Bot Account invasion

[PG_Animation]

Hi all,

Is, or more appropriately, CAN anything be done about the swarms of bot accounts appearing on our servers? They defy the laws of game-physics, they all look identical and they all are involved in promoting RMT.



If anything can be done regarding the issue, you have our humblest of thanks

[Plastic_Fork]

You're not kidding. Can we PLEASE do something about them? I've watched them run in mid-air, run UP into the sky, through walls, through the ground. They've in every major city, small city... every area I've been to this week and it's staggering how many there are. I've seen no less than 100 bots in just a few hours today on Exodus. Ever since the new player restriction has been lifted and it's been changed to a preferred world, it's been an explosion of bots everywhere. All with gibberish names, all cookie-cutter characters in clumps of 4-12 or so. I'm assuming the botters are multiboxing with lots on follow. I can't even begin to waste my time reporting them. There's too many. You can't right-click and report them unless they type in chat so you can peg them for RMT. There's not even a "report botting" option or anything. This is ridiculous and getting out of hand. Please help us.

[KageTokage]

I feel like SE tried to do something for them being exhibiting this weird new behavior where instead of teleporting they'll just slowly run through the air and/or walls.

But yeah. Any world that isn't flagged as congested is going to immediately be swamped in bots.

[Aivi_lo]

We get wandering bots now too ☹️

[Krotoan]

Remember that post where that guy suggested banning anyone who teleported to specific coordinates over and over? ... this sounds like the result.

[BlastHardcheese]

I'm leveling an alt BLM atm.

I idled next to the quest NPC in Ul'Dah and there's literally a conga line of scrabble bag names rising out of the floor > accepting quests > returning into the floor.

I understand false flags need to be avoided but... c'mon.

[Aramur]

Probably the best thing you could do, which no one will do I'm sure, is to talk with your wallet. Stop renewing when your time runs out and go find another game to play. Once they see their income dropping they'll do something
about it. GW2 is fun.

[Nyvara]

I saw an air runner with a scrabble bag name( thanks Blast) for the first time the other day. By the time I got the report ticket open they were long gone and no way could I remember the name.

Give us a better way to report bots! Even if nothing is getting done at least we won't feel frustrated by the crap reporting feature.

[grey70005]

I do believe the botting and cheating issues have reached a tipping point as of late and SE should really act. It is a perfect storm here:

• Absolute root cause: No client-side cheat detection. I know no detection software is perfect, but come on. At least make it harder.
  
• The player base. People are buying gil, clears, resources they know full well are obtained via gathering bots.
  
• An overly restrictive ToS that is unenforced. Nothing is allowed, but SE doesn't care. Third party programs that read system memory for DPS results so people get kicked for not showing on a third party site recording it? Check. Same program also does callouts during boss fights and has triggers to find hunting targets without having to actually look. Check. People use gathering bots, PvP bots, screen-scraped "APIs" for data-mining, all neatly bundled into Discord. It is really sad. No enforcement means this is now considered normal. I sometimes feel that SE's attempt to reduce harrasment by not offending people have given them the green light to offend each other and made things worse. Enforce the ToS, or change it to fall inline with MMORPG standards.
  
• Money. All I can think of is there must be some financial advantage to allowing the bots to exist. Client side detection or not, they could be circumvented. I've been coding for 20 years, it can be done... there is always a way.
  
• Resignation that this is just a part of MMORPGs. Yes, it is... bots will always exist, the battle never ends. But we're not even fighting here. At least reduce their count. It can be done.

We're at a point now where you have to log out and come back later when bots are doing MSQ and job quests. Want to queue for Amdapor Keep??? Have fun with that one. You can't, because it is quite literally infested with bots. Enjoying doing a single player queue and stuck at #1? Need to wait for those bots to finish.

And perhaps the saddest thing of all is not the gibberish named bots, but real players with crowns and all actively using gathering bots because "it is boring so I should be allowed" and then trashing the marketplace for those of us that actually want to play the game legit.

Yes, SE needs to take action. No, what they're doing now is not good enough. Some ideas:

• Become the Gil sellers. Seriously, sell it on the MogStation. Pay to win? Who cares, you can already buy pre-leveled boosts. Make it legit. There's obviously a market for it.
• Actually use client-side detection software. This blows my mind completely. Can't afford the development? Sell Gil!
• Revise the ToS and stop incriminating your player base. Things like DPS meters are standard MMORPG faire. Having an API is almost a prerequisite. Either develop UI tools to supplant these, or perhaps have a third party add-on approval process.
• Actually follow up on player reports for "real player" botting. If you attempt to report a botter, 99% of the time nothing happens. Can't afford the staffing? Sell Gil!
• Fight! You'll never get rid of bots... but at this point, it is literally making important portions of the game unplayable. Just fight!

Okay, I'm off the soap box. Everyone can flame me now.

[Nyvara]

I wonder if the Japanese servers have the same botting issues. Or is it strictly NA/EU?