it here but look it up, it helps a lot.

GreySix · May 2014

Bots will continue to exist in-game so long as there is money to be made.
Want to get rid of the bots? Make their being in-game not be worth the investment.

rioinsigniab16_ESO · May 2014

Udaku wrote: »

What?Oo We need to report every gfghfghuffhf name in the report? Oo
Who designed your anti-bot programs? Jay Wislon?

Please use a little common sense, think rationally for a moment, and keep the hysteria to a minimum.

Whilst it can be said that the more you DO list in a report, the better, it is quite obvious that they're not expecting you to report EVERY SINGLE one in order for a report to be considered in any way valid.

Like they said, you have to target *at least one* when you report a bot. Otherwise, the relevant information cannot be correlated and sent automatically to the GM's looking after the issue.

rioinsigniab16_ESO · May 2014

butthurtlocker wrote: »

I understand that this isn't something that forum moderators handle. On the other hand, reporting them would be barely touching the tip of the iceberg. There needs to be somebody in there doing something about it. If players reporting them isn't effective to catch even half of the bots in this area, then the sad truth is that these people are just going to get away with this cheating/exploitation. And I'm sorry, but that's unacceptable.

Are you under the impression that there isn't "somebody doing something about it"? Because that assumption is incorrect.

I take it you've not witnessed the GM's appearing online periodically to check the servers? I have.

nimbli · May 2014

I wonder how long a customer is to "have faith, it takes time". I know nothing about coding and what not, but I am a pragmatist and faith just does not work for me. What is a logical timeframe? Asking out of ignorance, not insolence.

martinhpb16_ESO · May 2014

These aren't bots they are the Borg.

Resistance is futile.

Armoril · May 2014

rioinsigniab16_ESO wrote: »

I take it you've not witnessed the GM's appearing online periodically to check the servers? I have.

Yeah, usually one will show up and say "For the next 15 minutes, you can tell me the name of any bots you see"

I'm not sure how often they are online, but I when I play, I play for usually something like 5-8 hours straight and I haven't seen them around as much as they were 2 or 3 weeks ago. I'm not saying they aren't still doing this, I'm just not seeing it as much as I was. And even if they are getting on during the time that I'm not playing, I don't feel like having a guy sit there and just deal with it for 15 minutes at a time is enough.

My ideal solution would be to have somebody on there at all times of the day that we can speak to, so that these kind of problems can be dealt with quickly. We can't speak to anyone, unless one of those GM's just happens to log in for their 15 minute banning spree. I'm glad we have them, but the problem is that they are never there when I need them!

I would like to see results, but all I can do is send in the report and hope that somebody gets around to reading it some time soon. And that's not very comforting.

Ashlynne · May 2014

ZOS_AmeliaR wrote: »

If you run into a swarm of bots and can't report them all individually, it's totally acceptable to submit a single report with as many names as you're able to identify and a description of the type of activity you're seeing (e.g. camping a dungeon boss, surrounding a resource node, etc.). Keep in mind that you'll need to have targeted at least one of the bots to submit your report, that way the GM who receives your report has the specific location data he/she needs to track down the swarm.

Forgive me, but do you understand how hard it is to get the names of people due to the mechanics of the game? When they are all running, you have to run up to them (as they are all stacking on each other) and try to find a name while standing next to them. Just as you are about to write down that name, they run away. Was that an "L" in "Gddfowfgl" or was that an "I"? AHHH! We can't stand far away and mouse over them, nor look at nameplates by "enabling a feature to see them". You are putting the burden on the community to do something about it and it's hard to even report it properly.

When we do, we don't see any results. I've submitted so many tickets, yet the bots persist... everywhere. If you had a person on staff dedicated to just running around with superpowers, looking at all the bots and taking care of it, you wouldn't need so many people opening tickets and flooding your system. To top it off, we are dedicating hours of our time reporting, screenshotting, etc. and we aren't even paid for this.

Please help us... please. I want so much to love this game more than I do, but the glaringly obvious problems are actually turning me against the game. I'm trying to hard to stay on the "I love this game" side. But it's getting harder.

- Ash

GreySix · May 2014

For the developers, recommend a feedback system such as we saw in SWTOR: When you submitted a ticket, you were provided feedback in quick order. Sure, a lot of it was automated, but you at least had the illusion of something being done.

In fact, I'd often get pretty constructive feedback for issues I reported there.

djwolfnrb19_ESO · May 2014

There are two issues I would like to add here:

Firstly, I'm a paying customer; I don't report. I don't tell you what is happening in your game. You tell me what is happening in your game. I don't stop my enjoyment to work for Zanimax and if I find I'm not getting the service I'm paying for I'll stop paying - it's not difficult.

Secondly, not only are these bots and the constant mailings from gold companies an extremely annoying feature but we players will now look at every other player not knowing if their awesome gear was earned with skill and effort or was purchased with a credit card. Judging by the number of bots in every single zone in the game there must be thousands of players buying gold, books, tempers and everything else. So much for player competition.

jamesharv2005ub17_ESO · May 2014

They are working on it. Just have to be patient. We have yet to be billed even you guys act like the game has been out for years.

Oogaci · May 2014

ZOS_AmeliaR wrote: »

We understand that bots can be very frustrating to encounter in-game, but please understand that we cannot assist with these types of issues on the forums. We have an in-game system in place that allows you to report violations of our Terms of Service, including bots and other forms of cheating.

If you haven't already done so, please make sure to use the reporting function to ensure these accounts are investigated by the appropriate team. Thank you!

@ZOS_AmeliaR The problem is that NOBODY responds to the in-game support tickets. I am seeing Veteran Rank 1 bots in Coldharbour that I have reported on numerous occasions in the early level dungeons or scripted pathing in overland areas. Perhaps this is something that needs to be addressed internally because it appears that one department at ZOS has no clue what the other is doing.

jamesharv2005ub17_ESO · May 2014

Oogaci wrote: »

ZOS_AmeliaR wrote: »

We understand that bots can be very frustrating to encounter in-game, but please understand that we cannot assist with these types of issues on the forums. We have an in-game system in place that allows you to report violations of our Terms of Service, including bots and other forms of cheating.

If you haven't already done so, please make sure to use the reporting function to ensure these accounts are investigated by the appropriate team. Thank you!

@ZOS_AmeliaR The problem is that NOBODY responds to the in-game support tickets. I am seeing Veteran Rank 1 bots in Coldharbour that I have reported on numerous occasions in the early level dungeons or scripted pathing in overland areas. Perhaps this is something that needs to be addressed internally because it appears that one department at ZOS has no clue what the other is doing.

Or maybe they arent bots and you just think they are?

Ashlynne · May 2014

rioinsigniab16_ESO wrote: »

butthurtlocker wrote: »

I understand that this isn't something that forum moderators handle. On the other hand, reporting them would be barely touching the tip of the iceberg. There needs to be somebody in there doing something about it. If players reporting them isn't effective to catch even half of the bots in this area, then the sad truth is that these people are just going to get away with this cheating/exploitation. And I'm sorry, but that's unacceptable.

Are you under the impression that there isn't "somebody doing something about it"? Because that assumption is incorrect.

I take it you've not witnessed the GM's appearing online periodically to check the servers? I have.

Are you under the impression that just because a GM shows up for 15 minutes that it will actually impact the botting community? Because that assumption is incorrect. They need a full time person on the job, responding immediately to these reports. They need an easier way to report that there's an issue, perhaps a /report channel that goes straight to the superpower GM that is ready to fight the baddies and save you from the gold farmers.

Periodic checking is nothing more than PUBLIC RELATIONS. It makes them look good and gives people a warm fuzzy feeling. But it does very little to combat the real problem.

Jenasy · May 2014

if it makes u feel any better i was in coldharbor a couple days leveling and both evenings i saw GM's in game dealing with bots... I have also seen them in Vetren area's. They just cant be everywhere at once.. report, ignore and move on

rioinsigniab16_ESO · May 2014

Firstly, just in case people don't know....you can report players without having to first go to the "Report Player" window....

1) Target a player with your reticle.
2) Press F and select "Report Player".
3) The usual "Report Player" window then automatically opens and the players name is filled in.

Secondly, I think Zeni need to rethink how the UI works. It's never a good idea to prevent the player from doing anything (like looking for other bot names) when a UI window is open.

There's a good reason why other MMO's have UI windows that move and scale and don't impede the player in any way when they are open.

Yes, a "modal" window UI system was fine for Skyrim. But not in an MMO.

mark.coogan_ESO · May 2014

rioinsigniab16_ESO wrote: »

butthurtlocker wrote: »

I understand that this isn't something that forum moderators handle. On the other hand, reporting them would be barely touching the tip of the iceberg. There needs to be somebody in there doing something about it. If players reporting them isn't effective to catch even half of the bots in this area, then the sad truth is that these people are just going to get away with this cheating/exploitation. And I'm sorry, but that's unacceptable.

Are you under the impression that there isn't "somebody doing something about it"? Because that assumption is incorrect.

I take it you've not witnessed the GM's appearing online periodically to check the servers? I have.

What they are 'doing about it' looks more like a feeble PR exercise than an effective solution. A GM appears for 15 mins to blow up the bots and the minute he/she is gone the bots re-appear.

The problem is never going to go away until either ZOS change their technical design to allow serverside validation of movement and a far more secure client (which is never going to happen) or fork out the cash for constant GM surveillance (which is never going to happen).

Short version : I currently can't see any likely scenario in which the botting issue is going to be solved.

Electus · May 2014

I would think this would be a pretty good money maker for ZOS, why don't you have a GM just run around looking for these bots in the game and ban the accounts right when you see them, that would force the botters to purchase the game again and create more accounts, the more accounts you ban the more games are purchased.
A single GM doing this would generate thousands of dollars a day if not tens of thousands.
Or is this not how it works?

mark.coogan_ESO · May 2014

Electus wrote: »

I would think this would be a pretty good money maker for ZOS, why don't you have a GM just run around looking for these bots in the game and ban the accounts right when you see them, that would force the botters to purchase the game again and create more accounts, the more accounts you ban the more games are purchased.
A single GM doing this would generate thousands of dollars a day if not tens of thousands.
Or is this not how it works?

Except that the botters are not using accounts bought using legitimate means. They are either using hacked accounts, accounts opened using random key generators or accounts bought using stolen CC info (which will be chargedback eventually).

Armoril · May 2014

And I'm tired of hearing the same old thing: "Please just report them"

because we've been doing that. So many of us have been. Despite all the players out there who are willing to take time out of their game time to stop and report this kind of stuff when they see it, we don't have the power to catch all of the bots and report them, and not only that, I'm sure Zenimax doesn't have the time and the resources to sit there and manually look through every report and respond to it.

We've been listening to what we're told to do. We KNOW about the report system. We've used it, we know the procedure quite well. We've been listening. But when is somebody at this company going to start listening to us?

Jenasy · May 2014

@Ashlynne, sure we can have a GM on every server every day in ever hot zone for bots... But well do u wanna pay a sub fee for a game that well policed. I dont think it would be 15 bucks LOL.

But i am sure there are multiple GM's in the game a day dealing with it. I have seen them alot recently in higher end zones.. I am sure i am not always lucky to be in the right place and the right time each time a GM comes on to deal with a bot.

And how accurate are u that they stay there for 15 mins? Do u have official info to support that?

GreySix · May 2014

mark.coogan_ESO wrote: »

Electus wrote: »

I would think this would be a pretty good money maker for ZOS, why don't you have a GM just run around looking for these bots in the game and ban the accounts right when you see them, that would force the botters to purchase the game again and create more accounts, the more accounts you ban the more games are purchased.
A single GM doing this would generate thousands of dollars a day if not tens of thousands.
Or is this not how it works?

Except that the botters are not using accounts bought using legitimate means. They are either using hacked accounts, accounts opened using random key generators or accounts bought using stolen CC info (which will be chargedback eventually).

Interesting. From where did you get that information?

mark.coogan_ESO · May 2014

GreySix wrote: »

mark.coogan_ESO wrote: »

Electus wrote: »

I would think this would be a pretty good money maker for ZOS, why don't you have a GM just run around looking for these bots in the game and ban the accounts right when you see them, that would force the botters to purchase the game again and create more accounts, the more accounts you ban the more games are purchased.
A single GM doing this would generate thousands of dollars a day if not tens of thousands.
Or is this not how it works?

Except that the botters are not using accounts bought using legitimate means. They are either using hacked accounts, accounts opened using random key generators or accounts bought using stolen CC info (which will be chargedback eventually).

Interesting. From where did you get that information?

It's been the standard well known modus operandi for botters/gold farmers in MMOs for years.

jamesharv2005ub17_ESO · May 2014

Jenasy wrote: »

@Ashlynne, sure we can have a GM on every server every day in ever hot zone for bots... But well do u wanna pay a sub fee for a game that well policed. I dont think it would be 15 bucks LOL.

But i am sure there are multiple GM's in the game a day dealing with it. I have seen them alot recently in higher end zones.. I am sure i am not always lucky to be in the right place and the right time each time a GM comes on to deal with a bot.

And how accurate are u that they stay there for 15 mins? Do u have done official info to support that?

Not just that we would need one in every phase. You are talking 100s of people. There is no way on this earth they can afford to have 100s of GMs sitting there all day long. Just going to have to be patient. That or if they cannot handle it quit for a while come back after the kinks are worked out.