AFK Farmers - Affecting event scaling?

[Tanek.5983]

Over the past few weeks I have been doing some zone completion, achievement hunting, mastery point gathering...general things that have taken me all over the place.
In some areas I noticed the non-group events seemed much more challenging than I'd have expected. Sometimes it was just me or a couple other players, but enemy health and numbers were so high the events were near impossible.

I first noticed this in Lake Doric. I thought everything in the zone was just scaled for large groups (many group events, champions, etc; and the white mantle are just annoying jerks in general), but one event in particular seemed impossible. With only a couple players there, the event (Stop the skritt from looting the SS Pinkeens's supplies) failed in under a minute. I posed a question about this and some of the responses mentioned "bot scaling" and asked if I was near a spot with afk farmers.

Turned out, yes. I was able to see large groups of mostly Necromancers and Engineers that just stayed in one spot, unresponsive, with dozens of minions and turrets. Now that I was looking for them, I noticed the same thing in Domain of Istan. Then again yesterday in Sandswept Isles where I was trying to do the Subject S event for the first time. When it seemed much harder than other non-group events in the area, I looked around and found a Necro-knot just below the event.

I admit, I never paid much attention to afk or botting players before. I knew such things could affect the game ecomomy or PvP, but hadn't considered the potential effect on zone event scaling. It seems like this is what is happening, but has it ever been confirmed by ANet? If so, any word that something might be done? Should I be reporting players when I find this?

Thanks for any information on the difficulty scaling or tips on how to handle the situation.

[kharmin.7683]

Report and move on.  That's the official policy when you encounter players that you believe are AFK.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

The events you mention have always been difficult; since inception. 

[Gibson.4036]

1 hour ago, Tanek.5983 said:

If so, any word that something might be done? Should I be reporting players when I find this?

Thanks for any information on the difficulty scaling or tips on how to handle the situation.

There's a distinction to be made between botting and afking. Botting is strictly illegal. Afking, in the sense of letting your character play the game without touching the keyboard, is not.

The reason you see a lot of necromancers doing this is because it is possible for them to just let their minions kill things. There's no bot script running, it's just the tools ArenaNet has given this class doing what they do.

Feel free to report.

Theoretically, if you report, ArenaNet staff may message them to see if they are truly afk. They are supposed to be there to respond. But that means if they are sitting there with just enough attention to see a message, it's within the rules for their character to play the game without them.

Don't train mobs into them to try and overwhelm their minions and down them, though. That would be considered griefing other players.

As to "Stop the skritt...", the wiki article you linked even says that it is difficult because of the skritt speed. I've seen it's "easier" counterpart, "Protect the SS PInkeens..." fail when there are just a couple players.

[Tanek.5983]

33 minutes ago, Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:

The events you mention have always been difficult; since inception. 

12 minutes ago, Gibson.4036 said:

As to "Stop the skritt...", the wiki article you linked even says that it is difficult because of the skritt speed. I've seen it's "easier" counterpart, "Protect the SS PInkeens..." fail when there are just a couple players.

While I don't doubt the events are difficult even normally, there did seem to be a difference when I went back another time to do them. It was especially noticeable in the number of veteran enemies and the health of regular enemies. In one case, the event failed quickly or I was dead quickly, in the other the event was completed.

Maybe this is just normal variation in how events can spawn, but that is why I was asking whether there has ever been confirmation that having a bunch of other players nearby would scale it up, even if they were afk(ish) and not directly participating.

Edited March 14, 2023 by Tanek.5983

[Gibson.4036]

4 minutes ago, Tanek.5983 said:

While I don't doubt the events are difficult even normally, there did seem to be a difference when I went back another time to do them. It was especially noticeable in the number of veteran enemies and the health of regular enemies. In one case, the event failed quickly or I was dead quickly, in the other the event was completed.

Maybe this is just normal variation in how events can spawn, but that is why I was asking whether there has ever been confirmation that having a bunch of other players nearby would scale it up, even if they were afk(ish) and not directly participating.

Certainly possilbe, but without seeing under the hood, it's impossible to tell.

[Danikat.8537]

I could be wrong about this but I don't think other players affect event scaling unless they're participating in the event (and that goes for afk players and ones actively playing). If they're outside the range of the event (easiest to tell with ones marked with orange circles) and/or don't attack those enemies or interact with other stuff related to the event they won't scale it up.

I know dead players don't scale events, although if they died doing the event the effect of them being 'removed' might not kick in until new enemies spawn because the game won't change existing spawns.

But either way if you see people botting or doing anything else you think shouldn't be allowed you can report them. You won't get in trouble if you're wrong about it and it lets Anet know there's something to investigate.

[Bollocks.4078]

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

What they are doing is definitely against the rules.  If they can respond to a GM then the GM can't say for sure that they are violating the rules.  It's like using a radar detector to avoid getting a speeding ticket.

 

This thread will be locked pretty soon.  They don't like people talking about this subject.

 

Just now, Danikat.8537 said:

I could be wrong about this but I don't think other players affect event scaling unless they're participating in the event (and that goes for afk players and ones actively playing). If they're outside the range of the event (easiest to tell with ones marked with orange circles) and/or don't attack those enemies or interact with other stuff related to the event they won't scale it up.

 

You are definitely wrong.  Try doing the castaway rescue event in Frostgorge on a day when Honor of the Waves is in the daily list.  All those people standing around idly cause that event to scale up massively even through they are not participating at all.

[stormemperor.3745]

Absolutely nothing happens, someone literally put 10+ alts in DS all of them afking, have similar name. I reported them with ss , names and all kitten. The guy in question even said it himself.

Hello,

Thank you for reporting this incident.

We understand that their behavior can be frustrating and we appreciate your patience as these investigations take time.

However, please understand that privacy concerns prevent us from discussing our methods or the results of our findings.

Thank you for your time and understanding.

 

 

and nothing absolutely nothing. Never do public content, never do open world. Zero ducks given

Edited March 14, 2023 by stormemperor.3745

[Tanek.5983]

5 minutes ago, Bollocks.4078 said:

This thread will be locked pretty soon.  They don't like people talking about this subject.

If they don't like people talking about it, maybe they should see what can be done to address the issue. Crazy idea, I know. 🙂 

Thanks for the policy link.

[Healix.5819]

5 minutes ago, Danikat.8537 said:

I could be wrong about this but I don't think other players affect event scaling unless they're participating in the event (and that goes for afk players and ones actively playing). If they're outside the range of the event (easiest to tell with ones marked with orange circles) and/or don't attack those enemies or interact with other stuff related to the event they won't scale it up.

I know dead players don't scale events, although if they died doing the event the effect of them being 'removed' might not kick in until new enemies spawn because the game won't change existing spawns.

That's what the first year was like. Scaling originally only included players who were actively participating in the event. Problem was, large groups were able to kill bosses before they could scale, so they changed it to simply include everyone within the event's area, including the dead.

[Forum Moderator.3419]

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