What are these guys AFK farming for?

[kapri.5918]

@Obtena.7952 said:

@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.

Old school MMOs did not have quick respawn rates like this game has. Nor would we sit still.

[Obtena.7952]

@kapri.5918 said:

@Obtena.7952 said:

@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.

Old school MMOs did not have quick respawn rates like this game has. Nor would we sit still.

That's an untrue generalization. My point here is that if you want that kind of experience, why would you play GW2?

[Dante.1763]

@Obtena.7952 said:

@kapri.5918 said:

@Obtena.7952 said:

@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.

Old school MMOs did not have quick respawn rates like this game has. Nor would we sit still.

That's an untrue generalization. My point here is that if you want that kind of experience, why would you play GW2?

Not to mention you can make far more money actively farming in Istan than you ever could AFKing in a spot.

@Shikigami.4013 said:

@"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.

The sad thing is, hes right, ive noticed more and more groups like this popping up in spots across a variety of Tyrian maps, and the vast majority of them have really bot sounding names( NOT A REAL NAME but for example Ranger One, Two, Three. ETC), and theyve been there for weeks, around the clock farming the same mobs no matter what time of day it is, and they never respond to people asking if they are real or bots.

[kapri.5918]

@Obtena.7952 said:

@kapri.5918 said:

@Obtena.7952 said:

@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.

Old school MMOs did not have quick respawn rates like this game has. Nor would we sit still.

That's an untrue generalization. My point here is that if you want that kind of experience, why would you play GW2?

Not an untrue generalization...maybe unfair but definitely not untrue. WoW, Everquest I and II, etc (which I have played) are well known to have had certain lengths to their respawn rate that measured in a minute or more. And (in particular WoW) enemy npcs were not really close to each other to where you could sit in one spot and farm a good/fair amount of them for an item that drops from them. But the thing is that old school MMOs rarely exist anymore. Blizzard is bringing back Vanilla WoW with the same experience so if you want to understand what I am talking about that would be the best source to see. I don't mind the old school MMOs...kind of prefer them more, but the reason why I am here is not only because GW2 is a good game but I am not spending an extra amount of money for a game I already paid for. I don't have to spend money on a subscription.

[Obtena.7952]

@kapri.5918 said:

@Obtena.7952 said:

@kapri.5918 said:

@Obtena.7952 said:

@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.

Old school MMOs did not have quick respawn rates like this game has. Nor would we sit still.

That's an untrue generalization. My point here is that if you want that kind of experience, why would you play GW2?

Not an untrue generalization...maybe unfair but definitely not untrue. WoW, Everquest I and II, etc (which I have played) are well known to have had certain lengths to their respawn rate that measured in a minute or more. And (in particular WoW) enemy npcs were not really close to each other to where you could sit in one spot and farm a good/fair amount of them for an item that drops from them. But the thing is that old school MMOs rarely exist anymore. Blizzard is bringing back Vanilla WoW with the same experience so if you want to understand what I am talking about that would be the best source to see. I don't mind the old school MMOs...kind of prefer them more, but the reason why I am here is not only because GW2 is a good game but I am not spending an extra amount of money for a game I already paid for. I don't have to spend money on a subscription.

No, it's untrue ... I've played older MMO's that don't have lengthy respawn rates. Those MMOs you played aren't the only ones that exist.

[toucan.6358]

They are afk farming, its 1 or 2 guys with alot off accounts who do this for tens of hours at a row, every day, all the time. On EU there are usually only like 4 necros, autocasting greatsword 4. Then theres like 15+ engis standing in a ball with all their turrets out, turrets despawn after x amount of time so you have to refresh them, this cant be done with autocast so they macro their turret skills so they refresh automatically on all accounts at a preset timer. Some people say its okay, some people want them banned.

Technically they are afk farming, they are not actively playing the game, they have macros set to refresh their turrets, which is breaching the TOS, you are not allowed to have macros that effect more then 1 account and that is triggering more then 1 spell. Even if they would answer when a dev messaging them its not active play and i can guarantee you they are not aware of what is happening ingame.

Anet say they take afk farming and inactive farming serious, and that they are serious offences, but they dont. I can guarantee you the GMs or devs who are supposed to check on these players dont even work in weekends. Also the way they track these players to see if they are active or not is pathetic, message them? seriously, are you telling me they are standing at the same spot for ten of hours and refresh their skills manually, yeah.... no.

If you hiring Anet give me a message, im sure i can purge more afk farmers then you ever have.

[toucan.6358]

They could easily prevent people from afk farming by reworking minions and turrets. But they are either:1) to lazy to rework skills2) dont care

[Obtena.7952]

@toucan.6358 said:They could easily prevent people from afk farming by reworking minions and turrets. But they are either:1) to lazy to rework skills2) dont care

or 3) have other ways to deal with it that you are ignoring or don't know about.

[toucan.6358]

Its considered botting even if u are afking somewhere in the game where mob spawns, you dont even have to use spells. Its considered botting if u are afking anywhere in the game where people are fighting.

The guys who run up the walls at east side of Auric Basin event, the ones who hit the boss once then afk for the rest of the fight, They are not actively partaking in the meta and still get loot, for others people work. This makes them subjects for botting aswell.

[toucan.6358]

@Obtena.7952 said:

@toucan.6358 said:They could easily prevent people from afk farming by reworking minions and turrets. But they are either:1) to lazy to rework skills2) dont care

or 3) have other ways to deal with it that you are ignoring or don't know about.

I mean i'm just a normal person so my words mean nothing, Maybe you know better. How would you deal with it?.

These guys have been here for years and nothing drastically has happened to them. Unless they frequently get banned and go get 278 mastery points directly after, because some of them got 250+ mastery points.

Also suspension times increase after your first supension so these guys should be subjects for account termination.

[Obtena.7952]

Wait ... you have actual DATA to suggest Anet is n't doing anything about this problem ... or your just falling back on a 'normal person' argument here?

I think the bottomline is that you and others shouldn't be so quick to decide Anet's disposition towards this activity. You just assume the worst because you don't like how it's being handled. The FACT is that you don't know what Anet does and your just inventing what you believe is happening.

[toucan.6358]

@Obtena.7952 said:Wait ... you have actual DATA to suggest Anet is n't doing anything about this problem ... or your just falling back on a 'normal person' argument here?

Only Anet have data, i dont work for Anet. But i have got to speak with this games support enough to understand the way they handle afk farmers is non-existant, and to determine whether someone is afk-farming with a single private message is laughable, a message which could easily be missed by scrollback or other human factors. I guess all the proof you need is the same 15+ engis standing at the exact spot 24/7 with macros.

[hugo.4705]

Currently, you can do a simple thing to stop afk farming, it's named changing drops. It happened in the western ghost ruins within harathi hinterlands, I can assure that the number of farmers decreased / disapeared. Some peoples farming intensivly a group of mobs? Easy: 0 material drop from those mobs.

But afk farmers don't realize... if using several skills in same times (macro) is not allowed, nobody really care of that. To avoid them from profits, you prevent players to have loot too. Because the best solution is to remove drops from those mobs.

So everyone will have his own opinion, but we have to deal with that and farm somewhere else. (Speaking as someone farming radiant dust to craft guild decos)

[kapri.5918]

Well, if you log in and go to that same spot they are probably still there...they certainly were a couple of hours ago.

[toucan.6358]

Anet have reworked other spells in the game, now maybe you can explain how reworking turrets and minions wouldnt make afk farmers disappear. A necromancer wont survive solely by autocasting greatsword which has quite a lengthy cooldown, its the minions that makes him survive. A pack of 15+ engis are never going to die, because theres 15+ healing turrets and 45+ other turrets.

No other ways to fix it.Edit: changing drops could work but they would just move elsewhere, so not really.

[Randulf.7614]

@kapri.5918 said:

@Obtena.7952 said:

@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.

Old school MMOs did not have quick respawn rates like this game has. Nor would we sit still.

Haha i remember in Anarchy Online using max toons camping these alien cats for a chance at decent armour for mid level alts. Everyone descended on the spawns (every 20-30 mins) knowing that only the highest dps wins, with everyone moving in readiness as spawn time came closer...

I dont miss those days, but i appreciate players want to play that way sometimes, so leave them to it whrn i see these gsrming clusters. I never report them - it is their time and it doesnt impact on me

[Westenev.5289]

@toucan.6358 said:Its considered botting even if u are afking somewhere in the game where mob spawns, you dont even have to use spells. Its considered botting if u are afking anywhere in the game where people are fighting.

The guys who run up the walls at east side of Auric Basin event, the ones who hit the boss once then afk for the rest of the fight, They are not actively partaking in the meta and still get loot, for others people work. This makes them subjects for botting aswell.

Uhm? Bots can use skills too, and even without bots, we have area of effect skills that can be autocast for very little downtime (for example, Necromancer staff symbols or Ranger traps).

For reference:

Botting is where you get a third party program to run your character for you. This is not okay.

Afk farming is where you park yourself in an advantageous spot where you could sit comfortably overnight autocasting skills. This is also not okay.

Inattentive farming is where you park yourself in an advantageous spot and come back every five minutes to check on it. This is okay (or, at least, a grey area).

If sitting around and letting other people do the footwork for you was a bannable offense, 3/4's of the people who do the Shadow Behemoth World Boss would be banned for afkfarming instead of hunting down portals.

[toucan.6358]

@Randulf.7614 said:

@kapri.5918 said:

@Obtena.7952 said:

@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.

Old school MMOs did not have quick respawn rates like this game has. Nor would we sit still.

Haha i remember in Anarchy Online using max toons camping these alien cats for a chance at decent armour for mid level alts. Everyone descended on the spawns (every 20-30 mins) knowing that only the highest dps wins, with everyone moving in readiness as spawn time came closer...

I dont miss those days, but i appreciate players want to play that way sometimes, so leave them to it whrn i see these gsrming clusters. I never report them - it is their time and it doesnt impact on me

If thats your mentality do you think Anet should make afk farming allowed then and remove it from their tos.

[toucan.6358]

@Westenev.5289 said:

@"toucan.6358" said:Its considered botting even if u are afking somewhere in the game where mob spawns, you dont even have to use spells. Its considered botting if u are afking anywhere in the game where people are fighting.

The guys who run up the walls at east side of Auric Basin event, the ones who hit the boss once then afk for the rest of the fight, They are not actively partaking in the meta and still get loot, for others people work. This makes them subjects for botting aswell.

Uhm? Bots can use skills too, and even without bots, we have area of effect skills that can be autocast for very little downtime (for example, Necromancer staff symbols or Ranger traps).

For reference:

Botting is where you get a third party program to run your character for you. This is not okay.

Afk farming is where you park yourself in an advantageous spot overnight autocasting skills. This is also not okay.

Inattentive farming is where you park yourself in an advantageous spot and come back every five minutes to check on it. This is okay (or, at least, a grey area).

If sitting around and letting other people do the footwork for you was a bannable offense, 3/4's of the people who do the Shadow Behemoth World Boss would be banned for afkfarming instead of hunting down portals.

This is a quote from one of the GMs on Anet on gw2 subreddit recently, I will not include names since it may be not allowed:

"You need to be active and involved when you gain benefits in the game. So "afking while meta", if it gives you a benefit, is not okay. The game was made to be played, actively, by a person directing the actions directly."

So yes, afking during a meta does make you subject to suspensions.

Yes its a grey area, but it shoulnt be, if the GMs cant have strict guidelines that they can follow none should be subject to afk farming. Its not healthy for a game when GMs have their own personal guidelines which usually end up in them contradicting eachother and its unfair to the players.

[kapri.5918]

@Randulf.7614 said:

@kapri.5918 said:

@Obtena.7952 said:

@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.

Old school MMOs did not have quick respawn rates like this game has. Nor would we sit still.

Haha i remember in Anarchy Online using max toons camping these alien cats for a chance at decent armour for mid level alts. Everyone descended on the spawns (every 20-30 mins) knowing that only the highest dps wins, with everyone moving in readiness as spawn time came closer...

I dont miss those days, but i appreciate players want to play that way sometimes, so leave them to it whrn i see these gsrming clusters. I never report them - it is their time and it doesnt impact on me

Similar thing in Vanilla/TBC WoW. There were four WB at the time. Four Emerald Dragons that spawned around the world at certain times. Whole guilds would wait and fight over the Dragons. Talk about people losing their minds.

[Randulf.7614]

@toucan.6358 said:

@Randulf.7614 said:

@kapri.5918 said:

@Obtena.7952 said:

@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.

Old school MMOs did not have quick respawn rates like this game has. Nor would we sit still.

Haha i remember in Anarchy Online using max toons camping these alien cats for a chance at decent armour for mid level alts. Everyone descended on the spawns (every 20-30 mins) knowing that only the highest dps wins, with everyone moving in readiness as spawn time came closer...

I dont miss those days, but i appreciate players want to play that way sometimes, so leave them to it whrn i see these gsrming clusters. I never report them - it is their time and it doesnt impact on me

If thats your mentality do you think Anet should make afk farming allowed then and remove it from their tos.

I have no interest in whether they should remove it or not - thats not a decision I am qualified to make. What they do simply doesn't bother me. Hackers, genuine botting now that is different, but using minions to pick up loot for them, im happy to let them be. Would i do it myself? No, because i dont cheapen my own play when i have better things to do, but i dont hold others to that standard either.

[toucan.6358]

@Randulf.7614 said:

@toucan.6358 said:

@Randulf.7614 said:

@kapri.5918 said:

@Obtena.7952 said:

@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.

Old school MMOs did not have quick respawn rates like this game has. Nor would we sit still.

Haha i remember in Anarchy Online using max toons camping these alien cats for a chance at decent armour for mid level alts. Everyone descended on the spawns (every 20-30 mins) knowing that only the highest dps wins, with everyone moving in readiness as spawn time came closer...

I dont miss those days, but i appreciate players want to play that way sometimes, so leave them to it whrn i see these gsrming clusters. I never report them - it is their time and it doesnt impact on me

If thats your mentality do you think Anet should make afk farming allowed then and remove it from their tos.

I have no interest in whether they should remove it or not - thats not a decision I am qualified to make. What they do simply doesn't bother me. Hackers, genuine botting now that is different, but using minions to pick up loot for them, im happy to let them be. Would i do it myself? No, because i dont cheapen my own play when i have better things to do, but i dont hold others to that standard either.

Using macros to simultaneously cast multiple spells on x accounts falls under automating your account which is botting, so what your saying is.. you are fine with minions collecting loot but not the engis? also what is the difference between "genuine botting" and "botting".

[Bloodstealer.5978]

@Obtena.7952 said:Wait ... you have actual DATA to suggest Anet is n't doing anything about this problem ... or your just falling back on a 'normal person' argument here?

I think the bottomline is that you and others shouldn't be so quick to decide Anet's disposition towards this activity. You just assume the worst because you don't like how it's being handled. The FACT is that you don't know what Anet does and your just inventing what you believe is happening.

Whilst you enjoy taking this kind of middle ground we don't know they don't know I don't know approach.. perhaps when an ANET GM emails back and thanks you for your reports but advises they are not actioning for this offence or that offence.. that right there tells me there is every possibility that nothing is being done.Like I and others have said, and not for the first time regarding this shady practice.. no normal person stays online playing GW2 24/7 for weeks/ months never moving from the same spot... if ANET were actively sorting this out, it has taken a hell of a long time and many, many reports of same players to get absolutely nowhere. This afk farming practice makes the game look cheap and ugly imo and shows a real lack of concern for the product when such obvious abuses are left unchecked.As another poster has said above, if ANET's only check is for a quick message here and there then it's no wonder every map has multiple groups farming 24/7.. it's simply a joke, a mess and required much more forceful action a long time ago, but now it's just become an acceptable behaviour.

[Obtena.7952]

@Bloodstealer.5978 said:

@Obtena.7952 said:Wait ... you have actual DATA to suggest Anet is n't doing anything about this problem ... or your just falling back on a 'normal person' argument here?

I think the bottomline is that you and others shouldn't be so quick to decide Anet's disposition towards this activity. You just assume the worst because you don't like how it's being handled. The FACT is that you don't know what Anet does and your just inventing what you believe is happening.

Whilst you enjoy taking this kind of middle ground we don't know they don't know I don't know approach.. perhaps when an ANET GM emails back and thanks you for your reports but advises they are not actioning for this offence or that offence.. that right there tells me there is every possibility that nothing is being done.Like I and others have said, and not for the first time regarding this shady practice.. no normal person stays online playing GW2 24/7 for weeks/ months never moving from the same spot... if ANET were actively sorting this out, it has taken a hell of a long time and many, many reports of same players to get absolutely nowhere. This afk farming practice makes the game look cheap and ugly imo and shows a real lack of concern for the product when such obvious abuses are left unchecked.As another poster has said above, if ANET's only check is for a quick message here and there then it's no wonder every map has multiple groups farming 24/7.. it's simply a joke, a mess and required much more forceful action a long time ago, but now it's just become an acceptable behaviour.

SO you think one GM emails you and says they aren't doing anything about this particular occurrence, or anyone else with the same email, that means you have a comprehensive understanding of their complete policy and process for dealing with this? Wow. I guess you got this all figured out then. You know more about what Anet does than Anet does from one email. I stand corrected.

[Bloodstealer.5978]

@Westenev.5289 said:

@toucan.6358 said:Its considered botting even if u are afking somewhere in the game where mob spawns, you dont even have to use spells. Its considered botting if u are afking anywhere in the game where people are fighting.

The guys who run up the walls at east side of Auric Basin event, the ones who hit the boss once then afk for the rest of the fight, They are not actively partaking in the meta and still get loot, for others people work. This makes them subjects for botting aswell.

Uhm? Bots can use skills too, and even without bots, we have area of effect skills that can be autocast for very little downtime (for example, Necromancer staff symbols or Ranger traps).

For reference:

Botting is where you get a third party program to run your character for you. This is not okay.

Afk farming is where you park yourself in an advantageous spot where you could sit comfortably overnight autocasting skills. This is also not okay.

Inattentive farming is where you park yourself in an advantageous spot and come back every five minutes to check on it. This is okay (or, at least, a grey area).

If sitting around and letting other people do the footwork for you was a bannable offense, 3/4's of the people who do the Shadow Behemoth World Boss would be banned for afkfarming instead of hunting down portals.

Well if you want to stand around to farm Behemoth 24/7 then good luck to you.. come back and tell us how its going.... 1hit every 2 hrs sounds productive farming considering each spawn lasts around 5mins it's hardly cause for concern in respect of what this whole thread is about, but if you think someone is sat in the same spot 24/7 using autocasts all that time then do the right thing and report I.. I suspect though there will be even less chance that anything happens from that report when masses set up and farm 24/7 with continuous loots not some 2hr respawn farm.