Sebilis is a rampant botting / cheating dystopia

Discussion in 'Time Locked Progression Servers' started by Womble, Sep 23, 2020.

  1. Tyranthraxus Grognard

    This thread gave me a good laugh, and answered a question I had last night. Why aren't there 10 sirens grotto picks full of bots on Mangler? For the first time since Velious dropped I had to actually remember how to get across the zone. Guess the plat/krono farming operation moved to the new greener pasture finally. Enjoy lol
    MindFlaw likes this.
  2. Gnothappening Augur

    SG crews moved to CoD.
  3. Sussypoo New Member


    Taking the camp is not the issue, bot or no bot there are no camps anymore. The issue is the 24/7 farming over multiple picks by automated programs that never need to sleep. It dumpsters a servers economy. Krono, the easiest way to measure a servers economy, is already at 11~12k plat each a month into Kunark. This is the highest I've ever seen Kr at this stage of a server.

    Additionally, these groups are not just 2 necro's in Seb, they usually consist of 2~4 mages, 2~4 necros, shaman, and a cleric. When you do compete with them they will shift muscle into whatever pick you are in using the camp out/in while grouped to avoid being sent back to zoneline using /pick. It's not as easy to "DPS race" them as you might think.

    As for "whining and gitting gud", I don't believe bringing a situation to light that shouldn't be occurring is whining and like I said before, without GM enforcement, no one can outplay someone automating 30+ boxes in group content with guys taking shifts overseeing them. Even if you take their camp in one pick for 6 hours, they still have that pick for the other 18 hours of the day along with the 7 other picks they are farming.
    Duder likes this.
  4. Stix Man Elder

    Finally, someone else that understands.

    These are not good people. These are bad people. Bad for Everquest. We should not be ignoring them. We should be watching them and making them scared. They should not be so relaxed while cheating on our game. Make them work for it. At the moment, they are just mining away and taking advantage of our game.

    This is not a "who cares what other people are doing" situation. This is a complete disgrace to our game. It threatens the integrity. There has to be a hammer put down or things will get worse.

    1 person should not be running 40+ toons on a 2box server, using EmQue2, using WARPS, bypassing truebox. The amount of cheats involved and people just shrug it off. GIT GUD.

    I know most people do care, it's just you get a couple people in here that either don't understand the full magnitude of the situation, or they are one of those people and they don't think it's a big deal.

    It's not a "jealous of them getting away with cheating" situation. It's something that needs to be dealt with by the company. It's not some small time operation that no one should care about. We aren't talking about someone AFK farming bone chips on 1 or 2 characters.

    Again, we aren't even talking about 50 or 100 people cheating. It's just a couple of people playing 30-40 toons each. It's not a big deal to just ban them. Let's not pretend like they are putting any money into the game. They use a krono, that's it. No buying bags or exp potions. They are leaches. They will not be missed.
    Ghubuk, Womble and Duder like this.
  5. Camniala New Member

    Ooooh, the bot crews finally left mangler? I quit playing completely back in kunark bc of them... i would say maybe ill come back but, bad track record.
  6. Mismezz New Member

    Whoever said "just ignore them" you were right.

    I am in sebilis right now, pick 12 on aradune. there's an afk mage and afk necro, when i logged in (logged at crypt) they were casting spells automatically. Now that i'm there contesting the camp, they stopped casting spells and all movement, and are only attacking via pet aggro.

    I am simply ignoring them, out dpsing them and now they won't even cast dots like when I first ran up on them. What's the best way to send a recording to daybreak? raw file or youtube link?

    After 3 spawn cycles (60 minutes?) they got back to the keys, left the room, and picked to the main pick of sebilis
  7. Stix Man Elder

    Those aren't even the main ones people are talking about. Go find one of the 2 picks that has 20 anon and/or oddly named pairs of 2-3 guild tags. Sometimes they change 1 letter of another guild tag.

    You'll find those picks quite easily. They have full groups at ABC, Disco, Juggs with an auto puller, auto buffing, charm pet, heals. Everything is automated. Get too close and they get alerted and will stop their program to say hi.

    I understand the company could maybe get fooled on previous servers. Sure, someone maybe technically has 30 computers and is playing 6 groups in 6 different camps for 20+ hours a day... It's technically possible... But, let's add in that this is a 2 box server and a truebox server and no macaroni is allowed.

    The GMs can't be that blind to not be able to look at 6+ groups and realize they are all the exact same program. Do they really think there are 18+ sets of 2 friends that group together and camp 6 different camps in sebilis for 20+ hours a day?

    What's the point of enforcing any rules if you won't enforce the most obvious cheating. You made this server to stop these types of people.
    Womble and Duder like this.
  8. Honkietonk Lorekeeper

    I love the irony of how the server that was supposed to have fulltime active GMs has had the absolute most abundant botting/cheating of any server I've played on.
  9. Aekold Augur

    Maybe I missed it, but wasn't banishing all of the dreaded, evil, boxers to their prison server supposed to fix everything? Wasn't Aradune the promised land?
  10. Tal-Ral New Member

    So, I can confirm there must be an active GM on Aradune, but for whatever reason I think they have their priorities way out of wack.

    I was farming bone chips on my friends account bard had a melody on in paineel, and was working at the time. I have no doubt that they probably thought I was afk farming, though I was running around occasionally trying to kill all the stragglers, but I had a melody on doing the AOE DOT for bard. Well I was disconnected, not even sure if I got at tell or something. Tried to log in again, and said I was suspended for cheating. What is sad that we see all these krono farmers at the most obvious spots and they are not banned, but people farming bone chips for faction and not using any programs or any game mechanics that arent built into the game and used legit are banned. I guess I'll have to explain to my friend the error of my ways of playing a bard with melody. :rolleyes:
  11. GNOME_POWER Augur

    Sounds like you're operating a friend's account ...
    Isn't this the cause?
  12. Lejaun Augur

    Please tell us how your friend reacted when he/she tried to log on. That had to be rough.
  13. megalodon New Member

    A couple things since this thread is 99% made up nonsense from OP and dar bots! Crowd. I was in the main pick Seb at blood from 6am to 4-5pm EST (looking for my shield quest drop, while helping the kids do at home schooling)

    1- there were maybe 4 camp checks the entire time, herio and other camps were open when I started.
    2- nobody contested anything, which you can easily do at this lvl (unlike CoS or some other camp where your usually below the bot lvl)
    3- you have "options" to trip these guys up.

    Stop making posts like this, it doesn't help and gives the false impression. No I didn't get my drop. Yes I made a stupid amount of plat getting two bard swords (2kr per? What?) to drop that I didn't even know was valuable till I checked (like I always do).
  14. a_librarian Augur

    Full group bot crews go for raw plat spots like disco, abc, juggs. Trying to manage and sell lore items is a huge waste of time when they're running dozens of characters. And later Siren's Grotto where they will stay for basically the rest of the servers lifespan (until the next TLP launches)
  15. Tal-Ral New Member


    It was because of AFK because I didnt immediately respond to a GM, guess I missed it in the spam, and then got zapped. It is what it is, I'll take the 7 days, but thankfully dont pay for this game or I'd be more upset they were taking 7 days from me without the refund. Sucks because I rather it have been my account, though if we're talking about sharing accounts being the reason for the suspension, then I think EQ would have to close down because almost everyone has access to other accounts. My friend and I have been friends for over 25 years, so he is cool with it luckily, and it helps he's on vacation anyway and not playing. Sorry "D"! Bard Melody bad!

    As far as I'm concerned, this place at the beginning of xpacs unlocks these spawns are rampant cheating areas in Seb. Everyone has encountered it, and yes, you can "do things" do prevent it, but two necros, or what I have encountered personally, 2 necros a shaman, or another mage for the COTH, most groups cannot out DPS this dot mechanic and mage bolts. If you train them, you get banned because that is enforced, but it isn't that they are doing it, its that they do it with bot programs and they are not being banned, because every time in "some" picks we still see them there, oh and their bot programs have built in the ability to respond to tells, so the logic suspensions is flawed if the whole premise of the suspension is due to sending a tell and not responding. With item prices dropping precipitously, and the end of the high period of the xpac now over, decline of demand is now causing the bots to move back to live. When Velious kicks off, they'll be back, and be pumping up the secondary market once again.
  16. Pictarous Augur

    Eventually TLP players realize that DBG (or darkpaw, whoever it is now) actually has no automated method to detect hacks, deleting of files, warping, botting, or anything of the sort.

    Their entire push for the franchise has been to minimize CS interaction and real world overhead: removal of PnP, creation of picks, reduction in staff across the board - especially GM and CS roles.

    TLPs exist to pump and dump the Trilogy (really the Classic rush) as most people are done by Velious, and any of the people who last past then are the addicts anyway who play on every TLP until the eventual guild implosion due to F R E S H
  17. HoodenShuklak Augur

    Sad but true... and I wonder if it would have stopped me from playing on agnarr. I still had a good time but I had to really adjust my expectations as well as how you play certain aspects.
  18. Honkietonk Lorekeeper


    The bottom line here is that your account did not RMT enough Krono in the past month to evade their bans. You're not bringing in money for the company so you're not a valued musical robot. Sorry but them's the rules.
    Starr likes this.
  19. WaitingforMoreEQ WaitingforTBC

    For reference while the botters arent "DBG" many of the people that bot are in direct contact with people that work for DBG.
  20. EchoFreya Lorekeeper

    This problem has less to do with botting/boxing, and more to do with the lack of respect around camps.

    While some people here claim that 'there are no camps', I have not been able to find anything in the current rules to stimulate this belief. If someone can point me to a valid current link that indicates this, please feel free to do so. Note: a post from several years ago reflects older rulesets, not the current ones, which I will explain.

    "There are no camps" appears to be a player-created construct borne out of an old Ruleset that once appeared on a ruleset page which implied that all content would be subject to a "DPS race/war". This line may have once appeared on the Rules of Conduct page, but it isn't there today, nor is stipulated on the TLPs 2020 Rules of Conduct page.

    While the player base deserves an explanation behind this change (when did it happen, what does it mean), I can only speculate that the removal of the "DPS race" clause is associated with issues that arose from what essentially was legitimized Kill Stealing and Griefing. I can speculate how considerable the volume of complaints associated with players experiencing this repugnant behaviour was placing on limited CS resources, which may have been a motivator behind this change.

    Until there is communication/clarification around this change by official staff, I read this revision to imply that DPS Races/Wars are no longer supported, (conduct that also contradicts the Play Nice Policy outlined in the Rules of Conduct). That's right, there IS a Play Nice Policy, contrary to what some posters here would tell you.

    With respect to camps, there are no current clauses that support the claim, "there are no camps" in Everquest (TLP or otherwise).

    Now that we have that out of the way...

    Camp checks have always been an intelligent way to plan your time (which is why most people still use them, and respect them). When people acknowledge that 'camps' are a thing, and camp checks are responded to in a relatively timely manner, the following occurs:
    1. People's personal space isn't invaded in an unwanted way, and
    2. People seeking a camp can locate viable options quickly, and peacefully.
    Respectfully observing camps encourages players to 'work things out' on their own, deters harassment in many forms, and supports a healthy community environment.

    Camp checks, and respecting camps, is a courteous and considerate practice that players have used for decades. This practice prevents players from wasting their time working towards something that is 'occupied', and players in camps can enjoy game time free of anxiety associated with others coming in and 'contesting' content you have selected to occupy. (Note: monopolizing a camp for more hours than a person would reasonably be able to spend at it is reasonably suspicious behaviour, and something that could be a potential offence associated with 'botting').

    "Camp Checks" are still frequently used, but not all have been respecting them because of the confusion associated with that old "DPS race/war" clause. There are also valid reasons why someone may not immediately respond to /say or /ooc, but most will respond once they do see them (even if a minute or two after the call).

    Reasons why an immediate response may not be provided include UI configuration or positioning, bio breaks, but also because often attention is focused on something else (like killing mobs). Sometimes there may be a language barrier preventing communication entirely.

    When a group shows up to an occupied ‘camp’ after someone hasn't responded to a ‘camp check’, frustration ensues. Understandable, but this doesn't necessarily mean that foul play is involved. Unfortunately, the people who don't respect camps or camp checks continue to cause a lot of unnecessary drama (enacting "DPS wars" they feel is permitted by an old clause, harassment, etc.).

    Some people may want to re-familiarize themselves with the current rules. Just because it appears that ramifications associated with bad behaviour (DPS race/wars, etc.) haven't yet been enforced, this doesn't mean it won't be in the future (hopefully).