Botting/AFK farming is out of control

[AIex.4105]

Every day I play some living season maps I see some ppl with their MAIN accounts +400 mastery points botting. I quess you can only autoattack with 1 skill only and is not just afk farming when spaming more than 1 skill. I think Anet needs to take more seriously this problem and rework necro in PVE so it cant just afk farm, or at least ban this botters already. Report does nothing that why they use their main accounts.

[kiroho.4738]

2 hours ago, AIex.4105 said:

I think Anet needs to take more seriously this problem and rework necro in PVE so it cant just afk farm, or at least ban this botters already.

Aside from actually taking action and enforcing the "no unattended gameplay" policy, they should change the behavior of pets, minions etc.

Currently pets in "Guard" mode and minions by default attack enemies as soon as they or the player are attacked. This can very easily abused for afk farming.
This should be changed to only work while in combat and while the player is active -> using skills (other than auto attack).
Such change would take the main base from afk farmers without any negative impact for active players.

Currently some skills - like Necro greatsword 4 or Ranger traps - can be set on autoattack and will be casted endlessly even out of combat.
Auto casting these skills out of combat are just useless and not needed in any case, aside from afk farming.
Change all skills to work with auto attack only while in combat. This change won't affect active players while taking the second base from afk farmers.

Currently sharing boons will give participation for both events and mob loot. Because of this there are groups of boon heralds on certain spots pulsing boons while being afk and getting loot and event rewards for doing nothing. Even last year's Mad King's Labyrinth farms got fcked up because of too many herals doing nothing and leeching loot.
Change boon participation so that you have to hit an enemy at least once before boons participation count. Also let boon participation only count when applied while in combat.
This changes won't have negative impact to active players, while it takes the last farming methode from afk farmers and pevent boon leechers in general.

 

With only this 3 changes we could get rid of afk farmers entirely. What's left are those who use macros and bots for (afk) farming and they are free to ban.
Without the tons of afk farmers to hide inbetween botters are easier to spot as well.

 

 

[enigmatic.3576]

Here's what will happen:

1. You'll have people telling you to report and move on
2. Anet will eventually lock or delete this thread

[Mell.4873]

31 minutes ago, enigmatic.3576 said:

Here's what will happen:

1. You'll have people telling you to report and move on
2. Anet will eventually lock or delete this thread

3. Nothing has or will happen. Problem is most people afk at some point. I mean I sometimes walk into a wall in WvW for more that 10 minutes on a full map so I'm not kicked. 

[Dawdler.8521]

Just enable FFA PvP in the zones, problem solved.

[DanAlcedo.3281]

Hundreds or even thousands of players used many alt accounts and login rewards as their main source of gold income. 

Now that the wizards vault is a thing, these alt accounts are now sitting around, doing nothing. 

So of course people find other ways to use their now worthless account for something productive. 

[kharmin.7683]

1 hour ago, enigmatic.3576 said:

Here's what will happen:

1. You'll have people telling you to report and move on
2. Anet will eventually lock or delete this thread

Exactly.  Just like the dozens of previous threads on this topic.

[Heroic.6740]

8 hours ago, AIex.4105 said:

Every day I play some living season maps I see some ppl with their MAIN accounts +400 mastery points botting. I quess you can only autoattack with 1 skill only and is not just afk farming when spaming more than 1 skill. I think Anet needs to take more seriously this problem and rework necro in PVE so it cant just afk farm, or at least ban this botters already. Report does nothing that why they use their main accounts.

I don't agree with you. While I was doing research for my thesis, my necromancer was farming with the autocast of greatsword and with her minions on my next screen and it's a game mechanic that im not using any third party applications. There is no macro something that im using and i am moving my character before afk timer. Should I be banned too? 

 

https://help.guildwars2.com/hc/en-us/articles/360014185033-Policy-Unattended-Gameplay#:~:text=As a general policy%2C ANY,not actively playing the game. As you see;

 

 

Quote

 

Policy: Unattended Gameplay

As a general policy, ANY form of unattended gameplay is prohibited in Guild Wars 2. This includes:

• The use of auto-casting abilities to farm while not at your computer or not actively playing the game.
• The use of a macro to automate character skills while not at your computer or not actively playing the game.
• The use of a macro to farm repeatable events or activities for rewards while not at your computer or not actively playing the game.
• The use of a third-party program to automate or create a “bot” that performs autonomous actions in the game.

Note that this does not mean that you cannot be away from your computer (AFK) while you are online. Idling in a city or even in the open world is not prohibited, though your character should not perform actions, participate in content, or otherwise engage with the world while you are away from your computer.

 

I am at my computer and im using trading post actively, there is no macro and third party program and also for 1 hour i was getting 5 gold, i don't think the gold i farmed semi-afk will "truly" effects the game...

 

I'm not saying AFK farming should be allowed, i'm trying to say if you are on your computer and your character can cast auto or has minions that can clear mobs without touching the keyboard; you can't force the people "Fully focused gameplay"...

Edited March 11 by Heroic.6740

[Astralporing.1957]

2 hours ago, kharmin.7683 said:

Exactly.  Just like the dozens of previous threads on this topic.

Unlike most other threads this one made some serious suggestions to solving that issue apart from the usual "just ban them all" one. For example the idea that autoattack should not kick in automatically, but only after first manual input while in combat (so, the way that most of the skills already work) is a really good one. The idea that minions should work the same way (not automatically attack as a counter, but do that only after you are engaged and made at least a single manual input) is good as well. Both of those would eliminate 95% of all AFK farming without hurting legitimate, active players.

12 minutes ago, Heroic.6740 said:

I'm not saying AFK farming should be allowed, i'm trying to say if you are on your computer and your character can cast auto or has minions that can clear mobs without touching the keyboard; you can't force the people "Fully focused gameplay"...

Indeed. So the point would be to make it so your autocasts cannot support unattended gameplay so easily.

Edited March 11 by Astralporing.1957

[Trejgon.9367]

4 hours ago, kiroho.4738 said:

Change boon participation so that you have to hit an enemy at least once before boons participation count. Also let boon participation only count when applied while in combat.

The weird part is that this is the change they already did many years ago, and that is how the system is supposed to work if we go by documented changes. it just broke some time ago with no comment from AN on it.

(there is whole section of farming "tag" builds" that only exists because of needing to hit at least once to get shared participation.

[bq pd.2148]

3 minutes ago, Lord Trejgon.2809 said:

The weird part is that this is the change they already did many years ago, and that is how the system is supposed to work if we go by documented changes. it just broke some time ago with no comment from AN on it.

(there is whole section of farming "tag" builds" that only exists because of needing to hit at least once to get shared participation.

they did many changes for kill participation of support players in WvW that they might have put into pve too. support players that focus on supporting instead of tagging everything shouldn't miss out after all, especially as we do have weapons with ally targeting now.

[Trejgon.9367]

1 minute ago, bq pd.2148 said:

they did many changes for kill participation of support players in WvW that they might have put into pve too. support players that focus on supporting instead of tagging everything shouldn't miss out after all, especially as we do have weapons with ally targeting now.

True that was a common complaint of WvW supports on that subject (heck I was among them too), but the change to participation in kills in WvW came as far as I am aware just as unannounced as it came into PvE. I just started getting drops from zerg fights on my zergbrand and about same time, people on guild chats started freaking out that afk boonbot heralds are working again for PvE. No patch notes attached, it just happened.

[Heroic.6740]

21 minutes ago, Astralporing.1957 said:

Unlike most other threads this one made some serious suggestions to solving that issue apart from the usual "just ban them all" one. For example the idea that autoattack should not kick in automatically, but only after first manual input while in combat (so, the way that most of the skills already work) is a really good one. The idea that minions should work the same way (not automatically attack as a counter, but do that only after you are engaged and made at least a single manual input) is good as well. Both of those would eliminate 95% of all AFK farming without hurting legitimate, active players.

Indeed. So the point would be to make it so your autocasts cannot support unattended gameplay so easily.

Just a captcha will fix it easily;  (if your characters x,y,z coordinates same for 15 mins, show a captcha..)

Edited March 11 by Heroic.6740

[uberkingkong.8041]

People on the interstate going 75 on a 60 speed limit is outta control too.

[kharmin.7683]

20 minutes ago, uberkingkong.8041 said:

People on the interstate going 75 on a 60 speed limit is outta control too.

Report and move on.

[Bollocks.4078]

4 hours ago, Heroic.6740 said:

I don't agree with you. While I was doing research for my thesis, my necromancer was farming with the autocast of greatsword and with her minions on my next screen and it's a game mechanic that im not using any third party applications. There is no macro something that im using and i am moving my character before afk timer. Should I be banned too? 

The part I bolded is clearly a violation of the policy on unattended gameplay.  You are using auto cast while not actively playing the game.

[Forum Moderator.3419]

Hi everyone,
If you witness any of these acts while playing, please submit an in-game report or a ticket to our Customer Support team, so they can properly investigate the matter.
Regards.