Botters in your large FC ?

So I go to get my daily map, I see a botanist just staring at the tree with their hatchet out. Not doing anything. Next thing I know I see them put hatchet away, turn, back up, then run for another node. Think ok weird..... Still no map for me, but I see them doing the same thing at other node, so decide to watch. Watched them go back and forth to the same 2 nodes never harvesting but at times using the ward for wind. Look and see they are in a big FC with big house.

Either you are aware that you have members who bot or you don't. Kind of makes me wonder how many bot in that FC and if that's how they paid for the plot amongst other things.

Well that will be up to the GM's to figure out, hope you botters get banned.

Is this eorzea missed connections?

I do a similiar Thing (not only two nods because it Needs to be done with at least three)
When I'm searching for topsoil or other hidden items (you don't Need to gather from a node for it to refresh.

But it is weird that he was only doing it for two.

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Originally Posted by Tam_Hawkins

I do a similiar Thing (not only two nods because it Needs to be done with at least three)
When I'm searching for topsoil or other hidden items (you don't Need to gather from a node for it to refresh.

But it is weird that he was only doing it for two.

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I also do this, mainly when im farming gardening seeds.

its 3 nodes, though. not 2.

This REALLY doesn't sound like a botter to me. bots want to use their time as efficiently as possible to make gil, not look for only the best items.

I might think it was legit except for the part where he uses wards. Clearly a broken bot.

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Originally Posted by Wulfyn

So I go to get my daily map, I see a botanist just staring at the tree with their hatchet out. Not doing anything. Next thing I know I see them put hatchet away, turn, back up, then run for another node. Think ok weird..... Still no map for me, but I see them doing the same thing at other node, so decide to watch. Watched them go back and forth to the same 2 nodes never harvesting but at times using the ward for wind. Look and see they are in a big FC with big house.

Either you are aware that you have members who bot or you don't. Kind of makes me wonder how many bot in that FC and if that's how they paid for the plot amongst other things.

Well that will be up to the GM's to figure out, hope you botters get banned.

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More than likely it's a stolen account.

I run Company of Heroes on Ultros and I've removed a few botters that snuck in as real people then turned around and were caught either advertising, or straight up cheating with third party programs. One person came back and said he was hacked, let him back in, then he was caught doing the same thing. My FC has a zero tolerance to that type of behavior.

The person described by the OP doesn't sound like a bot, unless the "staring" was consistently for a long time at each node.

If you're after rare items like seeds and maps, then you just check nodes without swinging (this should only take a couple of seconds). After a third node is checked, the first one respawns. So if three nodes spawn particularly close to each other, you just cycle through checking those three, and only swing if the item you're after pops up.
If you don't want to waste GP, then you also pop a ward whenever you have 400 GP back. Especially if these are Lv.50 shard / crystal / carbonized matter nodes. Whether you're a crafter or just selling, most crystals are worth a fair amount.

If they were a dumb bot though, then they'd possibly spend a long time at each node, clicking on each normally-empty slot.
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I've seen and reported some really dumb, obvious-bots, and honestly.. none of them have been banned. Both RMTs and regular players.

Like, I haven't seen this one in a while, but for a month or so, I saw these guys camping the G3 Thanalan Soil nodes. They'd hit the unspoiled node for their soil, then stand there with their picks out like retards for the full 9 minutes until the node expires on its own. You could argue that they were just afk, but immediately after the node expired, they'd move a few steps over to some default location. Then just repeat this for the rest of the day.

The people who used that bot eventually switched over to a less obvious one, where they'd actually teleport from town, run to the node, swing, and then teleport/return back to town. Otherwise, miners all day staring at the aetheryte in town.

Last time I saw them, and at least one guy from another FC, I'd see them come as a mini-mob on their mounts, then stop on the exact same spot. Wait for the node. Run towards the node at the exact same time and on the same path. Do their business. Leave.

Nowadays, since I don't need gardening stuff anymore, but I need clusters, I'll see bots walking the -entire- path between nodes, stealthed.

And then back when Novus was new, people botted FATEs all night to get alexandrite. Then botted them again for lights when Nexus came out.

Another guy I saw in N.Thanalan once was trying to bot kills all night to spiritbond, but it was obviously broken by the time I saw him because he only had like 2-3k HP from all of his gear being broken, and he'd repeatedly run up to something like a basilisk to try to kill it.. then run away because he'd be almost dead. Basilisk would still have half of its health. Run back out once he's at full HP again, repeat.

I've seen small people bot FATEs too, even with sprout icons over their heads. And you can tell they're bots once you see them run whenever their target uses any skill, regardless of where an AoE ground marker is facing, or even when there is no marker. Like a monster's casting to heal itself, and the bots run away... Furthermore, they only pay attention to their target's skill usage. So even if other people point their monster's (or five monsters') AoEs at the bot, the bot won't run. And if the bot dies, they just run back out and continue.

Personally, until I hear that some of these bots actually get banned, or SE comes out and gives some sort of guideline on how to definitely get these bots banned, I'm not going to bother reporting anymore.

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Originally Posted by synesthetic

The person described by the OP doesn't sound like a bot, unless the "staring" was consistently for a long time at each node.

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What makes it sound like a broken bot is:

• Only going back and forth between only two gathering points.
• never swinging to actually gather anything
• The use of the elemental Ward, coupled with my previous point.
• "botanist just staring at the tree with their hatchet out. Not doing anything."

Explanation : The fact that the bot is never swinging, is a big clue to it bein both a bot, and that is not programmed correctly. With it constantly using an elemental ward, you can assume the intent is to gather crystals. If you were running betwen 3 points, and never swinging, you might be looking for rare items. I do this all the time. If I'm not swinging, I'm only gathering rare items, and I wouldn't be popping elemental wards. If I am gathering crystals, I would go to all four nodes, use elemental wards, and swing my axe/hatchet. The final bulletin, points at perhaps a typo or an invalid command to instruct the bot to swing. The waits are working as intended, but whatever command has bene typed to try and get the chatacter to swing is what isn't working. It's probably standing there for the duration it takes to gather the full amount of crystals/shards/etc and then runs back to the other node.

Also, the bot could be programmed to detect and autorun to the nearest node. since it isn't swinging, that's why it's unning back and forth to the same two nodes, instead of then running to a third.

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Originally Posted by synesthetic

The person described by the OP doesn't sound like a bot, unless the "staring" was consistently for a long time at each node.

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If you don't want to waste GP, then you also pop a ward whenever you have 400 GP back.

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Except this guy was using wards, and never harvesting. Broken bot.

Going back and forth between only two points isn't even possible. Three is the minimum required for nodes to come back. So if the guy actually had his hatchet out like the OP said, then I assume a flaw in observation on that point.

If the guy really used Ward and still didn't swing though.. then yeah, that's a failbot.

or he switched between 3 nodes and op wasnt able to count

The OP also said the 'bot' wasn't harvesting anything. The nodes don't disappear if you don't actually harvest from them, so they could have been operating on a bad script.

Kinda have to agree with a lot of the posters here. Though ive seen bots harvesting this isn't botting. I myself do the three node trick to look for soil seeds and maps. its not hard, but it is kinda boring so i might stop and type to my fc something or a response, or to my ls, or to a rp ls run check the next one, continue chatting. its how you stay sane when your trying for some things esp the grade 2 soils that you -might- see 1-2 in a hour sometimes. Using ward? I dunno about, maybe someone once told them they can up chances by wasting a ability to have them show up. If there after seeds/maps/soil GP isn't a factor and isn't needed. However touching a node and running off for a long time sounds more like grade 2 soil farming to me.

On a small side note I mean maybe a broken bot? Id hate people to get gm called for merely 3 node touching trying to get soils thus my response in the matter but whos to know? Perhaps, to humor both sides said person was max on the crystals and that's why they didn't harvest? I suppose that would be a possible thing. Im not sure how bot programs work, I don't use them. Though I do feel bot gets called out for a few too many things sometimes that I don't think is actual botting.(though I am agreeing there is these programs, I remember when the game first came out people were teleporting to nodes @.@)

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Originally Posted by Ramien

The OP also said the 'bot' wasn't harvesting anything. The nodes don't disappear if you don't actually harvest from them, so they could have been operating on a bad script.

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Yes they do you just need to touch three, not harvest them. But like others said you have to touch three, so it's more a case of are you sure you didnt see them touching three close nodes since you dont see the same nodes someone else sees. You only double a node together half the time.

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Originally Posted by Kyri

Yes they do you just need to touch three, not harvest them. But like others said you have to touch three, so it's more a case of are you sure you didnt see them touching three close nodes since you dont see the same nodes someone else sees. You only double a node together half the time.

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So long as you don't actually act with the node (And it's not an unspoiled), you can certainly run between nodes and they'll stay spawned. Until you deplete them, they don't change. Just to verify, I tested in Mor Dhona on the level 50 deposits. Right click on the node, then just close it. It's still there. Run to the next node, harvest one item (A map on the first node, a shard on the second node) then exit. The node's 'health bar' is down a notch, but it's still active. So long as you don't deplete them, they stay there.

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Originally Posted by Ramien

So long as you don't actually act with the node (And it's not an unspoiled), you can certainly run between nodes and they'll stay spawned. Until you deplete them, they don't change. Just to verify, I tested in Mor Dhona on the level 50 deposits. Right click on the node, then just close it. It's still there. Run to the next node, harvest one item (A map on the first node, a shard on the second node) then exit. The node's 'health bar' is down a notch, but it's still active. So long as you don't deplete them, they stay there.

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However, if you go to another node after that one and just open the window, then do that two more times on two other nodes, that part health one will respawn.

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Originally Posted by DragonFlyy

However, if you go to another node after that one and just open the window, then do that two more times on two other nodes, that part health one will respawn.

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Yes, but I wasn't trying to point that part out. I was just verifying that, so long as no harvesting is being done (which the OP noted was the case in their description), it's perfectly possible to run between two nodes without them disappearing.

yes -two- nodes I did clarify on that however you cant -see- the persons nodes, and they don't always have the same node spots as you thus why I said "is the person sure they were going between two nodes?" because if you cant see and they happen to be close together there very well might be three and the OP is missing it. Even in the quote you quoted me I specifically mentioned that.

Possibly trying to harvest the nodes that have crystals on them. There are certain sets of 4 nodes where 2 of them have crystals and shards and the other two have just the shards + whatever else, in which they're only harvesting those two, and as others have stated, the bot (maybe not bot) goes to the other two, stand there, and move to the next to respawn the previously used nodes. I also did this when farming topsoil nodes, crystals and seeds.

I sat there for a good 40 minutes + watching the player go between the 2 exact nodes, stand each node for a bit with hatchet out not harvesting. Ward for wind was being used once in awhile assuming when they had gp for it? I have never used the wards but instead use the yield buff. Depending on the node area and what I am after I tend to only go to the 3 closest to each other. Either way it's not up to me to find out wether they are actually botting or not, that's the task force's job. Btw the player's toon was there for hours, what's the point of running between the same 2 nodes for hours if you're not gathering anything? Eventually before I logged off the player seemed to go offline (guessing to offload crystals to sell) then reappeared same zone. Checked and yep back at the same 2 nodes same behaviour.

If its as you say, then yes its a bot. No doubt about it. But Squenix ain't gonna do shit about it. They only ban RMT, suspicious large amount of gil being transacted and bot groups caught tele-farming Duties - any other outdoor action won't raise a flag. You see people telehack from npc to npc in the middle of a town, you see some people gathering with the AFK tag on - impossible to do for non-bots, the AFK is auto removed at the slightest hint of real keyboard/mouse/gamepad input.

etc

There's an FC in our server with legit players using bot programming. I seen them Mining or Logging, botting into a fixed spawn points of every nodes. I have also witnessed one of them just standing at the Leve NPC in Eastern La Noscea leveling up 4 times without leaving the NPC. I have reported on this individual but nothing had been done.

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Originally Posted by Franchesca

I have also witnessed one of them just standing at the Leve NPC in Eastern La Noscea leveling up 4 times without leaving the NPC. I have reported on this individual but nothing had been done.

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Fisher perhaps? You dont need to leave a lev person to level fisher if you have all the lev fish in your inventory (not disclaiming bots, like i said earlier i just hear it get used a lot for people im 99% certain aren't so i try to mention these things so players know them :)

No, not Fisher, this person was SCH at level 30+. She had leveled several times without leaving the Leve NPC, I literally witnessed her going from Lv31 to Lv35. It was take maybe a few hours if you're spamming Leve quests and killing monsters as SCH, I saw her leveling up within minutes. I have screen shots of it too.

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Originally Posted by Franchesca

There's an FC in our server with legit players using bot programming. I seen them Mining or Logging, botting into a fixed spawn points of every nodes. I have also witnessed one of them just standing at the Leve NPC in Eastern La Noscea leveling up 4 times without leaving the NPC. I have reported on this individual but nothing had been done.

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You sure that wasn't just leve power-leveling? Other people can blast the leve for you if they're in your party.

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Originally Posted by Franchesca

No, not Fisher, this person was SCH at level 30+. She had leveled several times without leaving the Leve NPC, I literally witnessed her going from Lv31 to Lv35. It was take maybe a few hours if you're spamming Leve quests and killing monsters as SCH, I saw her leveling up within minutes. I have screen shots of it too.

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Yeah I don't understand how a bot would help somebody turn in leve quests without moving.. it's either a legitimate game mechanic you and I are not aware of, or downright cheating. not all cheating is a form of botting.