Is lautofarming allowed?

[Soulsignnuub.2098]

There are a couple of areas in the game where i've seen groups of people (mainly necros, engis and revenants) spam abilities to kill the handfull of mobs that spawn there every XX:XX. Eventually i even got a video recommended to me on youtube where a guy explained how to efficiently autofarm a single spot. 

 

While i understand that people don't feel the desire to farm stuff actively, i feel like this goes against the spirit of the game even if they aren't running a script and are doing it in some other way and are technically 'not botting'. 

 

I'm curious what the community consensus is on this activity and if it's okay to report them for botting?

[LSD.4673]

Yes. Hiring GMs/mods/admins requires time and money, if only for vetting. That money is necessary to fund new lootbox ideas. So their official response is a vague and pointless "as long as you're afk but still there tee hee" so that they aren't actively encouraging it, but also aren't required to do anything about it.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

Here is the official policy:

 

https://help.guildwars2.com/hc/en-us/articles/360014185033

[kharmin.7683]

10 hours ago, Soulsignnuub.2098 said:

I'm curious what the community consensus is on this activity and if it's okay to report them for botting?

If you are truly curious, then I suggest that you use the forums search function to read all of the previous threads on this topic.  There are many. 

Enjoy.

[Xanadrine.4352]

11 hours ago, Soulsignnuub.2098 said:

There are a couple of areas in the game where i've seen groups of people (mainly necros, engis and revenants) spam abilities to kill the handfull of mobs that spawn there every XX:XX. Eventually i even got a video recommended to me on youtube where a guy explained how to efficiently autofarm a single spot. 

 

While i understand that people don't feel the desire to farm stuff actively, i feel like this goes against the spirit of the game even if they aren't running a script and are doing it in some other way and are technically 'not botting'. 

 

I'm curious what the community consensus is on this activity and if it's okay to report them for botting?

Farming isnt against the rules, using bot software scripts and macros 3rd party programs are. So that means if i go somewhere and spam all the things with epi and minions im not doing anything wrong, because im not botting just farming. So you can send a report and when you see those guys still there next month you will know they were not running a program, just farming. just because people hate certain classes because we have an easier time killing mobs and farming dont make us bots.

Edited September 6, 2021 by Zuldari.3940

[LSD.4673]

3 hours ago, Zuldari.3940 said:

So you can send a report and when you see those guys still there next month you will know they were not running a program, just farming. 

Or rather, you'll see them at it next month and know Anet cares not.

Most of them are running scripts, as they're stood precisely on top of one another, i.e., multiboxing. They don't even hide it, as they all have some variation of the same name.

 

Either way, the game's economy is a kitten sandwich, and the only meaningful farm is to use login scripts across a vast array of accounts for login coins. It's like comparing some small business abusing government grants while a megacorporation is sucking the nation dry.

[Telgum.6071]

As far as I know, it is. What is not allowed is doing it while you are not on the computer.

The community consensus seems to be that afk farming is killing the game, when the worst thing it can do is empower the selling gold scam, which isn't necessarily related to afk farming.

[Astralporing.1957]

No. Autofarming (farming while being AFK) is not allowed. While this activity is often silently ignored by Anet, the key word here is "often". While a lot of AFk farmers seem to be doing fine, every now and then someone does get actioned on it. So, if you decide to do it, do it fully knowing that you are running a risk, and potentially can get in trouble due to that. And if you think of reporting someone for it, go ahead - the rules will be fully on your side.

[Soulsignnuub.2098]

7 hours ago, kharmin.7683 said:

If you are truly curious, then I suggest that you use the forums search function to read all of the previous threads on this topic.  There are many. 

Enjoy.

 

Searching for autofarming got me 3 results. Is there another key word?

 

Nevermind there's more..

 

Edited September 6, 2021 by Soulsignnuub.2098

[Linken.6345]

afk as the search word

[Veprovina.4876]

20 hours ago, Soulsignnuub.2098 said:

I'm curious what the community consensus is on this activity and if it's okay to report them for botting?

Personally, i used to report them constantly, LS4 maps are full of them, but i don't anymore because i figured out that they're doing god's work.

 

They're farming volatile magic + whatever materials the mobs happen to drop. 

Then they buy the volatile magic trophy shipments and flood the TP with tons of materials bringing the prices down due to the volume.

 

So... If you want to pay 1g for 1 powerful blood, report them.

Otherwise, let them keep the prices reasonable. 😜

[Xanadrine.4352]

14 hours ago, LSD.4673 said:

Or rather, you'll see them at it next month and know Anet cares not.

Most of them are running scripts, as they're stood precisely on top of one another, i.e., multiboxing. They don't even hide it, as they all have some variation of the same name.

 

Either way, the game's economy is a kitten sandwich, and the only meaningful farm is to use login scripts across a vast array of accounts for login coins. It's like comparing some small business abusing government grants while a megacorporation is sucking the nation dry.

Okay first off you need to understand multiboxing is not against the rules, there is a difference between a multiboxer and a botter. Now if they are running botware or any thing else against the rules then report it. But you are allowed to multibox in GW2.

[LSD.4673]

9 hours ago, Zuldari.3940 said:

Okay first off you need to understand multiboxing is not against the rules, there is a difference between a multiboxer and a botter. Now if they are running botware or any thing else against the rules then report it. But you are allowed to multibox in GW2.

You're also allowed to AFK farm, as we've established.

[Astralporing.1957]

2 hours ago, LSD.4673 said:

You're also allowed to AFK farm, as we've established.

We have not established that at all. I personally know people that got 72h suspensions for being afk as rangers (not even with an intention to farm, just being a ranger with your pet out, parking a char at some spot and, say, leaving your seat in order to make and eat dinner) near some event areas, for example.

 

If you are truly AFK (so, not at your keyboard), the current rules say it is definitely not allowed, and considered an automated play. Even if you're not using any scripts.

 

Anet not being very strict about enforcing that does not mean they suddenly started allowing it.

Edited September 7, 2021 by Astralporing.1957

[Panda.1967]

The responses to topics like these always make me laugh… it being “permitted” or “not against the rules if you aren’t AFK” doesn’t make it any less of a problem. The fact that these topics pop up on a regular basis is proof that it IS a problem. Everyone knows that it is wrong to bot and that it is near impossible to distinguish an AFK farmer from a bot. AFK farming is against the spirit of the game and highly frowned upon.

 

for the record as well… repeatedly bringing up the problem has a high probability of actually having the rule/policy changes. A certain other popular MMO recently changed its policy on multiboxing, twice, after almost a decade of topics complaining about multiboxing. Before they allowed multiboxing without restriction, now any and all methods of multiboxing that involve simultaneous keystrokes across multiple clients are banned, restricting multiboxing to 100% manual operation of each individual character.

[kharmin.7683]

15 minutes ago, Panda.1967 said:

for the record as well… repeatedly bringing up the problem has a high probability of actually having the rule/policy changes.

Have you ever done a search in the forums on this topic?  The number of individual threads is astonishing and many of those threads are several pages long.  Repeatedly bringing this particular topic up over the years has had no visible impact and no policy changes.

[Goettel.4389]

I doubt there is consensus. Personally, I couldn't care less.

[Panda.1967]

6 minutes ago, kharmin.7683 said:

Have you ever done a search in the forums on this topic?  The number of individual threads is astonishing and many of those threads are several pages long.  Repeatedly bringing this particular topic up over the years has had no visible impact and no policy changes.

No impact yet. Given enough time and presence and it WILL be addressed. It might not be today, this year, or the next, it might not even be within the next 5 years. But if the players make the devs see it as the same problem they do, then it will eventually be addressed.

[kharmin.7683]

6 minutes ago, Panda.1967 said:

No impact yet. Given enough time and presence and it WILL be addressed. It might not be today, this year, or the next, it might not even be within the next 5 years. But if the players make the devs see it as the same problem they do, then it will eventually be addressed.

Well, hope springs eternal.  Good luck, but I really don't see that anything will change.  To me, it is clear that Anet doesn't see this as enough of a problem or that it doesn't have enough of an adverse effect on their bottom line.  I don't think 5 more years of threads will change it at this point.

[Panda.1967]

27 minutes ago, kharmin.7683 said:

Well, hope springs eternal.  Good luck, but I really don't see that anything will change.  To me, it is clear that Anet doesn't see this as enough of a problem or that it doesn't have enough of an adverse effect on their bottom line.  I don't think 5 more years of threads will change it at this point.

And weather or not they see it as a big enough problem right now is irrelevant. A sizable portion of the playerbase sees it as a problem and they have every right to complain about it.  Nothing ever changes if you just decide that “those in power don’t care, so why bother”. You have to make the issue heard as many times as necessary and make those in power realize how much of a problem it really is. It is never a quick process and any who expect it to be are delusional. It takes time and persistence.

[Linken.6345]

3 hours ago, Panda.1967 said:

The responses to topics like these always make me laugh… it being “permitted” or “not against the rules if you aren’t AFK” doesn’t make it any less of a problem. The fact that these topics pop up on a regular basis is proof that it IS a problem. Everyone knows that it is wrong to bot and that it is near impossible to distinguish an AFK farmer from a bot. AFK farming is against the spirit of the game and highly frowned upon.

 

for the record as well… repeatedly bringing up the problem has a high probability of actually having the rule/policy changes. A certain other popular MMO recently changed its policy on multiboxing, twice, after almost a decade of topics complaining about multiboxing. Before they allowed multiboxing without restriction, now any and all methods of multiboxing that involve simultaneous keystrokes across multiple clients are banned, restricting multiboxing to 100% manual operation of each individual character.

You do know that this is exactly what people have to do in this game aswell right?

[yann.1946]

4 hours ago, Panda.1967 said:

The responses to topics like these always make me laugh… it being “permitted” or “not against the rules if you aren’t AFK” doesn’t make it any less of a problem. The fact that these topics pop up on a regular basis is proof that it IS a problem. Everyone knows that it is wrong to bot and that it is near impossible to distinguish an AFK farmer from a bot. AFK farming is against the spirit of the game and highly frowned upon.

 

for the record as well… repeatedly bringing up the problem has a high probability of actually having the rule/policy changes. A certain other popular MMO recently changed its policy on multiboxing, twice, after almost a decade of topics complaining about multiboxing. Before they allowed multiboxing without restriction, now any and all methods of multiboxing that involve simultaneous keystrokes across multiple clients are banned, restricting multiboxing to 100% manual operation of each individual character.

Multiple threads bringing something up does not mean it is a problem, or even seen as a problem by the majority. 

 

It just means it's something the devs might want to look at for a second.