Botting Necro's/Engineers lowering my enjoyment of the game.

[Abakk.9176]

@Blocki.4931 said:Yeah, I don't see why they don't permaban people for something extremely minor either.Minor....?@Blocki.4931 said:Idk, I'll keep my low effort Scale farm up, I refuse to pay 10 silver per piece ;)... ah right, okay ...'minor' ;)@Blocki.4931 said:"Blocking off parts of the game" is so incredibly generic. You're just angry because these people aren't actively playing,Im annoyed that they ruin a small part of the game for me and probably a few others. In the southern part of Queensdale there is a small bandit camp where the mobs spawn and defend their camp when you attack. It's quite fun to attack and evade and often attrackts other people joining in. Its a fun little skirmish when your character is very low level.

But last few days there are 3 Necro's there (with Mastery numbers around 240) that are bunched up in front of the tent where all the mobs spawn... basically rendering that area unusable for others. That is what annoys me... not whether there are people there or not.

But yeah, im also against sucking the marrow out of games like that. Call me weird.

@Blocki.4931 said:but what should they do besides banning? Make minions die after a certain amount of time? Scripts and macros that do more than 1 thing per button press aren'tallowed, fully automated even less. It would be easier to detect people actually using programs that way I guess.

Im not Anet, am i? Im just here reporting something that reeks of abusing the system to me while at the same time ruining a small part of the game.

@Blocki.4931 said:By your logic, a person that is 100% there and actively presses buttons, thus killing all mobs and denying everybody else a kill or credit on it does the very same. So it is okay for people to do it by pressing 1 or just putting something on their 1 key to keep it pressed but if they are AFK in any other it's like they just committed the first sin?

Well obviously nobody has the patients to 'press 1' for days on end. But then again, they don't need to because thankfully they can abuse ingame mechanics for that.Meanwhile i'll just keep reporting them. Maybe one day i'll run into your 'low effort scale farm'.

[Abakk.9176]

@Fallesafe.5932 said:

@"Abakk.9176" said:And i realise im kicking against some peoples ingame businesses, looking at some of the responses :)

I've never:

1) played a necro.2) played an engineer.3) "botted"4) "macroed"

... in all the time I've played this game.Why do you feel the need to defend yourself? I didn't mention names, did i?

@Fallesafe.5932 said:I just don't understand how your "enjoyment of the game" could

possibly

hinge on some trifling pocket of open world trash-mobs in the corner of some loser zone nobody goes to unless they have a quest to finish.

Like i just explained in the message above this one. I enjoy battling these area's... it's part of why i like this game. I come through there often because i enjoy leveling characters.

But why could you possibly be so annoyed at someone that is annoyed about gameplay destroying mechanics in "some trifling pocket of open world trash-mobs in the corner of some loser zone" ?

[reddie.5861]

i used to do it, why? because i dunno i made like 10/20/30 gold in a few hours while spending time with my kid..nowadays its more likely 3/4g a hour but hey who cares..

u see i can say u enjoy killing these mobs, sure i believe u but what i dont believe is that u exactly needed these few mobs to have ur joy ingame.tbh, i played so many mmo's every single one of them has botters REAL botters that move and go around objects and farm all day long like a boss..these dont even bother me anymore cus its just the way its, mmo's come with bots end of story.

top of that when i do play my self in same spot as i stand afk i make so much more gold and so much faster so u can join me easily and tag same mobs as me and still enjoy your game play.

tho i dont bother anymore doing it nowadays have had it with current meta in gw2 so to lazy to even log to afk farm :p atleast i dont use macro so eventually if im not checking from time to time i get kicked out of game

[Bloodstealer.5978]

@reddie.5861 said:i used to do it, why? because i dunno i made like 10/20/30 gold in a few hours while spending time with my kid..nowadays its more likely 3/4g a hour but hey who cares..

u see i can say u enjoy killing these mobs, sure i believe u but what i dont believe is that u exactly needed these few mobs to have ur joy ingame.tbh, i played so many mmo's every single one of them has botters REAL botters that move and go around objects and farm all day long like a boss..these dont even bother me anymore cus its just the way its, mmo's come with bots end of story.

top of that when i do play my self in same spot as i stand afk i make so much more gold and so much faster so u can join me easily and tag same mobs as me and still enjoy your game play.

tho i dont bother anymore doing it nowadays have had it with current meta in gw2 so to lazy to even log to afk farm :p atleast i dont use macro so eventually if im not checking from time to time i get kicked out of game

It's not just about those few mobs.. its anywhere where there are clusters of respawns..normally in heart quest areas like rankor ruins, which incidentally also has a repeat event that spawns a lot of mobs for those mats.Then there is the economy effect and that is a much worse issue for the game.You like to think a few people doing it.. wrong there are 000's doing it now and its getting worse.Closing off map sections for mass farming is just poor game management by ANET imo. Its shows a very low regard for their product and ToS when they choose to ignore it like they do.There is even a single necro hugging an ice wall in Bitterfrost just killing a respawning fly and he's been there for like a week or two.. is that normal gameplay, is it even remotely close to ngame enjoyment.. no its just someone AFK macro'ing a f2p toon wherever they find a respawn they can exploit, no matter if it's 1 mob or 20 mobs.

[Bloodstealer.5978]

@"Galaa.8475" said:"slowly ruining the game", "running rampant", "slowly wrecking the game", frigging really? dramatic much?. This has such a minuscule effect on anything. Most of them are just farming Xp. I'm all over the maps daily. I hardly ever see them. maybe one every few maps. Anyway, just chill and play your game. Anet has already ruled on this and you're wasting your time reporting it. its a nothing burger. move on, nothing to see here.

lol farming XP.. I really don't think so... cos if it took me 6months to farm xp on 1 toon in the same spot 24/7.. I think i'd rather be finding other ways to kill my grey matter.As for miniscule.. no it's a lot bigger than that, that's why ANET choose to ignore it because to deal with it now its grown so large an issue would likely see larger numbers of players go elsewhere.

[Abakk.9176]

@reddie.5861 said:u see i can say u enjoy killing these mobs, sure i believe u but what i dont believe is that u exactly needed these few mobs to have ur joy ingame.It's not about me needing anything. It's about a questionable mechanism that spoils a nice little skirmish area. Last time i checked this game was about fighting badguys. Not about churning them into valuables by the thousands in a semi-automated process.@reddie.5861 said:tbh, i played so many mmo's every single one of them has botters REAL botters that move and go around objects and farm all day long like a boss..these dont even bother me anymore cus its just the way its, mmo's come with bots end of story.So you accept it and even join them and i don't. And to be honest, i don't really lose sleep over it but i do get highly annoyed when they start ruining nice stuff ingame that i enjoy.@reddie.5861 said:top of that when i do play my self in same spot as i stand afk i make so much more gold and so much faster so u can join me easily and tag same mobs as me and still enjoy your game play.I don't farm mobs like that for whatever reasons. I play this game for the RPG part, not for fake wealth.

[Drecien.4508]

What if anet put the respawns in place in areas so the "afk farmers" would be out of the way? I rarely see them anymore. Maybe they put some farms out of the way so it doesn't break the immersion?

[Abakk.9176]

Nice comments guys... sorry if i stepped on a few toes while pointing out a small flaw in the system.

I realise some of you buy everything ingame through income from farms. It's like that in every game.

I can't say i'm too fussed about it most of the time, although i find it a nono and won't be doing stuff like that myself.

But rest assured that when you park your farming behinds in front of my favorite passtime i'll kick it. No matter how tiny the effect.

Cheers folks! :)

[Ok I Did It.2854]

This wont be stopped unless its preventing an event/meta from starting/ending, Anet have said before that AFK farming isn't illegal aslong as its not a BOT doing it, however, if a spot becomes to rampant and or the rewards are to good then it will be nerfed, usually it results in the enemies that spawn in the location dropping no loot or XP, thus effectively killing the farm, there are some spots in CS that have this, no loot from enemies,

I have seen some afk farmers in locations that are really far out of the way on popular maps that no one bothers with, im not sure what they are farming as I watched them one day and the enemies only spawned every 60 or so seconds, so its not exactly efficient.

[Faaris.8013]

@"Ok I Did It.2854" said:I have seen some afk farmers in locations that are really far out of the way on popular maps that no one bothers with, im not sure what they are farming as I watched them one day and the enemies only spawned every 60 or so seconds, so its not exactly efficient.

afk farming is not about efficiency, it's about having the feeling of progress without actually playing a game. It's called idle game of clicker game:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incremental_game

I guess most idle gamers have macros set up so they don't actually have to click something every 60 seconds (if you watch them for 10 minutes and take times of skill activation, you'll see that the same skill is activated exactly after X amount of time, to 1/10 seconds accurate). Then there are some who have several clients runnning and play the game actively, while the other accounts idle farm for them. I've done that once in another game where you had to fight the same rogue over and over again to get that stupid dagger. I had two accounts and two computers. One account had a tank just standing at the rogue for days, while I clicked the attack button every few minutes when he respawned. I was playing actively with the other account, that way I could get the dagger without having to grind. I must say I got some messages on the idle account expressing pity over my way of spending free time. I explained a few times to people that I'm having a ball with my other account at the same time.

In any case, it makes a game look poor, but there are several reasons why Anet would tolerate it. Maybe they want to attract idle gamers in hopes that they will eventually start playing the game. Maybe they don't want to spend money on getting rid of them, and they are not enough to cause a problem (in Anet's point of view). I'm pretty sure if we all started doing it, and there were thousands of accounts doing nothing but idle gaming GW2, they would act on it. In my opinion, if players feel they need to do this, there is a flaw in the game's design, just like in that game I played where you had to farm that rogue.

This is an MMO game, and it should encourage people to play it actively.

[Zedek.8932]

@"Blocki.4931" said:That is a really odd thing to get upset about. They're not doing you any harm. If you run around the world killing everything on sight.. idk, might be the wrong game. A large majority of players ignores most enemies because they don't do anything anyway so why bother.

I occasionally afk farm as well to get lower tier mats, but at least I'm sitting next to it while I work or read.

Besides, you can never really know if they are there or not. If I don't want to be bothered I switch my chat to an empty tab and press # to remove it entirely. Never underestimate someone's ability to ignore everything while still being around somewhat. If they legitimately afk until they get kicked it's no harm done either

Excelsior.That's like blocking a parking space in a full/crowded parking lot while sitting in the car, doing nothing but reading or listening to music and then wondering why people honk at you and getting angry. "I dindu nuffing wrong"?

Sorry, that's not quite nice to say the least.

[Blocki.4931]

@Zedek.8932 said:

@"Blocki.4931" said:That is a really odd thing to get upset about. They're not doing you any harm. If you run around the world killing everything on sight.. idk, might be the wrong game. A large majority of players ignores most enemies because they don't do anything anyway so why bother.

I occasionally afk farm as well to get lower tier mats, but at least I'm sitting next to it while I work or read.

Besides, you can never really know if they are there or not. If I don't want to be bothered I switch my chat to an empty tab and press # to remove it entirely. Never underestimate someone's ability to ignore everything while still being around somewhat. If they legitimately afk until they get kicked it's no harm done either

Excelsior.That's like blocking a parking space in a full/crowded parking lot while sitting in the car, doing nothing but reading or listening to music and then wondering why people honk at you and getting angry. "I dindu nuffing wrong"?

Sorry, that's not quite nice to say the least.

Except that my being somewhere in a game does not block anybody from standing in the exact same spot and taking kill credit or just straight up killing mobs before they even aggro on me. You can't compare this to the real world, because in the example you brought up there would actually be something to complain about - the physical presence of my car that makes it impossible for others to be in the very same spot. Me being afk in a spot doesn't harm anybody - besides the mobs that will spawn every 20 or whatever seconds that might not even aggro for another 10.

[Voltekka.2375]

@Blocki.4931 said:

@Zedek.8932 said:

@Blocki.4931 said:That is a really odd thing to get upset about. They're not doing you any harm. If you run around the world killing everything on sight.. idk, might be the wrong game. A large majority of players ignores most enemies because they don't do anything anyway so why bother.

I occasionally afk farm as well to get lower tier mats, but at least I'm sitting next to it while I work or read.

Besides, you can never really know if they are there or not. If I don't want to be bothered I switch my chat to an empty tab and press # to remove it entirely. Never underestimate someone's ability to ignore everything while still being around somewhat. If they legitimately afk until they get kicked it's no harm done either

Excelsior.That's like blocking a parking space in a full/crowded parking lot while sitting in the car, doing nothing but reading or listening to music and then wondering why people honk at you and getting angry. "I dindu nuffing wrong"?

Sorry, that's not quite nice to say the least.

Except that my being somewhere in a game does not block anybody from standing in the exact same spot and taking kill credit or just straight up killing mobs before they even aggro on me. You can't compare this to the real world, because in the example you brought up there would actually be something to complain about - the physical presence of my car that makes it impossible for others to be in the very same spot. Me being afk in a spot doesn't harm anybody - besides the mobs that will spawn every 20 or whatever seconds that might not even aggro for another 10.

Nonono. Have you ever tried to hit low level mobs when theres 3-4 engies, full turrets and everything around? You can't. You just cant.

[MithranArkanere.8957]

This will not be fixed with measures like the annoying attacks in Lake Doric that affects players even more than AFK or semi-afk farmers.

The solution has to be one-size fits all. And it has to affect only AI-farming afk and quasy-afk players. For example, something like this:

Inquest Deadly Lunar Edifice

• Now when AI you control kills an enemy in open world areas. You get a hidden effect that stacks. This effect won't appear in the effects monitor.
  • Stacks go up when your AI kill enemies, and go down per hit when you hit enemies with your own skills, when moving (walking in place against a wall would not work) and are completely cleared up after 2min out of combat. This almost guarantees active players will never get enough stacks to trigger this mechanic, because they'd move more, hit enemies several times before AI kills them and leave combat more often.
• After gathering enough stacks, like 25 to 99, a skyhammer beam appears on the AFK player, and they hear the sound cue "Please stand still for science".
  • This beam will be phased to that player's client and hit only that player and their AI, so it will not be seen or affect anyone or anything else.
  • After a 5s charge up, the Skyhammer fires, killing the AI of the AFK player, downing them and disabling their skills for 5s. The area would not be as large as the PvP skyhammer. It'd be something like a 160 or 240 radius.
• In the update notes this change could appear as "There's rumors that Inquest have deployed ia skyhammer cannon on the moon and are testing it on unsuspecting idle people all across Tyria".

With something like this, it'd be extremely hard that it would trigger on players that are not AFK, even if it does trigger players that are not AFK can leave the area, and even if the stars align and someone does trigger the effect, get hit and downed, they can still be revived and go on their way. And if someone REALLY wants to stay semi-afk, they will get the "Please stand by for science" message to remind them to move once in a while.

Something like that should do it.

[Abakk.9176]

@Blocki.4931 said:Me being afk in a spot doesn't harm anybody - besides the mobs that will spawn every 20 or whatever seconds that might not even aggro for another 10.AND the ones that are actually playing the game but can't because 'AFK-poacher & Co.' are hogging the place and hampering the mechanics of the area.Ive described what happens. Denying the grass is green doesn't make it blue or any other color.

And the mobs aggro WAY faster than that.

[Pifil.5193]

@Abakk.9176 said:

@Blocki.4931 said:Me being afk in a spot doesn't harm anybody - besides the mobs that will spawn every 20 or whatever seconds that might not even aggro for another 10.AND the ones that are actually playing the game but can't because 'AFK-poacher & Co.' are hogging the place and hampering the mechanics of the area.Ive described what happens. Denying the grass is green doesn't make it blue or any other color.

And the mobs aggro WAY faster than that.

Surely, those who are playing the game can find places to go and things to do away from other players if that's their wish? I know I've never been blocked from playing by anyone else, regardless of whether they're AFK or not.

[Blocki.4931]

@Voltekka.2375 said:

@Blocki.4931 said:

@Zedek.8932 said:

@Blocki.4931 said:That is a really odd thing to get upset about. They're not doing you any harm. If you run around the world killing everything on sight.. idk, might be the wrong game. A large majority of players ignores most enemies because they don't do anything anyway so why bother.

I occasionally afk farm as well to get lower tier mats, but at least I'm sitting next to it while I work or read.

Besides, you can never really know if they are there or not. If I don't want to be bothered I switch my chat to an empty tab and press # to remove it entirely. Never underestimate someone's ability to ignore everything while still being around somewhat. If they legitimately afk until they get kicked it's no harm done either

Excelsior.That's like blocking a parking space in a full/crowded parking lot while sitting in the car, doing nothing but reading or listening to music and then wondering why people honk at you and getting angry. "I dindu nuffing wrong"?

Sorry, that's not quite nice to say the least.

Except that my being somewhere in a game does not block anybody from standing in the exact same spot and taking kill credit or just straight up killing mobs before they even aggro on me. You can't compare this to the real world, because in the example you brought up there would actually be something to complain about - the physical presence of my car that makes it impossible for others to be in the very same spot. Me being afk in a spot doesn't harm anybody - besides the mobs that will spawn every 20 or whatever seconds that might not even aggro for another 10.

Nonono. Have you ever tried to hit low level mobs when theres 3-4 engies, full turrets and everything around? You can't. You just cant.

I've never seen it that extreme, however I still do not believe that you not being able to kill 5 mobs that you would have NEVER even engaged in normal play would alter anybody's gameplay in any way at all - just something silly people can rage about because "muh gameplay". It's just so.. insignificant.

[Voltekka.2375]

@Blocki.4931 said:

@Voltekka.2375 said:

@Blocki.4931 said:

@Zedek.8932 said:

@Blocki.4931 said:That is a really odd thing to get upset about. They're not doing you any harm. If you run around the world killing everything on sight.. idk, might be the wrong game. A large majority of players ignores most enemies because they don't do anything anyway so why bother.

I occasionally afk farm as well to get lower tier mats, but at least I'm sitting next to it while I work or read.

Besides, you can never really know if they are there or not. If I don't want to be bothered I switch my chat to an empty tab and press # to remove it entirely. Never underestimate someone's ability to ignore everything while still being around somewhat. If they legitimately afk until they get kicked it's no harm done either

Excelsior.That's like blocking a parking space in a full/crowded parking lot while sitting in the car, doing nothing but reading or listening to music and then wondering why people honk at you and getting angry. "I dindu nuffing wrong"?

Sorry, that's not quite nice to say the least.

Except that my being somewhere in a game does not block anybody from standing in the exact same spot and taking kill credit or just straight up killing mobs before they even aggro on me. You can't compare this to the real world, because in the example you brought up there would actually be something to complain about - the physical presence of my car that makes it impossible for others to be in the very same spot. Me being afk in a spot doesn't harm anybody - besides the mobs that will spawn every 20 or whatever seconds that might not even aggro for another 10.

Nonono. Have you ever tried to hit low level mobs when theres 3-4 engies, full turrets and everything around? You can't. You just cant.

I've never seen it that extreme, however I still do not believe that you not being able to kill 5 mobs that you would have NEVER even engaged in normal play would alter anybody's gameplay in any way at all - just something silly people can rage about because "muh gameplay". It's just so.. insignificant.

Well, we agree! If its so insignificant, maybe you should stop doing it! Unless you like doing insignificant stuff...

[artemis.6781]

@Abakk.9176 said:

@"Blocki.4931" said:Me being afk in a spot doesn't harm anybody - besides the mobs that will spawn every 20 or whatever seconds that might not even aggro for another 10.AND the ones that are actually playing the game but can't because 'AFK-poacher & Co.' are hogging the place and hampering the mechanics of the area.Ive described what happens. Denying the grass is green doesn't make it blue or any other color.

And the mobs aggro WAY faster than that.

And you know you can tag those mobs too? Or has this simple solution alluded you? AOEs, traps, marks all work wonders. This game has no "steal kill".

[FrizzFreston.5290]

While I wouldnt stop playing the game over what stuff other people are doing, I do wish there werent any afk farmers. Multiple times when I want to farm some mats theyre there which just makes me not be there. And I definitely dont get any enjoyment out of joining them so I wont do that.

As long as ArenaNet isnt able or willing to take the steps to get rid of it, it will persist.

Last time I checked though, they just nerf the loot, so just ruining the farm rather than the method of the farm.

[Abakk.9176]

@artemis.6781 said:

@Abakk.9176 said:

@"Blocki.4931" said:Me being afk in a spot doesn't harm anybody - besides the mobs that will spawn every 20 or whatever seconds that might not even aggro for another 10.AND the ones that are actually playing the game but can't because 'AFK-poacher & Co.' are hogging the place and hampering the mechanics of the area.Ive described what happens. Denying the grass is green doesn't make it blue or any other color.

And the mobs aggro WAY faster than that.

And you know you can tag those mobs too? Or has this simple solution alluded you? AOEs, traps, marks all work wonders. This game has no "steal kill".

Oh really? ...interesting... too bad that that is not what this is about.

[Obtena.7952]

I think the OP has missed something .. this isn't new and Anet already has had a discussion with players about this. There are lots of things in the game people don't like. Some of them you just have to get past yourself.

I get it ... AFK farming has a perception of cheating linked to it. Anet deals with it in their way. Report what you see and move on.

[Abakk.9176]

@Obtena.7952 said:I think the OP has missed something .. this isn't new and Anet already has had a discussion with players about this. There are lots of things in the game people don't like. Some of them you just have to get past yourself.

I get it ... AFK farming has a perception of cheating linked to it. Anet deals with it in their way. Report what you see and move on.

Like i already said a couple of times... it's not the AFK farming that is bothering me. It's the fact that they claim a small area for their own use and effectively block off other players from content.

@Obtena.7952 said:Anet deals with it in their way.

So do i :)

[OneYenShort.3189]

Cries like this remind me of "DON'T KILL MY AMBIENTS!!!1!11!!!1" that used to happen constantly.

Ah, remember the days?

[Shikigami.4013]

Why are there so many people spouting nonsense in these threads and why is it getting worse and worse? ANet has never said AFK farming is ok and it does not just have "the percption of cheating linked to it" but rather is clearly not allowed. Why do I need to provide the links to the statement of Arenanet game security lead Chris Cleary again and again and again while it has been well over a year that he confirmed that it is not allowed and that your account is actionable if they confirm you do it?

And these are the three key points that need to apply for it do be actual AFK farming and not just accidentally standing around somewhere being afk while pets/turrets/minions kill something:

1) Using skill (1 or more) while AFK2) AFKing in a place where it is beneficial for your character to be at3) Unresponsive to interaction with GMs

Point 1 applies to all of the people this thread is about, you only need to check the title to see that. Also the OP would not have asked for them to time out if the chars he meant wouldn't do it continously without timing out.Point 2 applies to all of the people this thread is about, you only need to check the first sentence to see that. Being in an area with spawning mobs is beneficial for your char in multiple ways (pretty much none of these people do it for XP though)Point 3 has to be determined by ArenaNet staff, and for that to happen those chars are being reported.

Why do some people NOT care about cheaters and exploiters so they are not reporting them, but they DO care so much about people reporting them that they have to post in these threads about how they are not reporting them and they can't understand why others are reporting them? Hypocritical much? If you care so little about other players in game because you feel it does not affect you, why care so much about what others say on the forum. It doesn't affect you at all either.

And lastly, the source for the eternal naysayers and unbelievers that the three points I wrote further up are the actual official ArenaNet criteria: Chris Cleary (Head of game security) 2016-05-18, 19:58:36 UTC