What are these guys AFK farming for?

[Syrcaid.8591]

I usually see only one or two Necros here at this very spot when I'm map completing. What are they gathering here?

[Randulf.7614]

I stumbled across these groups quite recently. I couldn't quite suss it out - whether it was dust or something else the ghosts dropped that has a rarer value. I left them to it none the wiser

[Westenev.5289]

They're farming luminous dust from Ghosts. It's not particuarly labour intensive (engineer turrets are autonomous, but will detonate after x amount of time and can't be autoplaced), and the profits aren't anything to write home about. It is, however, a great way to make a little gold while watching your favourite youtube/netflix video.

[Just a flesh wound.3589]

Necros’ also farm dust and other drops from Sparks in Malchor’s Leap.

Either way, that type of playing is about as boring as I can imagine.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

@Just a flesh wound.3589 said:Necros’ also farm dust and other drops from Sparks in Malchor’s Leap.

Either way, that type of playing is about as boring as I can imagine.

Try promoting 4 stacks of charged cores to lodestones. I've got the system down pat, so it's quick, but it's still dullllllllllllllllllllllll. (oh sorry, fell asleep pressing that last key, just imagining doing it again)

[DeWolfe.2174]

@Just a flesh wound.3589 said:Necros’ also farm dust and other drops from Sparks in Malchor’s Leap.

Either way, that type of playing is about as boring as I can imagine.

That's interesting because I find farming productive and meaningful compared to running circles on a map's event chain or Meta Event.

[Shikigami.4013]

It's odd that you say you usually see only a few necros there, because whenever I pass that spot there are always engis and almost never necros. The ghosts spawn in a wide area so that an engi turret with its long range is much more effective there than a necro, because minions do not autonomously attack mobs that far away.

[Just a flesh wound.3589]

@DeWolfe.2174 said:

@Just a flesh wound.3589 said:Necros’ also farm dust and other drops from Sparks in Malchor’s Leap.

Either way, that type of playing is about as boring as I can imagine.

That's interesting because I find farming productive and meaningful compared to running circles on a map's event chain or Meta Event.

You find being semi afk for hours at a stretch as a minion master necro or turret engineer (which is what this conversation is about) productive and meaningful??

To each his own I guess.

[kapri.5918]

They were there a week ago...really boring way to farm one item...you guys never moved despite all the other ghosts roaming around...and in other areas..good luck though...

[sephiroth.4217]

They were there the other day, just finished map completion..

My friend saw them there a while back too

They the group next to the heart with the wall destroying throw rocks in the river or something with ghosts spawning everywhere

[kapri.5918]

@sephiroth.4217 said:They were there the other day, just finished map completion..

My friend saw them there a while back too

They the group next to the heart with the wall destroying throw rocks in the river or something with ghosts spawning everywhere

The curious thing is that the area there has ghosts but not that many...where as if you go north and slightly east you will find some old ruins there with a lot more in number...so sitting here and seeing the article and then reading the reason why they are doing it befuddles me...farming but doing it in the slowest way possible...ok...they're not even moving. I don't know...I guess the respawn rate gives them some sort of justification...I guess...

[sephiroth.4217]

@kapri.5918 said:

@sephiroth.4217 said:They were there the other day, just finished map completion..

My friend saw them there a while back too

They the group next to the heart with the wall destroying throw rocks in the river or something with ghosts spawning everywhere

The curious thing is that the area there has ghosts but not that many...where as if you go north and slightly east you will find some old ruins there with a lot more in number...so sitting here and seeing the article and then reading the reason why they are doing it befuddles me...farming but doing it in the slowest way possible...ok...they're not even moving. I don't know...I guess the respawn rate gives them some sort of justification...I guess...

I think I know the ruins but yea confusing to be farming that spot... maybe the other spot kills minions and towers?

[kapri.5918]

The only issue with the ruins I am talking about is that they have a few veterans, cannons, and some ghostly trebuchets in the area. So if you were farming alone you would have to be on your toes as it would be a challenge. With a group like this though they could easily exploit the area without fear.

[Shikigami.4013]

You can be reasonably sure that there is a good reason they choose this spot. Be it LOS issues in the ruins you mention, or just simply because this is the spot where everyone else is, so that mobs die quicker just by the combined turret damage of many people.

Also don't forget that probably none of them chooses to do this "instead" of farming the conventional way while sitting in front of the screen staring at their char and being bored. Of course they will not do this when they play normally, they do it in addition to playing normally, at times when they can't (or don't want to) pay enough attention to the game.

When I came back to the game after a 1 year break and noticed how much karma and unbound magic I need to buy all that stuff from the living world S3 maps that I missed to farm while being away, I also started parking a necro at a spot where I can get a slow but relatively steady income of those currencies. That char is farming there often when I take breaks from regular play, check the forums on another screen or eat, or any other reason/activity that won't let me pay enough attention to run around on the map. And I can tell you, the naysayers who keep claiming "ANet doesn't care", "ANet won't do anything anyway" etc. are wrong. Those spots are being checked by GMs to see who is actually afk and who is there, speaking from personal experience. Don't assume you can just park a char there, not be at the PC and get away with it.

[kapri.5918]

I have nothing against how they choose to farm. It's weird and kind of counter productive to what I know about farming and how I would go about it but ultimately it's their choice in how they want to play. I honestly do not consider something like this in any way rule breaking so I do not know if that is something people are complaining about. If this is what they choose then so be it...still weird though.

[Shikigami.4013]

It is rule breaking if you are using skills (doesn't have to be through a "bot", ingame autocast function to use skills counts too) and actually are afk (meaning you fail to give a reaction to a GM when they check if you are there or not).

(If it was not against the rules to do it while afk, a GM would not have any reason to actually check if people are afk either) ;)

[Dayra.7405]

A typical multi-boxing application, isn‘t it? You place a bunch of alt‘s here and play your main somewhere else?

[Bloodstealer.5978]

@Westenev.5289 said:They're farming luminous dust from Ghosts. It's not particuarly labour intensive (engineer turrets are autonomous, but will detonate after x amount of time and can't be autoplaced), and the profits aren't anything to write home about. It is, however, a great way to make a little gold while watching your favourite youtube/netflix video.

That particular group has been there for a very long time.. must be a really long video or highly worth watching over and over.Dust is profitable that is why they have been there so long. This is nothing new, ANET doesn't do anything about it and wont e happy until every map is covered knee deep in this behaviour.Just report as many as you can if you want, but you can be sure they will still be there tomorrow and the next day and the next day....

[Bloodstealer.5978]

@Just a flesh wound.3589 said:Necros’ also farm dust and other drops from Sparks in Malchor’s Leap.

Either way, that type of playing is about as boring as I can imagine.

Except of course they are not really playing the game are they lets be honest about it, but ANET are cool with this kind of behaviour so it only gets more prolific.

[Shikigami.4013]

@"Bloodstealer.5978" Not sure if you read the whole thread but I specifically stated just a few posts before you that despite people keep claiming this, it is simply not true that ANET does "not do anything". As I said, I experienced the afk-checks myself, and anyone who keeps appearing at these spots again and again most definitely will have been checked numerous times already as well. The first check I experienced was already on the third day of me being at one of these spots.

As for the "they are cool with this kind of behaviour": They have no choice other than to be cool with any behaviour that does not break the rules. The rules are if you stand there and cast skills (like recasting the self-destructing turrets every 5 minutes) you are not allowed to be away, so that you can react to a GM checking you. Obviously all those people who keep standing there for weeks or months pass these checks, just like I will pass the checks with my necro because like the others, I am not really afk.

I do not doubt that there are people who try this and actually go afk. Those will be caught sooner or later, when they happen to be away when checked.

[Bloodstealer.5978]

@Shikigami.4013 said:@"Bloodstealer.5978" Not sure if you read the whole thread but I specifically stated just a few posts before you that despite people keep claiming this, it is simply not true that ANET does "not do anything". As I said, I experienced the afk-checks myself, and anyone who keeps appearing at these spots again and again most definitely will have been checked numerous times already as well. The first check I experienced was already on the third day of me being at one of these spots.

As for the "they are cool with this kind of behaviour": They have no choice other than to be cool with any behaviour that does not break the rules. The rules are if you stand there and cast skills (like recasting the self-destructing turrets every 5 minutes) you are not allowed to be away, so that you can react to a GM checking you. Obviously all those people who keep standing there for weeks or months pass these checks, just like I will pass the checks with my necro because like the others, I am not really afk.

I do not doubt that there are people who try this and actually go afk. Those will be caught sooner or later, when they happen to be away when checked.

As I said.. they do nothing because its an acceptable behaviour to them to have maps littered with large groups of AFK farmers.. makes for a great game.

[Shikigami.4013]

@"Bloodstealer.5978" Are you intentionally misunderstanding or do you just have a broken understanding of "afk-farming"? AFK-Farming is not acceptable and they do something about it.

What they in fact do nothing about is people standing there farming while paying little attention and not bothering to move. It is not afk-farming as long as they are not afk. You seem to have a problem with both, and intentionally slap the term "afk-farming" on both behaviours while your statements only apply to one of them.

[Bloodstealer.5978]

@Shikigami.4013 said:@"Bloodstealer.5978" Are you intentionally misunderstanding or do you just have a broken understanding of "afk-farming"? AFK-Farming is not acceptable and they do something about it.

What they in fact do nothing about is people standing there farming while paying little attention and not bothering to move. It is not afk-farming as long as they are not afk. You seem to have a problem with both, and intentionally slap the term "afk-farming" on both behaviours while your statements only apply to one of them.

No I have a very clear understanding of it.. unless of course you think that particular group posted by the OP have been attentive farming for the number of weeks they have been there.. and I don't just mean a few hours a day, I mean constant.. I have reported some of those players (not all cos you just cant click on them).. and there are many more groups just like that across most maps nowadays.You can try to deflect and smokescreen as much as you like, you might do it on and off for a bit and take a chance but many more obviously don't but nothing is being done to curb the behaviour.

[Shikigami.4013]

@"Bloodstealer.5978" said:nothing is being done to curb the behaviour.

So I like "deflecting" (what?) and "smokescreening" (what?), I see. Because I state facts that you don't like, which I know to be facts because of firsthand experience.Whatever. You will just choose to stick to your baseless assumption (there is no way for you to know if Arenanet is doing nothing, but there is a way for me to know that they are doing something). Even if a GM came in here and state they are checking people for being afk, you would still say the same things. Done with this conversation.

[Obtena.7952]

@DeWolfe.2174 said:

@Just a flesh wound.3589 said:Necros’ also farm dust and other drops from Sparks in Malchor’s Leap.

Either way, that type of playing is about as boring as I can imagine.

That's interesting because I find farming productive and meaningful compared to running circles on a map's event chain or Meta Event.

For reals? I guess people like that old school MMO experience.