question based off what i saw during this weeks DR...

is it a new trend to see bot tanks?

got a few groups where i saw tanks completly automated.

1- no answers.
2- no reactions to <se.1> alarm spams by the whole group
3- keeps running into pulls without the healers or dps following
4- dies and runs back into the same pull that killed the tank without even stopping to see why no one is moving.
5- i found the same bot tank twice in a row during two instances yesterday morning same pattern.

anyone else encountered such an issue?

Recently ran into a tank I can only assume was a bot, as I encountered him 3 times all in Sirensong.

First run, he tanks the first 3 trash packs fine. Then the fourth pack right before the first boss passage he simply runs past, grabs the chest and stops dead in front of the blocked passage.
In this encounter, the healer and us DPS manage to clear the trash without him, and as soon as the passage opens, he sprints into the boss and engages while we're trying to figure out what happened. We didn't enter, he dies, returns and runs straight back in.

We kicked him as a troll. However, later, when levelling a different dps job, ran into him again. The exact same process occurs. First few packs are fine, runs past fourth grabs chest and afks. Difference is this time the healer wasn't able to keep us up to kill the trash. This time the tank simply never moves or responds, just remains stationary in front of the blocked boss passage.
Reported him as a bot and kicked him.

Third time, I warned the party that this was likely a bot due to my past experience with him, but this time he stops to tank each pack individually, so either he fixed his bot program, or was actively trolling my party the last 2 times I encountered him and my warning to the party served to deter him.

Still believe he was a bot, owing to the fact that his only jobs were a 70 Tank, Healer and DPS and in full HQ crafted 380 gear. No reason I could fathom for him spamming a level 61 so much that I encountered him 3 times on separate days.

I haven't encountered any bot tanks, but I swear I encountered a bot healer once recently. Can't remember what duty, an alliance raid I think. They would pop a bunch of cooldowns as soon as we got to the entrance of a fight, the same way every time, well before it ever got pulled. It reminded me of the squadron healer AI, that randomly uses Lucid Dreaming while out of combat.

It's not a new trend in the slightest.

Duty Finder bots aren't nearly as common as FATE or PvP bots for leveling purposes (Partly because pf the risk of being kicked), but they've been around for ages.

SE seriously needs to get their act together and do something about this nonsense because it's actively detrimental to the experience of others.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sylve

Third time, I warned the party that this was likely a bot due to my past experience with him.

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I feel wary about doing things like this because it is way, WAY easier for a botter to make you look like a bad guy to the GMs for "harassing" them by accusing them of cheating then it is to get them banned by reporting them to the STF.

I'm pretty sure the vote kick function does not protect from potential retaliation if the target feels wronged enough to report you.

Usually when I do, I'm on my Summoner, so I just pull out Titan-egi just to mess with them.