Does Anet Support and Empower Online Bullying as Long as They Get Paid? Opinion Piece.

[Hadi.6025]

????? Your first time playing online games? Why does this post even exist lol. I'm so lost.... Do you not understand the nature of humans? 

[oscuro.9720]

I’m going to be honest, it sounds like you were outplayed in every instance. 

[Jugglemonkey.8741]

On 11/30/2021 at 10:25 PM, Jitters.9401 said:

There was one person saying just because I do not know something... . Well DUH!!! (i think that talks to your level).

 

On 11/30/2021 at 10:25 PM, Jitters.9401 said:

But I digress and like I said, this is amusing. The naysayers. Just because you do not understand something does not make it imaginary, it just means you need to broaden your knowledge on how things work.

Apparently this speaks to your level too. 

[Zok.4956]

On 11/29/2021 at 9:24 AM, Jitters.9401 said:

3rd party software is incredibly easy to spot.

It is not. There are some obvious cheats that can be seen. But often sometimes a player is accused of cheating, he is just better or uses skills the other player does not know about.

If you want to proof someone is cheating: Make a video, post it to youtube and post the link here.

Cheating is not allowed in Anets TOS and Anet does ban cheaters. Sometimes they talk about this, sometimes the do not talk about it and wait to collect/ban more cheaters. And I think they probably do not enough against cheaters. 

And; Bullying and cheating are not the same. Maybe cheating can be used to bully someone sometime. But because cheating is already against the TOS, cheating to bully someone is also against the TOS.

Fighting against other players (without cheating) is not bullying in a PvP mode like WvW. All players can have the same skills, no one has a position of more power that can be used to bully other players.

Sure,  for example, a group of 10 players fighting/ganking a solo roamer is neither nice  nor fair. But that is also part of the dangerous and unfair environment that is called WvW and it is not bullying.

So the answer to your initial question "Does Anet Support and Empower Online Bullying as Long as They Get Paid?" is "NO".

 

[Tungsten Monarch.6058]

bullying is an appropriate term here. I also see bullies here who use the confused emoji when there is nothing confusing about what the writer communicated.

 

There is a bot problem on WvW servers, and it does need to be addressed. I am unsure of the solution, but I do see the bot issue as a form of cyber bullying.

Edited December 5, 2021 by Tungsten Monarch.6058

[Zikory.6871]

39 minutes ago, Tungsten Monarch.6058 said:

I do see the bot issue as a form of cyber bullying.

Care to elaborate? I can't think of a single instance where a bot as affected my gameplay. 

Edited December 5, 2021 by Zikory.6871

[Tungsten Monarch.6058]

3 hours ago, Zikory.6871 said:

Care to elaborate? I can't think of a single instance where a bot as affected my gameplay. 

a computer will always out play a human being unless it's throttled.  Human being response times, can't complete on average. This is not a get better scrub issue, because it's up against an AI that is superior to your average player game play. Therefore it's not about you, or maybe it is if you use that HE WHOM SHALL NOT BE NAMED software that most of us are aware of that exists.

[Zyreva.1078]

Bots are bad, there is nothing superior about them. Getting outplayed by dumb AI is nothing but a l2p issue.

[Tungsten Monarch.6058]

29 minutes ago, UmbraNoctis.1907 said:

Bots are bad, there is nothing superior about them. Getting outplayed by dumb AI is nothing but a l2p issue.

you would be surprised by the sophistication of "HE WHOM SHALL NOT BE NAMED" as they are also used to clear Raids. You're obviously not that familiar with what they can do, or poorly informed.

[allshallperish.4620]

feelsweirdpostman

[Rakan Buuyon.8576]

Even though you are stealth, a lot of skills are still visible to enemies. It's how you can track people who are invisible. For example, engies toolkit stealth elixer has what looks like a little puff of smoke when they use it stealth. You can look for hints like this to find and guess where a stealth enemy is heading or is. With thieves, if you are quick enough, you can see and get into their pistol 5 and get them to hit you to reveal themselves. There's a lot of tricks with dealing with stealthed enemies.

 

Now, I haven't tested it and really can't be bothered to bother someone to help me with this, but perhaps scorpion wire has a visible tell while you are invisible? I've played a lot of WvW in my time, and the only cheating from using third party tools I've seen is, A) the infamous duo who was porting into towers and capping them, and B) Scourge bots that just run a path around red BL at night, attacking sentries and camps.

 

In FPS games there used to be a joke that the hardest player to shoot is someone who doesn't know they are being shot at. Theoretically, it should be an easy shot, they aren't expecting it, yet somehow they move in the most unpredictable way making them incredibly hard to shoot. With my time in WvW, I can say the same is pretty accurate here. Someone who doesn't know a backstab, pull, moa, etc is coming, is almost impossible to hit with them. I've never seen anyone expertly dodge a backstab better than a random player who doesn't know they are about to get hit for 20k on no downstate week. I've never seen someone dodge a moa better than a player that didn't see the scrapper invis the Mesmer that's going to moa them.

 

Sometimes it's just dumb luck they dodged something. At this point, people have been dealing with thieves for so long they have a feel for how much stealth you have, and about how long until they try something when invisible. Maybe they are expecting a backstab, and felt it was a good time to dodge for a backstab, only you used a pull instead. Maybe wire has a visible tell. Maybe you didn't realize they had stability or aegis and you hit them with it, but it was ineffective.

 

Whatever it is, the answer is almost certainly not "they where cheating". If that was the case, the top PvP players would all know about this "dodge every CC hack", likely be using it, and someone would have spilled the beans about it by now. Now, I'm no top PvPer, but some of my friends are. I've had people tell me about all sorts of exploits in this game. All the biggest drama about such and such win trading, such and such doing this rule breaking thing. Never once have I heard anyone mention a "dodge CC" hack. People who are really good at this game, look at things in a way you might not. Know things about this game that you might not. There are interactions with different skills that you might have no idea about. I've had questions for friends on stuff that seemed sketchy, how they could always do something, or counter something every single time without fail. Usually it's just an exploitable (not as in cheating exploit) weakness of the skill. For example, a warrior can counter another warriors bullscharge, by just using bullscharge after they do. The answer is probably a lot more simple than "hacks".

[Jugglemonkey.8741]

3 hours ago, Rakan Buuyon.8576 said:

Even though you are stealth, a lot of skills are still visible to enemies. It's how you can track people who are invisible. For example, engies toolkit stealth elixer has what looks like a little puff of smoke when they use it stealth. You can look for hints like this to find and guess where a stealth enemy is heading or is. With thieves, if you are quick enough, you can see and get into their pistol 5 and get them to hit you to reveal themselves. There's a lot of tricks with dealing with stealthed enemies.

 

Now, I haven't tested it and really can't be bothered to bother someone to help me with this, but perhaps scorpion wire has a visible tell while you are invisible? I've played a lot of WvW in my time, and the only cheating from using third party tools I've seen is, A) the infamous duo who was porting into towers and capping them, and B) Scourge bots that just run a path around red BL at night, attacking sentries and camps.

 

In FPS games there used to be a joke that the hardest player to shoot is someone who doesn't know they are being shot at. Theoretically, it should be an easy shot, they aren't expecting it, yet somehow they move in the most unpredictable way making them incredibly hard to shoot. With my time in WvW, I can say the same is pretty accurate here. Someone who doesn't know a backstab, pull, moa, etc is coming, is almost impossible to hit with them. I've never seen anyone expertly dodge a backstab better than a random player who doesn't know they are about to get hit for 20k on no downstate week. I've never seen someone dodge a moa better than a player that didn't see the scrapper invis the Mesmer that's going to moa them.

 

Sometimes it's just dumb luck they dodged something. At this point, people have been dealing with thieves for so long they have a feel for how much stealth you have, and about how long until they try something when invisible. Maybe they are expecting a backstab, and felt it was a good time to dodge for a backstab, only you used a pull instead. Maybe wire has a visible tell. Maybe you didn't realize they had stability or aegis and you hit them with it, but it was ineffective.

 

Whatever it is, the answer is almost certainly not "they where cheating". If that was the case, the top PvP players would all know about this "dodge every CC hack", likely be using it, and someone would have spilled the beans about it by now. Now, I'm no top PvPer, but some of my friends are. I've had people tell me about all sorts of exploits in this game. All the biggest drama about such and such win trading, such and such doing this rule breaking thing. Never once have I heard anyone mention a "dodge CC" hack. People who are really good at this game, look at things in a way you might not. Know things about this game that you might not. There are interactions with different skills that you might have no idea about. I've had questions for friends on stuff that seemed sketchy, how they could always do something, or counter something every single time without fail. Usually it's just an exploitable (not as in cheating exploit) weakness of the skill. For example, a warrior can counter another warriors bullscharge, by just using bullscharge after they do. The answer is probably a lot more simple than "hacks".

Just answering one part of your post, but scorpion wire is indeed visible if cast from stealth which makes it easily dodgeable at range. It's a projectile, and shows up as such. 

[Rakan Buuyon.8576]

On 12/6/2021 at 10:50 AM, Jugglemonkey.8741 said:

Just answering one part of your post, but scorpion wire is indeed visible if cast from stealth which makes it easily dodgeable at range. It's a projectile, and shows up as such. 

 

Well then, I think that solves the mystery of how the player was dodging it then.

[Burial.1958]

On 12/5/2021 at 11:34 PM, UmbraNoctis.1907 said:

Bots are bad, there is nothing superior about them. Getting outplayed by dumb AI is nothing but a l2p issue.

Some of these Bots ar even stronger than the average Player....😄

[GoldenPants.1870]

On 11/30/2021 at 12:03 PM, Jitters.9401 said:

Nor is there a single trap or painter that hurts any other profession like they do to the thief stealth. 

Almost like it’s a counter.

[Bred.3582]

On 11/29/2021 at 2:24 AM, Jitters.9401 said:

I Believe So and Here is Why using the many encounters with 3rd party users in WvW for my reasoning.

 

An Online Definition of Bullying:

Bullying is an ongoing and deliberate misuse of power in relationships through repeated verbal, physical and/or social behaviour that intends to cause physical, social and/or psychological harm. It can involve an individual or a group misusing their power, or perceived power, over one or more persons who feel unable to stop it from happening.

Bullying can happen in person or online, via various digital platforms and devices and it can be obvious (overt) or hidden (covert). Bullying behaviour is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time (for example, through sharing of digital records).

 

Attach that definition to the many people using 3rd party programs in WvW. 

Cheaters derive their power via 3rd party software that is used to giver them capabilities/skills that otherwise they would not have.

 

• (1) There are people like myself who play more, or have come back to the game due to the pandemic and use this game as a means of escape to destress. We fight others in WvW knowing full well we may lose at some point. Part of the enjoyment is the competition and trying to figure out how to perform better.   

.......... Very recently I came across a ranger who did so much damage it took the 8k from my mount and another 18k from me before I had a chance to heal and fight back. He never fully defeated me, but I fought him 2 more times to see if there was any weakness to exploit. That is part of the fun. Cheaters take that away.

 

(2) 3rd party software is incredibly easy to spot. I have literally been in stealth behind someone and threw scorpion wire at point blank range aaaannnd.... miraculously the enemy has dodged, or suddenly thrown up a shield. I have even fought one 3rd party user 3 different times just to get combat logs as evidence. Another way to pick out the cheater is to really watch the perp when multiple abilities are being fired at them. With one player I was fighting, I watched the 3rd party software break the animation of one defensive maneuver asa it fired off a second. The result was a bizarre little shuffle dance of the cheaters avatar in one spot as they avoid all damage. I have seen this occur a fair number of times. 

If I can spot it 30 seconds into a fight, then why is Anet oblivious?

 

(3) There are many people who use online gaming as a means of socializing. For example, those with agoraphobia. If they are unable to physically leave their home, they can easily socialize from the safety of their own bedroom.... but then is it safely when they can be targeted by online bullies who only want to ruin the fun of others? Normal people are powerless against cheaters.

(4) They cannot be stopped. Even if they get run off briefly, they always come back which leads to the bullying via cheating being repeated again and again.

(5) Some of these bullies stream their bullying as a means to empower themselves and demean those they bully.

 

Resulting In:

(1) Legit Players leaving areas where they want to play due to online bullying. So yes, bullies are determining where other people can enjoy the game. This is 100% bullying.

(2) Legit Players turning the game off due to the frustration of cheaters being allowed to play without consequences. So Yes, bullies are forcing fair players to turn off the game.

(3) Legit Players quitting a game they purchased just because Anet does not have the testicular fortitude to hold online bullies accountable. This part confuses me. How is the money paid from online bullies worth more than money paid by people who just want to escape real life and enjoy a game? Or is it because Anet likes the free publicity from cheaters streaming as it could result in other cheaters buying the game to join in on the bullying fun.

 

The lack of action by Anet  supports the idea that those whose goal is to bully others without fear of reprisal.  In real life I once had a bully physically attack me. I knocked some of his teeth out and he never tried to bully me again. Anet can easily knock their digital teeth out by banning them, but Anet does not. Why? Is it because they support online bullying as long as it means revenue?

 

In my opinion of course.

 

It reads rough. I have been awake almost 24 hours and am pretty tired but need to remain awake for 5 more hours. Hence I am writing this as I just left the game due to encounters with multiple cheaters. I did report but of course Anet will do nothing. 

 

It is too bad though. I enjoy the game but all I want to do is roam WvW and always coming across cheaters roaming defeats any enjoyment I should be having.

 

Anyway. Have a good one. I am curious to see if Anet will ban someone for speaking out about online bullies using gw2 as a platform to target others.

In your second point I think you're referring to animation cancelling, not cheating? And the idea of someone knowing what you're doing in stealth is not cheating people who have experience have general ideas about how they should counter stealth and the advantage you've gained also, some abilities have distinct voice lines and every skill has associated sound effects to them and if you're banking on a single skill in stealth that has a slow travel time and a loud  sound effect I don't think you understand what it happening or why you're failing, and subsequently rage whispering or mailing because of your misunderstanding or inability to contend with your losses