Bots in Ranked PVP are out of control (NA)

[Ioka.8503]

Hello

I am a long absent returning player to GW2 and I want to ask how is this botting situation in pvp allowed to go on? This is completely unacceptable. At first I heard about bots and thought people were being dramatic, but tonight I've had multiple games with 2 bots per team, usually 2 guardian bots per team, running exactly the same mechanic routes and inputting the same abilities. 

 

I am completely embarrassed to recommend this game to any of my friends because of the rampant bots in pvp. Is this just the status quo and if so how can anyone in good consciences recommend their friends play this game for its PVP. This has to be addressed for EOD.

 

Maybe there is a lack of awareness on the situation, would it help if I recorded footage of the bots? I'd have to throw some ranked games but exposing this is worth it.

 

I am gold 1, learning my class and the game, Maybe experienced plat vets don't think this is an issue, but this entire forum should be flooded with threads about this topic. Any other topic is completely irrelevant  until this gets addressed. How come no content creators focus on this issue and ask devs about it when they get a chance.? 

Edited October 21, 2021 by Ioka.8503

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

The devs are between a rock and a hard place on this issue because if they ban bots without first improving PvP significantly the game mode will suddenly appear dead to a mass disappearance of opponents.

 

They first need to attract many new or returning players to PvP to revitalise it.

Edited October 21, 2021 by Hannelore.8153

[Metzie.3451]

9 hours ago, Ioka.8503 said:

but this entire forum should be flooded with threads about this topic.

See: Merged thread - Bot's in PVP. How can I make this thread official? Enough? 🙂

 

ANet seems to think 🤔 that (allowing) bots 🤖 are the solution to the lack of players, but don't (want to) realise 🙈🙉 that it only makes it worse (game experience etc.). You think it can't get any worse, ANet comes around the corner 👋 and teaches you better 😤 (and no, I don't want comparisons to other games and the usual blah blah, thanks).

At first it was annoying, then ridiculous, in the meantime just sad where they have made it with the mode.

The entire situation is meanwhile only bearable if you basically recognise sPvP for what it is, a clown show 🤡 (i.e., not competitive in any conceivable sense). At best, you avoid it completely. Many players have waited a long time (on ANet) and then given up, i.e. quit 🖕. New players or returning players will very quickly notice or realise 😒 that something is very wrong. ANet's response 🤥 to the current disease is probably, and thus only, to treat the symptoms with EoD (expansion). This, however, provides only brief alleviation 😷 because they do not consider or address the cause of the problems, also because they do not (want to) have "one" that fixes the actual problems 🤧, or at least to a tolerable level that restores the enjoyment of the game(mode) itself. 😏

ANet is basically punishing EVERYONE 💣 with this abstinent behaviour. Returning, new players or casual players and especially veterans. What basically remains "competitive" are the few hard-core players and addicts, of whom some make their own game out of it, i.e. manipulate 😈 the matchmaking and thus the games and their outcome (to their advantage) ✌️ and/or farm gizmos to then sell them 🤝 for real money 🤑. But that's over now (of course 😇🤞), because ANet will now regularly monitor 👀 this and ban ⛓️ players or accounts. 🤥👈😆🤞 

Edited October 21, 2021 by Metzie.3451

[TheDarkness.6947]

7 hours ago, Hannelore.8153 said:

The devs are between a rock and a hard place on this issue because if they ban bots without first improving PvP significantly the game mode will suddenly appear dead to a mass disappearance of opponents.

 

They first need to attract many new or returning players to PvP to revitalise it.

I have a hard time buying into the notion that the devs have decided that players running bot accounts in PvP are somehow good for the game.  Seems to me like they’ve done a cost benefit analysis and decided that cleaning up the bots isn’t where they want to invest payroll dollars right now.

 

There are other ways to address the low population problem that might lead to eventually restoring the population, but it would require some investment.  For example, Anet could provide the AI and just disclose it.  “If the MMS is unable to match a full team within the allotted time, each team will be provided with an AI player to guard their home node.”  At least that way AI is distributed fairly across teams and the AI is of equal quality.  They could also make the MMS first attempt to fill 5v5 conquest, and if there aren’t enough people in the queue to do it within a reasonable time, then try to fill a 3v3 game, then a 2v2.

[Wild.1705]

Just added this to the merged thread for you!

[Marxx.5021]

Gold 1 NA means player act like bots or worse. Real bots fit in perfectly. The issue is getting out. As a new player it would be really difficult just by playing "good".

[Lighter.5631]

not bot out of control, really just no one playing pvp right now..number of bots barely changed.

[LordCanti.7124]

Just played a game of ranked with only 2 human players. One on each team. This is stupid as all hell!

 

[Bazsi.2734]

I'm getting annoyed by all these botting threads all over. I hope A-net employees do too, because I'd love to not see them. 
 

Now which one will it be: do they actually do something with the bots, or do they scrub the forums clean? 

[GutterRat.1269]

There is no development team working on the SPVP game mode. All resources are focused on churning out quality content for the next pve powerpack, plus maybe one dude working on the "cornerstone mode" which produced a beta test that was an utter failure. You can pretty much forget SPVP exists at least until EoD launches.

[Morwath.9817]

All those "bots @ NA" threads made me pretty curious. So, I made fresh account for NA (EU player here) and played up to plat. I got bots in only one match and no more bots after that. It was quite funny as I was the only non bot player in that match...

[Ioka.8503]

Just wanted to say I moved up about 150 rating and the bots are scarce. I have not been playing as much, but I had a couple days of no bots.

 

Specifically, the area where I saw the most bots was at the border of Silver 3 and Gold 1. I get that people think we are just mistaking people as bots, but there is no mistaking the guardian bots at low Gold 1. 

[ShadowInTheVoid.9183]

20 hours ago, Ioka.8503 said:

Specifically, the area where I saw the most bots was at the border of Silver 3 and Gold 1. I get that people think we are just mistaking people as bots, but there is no mistaking the guardian bots at low Gold 1. 

This matches with what i've seen but generally down to Silver 2. There just seams to be a massive increase in the last week or so too and i'm not struggling to get into a match without bots.

 

I've seen some of the bots starting to travel in groups too which can get pretty annoying to deal with.

[Zaxares.5419]

The bots are most prevalent in the lower tiers like Bronze and Silver. You sometimes still run into them in Gold matches, but as a general rule they lack the kind of greater strategic awareness to win enough matches to consistently keep them in the upper tiers. Skilled players will recognize bots fairly quickly and know how to exploit the bot's weaknesses to keep them from being effective. (For instance, jumping onto upper platforms will generally confuse the hell out of bots because they have no idea how to follow so they just keep running into the closest wall near you spamming their skills, a lot of which will miss or do nothing because you're on a higher elevation.)

 

The other major factor is what time you play PvP. The closer you are to reset, the more human players you'll run across. As the hour gets later and more players head to bed/work/school, you'll start seeing bots more often.

[ShadowInTheVoid.9183]

36 minutes ago, Zaxares.5419 said:

The other major factor is what time you play PvP. The closer you are to reset, the more human players you'll run across. As the hour gets later and more players head to bed/work/school, you'll start seeing bots more often.

I'm definitely finding that when I try to play lunchtime - early afternoon UK time.

 

I don't know what's going on today but there suddenly is a spike in them roaming maps together.

I had a match earlier with 5 bots on the other side (not sure how many on mine) and they all went round together and as soon as one died it just ran straight back to the group. They all attack a single target so you die fast.

For a disorganised team you don't stand a chance.

[Ioka.8503]

Weekly Update: fell back to gold 1, wanted to play this afternoon had 3 games so far with bot teammates. good old alphonse...

[Ioka.8503]

Nice arenanet, just had the pleasure of a game with 3 guardian burn bots.

 

I can't wait for people to refund EOD because your PVP is a joke.

Saturday Afternoon Gold 1 pvp is riddled with bots, but veterans of this game pretend this is not  a major issue and would rather talk about wintrading, which effects 10 players....

Edited October 30, 2021 by Ioka.8503

[Ioka.8503]

I wonder if I get banned from the forums if I spam about bots before the bots get banned from the game for literally cheating.

[covahlam.6391]

Saturday afternoon games are some of the absolute worst. In addition to bots you get the once-a-week casuals queuing, too. Avoid playing then if you can.